A N 
 
 I N a U I R Y 
 
 INTO THE 
 
 BEAUTIES or PAINTING; 
 
 AND INTO THE 
 
 MERITS 
 
 OF THE MOST 
 
 CELEBRATED PAINTERS, 
 Ancient and Modern. 
 
 By DANIEL WE B B, Efq. 
 The Second Edition. 
 
 Philoftratus in exord. Icontun. 
 
 LONDON, 
 Pjinted for R. and J. Dodsley, in Pall-mail 
 MDCCLXI. 
 
f 
 
 o 
 
 :»xlJLf£ ^niioifil no 2noiT 
 
 moinygal woH 
 
TO THE 
 
 Reverend Mr. Spence. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 ^T~^FIE moft accurate obferver 
 JL of the beauties of nature, 
 mufi; be the befl: judge of their imt 
 tations ; and the fame elegance of 
 imagination which forms the paint- 
 er, muft enlighten the critic. It 
 was natural for me, under this per- 
 fuafion, to addrefs my pblerva- 
 tions on Painting to the author qf 
 Crito. 
 
 How ingenious are men in co- 
 louring their paffions! thus have I 
 heightened felf-love into a love of 
 Juftlce : For, what could be more 
 
iv DEDICATION. 
 
 advantageous to me, than to have 
 it known, that Mr. S p e n c e ap- 
 proves me as a writer, and ac- 
 knowledges me as a friend ? What 
 fuccefs I may have in the former 
 charader, muft depend on futurity; 
 but I am in poffeffion of all the 
 credit of the latter, while you per- 
 mit me to declare, in this publick 
 manner, 
 
 That I am. Reverend SiR| 
 
 wkb the truefl refpeSi^ 
 
 jour moji obliged^ 
 
 mojl obedient y 
 
 find mojl humble fervanty 
 
 ^ Paniel Webb, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IF we confider the ambition mofi: 
 men have to be thought judges 
 of Painting, and the eafe with which 
 they might really become fo, it will 
 appear llrange, that fo few fhould be 
 found, who have any clear or deter- 
 mined ideas of this art. To account 
 for this, and to point out thofe errors 
 which have been the caufes of it, is 
 the defign of this Preface 5 after which, 
 I propofe, by the following work, 
 to free this fubjedt from its fuppofed 
 A 3 difficulties 5 
 
n F^R E rWcfitl 
 
 difficulties ; and to throw fuch liglif^ 
 oh the beauties and advantages of this 
 amiable' SR^' is iti^ both recommend 
 the ftudy, and facilitate the knowledge 
 
 . ' , : ^ 
 
 ^ i AM fenfible, that, among my reiS 
 fes, there will be fome, whofe ei^^^ 
 cellent tafte and clear judgment muft 
 place them much above my inftruc- 
 tions ; from thefe I hope for indulgence. 
 The perfons for whom I write, are our 
 young travellers, who fet out with 
 much eag;ernefs, and little preparation ; 
 and who, for want of fome governing 
 objedls to determine their courfe, muft 
 tontinually wander, mifled by ignorant 
 guides, or bewildered by a multiplicity 
 of diredions. The firft error, 1 have 
 ' taken 
 
P ft E F \^ 
 
 taken notice pf, is, the extreme eager*, 
 nefs, with which they run through the, 
 g^leries and churches ; nimium videnf^ 
 n^c. tamen totum, A few good pid:ures, 
 well confidered, at fuch intervals, as tq 
 give full time to range and determine 
 rfie ideas which they excite, would 
 in the end turn to a much better ac^ 
 
 The fccond errofi isi t}ie habit ©jf 
 cftimating pidures by the general 
 putation of the painters 3 a rule, ojF all 
 others, the moft produ^ive of igna- 
 rance and confufion. For example ; 
 Dominichino may, at timesj be rank- 
 ed with Raphael ; at times, he is little 
 ifiiperior to Giotto. And we often find, 
 that the beft works of the middling ar- 
 tifts, excell the middling works of the 
 A 4 beft. 
 
viii P-K B F A 6 E. 
 
 beft. If then, we are guided wholly 
 by the prejudice of names, we no long^iJ 
 er truft to our own fenfes ; we muft 
 acknowledge merit which we do not 
 fee, and undervalue that which we 
 do; diftrefled between authority and 
 conwvSlion^ we are difgufted with the 
 difficulties of an art, which is^ per- 
 haps, of all others the moft eafily un- 
 derftood. For, that compofition muft 
 be defedtive, which cannot, to a care- 
 ful obferver, point out its own ten- 
 dency J and thofc expreffions muft be 
 either weak or falfe, which do not,, 
 in fome degree, mark the intereft of 
 each ad:or in the drama. In nature, 
 we readily conceive the variety and 
 force of charaders 3 why fliould we 
 not do fo in Painting? What diffi- 
 culty 
 
PRE F A C E. i« 
 
 culty can there be in diftinguifliing, 
 whether the airs of the heads be mean 
 or noble ; the ftyle of defign, confin- 
 ed, charged, or elegant j whether the 
 proportions be juft or unequal ; the 
 carnations, cold or animated ? If the 
 colours in a pid:ure be happily diC- 
 pofed, the general efFed: will be pleaf. 
 ing; and in proportion to the force 
 of the clear obfcure, the figures and 
 objeds will be flat or projeding, or, 
 in other words, more or iefs like na- 
 ture. If we confider thefe points with- 
 out prejudice, it will, I think, appear, 
 that of all the arts. Painting is the 
 moft natural both in its means and ef- 
 fects. It is the moft diredl and im- 
 mediate addrefs to the fenfes : and this 
 muft be the reafon, that the beft wri- 
 ters 
 
