Painted portrait of the young Kant in a powdered wig, brown coat and lace cravat, against a grey-blue ground

Portraits · Philosophers & essayists · IX of XII

Immanuel Kant

1724–1804 · Philosopher

Genius can only furnish rich material for products of beautiful art; its execution and its form require talent cultivated in the schools…
Das Genie kann nur reichen Stoff zu Producten der schönen Kunst hergeben; die Verarbeitung desselben und die Form erfordert ein durch die Schule gebildetes Talent
Immanuel Kant · Critique of Judgement, 1790

Read it in the source →

Immanuel Kant wrote this in 1790, in his Critique of Judgement. Some think genius means throwing off every rule, he says, as if one could make a braver show on a wild horse than on a trained one. But genius only supplies the material; giving it form takes schooled talent.

Critique of Judgement (Kritik der Urteilskraft), §47. Kant's Critique of Judgement, tr. J. H. Bernard, 2nd ed. revised (London: Macmillan, 1914), p. 193; German from the Akademie-Ausgabe vol. 5, p. 310 (korpora.org).

The originals

Oil portrait of Kant at forty-four, in a powdered wig and brown coat — **The likeness**PAINTED BY JOHANN GOTTLIEB BECKER · 1768Our portrait is painted after it.Public domain (life portrait; painter died 1782).

The title page of Critik der Urtheilskraft by Immanuel Kant, 1790, in black-letter type — **Critique of Judgement, 1790**The first edition, Berlin and Libau, 1790: the third of his three Critiques, after those of pure and of practical reason.Critik der Urtheilskraft, first edition (Berlin und Libau: Lagarde und Friederich, 1790), title page. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich (Rar. 1712), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.