N I C HO L S 0 N’S 
 ART OF 
 
 D R A W [ N G 
 
THE PRACTICE 
 
 OF 
 
 DRAWING AND PAINTING LANDSCAPE 
 
 FROM NATURE, 
 
 En Water (Colours ; 
 
 EXEMPLIFIED 
 
 IN A SERIES OF INSTRUCTIONS 
 
 CALCULATED TO 
 
 FACILITATE THE PROGRESS OF THE LEARNER; 
 
 INCLUDING 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF PERSPECTIVE, THEIR APPLICATION IN DRAWING FROM NATURE, 
 AND THE EXPLANATION OF VARIOUS PROCESSES OF COLOURING, FOR 
 PRODUCING FROM THE SKETCH A FINISHED PICTURE; 
 
 WITH 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ON THE STUDY OF NATURE, 
 
 AND 
 
 VARIOUS OTHER MATTERS RELATIVE TO THE ARTS. 
 
 BY FRANCIS NICHOLSON. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Introduction . . . . . i 
 
 Of the rules of perspective . ... .1 
 
 Aerial perspective . . . . .12 
 
 The local colour . . . . .13 
 
 Incidental light . . . . .15 
 
 Reflected light, and chiaro scuro . . . .16 
 
 Accidents in painting . . . . .17 
 
 Drawing from nature . . . . .18 
 
 Light and shadow . . . , .37 
 
 Licences in drawing , . . . .45 
 
 Colouring : and of the neutral tints . . , .67 
 
 Processes in colouring . . . . . 69 
 
 Formation of lights by the removal of colour * . .87 
 
 Observations on the methods of practice in painting . « .88 
 
 Composition . . . . .92 
 
 Mounting and varnishing paintings in water colours . . .96 
 
 The advantages and supposed imperfection of paintings in water colours 105 
 
 \ 
 
 I* 
 
DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER. 
 
 The plates relative to Perspective, Effects of Light, and Colouring, to face their 
 respective pages ; those of Sketches, from Plates 1 to 10, to he placed at the end. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Of the gratifications which the mind is capable of receiving through 
 the medium of the senses, there is perhaps none greater than that 
 arising from the practice of the arts of design ; which incessant ap- 
 plication is so far from lessening, that the pleasure and satisfaction 
 resulting therefrom is continually increasing, and proportionate to 
 the degree of exertion and consequent progress made by the student. 
 Regarded as an amusement only, it is of the most innocent and 
 inoffensive, as well as delightful kind ; but, taken in another point 
 of view, when it is considered to how many purposes it may be 
 applied, which can hardly, if at all, be effected without it, and that 
 every art, science, and manufacture of which we have any knowledge 
 is in a great degree dependent thereon for its improvement, its im- 
 portance becomes almost inconceivable. In mechanics, and in the 
 construction of machinery, description is frequently impracticable 
 without the assistance of drawing ; and the degree of perfection to 
 which various manufactures have arrived would hardly, perhaps 
 never, have been attained without its aid, in communicating ideas 
 and inventions, such as cannot be otherwise conveyed or described. 
 
 Every department of art is gratifying to its professors, and to 
 those who have made it the object of their choice : but the practice 
 
 b 
 
VI 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of landscape, fiom the infinite variety of its subject, and the general 
 inteiest which it excites, may be considered as being more 
 univei sally pleasing than any other. When it is practised as an 
 amusement only, a moderate degree of proficiency is more tolerable 
 in this than in the other branches of the art ; but a professor has 
 so many of the phenomena of nature to make himself acquainted 
 with, that, if he would excel, his pursuit is upon the whole not 
 many degrees less difficult than any other. 
 
 Many of the advantages of travel are lost to, or beyond the 
 reach of those, who are not qualified by some knowledge of art to 
 delineate on the spot a beautiful scene in nature, or the interesting 
 remains of ancient magnificence : a power which, by moderate ap- 
 plication, any person may acquire. He who is so prepared, can 
 secure to himself the perfect recollection of numerous objects and 
 circumstances, that would otherwise escape his memory ; he is also 
 capaole of receiving a degree of pleasure from the view of natural 
 objects, of which another not so prepared can hardly form any con- 
 ception ; the difference being like that between two persons of 
 equally defective sight, one of whom by optical assistance is enabled 
 to see distinctly every object, which to the unaided sense of the 
 other appears confused and indistinct. Nor can any one wholly 
 uninstructed in the art be capable of describing with propriety the 
 scenes he may have visited, since, knowing nothing of art but its 
 technical terms, he can hardly avoid the misapplication of them. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 V1L 
 
 A mere literary man may represent a scene in nature as possessing 
 the characteristics of Claude Lorrain and Salvator Rosa, without 
 being aware that he is ascribing to it an incongruity of character 
 which cannot exist, as a small degree of acquaintance with the prin- 
 ciples of art would enable him to perceive. 
 
 « It is scarcely in the power of words to convey to an unpro- 
 fessional reader any adequate idea of the irrelevancy of classical 
 ingenuity, when exercising its strength in criticism on the arts of 
 design: with regard to this point, much more could be said by 
 painters than can perhaps be said without offence to those whom 
 it is their interest and wish to please. It often creates astonishment 
 in artists, who are apt to conceive that every kind of knowledge is 
 bestowed by a liberal education, to find scholars of the profoundest 
 erudition in letters very little better informed of the properties of 
 painting than the idlest boy in an academy .” — Hoards Enquiry. 
 
 Verbal description of scenery in nature, without graphic illustra- 
 tion, is at best very imperfect, and is frequently made more so by the 
 use of vague terms and indiscriminate admiration. The tourist, who 
 is more desirous of displaying his powers of description, than of 
 conveying to the mind of the reader any just idea of forms and their 
 combination, selects such features of his subject as he thinks beautiful, 
 and makes the most of them, very often to the great disappointment 
 of those who follow his track with the expectation of being gratified. 
 
 A person who is conversant with the principles of design is 
 
 b 2 
 
/ 
 
 viii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 thereby qualified to perceive and judge of the defects, in such 
 arrangements of natural or artificial objects as have been made 
 without their assistance ; such as are frequently conspicuous in many 
 of those noble domains, which have been laid out and clumped as 
 caprice has directed, or, what is still worse, with geometric regularity. 
 A little acquaintance with the rules of art would enable a pro- 
 prietor to consider and treat his place as a picture, and to produce 
 all the effect his materials are capable of, by planting or building 
 with design, and according to those principles. 
 
 Some acquaintance with the principles of art is indispensably 
 requisite to him who would duly appreciate its productions, and 
 receive from them all the gratification they are capable of com- 
 municating ; which will be felt by him in a much greater degree 
 than can possibly be experienced by one who is uninformed in that 
 respect. Yet as many of those are far from being insensible of the 
 value of works of art, or indifferent in regard to the possession 
 of them, it may be considered as an additional advantage of the 
 former, that he can assign reasons for his approbation or censure, 
 and that in collecting them he is infinitely less subject to imposi- 
 tion than the latter, who, depending on his own capricious liking, 
 can hardly escape the numerous snares laid for him, by many of 
 those with whom he may be induced to deal ; sometimes, perhaps, 
 without any intention of fraud, since many artists during past 
 ages, as well as in the present, have been in the practice of ob~ 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 IX 
 
 taining the tattered cloths, and worm-eaten strainers, or pannels 
 on which old pictures of no value whatever have been painted ; 
 and of copying or imitating upon them as well as they were capable 
 of doing, the works of the old and great masters : their copies and 
 imitations having gained the appearance given by time to the sur- 
 face of a picture (and there are well known methods of bringing 
 forward that appearance speedily), it is frequently difficult even for 
 an artist to detect the imposition. When the subject is an imita- 
 tion of a celebrated master, it is usual to assert its originality ; if a 
 copy, it goes under the respectable denomination of a duplicate by 
 the hand of the master ; if a few variations are made in the copy, it 
 is called a first thought, a study, &c. Many thousands of these 
 being now old, are confidently produced as the genuine works of 
 the great painters to whom they are ascribed, insomuch that artists 
 know full well there are very few collections in which pictures of 
 this description may not be found, and allowed by them to pass foi 
 what they are pretended to be, when dissent 01 doubt would give 
 offence to the possessor. Abundance of these have been manu- 
 factured in England, but Italy is, and ever has been, the great 
 workshop from whence this country has been loaded with such 
 fabrications ; the supposed value of which, in consequence of the 
 general acquaintance with works of art, is at present so much 
 diminished, that the instances of fraudulent deception in any con- 
 siderable degree are now become rare. 
 
X 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In a national point of view, we have lately had a convincing 
 proof of the importance of works of art : one in which the subject 
 has been too little attended to by those whom it most concerns. 
 To whatever country the most valuable productions of art can be 
 drawn, that country will be the centre of attraction to the civilized 
 world. Such undoubtedly was the idea of the late ruler of the 
 French nation; and such a centre of attraction would Paris have 
 continued to be, if the dispersion of the works of art, collected 
 under a system of rapine and plunder, had not taken place. 
 
 The productions of art in the present age will be of increased 
 value at future periods. We have in this country many objects 
 of great interest ; such are the remains of monastic and other 
 buildings ; the former are decaying so rapidly, that in another 
 century they will be known only by such delineations as have been 
 or may be made of them while they yet exist, for mere verbal de- 
 scription, at a period when there is little of the kind to refer to, 
 will convey but an inadequate idea of what they have been. 
 
 Many persons, of whose education drawing has formed a part, 
 are yet unable to do more than copy the works of others ; it is 
 principally for the use of such persons, and those who are still 
 less advanced, that this work is intended. The rudiments only of 
 perspective are treated of, and in a manner as little dependent as 
 possible upon such geometrical rules as cannot be conveniently 
 applied, in drawing landscape from nature, which must ever depend 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xi 
 
 principally upon the eye. To communicate with all the clearness 
 and precision in my power the precepts contained in this work, to 
 those for whose use it is designed, was my principal aim ; if I have 
 succeeded in the attempt, it is all that was intended, or that I have 
 been solicitous about. 
 
 The first edition being sold, I am induced by the demand for a 
 reprint, to offer this second impression, the publication of which 
 has been delayed by the necessity of attending to other avocations. 
 Considerable additions have been made by the insertion of litho- 
 graphic examples, and an attempt to explain more fully the different 
 processes of colouring ; with such farther observations and remarks 
 as have occurred to me since the time of the first publication, which 
 I trust will be found serviceable, to those who have not the means 
 of obtaining better information, or such as can be conveyed only by 
 inspecting the operations of a master. 
 
 Charlotte-street, Portland-place, 
 
 April 10th, 1823. 
 
THE ART 
 
 OF 
 
 DRAWING AND PAINTING LANDSCAPE 
 
 FROM NATURE. 
 
 Of the Hides of Perspective, so far as they are requisite in Drawing 
 
 Landscape from Nature. 
 
 In sketching landscape from nature, the truth of linear delineation 
 depends chiefly on the exact observance of the vanishing points of 
 the lines by which buildings, or other regular objects in the scene, 
 are bounded, and the horizontal line. When these are found in 
 nature, and their places are ascertained upon the paper intended to 
 contain the sketch, the eye is easily enabled to direct the hand in 
 the performance with sufficient accuracy. 
 
 The knowledge of a few problems in perspective is necessary, 
 and may be easily acquired : these relate to the delineation of the 
 square, the circle, and curved lines, by which the outlines of regular 
 objects are formed. As the geometrical plans and proportions of 
 such objects are not to be obtained in drawing upon the spot from 
 nature, they cannot be delineated from them ; but a part must ne- 
 cessarily be assumed by estimation of the eye, from which part the 
 rest may be found by these rules, so as to enable the artist to pro- 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 PERSPECTIVE. 
 
 duce a representation free from not only such errors as are usually 
 committed, but without any that are obvious to the sight, which is 
 all that is required of him. An error that is not obvious, or that is 
 not to be discovered without the assistance of rulers and compasses, 
 cannot be deemed of any importance whatever in the performance of 
 the landscape painter, whose intention is to produce a representation 
 which shall satisfy the eye and the mind, and not a subject for 
 
 mathematical demonstration. 
 
 “ By Nature taught, he strikes the unerring lines, 
 
 “ Consults his eye, and as he sees designs.” 
 
 PERSPECTIVE 
 
 Is the art of delineating on a plane surface the representation of 
 objects. Thus, if a plate of glass be placed between the eye and the 
 objects, and the lines of every object be accurately traced, keeping 
 the eye in a fixed point, this will give a true linear representation 
 of them on that plane which is to be considered as the picture : the 
 performance of this by geometrical rules is called perspective. 
 
 The rules of perspective are peculiarly applicable to architectural 
 subjects, machinery, and objects in general of which the proportions 
 - are known. In landscape, the greatest part of its subject is such as 
 they cannot be applied to geometrically ; yet a person who is ac- 
 quainted with their principles will have no difficulty in applying the 
 rule in the mind at sight, with sufficient accuracy, without having 
 recourse to mathematical projection. 
 
PERSPECTIVE. 
 
 DEFINITIONS. 
 
 1. The plane of the picture, 
 
 Is not only the picture itself, but a continuation of its surface 
 on every side. If ABFD (Fig. 1.) represent the picture, all the 
 rest of the paper will be in the plane of that picture. 
 
 2. The horizontal line, 
 
 Is a line drawn across the picture at the height of the eye, 
 and parallel to the ground line or bottom of the picture. If the 
 eye be raised the horizontal line rises with it, and the contrary if it 
 be lowered. 
 
 3. The point of sight, 
 
 Is the place of the eye .when viewing the object. 
 
 4. The point of distance, 
 
 Is the distance of the eye from the picture, which ought 
 always to be at least equal to its greatest length. By working with 
 a shorter distance, the representations of objects appear distorted 
 except when viewed exactly from that point, which may be too near 
 to take in the subject, or to have distinct vision. The distorted 
 appearance of objects, frequently seen in the examples given in 
 treatises on perspective, is caused by the want of sufficient room 
 on the plate containing them, to place this point at a proper 
 distance ; the representation is nevertheless true, and w ould appear 
 so if it could be viewed from the point of distance that has been 
 chosen. The point of distance is usually placed over the picture, 
 but for the convenience of delineation it is sometimes transferred 
 to the horizontal line, on either side of the centre of the picture. 
 Let ABFD (fig. 1.) be the picture, HL the horizontal line, and E 
 the distance of the picture ; if the point E be raised perpendicularly 
 to the plane of the picture, it will there represent the place of the 
 
 b 2 
 
4 
 
 PERSPECTIVE. 
 
 eye ; but in that situation lines cannot be drawn from it, therefore 
 it is necessary to bring it into the plane of the picture, by placing it 
 above ; and it is occasionally transferred to the horizontal line on 
 either side of the centre, as at e. 
 
 5. The centre of the picture, 
 
 Is the point where a perpendicular from the place of the eye 
 would meet the picture, as at C, fig. 1. The horizontal line being 
 always at the height of the eye, the centre of the picture is con- 
 sequently in that line ; but it is not necessary that it should be 
 equi-distant from the ends : the artist frequently places it nearer to 
 one end than the other, when he would reject a part of his subject 
 at either end of the view. 
 
 6. The vanishing point of a line, 
 
 Is that point in the plane of the picture where all lines 
 parallel to each other would meet, except such as are parallel to 
 the picture ; these have no vanishing point, but are in the repre- 
 sentation also parallel. All right lines perpendicular to the picture 
 have their vanishing point in the centre of it. 
 
 7. Indefinite representation : 
 
 The continuation of a line to its vanishing point is called the 
 indefinite representation of that line. 
 
 PKOBLEM I. 
 
 To measure or set off any given portion of a line in perspective. 
 
 The Kule. At the vanishing point of the line place one foot of 
 the compasses, extend the other to the point of distance, and transfer 
 that distance to the horizontal line. When the nearest part to be 
 cut off is at the ground line ; from the point of intersection set off 
 the given measure, on the ground line, and from the extent thereof 
 
PERSPECTIVE. 
 
 3 
 
 draw a line to the point of distance in the horizontal line, which 
 will cut the indefinite perspective line in the measure required. 
 
 Ex. 1. Let AD (fig. 2.) be the indefinite representation of a line 
 in perspective, on which it is required to set off a part equal to that 
 of the ground line AB. 
 
 With one foot of the compasses in D, the vanishing point of the 
 line AD, extend the other to E the point of distance, and transfer 
 it to the horizontal line at e, draw the line B e, which will cut the 
 indefinite in d, A d being the measure required. 
 
 Ex. 2. When the part to be set off does not begin at the 
 ground line, draw a parallel to the ground line at the nearest 
 point to be measured ; as at a, make ab equal to AB, and from b 
 draw a line to the point of distance, which will intersect the inde- 
 finite in the measure required. 
 
 By this problem the perspective diminution of the spaces be- 
 tween the windows, columns, or other equal divisions in buildings, &c. 
 may be ascertained ; it is also applied in the following problems, 
 to the perspective delineation of the square, &c. 
 
 PROBLEM II. 
 
 To draw the perspective representation of a square having one of its 
 
 sides at the ground line. 
 
 Let ABDF (fig. 3.) be the square to be represented, HL the 
 horizontal line, E the point of distance, and C the centre of the 
 picture. AB being on the ground line, and the sides AD and BF 
 perpendicular to the picture, therefore their vanishing point (by 
 def. 6.) is in C, the centre of the picture. 
 
 Draw AC and BC the indefinites of the sides AD and BF, with 
 one foot of the compasses in their vanishing point C, extend the 
 other to E the point of distance, and transfer it to the horizontal 
 
6 
 
 PERSPECTIVE. 
 
 line at e ; from A draw the line Ae, which will cut the indefinite 
 BC in f ; therefore Bf is the perspective representation of a quan- 
 tity equal to AB ; from f draw a line parallel to AB, which will 
 complete the representation required. 
 
 If another square beyond the first be required, draw a fine from 
 d to e, and where it cuts the indefinite draw a line parallel to AB, 
 &c. Ex. 2. Prob. I. 
 
 PROBLEM III. 
 
 To draw the perspective representation of a square , one of its vanishing- 
 
 sides being given. 
 
 Let Ad (fig. 2.) be the given side, being a portion of the inde- 
 finite AD, from D its vanishing point transfer the point of distance 
 E to the horizontal line at e, from e draw through d the line eB 
 which will cut the ground line in B. AB will then be the side of 
 the square on the ground line ; the side Bf being parallel to Ad, 
 must have the same vanishing point D, BD is therefore the inde- 
 finite of that side, and the line df, being drawn from d parallel to 
 AB, will give the representation required. 
 
 PROBLEM IV. 
 
 To draw the square in perspective, its sides being oblique to the picture , 
 and at a distance above the ground line. 
 
 Let BG (fig. 4.) a portion of the indefinite perspective line AD, 
 be the given side of a square to be represented in perspective. D 
 being the vanishing point of the side BG and of its parallel El, to 
 E the point of distance draw DE and at a right angle thereto 
 draw EH, which may be done by laying a square with its angle on 
 E and one of its sides corresponding with the line DE, the other 
 
PERSPECTIVE. 
 
 7 
 
 side of the square will cut the horizontal line HL in H, the 
 vanishing point of BF and GI, draw BH the indefinite of the side 
 BF, from the vanishing points D and H bring down the point of 
 distance E to the horizontal line in el, and e; at B the nearest 
 part of the given side (by Prob. I.) draw fg parallel to the ground 
 line and draw the fine e 1, G which gives B g the real length of the 
 side of which BG is the representation, set ofFBf equal to Bg and 
 draw the line e f intersecting the indefinite in F, then is BF the 
 perspective length of that side of the square, from F and G draw 
 lines to their respective vanishing points D and H, which by their 
 intersection at I will give FI and GI, and complete the square. 
 
 PROBLEM V. 
 
 To put the circle into perspective. 
 
 Find a sufficient number of points in the circumference by 
 enclosing it in a square the side of which is equal to the diameter 
 of the circle, and reticulated so that the intersections may be in the 
 circumference ; this square with its reticulations being put into 
 perspective, the points are found, through which a line being drawn, 
 will be the representation required. (Fig. 5.) 
 
 PROBLEM VI. 
 
 To draw the cube in perspective. 
 
 A square ABDF, equal to a side of the cube, being drawn in 
 perspective (by Prob. II.) at its angles erect perpendiculars, and 
 make AG and BI equal to AB, draw GI parallel to AB, which will 
 form the front of the cube. Draw GC and IC the indefinites of 
 GK and IM ; a line drawn from G to e will cut the indefinite IM 
 in M ; from M draw KM parallel to AB, which will form the upper 
 side and complete the cube. 
 
8 
 
 PERSPECTIVE. 
 
 The foregoing Problem applied to the delineation of a house in 
 
 perspective. 
 
 It is required to draw the front and end of a house whose 
 length is equal to twice its breadth. 
 
 Draw a square ABDF (fig. 6.) in perspective, whose side is equal 
 to the given breadth, and by Prob. 2. draw another square DF d f 
 beyond the first, which will determine the perspective length of the 
 house. Erect perpendiculars at the angles, and proceed as in the 
 delineation of the cube; the flat roof is not represented, being 
 above the horizontal line. 
 
 To find the places of the windows in the foregoing representation. 
 
 According to the rule in Prob. 1. for cutting off any part of a 
 line in perspective; at the nearest part of the base line of the 
 house, B (fig. 7.) draw Bd parallel to the ground line of the picture, 
 transfer the point of distance to e in the horizontal line, and draw 
 the line eF, continuing it to cut Bd in d, Bd is then the geometrical 
 length of which BF is the representation ; divide Bd equally into 
 the given number of windows and spaces, and draw lines from these 
 divisions to the point of distance e, these lines will cut the base 
 line of the building; and from the points of their intersections 
 draw perpendiculars, which will give the perspective distances of 
 the windows. At the nearest corner of the house set off a window, 
 from which draw lines to the vanishing point ; these will intersect 
 the perpendiculars in the places of the others. 
 
 PROBLEM VII. 
 
 To delineate the gable ends and roof of a house. 
 
 Find the centre of the perspective representation of the ends 
 of the house by the intersection of the diagonals af and bd (fig. 8.) ; 
 
PERSPECTIVE. 
 
 9 
 
 at the point of their intersection draw a perpendicular to the 
 ground line ; in this perpendicular will be the point of the gable, 
 the height of which and pitch of the roof may be assumed by 
 estimation of the eye. 
 
 There is nothing in the practice of landscape painting, in which 
 error is more frequently committed by those who are unacquainted 
 with the rules of perspective than in the delineation of this figure ; 
 the point of the gable being frequently made equidistant from the 
 points a and h ; and it is equally common to err in representing 
 the perspective diminution of the receding part of the end, by 
 placing the point a above or below its true situation. 
 
 Application of the and 7th Problems to the delineation of arches in 
 
 perspective. 
 
 Let ABDF (fig. 9.) be a plane in perspective, on which it is 
 required to draw three equal arches, the spaces between them 
 being also equal. 
 
 From C, the vanishing point and centre of the picture, transfer 
 the point of distance to the horizontal line at e, and from e through 
 F draw a line to meet the parallel to the ground line in f ; then is 
 Bf the geometrical measure of which BF is the representation. 
 On this line set off the three required arches at equal distances, 
 and with equal spaces ; from the divisions draw lines to the point 
 of distance e, which will intersect the base line of the perspective 
 plane ; at their intersections, perpendiculars to the ground line of 
 the picture being drawn will determine the apparent width of the 
 arches, and the perspective centre of each is found by the inter- 
 section of the diagonals (as in problem 7) ; from each intersection a 
 perpendicular to the ground line will be that in which the point or 
 crown of the arch will be found ; the curvature of the arch may be 
 
 c 
 
10 
 
 PERSPECTIVE. 
 
 given with sufficient truth by the eye, without the application of 
 geometrical rules. 
 
 “ Then, as the work proceeds, that work submit 
 
 “ To sight instinctive, not to doubting wit; 
 
 “ The eye each obvious error quick descries, 
 
 “ Hold then the compass only in the eyes.” Mason’s Du Fresnoy. 
 
 To ascertain the perspective diminution of the human (or other) figure , 
 according to its distance from the foreground. 
 
 Let IK (fig. 9.) be the height of the figure on the foreground ; 
 draw to the vanishing point in the centre of the picture the lines 
 IC and KC ; at any distance, a perpendicular to the ground line 
 drawn upon the line KC will cut IC in the height of the figure at 
 that distance ; and consequently on any part of a line parallel to 
 the ground line at the same distance. If the station of the figure 
 he above the ground plane, a perpendicular must be drawn from it 
 to the ground, and the height of the figure at that point will be 
 found by the above method, which height must be transferred to 
 the station of the figure. 
 