?f R EFA^ 
 
 ters 0f atit^pity, in treating of oth^f 
 arts^ifo frequently Ixjrrow their exans-^; 
 pies and iilUilrations from this. Wheii 
 J thus make light of the difficulties ^f 
 Paintings I muft be underftood to fpeak 
 ^iim eff ^ot of the practice j and 
 yet, even as to this^ there are ten paint*^; 
 ers who have excelled in the mecha- 
 nick parti for one who has excelled in 
 the ideal. So that the fcarcity of good 
 pidures, arifes not from a difficulty of 
 execution, but from a poverty of in« 
 vention. Hence it is, that painters of 
 an inferior clafs^ have, in their hap 
 pier hours, ftruck out fome excellent 
 pidures ; and fome again are feldoiri 
 fucccfsful, except when they Work §f$ 
 tlie ideas of others: Andrea Sacchi 
 is «n example of the firft, and Domi* 
 
 nichino 
 
P R iE F A C E; xl 
 
 hichino of the fecond. But I am Gray- 
 ing from the defign of this Preface?^ 
 which was, to point out to the youngetf, 
 part of my readers thofe errors, whicli 
 tend moft to defeat their knowledge 
 of Painting. I have already/named 
 two, the third isj the hafty ambition 
 of diftingui{hing the feveral mafters* 
 With many, this precedes and oftet^- 
 holds the place of all other know^' 
 kdge; and yet, I will venture to af^^ 
 firm, that where this does not fpring 
 from a nice drfcernment of the beau- 
 ties or imperfedlions of the pi£lure 
 before us, and thofe too turning chief- 
 ly on the compofition and expref- 
 fions, it is aii idle art, more ufeful 
 to a pi<5lure-merchant, than becoming 
 a: Jnan of tafte* lt\ cannot be d&* 
 niedj that a famenefs of manner irt 
 
 treating 
 
tdi PR Efface; 
 
 treating various fubje(3:s, is a weaknefs j' 
 it is a want of variety, both in the me- 
 chanick, and ideal : Yet it is by this very 
 weaknefs, or fome infignificant particu- 
 larities in the colouring, fhadingi ^tti* 
 tudes, or draperies, that we fo readily- 
 diftinguifh the feveral hands. It may be; 
 a. check on this affectation, to obferve, 
 that ^ among the infinity of painters,' 
 there are not, perhaps, a dozen, who' 
 are worth fludying: It is not by lit- 
 tle circumftances, that we know a 
 Raphael or Correggio: Their fape- 
 rior talents are their difl:in6tions. Wo- 
 men of ordinary forms, are marked 
 by the jewels on their necks, or the 
 
 colours of their clothes j but a D {s^ 
 
 of G — is fingled out by a pre- 
 eminence in beauty. There is a fourth 
 error which I would fain dejfcrfdit,: 
 a and 
 
PRE FAG Bw xiii 
 
 ancl then I fhall have done with this 
 unpleafing tafk: I have obferved ma- 
 ny to look at pi(5lures, with no other 
 view, than to (hew their accutenefs 
 in detecting little errors in drawing, 
 or lapfes of the pencil ^ thefe do not 
 ftudy Painting to become knowing, 
 but to appear fo. But let them re- 
 fled, that there is more true tafte, in 
 drawing forth one latent beauty, than- 
 in obferving a hundred obvious im-" 
 perfedions : The firft proves, that our 
 fpirit co-operates with that of the ar- 
 tiftj the fecond fhews nothing more, 
 than, that we have eyes, and that we 
 ufe them to very little purpofe. If 
 thefe errors appear in the fame light 
 to tfiy reader, that they do to me, 
 h€^"''i^it fee the neceffity there was, 
 for 'fettle better plan than that which' 
 
 wc 
 
PRE F A C EJ 
 
 we have hitherto followed in the ftu-« 
 of 'Painting. This is what I pro- 
 pofe by the EfTay which I here offer 
 to the publick. I fliall ufeno ,grt, 
 however cuftomary it may be on thefe 
 OGcafions, to prepare the judgment, ^^qt 
 cpnciliate the good opinion of my f ean 
 ders: One thing only it maybe .ne- 
 celTary to excufe ; I have been for- 
 ced, in fome meafure, to take cer- 
 tain Uberties of ftyle, which, though 
 comnion in other languages, have not 
 yet been received into ours. Thus 
 I have ufed the Mechanick, and 
 Ideal of an art, inftead of the 
 mechanick, or ideal part of an art; 
 as likewife Clears and Obscures, 
 for clear and obfcure colours. I have 
 boprowed the word N u d from the 
 French ; S b o z z o from the Italian ; 
 
 an4 
 
PJR E/ F A C H, XV 
 and have tranflated the Giuaroscuro 
 of the latter into ^the $lear obfcure. 
 Thtfe are little licencesj ' unavoidable, 
 ini treating of an art, v^hieh has not 
 a& 'y^l^ubeeh thoroughly naturalized; 
 and even wifh, that they may not 
 be overlooked, in the number of lefi 
 cx€ufab}edpfed:s. 
 
 Ion : 
 
 C O 
 
[ xvi ] 
 
 CONTENTS- 
 
 Dial, I. General Flan of the Work. 
 
 Dial. 11. Our Capacity to judge of 
 Pain Ti N g. 
 
 Dial. III. ^be Antiquity andXJfefulnefs 
 c/^Painting. 
 
 Dial. IV, OfDEsiGN, 
 
 Dial. V. O/* Colou ring^ 
 
 Dial. VI. Of Clear obscure* 
 
 Dial. VII. Of Com position. 
 
 DIALOGUE 
 
[ ' ] 
 
 DIALOGUE I. 
 
 General Plan of the Work. 
 
 5. TTTHEN you advanced the other 
 V V day, in a circle of virtLiofo's, that 
 the ancients were, in paincing, as in all the 
 other polite arts, equal, if not Superior, to 
 the moderns •, your aflcrtion was received 
 wiib an universal diQike. However dif- 
 ferent my fcntiments were from yours at 
 the time, I was yet perfuaded, that you 
 would not have given into fo fingular an 
 opinion, without having good reafohs to 
 iupport it. I nientioned to you then my 
 doubts, and you was fo good as to promife 
 me you would remove them. 
 
