SOURCE: Knapp, Bettina L. “But It Is Impossible in Such Hurried Visits to Immortal Works, to Give an Adequate Idea of Their Character.” Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 22, no. 1-2 (March 2002): 47-58.

In the following essay, Knapp explores Hawthorne's responses to Italian Renaissance art as contained in the “Roman Journal” portion of her Notes in England and Italy.

“Character,” upon which Sophia Hawthorne's art appraisals focused, spawned many of the critical responses … imprinted in her “Roman Journal” (1858). Not only did her probings reveal an ingrained sense of esthetics, a historical understanding of the artists and the periods treated; but most intriguing were her glimpses into her inner topography: her idealizations, happy, and somber mood swings. Understandably, then, did her verbal distillations range from rationally and meticulously controlled to flamboyant, lyrical, and excitable assessments. Her melding of ethics paved the way for ideological strayings which, on occasion, took her far...