 By the foregoing rules the perspective appearance of an object 
 may be delineated, from the assumption of a part thereof by esti- 
 mation of the eye, without the assistance of the ground plan ; they 
 are as little dependent on geometrical projection as possible, my 
 intention being to treat of such rules only as are indispensable in 
 drawing landscape from nature. To the learner, whose subjects 
 are architectural, or such as being of known dimensions and pro- 
 portions, the geometrical rules of perspective may be applied to, 
 I would recommend Mr. Malton’s Treatise on the subject, the 
 second edition of which was published in 1779, in folio ; also the 
 Lectures on Perspective delivered at the British Institution by 
 
OF REFLECTIONS. 
 
 11 
 
 Mr. Wood ; whose publication is accompanied with an apparatus, 
 ingeniously contrived to demonstrate those principles which cannot 
 be so easily explained by linear diagrams. 
 
 OF REFLECTIONS. 
 
 By an invariable law in optics, the angles of incidence and 
 reflection are equal ; the angle of incidence is that formed between 
 a ray from the object, and a perpendicular to the reflecting sur- 
 face, thus A (fig. 10.) is the object, ADF is the angle of incidence, 
 and EOF is that of reflection from the plane ID 2. To an eye 
 any where in the line DE the reflected image of the object at A 
 will appear to be at a. 
 
 To determine the reflected image of an object, from the surface of 
 
 water at rest. (Fig. 11.) 
 
 If the seat of the object be above the level of the water, con- 
 tinue it down to that level at the distance of the object, from that 
 point take the height of the object, and apply it downward on the 
 water, which will give the extent of the reflected image. 
 
 When the reflected image is viewed from a station near the 
 level of the water, it will be nearly that of the object inverted, but 
 if seen from an elevated point it will not be so ; thus, an animal 
 standing in the water, and seen from above, will have the under 
 parts reflected, and not the part of the back seen in the figure. 
 
 Of reflection from water when in motion. (Fig. 12.) 
 
 From water in motion the reflection of an object is considerably 
 extended towards the spectator, there being in the convex part of 
 each undulation a point from whence it will be reflected : there- 
 
 c 2 
 
12 
 
 OF AERIAL PERSPECTIVE. 
 
 fore, if the elevated part of each wave be considered as a portion of 
 the surface of a cylinder, the optical law before explained being 
 applied to that figure in a transverse section thereof, which is a 
 circle, the place of reflection will thereby be found. 
 
 If lines be drawn from the place of the object, and that of the 
 eye to the centre of a cylindric mirror, they will there make an 
 angle, the bisection of which will cut the surface of the cylinder in 
 the reflecting point. (Fig. 12.) 
 
 The incidental rays coming from a luminous body, at almost an 
 infinite distance, as those from the sun, are parallel. 
 
 OF AERIAL PERSPECTIVE. 
 
 Aerial perspective is the art of giving the due diminution of 
 light, shadow, and colour of objects, according to their distance, 
 and the medium through which they are seen; the gradation 
 throughout the picture being taken from the highest lights, in 
 regard to strength and colour. The principal lights may be of 
 any degree of brightness, but the gradation must be according to 
 the scale chosen, as the musician may choose his key, but having 
 done so, he must keep to that and its relatives. Thus the picture 
 is said to be wrought from a high or low tone, according to that of 
 the principal lights ; if those are low, the rest of the picture must 
 have its depth of shadow and colour regulated accordingly. 
 
 By keeping, is meant the due proportion of fight, shadow, and 
 colour over the whole picture. If any object in it, by having too 
 great, or not sufficient strength, appears to come forward or to 
 recede too much, it is said to be “ out of keeping.” 
 
 The eye does not judge of the distance of an object so truly by 
 its magnitude as by the relative strength of colour, and distinctness 
 
OF THE LOCAL COLOUR. 
 
 13 
 
 of its parts. Objects appear larger when viewed through a foggy 
 medium, in consequence of being seen under a greater angle than 
 they would subtend at the distance indicated by the indistinctness 
 of their form and colour. 
 
 OF THE LOCAL COLOUR 
 
 By original or local colour, is meant the colour of the object 
 when seen in a full, clear light, and at a small distance. This is 
 altered by several causes, such as the distance of the object, the 
 reflected colour communicated to it by near objects of a different 
 colour, or its being seen through a coloured medium, as that of a 
 hazy atmosphere. 
 
 The local tint of the object should prevail more in the middle 
 colour and lower gradations of light than in the shadows ; the hues 
 of the latter, however varied, must in some degree approximate to 
 each other, so as to produce a prevailing and general shadow tone 
 throughout the picture, in which the aerial tint should increase as 
 the objects become more remote from the foreground. The parts in 
 shadow should never be made out so distinctly as those exposed 
 to the light, nor even so distinctly as by habit we are enabled to 
 imagine that we see them. The power of comprehending the de- 
 tailed parts of the objects of sight is in a greater degree than we 
 are generally aware of acquired ; especially by those who are ac- 
 customed to descry remote objects with which they are familiar. A 
 seaman can readily discover vessels, so as to be able to describe them 
 when they are at a distance far beyond that in which they would 
 be distinctly perceptible to a common observer. 
 
 Objects in nature when strongly illuminated have their parts in 
 shadow less made out than when they are seen under a common 
 
14 
 
 OF THE LOCAL COLOUR. 
 
 and uniform degree of light. The contraction of the pupil of the 
 eye necessary to cause distinct vision, when viewing objects illumi- 
 nated by the direct solar light, renders it incapable of receiving at 
 the same time, during that contraction, distinct vision of the parts 
 in shade : as we are unable to perceive objects on a sudden removal 
 from a very strong light into an obscure place, until the pupil 
 has time to adjust itself by dilatation, which cannot take place in- 
 stantaneously, nor whilst a considerable quantity of brilliant light is 
 within the circle of vision. 
 
 Light colours reflecting more than dark ones, are less affected by 
 distance ; and those of objects are so much altered by reflection 
 from others, that they seldom come to the eye pure and unbroken ; 
 this is the cause of that beautiful harmony seen in nature, so dif- 
 ferent from the effect caused by an arrangement of unbroken and 
 positive colours. The forms of the shadows are also softened and 
 blended by numerous penumbral alterations, which increase this 
 harmony. For this reason, a strict application of mathematical 
 rules for determining the projection of shadow, without taking into 
 consideration the above causes, is calculated to produce the same 
 kind of erroneous representation as in colouring would be occasioned 
 by painting each object of its true local colour, without regard to the 
 alteration caused by its relative situation. It is the business of the 
 artist rather to avoid mathematical forms, and such abrupt termi- 
 nations of shadow as offend the eye: perhaps there are few ex- 
 amples of excellent effect to be found in the works of those who 
 have been guided principally by the mathematical rules of art, 
 which, however correct in linear delineation, are usually untrue in 
 harmony, and poor in effect. A relish may be acquired for exhibiting 
 too much of the cause, to the injury of the effect. The concealment 
 of art being necessary to the perfection of its productions, so 
 
INCIDENTAL LIGHT. 
 
 15 
 
 nothing can be more injurious to it than the ostentatious display 
 of its rules. 
 
 “ He best employs his art who best conceals.” Du Fresnoy. 
 
 A principle the reverse of this generally pervades such works 
 as I allude to ; instead of concealing the cause, it is exhibited in 
 every part of the subject, and on every occasion ; for the performer 
 cannot prevail upon himself to keep down or conceal any part of 
 that precision he values himself upon, in order to produce the best 
 effect of the whole. 
 
 The geometrical rules of perspective are not strictly true when 
 they are applied in the delineation of such objects as are greatly 
 affected by the atmosphere, its refractive power not being taken into 
 consideration ; nor can it be allowed for by any fixed rule, since it 
 is observed in very different degrees in different situation. Eemote 
 objects appear to be considerably raised thereby, and a degree of 
 curvature is given to distant and extended vanishing lines, sufficiently 
 perceptible to the eye of an artist to prevent him from representing 
 them by such as are drawn along the edge of a straight ruler. In this 
 case he will, like the astronomer whose operations are affected by 
 the same cause, make an allowance for it according to circumstances 
 and his judgment. I am aware that this refraction is not thought 
 to be of much importance, and I consider the neglect of it to be 
 one of the causes of that unnatural stiffness observable in many of 
 such works as are the result of a strict application of geometrical 
 rules only. 
 
 INCIDENTAL LIGHT 
 
 Is that which illuminates the object when it is not obstructed 
 by the interposition of other objects. 
 
 i 
 
16 
 
 CHIARO SCURO. 
 
 REFLECTED LIGHT 
 
 Is that which objects receive in a greater or less degree by the 
 reflection of a part of the incidental light from those which are 
 situated near them. This is determined by the relative situations 
 of objects and position of the reflecting surfaces, consequently may 
 be variously compounded, especially with regard to colour. 
 
 CHIARO SCURO 
 
 Is an Italian compound simply signifying light and shade, but is 
 used in a more extended sense to denote the artificial distribution 
 of light and dark in a picture, so as to produce the best effect of the 
 whole together, whether the light be incidental, and such as the 
 objects naturally receive, or caused by local colours that are bright 
 and luminous in themselves, in opposition to the browns, and other 
 dark colours, whether local or representing shadow ; the opposition 
 being not only of light and shadow, but also that of light coloured 
 objects contrasted with dark ones, by an arrangement of such local 
 colours as will extend the breadth of light, or keep down those parts 
 of the picture that require to be obscured. 
 
 The works of Rubens, Rembrandt, Sir Joshua Reynolds, with 
 those of many other Flemish and English artists, abound in ex- 
 cellent examples of chiaro-scuro, which are preserved in the prints 
 from them. This is not the case with regard to many of those from 
 the old masters ; the early engravers having given the light and dark 
 of nearly the same tone, whatever the local colour of the objects may 
 be. The modern engravers have greatly improved this part of their 
 art, by expressing in their prints the relative strength of the light 
 
ACCIDENTS. 
 
 17 
 
 and shadow according to the brightness or obscurity of the local 
 tints, so as to produce the general tone of the picture. 
 
 It may be proper to remark, that very little of the principle of 
 the chiaro scuro can be found in any work of art produced before the 
 time when Giorgione, Titian, and Corregio flourished. From the 
 Venetian it was derived to the Flemish school, by Rubens, Van- 
 dyke, &c., and in this country Sir Joshua Reynolds, Wilson, Barrett, 
 and Gainsborough, with many others, have, like the Flemings, car- 
 ried the principle and practice to a greater degree of perfection 
 than was ever attained by the Venetian painters. It is therefore 
 needless to seek abroad, or in the works of the old masters, for in- 
 formation on chiaro scuro, which may be better obtained from the 
 moderns, and at home. 
 
 ACCIDENTS. 
 
 An accident in painting is an obstruction of the light, ^by the 
 interposition of clouds, &c. in such manner that it strikes partially 
 and in sudden gleams, as it is frequently observed to do in nature ; 
 these must be accounted for in the management of the sky, and 
 whether caused by such clouds as are in the picture, or are supposed 
 to be beyond its limits, the effect should appear probable. 
 
 The works of Gaspar Poussin contain examples of great excel- 
 lence in this part of the art : a comparison between the prints from 
 his works and those from Claude, which being without colour, will 
 show the superiority of the former, to the tame and almost insipid 
 gradation of the latter, who depending upon colouring, in which he 
 greatly excelled, never ventured to introduce, and probably did not 
 feel, those almost electrical effects caused by the skilful management 
 of sudden bursts of light, as treated by Gaspar Poussin, Rembrandt, 
 Rubens, Wilson, and other great masters. 
 
 D 
 
18 
 
 OF 
 
 DRAWING FROM NATURE. 
 
 The foundation for drawing and painting from nature should be laid 
 by studying and copying the works of the best masters, in order to 
 ascertain their methods of practice, and principles of composition. 
 With such assistance, the learner will acquire the power of seeing 
 what is most perfect in nature ; without this preparation, he cannot 
 be expected to discover what is fittest for the pencil. When he is 
 become familiar with the works of those masters, he will readily per- 
 ceive in nature what would otherwise have been unnoticed: the 
 mind so prepared, on the sight of what is grand or beautiful, feels 
 this to be like Wilson or Poussin, or that like Salvator Rosa, and by 
 finding what the choice of those and other great artists has been, 
 learns to prefer similar forms and combinations of objects wherever 
 they present themselves : the principal and most important part of 
 painting being to know what is most beautiful in nature, and most 
 proper for imitation. The masters to be recommended for this 
 purpose are those who have obtained the highest reputation ; and 
 the learner would do well to avoid grvmg his attention to any other 
 until he has so far matured his judgment, as to be able to look at 
 the productions of any inferior class without being tempted to 
 imitate them. He may then find in the works of the Flemish and 
 Dutch artists every thing that is excellent in colouring, chiaro 
 scuro, and handling, without being influenced by their vulgar 
 choice of common nature, or seduced, by their finishing and minor 
 
OF DRAWING FROM NATURE. 
 
 19 
 
 qualities, from his pursuit after what he ought to prefer, and acquire 
 a relish for, in preference to all lesser considerations. A consi- 
 derable portion of the life of an artist is often lost before he can 
 determine what he ought to prefer, every thing that is excellent in 
 its way forcing itself upon his attention ; and that of an inferior 
 kind is more likely to do so than what is better, being more within 
 his comprehension, and requiring none of that preparatory know- 
 ledge necessary to enable him to perceive excellence of a higher 
 kind. 
 
 It is not meant to recommend the study of the works of any 
 artist exclusively, but to select the best, such are those of Gaspar 
 Poussin, Wilson, Claude, &c., which the student may safely take upon 
 trust, until he has advanced so far as to be qualified to feel in some 
 degree and appreciate their superiority. The works of many other 
 masters possess considerable excellence in some particulars, although 
 they may be very defective in others, and he will deceive himself by 
 attempting to gain any thing from them before he is become familiar 
 with and can relish better things. A like desultory method of 
 obtaining instruction from living artists is often pursued by the 
 learner, who imagines he can, by receiving a few lessons from various 
 teachers, glean from each what is best in his particular practice. In 
 this manner he will probably never learn at all, nor can he expect to 
 attain a power that is attended with difficulty even in the hands 
 of an artist, the formation of a composite style of art ; the me- 
 thods practised by different professors being often so dissimilar, as 
 not to admit of association without the destruction in a great 
 measure of what is good in each. 
 
 Much advice has been given, especially by men of literary attain- 
 ments, to induce the student to look entirely at nature, and to 
 form his style upon what is there presented to his observation. It 
 
 d 2 
 
20 
 
 OF DRAWING FROM NATURE. 
 
 may, in reply, be asked, how is he to write a language he does not 
 yet understand, or express the forms and characters of objects before 
 he has learned that of the art ? It is true, that every variety of objects 
 and their effects he can desire to represent may be observed in 
 nature ; but it is equally true that every thing he should avoid may 
 be found there also, and a relish for what is defective is much more 
 likely to be imbibed, than a taste for what is select and beautiful, 
 by one who is unqualified to perceive it, and who imagines he has 
 nothing to do but to represent every thing as he finds it. 
 
 “ Whoso will be excellent, must both spende much time in practice, and looke over 
 the doings of other men.” Mobley. 
 
 It is only by availing himself of the information that may be gleaned 
 from the works of those who have preceded him that he can per- 
 ceive the necessity of selection, or acquire the methods of touching, 
 and manual practice requisite for his purpose. In the latter, artists 
 vary exceedingly ; some adopting a kind of touch that is mechanical, 
 or little more than conventional, and such as we allow to represent 
 this or that, being reconciled to it by habit ; but from all he may 
 learn much of the management of the pencil that he would have 
 long to seek for in nature ; and although he may not, and ought 
 not, implicitly to follow any of them, he may yet by their means be 
 better enabled to form a style of his own. 
 
 The advancement of art depending upon the accumulated 
 practice of its professors, no man ever did or can carry it far, without 
 availing himself of the labours of his predecessors or contemporaries. 
 The man of extraordinary powers, close observation, and unremitting 
 practice, by adding to what has been done before his time some- 
 thing of his own, carries the art by so doing a step nearer to per- 
 fection ; without such assistance, his productions may be very 
 
OF DRAWING FROM NATURE. 
 
 21 
 
 estimable, and evince great talent ; as it may be found in the works 
 of several of the Flemish and Dutch painters, who were never out 
 of their own country, nor had the advantage of seeing what was 
 done elsewhere. In estimating their productions, we are compelled 
 to regret that they were precluded by circumstances from obtaining 
 that which, with their talent, would have placed them in the highest 
 rank of art. 
 
 On proceeding to the study of nature, and practising in order to 
 acquire the power of giving correctness of form and truth of cha- 
 racter, it may be a matter of indifference at what time it is done, 
 provided the forms can be seen distinctly. When the learner shall 
 have to consider his subject with regard to the effect of light and 
 shadow, he will find that it is not the best when viewed in full day- 
 light, but rather early in the morning, or, which is still better, late 
 in the day, and about the time of sunsetting. Then the shadows 
 are broad, and the parts of the subject so united, that only the 
 principal features are made out, the subordinate parts and de- 
 tail being lost in the general masses. There are few people who 
 have not observed a grand and striking effect on seeing a view for 
 the first time by twilight, and who, on seeing it again by day-light, 
 have not remarked, and been surprised at finding it poor, and void 
 of effect. 
 
 An artist is perfectly aware of the cause of this difference, and 
 therefore, when he does not observe a good effect on the spot, he 
 either returns to it at another time, or treats the subject as his 
 mind, by practice, informs him how it would be at that time, under 
 a more favourable disposition of light and shadow. 
 
 Considerable help may be derived from the use of the blackened 
 convex mirror, in discovering what is proper for the pencil, as it 
 takes in as much, or nearly so, as should come into the picture : many 
 
22 
 
 ON DRAWING FROM NATURE. 
 
 subjects, particularly those that are near and strongly illuminated, 
 will by this means be found to possess great beauty, and such pic- 
 turesque effect, as a person of little practice would overlook. 
 
 The effect of objects seen in the mirror will be like that in the 
 camera obscura ; and for the same reason, the dark parts reflecting 
 less than the lights, the opposition of the light and shadow will be 
 greater than in nature ; but there is no harm to be apprehended 
 from this circumstance that can affect a beginner. 
 
 “ Much will the mirror teach, or evening grey, 
 
 “ When o’er some ample space her twilight ray 
 <£ Obscurely gleams.” Mason’s Du Fresnoy. 
 
 Subjects treated as seen by full daylight may receive effect by 
 the admission of accidental shadows, such as are caused by clouds, 
 or some other object supposed to be out of the picture ; without 
 such expedients, a good effect can seldom be produced. 
 
 Those accidents are frequently of great use to throw into ob- 
 scurity some part, or to hide the defects of others ; as in a moun- 
 tain of an unpleasing form, the outline may be concealed, either 
 entirely or partially, by the interposition of clouds introduced for 
 that purpose. 
 
 On the choice of the subject and method of sketching from nature. 
 
 In the choice of the subject, those are to be preferred that are 
 composed of few parts, and of large forms. The point of view 
 should be that where the objects appear to combine together, and 
 groupe to the greatest advantage; if the composition consists of 
 three masses, that is, of one principal, and the others subordinate 
 to it, with such opening as may be requisite to show the distance, 
 of which a small portion may be sufficient ; it will be found more 
 
OF DRAWING FROM NATURE. 
 
 23 
 
 proper for picturesque representation than such as are composed 
 of many small parts, and which beginners will be apt to prefer. 
 
 In this respect, the mirror will be found exceedingly useful, by 
 showing that the multitude of objects, which in nature appear 
 pleasing, frequently have the poorest effect possible, and that those 
 of the distance and middle grounds are so diminutive in the re- 
 presentation, as to be incapable of contributing, in any considerable 
 degree, to the general effect. 
 
 The subject being chosen, the next thing to be determined is 
 the station or point of view : the height of this is of some im- 
 portance, yet there is no rule concerning the choice that can be 
 generally applied, farther than that it is to be preferred rather low 
 than otherwise, provided it be not so low as to cause some of the 
 objects to intercept the view of others to the injury of the com- 
 position ; as it is not necessary that every object known to be in 
 the scene should appear: on the contrary, the composition may 
 require that many of them should be seen partially, and some not 
 at all. From a low station, the objects on and near the foreground 
 appear more elevated, and with better effect than from a height, 
 yet the latter is to be sometimes preferred in the view of a very 
 extensive and rich distance. 
 
 Those who are but little conversant with works of art, or with 
 the principles on which they are conducted, rarely choose, espe- 
 cially in a mountainous country, a station proper for picturesque 
 combination and effect, being tempted to prefer an elevated 
 situation from whence they may see a multitude of objects, and to 
 introduce as much of what they see as can be brought within the 
 limits of the picture. 
 
 The station being determined, the learner must ascertain how 
 much of the subject will come into his sketch : on referring to 
 
24 
 
 OF DRAWING FROM NATURE. 
 
 page 3, he will find the proper distance of the eye from the picture 
 to be not less than its length. If the paper be of the size and 
 proportion of the intended sketch, by holding it before the eye, 
 at, or near a distance equal to its length, in that situation it will 
 appear to cover as much of the subject as may generally be in- 
 troduced into the picture. 
 
 In such situation of the paper, particular notice should be 
 taken of the objects terminating the view at each end, as they 
 must be referred to, in order to find the relative situations of 
 others. 
 
 The next thing to be found is the line where the foreground 
 will commence to the best advantage. The artist cannot draw 
 the ground he stands upon, for the obvious reason, that he cannot 
 see it and his subject at the same time. How far he may remove 
 it will depend on circumstances : as if the objects are elevated, or 
 the scene be in a mountainous country, he will find, that unless the 
 nearest part of his foreground be at a sufficient distance from his 
 station, he will exclude the sky ; therefore, holding up the paper as 
 before directed, and raising it until it covers so much of the sky as 
 will be requisite to the picture, and observing what part of the 
 ground coincides with the lower edge, it may be considered as the 
 line of the nearest foreground, and the bottom of the picture. 
 
 When objects of great altitude are to be delineated, it will be 
 found best to make the sketch in what is called the upright form, 
 that is, with its depth greater than the length. 
 
 In landscape, the usual proportion of the length to the depth 
 of the picture is as 3 to 2, or nearly so ; but in a flat and widely 
 extended scene, the character of the country may be much better 
 represented by extending the length considerably. 
 
 The space to be included in the sketch having been deter- 
 
OF DRAWING FROM NATURE. 
 
 25 
 
 mined, the horizontal line in nature must be found; this being 
 always at the height of the eye, if a string or thread be stretched 
 horizontally across, and near the eyes, it will pass through certain 
 objects, or parts of objects, in the view ; and it should be observed, 
 where it crosses these at the termination of either side ; to find the 
 place of the horizontal line on the paper, and its height above the 
 bottom of the picture, hold up the paper as before, with its lower 
 edge coinciding with the line determined to be the nearest part 
 of the foreground, and mark upon the side of the edge thereof the 
 apparent place of the object terminating the scene through which 
 the horizontal line in nature was observed to pass ; from this point 
 a line drawn across the paper parallel to the bottom will be the 
 horizontal line in the sketch, and the line on which to place those 
 objects through which it appeared to pass in nature. 
 
 The places of the principal objects and their relative distances 
 may be determined, as near as the eye can judge, in the following 
 manner. Having observed the terminating objects at each end of 
 the view, examine if there be any object in or near the middle of 
 the space between them, and mark its place by a touch of the 
 pencil, in or near the middle of the paper, then, taking notice of 
 what other objects are between the middle and each end, in such 
 proportions as the eye can determine, as one-half, one-third, one- 
 quarter, &c. of the space, mark the places of those also at the same 
 proportional distances in the sketch. When a sufficient number 
 of the principal features have been marked in their places in this 
 manner, proceed to sketch lightly their general forms, and after- 
 wards, in the same light manner, the intermediate objects, which 
 must fall in their proper places, if the principal ones are so ; it will 
 be then found, that there is room enough for every part of the 
 
 E 
 
£6 
 
 OF DRAWING FROM NATURE. 
 
 subject, and nothing to spare, which is not likely to be the case 
 if this division of the subject be neglected. 
 
 The apparent situation and proportion of every object in the 
 view may be found with great accuracy by the following method, 
 which in some cases is useful, particularly when despatch is neces- 
 sary ; but I would advise those who wish to attain any proficiency 
 in the art to depend upon the eye, and to abstain, generally, from 
 the use of such expedients, as they would from those of measuring 
 or tracing in making a copy. 
 
 The size of the sketch having been determined, suppose the 
 length to be sixteen inches, provide a ruler of the same length, 
 divided into any number of equal parts ; to the middle of this ruler 
 fasten a string, a knot being tied on it at that length, viz. sixteen 
 inches, when taken between the teeth will allow the ruler to be 
 removed to such a distance from the eye, as will cause it to cover 
 just the length of the space to be represented. If it be requisite 
 to take in a little more or less, the knot may be a little nearer to, 
 or farther from the ruler. The knot being taken between the 
 teeth, and the ruler held at its distance in that situation, the end 
 must correspond with the object terminating the view at eithei 
 end ; the intermediate objects will then correspond with some of the 
 divisions of the ruler, and that being the length of the paper pre- 
 pared for the sketch, on being applied to it, will show the place of 
 every object, always taking care to bring the ruler to correspond 
 at its end exactly with the same object, or part of an object, which 
 is to terminate the scene. 
 