2 General Plan of the Work. Dial. I. 
 
 A. I was not at all furprifed at the dif- 
 fatisfaftion you remarked in thofe gentle- 
 men i it is unpleafing to have an opinion 
 brought into doubt, which we have looked 
 upon all our Jives as indifputable. You 
 Iball now be a judge of the grounds I had 
 for my affertion. Had we no other object 
 in view, but merely to deterrnine the dif- 
 ferent merits of the artifts, it would hardly 
 be worth the labour; but, by examining 
 the tefti monies which we fhall draw from 
 the writings of the ancients, and comparing 
 their ideas with the paintings of the mo- 
 derns, we fhall enlarge our conceptions, and 
 improve our knowledge of the art itfelf. 
 
 B. This profpeft which you have opened 
 upon me, gives mc a fmgular pleafure ; for, 
 after having read, with the utmoft atten- 
 tion, the feveral authors on this fubject, I 
 cannot fay, that I have received from them 
 the inftrudion I expeded. 
 
 A. This 
 
OiAL. I. General Plan of the Work. 3 
 A. This does not proceed from a want 
 of capacity in them, but from a defecfl irj 
 their plans : they are, as you know, bio- 
 graphers j and, as the perfons whofe lives 
 they write, are all of one profeffion, the 
 continued repetition of the fame thoughts, 
 and of the fame technical terms, tire and 
 diftrad the reader. There is another ob- 
 jedion to their manner of writing; their 
 ideas, however juft, are fo fc^ttered through 
 the different parts of their works, that they 
 are not eafily reducible to any fyftem. In 
 the expofition of an art, as in the diftribu- 
 tion of a pidure, a loofe difperfion of the 
 objedls, confounds both the eye and the 
 underftanding. But, thefe writers are fub- 
 jed to a ftill greater difadvantage ; for, as 
 the painters whofe talents they defcribe, if 
 we except a very few, excelled much more 
 in the mechanick, than in the ideal part 
 of painting, it throws the force of their 
 pbfervations on that point, with which 
 ^ 2 we. 
 
4 Coieral Plan of the Work. Dial. Iq 
 
 we, who are but obfei vei s of the art,'- havb' 
 the Iriift to d(K 
 
 B. Thouqh I undcrftand very well the 
 terms mechanick and ideal, in their ge- 
 neral acception, yet,, I wifli you would 
 explain them, in their particular relation 
 ty the lubjed before us. 
 
 A. We may confider the imitative arts 
 in two points of view ift, As imitations of 
 luch objeds as are adually before the eye; 
 2d!y, As reprefentations of thole images 
 whit h aie formed by the fancy. The firft, 
 
 the mechanick or executive part of the 
 art ; the fccond, the ideal or inventive. 
 [a] Tully has juftly diftinguifhed thofc 
 
 [«j Ncc vero ille artifex, quum faceret !ovis form- 
 aai aut Minei va;, contemplabatur aliquem e quo fimi- 
 li udinem ducerec; {<A ipfias in incnce infidebat fpe- 
 cii' pukhricuailiis eximia quaedam, quam intuens, in 
 •»:quc deiixas, ad illius finailicudintni arttm tt manum 
 liiri^cbau In L'rato. 
 
 parts. 
 
Dial. I. General Plan of the PFdrk. 5 
 parts, when he obferves, that the Jupirer:. 
 of Phidias was not drawn from any pattern 
 in nature, but from that idea of unexam- 
 pled beauty, which the artift had formed 
 in his mind. The great dlfFerence, ob- 
 ferved among painters of any name, arifes 
 from their different excellencies in thefe two 
 parts: thofe, whofe chief merit is in the 
 mechanick, will, like the Dutch painters, be 
 fervile copiers of the works of nature ; but 
 thofe, who give wholly into the ideal, 
 without perfefting themfelves in the me- 
 chanick, will produce [^] /bozzo's, not 
 pictures : it is evident then, that the per- 
 fedion of the art confifts in an union of 
 thefe two parts. Of all the modtrns, Ra- 
 phael feems to have come the neareft to 
 this point. The next to him is, perhaps, 
 Correggio. I have faid perhaps, becaufe, 
 'ihough there is no great variety in his 
 
 [h] The rough draught of a piflure. 
 
 B 3 ideas, 
 
6 General Plan of the Work, DiAl. I. 
 
 ideas, yet are they fometimes fo happy, at- 
 tended with fuch grace, and executed with 
 fuch truth, that, as there is no one artift, 
 whofe paintings we fee with more pleafure, 
 fo is there no one, whofe imprefllons we re- 
 ceive more warmly, or remember longer; 
 and this lad is the teft of perfedl painting. 
 But before I enter further into our fubje6l, it 
 may not be improper, to lay before you the 
 method I propofe to obferve. Firft then, 
 we will examine our capacity to judge of 
 the imitative arts V to determine whith, we 
 muftprevioufly fix the limits between tafte 
 and fcience. In the next place, we may 
 confider the tr^e value of thefe arts, which 
 muft be eftimated, by their antiquity, their 
 degree of credit with every polite nation, 
 and, above all, by their ufefulnefs to focie- 
 ty. 1 fhall then divide painting, which is 
 our principal object, into its four leading 
 branches, namely, defign, colouring, clear 
 obfcure, and compofuion. Concerning each 
 
 of 
 
Dial. I. General Plan of the Work. y 
 
 of thefe, I fhall endeavour to point out its 
 different beauties and ends j how far the an- 
 cients feem to have attained thofe ends ; 
 and of courfe, what Jight they muft ftand 
 in, on a comparifon with the moderns. 
 One fatisfaiStion you will have in this pro- 
 grefs, that, almoft every ftep we take, 
 will be on claffick ground ; and, as all the 
 teftimonies I ufe, or lights I borrow, are 
 from the beft writers of antiquity, the vi- 
 vacity and good fenfe in their remarks will 
 at once entertain, and guide us in our pur- 
 fuit. As the day is now too far fpent to 
 enter upon our fubjedt, to-morrow, if you 
 pleafe, we will begin j and dedicate a morn- 
 ing to each of the divifions, in the order 
 I juft now ftated them. 
 
