[Orig. in pl. as transl. of F. beaux-arts; cf. FINE a. III.]
1. In plural, the arts which are concerned with ‘the beautiful,’ or which appeal to the faculty of taste; in the widest use including poetry, eloquence, music, etc., but often applied in a more restricted sense to the arts of design, as painting, sculpture, and architecture. Hence in sing. one of these arts; also transf. an art or employment requiring refined and subtle skill comparable to that required in the practice of ‘the fine arts.’
1767. [see ART sb. 11].
1821. W. M. Craig, Lectures on Drawing, etc., 4. Our commerce became so improved, by the assistance of our advancement in the fine arts.
1839. De Quincey, Wks. (1864), IV. 1 (title), On Murder, considered as one of the Fine Arts.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, Aristocracy, Wks. (Bohn), II. 85. Often they have been the friends and patrons of genius and learning, and especially of the fine arts.
1884. Gladstone, Sp. in Parl., 28 April. At that period the art of obstruction was not so much of a fine art as it is now.
1890. J. Watson, Confess. Poacher, v. 58. Poaching is one of the fine arts, and the man who would succeed must be a specialist.
2. collect. sing. In generalized sense: The fine arts as constituting a department of practice or study. Also attrib. (often hyphened fine-art).
Mod. I have no pretension to any knowledge of fine art. The column headed ‘Fine-Art Gossip’ in the Athenæum. The fine-art galleries of the museum are not yet opened.