 The apparent height of any part may be found by holding 
 the ruler perpendicularly, at the same distance from the eye, with 
 its lower end at the line of foreground ; the division corresponding 
 
OF DRAWING FROM NATURE. 
 
 27 
 
 with the height of the object is laid upon the sketch in the same 
 manner. 
 
 If to this ruler a slip of wood be added, of any convenient 
 length, moveable on a joint pin at one end, to open like a car- 
 penter's rule, and sufficiently stiff to remain in any position it is 
 s et to, it may be used in ascertaining apparent angles, or in finding 
 the vanishing points : if the rule be held so as to coincide with any 
 perpendicular line, the moveable slip being brought to correspond 
 with a vanishing line in nature, will show the direction in which 
 that line tends to its vanishing point. 
 
 A limited use of mechanical or optical contrivances may be 
 allowed to the beginner, but the student who is desirous to excel 
 will not avail himself of those helps for the indolent, that are not 
 intended for him, and which will be resorted to only by such as 
 cannot be induced to use exertion, to whom, as little or nothing is 
 expected from them, no harm can be done. 
 
 The general forms being slightly sketched in, the outlines 
 should be completed by going more carefully over the several parts, 
 marking with more determined lines and touches the form of each, 
 and correcting the first outline where it may be necessary. In 
 trees, the general form may be given with greater certainty by 
 drawing the trunk in its shape and inclination, then the branches, 
 marking their bendings and situations, with respect to each other, 
 as correctly as possible ; lastly, add the foliage, by disposing it in 
 such masses as it appears to have in nature, marking firmly and 
 distinctly their lights. The character and lightness of foliage 
 depending very much upon the touch and execution, more par- 
 ticularly at the extremities, it is very necessary for the learner to 
 acquire a good touch of the pencil, which should be done in 
 some measure previously to the study of nature, by a careful 
 
 e 2 
 
28 
 
 OF DRAWING FROM NATURE. 
 
 imitation of the works of such masters as have excelled in that 
 particular. 
 
 Since the invention of lithography, various works designed for 
 the use of learners have been published : the peculiar advantage 
 of impressions from stone consists in their being given by the lines 
 and touches of the artist himself, and not by a copy, or imitation, as 
 in the usual methods of engraving on copper, therefore the print is 
 in every respect equal to, and may be considered as an original 
 sketch. These being numerous, and to be had at all the print- 
 shops, the insertion of such examples was not deemed necessary 
 in the first edition of this work. Many of my friends, however, 
 think differently, and with willingness I acquiesce in the advice 
 that has been so generally offered, by subjoining a few specimens, 
 in the hope that they may be serviceable to those for whose use 
 this work is intended. They consist of such sketches as constitute 
 the rudiments of drawing, and the elements of landscape, being 
 intended to show the different methods of touch by which the 
 trees, &e. may be expressed, and convey some idea of the manner 
 by which the parts in distance, or on and near the foreground, may 
 be touched, so as to exhibit the character of each, and contain so 
 much of the detail as will enable any one to finish his picture at 
 leisure from a sketch so treated. In the forms of the various 
 objects that enter into the composition of landscape, it is not 
 enough to give the general outline only ; but within that, the 
 variety of surface observable in nature should be indicated, as 
 wood, rocks, broken ground, or the lines, if any, bounding those 
 lesser parts the subject is composed of: the neglect of this will 
 render it impracticable to make a picture with a sufficient degree 
 of local truth from the sketch, when out of sight of the scene in 
 
 nature. 
 
OF DRAWING FROM NATURE. 
 
 29 
 
 The buildings being marked in their proper places and slightly 
 sketched in, may be corrected by the rules of perspective, if neces- 
 sary, or proved whether they are right. For this purpose, find the 
 vanishing points of the lines parallel to the horizon, in such planes 
 of the building as appear to the spectator. Those points are in 
 the horizontal line, and may be ascertained with sufficient exact- 
 ness by holding a thread so as to coincide with a line in the 
 upper part of the building, or where such a vanishing line makes 
 the greatest angle with the horizontal line, which it will intersect 
 in the vanishing point of all lines parallel to the ground in 
 that plane of the building. Being seen on the angle, and con- 
 sequently having two vanishing sides to be represented, the 
 vanishing point of the lines in the other will be found in the same 
 manner; if those points fall within the picture, their place will 
 be in, or near some object already sketched, if beyond it, on either 
 side they may readily be ascertained, by comparing the space they 
 are beyond it with that occupied by the subject. If greater ac- 
 curacy is required, it may be obtained by holding a ruler divided 
 into equal parts, so as to coincide with the horizontal line in 
 nature, and sufficiently near the eye to cover the space taken up 
 by the subject, and extend to the vanishing point beyond its 
 boundary. By comparing the number of divisions of the scale in 
 the subject with those between its boundary and the vanishing 
 point, the distance of the latter will be ascertained. 
 
 The outlines of buildings, as of every other object, should be 
 drawn by hand, otherwise they will inevitably be stiff and formal ; 
 if the ruler be used at all, the line should be marked by it as 
 slightly as possible, and afterwards be gone over with the hand. 
 Compasses and rulers are instruments from which the artist who is 
 advanced beyond the rudiments of his art should require little 
 
so 
 
 OF DRAWING FROM NATURE. 
 
 assistance ; not only because he ought to be independent on such 
 helps, but because what is done without them will be less formal 
 than what is performed mechanically, although the cause of dif- 
 ference may not be discoverable without the assistance of instru- 
 ments. To be incapable of applying the rules to the objects of 
 landscape without the use of compasses, would be scarcely less dis- 
 creditable to an artist than the inability to draw a line sufficiently 
 straight without a ruler. 
 
 The following is an explanation of the subject on the annexed 
 plate, as drawn from nature : 
 
 On holding the paper as directed in page 3, that is, at a 
 distance from the eye equal to its length, it was found to cover so 
 much of the subject as is contained between the tower at the left 
 hand side, and the cottage at the other end of the view, a part of 
 each of those objects being also hid by it. To give the requisite 
 space in depth to the sky and subject, the paper was held so that 
 its lower edge (being the bottom of the picture) coincided with the 
 stone on which the figure rests, that is therefore the nearest pait of 
 the ground which ought to be represented. 
 
 To find the horizontal line in nature, a thread being stretched 
 horizontally, and exactly at the height of the eye, passed thiough 
 the window of the cottage, and by holding up the paper again with 
 its lower edge at the stone, and at the same distance from the eye 
 as before, the edge of it at L corresponded with the window, from 
 this point a line being drawn parallel to the ground line MN, is the 
 horizontal line of the picture. 
 
 To ascertain the places of the leading features of the subject, I 
 observe the farthest end of the chapel on the hill is near the 
 middle of the space to be represented; and mark the place at A; 
 I observe also that the building occupies a space somewhat greater 
 
OF DRAWING FROM NATURE. 
 
 31 
 
 than half the length from A to the right hand side of the picture, 
 which I estimate by the eye to be at B, the lower edge of the roof 
 I suppose to be at D, (but its apparent height above the horizontal 
 line may be found, if required, by the graduated ruler and string, as 
 before mentioned). The chapel may then be sketched slightly in 
 its place, as in the example. This object may serve to determine 
 the height of the tower, the top of which is nearly at the same 
 height above the horizontal line as the ground on which the chapel 
 is situated, its base being at nearly the same distance below the 
 horizontal line ; this may be slightly sketched in also. The top 
 of the roof of the cottage is a little lower than the ground at the 
 end of the chapel, and may be sketched in accordingly. By re- 
 ferring to those, the intermediate objects are to be put in slightly 
 like the rest. The next operation is to find the vanishing point in 
 nature. Facing the centre of the view, a thread stretched at a 
 sufficient distance from the eye, and held so as to coincide with the 
 line AD in the roof of the chapel, and of a sufficient length to 
 intersect the horizontal line, crossed it at H, a small distance 
 beyond the limit of the picture ; this is the vanishing point of AD, 
 and of all fines that are parallel to it. In the same manner, by a 
 fine passing through the lower corners of the roof of the cottage, or 
 those at its foundation, the vanishing point was found in C the 
 centre of the picture. By the intersection of the diagonals (by 
 Prob. 7.) the point of the gable is found. These particulars being 
 ascertained, the whole may be correctly sketched, and the parts 
 requisite in the detail may be added as in the lower example. 
 
 It may not be improper to advise the learner to make his 
 sketch on a scale rather large than otherwise ; an artist can express 
 all that he wants to do, or will have occasion for, in a small space, 
 but what may be sufficient for his purpose will be comparatively 
 
32 
 
 OF DRAWING FROM NATURE. 
 
 useless in the hands of a person of little practice ; by the latter, the 
 disadvantage of a small sketch will be experienced when he would 
 make a drawing from it, especially if it be necessary to enlarge 
 it, as he will then find great difficulty in expressing many things 
 requisite to the detail, which in the sketch he had not room to 
 indicate. 
 
 Young performers are frequently curious with regard to their 
 materials, especially pencils ; it will soon be discovered that by 
 using a hard one for the distances, and a softer for the foreground, 
 the gradation may be better expressed than by using the same 
 throughout. Those who are somewhat advanced in practice do 
 not attend to such trifling matters, but take a pencil, chalk, or any 
 thing else that may be at hand ; and, so far from being particular in 
 the choice of materials, I would rather recommend an endeavour to 
 acquire the power of managing those of any or of every kind. 
 
 With regard to the style of sketching, something may be offered 
 by way of caution, as well as of instruction, particularly with respect 
 to execution, which is much to be admired when combined with 
 other and greater requisites. Many, however, are so much misled 
 by admiration of this kind of excellence, and are so eager to acquire 
 it, that they begin their practice where it should end, and by a few 
 unmeaning dashes, tell their tale “ full of sound and fury sig- 
 nifying nothing.” He who has the ill luck to be solicited to look 
 at, and expected to commend such performances, is usually made 
 to understand in how few minutes they were done ; but it should 
 be asked “ what is this part composed of?” or if it be observed “ of 
 this mountain I see nothing but the outline against the sky, if it be 
 rocky, covered with wood, or divided into subordinate masses, why 
 did you not express it so ?” The answer ever is, “ I had not time.” 
 Such a sketch is to be considered as little better than the scrawling 
 
OF DRAWING FROM NATURE. 
 
 33 
 
 of a child in its imitation of writing. The endeavour of the learner 
 should rather be, to draw correctly the form ; when he can do this 
 with certainty, he will do it readily, and then only his performance 
 can possess freedom. When free and rapid execution is prema- 
 turely attempted, he may be assured it will be any thing but what 
 is masterly, and characterized by nothing but the want of truth. 
 
 By doing quickly he will never learn to do well, by doing well 
 he may learn to do quickly. 
 
 In the endeavour to gain freedom of hand, a beginner is some- 
 times induced to suppose that his success will be facilitated, by 
 drawing the object he would represent of a large size. On this 
 head I need only observe, that its dimensions are of very little 
 importance to him in that respect, and that he has nothing what- 
 ever to do with freedom of hand and execution until he has first 
 acquired the power of expressing the form correctly. 
 
 The excellent discourses of Sir Joshua Reynolds abound with 
 instruction: his notes on Mason’s translation of du Fresnoy’s 
 poem convey more valuable information to the student than the 
 text itself; yet, with all possible deference to the opinion of so 
 great a master, we may be permitted to doubt the soundness of 
 the advice he delivers in his elucidation of a passage in that work. 
 He observes that “ he wishes to understand a precept of du Fresnoy, 
 as recommending to the artist to 4 paint the sketch instead of 
 merely drawing it on paper,’ ” which he says 44 will give a facility 
 in the management of colours and handling that the Italian 
 painters, not having this custom, wanted ; by habit he will acquire 
 equal readiness in doing two things at a time as in doing only 
 one. A painter should, if possible, paint all his studies, and con- 
 sider drawing as a succedaneum when colours are not at hand. 
 
 F 
 
34 
 
 OF DRAWING FROM NATURE. 
 
 This was the practice of the Venetian painters, and of those who 
 have excelled in colouring.” 
 
 Whatever explanation the expressions of du Fresnoy may bear, 
 Sir Joshua has, on this passage, inculcated an opinion calculated to 
 induce the student to indulge in the neglect of one of the most 
 important branches of his practice ; and which is opposed not only 
 to that of the greatest masters, but is at variance with his own as 
 delivered in other parts of his writings, where he speaks of the 
 importance of early and diligent attention to the practice of 
 drawing, ascribing to the want of it and of instruction in the com- 
 mencement of his practice his own deficiency in that respect. 
 
 In his lectures he admits the defects of the Venetian 
 painters, and of Eubens, whose want of purity and correctness of 
 drawing he qualifies by ascribing to him so perfect an accordance 
 in the different parts of his system, that if his drawing were more 
 perfect, we should thereby be more sensible of the defect of over- 
 tinting in his colouring. 
 
 On this head there is no authority superior to that of Michael 
 Angelo, who, after viewing a picture by Titian, told Vasari, who 
 accompanied him, that he liked much his colouring and manner, 
 but then he added, that it was a pity the Venetian painters did 
 not learn to draw correctly in their early youth, and adopt a 
 better manner of study. 
 
 Except in making studies of particular parts of the subject, or 
 when the effect observed in nature happens to be good, the 
 practice of working up the sketch to effect, upon the spot, is ge- 
 nerally a waste of time, or worse, if it should induce the young 
 student to neglect the general character of nature, and to bestow 
 too much of his attention upon its little peculiarities ; the latter 
 
OF DRAWING FROM NATURE. 
 
 35 
 
 being more within his power, and apparently more interesting to 
 him, and to the generality of those who view his works, than the 
 former, in which a few expressive touches, giving the different 
 characters of the parts of the subject, will be much more to the 
 purpose. 
 
 The apparent slightness of an artist’s sketches may mislead 
 those who do not comprehend that he who has made considerable 
 progress in the art, can give character by a very few touches of his 
 pencil ; and indeed his sketch is not considered as being done in 
 an artist-like manner if it be otherwise. Being made for his use, 
 more than for the purpose of being exhibited, and as he can secure 
 all that is wanted by such means, he avoids all that is superfluous 
 or unnecessary. This power will never be acquired by executing 
 such unmeaning performances as we frequently see. All the parts 
 of a sketch should be treated in such a manner, that there would 
 be no difficulty to the person who made it, or to any other who can 
 paint at all, to produce from it, at any future time, a finished pic- 
 ture. I w T ould therefore earnestly advise the learner to accustom 
 himself (no matter what time it may require), to draw as correctly 
 as possible, whatever he undertakes to imitate ; always endeavouring 
 to give the peculiar character of every object as nearly as he can. 
 Facility will be acquired by practice, and it is only thus it can be 
 gained, whatever he may have been led to imagine to the contrary. 
 
 If the sketch is finished with the black lead pencil, it may be 
 secured from injury by washing it over with any glutinous fluid, 
 such as beer, very weak gum-water, a weak solution of isinglass, or 
 if the pencils have been hard, water alone will be sufficient for the 
 purpose. 
 
 The learner having had some practice in copying the works of 
 others, in order to acquire a good touch and style of handling, such 
 
 f 2 
 
36 
 
 OF DRAWING FROM NATURE. 
 
 as will express the character of the object, should then take every 
 opportunity of studying the detail of objects in nature, by making 
 as faithful copies of them as possible. 
 
 • Studies of the stems of trees, masses of rock, broken ground, 
 foliage, sky, water, &c. will be more conducive towards improve- 
 ment, than the delineation of the whole of general subjects, inde- 
 pendent of the great use to be made of them on future occasions, in 
 the composition or improvement of various subjects. These should 
 be closely copied, and as highly finished in every respect as the time 
 will admit ; but when an effect of light and shadow observed in 
 nature is to be secured, it must be done as speedily as possible, 
 being of short duration, and wanted for other purposes than truth 
 of detail or individual character ; finishing or making out the parts 
 will not then be requisite, the breadths of light and shadow being 
 all that are necessary for the purpose. 
 
 Studies of foreground are required on almost every occasion, as 
 it seldom happens to be good in nature at the station where all the 
 other requisites may be the best ; and the foreground being of such 
 consequence to the picture, and so much subject to the discretion of 
 the artist, that there are few cases in which he may not throw it 
 about as he pleases. For however incumbent it is on the learner 
 to imitate every thing he finds in his subjects as closely and accu- 
 rately as he can, it will not be necessary that he should continue to 
 do so, beyond the time when he is advanced in the art ; then, a 
 great deal more will be expected from him than the exact delineation 
 of that only which happens to be before him. This consideration 
 will be treated of hereafter under the head of licences. 
 
 Those who apply themselves to the practice of the arts for their 
 amusement, seldom devote their attention sufficiently to that of 
 making what are called studies from nature ; that is, not slight 
 
OF LIGHT AND SHADOW. 
 
 37 
 
 sketches but close and exact copies of what they would represent, 
 to be able to give the truth of form, character, or colour. A pro- 
 fessor of art being obliged to attend closely to every thing from 
 which he may derive information, gives much more time and atten- 
 tion to this part of his practice than can be expected from others. 
 Du Fresnoy, in his sentiments on the works of the principal and 
 best painters of the two last ages, says of Titian, 44 for eight or ten 
 years’ space he copied with great labour and exactness, whatsoever 
 he undertook : thereby to make himself an easy way, and to esta- 
 blish some general maxims for his future conduct/’ What was the 
 practice of Titian in this respect has been that of other masters, 
 and will be that of all who desire to arrive at excellence. 
 
 OF LIGHT AND SHADOW. 
 
 The production of effect depends principally on the judicious 
 distribution of light and shadow. A learner may very soon acquire 
 the knowledge necessary to enable him to give the light and shadow 
 to every object in his picture considered singly ; but that, so far 
 from producing a good effect of the whole, is the most effectual way 
 by which it can be destroyed. 
 
 The leading principles of effect are neither numerous, compli- 
 cated, nor difficult ; although they must of necessity be observed, 
 yet they are in a great measure subject to the taste and judgment 
 of the artist ; who may produce effects of nearly equal excellence 
 by treating the same subject differently in his arrangement of light 
 and shadow. 
 
 In every mode of distribution the following rules are to be ob- 
 served, and these apply so generally, that they can hardly be in- 
 fringed without some injury to the effect of the whole. 
 
38 
 
 OF LIGHT AND SHADOW. 
 
 There must be a principal light in some part of the picture, to 
 which every other must be subordinate, either in brightness or in 
 quantity ; this principal mass may be in the sky, or on the objects 
 in the landscape, it being sufficient that it is principal. If the design 
 will admit, it should be thrown on such objects as will receive it so 
 as to produce a pleasing form of the mass. All geometrical shapes 
 are to be avoided. If the principal light be in the sky, the various 
 shapes and combinations of the clouds being subject to the discre- 
 tion of the artist, he has the opportunity of forming it there to the 
 best of his judgment. The part of the picture where this and the 
 subordinate lights can be placed with the best effect, must depend 
 in some measure on the arrangement and combination of the 
 various objects. It is desirable to have it rather towards the middle 
 than the extremities, but this not being always practicable, must 
 depend on such circumstances as the presence of objects, ground, 
 &c. capable of receiving it ; and as great liberty may be taken in 
 the composition of the foreground, objects may be, and often are, 
 introduced there for the purpose of receiving it and increasing the 
 breadth. 
 
 The secondary lights should not be fewer than two ; and if they 
 are nearly equal in brightness to the principal mass, but inferior in 
 magnitude, the harmony and effect will be better than when they 
 are below it in both respects ; in that case the principal light will 
 appear as a spot, more or less according to the degree of its pre- 
 dominance. Lesser lights may be admitted in various parts of the 
 picture, but they ought to be placed so as not to injure the effect 
 of the principal light, by catching the eye and drawing the attention 
 of the spectator from it ; neither should they be allowed to cut or 
 divide the principal breadths of shadow. 
 
 The disposition of shadow is governed by the same general rule ; 
 
OF LIGHT AND SHADOW. 
 
 39 
 
 it ought to have, in like manner, its principal breadths, which should 
 not be broken or disturbed by the admission of portions of light to 
 separate them into smaller parts. In nature, the forms of objects 
 are distinctly made out, principally in the lights, which are sup- 
 ported by the shadow floating in breadth, but with less decided 
 form. 
 
 These general rules may therefore be reduced into a very small 
 compass, viz. the light intended to be principal should predominate 
 over every other, either in brightness or magnitude, and should not 
 be disturbed by the admission of many little portions of shadow. 
 And the principal breadths of shadow should not be separated into 
 little parts by the admission of portions of light. 
 
 Notwithstanding these rules are sufficiently plain and simple, no 
 precept whatever can be more neglected by a learner, who, when he 
 attempts to treat his own subject, generally proceeds to give every 
 object its light and shadow separately, neglecting that breadth of 
 each without which effect cannot be obtained. 
 
 It may be observed, that beginning to draw from nature without 
 previous practice tends very much to cause this neglect, as it seldom 
 happens, except at certain times or under particular circumstances, 
 that the general effect seen in nature is good. On the contrary, the 
 lights are commonly dispersed too much over the whole scene, and 
 the shadows are not sufficiently united ; therefore, he who is not 
 capable of conceiving them otherwise than as he happens to see them, 
 will very rarely succeed in giving even a tolerable effect. 
 
 The same advantage, with regard to light and shadow, may be 
 derived from a careful study of prints, after those masters whose 
 works have been recommended as guides to the acquirement of the 
 knowledge requisite to discover in nature what is proper for 
 
40 
 
 OF LIGHT AND SHADOW. 
 
 selection ; and for the same reason, prints may be preferred to pic- 
 tures ; as they exhibit form, light, and shadow, independent of colour. 
 
 The degree of blackness and obscurity incident to such of the 
 latter as are old, renders it difficult for the learner to ascertain what 
 they have been, or to discover in them the arrangement of light 
 and shadow, and the chiara scuro throughout the whole with so 
 much certainty as he will perceive them in a good print. 
 
 To apply the knowledge thus gained, it is advisable for the 
 learner to make an outline of his subject, and upon that endeavour 
 to arrange the light and shadow to his satisfaction, by using such 
 materials as will admit of any alteration. A ready way to do this 
 may be practised upon a grey or leaden coloured paper, with black 
 chalk to make out the shadows, and a little white chalk for the 
 lights, the colour of the paper serving for the middle tint. The 
 chalk being easily removed by a little bread, the shadow can be 
 altered in any degree, or removed entirely, until a satisfactory dis- 
 position of it is gained ; at least half the quantity of the paper 
 should remain uncovered, to represent the intermediate degree be- 
 tween light and shadow, and the white should be sparingly used, its 
 full strength being given only in a few touches for the brightest lights. 
 
 Another way may be adopted, by giving each object its light 
 and shadow with sepia or Indian Ink, and after considering where 
 the principal masses may have the best effect, the student may pro- 
 ceed to give breadth to the shadows, uniting those not immediately 
 adjoining by throwing the intermediate lights into shade : if this be 
 judiciously done, the principal and secondary lights will be left ; and 
 if they are not sufficiently broad, two or more of them may be joined 
 by the introduction of an object that shall receive the light, and 
 occupy the place of the shadow separating them. 
 
OF LIGHT AND SHADOW. 
 
 41 
 
 In this latter way, the shadows being made out in each object 
 separately, by washing them in with Indian ink or sepia, they will 
 be fixed, and the parts requiring to be subdued may be worked 
 upon with black chalk, which can be altered or removed without 
 defacing what was washed in, or destroying the forms. 
 
 The learner may then proceed with some degree of certainty to 
 transfer the disposition of light and shadow so obtained into his 
 drawing ; practice will enable him to do without this kind of trial, 
 but that it is advantageous, is proved by the custom of the greatest 
 masters ; even Rembrandt, w T ho is inferior to none in the manage- 
 ment of light and shadow, was so careful in this respect, that for 
 some of his pictures, there are still in existence many preparatory 
 sketches of the same subject made as studies of effect. 
 
 The following plates are intended to explain the method here 
 recommended, being the same in subject, but treated differently in 
 the distribution of light and shadow. In the first example, the 
 light is over the whole, every object having its light and shadow 
 unconnected with those of any other part (as it is usually seen in 
 the performance of a beginner). 
 
 The following examples are explanatory of the principles on 
 w r hich effect is dependent. In the second, the sky being chosen for 
 the place of the principal light, the bushes of the middle ground are 
 put in shadow, and the building in half shade, to separate them from 
 each other, and divide the principal from the secondary light upon 
 the parts of the foreground ; the whole of the distance being kept 
 in shadow. 
 
 In the third, the principal light is thrown upon the building, 
 and those which are secondary, on the sky and foreground ; to sepa- 
 rate them, a breadth of shadow is thrown upon the bushes between 
 
 G 
 
42 
 
 OF LIGHT AND SHADOW. 
 
 that part and the building, and the distance is kept in shadow, 
 nearly as in the second example. 
 