 DI A- 
 
[8 y 
 
 DIALOGUE n. 
 
 Of our Capacity to judge of Painting. 
 
 [<r] 'T^HE learnedy fays Quinti-liarr, know 
 JL the principles of an arr, the illi - 
 terate its efFefts. He has, in thofe words, 
 fixed the boundaries between tafle and fci- 
 cnce. Were I to define the former, I fhould 
 fay, tbat t^fte was a facility in the mind 
 
 [f] Dofti rationem artis intelligunt, indofli voiupta- 
 tem. Lib. ix. 4., 
 
 [d] Many writers have bppofed judgment to tafte, 
 as if they were diftinft faculties of the mind ; but 
 this muft be a niiftake : The fource of tafte is feeling, 
 lo is it of judgment, which is notfhing more than this 
 fame fenfibility, improved by the ftudy of its proper 
 objeds, and brought to a juit point of certainty and 
 correftnefs. Thus it is clear, that thefe are but diffe- 
 rent degrees of the fame faculty, and that they are 
 exercifed wholly on our owtt^ideas ; but, fcience i» 
 the remembrance or afferatlag^ oif the ideas of o^fietf y 
 
 to 
 
Dial. II. Our Capacity to judge ^ ^c. 9 
 
 to be moved by what is excellent in an 
 art ; it is a feeling of the truth. But> 
 fcience is to be informed of that truth, and 
 of the means by which its effeds are pro- 
 duced. It is eafy to conceive, that, dif- 
 ferent as thefe principles may be in their 
 fetting out, they muft often unite in their 
 decifions: This agreement will occafion 
 their being miftaken one for the other, 
 which is the cafe, when it is affirmed, that 
 no one but an artift can form a right 
 judgment of fculpture or painting. This 
 riiaxim may hold indeed with refpe(5b to 
 the mcchanick of an art, but not at all 
 as to its effeds ; the evidence and force 
 of which, are what determine both the va- 
 lue of the art, and merit of the artift. 
 What [^] TuUy obferves of an excellent 
 
 and hence it fometimes happens, that men the moft 
 remarkable for this kind of knowledge, are not equally 
 fo, for their fenfibility. 
 
 ' [*] Id cnim ipfum eft fummi oratorls, fummum 
 eratbrem populo videri. In Bnito. 
 
 orator, 
 
io 6ur Capacity to judge Dial. II. 
 orator, may as juftly be faid of an excel- 
 lent painter; his fuperiority will be evi- 
 dent even to the leaft intelligent judges. 
 But neither authority nor argument give 
 a weight to our opinions, touching any 
 art we treat of, tt[nz\ to the illuftrations 
 and examples which they lend each other. 
 Happily, [/] the near affinity that is 
 obferved between the polite arts, they be- 
 ing indeed all but different means of ad- 
 dreffing the fame paflions, makes this, at 
 once, the moft effedlual and ready me- 
 thod of conveying our ideas. I find in 
 Dionyfius HalicarnalTeus an obfervation on 
 mufick much to my purpofe. [g'] " I 
 
 [/] Omnes artes, quae ad humanitatem perti- 
 ' ifient, habent quoddam commune vinculum, et quafi 
 tognatione inter fe continentur. Cic. pro Archia 
 poeta. 
 
 fcH ^wrmn tic iTit (tivuilut hin-oiv oiJic«o?*jj cr^oi; tvy.i'Kemv rt 
 
 have 
 
l)iAL. II. /?/ P aint INC. ii 
 ^' have learned," fays he, " in theatres fill- 
 " ed with a promifcuous and illiterate 
 ^' crowd, what a kind of natural corref- 
 <* pondence we all have with melody, 
 " and the agreement of founds : Having 
 " known the moft admired and able mu- 
 " fician to be hiffed by the whole multi- 
 " tude, when he has ftruck a fingle firing 
 " out of tune, to the difturbance of har- 
 " mony ; yet, put this fame inftrumcnc 
 into the hands of one of thofc fimple- 
 " tons, with orders to exprefs that note, 
 « which he would exa^t from the artift, 
 " he cannot do it. Whence is this ? The 
 *' one is the effed of fcience, the lot but 
 " of a few J the other of feeling, which 
 
 liopvQ)o^eIlx viro th -oXtiSa?, ot» ^loiv ^ogJuv airvii^uivot ex- 
 ^8<7i, xat t<pBei^$ TO /»£>iO{* «<c(To» £»T»? xehtvcrtit Ton thurii* 
 
 'aoiinarui ^aCo^^« tot ofya,vo(.y »« av ^vvailo. ti otote j oTt 
 
 Dion. Halicarn. Dti 
 
 ftruct, orat. feft. xi, 
 
 nature 
 
12 Our Capacity to judge Dial. II. 
 "nature has beftowed on all." This ap- 
 plies itfelf to our prefent fubjedl : The 
 eye has its principle of correfpondence with 
 what is juft, beautiful, and elegant : It 
 acquires, like the ear, an [ ^ ] habitual 
 delicacy ; and anfwers, with the fame 
 fidelity and precifion, to the fined im- 
 preffions : Verfed in the works of the beft 
 painters, it foon learns to diftinguifli true 
 exprefljons from falfe, and grace from 
 afFeftation ; quickened by exercife, and 
 confirmed by comparifon, it outftrips rea- 
 Ibning ; and feels in an inftant that truth, 
 which the other developes by decrees. 
 
 B. You have been defcribing, what 
 Tully calls a learned, and we, I think, 
 may term a chafte eye. But, do you riot, 
 in this procefs, make the growth of tafte 
 
 [^] Confuetudo oculorwa. Cic. lib, iv. Acad. 
 
Dial. ir. ^Painting. 13 
 
 td be little more than a fenfitive vegeta- 
 tion, withdrawing it wholly from its de- 
 pendency on fcience ? 
 
