I don't know what is meant by the OP, but FWIW, art has traditionally been about beauty and transcendence and elevating the minds of men. That can have the effect of inspiring virtue, I'd say, and can help influence certain sensibilities. Art today is often nihilistic and destructive, obsessed with subverting a world it cannot stand.

I really don't know what you mean by saying art today is nihilistic and destructive. Especially in the realm of pop culture it seems art is obsessed with finding meaning and purpose. The most obvious example that comes to mind is the incredible rise of popularity in super hero movies over the last decade and more. The overarching narrative is literally one where people (the heroes) are finding meaning by fighting to save the world. Then there's music: just looking at the top 3 entries on Billboard, they're all about trying to find love.

Maybe there's nihilism & destruction etc. in some art, but by far it does not appear to be a dominant theme.

> I don't know what is meant by the OP, but FWIW, art has traditionally been about beauty and transcendence and elevating the minds of men. That can have the effect of inspiring virtue, I'd say, and can help influence certain sensibilities.

I would not be so sure. Plenty of art was not like that - purely practical portraits, paintings depicting wars, beheadings, fires and other historical events. Medieval nun with dick tree and running dog eating penis (google it), medieval texts that are about disgusting behavior.

Plenty of old tales are basically about violence with no influence on sensibilities nor much virtues. Even in Homer Odyssey is quite debatable about how much it is virtue inspiring and what kind of virtue.

> Art today is often nihilistic and destructive, obsessed with subverting a world it cannot stand.

Classical books are often depicting destructive and nihilistic characters and caused controversies in their own time for being too close to home.