 In the fourth, the light comes from the right hand (the three 
 former examples having it from the left), the principal light is in 
 the sky, and what is in shadow in the others is here the secondary 
 light, nearly the whole of the building and foreground being in 
 shadow. 
 
 Other methods of distribution might be adopted ; these ex- 
 amples are given to show that the effect may be produced by various 
 means, and that it depends chiefly upon preserving the principal 
 and secondary lights, and on keeping the shadow broad and undis- 
 turbed, either by the admission of light, or too much making out 
 of the parts in shadow. The reflected light must appear on these 
 parts but tender, and not of such strength as to divide the breadth 
 or injure the effect of the direct light. 
 
 In finishing, care should be taken to give the due relief to each 
 object, but not more than it appears to have in nature at those 
 times when the light is good and the shadows are broad and have 
 good effect. The eye of the unlearned requiring little more than 
 that the parts should be relieved from each other, the learner, in 
 the early part of his practice, may be induced to give this relief by 
 too frequent opposition between the lights and shadows of con- 
 tiguous objects, which will be destructive of breadth ; the principles 
 of the chiaro scuro requiring that the shadows in many places should 
 be relieved, not by the opposition of light, but by still darker shade. 
 The difficulty being, not in freeing objects from each other so much 
 as in knowing where it is to be done and when it should be avoided. 
 This knowledge may be attained by careful attention to the pre- 
 servation of the breadth of light and shadow, and close observation 
 

OF LIGHT AND SHADOW. 
 
 43 
 
 of beautiful nature ; the detail, or making out the parts, being only 
 a secondary consideration. 
 
 The method of handling and style in finishing should accord 
 with the character of the scene, and may depend in some measure 
 upon the size of the picture, and the distance from which it ought 
 to be viewed. If it possess sublimity or wildness of character, high 
 finishing would be injurious to it. The handling proper for the 
 scenery of Claude employed on that of Salvator Eosa or Poussin, 
 would be like piping on the flageolet the sublime compositions of 
 Handel. 
 
 A mean style in art is the result of servile attention to the 
 detail, and a degree of minuteness beyond the visible truth of nature. 
 It is an erroneous principle upon which the artist allows himself to 
 make out the parts more than as they appear to him in nature, 
 under the idea that the distance from whence the picture should be 
 viewed will reduce them to the requisite effect. In this he may 
 be influenced by his desire to please too indiscriminately, and to 
 satisfy the ignorant, who consider the highest degree of excellence 
 in a picture to be, that in addition to its effect at a distance, it will 
 bear the closest inspection. If it could bear the latter without the 
 sacrifice of what is of more importance, a portion of the spirit of the 
 former, there would be no harm done, but that is impossible. In 
 painting, the conjunction of many little parts will not, as in geometry, 
 produce what is great. Finishing unnecessarily high is but an ex- 
 pedient by which the artist endeavours to produce his effect by mere 
 patience and tame labour, instead of powerful and determined 
 certainty of operation. 
 
 Although great attention to general breadth and form be in- 
 sisted on above all other considerations, it is not meant to recommend 
 a sweeping breadth beyond that of nature, such as we sometimes 
 
 g 2 
 
44 
 
 OF LIGHT AND SHADOW. 
 
 see in the later works of Gainsborough and others. Without a 
 sufficient portion of the detail, the work will be deficient in the 
 appearance of local truth ; but when the breadth is lost or neglected, 
 the effect will be injured, rather than improved, by much labour and 
 minute attention to the latter. 
 
 On the foreground, the objects, &c. should be made out in all 
 their parts, but at a short distance ; little more than the general 
 form can be distinguished in nature, and therefore ought not to be 
 otherwise expressed in the representation, however the contrary 
 may delight the ignorant. The making out on the foreground of 
 the figures, herbage, utensils, &c., however detailed or decided, may 
 be better done by giving the parts with as few touches as it is 
 possible to express them by, than by labour and high finishing. 
 
 Of the organs of sense, the eye is one of the most acute, but it 
 is the most deceptive of them all. In a certain manner the usual 
 operation of objects upon this organ tends to confirm their decep- 
 tive appearance, inasmuch as we are by habit rendered capable of 
 conceiving the forms of distant objects with which we are acquainted 
 with greater precision than the sense of seeing alone, without as- 
 sociation, will warrant : having habitually formed their images in 
 the mind, we refer to those, and thus are enabled to supply the 
 lesser parts we know such objects to be composed of, but do not 
 distinctly or really see. This consideration is of great importance 
 to the artist in determining to what degree the making out (as it 
 is technically called) of objects should be carried, in order to be true 
 to nature, since without it he will ever be tempted to go beyond the 
 truth. To discover in how great a degree this deceptive appearance 
 takes place, let him take every opportunity of delineating (at a 
 sufficient distance from them) such objects as he is but little or not 
 at all acquainted with ; on a nearer approach, he will find how much 
 
OF LICENCES IN DRAWING AND PAINTING. 
 
 45 
 
 of the detail of their parts he was unable to ascertain, but would 
 have supplied had he been more intimately acquainted with it. 
 This is also the case with regard to the colours of objects we are 
 accustomed to view ; unquestionably the eye may be enabled by 
 practice and observation to overcome the deceptive appearance of 
 the objects of sight, so as to determine of them with great exact- 
 ness. To attain this power should be the continual endeavour of 
 the student. 
 
 OF LICENCES IN DRAWING AND PAINTING. 
 
 With these the learner has nothing to do until he has attained, 
 not only the power of drawing with correctness, but has also 
 matured his judgment, in some degree, by a careful study of the 
 works of the best masters, and through them is enabled to see 
 what is beautiful in nature. It is the more requisite that he 
 should first enable himself to express correctly what he sees, as 
 the power of doing so has seldom been acquired after the neglect 
 of it in early practice. Until this be accomplished, he should not 
 allow himself any licence, for he is not to suppose that he may use 
 it according to his unsettled and capricious notion of things, but 
 should remember that the attempt to do more than is before him 
 will either do credit to his taste and judgment, or expose his de- 
 ficiency in those respects. 
 
 By licence is not to be understood the liberty of departing 
 from nature, but that of adding to, rejecting, or concealing certain 
 parts of the subject, the artist being, notwithstanding this allow- 
 ance, strictly confined to nature. When it may be expedient to 
 improve any thing in the scene, the part introduced must be such 
 as may be found in nature, and as faithfully imitated from thence 
 
46 
 
 OF LICENCES IN DRAWING AND PAINTING. 
 
 as any thing else in the picture : the licence extending no farther 
 than to improve nature by herself; the parts imperfect by those 
 most perfect ; for there is no beauty to be found but in nature, 
 the defects being only accidents and variations from her general 
 character. 
 
 The subject of a picture being composed of many parts, it can 
 hardly be expected to happen that the whole will be arranged 
 so happily as might be desired with respect to combination of 
 forms or distribution of colour. In the latter, when cold coloured 
 trees occupy the places of the principal lights, the variety of the 
 autumnal tints will admit of the licence to substitute warmer ones, 
 which are still in nature. It will also very commonly happen, that 
 the trees on and near the foreground are thin, and of little power 
 to give strength to it, while those more distant are powerful, such 
 as oak, elm, &c. ; and again in regard to magnitude, it may unfor- 
 tunately happen, that the trees in nature become larger as they are 
 removed from the foreground, counteracting the perspective di- 
 minution. It is true the aerial tints will give the effect of distance, 
 but will not make such a composition pleasing ; those parts of the 
 subject being so much changed by time and circumstances, there 
 ought to be no hesitation in transposing any thing of the kind that 
 is capable of a better arrangement. Neither can there be any ob- 
 jection to the introduction of various plants and weeds for the 
 embellishment of the foreground, although they do not exist in 
 nature precisely at the time represented in the picture ; the au- 
 tumnal tints of foliage appearing after the decay of these objects. 
 In street scenery, and other subjects of the like description, where 
 substitution is not admissible, if any thing appear that is injurious 
 to the general arrangement and effect, it may be concealed by 
 large objects introduced for that purpose. Much may be done by 
 
OF LICENCES IN DRAWING AND PAINTING. 
 
 this means to give more interest than the subject naturally pos- 
 sesses ; but this, and the artificial management of light and shadow, 
 are all that can be allowed in representations that derive their 
 value from strict adherence to local truth. 
 
 For this reason, in works that are intended to convey topo- 
 graphical information, licence can rarely be allowed, except in the 
 treatment of the foreground, which in nature is frequently de- 
 fective, and where such liberty may be taken as will increase the 
 picturesque effect without injury to the general character of the 
 scene. When that is lost by the indulgence of unlimited licence, 
 however the picture may be estimated as a work of art, it can have 
 no greater pretension to be considered as the view of a particular 
 scene in nature, than many of the subjects in the works of Piranesi, 
 in which we have the representations of lofty and extensive vaults, 
 as views of places that are in reality of dimensions not much ex- 
 ceeding those of an ordinary coal-cellar. 
 
 In the performance of the landscape painter no licence what- 
 ever can be admissible to the violation of all probable and possible 
 truth, such as we sometimes find in works of great excellence in 
 other respects ; it is a very insufficient apology, though frequently 
 made to excuse a glaring deviation from nature, that the artist 
 wanted this or that for the sake of effect ; no artificial legerdemain 
 can compensate for the total absence of truth. He may, and 
 sometimes must conceal, for he is not obliged to tell the whole 
 truth, but he is not at liberty to tell what is false or impossible. 
 
 Although unbounded licence cannot be allowed to the mere 
 landscape painter, it may be requisite in the landscape accom- 
 paniments of the painter of mythological or ideal subjects, his 
 business being to carry the mind of the spectator back to a very 
 
48 OF LICENCES IN DRAWING AND PAINTING. 
 
 remote period, by a representation in which there is little of that 
 appearance of nature with which we are familiar. 
 
 For this reason, Sir Joshua Reynolds justly censures Wilson for 
 introducing mythological subjects into his works, because his land- 
 scapes were not of this description, but faithful representations of 
 beautiful nature as we are accustomed to see it, and therefore not 
 proper for the reception of such figures. 
 
 He who is desirous to please those alone whose approbation is 
 of value, will not hesitate to remove or conceal any subordinate 
 part that is injurious to the composition of his subject. If this 
 conduct be required in giving the most favourable representation 
 of local scenery, it is much more necessary in the higher depart- 
 ment of art, where nothing should be admitted that is not as per- 
 fect as the artist has the power of conceiving it. When the student 
 is capable of treating his subject in an artist-like manner, he must 
 feel any thing but satisfaction from being told his picture is very 
 like the place it represents. If the spectator be ignorant of art, 
 it may be concluded that the subject is treated in such a manner 
 as is level with his comprehension ; the same observation made by 
 a person who is better informed, conveys a very different meaning, 
 which may be rendered “ not having the power to make the most 
 of your subject, you have not ventured to attempt any thing more 
 than to produce a servile copy of that only which was before you.” 
 
 There have been many artists, who, neglecting to prepare 
 themselves for the perception of what is most beautiful in nature, 
 by a close observation of the works of the best masters, and con- 
 tinuing to imitate with equal attention all that 'they happen to see 
 in their subject, have never acquired the knowledge necessary to 
 enable them to make a judicious , choice, or to avoid more of the 
 
OF LICENCES IN DRAWING AND PAINTING. 
 
 49 
 
 detail than is sufficient to give interest to the picture ; on the con- 
 trary, they have become by habit desirous of marking all the little 
 peculiarities of their subject, which they imagine will increase that 
 interest. With the ignorant it certainly will do so, as they require 
 nothing more, being unqualified to appreciate any thing beyond the 
 microscopic detail. When an artist has unfortunately imbibed a 
 fondness for such mischievous trifling, and is satisfied with the 
 praise of those who can be pleased with it, if he should attempt 
 to make any selection at all, he will be almost certain, in conse- 
 quence of his habits, to choose deformity. 
 
 The imitation of nature being the purpose of the artist, it may 
 seem, that in proportion to the exactness of this imitation in every 
 part of the subject, his purpose will be attained ; but this is not 
 necessarily the consequence : the picture ought rather to be such 
 as will best recall the idea of the place represented, when out of 
 sight of the real scene. 
 
 To have that effect, the likeness must result from the truth 
 of the leading, general, and permanent features of the subject, 
 being those by which the real view in nature is impressed upon 
 and retained by the memory. In the work nothing should appear 
 to arrest the attention of the spectator but what is essential to the 
 scene, least of all those little peculiarities, frequently such as are 
 temporary, and are so far from forming any part of the character, 
 that they can be seen only from a particular station, and may be 
 of so little consequence that their existence would scarcely be 
 noticed. 
 
 It must appear paradoxical to those who are but little con- 
 versant with art, to maintain that the delineation of a scene in 
 nature may have more of the general character, and consequently 
 truth of resemblance, by treating it not exactly as it is seen from a 
 
 H 
 
50 
 
 OF LICENCES IN DRAWING AND PAINTING. 
 
 particular spot ; it is nevertheless true, for it will very frequently 
 happen, that from such a point some feature essential to the view 
 will be hid by an object of no importance to it whatever, but which 
 may on the contrary be a deformity, and probably such as will not 
 be permanent. In a view from nature, the best station being 
 chosen, that is, not where the most can be seen, but where the 
 parts groupe and compose in the best manner, from this point a 
 principal and well known object may not be visible, although so 
 conspicuous from every other, as to form a leading feature of the 
 subject. It may be a river, or building, &c. and be hid only by a 
 hillock, or clump of trees, or other obstruction that takes place in 
 that spot only. In such cases the resemblance will be given with 
 more general truth to nature by removing the obstruction. Un- 
 less this licence be taken, the picture is true as seen from that 
 station only, and the spectator who views it feels the absence of an 
 object he knows should be in the representation; but without 
 going to the spot would not be aware that it could not be seen 
 from thence, nor would he otherwise discover the licence taken 
 in removing the intercepting object. In sketching general scenery, 
 the time when the trees are divested of their foliage is in some re- 
 spects to be preferred, as many objects of advantage to the subject 
 may then be perceived which are at other times concealed by such 
 trees as may be better removed or thinned. The want of foliage 
 is of no importance, the student being supposed to have had suf- 
 ficient practice in the different kinds, and to be in possession of 
 studies which he can apply as they may be wanted. 
 
 Most of the objects presented to our view having their defects, 
 the best artists have never been in the practice of taking nature 
 as they found it, but have formed compositions from studies pre- 
 viously made of various parts of beautiful scenery, or when em- 
 
OF LICENCES IN DRAWING AND PAINTING. 51 
 
 ployed in representing a particular scene, have, on principle, re- 
 jected or concealed the defective parts, and supplied what was 
 wanting to the perfection of others. 
 
 To those who cannot easily comprehend how any departure 
 from the strict observance of local peculiarity can be advantageous 
 to picturesque representation, the subject may perhaps be placed 
 in a clearer light by reference to the practice of different artists, in 
 a department where the difference of result between the application 
 of this principle and the total absence of it may be more readily 
 perceived, as it may be exemplified by a comparison between the 
 works of V andyke and Denner ; both of whom painted portraits 
 with a degree of truth to nature that has never been exceeded. 
 In the works of the former we find every excellence by selection 
 that the subject will admit ; the latter is remarkable for having had 
 no power of rejection, but has treated his subject with the most 
 minute attention to the detail of whatever was before him, repre- 
 senting singly the hairs of the head, eyebrows, &c., the image of the 
 window of his painting-room with all its divisions reflected from 
 the speck of light on the pupil of the eye, and the pores of the 
 skin, with microscopic exactness ; but with all this accuracy of 
 detail, is there any person possessing the least feeling for excellence 
 in works of art, who can prefer the disgusting representations of 
 Denner to the general kind of truth shown in the works of Van- 
 dyke ? Of the works of the former it has been justly observed by 
 the Earl of Carlisle 
 
 “ The strong resemblance is itself a vice.” 
 
 The same difference exists in every department of art; and 
 many of those who would be thought to know something of the 
 matter still prefer the detailed deformities of the Dutch school, 
 
 < H 9 j 
 
52 
 
 OF COLOURING. 
 
 which engage their attention and excite their admiration in a greater 
 degree than the works of Wilson, or of Gaspar Poussin. 
 
 Little deference is due to any man on account of his taste, who 
 can view an exhibition of well scoured pots and pans with bunches 
 of vegetables, or an exquisitely coloured representation of a man 
 eating ousters, and an old woman plucking a fowl or frying sausages, 
 without feeling deep regret that so much talent should have been 
 thrown away upon such subjects. 
 
 d he mind accustomed to contemplate what is great, cannot, 
 without difficulty, descend to the notice of what is little ; it is 
 scarcely possible that it can be capable of relishing both. When 
 it giv es the preference to one, it will neglect or despise the other : 
 where the attention is directed to great and general considerations, 
 little irregularities will be overlooked, such as would never have 
 been committed, and are readily discovered by one wdiose limited 
 powers enable him to view only near and microscopically what 
 never occupied the attention of the superior artist. The ascent 
 fiom little to great is still more difficult, and is seldom attempted, 
 in consequence of the satisfaction the mind fitted for the former 
 feels, in what it imagines to be a greater degree of nicety and 
 exactness of judgment, or neatness in performance. 
 
 OF COLOURING. 
 
 Nothing can contribute in so great a degree to the advance- 
 ment of art as the communication by professional men, of the 
 result of their practice ; but there are many considerations to 
 prevent, and few to induce the professor to impart to others wLat 
 he has gained by intense study and close application. It is not 
 among the least of these, that, in an art not strictly reducible to 
 
OF COLOURING. 
 
 53 
 
 rules, and respecting which perhaps no two persons think exactly 
 alike with regard to style, or method of working, many things 
 advanced relative to it must be liable to objections, when they 
 do not accord with the peculiar habits and practice of the reader, 
 and sometimes may proceed from the desire of cavilling; such 
 diversity affording abundant opportunities to those who are more 
 inclined to indulge themselves in that way than to contribute 
 towards the improvement of the subject in question. 
 
 It can hardly be doubted these considerations have deterred 
 many artists from giving to the world some account of their me- 
 thods of practice ; their reserve cannot have been occasioned by 
 the desire of keeping them secret, because it is well known to 
 those who are capable of giving such information, that the art 
 cannot be communicated without great study and application on 
 the part of the learner ; and that what they could have imparted 
 to us might greatly assist, but would never, without such exertion, 
 make a painter. 
 
 What would we not give for the discovery of papers explana- 
 tory of the methods of practice followed by the old masters, and 
 what artist does not continually regret, that they and their scholars 
 have neglected to leave behind them in writing, what would have 
 been considered, next to their works, the most valuable legacy they 
 could have bequeathed to us ? 
 
 The methods of practice in colouring are so various, that ex- 
 cepting those who are mere copyists, there is scarcely a person to 
 be found who has not in his manner of working something peculiar 
 to himself ; the particulars of which it is so difficult to explain ver- 
 bally, that the attempt would be useless, and tend rather to per- 
 plex than inform such as are but little beyond the commencement 
 of their practice, for whose use this work is intended. Little more 
 
54 
 
 OF COLOURING. 
 
 than general rules can be laid down, the rest must depend on 
 readiness of observation, and a continual endeavour to derive ad- 
 vantage from failure, by investigation of its cause. This appears 
 to me the only way in which improvement can be gained beyond 
 the rudiments of the art. Of professional men there is scarcely an 
 instance of one, who has arrived at any considerable degree of emi- 
 nence, but by being taught from unsuccessful experiments more 
 than was ever communicated to him by the instructions of a master. 
 
 It is said that Haydn, when a chorister, often regretted that he 
 had no master to instruct him in composition ; but in his latter days 
 he rejoiced that he had been compelled, by his situation and circum- 
 stances, to study without an instructor, and that by his own exertion 
 and perseverance he had accomplished his object. 
 
 Progress in art is made by degrees almost imperceptible to the 
 learner, who does not perceive his own advancement but by re- 
 ference to his former productions ; as the practical musician discovers 
 his, by the ability acquired to execute with facility what he was 
 not at a former period capable of performing. In every art, the 
 knowledge and practice of which are to be acquired by an almost 
 infinite number of acts, the progression can hardly be felt without 
 this comparison. The failure of those who do not advance, is 
 caused more by attempting to do what they are not prepared for 
 than by every other obstruction put together. He who without 
 sufficient preparation thinks he will make a drawing as by a receipt 
 from this or any other book, will find himself greatly disappointed. 
 All the rules and directions that can be given are helps, as crutches 
 are to a man who can command the use of some of his limbs, but 
 quite useless to him who is paralyzed in them all. 
 
 Very few learners acquire the power of drawing correctly ; con- 
 sidering the outline as only a preparatory step, which they feel no 
 
OF COLOURING. 
 
 55 
 
 more interest or pleasure in preparing than in straining the paper. 
 In their impatience to get forward to the use of colour, which they 
 imagine will set all right, they leave something undone in every 
 operation, which is never supplied in the next, and nothing at last 
 is done as it should be, or so well as it might, by one who can 
 restrain his impatience so far as not to attempt what is altogether 
 beyond his present powers. It is somewhat extraordinary, that 
 very few can conceive the necessity of regular progression in the 
 art of painting, yet all can readily perceive it in that of music, and 
 see the absurdity of giving to a beginner as a first lesson a difficult 
 composition of Cramer or Haydn. A royal road to the art is so 
 eagerly desired, that a professor who will engage to impart the 
 whole of its practice in a few lessons will be sure to find pupils 
 among those who do not know that he undertakes what is im- 
 possible to perform, and that it is not in the power of any man 
 to communicate to them what they are not prepared to learn. 
 
 Notwithstanding an acquaintance with the productions of art 
 has been within a few years so widely diffused, the art itself is so 
 little known, that many people continue to imagine that it consists 
 in certain secrets which may be purchased, and in a short time 
 applied to practice. 
 
 It is the interest of such as profess to have secrets they would 
 dispose of, that they should continue to think so ; and to those 
 who would undeceive them the task is not easy, since the few 
 difficulties that are obvious to them, and of which they usually 
 complain, are those of mixing and distinguishing the tints ; the 
 least they have to encounter. 
 
 Many previous trials and experiments should be made before 
 the learner can be capable of, or should attempt* to put colour on 
 his drawing ; in doing which, as form is required, he must first gain 
 
56 
 
 OF COLOURING. 
 
 something of the power to produce it. He ought not to make on 
 his picture experiments, the result of which he should have pre- 
 viously ascertained ; this is seldom attended to "sufficiently by a 
 learner. In his eagerness to proceed to picture-making, it is dif- 
 ficult to convince him of the advantage he would gain by washing 
 many scraps of paper, only as trials to lay the colour equally, or in 
 any required form ; instead of which he will begin on the picture ; 
 where he presently finds that he cannot do what he would, but 
 only what the colour will, if it may be so expressed, when it runs 
 into forms directed by chance. 
 
 The end cannot be attained without using the means, and these 
 must be applied with great attention and close observation. The 
 learner will receive little advantage from that careless kind of 
 practice in which the mind has not a principal share. 
 
 Much of the difference of progress made by learners arises from 
 readiness of observation in some, and inattention in others, to cir- 
 cumstances which, though seen, are suffered to pass without notice 
 or reflection. In a number of pupils, one may be found who is 
 eager to avail himself of every means of information, and who does 
 not suffer an accident to pass without deriving from it something 
 to his advantage. The rest account for his superiority by saying, 
 “ he has a genius for the art never considering that the means 
 by which this superiority has been gained may be as much in their 
 power as in his. This ready way of accounting for the perform- 
 ance of whatever appears to be difficult operates powerfully to 
 prevent exertion on the part of the learner, who not unfrequently 
 is too readily disposed to consider the object as being, to him, un_ 
 attainable. 
 
 Although the degrees of mental capacity bestowed on different 
 individuals vary like those of their stature and bodily strength, 
 
OF COLOURING. 
 
 57 
 
 wherein but few greatly exceed a certain standard, yet what may be 
 attained by the observance of certain rules is within the reach of 
 all. But in every art not altogether mechanical there is much to 
 be acquired, which rules cannot reach, or be applied to. By a 
 strong impulse, whatever its appellation may be, which nothing 
 can divert from its object, some are inclined to a particular pursuit 
 in preference to every other ; in which the efforts of the individual 
 being steadily applied, will produce a proportionate degree of im- 
 provement; to those who feel not this impulse application is so 
 intolerably irksome, that they cannot submit to it in such a degree, 
 and during such length of time and practice, as no man can arrive 
 at excellence without having been subject to. 
 
 Mr. Locke, in speaking of the powers of the mind, observes, 
 “ as it is in the body, so it is in the mind, practice makes it what it 
 is, and most even of those excellencies which are looked on as 
 natural endowments will be found, when examined into more 
 narrowly, to be the product of exercise, and to be raised to that 
 pitch by repeated actions.” 
 