 A. Let us obferve its advances ia' 
 poetry, as we have before in mufick: 
 This TOO, will be the more decifive, as'- 
 poetry is an union of the two powers of' 
 riiufick and pidture. In this, the imagina- 
 tion, on its firft fetting out, ever prefers 
 extravagance to juftnefs, or falfe beauties 
 to true •, it kindles at the flafhes of Clau- 
 dian •, and flutters at the points ot Sta- 
 tius ; this is its childhood. As it grows 
 in vigour, it refines in fteling; till, fu- 
 perior to its firft aitradions, it refts on 
 the; tender pathetick of Virgil i or the, 
 maniy fpirit of Lucreuus. Exadly par- 
 allel^ to this, is the progrefs of the eye 
 in painting-, its firft affedions are always 
 ill placed : it is enamoured with the fplen- 
 
 did 
 
14 Our Capacity to judge Dial. II, 
 
 jdid impofitions of Rubens, or the [z] the- 
 atrical grace of Guido; this lafts not long j 
 it grows e4iafte in its purfuit; and flight- 
 ing thofe falfe beauties, dwells on the native 
 and mellow tints of Titian ; on the un- 
 forced attitudes, and elegant fimplicity of 
 Raphael. Was this change, in both cafes, 
 the refult of reafoning, or produced by a 
 
 [2] The grace of Guido is rather technical than 
 ideal ; by the firft is meant a certain flow of Contour, 
 invariably applied to every charafter, and on every 
 Qccafion. Thus the daughter of Herodias receives 
 the head of St. John, with the fludied dignity of an 
 aftrefs ; and the vidlorious St. Michael, treads on the 
 ]3ody of his antagonift, with all the precifion of a 
 dancing mafter. By an ideal grace, I underftand that 
 particular image, which in the inftant ftrikes a polite 
 imagination, as peculiar to the aftion and charafter 
 
 before it Of this the Sandla Cecilia of Raphael, 
 
 and the Magdalen in the St. Jerome of Coreggio, are 
 the happieft . examples : The gracefulnefs in thefe 
 figures is not only proper to their characters, but gives 
 a Angular force and beauty to the expreffion. It was 
 from this happinefs, that the venuftas of Apelles 
 became proverbial ; as, among us, any adtion that is 
 fingularly graceful, is termed Correggiefque. 
 
 5 growing 
 
Dial. ir. <?/ Painting. 15 
 
 growing knowledge of the rules of each 
 art, we fliould mark its advances ; the 
 contrary of which is almoft ever the cafe ; 
 fo that we are often furprifcd at this altera- 
 tion in ourfelves, and wonder, that the 
 ideas and obje<5ls which affected us fo 
 warmly at fiift, fliould, in a fhort courfe of 
 time, a(5l fo coldly upon us : Nay, fome 
 men there are, and thofe too very capable 
 of judging in other matters, who never 
 rife to t\i\s change ; but continue, to the 
 Jaft, under the influence of the fame boyifli 
 and wan?Qn imagination. 
 
 5. T H E greateft difEculty in your fy- 
 ftem, would be, to deduce the different 
 degrees, as well a§ diverfity of our taftes, 
 from this fame univerfal principle of feeling. 
 
 J. T HE firft, I fhould think, may be 
 accounted for, from the different propor- 
 jions of that fenfibility, as beftowed on us 
 
 by 
 
i6 Our Capacity to judge Dial. II. 
 
 by nature, or improved by ourfelves: The 
 fecond, from the diverfity in our imagina- 
 tions, in the diredlion given to them by 
 education, and the confticutional or tem- 
 porary flow of the animal fpirits. But, 
 as this is an inquiry qui'e beyond my 
 reach, 1 fhall leave it to thofe, who can 
 trace the progrefs of our ideas ; and can 
 determine, and account for the various in- 
 fluences of outward objeds on our fenfes. 
 Inftead of lofing our time in fuch endlefs 
 difquifitions, let us found our knowledge 
 on fads and pafs from them to natural 
 and ufeful conclufions. " The [^] Lace- 
 «* demonians," fays Atheneus, " arc no 
 «» where reprefented as being themfelves 
 muficians; yet, the purity of their tafte 
 " in this art, is univerfally acknowledged : 
 *' they having, at three different times, 
 
 ytsa^y' oT» x^»v«v Kvotilan Ti)» Ti^»>j», of^o^oy«Ta^. 
 
 Tisi-. Athcnxus, Lb. xiii. Deipnofoph. c. 6, 
 
 when 
 
Dial. II. ^Painting. 17 
 
 " when it was corrupted and loft, reftored 
 " and preferved it." The following ob- 
 fervation by Tully, at the fame time that 
 it iiluftrates, receives authority from this 
 
 fad All [/] men, by a kind of tacit 
 
 " feeling, without art or fcience, diftin- 
 *' guifti, in both cafes, what is right from 
 " what is wrong ; and, as they evidently do 
 " fo in painting and fculpture, fo, ^^c. ^c. 
 And again : " It is wonderful, fays he, that, 
 *' feeing the difference is fo great between 
 " the knowing and the ignorant, in the 
 " praflice of an art, that the difference 
 " Ihould be fo far from great, in their 
 judgments concerning it.'* 
 
 [/] Omnes enim tacito quodam fenfu, fine ulla 
 arteaut ratione, quse lint in artibus ac rationibus rec- 
 ta ac parva dijudicant ; idque cum faciunt in pilaris 
 etin fignis, &c. &c. 
 
