J 
 
THE 
 
 THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 EMBRACING THE 
 
 CONTMST OF LIGHT AND SHADE, 
 
 OF COLOUR 
 AND HARMONY. 
 
 BY AN ARTIST. 
 WITH FIFTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS BY HINCKLEY. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 
 J. W. MOORE, 193 CHESTiNUT STREET. 
 1851. 
 
Entered according to the Act of Congress in the year 1850, by 
 
 J. W. MOORE, 
 
 in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the Eastern District of 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 Isaac Ashmead, Printee. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 A BELIEF that a work of this character will be of 
 service to those persons who are anxious to obtain 
 a knowledge of Drawing and Effect, has induced 
 the author to present it to the public. He has 
 found the rules contained in it of great advantage 
 to himself, and sincerely hopes that they may con- 
 tribute a like satisfaction to those in whose hands 
 they may fall. 
 
 It will be seen, that it is intended as a com- 
 panion to those who are learning to draw, to aid 
 them in their endeavours to acquire a knowledge 
 of the art; — a knowledge, of which there is none 
 equal and none more beneficial. 
 
 He would here offer his thanks to P. F. Rother- 
 mel and J. B. Nagle, Esqrs., for their aid in the 
 production of the work, and to Mr. C. T. Hinckley 
 for the attention and care he has bestowed upon 
 the engravings. 
 
I 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The art of drawing furnishes an example which 
 cannot be found in any other profession. There 
 is no amusement more dehghtful, no accompKsh- 
 ment more useful, no art more elegant, or no pro- 
 fession more advantageous, than the practice of 
 the Fine Arts. 
 
 Drawing brings neither regret, anxiety or fa- 
 tigue of body, however much followed. Almost 
 every other pursuit leaves a weariness when close- 
 ly applied to ; and to none does there belong that 
 pleasing and enervating effect which is to be found 
 in the practice of the heaven-born art of drawing. 
 This art can be practised in the sick chamber 
 without disturbing the inmate ; it can be practised 
 in the drawing room, whilst others may be reading 
 or studying without interfering with them in the 
 least ; and independent of all this, it is one of the 
 cheapest of the many amusements which abound. 
 If we consider drawing in the light of an acquire- 
 ment, where shall we find one more elegant or 
 more useful ? It is by a know^ledge of this art that 
 the ingenious mechanician renders his descriptions 
 of complex machinery intelligible ; it is also by this 
 art that the traveller is enabled to render the ac- 
 
 1* 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 count of' his wanderings of ten-fold value, by the 
 representation of the various objects w^hich may be 
 interesting; whilst the slighest sketch will often 
 bring to mind the recollection of circumstances, 
 which have escaped the memory in the lapse of 
 years, and render back each long-forgotten image 
 more vividly, than the best and completest journal. 
 
 The object of this work is to put persons in a 
 way, by a knowledge of the theory of effect, to 
 make their drawino^ correct and strikinoj. It is 
 not intended as a drawing book for beginners only, 
 but for those who have attained a proficiency in 
 the art, but are unacquainted with the reasons why 
 their pictures are correct, only as they acquire 
 them from their constant copying. The rules are 
 here laid down in so simple and efficient a manner, 
 that if those persons who have been taught to 
 draw, without learning the theory of effect or con- 
 trast, will take the trouble of studying them, they 
 will find their powers of composition, or, as it is 
 generally termed " drawing out of their own 
 heads," greatly increased. 
 
 Without understanding these rules, a man, how- 
 ever w^ell he may draw, can never be called an 
 artist. Rembrandt, by his consummate knowledge 
 of effect, gave that magic representation of light 
 and shade, that raised him to the highest rank in 
 his profession, which, with his deficient skill as a 
 draughtsman, he could never hope to obtain. 
 
THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 The generally received meaning of the word 
 EFFECT is, that scientific arrangement of form, of 
 light and shade, and of colour, by which an artist, 
 skilled in its rules, renders his representations of 
 natui*e more striking, attractive and beautiful, than 
 he, who equally clever in the mere imitation of 
 objects, is at the same time totally ignorant of the 
 principles of effect ; for the student must not sup- 
 pose, that a perfect representation of an object in 
 nature is sufficient. No, he must also learn to 
 know whether that object be in a good state of 
 light and shade, colour, &c., before he makes a 
 drawing of it ; and should he never be able to see 
 it in that state, he must supply the deficiency from 
 his own imagination, according to those rules 
 which every artist of merit possesses, it might be 
 said intuitively, as there are many who, at the same 
 time that they are capable of producing a very 
 good effect, are also unable to say by what rules it 
 is produced. 
 
8 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 Effect consists in the proper admixture and 
 skillful union of the two opposite qualities of which 
 it is composed, and which are called Contrast and 
 Harmony ; should either of these exceed too much 
 the power of the other, the effect will be bad ; for 
 should contrast predominate too powerfully, it will 
 be disturbed, scattered, crude and want repose; 
 and should too much harmony prevail in the pic- 
 ture, the effect will be tame, spiritless, monotonous 
 and poor. 
 
 By Contrast is meant opposition or difference of 
 either form, light and shade, or colour ; as for ex- 
 ample, in regard to form : a round object forms a 
 contrast to a square object, because the one is diffe- 
 rent or in opposition to the other, inasmuch as the 
 shape and form of each object are in no way the 
 same. By the same rule, light is the contrast of 
 shade, and red of green, &c., as will be shown 
 hereafter. 
 
 By Harmony is meant the unity, agreement or. 
 sameness, of either form, light or shade, or colour; 
 thus a picture in which a sameness or similarity 
 of shapes and lines, of Hght or of shade, and of 
 color prevail, the w^hole will possess a great deal 
 of harmony, but little effect. A picture is said to 
 be out of harmony when the contrasts are too 
 pow^erful and not properly subdued ; it is some- 
 times, though very rarely, applied to those pictures 
 
THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 9 
 
 wherein the sentiments do not tend towards the 
 same end. 
 
 In studying effect, the student must consider 
 every object in nature under the three principal 
 heads, of form, light and shade, and colour, as these 
 constitute all the qualities of objects which can be 
 represented by a drawing. 
 
10 
 
 ON CONTRAST. 
 
 OF FORMS. 
 
 Whatever form is different to another is a con- 
 trast to it. 
 
 Forms are made by lines, and by light and shade. 
 A horizontal line is contrasted most strongly by a 
 perpendicular line. 
 
 A line is contrasted by any other line which is 
 not parallel to it, and which, if continued, would 
 intersect it; thus in Fig. 1., the line A B is a con- 
 trast to C D, because if continued to E, it would 
 intersect the line C D. 
 
 Fig.l. 
 
 C ^ B 
 
 A straight line is intersected by any irregular or 
 crooked line, as also by any curved line ; in Fig. 2, 
 the straight line of the bridge is contrasted by the 
 
 m 
 
ON CONTRAST. OF FORMS. 
 
 11 
 
 irregular line of the mountains, as well as by the 
 curved lines of the arches. 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 A straight line is also contrasted by an angle, 
 as in Fig. 3, where the pyramids form a contrast 
 to the straightness of the horizontal line. 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 A curved line is contrasted either by a straight 
 line, or a curved line placed in an opposite direc- 
 tion, as in Fig. 4 ; the dome of the building is con- 
 trasted both by its straight sides and the line of the 
 clouds, which curve in a different direclion. 
 
A serpentine line is best contrasted by any 
 straight line, as in Fig. 5 ; the Une of houses forms 
 an opposition to the windings of the river. 
 
 Fig. 5. 
 
 A heavy form is contrasted by a h'ght one, as 
 the heavy form of the post in Fig. 6 is contrasted 
 by the Ughtness of the weeds which grow near 
 it. 
 
ON CONTRAST, 
 
 . OF FORMS. 
 
 13 
 
 Fig. 6, 
 
 Any smooth flat surface, such as water, ice, 
 clear sky, &c., may be contrasted by the opposi- 
 tion of any rough, massive form. Thus in Fig. 6, 
 the smoothness of the water is contrasted with the 
 rough irregular form of the lumps of stone intro- 
 duced into the foreground. 
 
 Forms which are square and hard are best con- 
 trasted by those which are soft and round ; as the 
 square tower in Fig. 8 is relieved by the soft roll- 
 ing clouds which it stands against. 
 
 Fig. 8. 
 
14 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 The ragged forms of rocky mountains may also 
 be contrasted by the softness of large rolling clouds 
 as in Fig. 5. 
 
 Large objects are contrasted by smaller objects, 
 as in Fig. 9 ; the large tree is rendered more con- 
 spicuous by the introduction of the smaller ones 
 placed near it, and whose lightness of form gives 
 \ alue and weight. 
 
 Fig. 9. 
 
 Long objects may be contrasted by short ones, 
 as in Fig. 5, the long line of buildings is opposed 
 by the clumps of trees which come against it, 
 whilst the straight line of the top is contrasted in 
 all its length by the irregular line of the mountain 
 behind. 
 
ON THE CONTRAST OF LIGHT AND SHADE. 
 
 15 
 
 A very low horizontal line increases the height 
 of any upright object, as in Fig. 10, where the 
 figure is rendered of a most gigantic size, by re- 
 presenting the horizontal line not much higher than 
 the ankle. 
 
 Fig. 10. 
 
 ON THE CONTRAST OF LIGHT AND SHADE. 
 
 Light and shade, or chiaro-scuro, may be divid- 
 ed into light, which springs immediately from the 
 object which gives the Hght, as the sun, moon, 
 candle, &c.; reflected light, which is first received 
 on one object, and then thrown back on to another; 
 shade, which is caused by the part of the object 
 which is in shade being in such a situation that it 
 cannot receive the light ; and shadow, which is the 
 absence of light (on a part which ought otherwise 
 to receive the light) by the intervention of an 
 opaque object, as in Fig. 6, where a shadow is 
 thrown on a part of the ground which would be in 
 
16 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 light like the rest, were it not for the post which 
 being opaque, prevents the light from reaching that 
 part of the ground, and thus causes that absence of 
 light which constitutes shadow. 
 
 Shadows always fall in a direction from the ob- 
 ject which gives light, as the sun, moon, &c. 
 
 Reflected light is always thrown in a different 
 direction to the real light, and for that reason al- 
 most always falls on the shade side of objects, by 
 which they are rendered lighter than their shadows, 
 as in Fig. 6, where the post is lighter than the 
 shadow cast by it. It is for this reason that the 
 bottom of the shade sides of objects are generally 
 lighter than the top, as receiving the reflected light 
 more powerfully. It is also occasioned by the con- 
 trast of the dark shadow which springs from it, as 
 every object is rendered darker by the contrast of 
 any lighter object, every degree of light and shade 
 possessing only a relative value, as the same 
 strength of colour in one part of a picture consti- 
 tutes a bright light, whilst in another part it forms 
 a deep shade. 
 
 It is also the custom in describing a picture in 
 regard to effect, to divide all the different degrees 
 of light and shade, into the light, the dark, and the 
 middle tint, of which latter there is generally the 
 most in a well painted picture, as the middle tint 
 includes the generality of shade, as well as all the 
 reflected lights. 
 
ON THE NATURE OF CONTRAST. 
 
 17 
 
 ON THE NATURE OF THE CONTRAST OF LIGHT AND SHADE. 
 
 Light is the contrast of shade, and shade is the 
 contrast of light. 
 
 A dark shade is a contrast to a h'ghter shade ; 
 and vice versa. 
 
 A bright hght is a contrast to any other light 
 which is not so bright. 
 
 Small and agitated lights are best contrasted by- 
 large dull fiat shades, as in Fig. 11, where the flit- 
 tering light of the flying spray at the bottom of the 
 rocks is well contrasted by the sombre stillness of 
 the dark rocks against which it beats. 
 
 Fig. 11. 
 
 A mass of buildings which are in shade may be 
 relieved and contrasted by perforations which ad- 
 mit of light, as in Fig. 12, w^here the dark side of 
 the ruined abbey is reliev^ed, and rendered less 
 heavy by the windows through which is seen the 
 light of the evening sky. 
 
 2# 
 
18 
 
 THE THEjRY of EFFECT, 
 Fig. 12. 
 
 The strongest contrast to a light is by making 
 that Hght the only hght in the picture, all the rest 
 being in shade. 
 
 A square flat shade is best contrasted by any 
 small irregular lights, as in Fig. 13; the squareness 
 of the tomb is contrasted by the light leaves of the 
 bramble which hang over it. 
 
 Fig. 13. 
 
 Every light or shade may be contrasted by a 
 light or shade of a different form, according to 
 rules given for contrast of form. 
 
ON THE CONTRAST OF COLOUR. 
 
 19 
 
 ON THE CONTRAST OF COLOUR. 
 
 There are three primitive colours, with which 
 all colours may be made ; these colours are yellow, 
 blue, and red, each of which, if perfect, is entirely 
 free from any mixture of either of the above 
 colours. 
 
 Now, as all these colours, if perfect, are entirely 
 free from any mixture of another colour, so each 
 colour forms a contrast to the other two ; as for 
 example, a perfect red, having no mixture of either 
 blue or yellow in it, is by this reason a contrast to 
 either of those colours, and so on in regard to the 
 rest. These contrasts are called simple contrasts ; 
 but as each primitive colour has two others to con- 
 trast it, so these two contrasting colours, when 
 mixed together form a double contrast. For ex- 
 ample, red is contrasted both by blue and yellow; 
 blue and yellow mixed together form a green, 
 therefore green is the strongest contrast to red. 
 The following is a table of the primitive colours, 
 the simple contrasts, and the compound contrasts. 
 
 Primitive Colours. 
 
 Red. 
 Yellow. 
 Blue. 
 
 Simple Contrasts. 
 
 Yellow, ) 
 
 Blue. \ 
 
 ( Blue, ) 
 
 I Red. \ 
 
 \ Red, ) 
 
 I Yellow, \ 
 
 Compound Contrasts. 
 
 Green. 
 Purple. 
 Orange. 
 
20 
 
 TIIK THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 Thus the simple contrasts to red, are yellow and 
 blue, which mixed together, form green, the double 
 contrast of red. 
 
 The simple contrasts of yellow, are blue and red, 
 which mixed together, form purple, the strongest 
 contrast of yellow. 
 
 The simple contrasts of blue, are red and yellow, 
 which mixed together, form orange, the strongest 
 contrast to blue. 
 
 The following scheme will exemplify the three 
 simple colours, yellow, blue, and red, and the 
 three compounds, green, purple, and orange, which 
 form the contrasts to the simple colours, whilst the 
 union of the three simple colours, producing grey, 
 is seen in the centre. 
 
ON THE CONTRAST OF GREYS, 
 
 21 
 
 By drawing three circles, and colouring them as 
 marked on the opposite page, the student will get 
 the correct idea of these contrasts. 
 
 We will observe, that all mixtures of the three 
 primitive colours we shall call greys ; dividing 
 them into red greys, green greys, yellow greys, 
 purple greys, blue greys, and orange greys, accord- 
 ing as they approach nearest to the different simple 
 colours and compounds. 
 
 ON THE CONTRAST OF GREYS. 
 
 The gentlest contrast of green greys, are yellow 
 greys, and blue greys ; the next, orange greys, and 
 purple greys ; and the strongest contrasts are red 
 greys, and vice versa. 
 
 The gentlest contrasts of orange greys, are red 
 greys, and yellow greys ; next, purple greys, and 
 green greys; and the strongest are blue greys, and 
 vice versa. 
 
 The gentlest contrasts of purple greys, are blue 
 greys, and red greys ; the next, orange greys, and 
 green greys ; and the strongest, are yellow greys. 
 
 Every grey is contrasted by a primitive colour, 
 and in a greater or less degree, according as that 
 grey possesses in its mixture a less or greater de- 
 gree of the colour it is meant to contrast. For ex- 
 ample, a red forms a strong contrast to a green 
 grey, whilst it forms a very feeble contrast to a 
 red grey, with which it is said to harmonize. 
 
 It may be observed here, that it is impossible to 
 
22 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 draw the exact line which separates contrast from 
 harmony, as it entirely depends on circumstances ; 
 the value of forms, of light, and shade, and of 
 colours, being entirely relative. 
 
 Every colour may be contrasted by another 
 colour of a different form. In this case, however, 
 the contrast is not in the colour, but in the form. 
 The same may be said of the contrast of a dark 
 and light tint of the same colour, the contrast being 
 then a contrast of light and shade, and not of colour. 
 
 In considering the three primitive colours, yellow 
 may be considered as light, red as middle tint, and 
 blue as dark ; again, yellow is a warm colour, red 
 neither loarm nor cold, and blue is a cold colour. 
 Of all the colours, simple and compound, orange 
 is the warmest, and blue the coldest ; by which it 
 will be seen, that all warm colours are contrasts to 
 cold colours. 
 
 By an attentive perusal of the foregoing pages, 
 at the same time carefully studying the examples 
 which have been given, the student will be enabled 
 in a few hours to acquire a perfect knowledge of 
 the different contrasts of form, of light and shade, 
 and of colour. Indeed, the study of contrast re- 
 quires nothing more than to comprehend thoroughly 
 the meaning of the word, as the differences of light 
 and shade, and of forms are self-evident, as are 
 also the differences of colours, after the student has 
 learnt that there are only three primitive colours, 
 each of which differs from the other two. 
 
23 
 
 ON HARMONY. 
 
 Harmony consists in a sameness or similarity of 
 forms of light and shade, and of colour. Thus, in 
 regard to forms: 
 
 Every line is in harmony with another when it 
 runs parallel with it, whether it be a straight or a 
 curved line ; thus, in the annexed figure, there ex- 
 ists a perfect harmony in the lines of the two 
 mountains, which follow one another, and in the 
 straight lines of the two rows of houses and square 
 lumps of stone in the foreground, and the straight 
 lines of the water. 
 
 Fig. 14. 
 
 From this example, the student will readily per- 
 ceive what is meant by harmony of forms ; in the 
 same way, the harmony of light and shade exists 
 
24 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 in a picture, where the lights or shades are of the 
 same degree of strength throughout. 
 
 With regard to the harmony of colours, the 
 same simplicity exists and consists in a sameness 
 of tints, which pervade the whole of a picture. 
 Thus, when a drawing or painting exhibits a gene- 
 ral tone of green, red, yellow, grey, &c., it pos- 
 sesses a great deal of harmony, for a colour bears 
 the greatest harmony towards itself, as red to red, 
 after which those colours which have the greatest 
 mixture of red in them, such as orange, red 
 greys, &c. 
 
 The above explanations, though short, will be 
 sufficient to show the meaning of harmony ; the 
 proper union of which, with the rules of contrast, 
 constitute what is generally termed effect ; which 
 is more fully treated on, in the comprehensive ex- 
 tracts from Sir Joshua Reynolds, in another por- 
 tion of the book. 
 
25 
 
 ON EFFECT, 
 
 In speaking of the contrast of forms, I have in- 
 troduced many objects as contrasting otiiers, when 
 the opposition was not perfect, but, on the contrary, 
 more or less broken by a mixture of harmony ; for 
 instance, I have said, that " any line, which if 
 continued, would cross another line, is a contrast 
 to that line so it is : but unless that line cross the 
 other at right angles, the contrast is not perfect, but 
 inclines more or less towards harmony, in propor- 
 tion as the line approximates towards a parallel 
 situation ; indeed, all the examples of contrast 
 which I have given, are so mingled with a certain 
 proportion of harmony, that they may all of them 
 be introduced without any fear of rendering the 
 picture disturbed. In making a drawing, the most 
 powerful contrast, as well of light and shade and 
 colour, as of form, ought to exist in the principal 
 object, whilst all the other parts are kept subdued, 
 so that the eye may rest undisturbed on what forms 
 the subject of the picture, without being called 
 away by the superior brilliancy or force of some 
 other object of less importance. The student must 
 recollect that two principal objects of equal force 
 or size, or of the same colour, ought never to exist 
 .1 
 
26 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 ia a picture, but that one object, whatever it rnay 
 be, ought to be the principal, and all the rest sub- 
 servient to it. 
 
 Much, however, will depend on the nature of the 
 subject of which the drawing is composed ; in por- 
 traits, the effect is often thrown on the face, every 
 oiher part being made as little prominent as possi- 
 ble, whilst, on the contrary, in landscape, many of 
 the objects approach nearer to that of the principal 
 one, not only in colour, but also in force. 
 
 In considering the effect of colours, particular 
 regard must be had to the kind of weather which 
 is supposed to be represented, if the subject be a 
 landscape ; and in other subjects, what the nature 
 of the object is which gives the light, whether it be 
 the sun, fire, or candle, and whether the light be 
 reflected or direct, and if reflected, whether from 
 a warm coloured object, or cold coloured object, 
 as it is on the nature of the light that that general 
 hue which gives harmony to a picture depends. 
 As an example, suppose the subject is a landscape, 
 in which the setting sun, amid red and yellow 
 clouds, is the object Vv^hich gives the light : — in this 
 case, the light side of every object will possess a 
 warm yellow tint, and should any thing be repre- 
 sented, of which the light side is cold, a want of 
 harmony would be the immediate consequence. 
 , Notwithstanding this, many, indeed I might say all 
 
 of the best artists, who have ever painted moon- 
 
ON EFFECT. 
 
 27 
 
 light, have generally introduced a fire into some 
 part of their pictures, the red light of which is so 
 different from the cold beams of the moon, that I 
 always think that that part of the picture which 
 derives its light from the fire, looks like the piece 
 of another painting cut out and stuck against the 
 moonlight. 
 
 In representing a landscape lighted by the rising 
 sun, every object ought to be represented cooler 
 than when the sun is setting, as the light of the 
 former is generally more clear and cold than that 
 of the latter. 
 
 With regard to the colouring either of land- 
 scapes or other subjects, the greatest contrast 
 ought to be observed in the principal object ; thus, 
 if the subject be some particular building, it may 
 be represented with a bright yellow light upon it, 
 whilst dark clouds of a cold blue grey thrown be- 
 hind it, will render it more conspicuous than other 
 parts of the picture where the contrasts are less 
 forcible. 
 
 When the colouring of any part of a drawing 
 looks dirty through want of clearness, some arti- 
 ficial object of vivid colours placed against it will 
 destroy the dinginess which would otherwise ex- 
 ist ; for instance, should the colouring of a field look 
 dark, dirty, and want transparency, a figure placed 
 against it, dressed in a white jacket, striped with 
 
28 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 lake, and yellow or blue coloured trowsers, will 
 render it less opaque. 
 
 From the above observations, the student will 
 find that effect depends on contrast, more or less 
 subdued by harmony, and that a knowledge of 
 effect depends entirely on a thorough knowledge of 
 the different contrasts of form, light, and shade, 
 and colour ; all, therefore, that the student will have 
 to attend to in studying the principles of effect, is 
 to obtain a perfect knowledge of contrast, a thing 
 in itself the most easy that can possibly be, as the 
 very word may be said to explain its principles. 
 The arrangement or subduing of contrast will be 
 easily learnt, (to a certain degree,) by the rules 
 given in this worL 
 
29 
 
 HINTS FROM VARIOUS ARTISTS UPON 
 COLOUR AND EFFECT. 
 
 WATER AND !TS REFLECTIONS.* 
 
 Water is not involved in the same obscurity 
 with atmosphere and colour, and the laws which 
 regulate its appearances may be soon learnt; and 
 those appearances are all, or nearly so, with which 
 the painter has to busy himself. 
 
 Its three principal states are perfect transpa- 
 rency, perfect opacity, and a state between the 
 two — ^^semi-transparency. 
 
 1. In the first, it is capable of receiving perfect 
 reflections, and incapable of receiving any shadows. 
 
 2. In the middle state it is capable of receiving 
 both reflections and shadows, but neither of them 
 perfect — that is, but at half their natural force, 
 
 3. In the last it is capable of receiving perfect 
 shadows, and incapable of receiving any reflec- 
 tions. 
 
 I feel that to go through a number of other inter- 
 mediate states would be only to state that which is 
 obvious, and to waste time ; therefore, speaking of 
 
 * "Letters on Landscape, by J. B. Pyne," one of the most 
 celebrated of English Landscape Painters. 
 
 8* 
 
80 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 the power to receive reflections and shadows, it 
 can do perfectly but one at one time and in one 
 state. 
 
 Where it loses the powder of receiving the one, it 
 gains the power of receiving the other; the loss 
 and gain bearing an exact ratio. In this manner 
 water, under a loss of one-fourth of its transpa- 
 rency, loses one-fourth of its power to reflect : re- 
 ceives a shadow of one-fourth, and a reflection of 
 three-fourths, of their natural force ; and so on in 
 perfectly just proportions. 
 