 There are certain difficulties in the management of water 
 colours, which must be surmounted, and methods of practice in 
 manual operation to be acquired, before the learner can hope to 
 make any progress. He who without method will begin to make 
 his efforts at random, and hardly knowing what he intends to do, 
 must necessarily fail ; for although many parts of a work of art may 
 in some measure be subject to accidents of which advantage may 
 be taken by a master, yet the whole can never be produced by 
 chance, or be formed by a combination of such accidents. 
 
 The first of these experienced by a beginner, is spreading a 
 breadth of any colour with an equal strength of tint ; and of laying 
 it so as to produce the desired or intended form. I shall offer a 
 
 i 
 
58 
 
 OF COLOURING. 
 
 few observations, by which those who have not the aid of a master 
 may be assisted in their endeavour to overcome them. Until that 
 is done, it will be in vain to proceed ; for how can he execute any 
 thing of what is required in a picture, who cannot govern his ma- 
 terials as he intends, or prevent his colour from taking such forms 
 as result only from chance ? 
 
 In the first operation, that of making an equal wash with any 
 colour, the following precautions are to be used. 
 
 1st. The colour must be mixed of an equal tint, and in a suf- 
 ficient quantity to cover the given space ; so as not to require any 
 alteration during the operation. 
 
 In these trials, India ink, or Sepia, may be substituted for 
 colour. 
 
 2 . It should be diluted until it is sufficiently fluid to flow 
 freely from the pencil, and to be distributed readily upon the 
 paper ; in doing which a large pencil is to be preferred, as it will 
 contain more of the colour, and keep it more equally moist, than 
 a smaller one will do. 
 
 3 . The paper should be held with a moderate degree of in- 
 clination, by placing the drawing-board on the lap with the upper 
 part leaning against the easel, or a table, then beginning at the 
 upper part, and descending, the colour will run downward and 
 settle equally. 
 
 4. In order that it may do so, the pencil ought not to be used 
 with too much haste, or be carried over the paper faster than the 
 colour will follow it ; the readiness to do which will depend upon 
 the inclination of the surface. 
 
 The learner will soon discover, that to cause this equality it is 
 requisite that the whole of the space covered should be equally 
 wetted with the colour as possible. In his first attempts he will 
 
OF COLOURING. 
 
 59 
 
 probably continue to drive it until the pencil is exhausted, and by 
 neglecting too long to supply it, the part where the addition is 
 made will be unequal, in consequence of its being more wet than 
 that it was joined to. 
 
 The attraction between the parts of the same, or of different 
 colours, according to their different degrees of moisture, being the 
 principal cause of that inequality of tint the learner finds it dif- 
 ficult to avoid, he ought to observe how it acts, and use the means 
 to prevent its occurrence. He may observe that in a breadth of 
 colour, if from delay in spreading it, or any other cause, one part 
 is beginning to dry while another in contact with it continues 
 quite wet, the drier part will attract the more fluid colour, until it 
 is prevented by too great a degree of dryness from conducting it 
 farther ; where it stops a streak will be formed, of unequal tint and 
 darker than any other part of the space. E or this reason the colour 
 should not be unnecessarily worked about by the pencil, in a space 
 already covered with it, as it will by that means be continued wet 
 there when the edges and extreme parts are beginning to dry. 
 This should be carefully attended to, being that which renders 
 the practice of painting in water colours in some respects more 
 difficult than painting in oil, the latter allowing time enough for 
 every operation. 
 
 The water with which the colour is mixed and diluted should 
 be of the softest kind ; with hard spring water it will neither unite 
 nor spread well, nor will the tints blend when it may be desired. 
 The best is distilled water, but as this is not always to be had, and 
 is so little preferable to that taken from a clear standing pool or 
 river, it is little used : the last is better after being boiled, and may 
 be used while yet warm ; in that state it will unite with the tints 
 and the paper more readily. 
 
 When it is required to lay the colour so as to produce certain 
 
 i 2 
 
60 
 
 OF COLOURING. 
 
 forms, these should be well considered, to avoid any alteration if 
 possible during the operation ; for the Reasons before assigned, the 
 colour should be spread as speedily as possible, and without need- 
 less alteration of the form, or attempt to rectify what is carelessly 
 done, by a touch or dash equally careless and at random. When 
 the form is expressed, the sooner it is left the better; working upon 
 it longer than while the colour continues sufficiently fluid to spread 
 freely will cause muddiness and inequality of tint. Any required 
 alteration may be best made after the part has been dried, with the 
 same tint, extending it carefully into the desired form : this should 
 be done with little colour in the pencil, and neatly joined to the 
 part to which it is added ; the least touch of the colour over what 
 was done before will form a dark place, making the additional part 
 appear as a patch, which should be carefully avoided. 
 
 A gradation of tint, or what is called “ softening off,” may be 
 made in extending the colour by touching upon its edge with the 
 pencil and water only : by keeping in readiness another large and 
 clean pencil to apply the water, the operation will be facilitated ; 
 this will attract the colour, and cause it to descend and spread upon 
 the part so wetted. In some cases where forms less determined or 
 made out may be desired, as in clouds, the undefined reflections of 
 objects from water, &c., a space more than sufficient to receive such 
 forms may be first washed over with water only ; while this continues 
 quite wet the required forms may be laid in, and the colour will 
 spread itself in every direction if the drawing be placed horizontally ; 
 or it may be made to descend by giving it a little inclination. If it 
 do not take as much of the form as may be desired, it should be 
 assisted, and led into it by a few touches of the pencil. 
 
 Of the colours used in landscape painting, some are preferred in 
 consequence of their being applicable to a particular purpose, to the 
 peculiar practice of the artist, or for their permanent quality. 
 
OF COLOURING. 
 
 61 
 
 All the necessary tints may be made by the combination of a 
 few substances ; the primitive colours blue, red, and yellow, when 
 applied on a white ground, being nearly all that are absolutely 
 necessary ; but as there is a considerable variety of each, some are 
 to be preferred for particular uses. 
 
 The classification of colouring substances under their respective 
 general heads will facilitate the knowledge of their properties, and 
 prevent the apparent confusion arising from the variety of materials 
 representing the primitive colours. 
 
 Thus, all the substances that by combination with blue produce 
 any tint of green may be classed as yellows, viz. the ochres, terra 
 di Sienna, umber, &c. the browns being considered as broken yellows. 
 Yellow ochre, 
 
 Roman ochre, 
 
 or 
 
 T. di Sienna, 
 umber, &c. 
 
 with 
 
 indigo, 
 
 light green ; more aerial than the following, 
 deeper and more warm than the first. 
 
 still deeper and more broken. 
 
 By attending to this method of generalizing, the learner will 
 discover the extreme simplicity to which the embarrassing number 
 of substances offered for his use may be reduced, and the choice of 
 that proper for a particular purpose rendered easy. 
 
 Of the yellows, the order in which they may usually be applied 
 has been shown ; so of the reds, let them be considered generally, 
 and when that colour is wanted, by attending to the hue required, 
 it will be perceived whether it is of that kind inclining to purple or 
 to orange ; if the former, Indian red or madder will be proper ; if 
 the latter, light red or burnt terra di Sienna : if a greater degree 
 of orange be requisite, a wash of yellow preparatory to that of terra 
 di Sienna will give it, and produce greater clearness than would be 
 the result of yellow and the burnt Sienna when mixed together and 
 applied at once. 
 
62 
 
 OF COLOURING. 
 
 If the learner will attend to these considerations, he may easily 
 overcome what at first appears difficult, and which really is unsur- 
 mountable to those who do not reflect at all, but on every occasion, 
 however often repeated, require to be directed in their opera- 
 tions. 
 
 The endeavour of the colourist should be to produce not fine, 
 but true tints : it would greatly tend to promote the advancement 
 of the arts, if instead of discovering new and fine colours, of which 
 we have already more than we want, the attention of the colour 
 manufacturer were directed to the means of making those we have 
 as true and permanent as possible. The recent discoveries in the 
 science of chemistry render this very practicable ; but it is to be 
 regretted that circumstances which seem to promise so much have 
 produced so little, and frequently the reverse of what might have 
 been expected ; these discoveries having been less applied to the 
 improvement of the substances they are employed to produce than 
 to the means of making them by cheaper or more expeditious pro- 
 cesses, and what is still worse, to the adulteration of such of them 
 as are capable of affording to the manufacturer, by that practice, an 
 increase of profit. 
 
 If the artist will take the trouble to do what any one may find 
 time for, and would reap advantage from, he might, by availing him- 
 self of that knowledge which at present is perverted to his injury, 
 have not only as good, but much better materials than were used at 
 any former period. He will not be degraded by an employment 
 which was thought worthy of the attention of Titian, Leonardo da 
 Vinci, and the most eminent of the Venetian, with nearly all of the 
 Flemish school ; a comparison between their works, and such of the 
 modern productions as have been done but a few years, will suf- 
 ficiently demonstrate the importance of the subject. 
 
 I am induced to make these remarks in consequence of having 
 
OF COLOURING. 
 
 63 
 
 observed that some artists affect to consider the preparation of their 
 materials as the mechanical business of the colourman, and beneath 
 their notice. 
 
 Colours are divided into three classes, viz. primitive, compound, 
 and broken. 
 
 The primitive colours are those which cannot be made by any 
 mixture of the others. 
 
 There are but three primitive colours in nature, red, blue, and 
 yellow ; purple, orange, and green being compounds. White in the 
 prismatic scale is produced by the mixture of all the colours, and 
 black is caused by the absence of them all. 
 
 Any two of the primitive colours will harmonize in their mixture, 
 and preserve in their union the qualities of the component colours. 
 
 Compound colours are those made by the mixture of any two of 
 the primitives ; thus, red and blue produce purple, red and yellow, 
 orange ; and blue with yellow, green. 
 
 Broken colours are those resulting from the mixture of a primitive 
 colour with one or more of the compounds. These are always dis- 
 cordant, that is, the qualities of their constituent colours are de- 
 stroyed by the mixture. 
 
 Red. 
 
 Yellow. 
 
 In this diagram, the three primitives, red, blue, and yellow, being 
 
64 
 
 OF COLOURING. 
 
 placed at the angles of the triangle, the result of their mixtures, and 
 harmony or discordance, will appear on inspection. Thus, between 
 red and yellow, orange is produced ; between red and blue, purple ; 
 and between blue and yellow, the compound is green. 
 
 The broken colours will be found by the diagram to result from 
 the mixture of any one of the primitives, and the compound on the 
 opposite side of the triangle, as red and green, blue and orange ; or 
 yellow and purple. 
 
 If to any two of the primitives the opposite compound to either 
 or both be added, the mixture will be a broken colour. 
 
 A mixture of the three primitives will also produce a broken 
 colour, since it necessarily includes the compounds purple, orange, 
 and green. The tint will be grey or brown according to the pre- 
 dominance of either of the constituents. The derivation of this 
 tint from the three primitives will account for its harmonizing 
 quality. 
 
 There being no more than three primitive colours in nature, 
 that number of substances employed on a white ground, as in the 
 practice of painting in water colours, would produce all the variety 
 that can be required ; provided we had materials that would give 
 the true colours, which we have not ; those we are acquainted with 
 partaking of the compound colours i the reds inclining, some to 
 purple, and others to orange ; the blues, to purple or green ; and 
 the yellows, to orange or green. This being the case, we are under 
 the necessity of employing different colouring substances, according 
 to the qualities of the hues that may be required ; for, as it has 
 been observed, no mixture of tints whatever will produce a primitive 
 colour. 
 
 That the ancient masters used only four colours, and out of them 
 made all their tints, according to the account given by Pliny, I 
 
OF COLOURING. 
 
 65 
 
 should not have been disposed to doubt, but rather to conclude 
 that their colours were more perfect than such as we now possess, 
 had he not specified their names and those of the substances they 
 were prepared from ; it is therefore clear that they were incapable 
 of being applied in any manner whatever, so as to produce the 
 effects ascribed to them. The white was a native earth from the 
 Island of Melos ; the yellow, Attic ochre ; the red, sinopis, a red 
 earth of Lemnos ; and the black, atramentum, which was a common 
 name for all black colours. That prepared from the husks of the 
 grape, which afford a blue black, he says was used by Polygnotus, 
 and Micon ; that of Apelles was burnt ivory. 
 
 To those who are acquainted with the practice of the art, it will 
 appear that Pliny was not correctly informed with regard to the 
 colours used by the ancient painters, and that there can be little 
 doubt they possessed substances approaching nearer to blue than 
 the blue black made from a charred vegetable production. The 
 total destruction of all the works of Apelles and of his contem- 
 poraries has rendered it impossible to gain any information con- 
 cerning them that may be depended upon ; but it can hardly be 
 doubted that they had materials sufficient for the production of a 
 variety of each of their four colours, as we have for those used in 
 the modern practice, such being to be found in every country, and 
 we cannot suppose those very eminent men were wanting in their 
 endeavours to discover them. It is at least certain that in the 
 oldest works of which there are remains, the blues are as brilliant 
 and perfect as any of the other tints used at the period when they 
 were performed. 
 
 In the same book of Pliny (35th, c. 6 and 7) we have his account 
 of the colours used by the Roman artists in his time, to the number 
 
 K 
 
66 
 
 OF COLOURING. 
 
 of twenty-four ; the greatest part of which are either inferior to, or 
 such as we have at present. 
 
 The following are the principal colours used in the practice of 
 painting in water colours ; on the properties and defects of some of 
 them, a few remarks may be useful to the learner. 
 
 Blues ; — Indigo, Prussian blue, ultramarine, smalt. 
 
 Yellows ; — Yellow ochre, Boman ochre, gamboge, Indian yellow, 
 terra di Sienna, brown pink. 
 
 R ec i s ; — Light red, Indian red, Venetian red, lake. 
 
 Browns; — Umber, brown madder, Cologne earth, Vandyke 
 brown. 
 
 Of the blues, indigo is the best for general purposes. Prussian 
 blue may be of use in the sky and distances, but it is not proper 
 for the composition of the greys or greens of other parts ; on account 
 of its coldness, predominating quality, and injurious effect on some 
 of the other colours. 
 
 Ultramarine may be used to advantage occasionally, but it does 
 not work well in water, especially where it may be requisite to repeat 
 a wash done with it ; the purity of its tint admitting of as little 
 gum, or other binder in the vehicle, as it is possible to fix it with, 
 it is easily removed by repetition. Smalt is used as a substitute for 
 ultramarine, but it has the same defect in working, and the addi- 
 tional one of wanting permanency. 
 
 Of the yellows, I prefer the ochres and terra di Sienna, and 
 would have the greens composed of those with indigo. Gamboge 
 and Indian yellow being unnecessary ; if used at all, it may be 
 sparingly in a few parts, to clear the greens ; the flying of a part of 
 such colour used for that purpose is not of any consequence, the 
 effect as to strength of colour being already gained by the ochres. 
 
OF THE NEUTRAL TINT. 
 
 67 
 
 Of reds, I consider Indian red, notwithstanding the objections 
 that may be made to it, the best we have for the composition of the 
 grey, or, as it is called, the neutral tint. 
 
 It has been difficult to procure genuine and good Indian red, 
 much of that which is undoubtedly genuine being in quality very 
 inferior to the best. I therefore render some service to those who 
 prefer it to the other reds, in saying, that it is prepared in a superior 
 manner, and equal in every respect to the best specimens of the 
 native colour that I have seen, by Mr. Haugh, an artist residing at 
 Doncaster, of whom it may be had, also at Mr. Newman’s, Soho- 
 square, and other colour shops in London. 
 
 Brown pink being a rich and transparent colour, is useful in 
 glazing various parts of the middle and foreground. 
 
 OF THE NEUTRAL TINT. 
 
 In the composition of the grey, or neutral tint, various mixtures 
 are used, such as, 
 
 Indigo and Indian ink ; 
 
 Indigo, lake and yellow, or burnt Sienna ; 
 
 Indigo, and light red, or Venetian red ; and 
 Indigo and India red ; 
 
 or any red that with blue will make a tint inclining to purple. The 
 second, viz. indigo, lake, and yellow, has been much used, but is 
 liable to objection, being less permanent than other mixtures that 
 may be used for the same purpose. The great beauty of this tint, 
 and while it retains its hue, its truth, and agreement with the aerial 
 tint of nature, have tempted many to prefer it : if works in which 
 it has been used be kept from the light or in a port-folio, they may 
 remain a considerable time ; but if exposed to the action of light, in 
 
 k 2 
 
68 
 
 OF THE NEUTRAL TINT. 
 
 a very few years they will lose that truth, and the pearly greys 
 become by the flying of the lake a dirty greenish hue. 
 
 In the third, the light red, inclining to orange rather than to 
 purple, gives a greenish hue to the grey; but this mixture is preferred 
 by some, partly from a consideration of its red being of more equal 
 gravity with the indigo than Indian red, and of course not subsiding 
 like the latter. This tint may be improved by the addition of a 
 little madder lake. 
 
 In the fourth, the Indian red being much heavier than indigo, 
 will not long remain suspended in it, therefore the tint should be 
 mixed in a saucer, and in a sufficient quantity, somewhat more red 
 than it will be wanted, to allow for the change made by the pre- 
 cipitation of a part thereof: in a few minutes the colour at the top 
 may be gently poured off for use. 
 
 A neutral tint may be made of the charcoal of the twigs or 
 cuttings of the vine ; this being finely ground and mixed with gum 
 water, will make a bluish black, better for the purpose than Indian 
 ink, and such as may be depended upon for its permanency, char- 
 coal being one of the most unchangeable substances known. The 
 counterfeit Indian ink made of lamp-black or charred substances 
 is preferable on this account to that which is genuine, and said 
 to be made principally of sepia, which being an animal substance, 
 cannot be so permanent as the other. 
 
 The charcoal may be prepared by filling a crucible with cuttings, 
 covering it with a plate of iron, or something that will resist the 
 fire when placed thereon ; unless the air be excluded, they will burn 
 to ashes. 
 
 All the colours used in the broad washes are better when mixed 
 in saucers in sufficient quantity, and as much diluted as may be 
 requisite ; they will thus continue in the same state better than on a 
 
OF THE PROCESSES IN COLOURING. 69 
 
 palette, where they become unequal in consequence of the eva- 
 poration of the vehicle. 
 
 Of paper, the best for general purposes is that which is regularly 
 granulated on the surface ; the degree of roughness may depend on 
 the nature of the subject to be painted, and the intended manner 
 of treating it. If the paper be of a clear and light cream colour, it 
 will be better than the whitest, the bleaching of the latter being 
 effected by such means as are injurious to some of the substances 
 used in painting ; neither is white paper wanted, since all the oppo- 
 sition that is requisite in a well coloured picture can be obtained 
 with better effect without it. 
 
 OF THE PROCESSES IN COLOURING. 
 
 A series of operations being required in the execution of a 
 picture, however clearly they may be described, the exact per- 
 formance of each by a learner can scarcely be expected ; and as any 
 error with regard to colour that may occur in the first would affect 
 the succeeding ones, it will of course be requisite to vary the latter 
 to amend what was done amiss : as the means of doing so may not 
 readily occur to him, it becomes necessary to observe that the effect 
 of the tints depending not only on the due proportion of their 
 component colours, but also on those of the ground or colouring 
 they are laid upon, any error in the earlier operations should be 
 rectified in the succeeding ones ; this may generally be done by 
 avoiding in them any mixture of the predominant colour ; thus, if 
 the grey or neutral tint be too cold, in consequence of having too 
 much blue in its composition, a little Indian red may be washed 
 very thinly over it to bring it to the desired tint : should the 
 greens appear too cold, from the same cause, they may be corrected 
 
70 
 
 OF THE PROCESSES IN COLOURING. 
 
 by a thin wash of yellow, and not by a warmer green (unless when 
 they admit of greater strength of colour), there being in the com- 
 position of it some blue, which ought to be avoided on a part where 
 there is already too much. 
 
 I shall in the next place endeavour to describe a few processes 
 in colouring, and begin with the easiest, which consists in making 
 out with greys the effect of light and shadow, and in adding the 
 colours upon it. 
 
 The paper being prepared by damping it on both sides, while 
 it is wet fasten it by the edges on a board or frame of a proper size, 
 with glue or strong paste ; or it may be confined on a pannelled 
 drawing board, or folding frame, such as are to be had at the 
 colour shops for that purpose. Care should be taken not to draw 
 it too tight when wet, being then of larger dimensions than when 
 dry ; if an allowance be not made for the contraction, it will break 
 in drying, especially if it be done too quickly, by placing it near 
 the fire. 
 
 When quite dry, it will be ready for the outline, in which there 
 will be no occasion to mark the detail so much as it has been 
 recommended to do in the sketch from nature ; the lights should 
 be decidedly formed, and the rest of the subject correctly drawn, 
 but with no greater strength than will be sufficient to determine 
 the forms, it being desirable that the outlines should not appear in 
 the finished drawing. 
 
 Having mixed the indigo and Indian red in separate saucers, 
 in a sufficient quantity, pour a little of each into a third, to make 
 the grey, adding of one or the other until it is of the tint required : 
 this as well as the indigo should be sufficiently diluted, so as not to 
 need alteration during an operation. It is of importance that the 
 colour should be prevented from drying as long as possible, in order 
 

71 
 
 OF THE PROCESSES IN COLOURING. 
 
 to gain time to spread it, which may be done by wetting the whole 
 of the surface of the paper before any colour is put on it, then 
 absorbing the superfluous water by means of tissue or blotting 
 paper, until the shining on the surface has disappeared ; the colour 
 will not then spread beyond where it is carried by the pencil, and 
 the moisture remaining in the paper will prevent it from drying 
 quickly. Or the paper may be wetted on the back, if it be upon 
 an open frame, the inside dimensions of which are as large as the 
 drawing ; but care should be taken to leave no part of it dry, as in 
 that case the correspondent part in front will take the colour so as 
 to dry darker than the surrounding parts ; the colours being applied 
 on wet paper, become lighter in drying than they do when used on 
 it dry ; an allowance for which should be made, or the proper degree 
 of strength may be obtained by repetition. When the colour 
 appears while wet to have not more than the proper degree of 
 strength, it may of course be concluded that it will, when dry, be 
 deficient in that respect ; the knowledge requisite to enable the 
 learner to allow duly for this change can be gained only by practice 
 and observation. 
 
 The examples on the annexed plate are intended to explain the 
 before mentioned process. 
 
 The blue of the sky is washed with indigo, forming those edges 
 of the clouds that are opposed to the light, where the paper is to be 
 left clear. If the learner cannot execute with such facility as will 
 enable him to put in with the grey the first or slightest shadows of 
 the clouds, &c. while the indigo continues quite wet, he would do 
 better by letting it remain until nearly dry, and the shining on the 
 surface of the drawing has disappeared ; the grey may then be put 
 on the places of those shadows without running into, or disturbing 
 the indigo ; the moisture remaining in the paper will cause it to be 
 
72 
 
 OF THE PROCESSES IN COLOURING. 
 
 sufficiently damp to give time for spreading the tint in the required 
 forms. If that cannot readily be done, the drying may be retarded 
 by wetting the back of the drawing, which will make the operation 
 still less difficult. When the faintest shadows of the clouds are 
 put in, the tint should be extended over the places of the darker 
 shadows also which are to be formed afterwards by a repetition 
 of the same, or of a little darker tint ; this should be carried over 
 every part of the landscape, except where the brightest fights and 
 clearest local colours are intended to be ; these parts are to be left 
 white, that they may receive with brilliancy the tints which are to be 
 applied in finishing. 
 
 If the gradation in the different washes be not too sudden, there 
 will seldom be need of softening or blending them into each other ; 
 on the contrary, it will be better to leave them flat with the edges of 
 their forms a little defined; but by no means darker than the 
 breadth, as they will be if the colour is kept wet by working too 
 long upon the part. Blending and softening the shadows will cause 
 what is technically called woolfiness. If the colour should incline to 
 be darker at the edge than elsewhere, by beginning to dry there 
 while the breadth continues wet, it may be prevented by taking a 
 large pencil (being wetted and clean), squeezing the hair flat with 
 the finger and thumb, and, striking it a few times across the edge 
 before it has become dry, the colour may be removed or driven 
 from it. 
 
 In Ex. 1. The whole of the distance being darker than the sky, 
 it should be laid in with grey of the depth of the lightest parts of the 
 mountains, and be spread over the whole, avoiding the formation 
 of their fights, which are to be produced by leaving them untouched 
 in the following wash ; as were those of the clouds by leaving the 
 parts untouched that were already dark enough. The learner will 
 
OF THE PROCESSES IN COLOURING. 
 
 73 
 
 be very apt to neglect this caution, and instead of extending the 
 washes generally, will produce the forms separately, and by that 
 means form spots, breaks, and edges, in the gradation of his 
 tints. By working over the whole so far as the tint he is using can 
 be applicable, and leaving the parts only that have depth enough, he 
 will not only avoid these defects, but will be much more certain of 
 his gradation and forms than he could possibly be by producing 
 them singly. 
 