 Mirabileeft, ciatn plurimum in faciendo interfic in- 
 ter do6lum et rudem, quam non multum difFerat ia 
 judicando. De Oratore, lib. iii. 
 
 c 
 
 B. You 
 
iS Our Capacity to judge Dial. ITv 
 
 B. You have, I think, fully eftabhfh- 
 ed the principle you contend for; name- 
 ly, that we have all within us the feeds 
 of talle, and are capable, if we exercife 
 our power?, of improving them into a 
 fufficient knowledge of the polite arts. I 
 am perfuaded, that nothing is a greater^ 
 hindt-rance to our advances in any art, than 
 the high opinion we form of the judg- 
 riient of its profeffors, and the propor- 
 tionable diffidence of our own. I have 
 rarely met with an artift, who was not an 
 implicit admirer of fome particular fchool, 
 or a Have to fome favourite manner. 
 They feldom, like gentlemen and fcho- 
 lars, rife to an unprejudiced and liberal 
 contemplation of true beauty. The dif- 
 ficulties they find in the praflice of their 
 art, tie them down to the mechanick : 
 at the fame time, that felf-love and va- 
 nity lead them- into an admiration of 
 r tshofe 
 
Dial. II. of Painting. 19 
 
 thofe ftrokes of the pencil, which come 
 the neareft to their own. I knew a paint- 
 er at Rome, a man of fenfe too, who 
 talked much more of Jacinto Brandi, 
 than he did either of Correggio or Ra- 
 phael. 
 
 DIA- 
 
E 20 ] 
 
 DIALOGUE IIL 
 
 iHouGH the antiquity of arr art is noC 
 
 -i- that which fhould determine its value, 
 yet, it creates a refped, and increafes, if 
 1 may be allowed the expreflion, its confe- 
 quence with us, when we know it to have 
 been the ftudy and purfuit of the earlieft 
 ages. The connexion that prevails between 
 the polite arts, extends not only to a fimi- 
 litude in their operations and efFeds, it 
 marks likewife a kind of fifter-hood in 
 their origin: For, as the different branches 
 of the fame art are ever obferved to flou- 
 tifh together; fo, the power of drawing 
 men to our ends by flattering their ima- 
 ginations, or interefting their paffions be- 
 
 Of the Antiquity and Ufejulnefs of 
 
 Painting. 
 
Dial. III. The Antiquity and, &c. 21 
 
 ing exerted in any one mode, we may rea- 
 fonably promife ourfelves the invention of 
 the refl:. Hence we mufl: always expeft 
 to fee painting, eloquence, and fculpture 
 advancing like the Graces, hand in hand, to 
 perfedion : They fliould, like the glories 
 of the rainbow, fliine forth at once in 
 a friendly fplendor; and, to continue 
 the image, they fhould too, like thofe, 
 fade and go out in an immediate fuccef- 
 fion : — Accordingly this has been in all 
 times the cafe. [m] For who, fays an 
 
 ancient writer, can fufficiently wonder, 
 ** that the moft eminent geniufes in every 
 *' profelfion, fhould appear in the fame 
 " degrees of excellence, and at the fame 
 
 critical point of time ? " It had been 
 foin the ages of Alexander the Great, and 
 
 [»] Quis enim abunde mlrari potell, quod emi- 
 nentiflima cujufque profeffionis ingenia, in eandem 
 forma m, et in idem arflati temporis congruanc fpa- 
 tium ? Veil. Pat. Hill. lib. i. c. 16. 
 
 C 3 Auguftus i 
 
22 The Antiquity and Dial. III. 
 
 Auguftus •, and was fo afterwards, in thore 
 of Leo X, and Lewis XIV. If, therefore, 
 that which has been invariable in the hifto- 
 rical ages, may, by a juft analogy, be ex- 
 tended to thofe which preceded them, I 
 lliould have no more difficulty in pronoun- 
 cing, that there were painters before the 
 time of Homer, than Tully had in affirm- 
 ing, that there were poets. Though the 
 reafon of things may be fufficient to efta- 
 blifh this opinion s yet, we have ftill furer 
 grounds to reft on : Sculpture and paint- 
 ing muft, from their nature, be infepar- 
 able, as defign is the parent of both. That 
 the firft of thefe exifted before Homer, 
 we can have no doubr, when we read his 
 defcription of the fhield of Achilles the 
 compofition of which would do honour 
 to a Fiammingo, or Algardi. He fays, 
 in one place, that the earth grew darl^ 
 under the plow. This fhows, that they ther^ 
 
 knew 
 
Dial. III. Ufefulnefs of Painting. 23 
 knew the [;?] arc of colouring metals by 
 fire, or by their mixtures j this is an evi- 
 dent imitation of painting: it is, befide, 
 ^ refinement ; and fpeaks the art, not in its 
 infancy, but at full growth. If we allow- 
 then in this cafe, the fame fpace of time, 
 to bring it from its birth to its perfedion, 
 which every other art, though of lefs com- 
 pafs than this, has taken, we fliall find it 
 in being at the time of the [0] Trojan war. 
 I fhould not be fo particular in tracing 
 the origin of fculpture, and confequently of 
 painting, to this era, were it not, that 
 
 [»] This art was loft in the time of Pliny. Qubn- 
 dam ses confufum auro argentoque mifcebatur, et ta- 
 men ars pretiofior erat : Nunc incertum eft, pejor hxc 
 fit, an materia j mirumque cum ad infinitum operum 
 pretia creverint, ars extindla eft. Lib. xxxiv. c. 2. 
 
 [0] Servius, ad ver; 392, 393. ^Eneid. ii. has the 
 following note : Scutis Grxcoram, Ntptunus ; Tro- 
 janorum, faic Minerva depida. And again, ad ver. 
 784. iEneid. x. Lino tegebantar fcuta, ut pofTent in- 
 hxrere "pidurx. 
 
 C 4 Pliny 
 
24 ^ke Antiquity and Dial. III. 
 
 Pliny confidently affirms, that the latter 
 did not exift in thofe times ; for which, 
 however, he gives no reafon, any rnore 
 than he does, for treating as ridiculous the 
 ' afiertion of the' Egyptians, that they prac- 
 tifed painting, many thoufand years be- 
 fore it was known in Greece. Whoever 
 confults [f\ Tacitus will find, that the 
 Egyptians knew defign, and fculptured 
 marble, long before they had the know- 
 ledge of letters ; which, Cadmus, a de- 
 fcendent of theirs, many ages after, intro- 
 duced into Greece. 
 