 Water, to be perfectly clear, must be perfectly 
 colourless (not that it at all follows that perfectly 
 colourless water is perfectly clear, as it is perfectly 
 colourless when suffused with chalk;) and, though 
 some waters holding colouring matter in solution 
 may be of an admirable clearness, they are, not- 
 withstanding, deprived of part of their clearness, 
 and work accordingly some serious changes upon 
 the reflections received in them. 
 
 Semi-opaque water, that is, w^ater holding in 
 suffusion — not solution — any hght opaque matter, 
 such as chalk or light coloured mud, presents some 
 appearances quite distinct from anything that may 
 occur under any circumstances to water holding 
 transparent colouring matter in solution only. 
 
 Water under this last state — transparent and 
 coloured — is little, if at all, affected by sunlight; 
 w^hether it be under a full blaze of light, or, on the 
 
HINTS FROM ARTISTS UPON COLOUR AND EFFECT. 31 
 
 contrary, under dense shadow, it continues to re- 
 flect objects with the same precision in both cases. 
 
 I am at present speaking of water in a perfectly 
 undisturbed state, for a sharp windripple on its sur- 
 face w^ould of course at once alter the case, and 
 render it capable of receiving shadows nearly as 
 sharp and distinct as would a turnpike road. 
 
 A river, charged with this light colouring matter 
 up to the point of semi-opacity, comes, when in 
 shadow, under the state marked 3 ; and possesses 
 its power of receiving both reflections and shadows 
 up to fifty per cent, of their actual force. But 
 when under full and intense sunlight — and this cir- 
 cumstance is one which in an eminent degree 
 proves the opaciating influence of light — it is at 
 once thrown into, or very nearly into, the state 
 marked 2, and necessarily refuses any reflections. 
 
 If the banks, hills, or other objects forming one 
 side of the river, were to throw their shadows on 
 its surface, half-reflections would be received up to 
 the limits of the line of shadow, and no further ; 
 and should any shadows extend further than any 
 objects which would, under other circumstances, 
 reflect, the shadows themselves would be distinctly 
 marked. 
 
 A shght diagram will save me some writing, and 
 perhaps explain more fully what I mean. 
 
Suppose 1, a piece of water under the last-de- 
 scribed circumstances, suffused with light colour- 
 ing matter up to the point of semi-opacity ; and 2 
 an object rising out of it, with the sun before you 
 to the left. As far as the shadow of this object 
 extends on the water, it will be semi-transparent, 
 and receive modified, or what may be very pro- 
 perly called half reflections of anything falling 
 
HINTS FROM ARTISTS UPON COLOUR AND EFFECT. 33 
 
 within the optical conditions regulating reflections. 
 The dotted line indicates the general form of that 
 reflection which would occur in clear water; 3, 4, 
 5, 7, 8, 6, the general form of the shadow left upon 
 the water by the object 2 ; 3, 4, 5, 6, that portion 
 of it only which would be occupied by its reflec- 
 tion; and 5, 7, 8, 6, that part of the shadow which, 
 falling beyond the reflecting limits of the object, 
 becomes a flat and even piece of shadow. Sup- 
 pose the boat to the right to have a thin white sail, 
 which, under the circumstance of the sun shining 
 through it, would become a brilliant light ; this 
 again would be reflected within the limits of the 
 shadow. 
 
 Now, having settled the linear part of the sub- 
 ject, it will be easy to explain the other circum- 
 stances which govern the appearances of the 
 shadows and reflections of such objects. They 
 are three. The amount of opacity of the water, 
 its colour, and its depth. 
 
 Charge your mind, firstly, with these generals 
 aflfecting opaque reflecting mediums, whether water 
 or anything else, liquid or solid. 
 
 If the object reflecting be darker than the local 
 depth of the water, the reflection must be, and al- 
 ways is, lighter than the object ; and if the object 
 be lighter than the water, the reflection will be 
 darker. 
 
 If the object be more transparent than the water, 
 
34 
 
 THE THEORY 0^ EFFECT. 
 
 which is frequently the case, the reflection will be 
 more opaque than the object, and, vice versa, when 
 the object is more opaque than the water, the re- 
 flection necessarily becomes more transparent than 
 the object. You can, I am quite certain, go 
 through the coloured conditions of opaque waters 
 yourself, but two minutes' writing will explain it. 
 When, therefore, the reflecting object happens to 
 be more coloured than the local character of the 
 water, the reflection is less coloured than the ob- 
 ject; and when the water possesses more colour 
 than the object, the reflection becomes charged 
 with the colour of the water itself And occasion- 
 ally all three conditions operate on the reflection 
 of an object at the same time. 
 
 Thus a reflection may be either more transpa- 
 rent, dark, and coloured, or more opaque, light, 
 and colourless, than the object causing it. 
 
 This is without reference to the many motions 
 and consequent forms incident to an element so 
 liquid and exquisitely mobile as water, and which, 
 without entirely upsetting the foregoing laws of 
 still water, modify them in a great many ways, 
 and to an extent not perhaps to be dreamt of by a 
 person who, for the first time in his life, sits down 
 — under the shadow of an old wall — before a cow- 
 pond, an elder tree, and a piece of broken paling, 
 with a piece of Watman's paper in a quarter im- 
 perial folio on his knees ! But to the point again. 
 
HINTS FROM ARTISTS UPON COLOUR AND EFFECT. 35 
 
 I will carry out for you this little diagram some- 
 what further before quitting the water. 
 
 We must fix upon its depth — I mean not its 
 **profond," but its amount of darkness. Let it be for 
 simplicity's sake, exactly middle tint. Its colour? 
 Let that be, I was about saying, drab ; that is un- 
 pleasant; stone colour, that is dull ; mud, that is in- 
 definite, as are the other two : let it be the colour 
 of cork ; that is of a pleasant character as regards 
 colour, and its associations are pleasant also — it is 
 not to be forgotten as the others are ; it is the colour 
 of the Severn, the Avon, the Tiber, and many other 
 warm-coloured muddy rivers, which have more 
 beauties in them than are generally allowed by the 
 lovers of clear water, and have been described by 
 the poets as golden, amber-coloured, yellow, mel- 
 low, roseate, &c., as — one may suppose — the 
 rhyme may require. 
 
 Let the side of the object marked 9 be a pure 
 white ; so that, notwithstanding its being in shade, 
 its apparent local depth may be still much lighter 
 than the actual local depth of the water. This 
 would be the case in nature, if the sky at your back 
 were white, instead of clear blue or dark clouds. 
 Locally white itself, and lighted by the bright and 
 colourless sky behind, this face of the object would 
 be very light although in shadow, and tolerably 
 free from colour. Its reflection, on the contrary, 
 received in water of the colour of cork, and of the 
 
36 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 depth of middle tint, would be of a light cork 
 colour, or, of what may be more specifically 
 named, a quarter tint of cork colour. Nothing in 
 shadow can be perfectly opaque ; but the face 9, 
 itself locally white and strongly reflected on from 
 clouds of its own colour, though not quite opaque, 
 would be so nearly so as to present a very wide 
 distinction between the opacity of itself and the 
 semi-transparency of the water. The character, 
 then, of this part of the reflection as regards trans- 
 parency, would be somewhat more than a quarter 
 transparency, or somewhat less than a three-quar- 
 ter opacity. The reflection here then is, in broad 
 terms, darker, more coloured, more transparent 
 than its object. 
 
 The aperture to the right of 9, let us suppose, 
 for the sake of explicit and easy terms, to be black 
 and perfectly transparent. The reflection under 
 these circumstances — that is, full shade and per- 
 fect transparency, received in half shade and semi- 
 transparency — would be three-quarter transparent, 
 or a quarter opiaque. As regards depth it would be 
 dark middle tint ; and as regards colour it would 
 be, like face 9, more coloured than its object. 
 
 The reflection of face 9 differed from its object 
 in being darker, more transparent, and more 
 coloured. This last reflection differs from its ob- 
 ject in being lighter, less transparent, and more 
 coloured. 
 
BINTS FROM ARTISTS UPJN THEORY AND EFFECT. ^^7 
 
 Let the end 10 be deep vermilion in colour, so 
 that, allowing for reflection from the same sky 
 which lighted the face 9, its depth should be just 
 middle tint. The reflection of this part as regards 
 depth, will not be distinguishable from its object ; for 
 middle tint of any colour, received in middle tint 
 of any other colour, wil] experience no other alter- 
 ation in depth. 
 
 As regards the colour of this part, the conditions 
 are quite changed from those which regulate the 
 face 9 and its aperture. The object in this case is 
 much more coloured than the water. The reflec- 
 tion in this instance will be much less coloured 
 than the surface reflected, and in just the same 
 proportion as the colour of the water may be of a 
 character less positive and active, than the red of 
 the object reflected. I think I said before, that 
 the remainder of the shadow, which projects itself 
 to the right beyond the limits of reflection, be 
 a perfectly flat piece of shadow. 
 
 A person noticing for the first time the effect of 
 coloured water — whether transparent or opaque — 
 will be very likely to run away with the impression 
 that the w^hole of the reflections are tinged to one 
 certain amount by the colour of the water — that is, 
 that they receive a certain per centage of such 
 colour, let the objects reflected be ever so varied. 
 This, however, is not the case, and it very fre- 
 quently happens that, not until after some failures 
 4 
 
38 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 in representing such effects, and going back to 
 nature frequently for fresh authority in close studies, 
 the discovery is made that various colours are 
 variously effected — tinged by — variously coloured 
 waters. A great deal of unnecessary confusion 
 thus disturbs one's progress to truthful representa- 
 tion, all to be the more lamented when the truth 
 happens to be a beauty as well ; and, as regards 
 water, its truths and constantly changing character- 
 istics have in them a greater proportion of beauties 
 out of any given number of effects or states, than 
 any else I know of in nature, sky not excepted. 
 
 I will give you an instance as regards myself, 
 and that will perhaps reconcile you to what I feel 
 myself to be somewhat p^^/z^e and wearisome in this 
 particularizing on so small a scale of incident, and 
 at the same time prove how necessary it is to well 
 know nature before you can go to her, palatte on 
 thumb, with anything like a chance of success in 
 any but a very slight hand-gallop style of art. 
 
 Early in my painting life, I sat down to a piece 
 of green coloured nearly transparent water, tran- 
 quil enough to receive perfect reflections as to 
 form, and coloured enough to at once strike me 
 forcibly wdth the beauty of its chromatic phenom- 
 ena, in the great difference between the colour of 
 the objects themselves, and their reflections. 
 
 With this imperfect impression of the partial or 
 efficient, reflectability of red, I fell across a piece 
 
HINTS FROM ARTISTS UPON COLOUR AND EFFECT. 39 
 
 of reddish golden coloured water, in which the 
 reds were reflected perfectly, as where the orange 
 and yellow-coloured objects ; upon which the laws 
 regulating coloured reflections, in both transparent 
 and turbid coloured waters, opened upon me at 
 once. 
 
 They operate in this manner; — all waters, of 
 whatsoever colour they may be, reflect those 
 colours most perfectly which are first identical, 
 and next those which most closely affinitize 
 with the colour of the water itself; and least per- 
 fectly, those colours which are diametrically op- 
 posed to the colour of the water. 
 
40 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS ON LAND- 
 SCAPES, BY J. B. PYNE. 
 
 REFLECTIONS. 
 
 The quantities of any series of objects seen re- 
 flected upon still water, are always precisely the 
 same quantities of the objects themselves, as niight 
 be seen from a point removed as far below the 
 surface as the actual point of sight is elevated 
 above such surface. 
 
 We must first of all bear in mind distinctly, 
 that reflections cannot ever be arbitrary. They 
 may, under some instances of extreme complica- 
 tion, become every thing but unaccountable. 
 
 The front object in a scene, will of course be 
 first reflected; but it does not follow that another 
 which is much higher niust be reflected also, for it 
 will depend upon the distance at which it is situat- 
 ed beyond the one in front. 
 
 The higher you raise your station, the more 
 you see of the distant and higher object, and the 
 less of their reflections ; and the lower and farther 
 oflfyou place yourself, the less you see of the higher 
 and distant objects, and the more of their reflec- 
 tions. 
 
 It is often the case with painters, after having 
 
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS ON LANDSCAPES. 41 
 
 sketched or studied a scene from nature at a time 
 when the water was not in a state to receive re- 
 flections, that they somewhat alter the treatment 
 when at home, and add the reflections ; and it too 
 frequently happens that the whole scene — if not 
 considered so — is treated as so much surface on 
 one plain. Indeed, it would seem that the occupa- 
 tion of a painter's life being to create pictures, the 
 whole scene, sky included, is treated as a picture 
 also, and reflected as such from the water-line 
 downwards; than which it is impossible for any- 
 thing to be more erroneous. 
 
 There is, in fact, much danger and mischief 
 in going to nature too unprepared. There is an 
 absolute necessity that that part of the subject upon 
 which we are now in communication should be 
 thoroughly understood, if not gone through mathe- 
 matically, in order that one may not be taken un- 
 awares by some of the palpable common places of 
 natural appearances. 
 
 Without a continued discipline of this nature, 
 there are many things constantly turning up in the 
 course of a season's study for which one is not 
 prepared readfly, and on the instant, to account; 
 and this necessarily occasions much hesitation, pot- 
 tering about, and undecided and often erroneous 
 painting. 
 
 Amongst these things nothing is more puzzling, 
 4* 
 
4-2 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 at first sight, than some of the incidents attending 
 reflections. 
 
 For instance, some objects which appear on 
 the landscape dark are reflected as light, and others 
 which relieve light on the landscape have a dark 
 reflection. Some colours are most essentially mo- 
 dified, and occasionally quiie altered in reflection ; 
 and some objects, even at the water's edge, which 
 present a broad face to the view, have no reflec- 
 tion ; while others, of w^hich you can only see an 
 edge of point, have their whole length in perfect 
 reflection. 
 
 The rule follows thus : — all surfaces which run 
 in a right line with any possible angle of incidence, 
 cannot be reflected, although seen. And all sur- 
 faces running in a right line with any possible 
 angle of accidence cannot be seen, although their 
 whole length may be reflected." 
 
 COLOUR. 
 
 Colour presents more of debateable ground 
 than any other subject that may be entered on. It 
 has been, of all others, the least satisfactorily hand- 
 led by the waiters upon art. The reason of this is, 
 that as regards the arts, powerful chromatic feel- 
 ing and organization, as in the case of Titian, have 
 appeared in their maturity, while the science of 
 chromatics until the last few years, has lingered in 
 its infancy ; and in its present state, it still remains ^ 
 
COLOUR. 
 
 43 
 
 a sealed book as regards the requirements of the 
 painter, and as presenting a site of well-defined 
 powers, productive of certain, definite, and varied 
 chromatic expressions. Pictures, and the diflerent 
 scales of difl^erent masters have been analyzed wiih 
 the utmost minuteness ; but the result of such labour 
 up to the present time, has been attended with no 
 better success, than that of children who have 
 taken to pieces their parents' watches. Analysis 
 has gone on producing nothing but wreck, and no 
 synthesis has grown out of the confusion. When, 
 indeed, we think of the requisite varied power and 
 qualifications of the mind, capable of throwing all 
 the necessary Hght on this subject, which is want- 
 ed by the painter in search of high intentionality 
 and expression, we may not wonder that it has not 
 yet been done ; and, though I intend exposing to 
 you as plainly as possible the views by which 
 (though not invariably) my practice has been 
 guided, I must at the same time warn you against 
 the expectation of that complete system, I so much 
 regret the want of, and to produce which, would 
 require in one individual the several united powers 
 of the greatest colourists, and the greatest natural 
 and moral philosophers, and all blended into one 
 lucid, and eloquent, and logical intelligence by a 
 power of writing that falls to the share of but few. 
 
 While you are, on the other hand, cautioned 
 against a two implicit reliance, (not from any 
 
44 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 doubts of my own, but from the circumstances 
 merely of my own view^s being somew^hat opposed 
 to those of others,) 1 must, on the other hand, and 
 to save time, be allowed to advance them without 
 qualification, or a circumlocution that would mere- 
 ly convey but an equivocal impression of my pos- 
 sible modesty. 
 
 Any picture, to convey an idea of, or administer 
 to, any one particular sentiment or expression, 
 should be of some one particular definable tone or 
 colour, which should as it were, and in defiance of 
 the other colours within the work, pervade its 
 whole surface. 
 
 If you are afraid of two bold a speculation, and 
 would shrink from attempting anything so outre 
 as a blue picture, there are numerous other tones 
 which have already ingratiated themselves in our 
 affections, such as pearly, golden, amber, silvery, 
 &c., &c. Let us discuss in imagination the pro- 
 perties of a golden tone. 
 
 It may be well, that some principal mass or ob- 
 ject in this work be orange, which may intensify 
 in yellowy and be surrounded by citrons and rus- 
 sets, before breaking away into any of the con- 
 trasts. The yellow may be extended in lesser 
 degrees over the light part of the picture, and be 
 allowed to culminate at some part at the nearest 
 possible approach to white ; but white in its ulti- 
 mate purity should be strictly avoided ; it should be 
 
COLOUR. 
 
 45 
 
 subordinated to yellow or golden. The following 
 colours cannot harmonize with golden or yellow, 
 and should never be admitted, at any rate in any 
 quantity: white and black, purple, blue and red. 
 The two first are negative, the next positive oppo- 
 sitions, and the last two perfect strangers to yel- 
 low ; under which circumstances harmony must, I 
 have always felt, be out of the question when it 
 shall be attempted to combine them in a work of 
 the tone in question. A pure blue sky would, 
 therefore, be inadmissible. The blue in this, as 
 well as any other object, should not be broken 
 down with red, which would produce an opposite, 
 but with yellow or orange, yellow in preference. 
 
 The greatest amount of opposition admissible in 
 a picture of this tone would be olive, graduating 
 through citron-olive, and russet-olive ; of which 
 colours, varying between their lightest and darkest 
 extremes, and leaning occasionally towards one or 
 the other of their components — there may be found 
 an infinite variety, sufficient for all purposes, pro- 
 vided they be kept pure and distinct at some one 
 point of their occurrence. 
 
 To a person in the habit of using the more vio- 
 lent and crude oppositions, this may appear to pre- 
 sent a very limited range of colours ; but I must 
 impress upon your consideration whether harmony, 
 discarding this liberal limit, can by any possibility 
 be obtained by opposition without subordination. 
 
46 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 It cannot, at least, be obtained in any other system 
 of things in nature ; and as all nature is in differ- 
 ent degrees analogous, colour cannot be expected 
 to insulate itself so completely from all other nature, 
 of which it is itself a component, so as in every 
 particular to have consequences intrinsically, and 
 exclusively its own. 
 
47 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM DISCOURSES ON ART. 
 
 BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 When the artist is once enabled to express 
 himself with some degree of correctness, he must 
 then endeavour to collect subjects for expression ; 
 to amass a stock of ideas, to be combined and va- 
 ried as occasion may require. He is now in the 
 second period of study, in which his business is to 
 learn all that has been known and done before his 
 own time. H u ing hitherto received instructions 
 from a particular master, he is now to consider 
 Art as his master. He must extend his capacity 
 to more sublime and general instructions. Those 
 perfections which lie scattered among various 
 masters, are now united in one general idea, which 
 is henceforth to regulate his taste, and enlarge his 
 imagination. With a variety of models thus be- 
 fore him, he will avoid that narrowness and poverty 
 of conception which attends a bigoted admiration 
 of a simple master, and will cease to follow any 
 favourite, where he ceases to excel. 
 
 A student unacquainted with the attempts of 
 former adventures, is always apt to overrate his 
 own abilities ; to mistake the most trifling excur- 
 sions for discoveries of moment, and every coast 
 
48 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM DISCOURSES ON ART. 
 
 new to him, for a new-found country. If by chance 
 he passes beyond his usual limits, he congratulates 
 his own arrival at those regions which they who 
 have steered a better course have long left behind 
 them. 
 
 The productions of such minds are seldom dis- 
 tinguished by an air of originality ; they are anti- 
 cipated in their happiest efforts ; and if they are 
 found to differ in anything from their predecessors, 
 it is only in irregular sallies and trifling conceits. 
 The more extensive, therefore, your acquaintance 
 is with the works of those who have excelled^ the 
 more extensive will be your powers of invention ; 
 and what may appear still more like a paradox, 
 the more original will be your conceptions.'' 
 
 COPYING. 
 
 I CONSIDER, general copying as a delusive kind 
 of industry; the student satisfies himself with the 
 appearance of doing something ; he falls into the 
 dangerous habit of imitating without selecting, 
 and of labouring without any determinate object ; 
 as it requires no effort of the mind, he sleeps over 
 his work ; and those powers of invention and com- 
 position which ought particularly to be called out, 
 and put in action, lie torpid, and lose their energy 
 for want of exercise. 
 
 How incapable those are of producing any- 
 thing of their own, who have spent much of their 
 
COrYlMG. 
 
 49 
 
 lime in making finished copies, is well known to 
 all who are at all conversant with art. 
 
 The great use in copying, if it be at all useful, 
 should seem to be in learning to colour ; yet even 
 colouring will never be perfectly attained by ser- 
 vilely copying the mode before you. An eye 
 critically nice, can only be formed by observing 
 well-coloured pictures with attention ; and by close 
 inspection, and minute examination, you will dis- 
 cover, at last, the manner of handhng the artifices 
 of contrast, glazing, and other expedients, by which 
 good colourists have raised the value of their tints, 
 and by which nature has been so happily imitated. 
 
 I must inform you, however, that old pictures 
 deservedly celebrated for their colouring, are often 
 so changed by dirt and varnish, that we ought not 
 to wonder if they do not appear equal to their re- 
 putation in the eyes of inexperienced painters, or 
 young students. An artist, whose judgment is ma- 
 tured by long observation, considers rather what 
 the picture once was, than what it is at present. 
 He has, by habit, acquired a power of seeing the 
 brilliancy of tints through the cloud by which it is 
 obscured. An exact imitation, therefore, of those 
 pictures, is likely to fill the student's mind with 
 false opinions, and send him back a colourist of his 
 own formation, with ideas equally remote from 
 nature and from art, from the genuine practice of 
 the masters, and the real appearances of thiags. 
 
50 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 Following these rules, and using these precau- 
 tions, when you have clearly and distinctly learned 
 in what good colouring consists, you cannot do 
 better than have recourse to nature herself, who is 
 always at hand, and in comparison of whose true 
 splendour the best coloured pictures are but faint 
 and feeble. 
 
 However, as the practice of copying is not enr- 
 tirely to be excluded, since the mechanical practice 
 of painting is learned in some measure by it, let 
 those choice parts only be selected, which have re- 
 commended the work to notice. If its excellence 
 consists in its general effect, it would be proper to 
 make slight sketches of the machinery and general 
 management of the picture. Those sketches should 
 be kept always by you for the regulation of your 
 style. Instead of copying the touches of those great 
 masters, copy only their conceptions. Instead of 
 treading in their footsteps, endeavour only to keep 
 the same road. Labour to invent on their general 
 principles and way of thinking. Possess yourself 
 with their spirit. Consider with yourself how a 
 Michael Angelo, or a Raffaelle would have 
 treated this subject, and work yourself into the be- 
 lief that your picture is to be seen and criticised by 
 them when completed. Even an attempt of this 
 kind will rouse your powers. 
 
 We all must have experienced how lazily, and 
 consequently how ineffectually instruction is re- 
 
STYLE. 
 
 51 
 
 ccived, when forced upon the mind by others. 
 Few have been taught to any purpose, who have 
 not been their own teachers. We prefer those in- 
 structions which we have given ourselves, from our 
 affection to the instructor ; and they are more 
 effectual, from being received into the mind at the 
 very time when it is most open and eager to re- 
 ceive them. 
 
 STYLE. 
 
 Style in painting, which is a branch of the art 
 more immediately necessary to the young student, 
 is the same as in writing, a power over materials, 
 whether words or colours, by which conceptions 
 or sentiments are conveyed. In this Luidovico 
 Caracci (I mean in his best works) appears to me 
 to approach the nearest to perfection. His un- 
 affected breadth of light and shadow, the simplicity 
 of colouring, which, holding its proper rank, does 
 not draw aside the least part of the attention from 
 the subject, and the solemn effect of that twilight 
 which seems diffused over his pictures, appear to 
 me to correspond to grave and dignified subjects, 
 better than the more artificial brilliancy of sunshine, 
 which enlightens the pictures of Titian ; though 
 TiNTORET thought that Titian's colouring was the 
 model of perfection, and would correspond even 
 with the sublime of Michael Angelo ; and that if 
 Angelo had coloured like Tjtian, or Titian de- 
 
52 
 
 THE THEOl^Y OF EFFECT. 
 
 signed like Angelo, the world would once have 
 had a perfect painter. 
 
