The belief that art originates in intuitive rather than
rational faculties was worked out historically and
philosophically in the somewhat wearisome volumes of
Benedetto Croce, who is usually considered the originator
of a new aesthetic. Croce was, in fact, expressing a very
old idea. Long before the Romantics stressed intuition
and self-expression, the frenzy of inspiration was
regarded as fundamental to art, but philosophers had
always assumed it must be controlled by law and by the
intellectual power of putting things into harmonious order.
This general philosophic concept of art was supported by
technical necessities. It was necessary to master certain
laws and to use intellect in order to build Gothic
cathedrals, or set up the stained glass windows of
Chartres. When this bracing element of craftsmanship
ceased to dominate artists‘ outlook, new technical
elements had to be adopted to maintain the intellectual
element in art. Such were linear perspective and anatomy.