 It may be perceived that each of the four examples contains 
 more than one operation, but as two degrees of tint are not laid on 
 at the same time, the order in which they are placed is so conspi- 
 cuous, as to render it unnecessary to increase the number of plates 
 for no purpose but that of exhibiting them separately. 
 
 The first contains three operations, viz. 1st. The wash of indigo 
 in the clear part of the sky, and the lightest tint of grey in the 
 clouds, &c. 2d. The shadows of the clouds and the whole of the 
 
 distance with grey a little stronger, and such as will be of the proper 
 depth for the lights of the distant mountains. 3d. The shadows of 
 those mountains, the tint of which is spread over every part of the 
 picture, except where the brightest fights are to be. The sky and 
 distances being laid in, in the next place, Ex. 2. The second range of 
 hills, &c. are to be formed by using the grey a little darker, their 
 lightest parts being darker than the shadows of the greatest distance, 
 going over not only the whole of them, but every part of the picture 
 also, where a tint of that degree is required. The shadows of this 
 second range, and those of the middle distance, are then put in, form- 
 ing their fights by leaving them untouched, as were those of the 
 extreme distance. The broad shadows may next be put in up to 
 the foreground, and of depth sufficient to serve as a dead colour for 
 the shadows. 
 
 L 
 
74 
 
 OF THE PROCESSES IN COLOURING. 
 
 In Ex. 3 . The general tints are applied, being a little thin 
 yellow over the parts where the brightest greens are to be, and a 
 tint of warm red over the rest of the picture, except the water. This 
 may be increased as it approaches to the foreground, and varied by 
 the admission of a little Indian red, burnt terra di Sienna, or brown 
 madder ; the latter is particularly useful in preparing a ground for 
 the strongest shadows, upon and near the foreground. The tree, 
 &c. on the foreground may next be laid in with a strong and warm 
 grey : being a dark object against a lighter distance, it may be better 
 done at once than by repetition, the latter causing woolliness, and 
 for this reason such objects are better omitted in the former parts 
 of the process. 
 
 In the former operations, if the grey be too strong, or the forms 
 hard and edgy, they may be improved, previous to the tinting, by 
 washing over the whole with a flat brush and water, which will 
 remove a part of the grey, and reduce the sharpness of the edges. 
 If the brush be insufficient for that purpose, a soft sponge may be 
 used, but it will be requisite first to wet the whole with the flat 
 pencil before the sponge is applied ; without this precaution the 
 colour will be taken off in streaks, and it will soil those parts that 
 should be kept light in passing over them, which cannot be avoided 
 but by wetting the whole well as directed ; the colour that may 
 then wash from the dark and pass over the light parts will not fix 
 upon them, but may easily be removed by a large clean pencil. 
 
 This is an expedient the learner will be very ready to avail him- 
 self of, and depend upon to rectify any effect of carelessness or 
 mismanagement ; but it will be very apt to disappoint him, as he 
 will be little the better for washing in and washing out, unless he 
 can comprehend the effect he intends to produce, which is not to be 
 expected from chance, but must be produced upon some principle. 
 
OF THE PROCESSES IN COLOURING. 
 
 75 
 
 He must be considerably advanced in the art before he can be 
 capable of turning accidental circumstances to advantage. 
 
 After the general tints of light yellow and the reds, the local 
 colours may be applied in thin washes over their respective objects, 
 and repeated upon the lights, which in all cases must have more of 
 the local colour than the shadow ; indigo and yellow ochre will best 
 compose the greens of the distance, being more aerial than that of 
 Boman ochre ; the latter may be used on the nearer parts of the 
 middle ground ; and in some parts, particularly of the foreground, 
 terra de Sienna with indigo may be required : if more be neces- 
 sary, it will probably be strength of foreground, which may be 
 given by strong touches (not washes) of Vandyke brown, or Cologne 
 earth. 
 
 By whatever process the drawing is to be executed, the whole 
 of the subject should be carried forward together, that is, no part 
 should be finished before the rest are advanced to a certain degree. 
 The neglect of this general method will cause the learner to be 
 deceived with regard to the due strength of the several parts, 
 especially those of the sky and distance, which will probably be 
 left too faint if they are finished before the middle and foregrounds 
 are put in with a considerable degree of strength. 
 
 It will be less difficult to preserve clearness of colouring, if, in- 
 stead of the ochres, terra di Sienna with a little gamboge be sub- 
 stituted for them ; this tint may be varied, by making the indigo 
 or either of the yellows predominate, so as to give the autumnal 
 variety of greens in the foliage. The burnt Sienna, gamboge, and 
 indigo, will give those on the foreground ; in this, as in the fol- 
 lowing processes, the breadths of colour are better if made by dif- 
 ferent tints nearly of the same tone, than with a continuity of the 
 same, which not only tends to produce monotony, but the colours 
 
 • l 2 
 
76 
 
 OF THE PROCESSES IN COLOURING. 
 
 in that way have not the richness that a small variation of the 
 tones will give. 
 
 The colours are classed as warm, or cold, the former being the 
 reds, yellow, and browns ; the cold are blue, grey, and green ; but 
 the two latter are made less cold by adding a greater proportion of 
 red to the grey, and of yellow to the green. 
 
 The warm tints should be employed principally in the lights, 
 and ought to predominate in the picture ; the cold colours may be 
 distributed in the intermediate parts between light and shadow, 
 but not much in the shadow, particularly in its deepest parts, 
 which should be of the warm purplish browns, with no more 
 green than is sufficient to make them harmonize with the rest of 
 the picture. 
 
 In every method of colouring, if the greatest brilliancy be re- 
 quired in some parts of the subject, those parts of the paper in- 
 tended to receive it should be left without any wash of grey, pre- 
 vious to the colour. 
 
 The foregoing process being attended with little difficulty, may 
 be proper for the practice of a beginner ; the principal objection 
 to it is, that the light and shadow being fully produced with grey, 
 or nearly so, before the colouring, it may have too much the ap- 
 pearance of a coloured print, being nearly on the same principle. 
 
 SECOND PROCESS. 
 
 The next method I shall describe is more difficult, being less 
 dependent, except in the remote distances, upon the grey. 
 
 The indigo and neutral tint being prepared and properly diluted 
 as before, the sky and distances are to be washed in the same 
 manner, through the first and second degrees of the grey. In the 
 following operations the places of the shadows are not to be carried 
 
OF THE PROCESSES IN COLOURING. 
 
 77 
 
 to their depth with it, as they will require to he made much warmer 
 in the middle and foregrounds, the use of the neutral tint on those 
 parts being chiefly for the purpose of subduing the white paper, 
 and by that means preventing too great a degree of brightness 
 in the shadows; the parts are also to be less made out in the 
 grey than before either in form or in strength : when this is done, 
 the warm colours may be put on ; not as before in general washes, 
 but with all the variety their distribution, especially in the lights, 
 will give : for the production of harmony, which depends on the 
 agreement of various tints, and not at all on monotonous unity, 
 the shadows should be warmed with a little Indian red, in the 
 parts at some distance, and in the places of those nearer with 
 burnt terra di Sienna, or brown madder, and filled with all the 
 rich tints that can be brought together, not thinly washed over 
 all, but by laying them to appear between the parts of each other, 
 and powerfully as they can be well laid on ; being varied so as to 
 be productive of harmony in the whole : no rule can be given for 
 such distribution, except that the warm tints should predominate ; 
 the rest must depend upon the eye. 
 
 ' Particular directions with regard to this part of the art would 
 be too diffuse, without answering the intended purpose, as no 
 certain arrangement of tints can be applied to the same object 
 when it is placed under different circumstances with respect to 
 the light, or its relative situation and combination with other 
 objects with which it may be required to harmonize. In this the 
 Flemish painters are the best guides, their works being admirably 
 coloured, and very many of them in the highest preservation. Of 
 the Italian masters, few were eminent in landscape, and the greatest 
 part of their works being done by methods less calculated than 
 those of the former to ensure their permanency, are in such a state 
 
78 
 
 OF THE PROCESSES IN COLOURING. 
 
 from dirt, varnish, and what is still worse, the offscourings and 
 retouchings of the picture-cleaner, that it is difficult for any one 
 except an artist to see into them, and to discover what they have 
 been, or to derive much advantage in colouring from them. 
 
 Proceeding to the finishing, first of the distance, if any thing 
 there want more of strength, distinctness of form, or colour. In 
 the nearer parts give the required forms and strength by touching 
 upon them with the grey and a little yellow ochre in such pro- 
 portions as to produce a neutral tint inclining to green, which it 
 will not do if the grey be too red ; in that case it must be rectified 
 by adding more indigo : on the other hand, it must not be too 
 purely green, by having too much of the indigo. A little practice 
 will enable the learner to discover when it is right. 
 
 The whole of the forms are to be treated in this manner up to 
 the foreground, observing as they approach nearer to use a richer 
 yellow with the grey, and to apply the touches with a stronger body 
 of colour, the order of which will be thus. The grey and yellow 
 ochre for making out all the distant parts of the middle ground, 
 the grey and Roman ochre for the nearer parts, and grey, with raw 
 terra di Sienna as they approach to the foreground ; which may be 
 worked up to the effect, with a variety of mixtures, such as umber 
 with a little indigo ; burnt Sienna and indigo ; umber indigo and 
 brown madder; Vandyke brown, and Cologne earth according to 
 the tone of colouring and strength required. Those mixtures that 
 produce brown are preferable, except in the last touches, to the 
 positive hues of Vandyke brown, or Cologne earth ; such as that of 
 burnt umber, terra di Sienna, indigo and brown madder ; those 
 made by the madder harmonize better with the local colours than 
 the former, both of which incline to be crude and inharmonious, 
 especially if not laid on a ground sufficiently deep to prevent it ; 
 
OF THE PROCESSES IN COLOURING. 
 
 79 
 
 but Cologne earth may be used to advantage by working with it 
 upon the other browns when great depth is required. 
 
 Kaw terra di Sienna is particularly useful in mixture with the 
 greys, to give depth to the middle and some parts of the fore- 
 ground. This colour is considered by many as being too un tractable 
 to be used without the addition of a little gall, which is some- 
 times put into it by the colourman ; in this state it is good for 
 nothing except in washes : the fatness complained of I consider as 
 peculiarly advantageous in producing a richness and depth of effect, 
 and for admitting of a firmness of penciling not to be obtained by 
 mere washing colour. 
 
 This and the following processes cannot be explained by ex- 
 amples, except such as, being done by the hand, would greatly 
 enhance the price of this work, without affording adequate in- 
 formation. 
 
 By the first and second processes, the sky laid in with a mixed 
 neutral tint is varied only in strength, not in tone, variety being 
 given by the addition of a portion of warm red. F or an evening 
 sky the greys are produced better by applying the indigo and 
 Indian red separately, which form warm or cold grey according 
 to the predominance of either of the constituents. 
 
 First wash with indigo, darkest in the upper part of the sky, 
 and gradually lighter as it descends, leaving a considerable space 
 where the light above the horizon is intended, untouched by the 
 indigo, losing the blue imperceptibly as it approaches towards that 
 part : the light of the clouds may be left clear, or formed by re- 
 moving the colour afterwards. Every part of the picture being 
 made out with indigo, as before directed with neutral tint ; the 
 greys are then made by washing pure Indian red in the de- 
 sired forms upon it, which will produce a series of tints varying 
 
80 
 
 OF THE PROCESSES IN COLOURING. 
 
 according to the degree of strength in the indigo beneath the red ; 
 the clouds formed by the latter in the upper part will be of a cool 
 grey, the same being continued on the forms downward will be 
 warmer, and where the indigo is extremely faint, nearly red. The 
 red being washed over the other parts of the landscape, will cause 
 the same variety of tints. The light red and warm yellow in the 
 breadth of light in the sky may then be applied, uniting them and 
 blending the uppermost imperceptibly into the blue above it. 
 
 THIRD PROCESS. 
 
 The principal difference between this and the foregoing con- 
 sists in washing over the whole drawing with water only, upon the 
 sky and dead colouring of the rest of the picture. 
 
 The clear part of the sky with the forms and shadows of the 
 clouds being put in, let every other part be laid in with grey as 
 before, making it more warm by the addition of red or madder 
 brown, as it approaches to, and upon the foreground ; then add 
 the local colours upon the lights, with a little on the middle tints 
 and shadows. These as well as the greys may be made somewhat 
 stronger than in the first and second processes, because a con- 
 siderable part of each will be displaced or come off in the washing. 
 
 When the whole is quite dry, take a large flat brush of the 
 breadth of three or four inches, and wet the entire surface of the 
 drawing ; by continuing to wash over it with the same brush, a 
 part of the colour will be removed, or may be suffered to remain on 
 the shadows which were left in the dead colour, with but little 
 of the local tints on that account. The brush will remove the 
 colour sufficiently in the sky and distances ; if more be required in 
 the nearer parts and foreground, the sponge may be used, always 
 taking care to keep the whole quite wet, or it will wash in streaks, 
 
OF THE PROCESSES IN COLOURING. 
 
 81 
 
 and the colour so removed will soil the lights and such parts as are 
 suffered to become dry. The washing in this manner will improve 
 the aerial tints, and leave a beautiful granulation upon the surface 
 of the paper. On this preparation, the tints and mixtures for the 
 touches may be the same as in the second process ; they should be 
 done with a full body of colour, and free touch of the pencil, other- 
 wise they will be woolly, or deficient in clearness, in consequence 
 of the blending of the dead colours in the general wash. If the 
 effect be not satisfactory, the whole, or any part, may be again 
 washed up to produce a variety of ground or increased granulation 
 and roughness of the surface, on which the finishing may be con- 
 ducted as before, and repeated as often as may be necessary. 
 
 When considerable depth has been gained by repeated layers 
 of colour, the ground will frequently be covered uniformly, or lost ; 
 it is therefore recommended to the learner to produce the parts of 
 their respective depths as nearly as possible without repetition. 
 By preparing the finishing tints of sufficient strength, any part 
 may be carried down, or nearly so, at once ; with this advantage, 
 the colour while wet will readily take such varied forms of touch 
 as the character of the object may require; and by an unequal 
 degree of pressure with the pencil, the ground or dead colour will 
 appear between the more opaque parts of the finishing colours : 
 without this partial appearance of the ground, the whole will be 
 deficient in clearness and transparency. 
 
 FOURTH PROCESS. 
 
 Another method may be pursued, by beginning with the local 
 colours and the neutral tint of different degrees of warmth, ac- 
 cording to the situations and distances of the objects, tinting the 
 
 M 
 
8 % OF THE PROCESSES IN COLOURING. 
 
 lights and working down the shadows, from the colour of the paper, 
 without preparation ; this will give great clearness and brilliancy, 
 but without considerable practice, the work will frequently be 
 deficient in harmony, breadth, and, above all, in repose. 
 
 In this process, the whole of the middle distance and foreground 
 being washed over with a thin tint of yellow ochre, the forms are 
 made out upon it with mixtures of the local colours and the neutral 
 tint, the greens of the trees with cool grey and ochre, from which 
 considerable variety may be obtained according to the quantity of 
 ochre in the mixture, or its quality ; the lightest yellow ochre being 
 applicable to those that are distant, and Eoman ochre, or occasionally 
 raw terra di Sienna, as they approach to the foreground : the variety 
 may be farther increased by the use of a warmer grey, especially in 
 the near parts of the picture. The greens composed with blue are 
 to be confined to these and the foreground, being too bright when 
 employed on the other parts, which in this process are not pre- 
 viously formed, and the paper subdued by a dead colouring of 
 grey, as in the former methods. The same reds are applicable 
 as before in the shadows, and should be only in such quantity as 
 may be sufficient to break the greens without destroying their 
 quality. 
 
 Instead of the grey composed of indigo and Indian red, a 
 neutral tint may be substituted which is prepared from the char- 
 coal of the stems or cuttings of the vine : these being ground with 
 water and bound with a little gum Arabic make a good grey for 
 this purpose, Indian red, or brown madder being added to it for 
 objects on the nearest parts and the foreground. 
 
 The colours should not be too much diluted, but rather mixed 
 as thick as they can be applied with freedom of the pencil, by which 
 
OF THE PROCESSES IN COLOURING. 
 
 83 
 
 means the clearness will be preserved, and the varied pressure of the 
 pencil, keeping it generally well charged with colour, will give great 
 richness and expression to the touch. 
 
 As clearness and transparency cannot be obtained by glazing 
 with water colours, in the same manner as in oil, in which the con- 
 stituent colours of the ground and glazing preserve themselves 
 distinctly, while in the former the transmission is imperfect, and 
 their effect is more like that of mixture; it must, therefore, be 
 sought for in other means, by which the parts of each tint may 
 appear, not through, but between those of the other. To facilitate 
 this, the rough-grained paper is to be preferred, upon which the 
 colour, when driven thin, will remain lighter upon the prominent 
 parts than between them ; if it be used thicker and with less in the 
 pencil, it will drag upon the prominences, touching these only, and 
 leaving the intermediate parts lighter : either of these methods will 
 preserve clearness in the same manner as it may be kept in a 
 pencil, or chalk drawing ; these materials when worked upon the 
 grain of the paper, without filling equally its cavities, will be 
 always clear, however dark the parts may be ; but if the whole be 
 covered by rubbing with the finger or a stump (which is made of 
 leather or paper rolled up hard, and cut to a point for that pur- 
 pose) it immediately becomes muddy. 
 
 The clearness of colouring may therefore be injured or de- 
 stroyed by blending the tints, and incorporating them too much 
 by the motion of the pencil ; this may also be caused by concealing 
 the ground or dead colouring with repeated layers of colour. To 
 preserve clearness, the colour ought to be in such a state, that in 
 working it a strong touch or pressure of the pencil will so drive it, 
 as to show some part of the ground through or between the parts 
 of the finishing colours. 
 
 m 9 
 
84 
 
 OF THE PROCESSES IN COLOURING. 
 
 When the colouring has become muddy, the defect may be 
 remedied (if not already too deep) by working over it with darker 
 shadow tints, and with a light kind of hatching touch, so as to leave 
 some part of what was already done as an intermediate tint ; and as 
 the defect is usually accompanied with indecision of the forms, these 
 may be determined at the same time, by playing, as it were, with the 
 point of the pencil, and with a light touch, until the requisite degree 
 of sharpness is obtained. If the part be already too deep to admit 
 of these additional touches, a part of the colour may be removed 
 (as before directed) and the ground laid open, then treated as above, 
 with such varied tints as the local colours of the objects require. 
 
 Many other methods might be enumerated, but I shall confine 
 myself to the following, which was communicated by me to the 
 Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c., and published in their 
 Transactions in the year 1799. 
 
 The intention of this process is to secure the lights, both in 
 their sharpest touches and breadths, by covering them, as soon as 
 they have received their proper depth of local colour, with a com- 
 position which defends them from injury or alteration, in passing 
 over them with other tints, or the colours of the shadow. The 
 composition may then be removed, and the lights will re-appear in 
 their different forms and gradations, as secured by it, and of the 
 different tints put on before its application. 
 
 The composition is made by dissolving a small quantity of 
 whitened bees’-wax in oil of turpentine, to which may be added as 
 much flake -white as will give it sufficient body to appear opaque, 
 when the touches made with it on the paper are held between the 
 eye and the light. 
 
 The quantity of wax may be found by trial, and need not be 
 more than will fix the flake-white, so as to prevent its removal by 
 washing over it with colour. 
 
OF THE PROCESSES IN COLOURING. o5 
 
 The sky and distances being done as in the first and second 
 processes, the warm tints of the brightest lights should be put in 
 their places, and may be thinly spread over nearly the whole of the 
 drawing ; those will be chiefly of light yellow ochre and light red, or 
 burnt terra di Sienna, according to the different local tints. While 
 these are drying, take a small piece of flake-white, about half the 
 size of a hazel-nut, and with a pallet knife grind it in a little of the 
 turpentine and wax, putting it into a small saucer where it will not 
 spread with a large surface, as that will cause the oil of turpentine 
 to evaporate more quickly. If the composition should become 
 thick by evaporation, it may be diluted by adding a few drops of the 
 oil of turpentine only, as there will be already enough of the wax, 
 which cannot fly off. When diluted to that degree that it will 
 work freely with the pencil, and the touches made with it when the 
 paper is between the eye and the light appear distinct and rather 
 opaque, take a fine pointed sable pencil, and with the composition 
 touch sharply all the places where the highest lights are intended 
 to be ; if the paper be upon an open frame, by placing it as directed, 
 the touches will be more visible than in any other situation ; when 
 the quantity of colour is afterwards increased, it will not be 
 necessary : they will be seen distinctly enough in any position. 
 
 When the composition is dry enough by the evaporation of the 
 oil of turpentine, which will be in a few minutes, wash over the 
 whole with the colours of the next degree of light. 
 
 Then apply the composition to the second order of touches in 
 the brightest lights, extending them towards the shadow, at the same 
 time put on the first sharp touches of the secondary lights, if the 
 colour already done be deep enough for their highest parts. 
 
 After this the local colours may be increased, and the shadows 
 
86 
 
 OF THE PROCESSES IN COLOURING. 
 
 lightly put in their places; applying alternately the colours and 
 the composition, extending the latter by broader touches, to collect 
 those of the first and second into masses for the formation of breadth 
 of light, and to extend them farther towards the shadow. 
 
 Lastly, the middle colours must be put in, and the shadows 
 strengthened nearly to the intended depth. 
 
 When the whole of the water colours are dry, with a hog’s-hair 
 brush and oil of turpentine wash away the composition ; as it 
 dissolves wipe it off with a rag, and continue to do so with more 
 clean turpentine and a fresh rag until no more white appears ; this 
 will not affect the colours, because those used with gum water are 
 not soluble in oil of turpentine. 
 
 If it be desirable to remove the oil of turpentine remaining in 
 the paper, it may be done by washing it with highly rectified spirit 
 of wine, both on the front and back. 
 
 When the drawing is dry, as it will soon be, it may be tinted 
 down and harmonized where that is wanted, and the shadows may 
 be strengthened in their deepest parts if depth be required. 
 
 The advantages of this method are, the lights may be expressed 
 with all the freedom and sharpness of touch possible, and of various 
 tints according to the colours laid on before and between the 
 different applications of the composition; they are also more 
 brilliant, and without the chalky effect caused in removing the 
 colours by wetting and rubbing them up, but the latter in the 
 representation of some objects, such as rocks, &c., has peculiar 
 advantages. 
 
87 
 
 OF THE FORMATION OF LIGHTS, &c. 
 
 BY REMOVAL OF THE COLOUR. 
 
 The effects produced by removing the colour by a sponge, or 
 other means, may be made greatly superior to those by the pencil 
 alone ; this method may be applied in every state of the picture 
 until the last. By putting in the breadths of grey and local colour 
 with force and variety, with more depth than is intended to remain, 
 on sponging over the whole, the aerial tints will be improved, and 
 a granulation of the surface caused, which will dispose it to receive 
 more colour to great advantage. By repeating the operation, a 
 mixture of tints will be obtained, such as cannot be analyzed, 
 richer, and more harmonious than can be made by other means ; the 
 oftener this is repeated the greater variety of accidental forms and 
 tints will be produced. After the use of the sponge, by wetting 
 the subject partially, then rubbing it strongly with a cloth or the 
 India rubber, this will tear up the surface in the foreground, &c. 
 in a great variety of accidental forms, of which advantage may be 
 taken to work them up by the pencil to a better effect than could 
 be otherwise produced, or perhaps was intended. 
 
 In this way the characters of rocks, trunks of trees, &c. may be 
 expressed more faithfully than in any other. Smaller touches of 
 light, such as those in foliage, weeds, branches of trees, &c. may be 
 made by wetting the part carefully by a fine pencil with water, and 
 removing the colour by the cloth or India rubber. If great sharpness 
 of form be desired in the touches, after being wetted, a piece of 
 tissue or blotting paper may be extended across the place so as to 
 absorb the superfluous moisture, and prevent its spreading on being 
 rubbed ; the colour will then come off with great sharpness of form 
 
88 
 
 SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 by using the rubber. After the lights have been produced in this 
 manner, they will require to be tin ted, in doing which, care should 
 be taken not to use the colour so strong as to conceal or injure the 
 forms thus obtained ; lastly, a few touches of the pencil will be 
 found wanting to give strength and sharpness to some of the parts, 
 especially those of the foreground. 
 
 If after this the effect be not satisfactory, the rubbing into 
 other forms and tinting may be repeated as often as requisite, or as 
 the paper can bear, which will be much more than the learner can 
 be aware of. 
 
 On some occasions it may be requisite to remove the colour for 
 the restoration of light, without affecting the surface of the paper 
 by friction, especially in the sky and extreme distances ; when that 
 is desired, the part may be wetted in the required form, and when 
 the colour is sufficiently moistened, some crums of stale bread 
 being thrown upon it and rubbed by the hand, they will, in their 
 rolling motion, take up the colour without injury to the surface of 
 the paper. The operation may be repeated until the desired 
 quantity of light is produced. 
 