 In painting, as in other arts, there are many 
 teachers who profess to show the nearest way to 
 excellence; and many expedients have been in- 
 vented, by which the toil of study might be saved. 
 But let no man be seduced to idleness by specious 
 promises. Excellence is never, granted to man, 
 but as the reward of labour. It argues, indeed, no 
 small strength of mind to persevere in habits of in- 
 dustry, without the pleasure of perceiving those 
 advances ; which, like the hand of a clock, whilst 
 they make hourly approaches to their point, yet 
 proceed so slowly as to escape observation. A 
 facility of drawing, like that of playing upon a 
 musical instrument, cannot be acquired but by an 
 infinite number of acts. I need not, therefore, en- 
 force by many words the necessity of continual 
 application ; nor tell you that the port-crayon ought 
 to be forever in your hands. Various methods 
 will occur to you by which this power may be ac- 
 quired. 
 
 There is one precept^ however, in which I 
 shall only be opposed by the vain, the ignorant, 
 and the idle. I am not afraid that I shall repeat it 
 too often. You must have no dependence on your 
 own genius. If you have great talents, industry 
 will improve them ; if you have but moderate 
 abilities, industry will supply their deficiency. 
 
STYLE. 
 
 53 
 
 Nothing is denied to well-directed labour; nothing 
 is to be obtained without it. Not to enter into 
 metaphysical discussions on the nature or essence 
 of genius, I will venture to assert, that assiduity, 
 unabated by difficulty and a disposition eagerly di- 
 rected to the object of its pursuit, will produce 
 effects similar to those which some call the result 
 of natural powers. 
 
 Though a man cannot at all times, and in all 
 places, paint or draw, yet the mind can prepare it- 
 self by laying in proper materials, at all times, and 
 in all places. Both Livy and Plutarch, in describ- 
 ing Philopoemen, one of the ablest generals of anti- 
 quity, have given us a striking picture of a mind 
 always intent on its profession, and by assiduity, 
 obtaining those excellencies which some all their 
 lives vainly expect from nature. 
 
 I cannot help imagining, that I see a promising 
 young painter, equally vigilant, whether at home 
 or abroad, in the streets, or in the fields. Every 
 object which presents itself, is to him a lesson. He 
 regards all nature with a view to his profession; and 
 combines her beauties, or corrects her defects. He 
 examines the countenance of men under the influ- 
 ence of passion ; and often catches the most pleas- 
 ing hints from subjects of turbulence or deformity. 
 Even bad pictures themselves supply him with use- 
 ful documents ; and, as Leonarda de Vinci has ob- 
 served, he improves upon the fanciful images that 
 
54 
 
 THE THEOKY OF EFFECT. 
 
 are sometimes seen in the fire, or are acciden- 
 tally sketched upon a discoloured wall. 
 
 The artist who has his mind thus filled with 
 ideas, and his hand made expert by practice, works 
 with ease and readiness : whilst he would have 
 you believe that he is waiting for the inspirations 
 of geninsj, he is in reality at a loss how to begin. 
 
55 
 
 DETAIL AND MINUTE FINISH. 
 
 The detail of particulars, which does not assist 
 the expression of the main characteristics, is worse 
 than useless, it is mischievous, as it dissipates the 
 attention and draws it from the principal point. 
 It may be remarked, that the impression which is 
 left on our mind, even of things which are familiar 
 to us, is seldom more than their general effect ; be- 
 yond which we do not look in recognising such 
 objects. To express this in painting, is to ex- 
 press what is congenial and natural to the mind of 
 man, and what gives him by reflection his own 
 mode of conceiving. The other pre-supposes 
 nicety and research, which are only the business of 
 the curious and attentive, and therefore does not 
 speak to the general sense of the whole species ; 
 in which common, and, as I may so call it, mother 
 tongue, every thing grand and comprehensive 
 must be uttered. 
 
 I do not mean to prescribe what degree of atten- 
 tion ought to be paid to the minute facts ; that, it is 
 hard to settle. We are sure that it is expressing 
 the general effect of the whole, which alone can 
 give to objects their true and touching character ; 
 and wherever this is observed, whatever else may 
 be neglected, w-e acknowledo^e the hand of a mns- 
 
56 
 
 THE THEORV OF EFFECT. 
 
 ter. We may even go further, and observe, that 
 where the general eflect only is presented to us by 
 a skillful hand, it appears to express the object re- 
 presented in a more lively manner, than the minut- 
 est resemblance would do. 
 
 The properties of all objects, as far as a painter 
 is concerned with them, are, the outline or draw- 
 ing, the colour, and the light and shade. The 
 drawing gives the form, the colour its visible 
 quality, and the light and shade its solidity. 
 
 Excellence in any one of these parts of art will 
 never be acquired by an artist, unless he has the 
 habit of looking upon objects at large, and observ- 
 ing the effect which they have on the eye when it 
 is dilated. It is by this that we obtain the ruling 
 characteristic, and that we learn to imitate it by 
 short and dextrous methods. I do not mean by 
 dexterity, a trick or mechanical habit, formed by 
 guess, and established by custom ; but that science, 
 which, by a profound knowledge of ends and means, 
 discovers the shortest and surest way to its own 
 purpose. 
 
 If ^e examine with a critical view the manner 
 of those painters whom we consider as patterns, 
 we shall find that their great fame does not pro- 
 ceed from their works being more highly finished 
 than those of other artists, or from a more minute 
 attention to details; but from that enlarged com- 
 prehension which sees the whole object at once, 
 
DETAIL AND 3IINTJTE FINISK. 
 
 and that energy of art which gives its character- 
 istic effect by adequate expression. 
 
 Raffaelle and Titiaiv are two names which 
 stand the highest in our art ; one for drawing, and 
 the other for painting. The most considerable and 
 the most esteemed works of Raffaelle are the 
 Cartoons, and his Fresco works in the Vatican ; 
 those, as we all know, are far from being minutely 
 finished: his principal care and attention seems to 
 have been fixed upon the adjustment of the whole, 
 whether it was the general composition, or the 
 composition of each individuaj figure ; for every 
 figure may be said to be a lesser whole, though in 
 regard to the general w^ork to which it belongs, it 
 is but a part ; the same may be said of the head, of 
 the hands and feet. 
 
 Though he possessed this art of seeing and com- 
 prehending the whole, as far as form is concerned, 
 lie did not exert the same faculty in regard to the 
 general effect, which is presented to the eye by 
 colour, and light and shade. Of this, the defi- 
 ciency of his oil pictures, where this excellence is 
 more expected than in fresco, is a sufficient proof. 
 
 It is to Titian we must turn our eyes to find ex- 
 cellence with regard to colour, and light and shade, 
 in the highest degree. He was both the first and 
 the greatest master of this art. By a few strokes 
 he knew how to mark the general image and cha- 
 racter of whatever object he attempted ; and pro- 
 
58 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 duced by this a line, a truer representation than his 
 Giovanni Bellino, or any of his predecessors, who 
 finished every hair. His great care was to express 
 the general colour, to preserve the masses of light 
 and shade, and to give by opposition the idea of 
 that solidity which is inseparable from natural ob- 
 jects ; when those are preserved, though the work 
 should possess no other merit, it will have in a 
 proper place its complete effect ; but where any of 
 these are wanting, however minutely laboured the 
 picture may be in the detail, the whole will have a 
 false and even an unfinished appearance, at what- 
 ever distance, or in whatever light it can be shown. 
 
 It is vain to attend to the variation of tints, if in 
 that attention the general hue of flesh is lost ; or to 
 finish even so minutely the parts, if the masses are 
 not observed, or the whole not well put together. 
 
 Raffaelle and Titian seem to have looked at 
 nature for different purposes ; they both had the 
 power of extending their view to the whole ; but 
 one looked only for the general effect as produced 
 by form, the other as produced by colour. 
 
 We cannot entirely refuse to Titian the merit of 
 attending to the general form of his object, as well 
 as colour ; but his deficiency lay, a deficiency at 
 least when he is compared with Raffaelle, in not 
 possessing the power like him, of correcting the 
 form of his model by any general idea of beauty in 
 his own mind. Of this, his St. Sebastian is a par- 
 
DETAIL AND MINUTE FINISH. 
 
 59 
 
 ticular instance. This figure appears to be a most 
 exact representation both of the form and colour 
 of the model, which he then happened to have be- 
 fore him ; it has all the force of nature, and the 
 colouring is flesh itself; but unluckily, the model 
 was of a bad form, especially the legs. Titian has 
 with as much care preserved these defects, as he 
 has imitated the beauty and brilliancy of the 
 colouring. In his colouring, he was large and 
 general, as in his design he was minute and par- 
 tial : in the one he was a genius, in the other not 
 much above a copier. I do not, however, speak 
 now of all his pictures ; instances enough may be 
 produced in his works, where those observations 
 on his defects could not, with any propriety be ap- 
 plied; but it is in the manner or language, as it 
 may be called, in which Titian and others of that 
 school express themselves, that their chief excel- 
 lence lies. This manner is in reality, in painting, 
 what language is in poetry. We are all sensible 
 how differently the imagination is effected by the 
 same sentiment expressed in difl^erent words, and 
 how mean or how grand the same object appears 
 when presented to us by different painters, whether 
 it is the human figure, an animal, or even inani- 
 mate objects ; there is nothing, however uncompro- 
 mising in appearance, but may be raised into 
 dignity, convey sentiment, and produce emotion in 
 the hands of a painter of genius. What was said of 
 
60 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 Virgil, that he threw even the dung about the 
 ground with an air of dignity, may be apphed to 
 Titian: whatever be touched, however naturally 
 mean, and habitually familiar, by a kind of magic 
 he invested with grandeur and importance. 
 
 I must here observe, that I am not recommend- 
 ing a neglect of the detail; indeed it would be diffi- 
 cult, if not impossible, to prescribe certain bounds, 
 and tell how far, or when it is to be observed or 
 neglected ; much must, at last, be left to the taste 
 and judgment of the artist. I am well aware that 
 a judicious detail will sometimes give the force of 
 truth to the work, and consequently interest the 
 spectator. I only wish to impress on your minds 
 the true distinction between essential and subordi- 
 nate powers ; and to show what qualities in the art 
 claim your chief attention, and what may, with the 
 least injury to your reputation be neglected. Some- 
 thing, perhaps, always must be neglected; the 
 lesser ought then to give way to the greater ; and 
 since every work can have but a limited time 
 allotted to it, (for even supposing a whole life to be 
 employed about one picture, it is still limited,) it 
 appears more reasonable to employ that time to the 
 best advantage, in contriving various methods of 
 composing the work, — in trying different effect of 
 light and shadow, — and employing the labor of 
 correction in heightening by a judicious adjustment 
 of the parts, the effects of the whole, — than that 
 
DETAILS AND MINUTE FINISH. 
 
 61 
 
 the time should be taken up in minutely finishing 
 those parts. 
 
 But there is another kind of high finishing, which 
 may safely be condemned, as it seems to counter- 
 act its own purpose; that is, when the artist, to 
 avoid that hardness which proceeds from the out- 
 line cutting against the ground, softens and blends 
 the colours to excess : this is what the ignorant 
 call high finishing, but which tends to destroy the 
 brilliancy of colour, and the true effect of represen- 
 tation ; which consists very much in preserving the 
 same proportion of sharpness and bluntness that is 
 found in natural objects. This extreme softening, 
 instead of producing the effect of softness, gives 
 the appearance of ivory, or some other hard sub- 
 stance, highly polished. 
 
 The portraits of Cornelius Jansen appear to 
 have this defect, and consequently want that sup- 
 pleness which is the characteristic of flesh; whereas, 
 in the works of Vandyck, we find that true mixture 
 of softness and hardness perfectly observed. The 
 same defect may be found in the manner of Van- 
 DERWERF, in opposition to that of Tenters; and 
 such also, we may add, is the manner of Raffaelle, 
 in his oil pictures, in comparison with that of 
 Titian. 
 
 The name which Raffaelle has so justly main- 
 tained as the first of painters, we may venture to 
 say was not acquired by this laborious attention. 
 
 
62 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 His apology may be made by saying that it was 
 the manner of his country ; but if he had expressed 
 his ideas with the facihty and eloquence, as it may 
 be called, of Titian, his works would certainly not 
 have been less excellent; and that praise which 
 ages and nations have poured out upon him, for 
 possessing genius in the higher attainments of art, 
 would have been extended to them all. 
 
 Those who are not conversant in works of art, 
 are often surprised at the high value set by connois- 
 seurs on drawings which appear careless, and in 
 every respect unfinished. But they are truly valu- 
 able; and their value arises from this, that they give 
 the idea of a whole, and this whole is often ex- 
 pressed by a dexterous facility which indicates the 
 the true power of a painter, even though roughly 
 exerted: whether it consists in the general compo- 
 sition, or the general form of each figure, or the 
 turn of the attitude which bestows grace and ele- 
 gance. 
 
 All this we may see fully exemplified in the very 
 skilful drawings of Parmegiano and Corregio. On 
 whatever account we value these drawings, it is 
 certainly not for high finishing, or a minute atten- 
 tion to particulars. 
 
 Excellence in every part, and in every province 
 of our art, from the highest style of history, down 
 to the resemblance of still life, will depend on this 
 
DETAILS AND MINUTE FINISH. 
 
 63 
 
 power of extending the attention at once to the 
 whole, without which the greatest diHgence is vain. 
 
 I wish you to bear in mind, that when I speak of 
 a whole, I do not mean simply a ilhole, as be- 
 longing to composition, but a whole with respect 
 to the general style of colouring ; a whole with re- 
 gard to the light and shade; a lohole of every 
 thing which may separately become the main object 
 of a painter. 
 
 I remember a landscape painter in Rome, who 
 was known by the name of Studio, from his patience 
 in high finishing, in which he thought the whole 
 excellence of art consisted; so that he once endea- 
 vored, as he said, to represent every individual leaf 
 on a tree. This picture I never saw ; but I am very 
 sure that an artist, who looked only at the general 
 character of the species, the order of the branches, 
 and the masses of the foliage, would, in a few mi- 
 nutes, produce a more true resemblance of trees, 
 than this painter in as many months. 
 
 A landscape painter certainly ought to study, 
 anatomically, (if I may use the expression,) all the 
 objects which he paints ; but when he is to turn his 
 studies to use, his skill, as a man of genius, will be 
 displayed in showing the general effect, preserving 
 the same degree of hardness and softness which the 
 objects have in nature; for he applies himself to 
 the imagination, not to the curiosity, and works 
 not for the virtuoso, or the naturalist, but for the 
 
64 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 common observer of life and nature. Where he 
 knows his subject, he will know not only what to 
 describe, but what to omit ; and this skill in leaving 
 out is, in alk things^ a great part of knowledge and 
 wisdom. 
 
 The same excellence of manner which Titian 
 displayed in history or portrait painting, is equally 
 conspicuous in his landscapes, whether they are 
 professedly such, or serve only as back grounds. 
 One of the most eminent of this latter kind is to be 
 found in the picture of St. Pietro Martire. The 
 large trees, which are here introduced, are plainly 
 distinguished from each other by the different man- 
 ner with which the branches shoot from their trunks, 
 as well as by their different foliage ; and the weeds 
 in the foreground are varied in the same manner, 
 just as much as variety requires, and no more. 
 When Algarotti, speaking of this picture, praises it 
 for the minute discrimination of the leaves and 
 plants, even, as he says, to excite the admiration of 
 a botanist, his intention w^as, undoubtedly, to give 
 praise, even at the expense of truth ; for he must 
 have known that this is not the character of the 
 picture. But connoisseurs will always find, in pic- 
 tures, what they think they ought to find : he was 
 not aware that he was giving a description injuri- 
 ous to the reputation of Titian. 
 
 Such accounts may be very hurtful to young art- 
 ists, who never have had an opportunity of seeing 
 
DETAILS AND MINUTE FINISH. 
 
 65 
 
 the work described; and they may possibly conclude 
 that this great artist acquired the name of the divine 
 Titian from his eminent attention to such trifling 
 circumstances, which, in reality, would not raise 
 him above the level of the most ordinary painter. 
 
 We may extend these observations even to what 
 seems to have but a single, and that an individual 
 object, the excellence of portrait painting ; and, we 
 may add, even the likeness, the character and coun- 
 tenance, as I have observed in another place, de- 
 pend more upon the general effect produced by the 
 peculiarities, or minute discrimination of parts. The 
 chief attention of the artist is, therefore, employed 
 in planting the features in their proper places, which 
 so much contributes to giving the eflect and true 
 impression of the whole. The very peculiarities 
 may be reduced to classes and general descriptions; 
 and there are, therefore, large ideas to be found even 
 in this contracted subject. He may afterwards 
 labour single features to what degree he thinks 
 proper, but let him not forget, continually, to exa- 
 mine, whether in finishing the parts he is not de- 
 stroying the general effect. 
 
 It is certainly a thing to be wished, that all ex- 
 cellence were applied to illustrate subjects that are 
 interesting and worthy of being commemorated ; 
 whereas, of half the pictures that are in the world, 
 the subject can be valued only as an occasion which 
 set the artist to work ; and yet our high estimation 
 
66 
 
 THE THEORiT OF EFFECT. 
 
 of such pictures, without considering, or perhaps 
 without knowing the subject, shows how much our 
 attention is engaged by the art alone. 
 
 Perhaps nothing that we can say will so clearly 
 show the advantage and excellence of this faculty, 
 as that it confers the character of genius on works 
 that pretend to no other merit, in which is neither 
 .expression, character, or dignity, and where none 
 are interested in the subject. We cannot refuse the 
 character of genius to the marriage of Paoli Vero- 
 nese, without opposing the general sense of man- 
 kind, (great authentics have called it the triumph 
 of painting,) or to the altar of St. Augustine, at Ant- 
 werp, by Rubens, which equally deserves that title ; 
 and for the same reason, neither of those pictures 
 have any interesting story to support them. Paoli 
 Veronese is only a representation of a great con- 
 course of people at a dinner; and the subject of 
 Rubens, if it may be called a subject where nothing 
 is doing, is an assembly of various saints, that lived 
 in different ages. The whole excellence of those 
 pictures consists in mechanical dexterity, working, 
 however, under the influence of that comprehensive 
 faculty which I have so often mentioned. 
 
 It is by this, and this alone, that the mechanical 
 power is ennobled, and raised much above its na- 
 tural rank. And it appears to me, that with pro- 
 priety it acquires this character ; as an instance of 
 that superiority with which mind predominates over 
 
DETAILS AND MINUTE FINISH. 
 
 67 
 
 matter, by contracting into one whole what nature 
 has made multifarious. 
 
 The great advantage of this idea of a whole is, 
 that a greater quantity of truth may be said to be 
 contained and expressed in a few lines or touches, 
 than in the most laborious furnishing of the parts 
 where this is not regarded. It is upon this founda- 
 tion that it stands ; and the justness of the observa- 
 tion would be confirmed by the ignorant in art, if 
 it were possible to take their opinions unseduced by 
 some false notion of what they imagine they ought 
 to see in a picture. As it is an art, they think they 
 ought to be pleased in proportion as they see that 
 art ostentatiously displayed; they will, from this 
 supposition, prefer neatness, high finishing, and 
 gaudy colouring, to the truth, simplicity, and unity 
 of nature. Perhaps, too, the totally ignorant be- 
 holder, like the ignorant artist, cannot comprehend 
 a whole, nor even what it means. But if false no- 
 tions do not anticipate their perceptions, they who 
 are capable of observation, and who, pretending to 
 no skill, look only straight forward, will praise and 
 condemn in proportion as the painter has succeeded 
 in the effect of the whole. Here general satisfac- 
 tion, or general dislike, though perhaps despised by 
 the painter, as proceeding from the ignorance of 
 the principles of art, may yet help to regulate his 
 conduct, and bring back his attention to that which 
 ought to be his principal object, and from which he 
 
68 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 has deviated for the sake of minuter beauties. An 
 instance of this right judgment I once saw in a child, 
 in going through a gallery where there were many 
 portraits of the last ages, which, though neatly put 
 out of hand, were very ill put together. The child 
 paid no attention to the neat finishing or natural- 
 ness of any bit of drapery, but appeared to observe 
 only the ungracefulness of the persons represented, 
 and put herself in the posture of every figure which 
 she saw in a forced and awkward attitude. The 
 censure of nature, uninformed, fastened upon the 
 greatest fault that could be in a picture, because it 
 related to the whole character and management of 
 the whole. 
 
 I should be sorry, if what has been said should 
 be understood to have any tendency to encourage 
 that carelessness which leaves work in an unfinished 
 state. 1 commend nothing for the want of exact- 
 ness ; I mean to point out that kind of exactness 
 which is the best, and which is alone truly to be so 
 esteemed. 
 
 So far is my disquisition from giving counten- 
 ance to idleness, that there is nothing in our art 
 which enforces such continual exertion and circum- 
 spection, as an attention to the general effect of the 
 whole. It requires much study and much practice ; 
 it requires the painter's entire mind ; whereas the 
 parts may be finishing by nice touches, while his 
 mind is engaged on other matters; he may even 
 
DETAILS AND MINUTE FINISH. 
 
 69 
 
 hear a play or novel read without much disturbance. 
 The artist who flatters his own indolence, will con- 
 tinually find himself evading this active exertion, 
 and applying his thoughts to the care and laziness 
 of highly finishing the parts ; producing, at last, 
 what Cowley calls " laborious effects of idleness." 
 
 No work can be too much finished, provided the 
 diligence employed be directed to its proper object; 
 but I have observed that an excessive labour in the 
 detail has, nine times in ten, been pernicious to the 
 general effect, even when it has been the labour of 
 great masters. It indicates a bad choice, which is 
 an ill setting out in any undertaking. 
 
 To give a right direction to your industry has 
 been my principal purpose. It is this which, I am 
 confident, often makes the difference between two 
 students of equal capacities, and of equal industry. 
 While the one is employing his labour on minute 
 objects of little consequence, the other is acquiring 
 the art, and perfecting the habit, of seeing nature in 
 an extensive view, in its proper proportions, and its 
 due subordination of parts. 
 
 The same extension of mind which gives the ex- 
 cellence of genius to the theory and mechanical 
 practice of the art, will direct him likewise in the 
 method of study, and give him the superiority over 
 those who narrowly follow a more confined track 
 of partial imitation. 
 
 Whoever, in order to finish his education, should 
 
 
 
70 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 travel in Italy, and spend his whole time there only 
 in copying pictures, and measuring statues or build- 
 ings, (though these things are not to be neglected,) 
 would return with httle improvement. He that imi- 
 tates the Iliad, says Dr. Young, is not imitating 
 Homer. It is not by laying up in the memory the 
 particular details of any of the great works of art, 
 that a man becomes a great artist; if he stops 
 without making himself master of the general prin- 
 ciples on which these works are conducted. If he 
 even hopes to rival those whom he admires, he 
 must consider, their works as the means of teaching 
 him the true art of seeing nature. When this is ac- 
 quired, he then may be said to have appropriated 
 their powers, or at least the foundation of their 
 powers, to himself; the rest must depend on his 
 own industry and application. The great business 
 of study is, to form a mind, adapted and adequate 
 to all times and all occasions ; to which all nature 
 is there laid open, and which may be said to possess 
 the key of her inexhaustible riches. 
 
71 
 
 INVENTION AND DESIGN. 
 
 The observations to which I formerly wished, 
 and now desire to point your attention, relate not 
 to errors which are committed by those who have 
 no claim to merit, but to those inadvertencies into 
 which men of parts only can fall, by the over-rating, 
 or the abuse of some real, though subordinate, ex- 
 cellence. The errors last alluded to are those of 
 backward, timid characters; what I shall now speak 
 of belong to another class — to those artists who are 
 distinguished for the readiness and facility of their 
 invention. It is undoubtedly a splendid and desir- 
 able accomplishment to be able to design, instanta- 
 neously, any given subject. It is an excellence that 
 I believe every artist would wish to possess ; but, 
 unluckily, the manner in which this dexterity is ac- 
 quired, habituates the mind to be contented with first 
 thoughts, without choice or selection. The judg- 
 ment, after it has been long passive, by degrees 
 loses its power of becoming active, when exertion 
 is necessary. 
 
