A collection of critical essays that rejects art for art’s sake and argues that artistic creation reflects social, psychological, and moral functions rooted in the artist’s sensibility. The author examines style, surveys a century of French art and the rise of Realism, and analyzes individual painters and sculptors to illustrate differing temperaments and techniques. Subjects include physiognomy in painting, the social mission of art, debates over socialistic art, and the interplay between artworks and criticism. The volume closes with the critic’s own judgments and reflections on the duties and responsibilities that accompany artistic practice.