 If the part be made too wet, the bread, by imbibing the moisture, 
 may smear the colour ; on some occasions it will be better to wet the 
 part thoroughly, and to absorb the superfluous moisture a little by 
 blotting or tissue paper ; then without loss of time, and while the 
 part still remains moist, apply the bread as before directed. 
 
 SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE METHODS OF 
 PRACTICE IN PAINTING. 
 
 The art of painting being addressed through the eye to the 
 mind, its productions derive their value according to the degree in 
 
METHODS OF PRACTICE IN PAINTING. 
 
 89 
 
 which they possess those requisites that depend on intellectual 
 energy : hence painting has ever been ranked as a liberal art, not as 
 a mechanical employment, or such as may be exercised with little of 
 mental capability. In the early part of his practice, the learner is 
 advised to accustom himself to copy, with scrupulous exactness, 
 what he undertakes to delineate : when he has attained the power 
 of expressing form with correctness and precision, he should select 
 what is best in nature and most capable of expressing the idea he 
 intends to convey. As in the relation of facts, a dry detail of their 
 particulars is insufficient to create that interest which they may 
 receive, without any diminution of the truth, from the embellish- 
 ments which may be given to them by the narrator ; so the student 
 is not to conclude that the processes given in this work, or any 
 other that can be communicated verbally, will enable him to per- 
 form a work of excellence, but by the exercise of the mind, in 
 applying the means according to the circumstances and nature of his 
 subject. Neither ought he to consider any of those masters whose 
 works have been recommended as subjects for his study, models for 
 his imitation in every part of their practice, the best being defective 
 in some part of it ; it is nature he must follow, and the art of 
 seeing it he must learn from them ; a power not so easily or ge- 
 nerally acquired as may be imagined, as will appear from the 
 various manners adopted by different artists when treating the 
 same subject. 
 
 In the production of a work of art, some kind of method is 
 requisite, the application of which must depend on the mind ; 
 without this intellectual co-operation, the result will be nothing 
 more than that of a mechanical operation, of little value, although 
 it may exhibit marks of the greatest facility in execution, and 
 manual dexterity gained by practice. 
 
 N 
 
90 
 
 SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 Various have been the devices offered for the adoption of students 
 in the art, the utility of which have sometimes depended less on 
 the methods devised, than on the capacities of those who applied 
 them : what the mind does not conceive, the hand will be unable to 
 execute. Some years ago, the public were taught to admire a method 
 of manufacturing pictures from the ideas suggested by a blotted 
 paper, and a kind of practice that demands the most comprehensive 
 knowledge of the principles of art, was recommended to those who 
 had scarcely any acquaintance with its principles at all. This ex- 
 pedient may furnish valuable hints to the real artist, who can avail 
 himself of its use, but will be of little service, or rather injurious to 
 others : as the taste may be improved by the contemplation of what 
 is beautiful, so it may be vitiated and reconciled to deformity by 
 dwelling upon what is of an opposite character. The practice of 
 collecting and combining such materials as fall almost by chance, 
 is calculated to habituate the performer to the indulgence of every 
 kind of licentiousness, so far as relates to forms ; and in their com- 
 binations there is scarcely to be found, even in the works of the 
 Chinese, any thing more unnatural and preposterous than appears in 
 some that I have seen, and those I am in possession of, done upon 
 this plan. Such are not the productions of those great men whose 
 works are held up as examples to be followed ; being as free from 
 extravagance, as remote from the common appearance of natuie, they 
 have obtained their high reputation by their accordance with the 
 immutable principles of reason and general truth. 
 
 In the exercise of the imagination there is boundless scope, and 
 we are readily inclined to be satisfied with that which accords with 
 our own conceptions, rather than to scrutinize with due accuracy 
 and attention, such works as are submitted to our examination ; 
 many things being admired, and considered as the emanations of 
 
METHODS OE PRACTICE IN PAINTING. 
 
 91 
 
 genius, which bear no mark of a sound understanding, and have 
 nothing extraordinary in them but some kind of extravagance, 
 which, by its novelty, is calculated to strike those who can approve 
 before they reflect. 
 
 Whatever excites notice only by its singularity or extravagance, 
 however it may take the spectator by surprise, will gain little ap- 
 probation when that has ceased ; many of those dashing performances 
 so much admired for their spirit, the prototype of which cannot 
 possibly be found in nature, may be considered as proceeding less 
 from genius than from a disordered or perverted imagination. 
 These things are brought forth as specimens of a kind of epic painting, 
 or of something imaginary, and beyond what appears in nature : this, 
 however allowable in poetry, cannot be admitted with equal license 
 in painting ; as no man can possibly have any conception of form 
 that is beyond nature, or embody an idea of that which has never 
 been seen, but by clothing it in a form, the parts of which exist in 
 nature. 
 
 “ What can we reason but from what we know ?” 
 
 Thus celestial beings are represented under such forms as are 
 made by the selection and combination of the most perfect parts 
 observed in different bodies, but are never found united in an 
 individual ; this perfect form has never been seen, yet all its parts 
 being in nature, their union in the individual is possible, and there- 
 fore appropriate, being the utmost we can conceive with regard to 
 the beauty of form. Neither can we convey any idea of super- 
 natural deformity, but by associating and embodying the incongruous 
 parts of the brute creation. 
 
 The most dreadfully grand portrait that has been drawn, is that 
 of the King of Terrors, by Milton, in his “ Paradise Lost.” The parts 
 of this imaginary form are suggested by those we observe in nature, 
 
 n 2 
 
9 % 
 
 OF COMPOSITION. 
 
 the effect of which, being heightened by their obscurity and unde- 
 termined making out, is wonderfully great. 
 
 “ the other shape, 
 
 “ If shape it might be call’d, that shape had none, 
 
 “ Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb ; 
 
 “ Or substance might be call’d, that shadow seem’d, 
 
 “ For each seem’d either ; — black it stood as night, 
 
 “ Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell, 
 
 “ And shook a dreadful dart ; what seem’d his head, 
 
 “ The likeness of a kingly crown had on.” 
 
 OF COMPOSITION. 
 
 I am led to offer a few observations on composition, or the art of 
 combining several parts that are in nature so as to produce the best 
 effect of the whole, and convey, in the most perfect manner, the 
 ideas of the artist. 
 
 There being scarcely any real scene, in the representation of 
 which some degree of composition is not requisite, or that can be 
 advantageously given altogether without it, the liberty of removing 
 subordinate parts, and of supplying their places by others, comes 
 under the head of composition, and is, in some degree, on almost 
 every occasion indispensable ; the artist seldom can find a subject, 
 the task of representing the whole of which, exactly as it appears on 
 the spot, he can willingly submit to. 
 
 The term composition is usually applied to such works as are 
 not intended to represent any real view : in the management of these, 
 the artist being perfectly at liberty to arrange his materials according 
 to his discretion, has much more room, and greater opportunity to 
 display his talent, than in cases where he is confined by local con- 
 siderations. Truth, being one of the first requisites, without which 
 
OF COMPOSITION. 
 
 93 
 
 no work can be valuable or interesting, that which is probable, or at 
 least possible, should never be lost sight of, as it may happen to be, in 
 the practice of the artist who composes his subject from the ideas 
 formed in his imagination alone, without reference to, or the appli- 
 cation of such studies as have been made from various objects and 
 parts of the scenery in nature. The objects introduced must be 
 such as will accord with the nature of the scene, the prevailing 
 character of which should be sustained throughout the whole : proofs 
 of carelessness in this respect, or of incompetency to the task, may 
 be observed in the patched compositions that are sometimes made 
 of the parts gleaned from other pictures, to execute which with 
 success, will demand qualifications scarcely inferior to those required 
 to produce an original design. 
 
 The disposition of the parts of the picture ought to be such as 
 will admit of union for the production of breadth, or of contrast by 
 their opposition ; the artifice of this, however studied, should rather 
 be concealed than suffered to obtrude itself on the spectator with 
 the affectation of art, to which the greatest and most inartificial 
 simplicity is preferable. 
 
 As nature and the possible or probable truth are to be consulted 
 before all other considerations, the objects introduced in the scene 
 must be such as may be found in the like situation in nature ; trees 
 of particular kinds, rocks, plants, &c. being peculiar to some situa- 
 tions, and never to be met with in others of a different character or 
 climate. Every part of a well conducted composition should be 
 made to contribute to the general character of the subject ; the 
 most sublime scene will lose much of its grandeur when coloured in 
 a light and gay style, or when the touch and handling are minute 
 and trifling : to subjects of this description, neatness of finishing, and 
 great attention in making out the subordinate parts, are ruinous ; of 
 
94 
 
 OF COMPOSITION. 
 
 every species of composition, this will the least admit of such treat- 
 ment. Whatever the general style of the artist may be, he should 
 accommodate it to the subject : when this consistency is overlooked 
 or neglected for the microscopic detail, by which the attention of 
 the spectator is diverted from the work to the workman, it may be 
 concluded, that he did not comprehend or feel his subject as he 
 ought to have done. 
 
 In grouping the objects of which the composition is to be 
 formed, great art may be displayed ; but it ought to be so conducted, 
 that its contrivance may be concealed as much as possible. Of those 
 forms which are considered picturesque, such as that of the pyramid, 
 &c., the objects composing them should appear to associate na- 
 turally, and come together, as it were, by the nature of the scene, or 
 by accident, that the artifice of combining them for the production 
 of a certain form of the group may not be perceived, or so obvious 
 as to call the attention of the spectator more to the means, than to 
 the effect. 
 
 Geometrical forms thus catch the eye, and offend by their regu- 
 larity : for the same reason, parallel and similar forms are unpleasing, 
 and may be avoided by artificial contrast ; but this should be used 
 with discretion, or the remedy will be worse than the evil ; few things 
 being more offensive to the eye of taste than affected contrast. 
 
 The student will do well by departing occasionally from that 
 kind of practice which may be deemed common-place : such as the 
 introduction of a great tree at one side of the picture, with another 
 subordinate to it at the opposite side ; when the distance does not 
 require such opposition, and when it may be produced by an object 
 of considerable magnitude and force on or near the foreground, this 
 kind of termination may be well dispensed with, and the distance 
 interrupted, before it meets the boundary of the picture, by an object 
 
OF COMPOSITION. 
 
 95 
 
 rising from the fore or middle ground) and elevated not much above 
 the horizon. 
 
 In local scenery the artist is not always at liberty to reject those 
 parts that are useless ; but in composition, none should be admitted 
 except such as contribute to the effect of the whole, which will be 
 better obtained by an arrangement of few and large features, than by 
 crowding into it too many good things. 
 
 Manner, in painting, is that peculiarity by which the works of 
 an artist are known and distinguished from those of others. This 
 may be seen in the composition, and in the colouring or handling in 
 a picture, and, being a defect, should be avoided, rather than imitated . 
 to escape the contraction of it entirely is next to impossible, the 
 communication of our ideas by manual operation inducing a degree 
 of regularity, and a habit similar to that acquired in writing, by 
 which the hand of one person is distinguished from that of others. 
 
 If due attention is bestowed by the learner on such works of the 
 old masters as have been enumerated, their style in composition and 
 in other parts of the art will be observed, and great advantage may 
 be thence derived : nearly all their works are composition, in the 
 arrangement of which they differ as much as in every other quality. 
 As every person will be inclined to prefer one or the other of these, 
 the utmost he can do is to avail himself of what he finds best, and 
 convert it to his own use. A composite style formed upon the 
 works of various artists is hardly practicable ; scarcely any part of a 
 picture of Claude will associate with another of Poussin or Salvator 
 Rosa, and appear to be the offspring of the same mind. 
 
 A manner, of some kind, will inevitably be the result of con- 
 tinual practice ; and the artist who, in pursuing his studies by 
 copying the works of his predecessors, most carefully avoids the 
 imitation of those peculiarities which constitute it, will yet fall im- 
 
96 
 
 OF MOUNTING AND 
 
 perceptibly into one of his own, by which his performance may be 
 as certainly known as that of any other, and discoverable by some- 
 thing in his composition, the choice or preference of certain forms of 
 trees, clouds, rocks, figures, or the handling of his materials, touch 
 of the pencil, or general practice in colouring. By one or all of 
 these the works of every artist are known : with regard to those of 
 the old painters, by many of their admirers, manner is not considered 
 as a defect ; they look for the peculiarity of the master, and their 
 admiration of his works is bestowed according to the degree in 
 which it is discovered. 
 
 In nature there is none of this peculiarity, and the means by 
 which the contraction of it may be counteracted are a continual 
 reference to her works, and an endeavour to express the character 
 and parts of objects by various methods of execution in handling 
 and colouring. The artist cannot divest himself entirely of the 
 habits he has formed with regard to this part of his art, but he may 
 do it in some degree, so as to render them less conspicuous. 
 
 OF MOUNTING AND VARNISHING PAINTINGS IN 
 
 WATER COLOURS. 
 
 To prepare the mount, provide a strong and smooth board of 
 sufficient dimensions, then take three sheets of drawing-paper, a 
 little larger than the intended mount, and wet them by a sponge on 
 both sides ; if they are rolled up in that state, and remain so a few 
 minutes, the moisture will be imbibed more equally. Then take 
 one of the sheets, lay it on the board flat, turn up the edge of each 
 side about the breadth of an inch, paste over this part and lay it down 
 again, pressing it closely to the board. 
 
 The next sheet should be less than the first, by about half an 
 
VARNISHING PAINTINGS IN WATER COLOURS. 
 
 97 
 
 inch on each side, and being laid in its place upon the first (which 
 is fast to the board only by its edges), turn up one half of it, cover 
 it with paste equally spread, and lay it down again gradually, so as to 
 drive the air before it, without leaving bubbles, which it would be 
 difficult to get rid of without raising the sheet again ; the other 
 half of the sheet is then to be raised, pasted over, and laid down in 
 the like manner. The paper is to be pasted by halves, after being 
 laid in its place, with its edges at an equal distance from those of the 
 first sheet, because it would be difficult to lay it so, if pasted all over 
 at once, or to shift it, when not in the right plane. The third sheet 
 may be made a little less than the second ; and being laid in its 
 place, should be turned up and pasted like the other. The reason 
 why the upper papers are directed to be less than the first is, that the 
 first, being but of one thickness, may become dry and firmly fixed to 
 the board before the contraction of the whole can take place ; other- 
 wise they will fly off or break at the edges. 
 
 It will be best not draw the papers too tight, but rather to allow 
 as much liberty as may be convenient, as the mount will contract 
 strongly in drying : if the sheets are stretched to their full extent, the 
 mount may break, or the board may warp in drying, which it should 
 be allowed to do slowly, and not by exposure to the sun or the fire. 
 
 When dry, the drawing being cut to its size, must be placed with 
 its face downward on a sheet of clean paper, on which, being held 
 firmly by one hand, the back is to be covered with the paste, care- 
 fully avoiding any movement of the drawing, lest the face of it should 
 be smeared ; this should be spread equally, and as the drawing should 
 not be laid on the mount, until the paste has softened it a little, it 
 may be w T orked across in different directions, to spread it and keep 
 it equally moist : in two or three minutes, according to the strength 
 and thickness of the drawing paper, it may be laid with the pasted 
 
 o 
 
98 
 
 OF MOUNTING, &c. 
 
 side to the mount ; a clean sheet of paper must be laid over it, 
 which will prevent it from being injured by the rubbing necessary 
 to fix it. If on taking up the paper from the face of the drawing, 
 any air bubbles appear, the end nearest to them must be raised up, 
 to allow them to escape, as they will not easily be got out by any 
 other means. If a couple of straight pieces of wood be provided, 
 somewhat longer than the breadth of the drawing, and covered 
 with baize or flannel, by holding down with one of these, and 
 passing over the paper on the face of the drawing, the air will be 
 driven out before it better than it can be done by the hand. 
 
 Care should be taken that the edges lay close, which they will 
 not do readily if the drawing be done on strong paper, or be put 
 on the mount before it is softened sufficiently by the paste. 
 
 The whole should remain a few days in this state, or as long as 
 may be convenient : when quite dry, it may be taken from the 
 board, by cutting it round just within the pasted edges of the first 
 sheet, when the whole will come from the board. It will still con- 
 tract a little when at liberty, however dry it may seem to be, and 
 will warp unless kept in a portfolio for some time after, or placed 
 under some flat surface that will press upon the whole ; then the 
 further contraction that may take place will be equal, and it will 
 continue flat. 
 
 When the drawing is to be varnished, it may be more con- 
 veniently done while it continues upon the mounting board, and 
 it should remain there until properly dried, when it may be cut off. 
 
 In the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal for January, 1823 , a 
 method of preventing the mouldiness in paste is communicated by 
 Dr. John M‘Culloch ; which consists in adding to paste made in 
 the usual way, and rather thick, a drop or two of the essential oil 
 of lavender, or bergamot : a small quantity of corrosive sublimate 
 
OF VARNISHING PAINTINGS IN WATER COLOURS. 
 
 99 
 
 will preserve it from insects, and effectually check fermentation. 
 The Doctor directs the addition of a proportion of brown sugar, to 
 keep it flexible, and prevent its scaling off from smooth substances : 
 as it will not do so when applied upon paper; and dryness, not 
 flexibility, being required, for the use of artists, the sugar may be 
 omitted. Paste made in this manner, and exposed to the air, dries 
 without change to a state resembling horn, so that it may, at any 
 time, be wetted again, and applied to use. When kept in a close 
 covered pot, it may be preserved for use at all times. 
 
 OF VARNISHING PAINTINGS IN WATER COLOURS. 
 
 When these are to be placed as ornamental furniture, they 
 should be covered with glass or varnish ; to the former there are 
 several objections, especially with regard to large works, for which 
 no glass except plate can be had. This being more perfectly flat 
 and uniform than any other, every object in the room is reflected 
 by it so strongly, that it is difficult to get into a situation so as to 
 be rid of the inconvenience and see the picture at the same time. 
 On this account varnish is preferable ; but it should not be applied 
 in so great a body as to appear polished, else it will have in some 
 degree the imperfection of glass. It may be sufficient if it will 
 defend the picture from injury, and admit of its being washed with 
 a sponge and water when required. Many people object to the 
 application of varnish for this purpose, on the supposition of its 
 being injurious to the aerial tints, and from its giving to the work 
 somewhat more of transparency, so as to cause it to appear like a 
 feebly coloured oil picture. This may be the case with slightly 
 washed drawings, but I speak of water coloured pictures, that is, 
 of such as have all the force that is necessary for colour to give ; 
 
 o 2 
 
100 OF VARNISHING PAINTINGS IN WATER COLOURS. 
 
 these will not appear to lose by it : on the contrary, the shadows 
 will be increased in strength and clearness, expressing depth, ob- 
 scurity, and space, as great as can be obtained in oil. 
 
 Varnishes supposed to be of peculiar excellence have been 
 offered to the public, the recipes for the composition of which 
 are considered by their possessors as valuable secrets. All of them 
 being made by the solution of resinous substances in various sol- 
 vents, such as alcohol, the essential oils of turpentine, lavender, 
 &c., there is no great secret in the business, nor any difficulty in 
 the preparation, except in effecting the most complete solution 
 of the harder kinds, such as copal, without injury to their trans- 
 parency. The resins of a softer and more tractable kind, as mastic, 
 sandarac, seed-lac, shell-lac, &c. may be compounded in every pos- 
 sible way, and in any proportion, according to the fancy of the 
 operator, or the required degree of hardness, for the purpose they 
 are to be applied to. 
 
 Those made by the solution of mastic, sandarac, &c. in alcohol, 
 have less colour than the oil varnishes ; but are not sufficiently 
 hard, neither do they produce their effect unless they are repeated 
 until the surface they are employed upon becomes more polished 
 and glossy than is desirable. Those applied upon paintings in oil 
 colours are made of the same resins, principally mastic dissolved in 
 the essential oil of turpentine ; they are nearly colourless, but soon 
 lose so much of their transparency as to require renewal, and become 
 brown if not removed : in some situations this varnish is liable to 
 chill, and contract a kind of prismatic hue on the surface, by which 
 the picture is obscured ; this may be removed by friction with a 
 silk handkerchief, until in time it accumulates to such a degree as 
 to make the removal of the varnish necessary. 
 
 The qualities of good varnish are transparency and durability ; 
 
OF VARNISHING PAINTINGS IN WATER COLOURS. 101 
 
 those made by the solution of the resins in alcohol are deficient in 
 the latter ; on this account the essential oils are preferable as sol- 
 vents, the varnishes formed with them possessing, in addition to 
 the best qualities of the first mentioned, that of durability. 
 
 The following forms for the preparation of copal varnish with 
 the essential oils, are extracted from Tingry’s “ Varnishers' Guide.” 
 
 44 Take copal of an amber colour and in powder l j> ounces, es- 
 sence of turpentine 8 ounces. 
 
 44 Expose the essence to a balneum mariae, in a wide mouthed 
 matrass with a short neck ; as soon as the water of the bath begins 
 to boil, throw into the essence a large pinch of copal powder, and 
 keep the matrass in a state of circular motion. When the powder 
 is incorporated with the essence, add new doses to it ; and continue 
 in this manner till you observe that there is formed an insoluble 
 deposit. Then take the matrass from the bath, and leave it at 
 rest for some days. Draw off the clear varnish, and filter it through 
 cotton. 
 
 44 At the moment when the first portion of the copal is thrown 
 into the essence, if the powder precipitate itself under the form 
 of lumps, it is needless to proceed any further. This effect arises 
 from two causes; either the essence does not possess the proper 
 degree of concentration, or it has not been sufficiently dephlegmated 
 (deprived of water) : exposure to the sun, employing the same 
 matrass, to which a cork stopper ought to be fitted, will give it 
 the qualities requisite for the solution of the copal. This effect 
 will be announced by the disappearance of the portion of copal 
 already put into it. 
 
 44 Copal varnish made by means of an intermediate substance. 
 
 44 Take copal in powder . 1 ounce. 
 
 44 Essential oil of lavender 2 do. 
 
 44 Essence of turpentine . 6 do. 
 
102 OF VARNISHING PAINTINGS IN WATER COLOURS. 
 
 “ put the essential oil of lavender into a matrass of a proper 
 size, placed on a sand bath heated by an Argand’s lamp, or over a 
 moderate fire ; add the oil when very warm, and at several times the 
 copal powder, and stir the mixture with a stick of white wood 
 rounded at the end ; when the copal has entirely disappeared, add, 
 at three different times, the essence almost in a state of ebullition, 
 and keep continually stirring the mixture until the solution is 
 complete. 
 
 “ Copal varnish by the medium of camphor and essential oil of 
 lavender. 
 
 “ Take pulverized copal . 2 ounces. 
 
 “ Essential oil of lavender 6 do. 
 
 “ Camphor -J- of an ounce. 
 
 “ Essence of turpentine a sufficient quantity, according to the 
 consistence required to be given to the varnish. 
 
 « Put into a phial of thin glass, or into a small matrass, the 
 essential oil of lavender and the camphor ; and place the mixture 
 on a moderate open fire, to bring the oil and the camphor to a slight 
 state of ebullition. Then add the copal powder in small portions, 
 which must be renewed as they disappear in the liquid. F avour 
 the solution, by continually stirring it with a stick of white wood ; 
 and when the copal is incorporated with the oil, add the essence of 
 turpentine boiling ; but care must be taken to pour in at first only 
 a small portion. 
 
 “ These operations ought to be performed in the daytime, lest 
 the inflammable vapours which may escape should be set on fire 
 by the candles, and produce an explosion that may endanger the 
 operator ; on this account it will be better to perform them in the 
 open air : the vessel ought to be furnished with high edges, that 
 the vapours which escape may not communicate with the flame, 
 which often extends beyond the fire-place. Care should also be 
 
OF VARNISHING PAINTINGS IN WATER COLOURS. 103 
 
 taken to dispose the vessel so as to cover the fire entirely, and 
 to prevent any portions of the varnish, which may be thrown up by 
 the movements of the spatula, from falling into it. When the so- 
 lution is completed, the whole should be suffered to remain to cool 
 in the open air. 
 
 “ In these processes it is necessary that the essence should be 
 of the purest quality.” 
 
 To those who may be inclined to prefer the alcoholic varnishes, 
 the following is offered. 
 
 “ Take pure alcohol (spirit of wine) 32 ounces. 
 
 “ Purified mastic 6 do. 
 
 “ Gum sandarac 3 do. 
 
 “ Very clear Venice turpentine ... 3 do. 
 
 “ Glass coarsely powdered 4 do. 
 
 “ Reduce the mastic and sandarac to fine powder ; mix this 
 powder with that of the glass, from which the finest parts have 
 been separated by means of a sieve ; put all these ingredients with 
 the alcohol into a short necked matrass, and adapt to it a stick of 
 white wood rounded at the end, and of a length proportioned to 
 the matrass, that the contents may be put in motion by it. Ex- 
 pose the matrass in a vessel filled with water, made at first a little 
 warm, and which must afterwards be maintained in a state of 
 ebullition for an hour. The matrass may be made fast to a ring of 
 straw. 
 