 Whoever, therefore, has this talent, must, in some 
 measure, undo what he has had the habit of doing, 
 or, at least, give a new turn to his mind : great 
 works, which are to live and stand the criticism of 
 posterity, are not performed at a heat ; a propor- 
 
72 
 
 THE THEOKY OF EFFECT. 
 
 tionable lime is required for deliberation and cir- 
 cumspection. I remember when I was at Rome, 
 looking at the Fighting Gladiator, in company with 
 an eminent sculptor, and I expressed my admiration 
 of the skill with which the whole is composed, and 
 the minute attention of the artist to the change of 
 every muscle in that momentary exertion of 
 strength. He was of opinion that a work so per- 
 fect required nearly the whole Hfe of man to per- 
 form. 
 
 I believe, if we look around us, we shall find that, 
 in the sister art of poetry, whaf has been soon done 
 has been as soon forgotten. The judgment and prac- 
 tice of a great poet, on this occasion, is worthy at- 
 tention. Metastasia, who has so much and justly 
 distinguished himself throughout Europe, at his 
 outset was an Impromsatore, or extempore poet, — 
 a description of men not uncommon in Italy. It is 
 not long since he was asked by a friend, if he did 
 not think the custom of inventing and reciting ex- 
 tempore^ which he practised when a boy, in his cha- 
 racter of an Improvisatore, might not be considered 
 as a happy beginning of his education ; he thought 
 it, on the contrary, a disadvantage to him. He said 
 that, he had acquired by that habit a carelessness 
 and incorrectness, which it cost him much trouble 
 to overcome, and to substitute in the place of it a 
 totally different habit, that of thinking with selec- 
 
INVENTION AND DESIGN. 
 
 73 
 
 tion, and of expressing himseif with correctness and 
 precision. 
 
 However extraordinary it may appear, it is cer- 
 tainly true, that the inventions of the Pittori impj^o- 
 visatore, as they may be called, have, notwith- 
 standing the common boast of their authors, that all 
 is spun from their own brain, very rarely anything 
 that has in the least the air of originality: their 
 compositions are generally common-place, uninter- 
 esting, without character or expression; like those 
 flowery speeches that we sometimes hear, which 
 impress no new ideas on the mind. 
 
 I would not be thought, however, by what has 
 been said, to oppose the use, the advantage, the ne- 
 cessity there is, of a painter's being readily able to 
 express his ideas by sketching. The further he can 
 carry such designs, the better. The evil to be ap- 
 prehended is his resting there, and not correcting 
 them afterwards from nature, or taking the trouble 
 to look about him for whatever assistance the 
 works of others will afford him. 
 
 We are not to suppose, that when a painter sits 
 down to deliberate on any work, he has all his 
 knowledge to seek ; he must not only be able to 
 draw, extempore^ the human figure, in every variety 
 of action, but he must be acquainted, likewise, 
 with the general principles of composition, and pos- 
 sess a habit of foreseeing, while he is composing, 
 the effect of the masses of light and shadow that 
 
74 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 will attend such a disposition. His mind is entirely 
 occupied by his attention to the -whole. It is a sub- 
 sequent consideration to determine the attitude and 
 expression of individual figures. It is in this period 
 of his work that I would recommend to every artist 
 to look over his port-folio, or pocket-book, in which 
 he has treasured up all the happy inventions, all the 
 extraordinary and expressive attitudes that he has 
 met with in the course of his studies ; not only for 
 the sake of borrowing from those studies whatever 
 may be appHcable to his own work, but likewise on 
 account of the great advantage he will receive by 
 bringing the ideas of great artists more distinctly 
 before his mind, which will teach him to invent 
 other figures in a similar style. 
 
 I know there are many artists of great fame, who 
 appear never to have looked out of themjsqlves, 
 and who, probably, would think it derogatory to 
 their character to be supposed to borrow from any 
 other painter. But when we recollect, and com- 
 pare the works of such men with those who took to 
 their assistance the inventions of others, we shall 
 be convinced of the great advantage of this latter 
 practice. 
 
 The two men mo^t eminent for readiness of in- 
 vention, that occur to me, are Luca Gurdano and 
 La Fage ; one in painting, and the other in drawing. 
 
 To such extraordinary powers as were possessed 
 by both of those artists, we cannot refuse the cha- 
 
I^'VENTION AND DESIGN. 
 
 75 
 
 racter of genius; at the same time it must be ac- 
 knowledged, that it was that kind of mechanic ge- 
 nius which operates without much assistance of the 
 head. In all their works, which are (as might be 
 expected) very numerous, we may look in vain for 
 anything that can be said to be original and striking; 
 and yet, according to the ordinary ideas of origi- 
 nality, they have as good pretensions as most paint- 
 ers ; for they borrowed very little from others, and 
 still less will any artist, that can distinguish be- 
 tween excellence and insipidity, ever borrow from 
 them. 
 
 To those men, and all such, let us oppose the 
 practice of the first of painters. I suppose we 
 shall all agree that no man ever possessed a greater 
 power of invention, and stood less in need of for- 
 eign assistance, than Raffaelle; and yet, when he 
 was designing one of his greatest, as well as latest 
 works, the Cartoons, it is very apparent that he had 
 the studies which he had made from Masaccio be- 
 fore him. Two noble figures of St. Paul, which 
 he found there, he adopted in his own work; one of 
 them he took for St. Paul preaching at Athens, 
 and the other for the same saint, when chastising 
 the socerer Elymas. Another figure in the same 
 work, whose head is sunk in his breast, with his 
 eyes shut, appearing deeply wrapt up in thought, 
 was introduced amongst the listeners to the preach- 
 ing of St. Paul The most material alteration that 
 
7a 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 is made in those two figures of St. Paul, is the ad- 
 dition of the left hands, which are seen in the origi- 
 nal. It is a rule that Raffaelle observed, (and in- 
 deed ought never to be dispensed with,) in a princi- 
 pal figure, to show both hands ; that it should never 
 be a question what is become of the other hand. 
 For the sacrifice at Lystra, he took the whole cere- 
 mony, much as it stands, in an ancient basso-relievo, 
 and published in the Admiranda. 
 
 I have given examples from those pictures only 
 of Raffaelle which we have among us, though 
 many other instances might be produced of this 
 great painter's not disdaining assistance : indeed, his 
 known wealth was so great, that he might borrow 
 where he pleased without loss of credit. 
 
 It may be remarked that this work of Masaccio, 
 from which he has borrowed so freely, was a public 
 work, and at no farther distance from Rome than 
 Florence; so that, if he had considered it a dis- 
 graceful theft, he was sure to be detected ; but he 
 was well satisfied that his character for invention 
 would be little affected by such a discovery ; nor 
 is it, except in the opinion of those who are igno- 
 rant of the manner in which great works are built. 
 
 Those who steal from mere poverty ; w^ho have 
 nothing of their own, cannot exist a minute without 
 making such depredations; who are so poor that they 
 have no place in which they can even deposit what 
 
INVENTION AND DESIGN. 
 
 77 
 
 they have taken ; to men of this description nothing 
 can be said. 
 
 Raffaelle, as appears from what has been said, 
 had carefully studied the v^orks of Masaccio; and, 
 indeed, there was no other, if we except Michael 
 Angelo, (whom he likewise imitated,) so worthy of 
 his attention; and, though his manner was dry and 
 hard, his compositions formal, and not enough diver- 
 sified, according to the custom of painters in that 
 early period, yet his works possess that grandeur 
 and simplicity which accompany, and even some- 
 times proceed from, regularity and harshness of 
 manner. We must consider the barbarous state 
 of the arts before his time, when skill in drawing 
 was so little understood, that the best of the paint- 
 ers could not even foreshorten the foot, but every 
 figure appeared to stand upon his toes ; and what 
 served for drapery, had, from the hardness and 
 smallness of the folds, too much the appearance of 
 cords clinging round the body. He first introduced 
 large drapery, flowing in an easy and natural man- 
 ner ; indeed, he appears to be the first who discov- 
 ered the path that leads to every excellence to 
 which the art afterwards arrived, and may, there< 
 fore, be justly considered as one of the great fathers 
 of modern art. 
 
 Though I have been led on to a longer digres- 
 sion respecting this great painter, than I intended, 
 vet T cnnnot avoid mentioning another excellence 
 
78 
 
 THE THEOKIT OF EFFECT. 
 
 which he possessed in a very eminent degree ; he 
 was as much distinguished among his contempora- 
 ries for diHgence and industry, as he was for the 
 natural faculties of his mind. We are told that his 
 whole attention w^as absorbed in the pursuit of his 
 art, and that he acquired the name of Masaccio, 
 from his total disregard to his dress, his person, and 
 all the common concerns of life. He is indeed a 
 signal instance of what well directed diligence will 
 do in a short time; he lived but twenty-seven years, 
 yet, in that short space, carried the art so far be- 
 yond what it had before reached, that he appears to 
 stand alone as a model for his successors. Vassari 
 gives a long catalogue of painters and sculptors, 
 who formed their taste, and learned their art, by 
 studying his works ; among those he names Michael 
 Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Pietro Perugino, Raf- 
 faelle, Bartolomeo, Andrea del Sarto, II Rosso, and 
 Piereno del Vaga. 
 
 The habit of contemplating and brooding over 
 the ideas of great geniuses, till you find yourself 
 w^armed by the contact, is the true method of form- 
 ing an artist-like mind ; it is impossible, in the pres- 
 ence of those great men, to think or invent in a 
 mean manner; a state of mind is acquired that re- 
 ceives those ideas only which relish of grandeur 
 and simplicity. 
 
 Besides the general advantage of forming the 
 taste by such an intercourse, there is another of *a 
 
INVENTION AND DESIGN. 
 
 79 
 
 particular kind, which was suggested to me by the 
 practice of Raffaelle, when imitating the work of 
 which I have been speaking. The figure of the 
 proconsul, Sergius Paulus, is taken from the Felix 
 of Masaccio, though one is a front figure, and the 
 other seen in profile ; the actioi:! is likewise some- 
 what changed, but it is plain Rafl^aelle had that figure 
 in his mind. There is a circumstance, indeed, 
 which I mention by the by, which marks it very 
 particularly — Sergius Paulus wears a crown of lau- 
 rel ; this is hardly reconcilable to strict propriety, 
 and the costume, of which Raffaelle was in general 
 a good observer ; but he found it so in Masaccio, 
 and he did not bestow so much pains in disguise as 
 to change it. It appears to me to be an excellent 
 practice, thus to suppose the figures which you wish 
 to adopt in the works of those great painters to be 
 statu|es, and to give, as Raffaelle has here given, 
 another view, taking care to preserve all the spirit 
 and grace you find in tho original. 
 
 I should hope, from what has been lately said, 
 that it is not necessary to guard myself against any 
 supposition of recommending an entire dependence 
 upon former masters ; I do not desire that you should 
 get other people to do your business, or to think for 
 you ; I only w^ish you to consult with, to call in, as 
 counsellors, men the most distinguished for their 
 knowledge and experience, the result of which 
 counsel must ultimately depend on yourself Such 
 
80 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 conduct, in the commerce of life, has never been 
 considered as disgraceful, or in any respect to im- 
 ply intellectual imbecility ; it is a sign, rather, of 
 the true wisdom, which feels individual imperfec- 
 tion, and is conscious to itself how much collective 
 observation is necessary to fill the immense extent, 
 and to comprehend the infinite variety of nature. I 
 recommend neither self-dependence, nor plagiarism. 
 I advise you only to take that assistance which 
 every human being wants, and which, as appears 
 from the examples that have been given, the great- 
 est painters have not disdained to accept. Let me 
 add, that the diligence required in the search, and 
 the exertion subsequent in accommodating those 
 ideas to your own purpose, is a business which idle- 
 ness will not, and ignorance cannot perform. But 
 in order more distinctly to explain what kind of bor- 
 rowing I mean, when I recommend so anxiously the 
 study of the works of great masters, let us for a 
 minute return again to Raffaelle, consider his 
 method of practice, and endeavour to imitate him, 
 in his manner of imitating others. 
 
 The two figures of St. Paul, which I lately men- 
 tioned, are so nobly conceived by Masaccio, that 
 perhaps it was not in the power of Raffaelle himself 
 to raise and improve them, nor has he attempted it; 
 but he has had the address to change, in some mea- 
 sure, without diminishing the grandeur of their 
 character; he has substituted, in the place of a se- 
 
INVENTION AND DESIGN. 
 
 81 
 
 rene composed dignity, that animated expression 
 which was necessary to the more active employ- 
 ment he has assigned them. 
 
 In the same manner he has given more anima- 
 tion to the figure of Sergius Paulus, and to that 
 which is introduced in the picture of St. Paul 
 preaching, of which httle more than hints are given 
 by Masaccio, which Raffaelle has finished. The 
 closing the eyes of this figure, which in Masaccio 
 might be easily mistaken for sleeping, is not in the 
 least ambiguous in the cartoon ; his eyes, indeed, 
 are closed, but they are closed with such vehe- 
 mence, that the agitation of a mind, peiylexed in the 
 extreme, is seen at the first glance ; but what is 
 most extraordinary, and I think particularly to be 
 admired, is, that the same idea is continued through 
 the whole figure, even to the drapery, which is so 
 closely muffled about him, that even his hands are 
 not seen : by this happy correspondence between 
 the expression of the countenance, and the disposi- 
 tion of the parts, the figure appears to think, from 
 head to foot. Men of superior talents alone are ca- 
 pable of thus using and adapting other men's minds 
 to their own purposes, or are able to make out and 
 finish what was only in the original a hint or im- 
 perfect conception. A readiness in taking such 
 hints, which escape the dull and ignorant, makes, 
 in my opinion, no inconsiderable part of that faculty 
 of the mind which is called genius. 
 
82 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 It often happens that hints may be taken and 
 employed in a situation totally different from that 
 in which they were originally employed. There is 
 a figure of a Bacchante leaning backward, her 
 head thrown quite behind her, which seems to be a 
 favourite invention, as it is so frequently repeated 
 in basso-relievos, cameos, and intaglios; it is in- 
 tended to express an enthusiastic frantic kind of joy. 
 This figure Baccio Bandenellt, in a drawing that I 
 have of that master, of the Descent from the Cross, 
 has adopted, (and he knew very well what was 
 worth borrowing,) for one of the Mary's to express 
 frantic agony of grief It is curious to observe, and 
 it is certainly true, that the extremes of contrary 
 passions are, with very little variation, expressed 
 by the same action. 
 
 If I were to recommend method in any part of 
 the study of a painter, it would be in regard to in- 
 vention ; that young students should not presume to 
 think themselves qualified to invent, till they are 
 acquainted with those stores of invention the world 
 already possesses, and had by that means accumu- 
 lated sufficient materials for the mind to work with. 
 It would certainly be no improper method of form- 
 ing the mind of a young artist, to begin with such 
 exercises as the Itahans call a pasticcio composition 
 of the different excellencies which are dispersed 
 in all other works of the same kind. It is not sup- 
 posed that he is to stop here, but that he is to ac- 
 
INVENTION AND DESIGN. 
 
 83 
 
 quire by this means the art of selecting, first, what 
 is truly excellent in art, and then what is still more 
 excellent in nature; a task which, without this pre- 
 vious study, he will be but ill qualified to perform. 
 
 The doctrine which is here advanced, is acknow- 
 ledged to be new, and to many may appear strange. 
 But I only demand for it the reception of a stran- 
 ger; a favourable and attentive consideration, with- 
 out that entire confidence which might be claimed 
 under authoritative recommendation. 
 
 After you have taken a figure, or any idea of a 
 figure, from any of those great painters, there is 
 another operation still remaining, which I hold to be 
 indispensibly necessary ; that is, never to neglect fin- 
 ishing from nature every part of the work. What is 
 taken from a model, though the first idea m^y have 
 been suggested by another, you have a just right to 
 consider as your own property. And here I can- 
 not avoid mentioning a circumstance in placing the 
 model, though to some it may appear trifling. It 
 is better to possess the model, with the attitude you 
 require, than to place him with your own hands : 
 by this means it happens often that the model puts 
 himself in an action superior to your own imagina- 
 tion. It is a great matter to be in the way of acci- 
 dent, and to be watchful and ready to take advan- 
 tage of it ; besides, when you fix the position of a 
 model, there is danger in putting him in an attitude 
 into ,which no man would naturally fall. This ex- 
 
84 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 tends even to drapery. We must be cautious in 
 touching and altering a fold of the stuff which 
 serves as a model, for fear of giving it, inadver- 
 tently, a forced form ; and it is, perhaps, better to 
 take the chance of another casual throw, than to 
 alter the position in which it was at first acciden- 
 tally cast. 
 
 Rembrandt, in order to take the advantage of ac- 
 cident, appears often to have used the pallet-knife 
 to lay his colours on the canvass, instead of the 
 pencil. Whether it is the knife, or any other in- 
 strument, it suffices, if it is something that does not 
 follow exactly the will. Accident, in the hands of 
 an artist who knows how to take the advantage of 
 its hints, will often produce bold and capricious 
 beauties of handling and facility, such as he would 
 not have thought of, or ventured, with his pencil, 
 under the regular restraint of his hand. However, 
 this is fit only in occasions where no correctness of 
 form is required, such as clouds, stumps of trees, 
 rocks, or broken ground. Works produced in an 
 accidental manner will have the same free unre- 
 strained air as the works of nature, whose parti- 
 cular combinations seem to depend upon accident. 
 
 I again repeat, you are never to lose sight of na- 
 ture ; the instant you do, you are all abroad, at the 
 mercy of every gust of fashion, without knowing 
 or seeing the point to which you ought to steer. 
 Whatever trips you make, you must still have na- 
 
INVENTION AND DESIGN. 
 
 85 
 
 ture in your eye. Let me recommend to you not to 
 have too great dependence on your practice or 
 memory, however strong those impressions may 
 have been which are there deposited. These are 
 for ever wearing out, and will be at last oblite- 
 rated, unless they are continually refreshed and re- 
 paired. 
 
 It is not uncommon to meet with artists who, 
 from a long neglect of cultivating this necessary 
 intimacy with nature, do not even know her when 
 they see her; she appearing a stranger to them, 
 from their being so long habituated to their own 
 representation of her. I have heard painters ac- 
 knowledge, though in that acknowledgment no de- 
 gradation of themselves was intended, that they 
 could do better without nature than with her ; or, as 
 they expressed it themselves, that it only put them 
 out, A painter, with such ideas and such habits, is 
 indeed, in a most helpless state. The art of seeing 
 nature^ or, in other words, the art of using models, 
 is, in reality, the great object, the point to which all 
 our studies are directed. As for the power of being 
 able to do tolerably w^ell, from practice alone, let 
 it be valued according to its worth. But I do not 
 see in what manner it can be sufficient for the pro- 
 duction of correct, excellent, and finished pictures. 
 Works deserving this character never were pro- 
 duced," nor ever will arise, from memory alone; 
 and 1 will venture to say, that an artist who brings 
 8 
 
S6 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 to his work a mind tolerably furnished with the 
 general principles of art, and a taste formed upon 
 the works of good artists, in short who knows in 
 what excellence consists, will, with the assistance 
 of models, which we will likewise suppose he has 
 learnt the art of using, be an overmatch for the 
 greatest painter that ever lived, who should be de- 
 barred such advantages. 
 
87 
 
 ANATOMICAL PROPORTIONS OF THE HU- 
 MAN FIGURE. 
 
 Du Piles has, in his note in this passage, given 
 the measures of a human body, as taken by Fres- 
 noy from the statues of the ancients, which are 
 here transcribed : — 
 
 " The ancients have commonly allowed eight 
 heads to their figures, though some of them have 
 but seven ; but we ordinarily divide the figures 
 into ten faces, that is to say, from the crown of the 
 head to the sole of the foot, in the following man- 
 ner : — 
 
 " From the crown of the head to the forehead is 
 the third part of a face. The face begins at the 
 root of the lowest hairs which are upon the fore- 
 head, and ends at the bottom of the chin. The face 
 is divided into three proportionable parts ; the first 
 contains the forehead, the second the nose, and the 
 third the mouth and the chin ; from the chin, to the 
 pit betwixt the collar-bones, are two lengths of a 
 nose. 
 
 From the pit, betwixt the collar-bones, to the 
 bottom of the breast, one face. From the bottom 
 of the breast to the navel, one face. 
 
 " From the navel to the genitories, one face. 
 
88 
 
 TflE TflEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 " From the genitories to the upper part of the 
 knee, two faces. 
 
 " The knee contains half a face. 
 
 " From the lower part of the knee to the ankle, 
 two faces. 
 
 " From the ankle to the sole of the foot, half a 
 face. 
 
 " A man, when his arms are stretched out, is, 
 from the longest finger of his right hand, to the 
 longest of his left, as broad as he is long. 
 
 " From one side of the breasts to the other, two 
 faces. 
 
 " The bone of the arm called humerus, is the 
 length of two faces from the shoulder to the elbow. 
 
 " From the end of the elbow to the root of the 
 little finger, the bone called cubitus, with part of 
 the hand, contains two faces. 
 
 " From the bix of the shoulder-blade to the pit be- 
 twixt the collar bones, one face. 
 
 " If you would be satisfied in the measure of 
 breadth, from the extremity of one finger to the other, 
 so that this breadth should be equal to the length of 
 the body, you must observe, that the bixes of the 
 elbows, with the humerus, and of the humerus with 
 the shoulder-blade, bear the proportion of half a face, 
 when the arms are stretched out. 
 
 " The sole of the foot is the sixth part of the 
 figure. 
 
 " The hand is the length of a face. 
 
PERSPECTIVE. 
 
 89 
 
 " The thumb contains a nose. 
 The inside of the arm, from the place the mus- 
 cle disappears, which makes the breast, (called the 
 pectoral muscle,) to the middle of the arm, four 
 noses. 
 
 From the middle of the arm to the beginning 
 of the head, five noses. 
 
 " The longest toe is a nose long. 
 
 " The tw^o utmost parts of the teats; and the pit 
 betwixt the collar-bones of a woman, make an aequi- 
 lateral triangle. 
 
 For the breadth of the limbs no precise mea- 
 sure can be given, because the measures themselv^es 
 are changeable, according to the quality of the per- 
 sons, and according to the movement of the mus- 
 cles." 
 
 PERSPECTIVE. 
 
 Fresnoy was not aware that he was arguing 
 from the abuse of the art of perspective, the business 
 of which is to represent objects as they appeared 
 to the eye, or as they are delineated on a transpa- 
 rent plane placed between the spectator and the ob- 
 ject. 
 
 The rules of perspective, as well as all other 
 rules, may be injudiciously applied ; and it must be 
 • acknowledged that a misapplication of them is but 
 too frequently found even in the works of the most 
 considerable artists. 
 
 8* 
 
90 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 It is not uncommon to see a figure on the fore- 
 ground represented near twice the size of another 
 which is supposed to be removed but a few feet be- 
 hind it ; this, though true according to rule, will 
 appear monstrous. This error proceeds from plac- 
 ing the point of distance too near the point of sight, 
 by which means the diminution of objects is so sud- 
 den, as to appear unnatural, unless you stand so 
 near the picture as the point of distance requires, 
 which would be too near for the eye to comprehend 
 the whole picture ; whereas, if the point of distance 
 is removed so far as the spectator may be supposed 
 to stand, in order to see commodiously, and take 
 within his view the whole, the figures behind w^ould 
 then sufier under no such violent diminution. 
 
 COMPOSITION. 
 
 NoxmNG so much breaks in upon, and destroys 
 this compactness, as that mode of composition which 
 cuts in the middle the figures in the foreground, 
 though it was frequently the practice of the great- 
 est painters, even of the best age : Michael Angelo 
 has it in the crucifixion of St. Peter ; RafiFaelle in 
 the cartoon of the preaching of St. Paul ; and 
 Parmigianino often showed only the head and shoul- 
 ders above the base of the picture. However, the 
 more modern painters, notwithstanding such autho- 
 rities, cannot be accused of having fallen into this 
 error. 
 
GENIDS. 
 
 91 
 
 But, suppose we carry the reformation still far- 
 ther, and that we do not suffer the sides of the pic- 
 ture to cut off any part of the figures, the composi- 
 tion would certainly be more round and compact 
 within itself. All subjects, it is true, will not admit 
 of this ; however, we may safely recommend it, 
 unless the circumstances are very particular, and 
 such as are certain to produce some striking effect 
 by the breach of so just a rule. 
 
 GENIUS. 
 
 Nothing in the art requires more attention and 
 judgment, or more of that power of discrimination 
 which may not improperly be called genius, than 
 the steering between general ideas and individuality; 
 for though the body of the work must certainly be 
 composed by the first, in order to communicate a 
 character of grandeur to the whole, yet a dash of 
 the latter is sometimes necessary to give an interest. 
 An individual model, copied with scrupulous exact- 
 ness, makes a mean style, like the Dutch; and the 
 neglect of an actual model, and the method of pro- 
 ceeding solely from idea, has a tendency to make 
 the painter degenerate into a-mannerist. 
 