 B. What you have offered concern- 
 ing the Egyptians, is confiirmed by a la- 
 ter and undoubted example. When the 
 Spaniards firft arrived in America, the 
 
 [p] Primi per figuras animalium ^gyptii fenfus 
 mentis effingebant, et antiquifSma monumenta me- 
 moriae humana impreffa faxis cernumar. Annal. 
 lib. xi. cap. 14. 
 
 2 news 
 
Dial. III. Ufefulnefs of Vainting 25 
 news was fent to the Emperor in paint- 
 ed expreffes, they not having at that time 
 the ufe of letters, 
 
 J. As it is evident that paint bears 
 the immediate ftamp, and very image of 
 our conceptions, [q] fo it was natural, that 
 men fhould fooner hit on this method 
 of reprefenting their thoughts, than by let- 
 ters, which have no connedion with, or 
 refemblance to the ideas they ft^nd for : 
 From whence, no lefs than from the au- 
 tl]ority of hiftory, it has been juftly con- 
 cluded, that writing is of a much later 
 invention than painting. But that which 
 brought the antiquity of the latter fo much 
 
 [q] It is to be obrerved, that, in the Greek 
 tongue, the fame word lignifies to paint, 
 
 or to write ; which is eafily accounted for, if we 
 fuppofe that, like the Egyptians, they firft explain- 
 ed their thoughts by paint : So that, afterwards, 
 when letters were difcbvered, though they changed 
 the manner, they continued the term. 
 
 into 
 
26 ^he Antiquity and Dial. HI, 
 
 into doubt, was the vanity of the Greeks. 
 Piqued that any other nation fhould have 
 the honour of its invention, they dated 
 its origin from its firft appearance among 
 themfelves ; they tell us of a certain maid, 
 who to have fome prefent image of her 
 lover, who was about to leave her, [r] 
 drew the out-lines of^his fliadow on a 
 wall. 
 
 B. It was prettily imagined however, 
 to make the moft amiable of all our paf- 
 fions give birth to the moft pleafing of 
 ail arts. 
 
 A. Pliny who mentions this, objeds to 
 the Greeks their inconfiftency, and want 
 of accuracy. The firft painter they name, 
 lived in the nintieth olympiad ; upon which 
 
 [r] Hence the art itfelf was by the Greeks termed 
 and in the Latin, Jdumbrare and Pin- 
 ^ere are lynonymous. 
 
 he 
 
Dial. iil. Ufefdmfs Painting. 2 7 
 he obferves, that Candaules, " a king 
 « of Lydia, who died m the eighteeiich, 
 " gave an itnmenfe price for a pifture 
 « by Bularchus to which he adds, [j] 
 ** it is manifeft, that the art was even 
 *' then in its full beauty and perfedlion ; 
 " which, if we are forced to allow, it 
 *' neceffarily follows, that its beginnings 
 <* muft have been niuch more ancient." 
 
 The Piaurse Ardea^, fo much praif- 
 ed by Pliny, were, as he tells us, paint- 
 ed before the foundation of Rome; as 
 were the Atalanta and Helena at Lanu- 
 vium, by the fame hand ; each of excel- 
 lent beauty. This is a fecond proof, that 
 painting was at a high point ofperfe6lion 
 before the inftitution of the olympiads. 
 Having thus eftablilhed the reputation of 
 
 [i] Manifefta jam turn claritate artis atque abfo- 
 lutione; quod fi recipi neceffe eft, fimul apparet 
 multo vetuftiora principia effe. Lib. xxxv. 
 
 ou^ 
 
ne Antiquity and Dial. IIL 
 our art, fo far as depends on its antiquity; 
 J fball come to confider it in a light much 
 more to its advantage, I mean its ufeful- 
 nefs to fociety. I fhall enlarge the more 
 pn this, as we do not fcem to be fuffi- 
 ciently acquainted with it in this charac- 
 ter. 
 
 Whejj Plato banilhed poetry from his 
 republick, it is to be wondered he did 
 not extend his feverity to painting and fculp- 
 ture:It is probable, he did not fo well 
 Icnow the powers of thefe arts, or how 
 far their merit entitled then to his per- 
 fecution. It fl:kou]d feem that legiQators., 
 for the moft part, divide men into two 
 extremes-, to thofe of the finer temper, 
 they propofe the good of fociety, and 
 beauty of virtue, as fufficient motives to 
 adion : But the vulgar and fordid natures 
 are, by their leading paffions, as pride, 
 
 feai" 
 
Dial. IlL Ufefulnefs of ^Aitrnmo: 29 
 fear and hope, to be compelled into vir- 
 tue. Such fyftems as thefe may produce 
 a Spartan feverity, or Roman patriotifm, 
 but never an Athenian politenefs. To ef- 
 fect this, the fofter paffions, and even ele- 
 gant habitudes are to be employed : Thefe 
 only can humanize the mind, and temper 
 it into a fenfibility of the flighteft impref- 
 fions, and moft exquifite feelings. Hence 
 fpring attention, [/] civility, the fine dif- 
 guifes of our own pafTions, and infinuating 
 addrefs to thofe of others- thefe fafliion 
 themfelves into a fyftem of politenefs ; fo- 
 ciety becomes amiable, as well as good, 
 and we have at laft, the beft incitements to 
 
 [/] In the ancient mythology, the X«ft7e; or Graces 
 were made to prefide over courtefy, and outward 
 charms: The affigniri^ them this double province, 
 was happily imagined ; for civility, or the defire to 
 pleafe, naturally produces a gracefulnefs of aftion ; 
 and ipreads over our perfons that venuftas, whicli 
 is the completion of exterior beauty. 
 
 the 
 
' The Antiquity and Dial. 
 the praftice of virtue, in the agree- 
 ablenefs of its objefls. 
 
