ABSTRACT
The art involves the senses and the mind was always part and parcel of the assumptions that accompanied artistic activity, but art theory touched these issues mainly from a practical point of view, or in broad and universal terms. The chapter examines some of the issues and factors, and the theoretical reframing of the problems inhering in the relations between the senses and the mind which they instigated. In the course of this process, the relationship between Art and Nature underwent a fundamental change, as did the relationship among the arts, giving rise to new theories. Rene Descartes argues that by dividing the emotions into passions of the soul and actions of the body, the Ancients must have been aware of the interaction that takes place between the two. Relegating the passions to the soul, interpreting the activity they stir in terms of understanding, was not altogether a new idea, as far as the arts are concerned.