 In order to keep the mind in repair, it is neces- 
 sary to replace and refreshen those impressions of 
 nature which are continually wearing away. 
 
 A circumstance mentioned in the life of Gnido is 
 
92 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 well worth the attention of artists. He was asked 
 from whence he borrowed his idea of beauty, 
 which is acknowledged superior to that of any other 
 painter; he said he would show all the models he 
 used, and ordered a common porter to sit before him, 
 from whom he drew a beautiful countenance. This 
 was undoubtedly an exaggeration of his conduct ; 
 but his intention was to show that he thought it ne- 
 cessary for painters to have some model of nature 
 before them, however they might deviate from it, 
 and correct it from the idea of perfect beauty which 
 they have formed in their minds. 
 
 In painting it is far better to have a model even 
 to depart from, than to have nothing fixed and cer- 
 tain to determine the idea. 
 
 When there is a model, there is something to 
 proceed on, something to be corrected ; so that even 
 supposing no part is adopted, the model has still 
 been not without use. 
 
 Such habits of intercourse with nature, will, at 
 least, create that variety which will prevent any one 
 from prognosticating, on being informed of the sub- 
 ject, what manner of work the painter is likely to 
 produce, which is the most disagreeable character 
 an artist can have. 
 
 SINGLE FIGCRES. 
 
 When the picture consists of a single figure only, 
 that figure must be contrasted in its limbs and dra- 
 
SINGLE FIGURES. 
 
 93 
 
 pery with great variety of lines ; it should be as 
 much as possible a composition of itself. It may 
 be remarked, that such a complete figure will never 
 unite or make part of a group ; as, on the other hand 
 no figure of a well-conducted group will stand by 
 itself. 
 
 A composition, where every figure is such as I 
 suppose a single figure ought to be, and those like- 
 wise contrasted to each other, which is not uncom- 
 mon in the works of young artists, produces such 
 an assemblage of artifice and affectation as is in the 
 highest degree unnatural and disgustful. 
 
 There is another circumstance which, though 
 not improper in single figures, ought never to be 
 practised in historical pictures ; that of represent- 
 ing any figure as looking out of the picture, that is, 
 looking at the person Vv^ho views the picture. This 
 conduct in history gives an appearance to that 
 figure of having no connection wdth the rest ; and 
 ought, therefore, never to be practised except in lu- 
 dicrous subjects. 
 
 It is not certain that the variety recommended 
 in a single figure, can, with equal success, be ex- 
 tended to colouring. The difficulty will be in dif- 
 fusing the colours of the drapery of this single figure 
 to other distant parts of the picture, for this is what 
 harmony requires ; this difficulty, however, seems 
 to be evaded in the works of Titian, Vandyck, and 
 
94 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 many others, by dressing their single figures in 
 black or white. 
 
 Vandyck, in the famous portrait of Cardinal 
 BentivogHo, was confined in his dress to crimson 
 velvet and white linen ; he has, therefore, made the 
 curtain in the background of the same crimson 
 colour, and the white is diffused by a letter which 
 lies on the table ; and a bunch of flowers is like- 
 wise introduced for the same purpose. 
 
 PARTS OF A PICTURE. 
 
 Every part which goes to the composition of a 
 picture, even inanimate objects, are capable, to a 
 certain degree, of conveying sentiment, and con- 
 tribute their share to the general purpose of striking 
 the imagination of the spectator. The disposition 
 of light, or the folding of drapery, will give, some- 
 times, a general air of grandeur to the whole work. 
 
 THE PASSIONS. 
 
 A PAINTER, whatever he may feel, will not be able 
 to express it on canvass, without having recourse 
 to a recollection of those principles by which the 
 passion required is expressed. The mind thus occu- 
 pied, is not likely, at the same time, to be possessed 
 with the passion which he is representing. 
 
 An image may be ludicrous, and in its first con- 
 ception make the painter laugh, as well as the spec- 
 
GLAZING OR SCKUMBLING. 
 
 95 
 
 tator ; but the difficulty of his art makes the painter, 
 in the course of his work, equally grave and serious, 
 whether he is employed on the most ludicrous, or 
 the most solemn subject. 
 
 However, we may, without great violence, sup- 
 pose this rule to mean no more than that a sensibi- 
 lity is required in the artist, so that he should be 
 capable of conceiving the passion properly before 
 he sets about reprinting it on canvass. 
 
 GLAZING OR SCRUMBLING. 
 
 From the various ancient paintings which have 
 come down to us, we may form a judgment with 
 tolerable accuracy of the excellencies and the de- 
 fects of the art amongst the ancients. There can 
 be no doubt, but that the same correctness of design 
 was required from the painter as from the sculptor; 
 and if what has happened in regard to their paint- 
 ings, and we had the good fortune to possess what 
 the ancients themselves esteemeed their master- 
 pieces, I have no doubt but we should find their 
 figures as correctly drawn as the Laocoon, and 
 probably coloured like Titian. What disposes me 
 to think higher of their colouring than any remains 
 of ancient painting will warrant, is the account 
 which Pliny gives of the mode of operation used 
 by Apelles ; that over his finished picture he spread 
 a transparent liquid like ink, of which the eflfect was 
 to give brilliancy, and at the same time to lower 
 
96 
 
 THS THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 the two great glare of the colour. This custom, 
 or mode of operation, implies, at least, a true taste 
 of that in which the excellence of colouring con- 
 sists ; which does not proceed from fine colours, but 
 true colours; from breaking down these fine colours, 
 which would appear too raw, to a deep toned 
 brightness. Perhaps the manner in which Correg- 
 Gio practised the art of glazing was still more like 
 that of Apelles, which was only perceptible to 
 those who looked close to the picture, ad manum 
 intuenti demuna apparer^et ; whereas, in Titian, and 
 still more in Bassan, and others, his imitators, it 
 was apparent on the slightest inspection. Artists, 
 who may not approve of glazing, must still ac- 
 knowledge, that this practice is not that of igno- 
 rance. 
 
 Another circumstance, that tends to prejudice me 
 in favour of their colouring, is the account we have 
 of some of their principal painters using but four 
 colours only. I am convinced the fewer the colours, 
 the clearer will be the effect of those colours, and 
 that four are sufficient to make every combination 
 required. Two colours mixed together will not 
 preserve the brightness of either of them single, 
 nor will three be as bright as two ; of this observa- 
 tion, simple as it is, an artist, who wishes to colour 
 bright, will know the value. In regard to their 
 power of giving peculiar expression, no correct 
 judgment can be formed ; but we cannot well sup- 
 
GLAZING OR SCRUMBLING. 
 
 97 
 
 pose that men who were capable of giving that 
 general grandeur of character which so eminently 
 distinguishes their works in sculpture, were inca- 
 pable of expressing peculiar passions. 
 
 As to the enthusiastic commendations bestowed 
 on them by their contemporaries, I consider them 
 as no weight. The best words are always em- 
 ployed to praise the best works; admiration often 
 proceeds from ignorance of higher excellence. 
 What they appear to have most failed in is com- 
 position, both in regard to the grouping of their 
 figures, and the art of dispoj^g the hght and 
 shadow in masses. It is apparent that this, which 
 makes so considerable a part of modern art, was 
 to them totally unknown. If the great painters 
 had possessed this excellence, some portion of it 
 would have infalhbly been diffused, and have been 
 discoverable in the works of the inferior rank of 
 artists, such as those whose works have come down 
 to us, and which may be considered as on the 
 same rank with the paintings that ornament our 
 public gardens. Supposing our modern pictures 
 of this rank only were preserved for the inspection 
 of connoisseurs two thousand years hence, the 
 general principles of composition would be still 
 discoverable in those pieces ; however feebly exe- 
 cuted, there would be seen an attempt to a union 
 of the figure with its ground, and some idea of dis- 
 posing both the figures and the lights in groups. 
 9 
 
98 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 Now as nothing of this appears in what we have 
 of ancient painting, we may conclude that this part 
 of the art was totally neglected, or more probably 
 unknown. They might, however, have produced 
 single figures which approached perfection, both in 
 drawing and colouring; they might excel in a solo, 
 (in the language of musicians,) though they were 
 probably incapable of composing a full piece for a 
 concert of different instruments. 
 
 MULTIPLICITY OF LIGHTS. 
 
 The same right judgment which proscribes two 
 equal lights, forbids any two objects to be intro- 
 duced of equal magnitude or force, so as to appear 
 to be competitors for the attention of the spectator. 
 This is common; but I do not think it quite so 
 common to extend the rule so far as it ought to be 
 extended. Even in colours, whether of the warm 
 or cold kind, there should be one of each which 
 should be apparently principal and predominant of 
 the rest. It must be observed, even in drapery ; 
 two folds of the same drapery must not be of equal 
 magnitude. 
 
 LIGHT AND SHADE. 
 
 The means by which the painter works, and on 
 which the effect of his picture depends, are light 
 and shade, warm and cold colours. That there is 
 
LIGHT AND SHADE. 
 
 99 
 
 an art in the management and disposition of those 
 means will be easily granted ; and it is equally cer- 
 tain, that this art is to be acquired by a careful 
 examination of the works of those who have ex- 
 celled in it. 
 
 I shall here set down the result of the observa- 
 tions which I have made on the works of those 
 artists, who appear to have best understood the 
 management of light and shade, and who may be 
 considered as examples for imitation in this branch 
 of the art. 
 
 Titian, Paul Veronese and Tintoret, were 
 among the first painters who reduced to a system 
 what was before practised without any fixed prin- 
 ciple, and consequently neglected occasionally. 
 From the Venetian painter, Rubens extracted his 
 scheme of composition, which was soon under- 
 stood and adopted by his countrymen, and ex- 
 tended even to the minor painters of familiar life 
 in the Dutch school. 
 
 When I was at Venice, the method I took to 
 avail myself of their principles was this. When I 
 observed an extraordinary effect of light and shade 
 in any picture, I took a leaf of my pocket-book, 
 and darkened every part of it in the same grada- 
 tion of light and shade as the picture, leaving the 
 white paper untouched to represent the light, and 
 this without any attention to the subject or the 
 drawing of the figures. A few trials of this kind 
 
100 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 will be sufficient to give the method of their con- 
 duct in the management of their lights. After a 
 few experiments, I found the paper blotted nearly 
 alike. Their general practice appeared to be, to 
 allow not above a quarter of the picture for the 
 light, including in this portion both the principal 
 and secondary lights, another quarter to be as dark 
 as possible, and the remaining half kept in mezzo- 
 tint or half shadow. 
 
 Rubens appears to have admitted rather more 
 light than a quarter, and Rembrandt much less, 
 scarce an eighth; by this conduct Rembrandt's 
 light is extremely brilliant, but it costs too much — 
 the rest of the picture is sacrificed to this one object. 
 That light will certainly appear the brightest which 
 is surrounded with the greatest quantity of shade, 
 supposing equal skill in the artist. 
 
 By this means you may likewise remark the 
 various forms and shapes of those lights, as well as 
 the objects in which they are flung — whether a 
 figure, or the sky, a white napkin, animals, or 
 utensils, often introduced for this purpose only. It 
 may be observed, likewise, what portion is strongly 
 relieved, and how much is united with its ground ; 
 for it is necessary that some part, (though a small 
 one is sufficient,) should be sharp and cutting 
 against its ground, whether it be light on a dark, 
 or dark on a light ground, in order to give firm- 
 ness and distinctness to the work. If, on the other 
 
HARMONY. 101 
 
 hand, it is relieved on every side, it w^ill appear as 
 if inlaid on its ground. Such a blotted paper, 
 held at a distance from the eye, will strike the 
 spectator as something excellent for the disposition 
 of light and shadow, though he does not distinguish 
 whether it is a history, a portrait, a landscape, 
 dead game, or any thing else ; for the same prin- 
 ciples extend to every branch of the art. 
 
 Whether I have given an exact account, or made 
 a just division of the quantity of light admitted into 
 the works of those painters, is of no very great 
 consequence; let every person examine and judge 
 for himself ; it will be sufficient if I have suggested 
 a mode of examining pictures this way, and one 
 means at least of acquiring the principles on which 
 they wrought. 
 
 HARMONY. 
 
 The same method may be used to acquire that 
 harmonious effect of colours, which was recom- 
 mended for the acquisition of light and shade — the 
 adding colours to the darkened paper ; but as those 
 are not always at hand, it may be sufficient, if the 
 picture which you think worthy of imitating be 
 considered in this light, to ascertain the quantity of 
 warm, and the quantity of cold colours. 
 
 The predominant colours of the picture ought to 
 be of a warm, mellow kind, red or yellow; and no 
 more cold colour should be introduced than will be 
 
 9* 
 
102 
 
 THE THEORVr OF EFFECT. 
 
 jast enough to serve as a ground or foil, to set off 
 and give value to the mellow colours, and never 
 should itself be a principal. For this purpose a 
 quarter of the picture will be sufficient. Those 
 cold colours, whether blue, grey, or green, are to 
 be dispersed about the ground or surrounding parts 
 of the picture, whether it has the appearance of 
 wanting such a foil, but sparingly employed in the 
 masses of light. 
 
 I am confident that an habitual examination of 
 the works of those painters who have excelled in 
 harmony, will, by degrees, give a correctness of 
 eye that will revolt at discordant colours, as a 
 musician's ear revolts at discordant sounds. 
 
 BACKGROUNDS. 
 
 By a story told of Rubens, we have his authority 
 for asserting, that to the effect of the picture the 
 background is of the greatest consequence. 
 
 Rubens being desired to take under his instruc- 
 tions a young painter, the person who recom- 
 mended him, in order to induce Rubens the more 
 readily to take him, said, that he was already 
 somewhat advanced in the art, and that he would 
 be of immediate assistance in his backgrounds. 
 Rubens smiled at his simplicity, and told him that 
 if the youth was capable of painting his back- 
 grounds, he stood in no need of his instructions ; 
 that the regulation and management of them re- 
 
BACKGROUNDS. 
 
 103 
 
 quired the most comprehensive knowledge of the 
 art. This painters know to be no exaggerated 
 account of a background, being fully apprised how 
 much the effect of the picture depends upon it. It 
 must be in union with the figure, so as not to have 
 the appearance of being inlaid, like Holbein's por- 
 traits, which are often on a bright green or blue 
 ground. To prevent this effect, the ground must 
 partake of the colour of the figure; or, as expressed 
 in a subsequent line, receive all the treasures of the 
 pallette. The background regulates likewise where 
 and in what part the figure is to be relieved. 
 When the form is beautiful, it is to be seen dis- 
 tinctly; w^hen, on the contrary, it is uncouth or too 
 angular, it may be lost in the ground. Sometimes 
 a light is introduced, in order to join and extend 
 the light on the figure, and the dark side of the 
 figure is lost in a still darker background ; for the 
 fewer the outlines are which cut against the ground, 
 the richer will be the effect, as the contrary pro- 
 duces what is called the dry manner. 
 
 One of the arts of supplying the defect of a scan- 
 tiness of dress, by means of the background, may 
 be observed in a whole length portrait by Van- 
 DYCK, which is in the cabinet of the Duke of Mon- 
 tagu. The dress of this figure would have had an 
 ungraceful effect ; he has, therefore, by means of a 
 light background opposed to the light of the figure, 
 and by the help of a curtain that catches the light 
 
104 
 
 THE THEORY OP EFFECT. 
 
 near the figure, made the effect of the whole toge- 
 ther, full and rich to the eye. 
 
 THE MODES OF HARMONY. 
 
 All the modes of harmony, or of producing that 
 effect of colours which is required in a picture, 
 may be reduced to three, two of which belong to 
 the grand style, and the other to the ornamental. 
 
 The first may be called the Roman manner, 
 where the colours are of a full and strong body, 
 such as are found in the Transfiguration ; the next 
 is that harmony which is produced by what the 
 ancients called the corruption of the colours, by 
 mixing and breaking them till there is a general 
 union in the whole, without any thing that shall 
 bring to your remembrance the painter's palette, or 
 the original colours. This may be called the 
 Bolognian style, and it is this hue and effect of 
 colours which Lodovico Carraci seems to have 
 endeavoured to produce, though he did not carry 
 it to that perfection which we have seen since his 
 time, in the small works of the Dutch school, parti- 
 cularly Jan Steen, where art is completely con- 
 cealed, and the painter, like a great orator, never 
 draws the attention from the subject on himself. 
 
 The last manner belongs properly to the orna- 
 mental style, which we call the Venetian, being 
 first practised at Venice, but is perhaps better 
 learned from Rubens. Here the brightest colours 
 possible are admitted, with the two extremes of 
 
THE MODKS OF HARMONY. 
 
 105 
 
 warm and cold, and those reconciled by being 
 dispersed over the picture, till the whole appears 
 like a bunch of flowers. 
 
 As I have given instances from the Dutch school, 
 where the art of breaking colour may be learned, 
 we may recommend here an attention to the works 
 of Watteau, for excellence in this florid style of 
 painting. To all these different manners there are 
 some general rules, that must never be neglected. 
 First, that the same colour which makes the largest 
 mass be diffused, and appear to revive in different 
 parts of the picture ; for a single colour will make 
 a spot or blot. Even the dispersed flesh colour, 
 which the faces and hands make, requires a prin- 
 cipal mass, which is best produced by a naked 
 figure ; but where the subject will not allow of 
 this, a drapery approaching to flesh colour will 
 answer the purpose, as in the Transfiguration, 
 where a woman is clothed in drapery of this 
 colour, which makes a principal to all the heads 
 and hands of the picture ; and, for the sake of 
 harmony, the colours, however distinguished in 
 their light, should be nearly the same in their 
 shadows, of a 
 
 Simple unity of shade, 
 
 As all were from one single palette spread 
 
 and to give the utmost force, strength and solidity 
 to the work, some part of the picture should be as 
 light and some as dark as possible ; these two 
 
106 
 
 THE THEORY OP EFFECT. 
 
 extremes are then to be harmonized and reconciled 
 to each other. 
 
 Instances where both of them are used may be 
 observed in two pictures of Rubens, which are 
 equally eminent for the force and brilliancy of 
 their effect. One is in the cabinet of the Duke of 
 Rutland, and the other in the chapel of Rubens, at 
 Antwerp, which serves as his monument. In both 
 these pictures he has introduced a female figure 
 dressed in black satin, the shadows of which are 
 as dark as pure black, opposed to the contrary 
 extreme of brightness, can make them. 
 
 If to these different manners we add one more, 
 that in which a silver-grey or pearly tint is pre- 
 dominant, I believe every kind of harmony that 
 can be produced by colours will be comprehended. 
 One of the greatest examples in this mode is the 
 famous Marriage at Cana, in St. George's Church 
 at Venice, where the sky, which makes a very 
 considerable part of the picture, is of the brightest 
 blue colour, and the clouds perfectly white ; the 
 rest of the picture is in the same key, wrought 
 from this high pitch. We see likewise many pic- 
 tures of GuiDo in this tint, and indeed those that 
 are so are in his best manner. Female figures, 
 angels and children were the subjects in which 
 GuiDo more particularly succeeded; and to such 
 the cleanness and neatness of this tint perfectly 
 corresponds, and contributes not a little to that 
 
THE MODES OP HARMONY. 
 
 107 
 
 exquisite beauty and delicacy which so much dis- 
 tinguishes his works. To see this style in perfec- 
 tion, we must again have recourse to the Dutch 
 school, Vandervelde and the young Teniers, whose 
 pictures are valued by the connoisseurs in propor- 
 tion as they possess this excellence of a silver tint. 
 Which of these different styles ought to be pre- 
 ferred, so as to meet every man's idea, would be 
 difficult to determine, from the predilection which 
 every man has to that mode which is practised by 
 the school in which he has been educated; but if 
 any preeminence is to be given, it must be to that 
 manner which stands in the highest estimation 
 with mankind in general, and that is the Venitian, 
 or rather the manner of Titian, which, simply con- 
 sidered as producing an effect of colours, will cer- 
 tainly eclipse with its splendour whatever is brought 
 into competition with it. But, as I hinted before, 
 if female delicacy and beauty be the principal 
 object of the painter's aim, the purity and clearness 
 of the tint of Guido will correspond better, and 
 more contribute to produce it than even the glow- 
 ing tint of Titian. 
 
 The rarity of excellence in any of these styles 
 of colouring sufficiently shows the difficulty of suc- 
 ceeding in them. It may be worth the artist's 
 attention, while he is in this pursuit, particularly to 
 guard against those errors which seem to be an- 
 nexed to or divided by their partitions from their 
 
108 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 neighbouring excellence. Thus when he is endea- 
 vouring to acquire the Roman style, if he is not 
 extremely careful, he falls into a hard and dry 
 manner. The flowery colouring is nearly allied 
 to the gaudy effect of fan painting. The sim- 
 plicity of the Bolognian style requires the nicest 
 hand to preserve it from insipidity. That of Titian, 
 which may be called the golden manner, when un- 
 skilfully managed, becomes what the painters call 
 foxy; and the silver degenerates into the leaden 
 and heavy manner. None of them, to be perfect 
 in their way, will bear any union with each other ; 
 if they are not distinctly separated the effect of the 
 picture will be feeble and insipid, without any 
 mark or distinguished character. 
 
 DARK SHADOWS. 
 
 It is indeed a rule adopted by many painters, to 
 admit in no part of the background, or on any 
 object in the picture, shadows of equal strength 
 with those which are employed on the principal 
 figure ; but this produces a false representation. 
 With deference to our author, to have the strong 
 light and shadow there alone is not to produce the 
 best natural effect, nor is it authorized by the prac- 
 tice of those painters who are most distinguished 
 for harmony of colouring; a conduct, therefore, 
 totally contrary to this, is absolutely necessary, that 
 
TASTE 
 
 109 
 
 the same strength, the same tone of colour, should 
 be diffused over the whole picture. 
 
 I am no enemy to dark shadows. The general 
 deficiency to be observed in the works of the 
 painters of the last age, as well as indeed of many 
 of the present, is a feebleness of effect ; they seem 
 to be too much afraid of those midnight shadows, 
 which alone give the power of nature, and without 
 which a picture will appear like one wholly want- 
 ing solidity and strength. The lightest and gayest 
 style requires this foil to give it force and bril- 
 liancy. 
 
 TASTE. 
 
 Taste will be unavoidably regulated by what is 
 continually before the eyes. It were therefore well 
 if young students could be debarred the sight of 
 any works that were not free from gross faults, 
 till they had well formed, and, as I may say, 
 hardened their judgment. They might then be 
 permitted to look about them, not only without 
 fear of vitiating their taste, but even with advan- 
 tage ; and would often find great ingenuity and 
 extraordinary invention in works which are under 
 the influence of a bad taste. 
 
 FORM. 
 
 The first business of the student is to be able to 
 give a true representation of whatever object pre- 
 sents itself, just as it appears to the eye, so as to 
 10 
 
110 
 
 THE TIIEORy OF EFFECT. 
 
 amount to a deception ; and the geometric rules of 
 perspective are included in this study. This is the 
 language of the art, which appears the more neces- 
 sary to be taught early, from the natural repug- 
 nance which the mind has to such mechanical 
 labour, after it has acquired a relish for its higher 
 departments. 
 
 The next step is to acquire a knowledge of the 
 beauty of form. For this purpose he is recom- 
 mended to the study of the Grecian sculpture ; and 
 for composition, colouring and expression, to the 
 great works at Rome, Venice, Parma and Bo- 
 logna. He begins now to look for those excel- 
 lencies which address themselves to the imagina- 
 tion, and considers deception as a scaffolding to 
 be now thrown aside, as of no importance to this 
 finished fabric. 
 
 INVENTION. 
 
 The invention of a painter consists not only in 
 inventing the subject, but in a capacity of forming 
 in his imagination the subject in a manner best 
 accommodated to his art, though wholly borrowed 
 from poets, historians, or popular tradition. For 
 this purpose he has full as much to do, and perhaps 
 more, than if the very story was invented ; for he 
 is bound to follow the ideas which he has received, 
 and to translate them (if I may use the expression) 
 into another art. In this translation the painter's 
 
INVENTION. 
 
 Ill 
 
 invention lies; he must in a manner new cast the 
 whole, and model it in his own imagination to 
 make it a painter's nourishment ; — it must pass 
 through a painter's mind. Having received an idea 
 of the pathetic and grand in intellect, he has next to 
 consider how to make it correspond with what is 
 touching and awful to the eye, which is a business 
 by itself. But here begins what in the language of 
 painters is called Invention, which includes not 
 only the composition, or the putting the whole to- 
 gether, and the disposition of every individual part, 
 but likewise the management of the background, 
 the effect of light and shadow, and the attitude of 
 every figure or animal that is introduced, or makes 
 a part of the work. 
 