 “ The first impression of the heat tends to unite the resins into 
 a mass,; this union is opposed by keeping the matters in motion, 
 which is easily effected by the stick, without stirring the matrass. 
 When the solution appears to be sufficiently extended, add the tur- 
 pentine, which must be kept separately in a phial or pot, and which 
 must be melted by immersing it in water. The matrass must be 
 
104 OF VARNISHING PAINTINGS IN WATER COLOURS. 
 
 still left in the water for half an hour, at the end of which it is 
 taken off, and the varnish is stirred continually, until it is some- 
 what cool. The next day it may be drawn off and filtered through 
 cotton. 
 
 “ Simple digestion, by exposure to the heat of the sun, may be 
 sufficient, and in general, the digestion is terminated by some 
 hours’ exposure to it ; this approaches very near to the use of the 
 water bath, and, like it, requires the precaution of renewing the sur- 
 faces, by stirring the sediment with a clean rod. The use of the 
 pounded glass is to divide the parts of the ingredients; and by 
 retaining the same quality during the operation, it not only faci- 
 litates the action of the alcohol, but by its weight, which surpasses 
 that of resins, it prevents these resins from adhering to the bottom 
 of the matrass.” 
 
 The foregoing forms are inserted for the use of those who have 
 no opportunity of procuring their varnishes from the varnish 
 maker ; when that can be done, it will not be advisable to be at 
 the trouble and the risk sometimes incurred in making them, by 
 those who are not accustomed to such operations. 
 
 Previous to the application of any kind of varnish, the picture 
 should be covered with two or three coats of size. This may be 
 made by dissolving isinglass in water kept hot until the part which 
 is soluble is melted ; it must then be filtered through a fine cloth? 
 to free it from the skins or other impurities, and remain until it is 
 cold, when it should have the consistence of a strong jelly. If it be 
 too strong, it will not spread freely or equally before it begins to 
 set, and must be diluted with a little hot water ; if it be too weak, 
 it will not answer the purpose it is intended for, that of bearing up 
 the varnish, so as to prevent any part of it from penetrating or 
 coming into contact with the paper. When it is of the proper 
 
OF PAINTING IN WATER COLOURS. 
 
 105 
 
 degree of strength, if cold, the vessel containing it may be placed in 
 a pan of hot water, which will render it fluid, and of sufficient warmth 
 to be spread freely. It should be laid on with a large flat brush, and 
 by as little rubbing in the first coat as possible, lest the colours be 
 removed by it ; they will be in less danger from the second or a 
 third, if the first be quite dry before the application of the second. 
 
 When the isinglass is perfectly dry, the varnish is to be applied 
 by means of a soft brush of hogs’-hair, and laid as equally as may 
 be : if a second coat of it be requisite, the first must be quite dry, 
 which will be very soon when any of the alcoholic (or spirit) varnishes 
 are used, but of those of the essential oils, it will be better to let it 
 remain a few days before the application be repeated. 
 
 When the spirit varnish is to be applied, the picture should be 
 made moderately and equally warm ; in that state the varnish may 
 be applied and spread as quickly as possible, the evaporation of the 
 alcohol being sudden, it allows but little time for the operation. In 
 applying the varnish repeatedly, the picture should be warmed in the 
 same manner, or it will chill and sink unequally ; and sufficient time 
 must be given to allow the former coats to be dry, lest they should 
 be dissolved by the succeeding one. 
 
 OF THE ADVANTAGES AND SUPPOSED IMPERFECTION 
 OF PAINTING IN WATER COLOURS. 
 
 The methods and expedients employed in painting are so nu- 
 merous, that the possibility of discovering any system, by which 
 every advantage may be gained, and every inconvenience and defect 
 avoided, may be doubted : every method possessing its peculiar ad- 
 vantages, it becomes a subject of considerable interest to discover 
 whether, and how far, the perfections of each may be united. The 
 
 p 
 
106 
 
 OF PAINTING IN WATER COLOURS. 
 
 imitation of nature being the object of the artist, that ought to be 
 preferred by which it can best be attained : to arrive at any rea- 
 sonable conclusion, these advantages should at least be understood, 
 which, so far as painting with water colours is concerned, is by no 
 means the case. F ew people are aware of the degree of perfection 
 to which it may be carried; and many being under the influence of 
 some prejudice respecting it, an attempt to explain the former, and 
 remove the latter, may not be unimportant with regard to a depart- 
 ment of the arts, from the cultivation and unexampled progress of 
 which, the artists of this country have obtained a greater increase of 
 reputation than has been gained in any other. 
 
 This inquiry is the more interesting, as the cultivation of a 
 department of art that has already been practised with considerable 
 success, may be attended with peculiar advantages in this country, 
 where, from various causes, painting in oil cannot be expected to 
 arrive again at the degree of perfection it was advanced to by men 
 who are no more, and at which it has not been sustained by their 
 successors ; not in consequence of the diminution of talent, but 
 want of opportunity, and sufficient encouragement to call forth its 
 energies, by being employed on great public works, such as their 
 predecessors were formed by. The artist has little inducement at 
 present to enter into a pursuit, in which his efforts will be attended 
 to by few, and assisted or rewarded by fewer, rather than another in 
 which his remuneration will be certain. 
 
 No fair inference can yet be drawn from a comparison between 
 such works as probably may never be equalled, and those in an art 
 still in its progress; the possibility of perfecting which, ought rather 
 to be ascertained and promoted by encouragement than unfairly 
 represented and opposed, as it has sometimes been, by those who 
 were but poorly qualified to appreciate its properties. 
 
OF PAINTING IN WATER COLOURS. 
 
 107 
 
 In the production of the artist, truth of imitation, and the per- 
 manence of the work, may be assumed as principal considerations. In 
 the first, paintings in water colours have in some respects an 
 advantage of works in oil ; and in the last, the difference is not such 
 as the public have been led to believe. 
 
 It is generally allowed that the distances of landscape may be 
 executed in water colours with more truth and clearness than in oil. 
 The latter is supposed to be capable of producing greater force and 
 depth ; but that is not proved, as many pictures have been painted 
 with water colours, in which the depth and force are as great as oil 
 colour can or ought to exhibit. 
 
 In the practice of painting with water colours, the scale is more 
 simple than that in oil painting ; white being quite unnecessary in 
 the former ; black is by no means indispensable in either ; the full 
 depth of obscurity, so far as it can be expressed by colour, may be 
 as well, if not better, gained without it. 
 
 The most perfect imitation of nature is that seen in the camera 
 obscura, the only imperfection of which, if that can be deemed an 
 imperfection, by which the effect of nature is heightened, arises 
 from the increased opposition of light and shadow : the latter, by 
 reflecting less than the former, has more depth than appears in 
 nature; yet notwithstanding the supposed incapacity of water 
 colours to express that depth, this representation always appears as 
 a finished picture done in such colours, rather than like a painting 
 in oil. 
 
 The advantage of oil painting, on the other hand, is considerable ; 
 especially by the use of what is technically called glazing, which 
 consists in spreading a transparent colour upon another, prepared 
 as a ground to receive it, producing by that means a greater degree 
 of brilliancy and richness than can be given by solid and opaque 
 
 p 2 
 
108 
 
 OF PAINTING IN WATER COLOURS. 
 
 colour. This was, till of late, called a trick by many who would not 
 follow or admit any method but that which they called fair painting. 
 It may be considered as a proof of the increased and diffused know- 
 ledge of art, that we hear no such nonsense now, every expedient 
 being considered allowable by which the artist can best accomplish 
 his intended effect. 
 
 The objection usually urged against the use of water colours is 
 their supposed want of permanency. If this be advanced at the 
 present day, it must be by those who take their opinion on trust, or 
 have not observed any thing but such slight performances as were 
 done formerly, and called washed or stained drawings : those being 
 thinly tinted, and generally with vegetable colours, could not be ex- 
 pected to remain ; but to maintain from thence that all water colours 
 must be very fugitive, proves nothing but ignorance of the present 
 practice, and of what it may be extended to. 
 
 Neither does the change that may be observed in some modern 
 productions prove any thing, but a continuance of the use of perish- 
 able materials, by artists who prefer their present effect to one that 
 is not quite so pleasing at first, but will be lasting. 
 
 The causes of the change of colour have not been generally 
 attended to : in oil painting it arises chiefly from the vehicle, which 
 becoming in a very considerable degree dark and opaque, the colour 
 used with it is effected by the change, especially when the oil is made 
 drying, by being boiled with sugar of lead, litharge, &c. This is 
 much used in the dead colouring and with the dark tints. Drying 
 oil, by being exposed to the action of the atmosphere, and absorbing 
 its oxygen, undergoes a slow combustion, by which it assumes the 
 character of resin, the colour gradually increasing until it becomes 
 nearly black ; such parts of a picture as were originally dark thus 
 become still more so, until at last they acquire the degree of black- 
 
OF PAINTING IN WATER COLOURS. 
 
 109 
 
 ness and obscurity observed in many old pictures. I speak of linseed 
 oil, because it is generally used, and is subject to this change in a 
 greater degree than other oils. If the artist should use any other 
 with his light colours and delicate tints, he scruples not to employ 
 this in the darker ones, on the supposition that they are less affected 
 by it. I conceive the contrary to be the fact ; for the shadows being 
 painted with a thinner body of more transparent colour than the 
 lights, have more of the vehicle, and this being increased in the 
 glazings by a coat of the oil, little more than stained with trans- 
 parent colour, do not preserve themselves so well as the lights, which 
 have more of the colouring matter; white and all its mixtures 
 having more body, or less of the glazing property, than any of the 
 darker colours. 
 
 This opinion has not been formed hastily, nor without the means 
 of information. Having painted in oil many years of the early part 
 of my life, and prepared my own materials, I have had such oppor- 
 tunities of noticing their properties, as seldom can occur to those 
 who have them prepared by the colourman. 
 
 Water being used as the vehicle in painting, is not subject to 
 change ; consequently the alteration that may take place, will be in 
 the colours only ; this is caused principally by the action of light, and 
 in proportion to its intensity and continuance, they will become 
 lighter : but I am persuaded that in a good body of such substances 
 as those I have mentioned, the change will not be by any means 
 greater than that of the same colours in oil. 
 
 The changing of oil colours in a certain degree is considered 
 advantageous, so far as they become what is called “ mellowed by 
 time.” If this change could be arrested at any desired point, it 
 might be so ; but until the means of doing that shall be discovered, I 
 
110 
 
 OF PAINTING IN WATER COLOURS. 
 
 cannot consider it to be on the whole an advantage, but rather the 
 contrary. 
 
 These observations apply to the use of linseed oil only, there 
 being others less subject to alteration, but rejected, in consequence 
 of wanting some desirable property, such as that of drying readily. 
 
 The celebrated picture of the last supper by Lionardo da Vinci, 
 now generally known through the beautiful engraving by Morghen, 
 may be cited as one of the most remarkable instances of the perishable 
 nature of oil colours. This picture, painted on one of the end walls 
 of the former refectory of the Dominican Convent at Milan, was 
 finished about the year 1498. Yet in the year 1540 it is said to 
 have been nearly half gone ; and ten years later nothing but the 
 outline remained. In 1726, an artist who pretended to be in the 
 possession of a secret for reviving faded colours, undertook to 
 restore it ; but he was allowed to work behind a screen, and in fact 
 he repainted the whole picture. It was again retouched by one 
 Mazza in the year 1770, but notwithstanding these various attempts 
 to uphold it, the painting is now just discernible and no more, on 
 the dusky wall, a dim shadow of what it once was. On the opposite 
 wall however of the same hall, under precisely similar circumstances, 
 a fresco, that is, a water colour painting, executed in the time of 
 Lionardo, retains all the vivacity of its original colouring. 
 
 Without insisting upon a comparison between the works of the 
 old masters, in oil, and those in water colours or fresco of the same 
 ages, we need not go farther back than half a century to find innu- 
 merable pictures by the greatest artists living within that period, 
 which notwithstanding the care that may have been bestowed on 
 them in situations where they were not liable to be injured, are at 
 present in such a state as must convince those who will take the 
 
OF PAINTING IN WATER COLOURS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 trouble of an examination, that the charge of misapplication of talent 
 on perishable materials, applies in many instances more directly to 
 the painters in oil than to those in water colours. Among many 
 instances that are every day open to inspection, we may notice the 
 paintings in the dome of St. Paul’s, by Sir James Thornhill, done 
 about a century ago ; yet are not more, than many others of that 
 period, to be compared in regard to durability with the cartoons of 
 Raphael ; the latter being not only painted in water colours and on 
 paper more than three centuries since, but also subject to damage, 
 in consequence of having been thrown aside and neglected for a 
 considerable period after the tapestries were executed, for which 
 they were designed as patterns. 
 
 Duplicates of two of the cartoons, viz. Peter and John healing 
 the lame man, at the beautiful gate of the temple ; and the Sorcerer 
 struck with Blindness, are in the possession of Mr. Brown, at his 
 residence in the Alpha-road. These valuable works were brought 
 from Italy, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and after his decease presented 
 by the late Marchioness of Thomond to his assistant Marchi ; at the 
 sale of whose effects they were bought without examination, rolled 
 up and described in the catalogue as a parcel of drawings. Being 
 in good preservation, and not inferior in any respect to those in the 
 gallery at Hampton Court, they are equally worthy of the attention 
 of the connoisseur. 
 
 The ancient painting known under the name of the Aldro- 
 brandini Marriage, which has lately passed into the Pope's collection 
 in the Vatican, retains its vivid colouring in fresco at the end of 
 at least seventeen centuries. 
 
 In portraiture the use of water colours has been nearly confined 
 to miniature, in which there has never been any attempt in oil that 
 
112 
 
 OF PAINTING IN WATER COLOURS. 
 
 can come into competition with it; not so much from the practicability 
 of working with great delicacy of colour and finishing in that man- 
 ner, as from its truth to nature, and freedom from the greasiness of 
 surface inseparable from oil painting. I see no reason to doubt that 
 the advantage would be the same if equal practice and attention 
 were bestowed on the subject of the full size of the life, every 
 requisite being by the present methods of practice fully within the 
 power of the artist. 
 
 The most valuable productions of the old masters are in water 
 colours, being done in distemper or in fresco ; for it must be allowed 
 that the easel pieces of Raphael, and of other eminent painters of his 
 time, are not such as would have established the reputation these 
 great men obtained, if they had produced nothing superior to their 
 pictures in oil. Their greatest works excel in the higher requisites, 
 in design, composition, and expression, which do not depend on any 
 peculiar method of practice. In colouring, and other minor parts 
 of the art, they were deficient, in consequence of having neglected 
 those branches, to cultivate such as are higher and of much greater 
 importance. The well known observation of Michael Angelo, that 
 painting in oil is an employment fitted for women and children, was 
 such as might be expected from a giant in the art like him, who held 
 all the minor requisites, in which it has any advantage over other 
 methods, to be of little importance. 
 
 It is one of the imperfections of paintings in oil, that they require 
 the application of varnish to bring out and refresh the tints : this is 
 only a temporary expedient, requiring to be repeated occasionally. 
 The varnish usually employed is made of the softer resins, that its 
 removal may be the less difficult, in order to renew the application 
 when it is needful. This is the cause of great mischief, insomuch 
 
OF PAINTING IN WATER COLOURS. 113 
 
 that there are very few works of the old masters that have not been 
 materially injured by this operation, especially in the glazings and 
 scumbling on the surface; these being thin and tender, are so 
 liable to be destroyed, that it is hardly possible, whatever may be 
 pretended to the contrary, to remove the varnish without some 
 injury to them. This is the chief cause why we have so little by 
 the old masters that is genuine ; for it is not to be supposed that 
 the state in which we now see many of their works is at all like 
 that in which they left them. 
 
 On the famous Descent from the Cross, by Rubens, Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds observes, “ It is mortifying to see to what degree it has 
 suffered by cleaning and mending : that brilliant effect, which it 
 undoubtedly once had, is lost in a mist of varnish, which appears to 
 be chilled or mildewed. The Christ is in many places retouched’ 
 so as to be visible at a distance ; the St. John’s head repainted ; and 
 other parts, on a close inspection, appear to be chipping off, and 
 ready to fall from the canvas.” 
 
 The French are charged with having caused the deterioration 
 of many of the works of the old masters, while they were in their 
 possession, by repainting considerable parts of some of them. How- 
 ever that may be, it must be allowed that they have given a rare 
 example of liberality, by throwing open their splendid collection to 
 the public, and especially to artists ; who at all times, and without 
 expense, had admission, and the ready assistance of attendants, 
 appointed for the purpose of furnishing them with every kind of 
 accommodation they might require. 
 
 Certainly “ they order this matter better in France,” and have 
 discovered the means of excluding improper persons without a 
 pecuniary demand for admission. I do not mean to reflect on 
 the conduct of the members of the Royal Academy, by alluding 
 
 Q 
 
114 OF PAINTING IN WATER COLOURS. 
 
 to the advertisement prefixed to the catalogue of their first ex- 
 hibition, in which they think it necessary to declare, that they 
 have not been able to suggest any other means, than that of re- 
 ceiving money for admission, to prevent the room being filled by 
 improper persons ; because it cannot be expected that a body of 
 artists should, at their own expense, support an exhibition for the 
 gratification of the public. But when a sum has been raised by 
 voluntary contributions, the interest of which is abundantly suf- 
 ficient to defray every expense attending an exhibition, the ad- 
 mission to it ought at least to be free to artists of every description. 
 
 The combination of oil with water colours, or the application 
 of the former upon the latter, was practised by many of the Ve- 
 netian masters; and it does not appear certain that John of 
 Bruges, the supposed inventor of painting in oil, employed it ac- 
 cording to the present usage; that is, with colours ground or 
 mixed with oil. His researches being directed to discover a 
 fluid or varnish, by means of which he might secure his works 
 from injury; and linseed oil, on account of its property of 
 drying, appeared to him proper for that purpose. I have seen no 
 account of his practice that can warrant a more probable conclu- 
 sion, than that his pictures were painted or prepared with water 
 colours, or in distemper, as it was practised in his time : the ap- 
 plication of oil upon such a picture, by producing a greater degree 
 of depth and transparency in the shadows, than opaque colours in 
 distemper or size are capable of giving, would soon suggest to him 
 the idea of extending it farther by glazing with oil, and a little 
 colour, to regulate and harmonize the tints. 
 
 The prevailing opinion that John Van Eyck was the inventor 
 of painting in oil rests upon the testimony of Vasari, which is 
 contradicted by the clearest proof that it was practised in this 
 
OF PAINTING IN WATER COLOURS. 
 
 115 
 
 country, both by house-painters and artists, so early as in the 12tli 
 century, long before Van Eyck was born. Without doubt his 
 method, which so powerfully excited the attention of the Italian 
 artists of his time, as to induce them to employ every means to 
 become acquainted with it, was grounded on some very considerable 
 improvement upon theirs ; but what that improvement was, it is 
 become difficult to ascertain. Van IVIander, whose account is not 
 very clear, relates, after Vasari, that John Van Ej'ck discovered a 
 method of varnishing his distemper colours with some oils which 
 gave great lustre to them ; but afterwards observes, that he mixed 
 his colours with the oils. We may suppose the latter was for the 
 purpose of glazing or retouching. By this method, a picture exe- 
 cuted in distemper (water) colours, or dry crayons, and afterwards 
 varnished or saturated with oil, would derive from thence a degree 
 of richness and transparency not attainable in fresco, or with body 
 colours in water ; both of these methods of painting being in that 
 respect defective. In the former method the picture would admit 
 of being retouched with oil colours to tone down the parts, and 
 receive those sharper touches which are best given by the pencil. 
 
 Many of the paintings by the masters of the Venetian school 
 seem to have been done by a method somewhat similar to this, 
 which is very apparent to those who have been much employed 
 in cleaning and repairing them. Vasari, and others who have 
 written on the subject, notice the great attention paid by artists 
 to the preparation of their grounds, considering them to be of the 
 utmost importance : perhaps this circumstance may have disposed 
 artists, some years ago, to receive with greater eagerness the sup- 
 posed discovery of the Venetian process, the communication of 
 which was made with great caution, and under penal restriction. 
 This consisted in the preparation of an absorbent ground of distemper 
 
 q 2 
 
116 
 
 OF PAINTING IN WATER COLOURS. 
 
 colour, upon which the picture was painted with oil colours ; but 
 that method, after many trials were made by artists who enter- 
 tained great expectations of its success, has been discontinued. 
 The principal objection to it appears to arise from the quality of 
 the ground, the advantages of which are lost by becoming satu- 
 rated with oil, before the effect of a finished picture, not prepared 
 by a dead colouring with some other vehicle than oil, can be ob- 
 tained ; by which means it might be made to require little more 
 than glazing upon the shadows, and touching with opaque colours 
 on the lights. 
 
 In my early practice of painting in oil, on an occasion when 
 despatch was necessary, I dead coloured my picture in distemper, 
 that is, with water colours bound with size, upon which the finish- 
 ing colours in oil were laid; and presently found that they 
 united with great advantage, not only by the slight degree of ab- 
 sorbency of the water colour, but that they had greater brilliancy 
 and clearness, without the unequal sinking which takes place in 
 drying when no such preparation is used. It may be needless to 
 say that I continued the practice ; but being in a remote part of the 
 country, and out of the reach or sight of any work of art from 
 which information could be obtained, I was not then aware that 
 such a method had been used by artists ; though commonly prac- 
 tised by the house-painter, who prepares his work for the finishing 
 by a wash of water colour with size : this is called clear-coating or 
 clear-coaling, and serves to bear out the finishing colour, which 
 would otherwise sink partially, however numerous the coats of 
 oil colour might be. 
 
 To remedy that defect, and to bring out the tints, the artist has 
 recourse to varnishing, w hich in the other case is less, if at all ne- 
 cessary ; neither is the effect of it, when used for this purpose, 
 
OF PAINTING IN WATER COLOURS. 
 
 117 
 
 equal to that of varnish or oil applied upon dry colours, or such as 
 have a watery vehicle, with a slight binder of gum, or of size, which 
 is pervious to oil. The cause of this I conceive to be, in the separa- 
 tion of the particles of such colours, which are never close and 
 united, like those of the same substances when ground in oil. In 
 the latter way they form a compact coat or skin, without those 
 minute interstices of the former, by which the appearance of the 
 ground is transmitted. From the same cause, many of the colour- 
 ing substances, when finely ground in oil, are less clear on being 
 applied than when they have not been so intimately united with 
 the vehicle, and retain a kind of minute granulation. 
 
 In treating of the properties of painting with water colours, 
 and with those in oil, my intention has not been to prefer one 
 method at the expense of the other, but rather to suggest the 
 benefit of an inquiry respecting the means by which either of them 
 may be applied to the improvement of the other. If I have been 
 induced to dwell more particularly on the advantages of the former, 
 it was in consequence of the systematic opposition it has had to 
 encounter ; not only where it might have been, but also where 
 it could not have been expected. It is not a little extraordinary, 
 that in an establishment professedly instituted to promote the 
 advancement of the art of painting in Great Britain, all productions 
 in the only department of it that is peculiar to this country, and, 
 with the exception of portrait painting, almost the only one that 
 is, or is likely to be cultivated here with success, are excluded from 
 the walls of its exhibition. It is, however, fortunate for the pro- 
 fessors of this branch of the art, that in consequence of the favour- 
 able notice of the public, the practice thereof has been so much 
 encouraged, that they have been little affected by such opposition : 
 the public being now too well informed in matters relative to 
 
118 
 
 OF PAINTING IN WATER COLOURS. 
 
 painting, to be led by a few ; still less to be dictated to in regard 
 to what so many are competent to judge of and decide upon for 
 themselves. 
 
 Few branches of the arts have greater claim to encouragement, 
 or have contributed more towards the advancement of the whole, 
 than that of engraving ; since the knowledge of every principle 
 in painting, except what relates to colour, has been more uni- 
 versally diffused through its means, by multiplying the designs 
 of the great artists of every country, than without such assistance 
 they could have been by the works of those masters themselves. 
 
 Artists, who have devoted much of their time and attention to 
 the instruction of others, have been the means of spreading very 
 extensively the knowledge and practice of painting with water 
 colours; the general preference of productions in that depart- 
 ment, and the growing taste for it, may be deemed a natural 
 consequence of the interest excited in individuals by whatever is 
 similar to, or connected with, their own pursuits. 
 
 In conclusion, I take occasion to observe, that the arts owe little 
 of their advancement to those who confine encouragement to a 
 particular branch, and who cannot endure that any other should be 
 allowed to come into competition with it : the real patron is ever 
 ready to encourage it in all its departments, and gratified by seeing 
 every part operate together like those of a great machine, mutually 
 contributing to produce the utmost effect of the whole. 
 
 THE END. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 HOiHAS DAVISON, WHITEFRIARS 
 
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