 Composition, which is the principal part of the 
 invention of a painter, is by far the greatest diffi- 
 culty he has to encounter. Every man that can 
 paint at all, can execute individual parts ; but to 
 keep those parts in due subordination as relative to 
 a whole, requires a comprehensive view of the art, 
 that more strongly implies genius, than perhaps any 
 other quality whatever. 
 
 SKETCHING. 
 
 Then let the virgin canvas smooth expand, 
 
 To claim the sketch and tempt the artist's hand. 
 
 I wish to understand the last line as recommend- 
 ing to the artist to paint the sketch previously on 
 canvas, as was the practice with Rubens. 
 
112 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 This method of painting the sketch, instead of 
 merely drawing it on paper, will give a facility in 
 the management of colours, and in the handling, 
 which 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 paint all his studies, and consider 
 drawing only as a succedaneum, when colours are 
 not at hand. This was the practice of the Veni- 
 tian painters, and of all those who have excelled in 
 colouring. The method of Rubens was to sketch 
 his composition in colours, with all the parts more 
 determined than sketches generally are ; from this 
 sketch, his scholars advanced the picture as far as 
 they were capable ; after which, he retouched the 
 whole himself. 
 
 The painter's operation may be divived into 
 three parts ; the planning, which implies the sketch 
 of the general composition ; the transferring that 
 design to the canvass ; and the finishing or retouch- 
 ing the whole. If, for despatch, the artist looks out 
 for assistance, it is in the middle stage only he can 
 receive it ; the first and last operation must be the 
 work of his own hand. 
 
 SYMMETRY IN GROUPING. 
 
 Though the painter borrows his subject, he con- 
 siders his art as not subservient to any other. His 
 business is something more than assisting the histo- 
 
SYMMETRY IN GROUPING. 
 
 113 
 
 rian with explanatory figures ; as soon as he takes 
 it into his hands, he adds, retouches, transposes, 
 and moulds it anew, till it is made fit for his own 
 art ; he avails himself of the privileges allowed to 
 poets and painters, and dares every thing to accom- 
 plish his ends, by means correspondent to that end, 
 to impress the spectator with the same interest at 
 the sight of his representation, as the poet has con- 
 trived to impress on the reader by his description : 
 the end is the same in both cases, though the means 
 are and must be different. Ideas different, to be 
 conveyed to the mind by one sense, cannot always, 
 with equal success, be conveyed by another. 
 
 Even the historian takes great liberties with 
 facts, in order to interest his readers, and makes 
 his narrative more delightful ; much greater right 
 has the painter to do this, who, though his work is 
 called History-Painting, gives in reality a practical 
 representation of events. 
 
 As it is necessary, for the sake of variety, that 
 figures not only of different ages, but of different 
 forms and characters, be introduced in a work 
 where many figures are required, care must be 
 taken that those different characters have a certain 
 consonance of parts among themselves, such as is 
 generally found in nature ; a fat face, for instance, 
 is usually accompanied with a proportional degree 
 of corpulency of body; an aquihne nose for the 
 most part, belongs to a thin countenance, with a 
 
 10* 
 
114 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 body and limbs corresponding to it ; but these are 
 observations which must occur to every body. 
 
 Yet there are others that are not so obvious ; 
 and those who have turned their thoughts this way, 
 may form a probable conjecture concerning the 
 form of the rest of the figure from a part, from the 
 fingers, or from a single feature of the face ; for in- 
 stance, those who are born crook-backed, have 
 commonly a peculiar form of lips and expression 
 in the mouth, that strongly denotes that deformity. 
 
 FINISH. 
 
 The highest finishing is labour in vain, unless at 
 the same time there be preserved a breadth of light 
 and shadow; it is a quality, therefore, that is more 
 frequently recommended to students, and insisted 
 upon, than any other whatever ; and, perhaps, for 
 this reason, because it is most apt to be neglected, 
 the attention of the artist being so often entirely 
 absorbed in the detail. 
 
 To illustrate this, we may have recourse to 
 Titian's bunch of grapes, which we will suppose 
 to be placed, so as to receive a broad light and 
 shadow. Here, though each individual grape on 
 the light side has its light and shadow, and reflec- 
 tion, yet altogether they make but one broad mass 
 of light. The slightest sketch, therefore, where this 
 breadth is preserved, will have a better effect, will 
 have more the appearance of coming from a mas- 
 
THE OPINION OF OTIIEKS. 
 
 115 
 
 ter hand, that is, in other words, will have more 
 the characteristic and generale of nature, than the 
 nnost laborious finishing, when this breadth is lost 
 or neglected. 
 
 THE OPINION OF OTHERS. 
 
 There are few spectators of a painter's work, 
 learned or unlearned, who if they can be induced 
 to speak their real sensations, would not be profit- 
 able to the artist. The only opinions of which no 
 use can be made, are those of half learned connois- 
 seurs, who have quitted nature and have not ac- 
 quired art. That same sagacity which makes a 
 man excel in his profession, must assist him in the 
 proper use to be made of the judgment of the 
 learned, and the opinions of the vulgar. Of many 
 things, the vulgar are as competent judges as the 
 most learned connoisseur; of the portrait, for in- 
 stance, of an animal; or, perhaps, of the truth of 
 the representations of some vulgar passion. It 
 must be expected, that the untaught vulgar will 
 carry with them the same w^ant of right taste in 
 the judgment they make of the effect or character 
 in a picture as they do in life, and prefer a strut- 
 ting figure and gaudy colours to the grandeur of 
 simplicity ; but if this same vulgar person, or even 
 an infant, should mistake for dirt what was intend- 
 ed to be a shade, it might be apprehended that the 
 shadow was not the true colour of nature, with 
 
116 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 almost as much certainty as if the observation had 
 been made by the most able connoisseur. 
 
 PRACTICE. 
 
 However admirable his taste may be, he is but 
 half a painter who can only conceive his subjects, 
 and is without knowledge of the mechanical part 
 of his art ; as on the other hand, his skill may be 
 said to be thrown away, who has employed his 
 colours on subjects that create no interest from their 
 beauty, their character, or expression. One part 
 often absorbs the whole mind to the neglect of the 
 rest : the young student whilst at Rome, studying 
 the works of Michael Angelo and Raffaelle, are 
 apt to lose all relish for any kind of excellence, 
 except what is found in their works. Perhaps 
 going afterwards to Venice, they may be induced 
 to think there are other things required, and that 
 nothing but the most superlative excellence in de- 
 sign, character, and dignity of style, can atone for 
 a deficiency in the ornamental graces of the art. 
 Excellence must of course be rare ; and one of the 
 causes of its rarity, is the necessity of uniting quali- 
 ties which in their nature are contrary to each 
 other ; and yet no approaches can be made towards 
 perfection without it. Every art or profession re- 
 quires this union of contrary qualities, like the har- 
 mony of colouring, w^hich is produced by an 
 opposition of hot and cold hues. 
 
PREJUDICE. 
 
 117 
 
 The poet and the painter must unite to the 
 warmth that accompanies a poetical imagination, 
 patience and perseverance, the one in counting 
 syllables and toiling for a rhyme, and the other in 
 labouring the minute parts, and finishing the detail 
 of his works, in order to produce the great effect 
 he desires ; they must both possess a comprehen- 
 sive mind that takes in the whole at one view, and 
 at the same time an accuracy of eye or mind that 
 distinguishes between two things, that to an ordi- 
 nary spectator appear the same, whether this con- 
 sists in tints or words, or the nice discrimination in 
 which expression and elegance depends. 
 
 PREJUDICE. 
 
 Prejudice is generally used in a bad sense, to 
 imply a predilection, not founded on reason or 
 nature, in favour of a particular master, or a parti- 
 cular manner, and therefore ought to be opposed 
 with all our force ; but totally to eradicate in ad- 
 vanced age what has so much assisted us in our 
 youth, is a point to which we cannot hope to arrive. 
 The difficulty of conquering this prejudice is to be 
 considered in the number of those causes which 
 makes excellence so very rare. 
 
 Whoever would make a rapid progress in any 
 art or science, must begin by having great confi- 
 dence in, and even prejudice in favour of his in- 
 structions; but to continue to think him infalHble, 
 
118 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 would be continuing for ever in a state of infancy. 
 It is impossible to draw a line, where the artist shall 
 begin to dare to examine and criticise the works 
 of his master, or of the greatest master-pieces of 
 art; we can only say, that his progress to this 
 capacity will be gradual. In proportion as the 
 scholar learns to analyze the excellence of the 
 masters, he esteems, in proportion as he comes ex- 
 actly to distinguish in what that excellence consists, 
 and refer it to some precise rule and fixed standard; 
 in that proportion, he becomes free. When he has 
 once laid hold of their 'principle, he will see when 
 they deviate from it, or fail to come up to it ; so 
 that it is in reality through his extreme admiration 
 of, and blind deference to these masters, (without 
 which he never would have employed an intense 
 application to discover the rule and scheme of their 
 works,) that he is enabled, if I may use the expres- 
 sion, to emancipate himself even to get above them, 
 and to become the judge of those of whom he was 
 at first the humble disciple. 
 
 In heroic subjects it will not, I hope, appear too 
 great a refinement of criticism to say, that the 
 want of naturalness or deception of the act, which 
 gives to an inferior style its whole value, is no 
 material disadvantage ; the hours, for instance, as 
 represented by Julio Romano, giving provender 
 to the horses of the sun, would not strike the im- 
 agination more forcibly from their being coloured 
 
PREJUDICE. 
 
 119 
 
 with the pencil of Rubens, though he would have 
 represented them more naturally; but might he not 
 possibly, by that very act, have brought them down 
 from the celestial state to the rank of mere terres- 
 trial animals ? In these things, however, I admit 
 there will always be a degree of uncertainty. Who 
 know^s that Julio Romano, if he had possessed the 
 art and practice of colouring like Rubens, would 
 not have given to it some taste of poetical grandeur 
 not yet attained to ? 
 
 The same familiar naturalness would be equally 
 an imperfection in characters which are to be 
 represented as demi-gods, or something above 
 humanity. 
 
 Though it would be far from an addition to the 
 merit of those two great painters to have made 
 their works deceptions ; yet there can be no reason 
 why they might not, in some degree, and with a 
 judicious caution and selection, have availed them- 
 selves of many excellencies which are found in the 
 Venitian, Flemish, and even Dutch Schools, and 
 which have been inculcated in this poem. There 
 are some of them which are not in absolute contra- 
 diction to any style ; the happy disposition, for in- 
 stance, of light and shade; the preservation of 
 breadth in the masses of colours; the union of these 
 with their grounds ; and the harmony arising from 
 a due mixture of hot and cold hues, with many 
 other excellencies, not inseparably connected with 
 
120 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 that individuality which produces deception, would 
 surely not counteract the effect of the grand style ; 
 they would only contribute to the case of the spec- 
 tator, by making the vehicle pleasing by which 
 ideas are conveyed to the mind, which otherwise 
 might be perplexed and bewildered with a confused 
 assemblage of objects; they would add a certain 
 degree of grace and sweetness to thought and 
 grandeur. Though the merits of those two great 
 painters are of such transcendency as to make us 
 overlook their deficiency, yet a subdued attention 
 to these inferior excellencies must be added to 
 complete the idea of a perfect painter. 
 
 Deception, which is often recommended by 
 writers on the theory of painting, instead of advanc- 
 ing the art, is in reality carrying it back to its infant 
 state; the first essays of painting were certainly 
 nothing but mere imitation of individual objects, 
 and when this amounted to a deception, the artist 
 had accomplished his purpose. 
 
 And here I must observe, that the arts of paint- 
 ing and poetry seem to have no kind of resemblance 
 in their early stages. The first, or at least the 
 second stage of poetry in every nation, is removed 
 as far as possible from common life ; every thing 
 is of the marvellous kind; it treats only of heroes, 
 wars, ghosts, enchantments, and transformations. 
 The poet could not expect to seize and captivate 
 the attention, if he related only common occur- 
 
NATURE. 
 
 121 
 
 rences, such as every day produces. Whereas, the 
 painter exhibited what then appeared a great effort 
 of art, by merely giving the appearance of reUef to 
 a flat superficies, however uninteresting in itself 
 that object might be; but this soon satiating, the 
 same entertainment was required from painting, 
 which had been experienced in poetry. The mind 
 and imagination were to be satisfied, and required 
 to be amused and delighted, as well as the eye; 
 and when the art proceeded to a still higher degree 
 of excellence, it was then found that this deception 
 not only did not assist, but even in a certain degree 
 counteracted the flight of imagination ; hence pro- 
 ceeded the Roman school; and it is from hence 
 that Raflaelle, Michael Angelo, and Julio Romano 
 stand in that prominence of rank in which Fresnoy 
 has justly placed them. 
 
 NATURE. 
 
 Nature is in reality the beginning and the end 
 of theory. It is in nature only we can find that 
 beauty which is the great object of our search ; it 
 can be found nowhere else ; we can no more form 
 any idea of beauty superior to nature, than we can 
 form an idea of a sixth sense, or any other excel- 
 lence out of the limits of the human mind. We 
 are forced to confine our conception even of heaven 
 itself and its inhabitants to what we see in this 
 world ; even the Supreme Being, if he is repre- 
 11 
 
122 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 seated at all, the painter has no other way of 
 representing, than by reversing the decree of the 
 inspired lawgiver, and making God after his own 
 image. 
 
 Nothing can be so unphilosophical, as a supposi- 
 tion that we can form any idea of beauty or excel- 
 lence out of or beyond nature, which is and must 
 be the fountain-head, from whence all our ideas 
 must be derived. 
 
 This being acknowledged, it must follow, of 
 course, that all the niles which this theory, or any 
 other, teaches, can be no more than teaching the 
 art of seeing nature. 
 
 The rules of art are formed on the various 
 works of those who have studied nature the most 
 successfully; by this advantage, of observing the 
 various manners in which various minds have 
 contemplated her works, the artist enlarges his 
 own views, and is taught to look for and see what 
 otherwise would have escaped his observation. 
 
 It is to be remarked, that there are two modes 
 of imitating nature, one of which refers for its 
 truth to the sensations oi the mind, and the other 
 to the eye. 
 
 Some schools, such as the Roman and Floren- 
 tine, appear to have addressed themselves princi- 
 pally to the mind ; others solely to the eye, such as 
 the Venitian in the instances of Paul Veronese 
 and TiNTORET ; others again have endeavoured to 
 
NATURE, 
 
 123 
 
 unite both, by joining the elegance and grace of 
 ornament with the strength and vigour of design — 
 such are the schools of Bologna and Parma. 
 
 All those schools are equally to be considered as 
 followers of nature. He who produces a work 
 analogous to the mind or imagination of man, is 
 as natural a painter as he whose works are calcu- 
 lated to delight the eye ; the works of Michael 
 Angelo or Julio Romano, in this sense, may be 
 said to be as natural as those of the Dutch painters. 
 The study, therefore, of the nature or affections of 
 the mind is as necessary to the theory of the higher 
 department of the art, as the knowledge of what 
 will be pleasing or offensive to the eye is to the 
 lower style. 
 
 What relates to the mind or imagination, such 
 as invention, character, expression, grace or gran- 
 deur, certainly cannot be taught by rules; little 
 more can be done than pointing out where they 
 are to be found. It is a part which belongs to 
 general education, and will operate in proportion 
 to the cultivation of the mind of the artist. The 
 greater part of the rules in this work are, there- 
 fore, necessarily confined to what relates to the 
 eye ; and it may be remarked, that none of those 
 rules make any pretensions towards improving 
 nature, or going contrary to her work ; their ten- 
 dency is merely to show what is truly nature. 
 
 Thus, for instance, a flowing outline is recom- 
 
124 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 mended, because beauty, (which alone is nature,) 
 cannot be produced without it. Old age or lean- 
 ness produces straight lines, corpulency round lines; 
 but in a state of health, accompanying youth, the 
 outlines are waving, flowing and serpentine. Thus 
 again, if we are told to avoid the chalk, the brick 
 or leaden colour, it is because real flesh never par- 
 takes of those hues, though ill-coloured pictures 
 are always inclinable to one or other of those 
 defects. 
 
 Rules are to be considered likewise as fences, 
 placed only where trespass is expected, and are 
 particularly enforced in proportion as peculiar 
 faults or defects are prevalent at the time or age 
 in which they are delivered ; for what may be 
 proper strongly to recommend or enforce in one 
 age, may not with equal propriety be so much 
 laboured in another, when it may be the fashion 
 for artists to run into the contrary extreme, pro- 
 ceeding from prejudice to a manner adopted by 
 some favourite painter then in vogue. 
 
 When it is recommended to preserve a breadth 
 of colour or light, it is not intended that the artist 
 is to work broader than nature ; but this lesson is 
 insisted on because we know, from experience, 
 that the contrary is a fault which artists are apt to 
 be guilty of, who, when they are examining and 
 finishing the detail, neglect or forget that breadth 
 
NATURE. 
 
 125 
 
 which is observable only when the eye takes in the 
 effect of the whole. 
 
 Thus again, we recommend to paint soft and 
 tender, to make a harmony and union of colouring; 
 and for this end, that all the shadows shall be 
 nearly of the same colour. The reason of these 
 precepts being at all enforced, proceeds from the 
 disposition which artists have to paint harder than 
 nature, to make the outline more cutting against 
 the ground, and to have less harmony and union 
 than is found in nature, preserving the same bright- 
 ness of colour in the shadows as are seen in the 
 lights ; both these false manners of representing 
 nature were the practice of the painters when the 
 art was in its infancy, and would be the practice 
 now of every student who was left to himself, and 
 had never been taught the art of seeing nature. 
 There are other rules which may be said not so 
 much to relate to the objects represented as to the 
 eye ; but the truth of these are as much fixed in 
 nature as the others, and proceed from the neces- 
 sity there is that the work should be seen with 
 ease and satisfaction ; to this end are all the rules 
 that relate to grouping, and the disposition of light 
 and shade. 
 
 With regard to precepts about moderation and 
 avoiding extremes, little is to be drawn from them. 
 The rule would be too minute that had any exact- 
 ness at all; a multiplicity of exceptions would arise, 
 
 11* 
 
126 
 
 THE THEORY OF EFFECT. 
 
 SO that the teacher would be for ever saying too 
 much, and yet never enough. When a student is 
 instructed to mark with precision every part of his 
 figure, whether it be naked or in drapery, he pro- 
 bably becomes hard ; if, on the contrary, he is told 
 to paint in the most tender manner, possibly he 
 becomes insipid. But among extremes some are 
 more tolerable than others ; of the two extremes I 
 have just mentioned, the hard manner is the most 
 pardonable — carrying with it an air of learning, as 
 if the artist knew with precision the true form of 
 nature, though he had rendered it with too heavy 
 a hand. 
 
 In every part of the human figure, when not 
 spoiled by two great corpulency, will be found this 
 distinctness, the parts never appearing uncertain 
 or confused, or, as a musician would say, slurred, 
 and all those smaller parts, which are compre- 
 hended in the larger compartment, are still to be 
 there, however tenderly marked. 
 
 To conclude, in all minute, detailed and prac- 
 tical excellence, general precepts must be either 
 deficient or unnecessary; for the rule is not known> 
 nor is it indeed to any purpose a rule, if it be 
 necessary to inculcate it on every occasion. 
 
127 
 
 THE ART OF PAINTING. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF DU FRESNOY. 
 
 True Poetry the Painter's power displays ; 
 True Painting emulates the Poet's lays ; 
 The rival sisters, fond of equal fame, 
 Alternate change their office and their name ; 
 Bid silent Poetry the canvas warm. 
 The tuneful page with speaking picture charm. 
 
 What to the ear sublimer rapture brings, 
 That strain alone the genuine Poet sings ; 
 That form alone where glows peculiar grace, 
 The genuine Painter condescends to trace : 
 No sordid theme will verse or paint admit. 
 Unworthy colours, if unworthy wit. 
 
 Jf: * * JfJ * * sf 
 
 *Tis Painting's first chief business to explore, 
 What lovelier forms in Nature's boundless store 
 Are best to art and ancient taste allied, 
 For ancient taste those forms has best applied. 
 
 Till this be learn'd, how all things disagree ! 
 How all one wretched, blind barbarity ! 
 The fool to native ignorance confin'd. 
 No beauty beaming on his clouded mind ; 
 Untaught to relish, yet too proud to learn, 
 He scorns the grace his dulness can't discern. 
 Hence reason to caprice resigns the stage, 
 And hence that maxim of the ancient tSage, 
 " Of all vain fools with coxcomb talents curst, 
 *' Bad Painters and bad Poets are the worst." 
 
 When first the orient rays of beauty move 
 The conscious soul, they light the lamp of love ; 
 Love wakes those warm desires that prompt our chace, 
 To follow and to fix each flying grace : 
 But earth-born graces sparingly impart 
 The symmetry supreme of perfect art : 
 For the' our casual glance may sometimes meet 
 
128 
 
 THE ART OF PAINTING. 
 
 With charms that strike the soul, and seem complete, 
 Yet if those charms too closely we define, 
 Content to copy nature line for line, 
 Our end is lost. Not such the Master's care, 
 Curious he culls the perfect from the fair ; 
 Judge of his art, thro' beauty's realm he flies, 
 Selects, combines, improves, diversifies ; 
 With nimble step pursues the fleeting throng. 
 And clasps each Venus as she glides along. 
 
 Yet some there are who indiscreetly stray. 
 Where purblind practice only points the way ; 
 Who every theoretic truth disdain. 
 And blunder on mechanically vain. 
 Some too there are^ within whose languid breasts 
 A lifeless heap of embryo knowledge rests. 
 When nor the pencil feels their drowsy art. 
 Nor the skill'd hand explains the meaning heart. 
 In chains of sloth such talents droop confin'd : 
 'Twas not by words Apelles charm'd mankind. 
 
 Hear then the Muse ; tho' perfect beauty towers 
 Above the reach of her descriptive powers. 
 Yet will she strive some leading rules to draw 
 From sovereign Nature's universal law ; 
 Stretch her wide view o'er ancient Art's domain, 
 Again establish Reason's legal reign. 
 Genius again correct with science sage. 
 And curb luxuriant fancy's headlong rage. 
 " Right ever reigns its stated bounds between, 
 " And taste, like morals, loves the golden mean." 
 
 Some lofty theme let judgment first supply, 
 Supremely fraught with grace and majesty ; 
 For fancy copious, free to every charm 
 That lines can circumscribe or colours warm ; 
 Still happier, if that artful theme dispense 
 A poignant moral and instructive sense. 
 
 Then let the virgin canvas smooth expand, 
 To claim the sketch and tempt the Artist's hand : 
 Then, bold Invention, all the powers diffuse, 
 Of all thy sisters thou the noblest Muse : 
 Thee every art, thee every grace inspires, 
 Thee Phoebus fills with all his brightest fires. 
 
 Choose such judicious force of shade and light 
 As suits the theme, and satisfies the sight ; 
 
THE ART OF PAINTING. 
 
 1 
 
 Weigh part with part, and with prophetic eye 
 The future power of all thy tints descry ; 
 And those, those only on the canvas place. 
 Whose hues are social, whose effect is grace. 
 
 Vivid and faithful to the historic page, 
 Express the customs, manners, forms, and age ; 
 Nor paint conspicuous on the foremost plain 
 Whate'er is false, impertinent, or vain ; 
 But like the Tragic Muse, thy lustre throw, 
 Where the chief action claims its warmest glow. 
 This rare, this arduous task no rules can teach, 
 No skill'd preceptor point, no practice reach ; 
 'Tis taste, 'tis genius, 'tis the heav'nly ray 
 Prometheus ravish'd from the car of day. 
 
 * * :ic * * >f« * 
 
 Learn then from Greece, ye youths. Proportion's law, 
 Inform'd by her, each just Position draw; 
 Skilful to range each large unequal part, 
 With varied motion and contrasted art ; 
 Full in the front the nobler limbs to place. 
 And poise each figure on its central base. 
 
 But chief from her that flowing outline take, 
 Which floats, in wavy windings, like the snake, 
 Or lambent flame ; which, ample, broad and long, 
 Reliev'd not swell'd, at once both light and strong. 
 Glides thro' the graceful whole. Her art divine 
 Cuts not, in parts minute, the tame design. 
 But by a few bold strokes, distinct and free. 
 Calls forth the charms of perfect symmetry. 
 True to anatomy, more true to grace. 
 She bids each muscle know its native place ; 
 Bids small from great in just gradation rise. 
 And, at one visual point, approach the eyes. 
 
 Yet deem not, youths, that perspective can give 
 Those charms complete by which your works shall live 
 What tho' her rules may to your hand impart 
 A quick mechanic substitute for art. 
 Yet formal, geometric shapes she draws ; 
 Hence the true Genius scorns her rigid laws; 
 By Nature taught he strikes th' unerring lines, 
 Consults his eye, and as he sees designs. 
 
 Man's changeful race, the sport of chance and time, 
 Varies no less in aspect than in clime ; 
 
130 
 
 THE ART OF PAINTING. 
 
 Mark well the difference, and let each be seen 
 Of various age, complexion, hair, and mien. 
 
 Yet to each separate form adapt with care 
 Such limbs, such robes, such attitude and air. 
 As best befit the head, and best combine 
 To make one whole, one uniform design : 
 
 Learn action from the dumb ; the dumb shall teach 
 How happiest to supply the want of speech. 
 
 Fair in the front, in all the blaze of light. 
 The Hero of thy piece shall meet the sight, 
 Supreme in beauty ; lavish here thine art. 
 And bid him boldly from the canvas start : 
 
 While round that sovereign form th' inferior train 
 In groups collected fill the picturM plain ; 
 Fill, but not crowd ; for oft some open space 
 Must part their ranks, and leave a vacant place. 
 Lest artlessly dispers'd the sever'd crew 
 At random rush on our bewilder'd view ; 
 Or parts with parts, in thick confusion bound, 
 Spread a tumultuous chaos o'er the ground. 
 
 In every figured group the judging eye 
 Demands the charms of contrariety ; 
 In forms, in attitudes, expects to trace 
 Distinct inflections, and contrasted grace. 
 Where art diversely leads each changeful line. 
 Opposes, breaks, divides the whole design : 
 Tiius, when the rest in front their charms display 
 Let one with face averted turn away ; 
 Shoulders oppose to breasts, and left to right, 
 With parts that meet and parts that shun the sight. 
 This rule in practice uniformly true 
 Extends alike to many forms or few. 
 
 Yet keep thro' all the piece a perfect poise : 
 
 If here in frequent troops the figures rise. 
 
 There let some object tower with equal pride ; 
 
 And so arrange each correspondent side. 
 
 That, thro' the well-connected plan, appear 
 
 No cold vacuity, no desert drea". 
 
 ******* 
 
 The joints in each extreme distinctly treat, 
 Nor e'er conceal the outline of the feet : 
 
 The hands alike demand to be exprest 
 In half-shown figures rang'd behind the rest ; 
 
THE ART OF PAINTING. 
 
 131 
 
 Nor can such forms with force or beauty shine, 
 Save when the head and hands in action join. 
 
 Each air constraint and forc'd, each gesture rude, 
 Whate'er contracts or cramps the attitude, 
 With scorn discard. When squares or angles join, 
 When flows in tedious parallel the line, 
 Acute, obtuse, whene'er the shapes appear, 
 Or take a formal geometric air, 
 These all displease, and the disgusted eye 
 Nauseates the tame and irksome symmetry. 
 Mark then our former rule ; with contrast strong 
 And mode transverse the leading lines prolong; 
 For these in each design, if well exprest. 
 Give value, force, and lustre to the rest. 
 
 Nor yet to Nature such strict homage pay, 
 As not to quit when Genius leads the way ; 
 Nor yet, tho' Genius all his succour sends. 
 Her mimic powers tho' ready memory lends, 
 Presume from Nature wholly to depart. 
 For Nature is the arbitress of art. 
 In Error's grove ten thousand thickets spread. 
 Ten thousand devious paths our steps mislead ; 
 'Mid curves, that vary in perpetual twine. 
 Truth owns but one direct and perfect line. 
 
 Spread then her genuine charms o'er all the piece, 
 Sublime and perfect as they glow'd in Greece. 
 Those genuine charms to seize, with zeal explore 
 The vases, medals, statues, form'd of yore. 
 Relievos high that swell the column's stem. 
 Speak from the marble, sparkle from the gem : 
 Hence all-majestic on th' expanding soul. 
 In copious tide the bright ideas roll ; 
 Fill it with radiant forms unknown before. 
 Forms such as demigods and heroes wore : 
 Here pause and pity our enervate days. 
 Hopeless to rival their transcendent praise. 
 
 Peculiar toil on single forms bestow. 
 There let expression lend its finished glow ; 
 There each variety of tint unite 
 With the full harmony of shade and light. 
 
 Free o'er the limbs the flowing vesture cast, 
 The light broad folds with grace majestic placed ; 
 And as each figure turns a different way, 
 
132 
 
 THE ART OF PAINTING. 
 
 Give the large plaits their corresponding- play; 
 
 Yet devious oft and swelling* from the part, 
 The flowing- robe with ease should seem to start 
 Not on the form in stiff adhesion laid, 
 But well reliev'd by gentle light and shade. 
 
 Where'er a flat vacuity is seen, 
 There let some shadowy bending intervene, 
 Above, below, to lead its varied line, 
 As best may teach the distant folds to join ; 
 And as the limbs by few bold strokes exprest 
 Excel in beauty, so the liberal vest 
 In large, distinct, unwrinkled folds should fly; 
 Beauty's best handmaid is Simplicity. 
 
 To difl''rent ranks adapt their proper robe ; 
 With ample pall let monarchs sweep the globe; 
 In garb succinct and coarse array the swain ; 
 In light and silken veils the virgin train. 
 
 Where in black shade the deeper hollow lies. 
 Assisting art some midway fold supplies, 
 That gently meets the light, and gently spreads 
 To break the hardness of opposing shades. 
 
 Each nobler symbol classic Sages use, 
 To mark a virtue, or adorn a Muse, 
 Ensigns of war, of peace, or rites divine. 
 These in thy work with dignity may shine : 
 But sparingly thy earth-born stores unfold, 
 Nor load with gems, nor lace with tawdry gold ; 
 Rare things alone are dear in custom's eye, 
 They lose their value as they multiply. 
 
 Of absent forms the features to define, 
 Prepare a model to direct thy line ; 
 Each garb, each custom, with precision trace, 
 Unite m strict decorum time with place ; 
 And emulous alone of genuine fame? 
 Be Grace, be Majesty thy constant aim. 
 That Majesty, that Grace so rarely given 
 To mortal man, nor taught by art but Heaven. 
 
 In all to sage propriety attend. 
 Nor sink the clouds, nor bid the waves ascend ; 
 Lift not the mansions drear of Hell or Night 
 Above the Thunderer's lofty arch of light; 
 Nor build the column on an osier base ; 
 But let each object know its native place. 
 
THE ART OF PAINTING. 
 
 133 
 
 Thy last, thy noblest task remains untold, 
 Passion to paint, and sentiment unfold ; 
 Yet how these motions of the mind display ! 
 Can colours catch them, or can lines portray 1 
 Who shall our pigmy pencils arm with might 
 To seize the Soul, and force her into sight! 
 Jove, Jove alone ; his highly-favour'd few 
 Alone can call such miracles to view. 
 
 But this to rhet'ric and the schools I leave, 
 Content from ancient lore one rule to give : 
 " By tedious toil no passions are exprest, 
 " His hand who feels them strongest paints them best." 
 
 ^ % ^ % jfi ?fc 5fj 
 
 Return fair Colouring ! all thy lures prepare, 
 Each safe deception, every honest snare. 
 Which brings new lovers to thy sister's train, 
 Skilful at once to charm, and to retain ; 
 Come, faithful Siren ! chaste seducer '. say. 
 What laws control thee, and what powers obey 1 
 
 Know first, that light displays and shade destroys 
 Refulgent Nature's variegated dyes. 
 
 Thus bodies near the light distinctly shine 
 With rays direct, and as it fades decline. 
 
 Thus to the eye oppos'd with stronger light 
 They meet its orb, for distance dims the sight. 
 
 Learn hence to paint the parts that meet the view 
 In spheric forms, of bright and equal hue ; 
 While, from the light receding or the eye. 
 The sinking outlines take a fainter dye. 
 Lost and confus'd progressively they fade, 
 Not fall precipitate from light to shade. 
 This Nature dictates, and this Taste pursues, 
 Studious in gradual gloom her lights to lose ; 
 The various whole with soft'ning tints to fill, 
 As if one single head employ 'd her skill. 
 Thus if bold fancy plan some proud design, 
 Where many various groups divide or join, 
 (Tho' sure from more than there confusion springs,) 
 One globe of light and shade o'er all she flings ; 
 Yet skill'd the separate masses to dispose, 
 Where'er, in front, the fuller radiance glows. 
 Behind, a calm reposing gloom she spreads. 
 Relieving shades with light, and light with shades. 
 12 
 
134 
 
 THE ART OF PAINTING. 
 
 And as the centre of some convex glass, 
 
 Draws to a point the congregated mass 
 
 Of dazzUng rays, that, more than nature bright, 
 
 Reflect each image in an orb of light. 
 
 While from that point the scatter'd beams retire, 
 
 Sink to the verge, and there in shade expire ; 
 
 So strongly near, so softly distant throw 
 
 On all thy rounded groups the circling glow. 
 
 As is the Sculptor's, such the Painter's aim, 
 Their labour different, but their end the same ; 
 What from the marble the rude chisel breaks, 
 The softer pencil from the canvas takes : 
 And, skiird remoter distances to keep, 
 Surrounds the outline pale in shadows deep; 
 While on the front the sparkling lustre plays, 
 And meets the eye in full meridian blaze. 
 True Colouring thus in plastic power excels. 
 Fair to the visual point her forms she swells, 
 And lifts them from their flat aerial ground 
 Warm as the life, and as the statue round. 
 
 In silver clouds in ether's blue domain, 
 Or the clear mirror of the watry plain. 
 If chance some solid substance claim a place. 
 Firm and opaque amid the lucid space. 
 Rough let it swell and boldly meet the sight, 
 Mark'd with peculiar strength of shade and light ; 
 There blend each earthly tint of heaviest sort, 
 At once to give consistence and support. 
 While the bright wave, soft cloud, or azure sky, 
 Light and pellucid from that substance fly. 
 
 Permit not two conspicuous lights to shine 
 With rival radiance in the same design ; 
 But yield to one alone the power to blaze 
 And spread th' extensive vigour of its rays. 
 There where the noblest figures are display'd ; 
 Thence gild the distant parts, and lessening fade: 
 As fade the beams which Phcebus from the East 
 Flings vivid forth to light the distant West, 
 Gradual those vivid beams forget to shine. 
 So gradual let thy pictur'd lights decline. 
 
 The sculptor'd forms which some proud Circus grace, 
 In Parian marble or Corinthian brass, 
 Illurnin'd thus, give to the gazing eye 
 
THE AKT OF PAINTING. 
 
 135 
 
 Th' expressive head in radiant Majesty, 
 While to each lower limb the fainter ray- 
 Lends only light to mark, but not display : 
 So let thy pencil fling its beams around, 
 Nor e'er with darker shades their force confound. 
 For shades too dark dissever'd shapes will give, 
 And sink the parts their softness would relieve ; 
 Then only well reliev'd, when like a veil 
 Round the full lights the wand'ring shadows steal ; 
 Then only justly spread, when to the sight 
 A breadth of shade pursues a breadth of light. 
 This charm to give, great Titian wisely made 
 The clustered grapes his rule of light and shade. 
 
 White, when it shines with unstain'd lustre clear, 
 May bear an object back, or bring it near ; 
 Aided by black it to the front aspires, 
 That aid withdrawn it distantly retires ; 
 But black unmix'd, of darkest midnight hue, 
 Still calls each object nearer to the view. 
 
 Whatever we spy thro' colour'd light or air, 
 A stain congenial on their surface bear. 
 While neighb'ring forms by joint reflection give 
 And mutual take the dyes that they receive. 
 But where on both alike one equal light 
 Difl*usive spreads, the blending tints unite. 
 For breaking colours thus (the ancient phrase 
 By Artists used) fair Venice claims our praise : 
 She, cautious to transgress so sage a rule, 
 Confin'd to soberest tints her learned school ; 
 For tho' she lov'd by varied mode to join 
 Tumultuous crowds in one immense design. 
 Yet there we ne'er condemn such hostile hues 
 As cut the parts or glaringly confuse ; 
 In tinsel trim no foppish form is drest. 
 Still flows in graceful unity the vest; 
 And o'er that vest a kindred mantle spreads. 
 Unvaried but by power of lights and shades. 
 Which mildly mixing, every social dye 
 Unites the whole in loveliest harmony. 
 
 When small the space, or pure the ambient air 
 Each form is seen in bright precision clear ; 
 But if thick clouds that purity deface. 
 If far extend tliat intervening space, 
 
136 
 
 THE ART OF PAINTING. 
 
 There all confus'd the objects faintly rise, 
 As if prepar'd to vanish from our eyes. 
 
 Give them each foremost part a touch so bright, 
 That, o'er the rest, its domineering light 
 May much prevail ; yet, relative in all. 
 Let greater parts advance before the small. 
 
 Minuter forms, when distantly we trace, 
 Are mingled all in one compacted mass ; 
 Such the light leaves that clothe remoter woods, 
 And such the waves on wide-extended floods. 
 
 Let each contiguous part be firm allied, 
 Nor labour less the separate to divide ; 
 Yet so divide that to th' approving eye 
 They both at small and pleasing distance lie. 
 
 Forbid too hostile colours close to meet, 
 And win with middle tints their union sweet ; 
 Yet varying all thy tones, let some aspire 
 Fiercely in front, some tenderly retire. 
 
 Vain is the hope by colouring to display 
 The bright effulgence of the noon-tide ray. 
 Or paint the full-orb'd Ruler of the skies 
 With pencils dipp'd in dull terrestrial dyes : 
 But when mild Evening sheds her golden light ; 
 When Morn appears array'd in modest white ; 
 When soft suffusion of the vernal shower 
 Dims the pale sun ; or, at the thund'ring hour. 
 When, wrapt in crimson clouds, he hides his head, 
 Then catch the glow and on the canvas spread. 
 
 Bodies of polish'd or transparent tone. 
 Of metal, crystal, iv'ry, wood, or stone ; 
 And all whose rough unequal parts are rear'd 
 The shaggy fleece, thick fur, or bristly beard ; 
 The liquid too ; the sadly melting eye. 
 The well-comb'd locks that wave with glossy dye ; 
 Plumage and silks ; a floating form that take, 
 Fair Nature's mirror, the extended lake ; 
 With what immers'd thro' its calm medium shines 
 By reflex light, or to its surface joins ; 
 These first with thin and even shades portray. 
 Then, on their flatness strike th' enlivening ray. 
 Bright and disiinct, — and last, with strict review. 
 Restore to every form its outline true. 
 
 By mellowing skill thy ground at distance cast, 
 
THE ART OF PAINTIJSG. 
 
 1 
 
 Free as the air, and transient as its blast ; 
 There all thy liquid colours sweetly blend, 
 There all the treasures of thy palette spend, 
 And every form retiring to that ground 
 Of hue congenial to itself compound. 
 
 The hand that colours well, must colour bright ; 
 Hope not that praise to gain by sickly white ; 
 But amply heap in front each splendid dye, 
 Then thin and light withdraw them from the eye, \ 
 Mix'd with that simple unity of shade, 
 As all were from one single palette spread. 
 Much will the mirror teach, or evening gray. 
 When o'er some ample space her twilight ray 
 Obscurely gleams ; hence art shall best perceive 
 On distant parts what fainter hues to give. 
 
 Whatever the form which our first glance commands, 
 Whether in front or in profile he stands, 
 Whether he rule the group, or singly reign, 
 Or shine at distance on some ample plain, 
 On that high-finishM form let Paint bestow 
 Her midnight shadow, her meridian glow. 
 
 The portrait claims from imitative art 
 Resemblance close in each minuter part. 
 And this to give, the ready hand and eye 
 With playful skill the kindred features ply; 
 From part to part alternately convey 
 The harmonizing gloom, the darting ray. 
 With tones so just, in such gradation thrown, 
 Adopting Nature owns the work her own. 
 
 Say, is the piece thy hand prepares to trace 
 Ordain'd for nearer sight, or narrow space 1 
 Paint it of soft and amicable hue : 
 But, if predestin'd to remoter view. 
 Thy strong unequal varied colours blend ; 
 And ample space to ample figures lend. 
 Where to broad lights the circumambient shade 
 In liquid play by labour just is laid ; 
 Alike with liveliest touch the forms portray. 
 Where the dim window half excludes the day ; 
 But, when expos'd in fuller light or air, 
 A brown and sober cast the group may bear. 
 
 Fly every foe to elegance and grace. 
 Each yawning hollow, each divided space ; 
 
 12* 
 
138 
 
 THE ART OP PAINTING. 
 
 Whate'er is trite, minute, abrupt, or dry, 
 Where light meets shade in flat equality ; 
 Each theme fantastic, filthy, vile, or vain, 
 That gives the soul disgust, or senses pain ; 
 Monsters of barbarous birth. Chimeras drear, 
 That pall with ugliness, or awe with fear. 
 And all that chaos of sharp broken parts, 
 Where reigns confusion, or whence discord starts. 
 
 Yet hear me, youths ! while zealous ye forsake 
 Detected faults, this friendly caution take, — 
 Shun all excess ; and with true wisdom deem, 
 That vice alike resides in each extreme. 
 
 Know, if supreme perfection be your aim, 
 If classic praise your pencil hope to claim, 
 Your noble outlines must be chaste, yet free, 
 Connected all with studied harmony ; 
 Few in their parts, yet those distinct and great ; 
 Your Colouring boldly strong, yet softly sweet. 
 
 Know, he that well begins has half achiev'd 
 His destin'd work. Yet late shall be retrieved 
 That time mispent, that labour worse than lost, 
 The young disciple, to his dearest cost. 
 Gives to a dull preceptor's tame designs; 
 His tawdry colours, his erroneous lines. 
 Will to the soul that poison rank convey. 
 Which life's best length shall fail to purge away. 
 
 Yet let not your untutor'd childhood strive 
 Of Nature's living charms the sketch to give, 
 Till, skill'd her separate features to design, 
 You know each muscle's site, and how they join. 
 These while beneath some master's eye you trace, 
 Vers'd in the law of symmetry and grace. 
 Boldly proceed : his precepts shall impart 
 Each sweet deception of the pleasing art : 
 Still more than precept shall his practice teach. 
 And add what self-reflection ne'er can reach. 
 
 Oft, when alone, the studious hour employ 
 On what may aid your art, and what destroy : 
 Diversity of parts is sure to please. 
 If all the various parts unite with ease ; 
 As surely charms that voluntary style. 
 Which careless plays, and seems to mock at toil : 
 For labour'd lines with cold exactness tire, 
 
THE ART OF PAINTING. 
 
 139 
 
 'Tis freedom only gives the force and fire 
 Ethereal ; she, with alchymy divine, 
 Brightens each touch, ennobles every line ; 
 Yet pains and practice only can bestow 
 This facile power of hand, whose liberal flow 
 With grateful fraud its own exertions veils : 
 He best employs his art who best conceals. 
 
 This to obtain, let taste with judgment join'd 
 The future whole infix upon thy mind ; 
 Be there each line in truth ideal drawn, 
 Or ere a colour on the canvas dawn ; 
 Then as the work proceeds, that work submit 
 To sight instinctive, not to doubting wit ; 
 The eye each obvious error swift descries. 
 Hold then the compass only in the eyes. 
 
 Give to the dictates of the learn'd respect. 
 Nor proudly untaught sentiments reject. 
 Severe to self alone : for self is blind. 
 And deems each merit in its offspring join'd : 
 Such fond delusion time can best remove. 
 Concealing for a while the child we love ; 
 By absence then the eye impartial grown. 
 Will, tho' no friend assist, each error own ; 
 But these subdued, let thy determined mind 
 Veer not with every critic's veering wind. 
 Or e'er submit thy genius to the rules 
 Of prating fops, or self-important fools ; 
 Enough if from the learn'd applause be won : 
 Who doat on random praises, merit none. 
 
 By Nature's sympathetic power, we see. 
 As is the parent, such the progeny : 
 Ev'n Artists, bound by their instinctive law, 
 In all their works their own resemblance draw : 
 Learn then " to know thyself ;" that precept sage 
 Shall best allay luxuriant Fancy's rage ; 
 Shall point how far indulgent Genius deigns 
 To aid her flight, and to what point restrains. 
 But as the blushing fruits, the breathing flowers. 
 Adorning Flora's and Pomona's bowers, 
 When forcing fires command their buds to swell, 
 Refuse their dulcet taste, their balmy smell ; 
 So labour's vain extortion ne'er achieves 
 That grace supreme which willing Genius gives. 
 
140 
 
 THE ART OF PAINTIJNG. 
 
 Thus tho' to pains and practice much we owe, 
 Tho' thence each line obtains its easy flow, 
 Yet let those pains, that practice, ne'er be join'd, 
 To blunt the native vigor of the mind. 
 
 When shines the morn, when in recruited course 
 The spirits flow, devote their active force 
 To every nicer part of thy design, 
 But pass no idle day without a line : 
 And wandering oft the crowded streets along. 
 The native gestures of the passing throng 
 Attentive mark ; for many a casual grace, 
 Th' expressive lines of each impassion'd face 
 That bears its joys or sorrows undisguis'd. 
 May by observant taste be there surpris'd. 
 Thus, true to art, and zealous to excel. 
 Ponder on Nature's powers, and weigh them well ; 
 Explore thro' earth and heaven, thro' sea and skies, 
 The accidental graces as they rise ; 
 And while each present form the Fancy warms. 
 Swift on thy tablets fix its fleeting charms. 
 
 ******* 
 
 For paltry gold let pining Misers sigh, 
 
 His soul invokes a nobler Deity ; 
 
 Smit with the glorious avarice of fame. 
 
 He claims no less than an immortal name; 
 
 Hence on his fancy just conception shines. 
 
 True judgment guides his hand, true taste refines ; 
 
 Hence ceaseless toil, devotion to his art, 
 
 A docile temper, and a generous heart ; 
 
 Docile, his sage preceptor to obey. 
 
 Generous, his aid with gratitude to pay ; 
 
 Blest with the bloom of youth, the nerves of health, 
 
 And competence, a better boon than wealth. 
 
 Great blessings these ! yet will not these empower 
 His tints to charm at every labouring hour : 
 All have their brilliant moments, when alone 
 They paint as if some star propitious shone. 
 Yet then, e'en then, the hand but ill conveys 
 The bolder grace that in the fancy plays: 
 Hence, candid Critics, this sad truth cunfest. 
 Accept what least is bad, and deem it best ; 
 Lament the soul in error's thraldom held, 
 Compare life's span with art's extensive field ; 
 
THE ART OF PAINTING. 
 
 141 
 
 Know that, ere perfect taste matures the mind, 
 Or perfect practice to that taste be join'd, 
 Comes age, comes sickness, comes contracting pain. 
 And chills the warmth of youth in every vein. 
 
 Rise then, ye youths, while yet that warmth inspires, 
 While yet nor years impair, nor labour tires, 
 While health, while strength are yours, while that mild ray 
 Which shone auspicious on your natal day, 
 Conducts you to Minerva's peaceful quire, — 
 Sons of her choice, and sharers of her fire, 
 Rise at the call of art : expand your breast, 
 Capacious to receive the mighty guest. 
 While, free from prejudice, your active eye 
 Preserves its first unsullied purity ; 
 While new to beauty's charms, your eager soul 
 Drinks copious draughts of the delicious whole. 
 And Memory on her soft, yet lasting page. 
 Stamps the fresh image which shall charm thro' age. 
 
 * if: * * * * * 
 
 Yet more than these to Meditation's eyes 
 Great Nature's self redundantly supplies : 
 Her presence, best of Models ! is the source 
 Whence Genius draws augmented power and force ; 
 Her precepts, best of teachers ! give the powers, 
 Whence art, by practice to perfection soars. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 PAGK 
 
 The Theory of Effect, .... 7 
 
 Contrast of Forms, . . . . 10 
 
 Contrast of Light and Shade, . . .15 
 
 Contrast of Colour, . . . . 19 
 
 Contrast of Greys, . . • .21 
 
 Harmony, ..... 23 
 
 Effect, ...... 25 
 
 Water and its Reflections, ... 29 
 Colour, . . . . .42 
 
 Extract from Sir Joshua Reynolds's Discourses 
 
 on Art, . . . . .47 
 
 Copying, ..... 48 
 
 Style, ...... 51 
 
 Detail and Minute Finish, ... 55 
 Invention and Design, . . . .71 
 
 Anatomical Proportions of the Human Figure, 87 
 Perspective, . . . . .89 
 
 Composition, . . . • 90 
 
 Genius, . . . . .91 
 
144 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 PAGK 
 
 Single Figures, . . . . 92 
 
 Parts of a Picture, . . , .94 
 
 The Passions, , . . . 94 
 
 Glazing or Scrumbling, . . . . 95 
 
 Multiplicity of Lights, ... 98 
 
 Light and Shade, . . . .98 
 
 Harmony, . . . . . . 101 
 
 Backgrounds, . . , . .102 
 
 The Modes of Harnnony, . . . 104 
 
 Dark Shadows, . . . . 108 
 
 Taste, . . . . .109 
 
 Form, . . . . .109 
 
 Invention, ./ . . . 110 
 
 Sketching, . . . . .111 
 
 Symmetry in Grouping, . . . 112 
 
 Finish, . . . . .114 
 
 The opinion of Others, . . . 115 
 
 Practice, - . . . . .116 
 
 Prejudice, . • . . 117 
 
 Nature, . . . . .121 
 
 The Art of Painting, . . . 127 
 
J. W. MOORE, 
 FOIISIEE. SOIESELIES Si irOBTEB, 
 
 193 CHESTNUT ST., OPPOSITE THE STATE HOUSE, 
 PHILADELPHIA, 
 
 Continues to import from England, France, and Germany, both 
 new and old Books in the different departments of literature, 
 by the single copy or in quantities, on the most favourable 
 terms, and with the greatest possible despatch. Having an ex- 
 perienced Agent in London, he is enabled to pay particular 
 attention to procuring rare and valuable works. Books im- 
 ported by Steamer in about thirty days: if by Packet, in about 
 fifty or sixty days. 
 
 Books for Libraries and Public Institutions imported free of 
 duty. 
 
 PLAIN AND FANCY STATIONERY. 
 
 Just received from Paris, a large and well selected assort- 
 ment of LETTER AND NOTE PAPER, with Plain or Orna- 
 mented Borders, and Envelopes to match; also, PAPETERIES 
 of every description, ROSEWOOD and MOROCCO WRIT- 
 ING DESKS, FANCY NOTE WAFERS, and PAPIER 
 MACHE goods of every description; all of which being imported 
 direct, can be sold much below the usual rates. 
 
 (IT* A very large and well selected stock of English and 
 American Miscellaneous Books constantly on hand, to which 
 the attention of buyers is requested ; the prices being such as 
 cannot fail to give satisfaction. 
 
 Country Merchants supplied on the most liberal terms. 
 
BINDER'S MUSLIN. 
 
 J. W. MOORE, is constantly importing^ Binder's Muslin of 
 every style, and of superior quality, which will be sold at the 
 lowest rates to Bookbinders. Sample Books may constantly be 
 inspected at the Store, from which purchasers may order. 
 
 RELIEVO MAPS. 
 
 Just imported from Paris, a small lot of Banerkeller's cele- 
 brated Alto Relievo Maps, comprising the United States, Great 
 Britain, France, Germany, &c., in which the natural elevations 
 of the countries represented are imitated by corresponding ele- 
 vations on the Maps, thus showing at a glance, the comparative 
 heights of mountains, &.C., &c. 
 
 Also, Raised Plans of the Cities of Paris, London, Mexico, 
 and Hamburg. 
 
 LONDON AND OXFORD EDITIONS. 
 
 J. W. MOORE would respectfully call the attention of the 
 public to his well selected stock of Bibles, increased by recent 
 importations, and comprising the best varieties published, bound 
 in the most superior manner by Hayday and other celebrated 
 binders, and printed on the finest linen paper. He is confident 
 that in point of typographical execution, binding, &c., they will 
 be found superior to anything ever before offered in this city. 
 
 BIBLES. 
 
 AMERICAN EDITIONS. 
 
 A great variety of American Editions of the Bible, bound in 
 Morocco, and elegant Beveled Boards, from 50 cents to $20. 
 
 PRAYER BOOKS. 
 
 An extensive and well selected assortment of Prayer Books, 
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 bound in Turkey Morocco, Beveled Boards, Rich Silk Velvet, 
 with or without clasps ; also, in gelatine, a new and most beau- 
 tiful style. The above are of all sizes, and at prices which 
 cannot fail to give satisfaction. 
 
A CATALOGUE 
 
 OP 
 
 VALUABLE AND IMPORTANT WORKS, 
 
 PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE BY 
 
 J. W. MOORE, 
 BOOKSELLER, PUBLISHER, AND IMPORTER, 
 193 CHESTNUT STREET, OPPOSITE THE STATE-HOUSE. 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 THE WORKS OF MICHAEL DE MONTAIGNE, comprising 
 his Essays, Letters, a Journey through Germany and Italy ; 
 with notes from all the Commentators, Biographical and 
 Bibliographical Notices, &c., &c., &c. By William Hazlitt. 
 1 vol. 8vo., pp. 686, cloth, $2 50 ; half calf and half morocco, 
 $3 50. 
 
 *' This is a truly valuable publication, and embodies much that may be 
 read with profit." — hiquirer. 
 
 " This work is too well known, and too highly appreciated by the Hterary 
 world, to require eulogy. — North American. 
 
 So long as an unaffected style and good nature shall charm — so long as 
 the lovers of desultory and cheerful conversation shall be more numerous 
 than those who prefer a lecture or a sermon — so long as reading is sought 
 by the many as an amusement in idleness, or a resource in pain — so long 
 will Montaigne be among the favourite authors of mankind." — Hallam. 
 
 BURTON'S ANATOMY OP MELANCHOLY. What it is, 
 with all the kinds, causes, symptoms, prognostics, and seve- 
 ral cures of it. In three partitions : with their several sec- 
 tions, members, and subsections, philosophically, medically, 
 and historically opened and cut up. A new edition, cor- 
 rected and enriched by translations of the numerous clas- 
 ical extracts. To which is prefixed an account of the 
 author. From the last London edition. 1 vol. 8vo., cloth, 
 $2 50 ; half calf and half morocco, $3 50. 
 
 " The book is an inexhaustible fountain, where every mind, no matter 
 what may be its peculiar organization, or the nature of its momentary needs, 
 can draw at will nourishment and strength ; such perfect mingling of im- 
 mense erudition, profound thought, sparkling humour, and exuberant fancy, 
 exists no where else out of Shakspeare," — CzVy Item. 
 
2 
 
 J. w. moore's catalogue 
 
 WEISS ON WATER CURE. The Hand Book of Hydro- 
 pathy, for Professional and Domestic use : with an Appendix^ 
 on the best mode of forming Hydropathic establishments. 
 Being the result of twelve years' experience at Grafenberg 
 and Freywaldau. By Dr. J. Weiss. 12mo., cloth, $1 00. 
 
 ** The intention of the author in this work, is to render himself intelli- 
 gible to the non-professional reader, so that the treatment by water may be 
 safely introduced into domestic use, and exert its influence where medicaJ 
 assistance is not to be obtained." — Messenger, 
 
 BIBLIA HEBRAICA. Secundum Editiones. Jos. Athiae, 
 Joannis Leusden, Jo. Simonis Aliorumque, inprimis Eve- 
 rardi Van Der Hooght, D. Henrici Opitii, et Wolfii Heiden- 
 heim, cum additionibus Clavique Masoretica et Rabbinica, 
 Augusti Hahn. Nunc denuo recognita et emendata ab 
 Isaaco Leeser, V. D. M., et Josepho Jaquett, V. D. M. The 
 above is stereotyped from the last Leipsic edition, and beau- 
 tifully half bound in the German style, thick 8vo., price re- 
 duced to $2 25. 
 
 *' Its typography is beautiful, and it is justly admired by Hebrew scholars 
 who have examined it. Its superior accuracy, it is believed, will be ac- 
 knowledged, on a comparison with any Bible extant. One thing which 
 gives elegance and excellence to the work, should be particularly noticed 
 by all who desire a Bible that can be easily read, all the vowel points and 
 accents are in their right places, which cannot be said of all former editions 
 — and therefore the student can never be in doubt respecting the letters to 
 which they belong." — Christian Observer. 
 
 THE FAMILY SHAKSPEARE, in one volume; in which 
 nothing is added to the original text ; but those v^^ords and 
 expressions are omitted v^hich cannot with propriety be 
 read aloud in a family. By Thomas Bowdler, Esq. From 
 the sixth London edition, royal 8vo., cloth, $3. 
 
 " The nature and object of this work are too well known to require ex- 
 planation, and many a family will feel obliged to Mr. Moore for furnishing 
 an edition of the immortal dramatist ; garbled, indeed, because expurgated — 
 but in many respects less garbled than some of the separate plays as pre- 
 pared for the stage — which can be recommended to parents and guardians, 
 and introduced into the mixed domestic circle without hesitation or fear."- 
 North American. 
 
 PARTNERS FOR LIFE: A Christmas Story. By Camilla 
 TouLMiN. With illustrations by John Absolon. 12mo., 
 cloth, 75 cents; gilt, $1 ; paper covers, 38 cents. 
 
 "Another Christmas book by a lady! and by one whose short tales and 
 graceful and tender poetry are carrying her name into every household, and 
 will extend her influence, both abroad and home ; for it is always exercised 
 for good." — Art Union. 
 
 THE FOREST MINSTREL. A Collection of Original Poems, 
 by Mrs. Lydia Jane Pierson. Edited by the Rev. B. S, 
 Schenck. 1 vol. 12mo., cloth, 75 cents; fancy, $1. 
 
OF VALUABLE BOOKS. 
 
 3 
 
 TRAVELS OVER THE TABLE LANDS AND CORDIL- 
 LERAS OF MEXICO; with observations upon the Reli- 
 gion, Political Institutions, Commerce, Agriculture and Civil- 
 ization in Mexico ; embracing accounts of the manner of 
 mining and coining silver in that country. With an Appen- 
 dix, comprising biographies of Emperor Don Augustin 
 Iturbide and the Ex-President General Don Antonio Lopez 
 De Santa Anna. By Albert M. Gilliam, late U. S. Consul 
 at California, Mexico. With Maps and Plates. 1 vol. 8vo., 
 cloth, $2. 
 
 THE MEMOIRS OF MRS. ELIZABETH FRY, Edited by 
 two of her daughters. 2 vols. 8vo., cloth, with portrait, 
 $3 50 ; half morocco, $5. 
 
 The record of the life and experience of such a labourer in the field of 
 genuine philanthropy and benevolence, is an invaluable memoir, and will 
 doubtless be so regarded by the Christian community. 
 
 " If the w^ork could meet with a circulation equal to its deserving, it would 
 find eager welcome in every family in Christendom. It affords a beautiful 
 exemphfication of Christian character. Each page breathes fervent piety. 
 Charity, the most Godlike of virtues, animates every word. The Memoir 
 possesses peculiar value from the fact that it is prepared by two daughters 
 of the deceased, who have taken great care, and manifested good judgment 
 in their labour of love." — City Item. 
 
 TAYLOR (R. C.) STATISTICS OF COAL. The Geogra- 
 phical and Geological distribution of Mineral Combustibles 
 or Fossil Fuel, including, also. Notices and Localities of the 
 various Mineral Bituminous Substances employed in Arts and 
 Manufactures ; with maps, elegantly coloured, and diagrams ; 
 embracing, from official reports of the great coal-producing 
 countries, the respective amounts of their production, con- 
 sumption, and commercial distribution in all parts of the 
 world, together with their prices, tariffs, duties, and inter- 
 national regulations. Accompanied by nearly four hundred 
 statistical tables, and eleven hundred analyses of mineral 
 combustibles, with incidental statements of the statistics of 
 Iron manufactures, derived from authentic authorities. Pre- 
 pared by Richard Cowling Taylor, Fellow of the Geological 
 Society of London, member of the American Philosophical 
 Society, &c. &.c. Royal 8vo., cloth, $5 00. 
 
 *' It is a most invaluable work — a monument of industrious and careful 
 research — a treasury — a very encyclopedia of coal, extending to all associated 
 branches of information, worthy to rank with the most complete and tho- 
 rough economic manuals with which the world is yet acquainted. There is 
 no such work, in fact, on the subject of coal, in any language ; it is a niine 
 of instruction, and a whole library of reference, which not coal and iron 
 miners only, but statisticians and statesmen, will find worthy of their atten- 
 tion." — North American. 
 
 It is indeed one of the most remarkable books of the day; exhibiting a 
 vast amount of scientific knowledge and statistical information, and a labo- 
 rious patience that is as praiseworthy as it is rare." — Pittsburg CommerciaL 
 
4 
 
 J. w. moore's catalogue 
 
 MYSTERIES OF CITY LIFE ; or, Stray Leaves from the 
 World's Book. Being a series of Tales, Sketches, Inci- 
 dents, and Sermons, founded upon the Notes of a Home 
 Missionary. By James Rees, author of "The Philadelphia 
 Locksmith," " The Night Hawk Papers," &,c. 12mo., paper, 
 75 cents ; cloth, $1 00. 
 
 **The book is original in its conception and execution; its details carry 
 such evidence of reality with them, that the reader can scarcely take them 
 for fiction, and we much doubt if they are ; at the same time, the incidents 
 are often so startling, and so vividly and painfully represented to the mind's 
 eye, that we could wish they were not facts — or rather, we could wish there 
 were no such facts really existing in the darker vistas of human hfe. The 
 work is of that class which irresistibly captivates the attention ; and when 
 the reader has once begun, he must go through it, impatient of all interrup- 
 tion. But the best remains to be said : the book is unexceptionably moral, 
 and altogether decorous. This, in the present state of literature, is a very 
 rare kind of excellence, and the praise it calls forth, is the most valuable 
 tribute that an author can receive." — Pennsylva7iian. 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE PRETENDERS AND THEIR ADHE- 
 RENTS. By J. H. Jesse. (Moore's Select Library, Nos. 1 
 and 2.) 2 vols. 18mo., paper, 75 cents; cloth, $1 25. 
 
 A SUMMER'S JAUNT ACROSS THE WATER; including 
 Visits to England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Switzerland, 
 Germany, Belgium, &c. By J. Jay SivirrH. (Moore's Select 
 Library, Nos. '4 and 5.) 2 vols. l8mo., paper, $1 00; cloth, 
 $1 50. 
 
 MY OWN HOME AND FIRESIDE; being Illustrations of 
 the Speculations of Martin Chuzzlewit & Co., among the 
 Wenom of the Walley of Eden." By Syr. Second Edi- 
 tion. 1 vol. 12mo., paper, 50 cents; cloth, 75 cents. 
 
 " From the mere glimpse we have taken of this book, it seems a strange, 
 powerfully written work, and has sufficiently arrested our attention to lay it 
 aside for an attentive and careful perusal." — North American. 
 
 " It abounds in incident, wit, humour, and pathos, and will be remarkable 
 among the many works now issuing from the press." — Inquirer. 
 
 GRAY'S ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCH- 
 YARD. Embellished with thirty-three spirited Illustrations, 
 by R. S. Gilbert. 8vo., embossed cloth, gilt, $1 50; Turkey 
 morocco, $3 00; coloured plates, embossed cloth, gilt, $2 00; 
 coloured plates, Turkey morocco, $3 75. 
 
 It is got up with a degree of excellence most creditable to the enterprise 
 of the publisher, and which the celebrated poem well deserves. It is su- 
 perbly printed, on the very best paper, and each leaf contains a verse of the 
 poem, illustrated by a wood-cut in the highest style of the art, engraved by 
 Gilbert, from designs by the most eminent English artists." — Pennsylvanian. 
 
 ** The poem itself is one of the most elegant English compositions now 
 extant, and the style in which it is now offered to its admirers is highly 
 creditable to the artists and publisher." — Morning Post, 
 
OF VALUABLE BOOKS. 
 
 5 
 
 SCENES AND ADVENTURES IN SPAIN, from 1835 to 
 1840. By Poco Mas. (Moore's Select Library, No. 3.) 
 1 vol. 18mo., paper, 38 cents ; cloth, 63 cents. 
 
 THE PROSE WORKS OF JOHN MILTON, with a Biogra- 
 phical Introduction by R. W. Griswold. 2 vols. 8vo., cloth, 
 $4 00. 
 
 FIRST LESSONS IN FRENCH, by Miss Colman, illustrated 
 with beautiful engravings. Square 16mo., embossed mus- 
 lin, 50 cents. 
 
 CHILD'S FIRST PRAYER BOOK. With ten splendid 
 Plates, beautifully printed in colours. Second Edition. 1 
 vol., 18mo., 75 cents. 
 
 ** It is by far the most attractive book of the kind for children that we 
 have seen. Every page differs in the style of printing and illustration. 
 Different coloured inks, gold, &c., will please the eye of the young and 
 lead them to look to the substance of the volume through its agreeable 
 illustrations." — North American. 
 
 CHILD'S DRAWING BOOK OF OBJECTS: Studies from 
 Still Life, for young pupils and drawing classes; containing 
 two hundred and eighty-eight objects. 4to., cloth, $2 00. 
 
 SMITH'S JUVENILE DRAWING BOOK, containing the ru- 
 diments of the Art, in a series of Progressive Lessons, 24 
 plates of subjects, easily copied. Small 4to., cloth, 88 cents. 
 
 HOUSEHOLD VERSES. By Bernard Barton. Embellished 
 with a Vignette Title Page and Frontispiece. 12mo. Illu- 
 minated covers, new edition, 50 cents ; cloth, gilt, 75 cents. 
 
 *' A very pretty edition of the eighth, and, we believe, last volume, the 
 death-gift of the estimable Quaker Poet, a writer always a favourite with 
 the public, * from whom,' as he said himself, * he never met with aught but 
 courtesy and kindness.' " — North American. 
 
 '* The poems of so sweet a minstrel, should have a place in every well- 
 selected Library." — Inquirer. 
 
 REMAINS OF WILLIAM S. GRAHAM; With a Memoir. 
 Edited by George Allen, Professor of Languages in the 
 University of Pennsylvania. 1 vol. I2mo., with Portrait, 
 boards, 75 cents ; cloth, gilt, $1 00. 
 
 ** This is a most attractive book in outward form, and the interest of its 
 contents, in our esteem, does justice to its external appearance. It is the 
 fresh wreath which love and friendship have intertwined to hang over the 
 early grave of genius. It is not the mere record of a bright and sparkling 
 mind, whose light has expired, but it is the memorial also of a warm heart, 
 earnest in its devotion to the service of God and the good of man." — Banner 
 of the Cross. 
 
6 J. w. Moore's catalogue 
 
 BUNYAN'S MISCELLANEOUS WORKS. 1 vol. 12mo., 
 cloth, 63 cents. 
 
 AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY, AND LETTERS OF CAROLINE 
 FRY, the author of "The Listener," "Christ our Law," &c. 
 12mo., cloth, 75 cents. 
 
 *' It is a work that any religious parent might wish to place in the hands 
 of his daughters, one that could scarce fail to leave a good and serious im- 
 pression on the mind of a reader," — Pittsburg Saturday Visitor. 
 
 " This work, as the title imports, is an Autobiography of Mrs. CaroHne 
 Fry, a lady distinguished for her piety. As such it will be interesting to the 
 Christian world, as it should be to every one." — Savannah Daily Eepublican. 
 
 COMMERCE OF THE PRAIRIES ; or, the Journal of a 
 Santa Fe Trader during Eight Expeditions across the 
 Western Prairies, and a Residence of nearly nine years in 
 Northern Mexico. By Josiah Gregg. 2 vols. 12mo., Maps 
 and Plates, $1 50. 
 
 " The volumes are illustrated with maps and engravings and are full of 
 interest and information. A more agreeable or readable book has not been 
 issued from the American press for years. The way-side incidents are quite 
 exciting, while the reflections are sensible and sound." — Inquirer. 
 
 The popularity of these sketches may be inferred from the fact that the 
 title page bears the imprint of the fourth edition. It is very unassuming in 
 style, and at the same time graphic, exhibiting a phase of life peculiar to the 
 regions it has undertaken to describe." — NeaVs Gazette. 
 
 WEEK AT GLENVILLE. By a Philadelphia lady. With 
 numerous illustrations. Cloth, plain plates, 50 cents ; cloth, 
 coloured plates, 63 cents; cloth, gilt edge, plain plates, 63 
 cents ; cloth, gilt edge, coloured plates, 75 cents. 
 
 "This little work will be a favourite with children, for whose especial 
 benefit it was written. The lady authoress has succeeded in writing a book 
 which must interest the youthful mind, and instil into it the elements of pure 
 morality." — Inquirer, 
 
 CHRISTIANITY: AND ITS RELATIONS TO POETRY 
 AND PHILOSOPHY. 12mo., cloth, 50 cents. 
 
 COE'S DRAWING- BOOK OF AMERICAN SCENERY. 
 With 34 Views from Nature, with instructions for beginners 
 in Landscape. 4to., cloth, $1 25. 
 
 "This is an excellent work, and greatly calculated to assist young 
 people." — Inquirer. ^ 
 
 FOWNE'S PRIZE ESSAY ON CHEMISTRY, as exempli- 
 fying the wisdom and beneficence of God. 12mo , cloth 
 50 cents. 
 
OF VALUABLE BOOKS. 
 
 7 
 
 AGRICULTURAL BOTANY; an enumeration and descrip- 
 tion of useful Plants and Weeds, which merit the notice, 
 or require the attention, of American Agriculturists. By 
 William Darlington, M. D. 1 vol. 12mo., cloth, $1 00. 
 
 *' The volume is evidently the result of much labour and research, as well 
 as of a very intimate acquaintance with the subject considered. It will be 
 found of interest to the general reader, and invaluable to the young farmers 
 of the United States." — Inquirer. 
 
 SMEE ON THE POTATO PLANT. 12mo., cloth, 50 cents. 
 
 BIG ABEL AND LITTLE MANHATTAN. By C. Matthews. 
 12mo., paper, 25 cents. 
 
 LIFE IN CALIFORNIA. Plates, 12mo., cloth, $1 25, 
 
 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. Standard Edition. 
 18mo., morocco, extra, $2 50; morocco, extra, bevelled 
 boards, $3 50. 
 
 THE BOOK OF VISIONS: being a Transcript of the Record 
 of the Secret Thoughts of a variety of individuals, while 
 attending Church. I2mo., cloth, 50 cents. 
 
 IN PRESS, 
 
 AND WILL EE PUBLISHED IN A FEW DAYS, 
 
 THE YOUNG MAN'S WAY TO VIRTUE, HONOUR, AND 
 HAPPINESS. By the Rev. A. Atwood. 1 vol. 12mo., cloth. 
 
 ELLEN SEYMOUR ; or the Bud and the Flower. A Tale. 
 By Mrs. Saville Shepherd, (formerly Anne Houldich,) 1 vol. 
 12mo., cloth. 
 
8 
 
 CATALOGUE OF VAIUABLE BOOKS. 
 
 IMPORTATION OF FOREIGN BOOKS. 
 
 J. W. MOORE continues to import either old or new books 
 in the different departments of Literature, by the single copy 
 or in quantities, (on the most favourable terms, and with the 
 greatest despatch,) for the Trade, Colleges, and Literary and 
 Professional Gentlemen. If by steamer, in about thirty days ; 
 if by packet, at a less expense, in about fifty or sixty days. 
 
 Through his agent in London he is able to give the most 
 careful attention to all orders from private individuals, Book- 
 sellers, and Public Institutions. An order for a single volume 
 will always receive the same attention as larger orders. 
 
 ORDERS FORWARDED BY EVERY STEAMER, 
 
 And if the books can be readily procured, they will be received 
 by return steamer. 
 
 FOREIGN PERIODICALS AND NEWSPAPERS. 
 
 All the leading Periodicals and Newspapers of the Continent 
 supplied with punctuality and on the most reasonable terms. 
 Subscribers at a distance will have their copies regularly 
 mailed to their address. 
 
 BOOKS IMPORTED TO ORDER FROM LONDON, 
 LEIPSIC, AND PARIS. 
 
 A CATALOGUE 
 
 OF A VERY EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF 
 
 STAN DARD WORKS, 
 
 IN EVERY DEPARTMENT OF LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART, 
 
 MOSTLY ENGLISH EDITIONS, 
 
 NOW IN PRESS. 
 
 It will be sent gratis on application, POST PAID. 
 
 Country Booksellers supplied with all Foreign and American 
 Publications at a small commission on cost, and all orders 
 executed with despatch. 
 
I 
 
GETTY CENTER LIBRARY