 B. Thus, the firft motives may be faid 
 to aft like the preffure of the heart or 
 current of the blood ; their operations are 
 evident : But the latter, of a more refined 
 nature, like the animal fpirits, though they 
 work unperceived, give life and movement 
 to well ordered focieties. 
 
 A. Ovid takes notice of the utility, as 
 Well as the pleafure we receive from an 
 encouragement of the polite arts [xl. 
 
 Ea<h pkajihg art lends foftnefs io the mind. 
 And, with our Jiudies, are our lives refined. 
 
 t»] This was well underflood by Confucius, thtf 
 Ghinefe legiflator j who ranks civility with< gratitude/ 
 in the clafs of cardinal virtues. 
 
 [ar] Scilicet ingenium placida mollitur ab arte, 
 Et ftudio mores convenienter eunt. 
 
 Lib. iii. de Arte< 
 
 And 
 
Dial. III. Ufefulnefs of Pai^jthjc. 31 
 And Petronius views their effefls in a moral 
 light, obferving, [jy] that violent paffions 
 (Jweli in the rude, but take no hold of a 
 cultivated mind.— -Were we then to con- 
 fider the arts merely as objeds of elegant 
 fpeculation, or as the means of polifliing. 
 and foftening our manners, we could not 
 prize them too highly ; but their efFeds 
 are much more extenfive. The powers of 
 eloquence and mufick are univerfally ac- 
 knowledged ; fo would be thofe of paint 
 were they as univerfally exercifed. The 
 Athenians paffed a law, that none who were 
 not of a liberal birth, fhould pra6lire in 
 this an: They could not better ftiow the 
 fenfe they had of its power than in the care 
 they took of its direction. They knew 
 the dominion it had over our pafTions, and 
 hence were careful to lodofe it in the fafeft 
 hands. Agreeable to this idea, the Greek 
 
 [y] Similiter in peSoribus ira confidit, feras qui- 
 dem mentcs obfidet, eruditas prselabitur. In Satyrico. 
 
 writers 
 
The antiq^uity and Cial. III. 
 
 Writers often fpeak of the drama of a paint- 
 er, of the moral of painting; exprefTiona 
 which mark^ that they confidered this art, 
 as on a level, and co-operating with poet- 
 ry. One of the graveft and mod judicious 
 of the Romans viewed it in the fame light. 
 [2] Pidure, fays Quintilian, a filent and 
 uniform addrefsj yec penetrates fo deeply 
 into our inmoft affedions, that it feems 
 often to exceed even the powers of elo- 
 quence. We cannot doubt the fincerity of 
 this decifion, if we confider the charafter 
 of the perfon from whom it comes. Ci- 
 cero was equally fenfible of the powers of 
 the pencil, and often fets them in com- 
 petition with thofe of his favourite art. 
 Their effeds are fometimes wonderful. It 
 is faid, that Alexander trembled and grew 
 pale, on feeing a pi(^lure of Palamedes be- 
 
 [z] Pidura, tacens opus et habitus femper ejuf- 
 dem, fic in intimos penetrate afFedtus, ut ipfam vim 
 dicendi nonnunquatn fuperare videatur. 
 
 t rayed 
 
Dial. III. Ufefulnefs of Paiutihg, 33 
 trayed to death by his friends ; it bringing 
 to his mind a flinging remembrance of his 
 treatment of Ariftonicus. Portia could 
 bear with an unlhaken conftancy her laft 
 reparation from Brutus; but when (he faw, 
 fome hours after, a pidture of the parting 
 of Hedlor and Andromache, Ihe burft in« 
 to a flood of tears : Full as feemed her for- 
 row, the painter fuggefted new ideas of 
 grief, or imprefs*d more ftrongly her own. 
 I have fomewhcre met with a pretty ilory 
 of an Athenian courtezan, who, in the midft 
 of a riotous banquet with her lovers, acci- 
 dentally caft her eye on the portrait of a 
 philofopher, that hung oppofite to her feat ; 
 the happy charader of temperance and vir- 
 tue, ftruck her with fo lively an image of 
 her own unworthinefs, that fhe inftantly 
 quitted her room ; and retiring home, be- 
 came ever after an example of temperance, 
 as Ihe had been before of debauchery. 
 You might tax me with doing injuftice to 
 D the 
 
34 Thi antiq^uity and Dial. lit. 
 
 the prefent times, were I to draw all my 
 proofs from the ancient ; I appeal, there- 
 fore, to yourfelf, who have had an oppor- 
 tunity to prove it, whether you could look 
 on the death of Gernianicus, as painted by 
 Poufin, without feeling a generous indig-' 
 nation at the cruelty of his opprefibr, and 
 an equal compaffion for unhappy virtue. 
 The reprefentation of a plague, by the 
 fame author, melts the foul into a tender 
 participation of human mifcries: Thefe 
 impreffions end not here j they give a turn 
 to the mind advantageous to fociety ; every 
 argument offorrow, every objed of dif- 
 trefs, renews the fame foft vibrations, and 
 quickens us to adls of humanity and be- 
 nevolence. 
 
 B. By what fatality has it been, that 
 a nation, eminent for its produftions in 
 poetry and eloquence, capable of the great- 
 eft eflforts of genius, and bleft with the 
 5 happieft 
 
Dial. III. U/e/uke/s ^ Paikting, ^5 
 happieft fenfibility, Ihould, for fo many- 
 ages, with a kind of wilful anid Gothic 
 rudenefs, have withftood the allurements 
 of this divine art ? 
 
 J. The extraordinary paflion which the 
 Englifli have for portraits, muft ever pre- 
 vent the rife of hiftory painting among us : 
 The liberal, like the mechanick arts, de- 
 pend wholly on the encouragement they 
 meet with, 
 
 B. It fhould feem, that w^e inherit o^t 
 tafte in painting from cur Britifli anccftorsj 
 Propertius has given a ,pi£lure of thei??, 
 which, with the fmalleft allowance, ml^hX 
 pafs for our own. [a'] 
 
 Like the dauFd Briton now you Jirike the eye^ 
 And look more trifling in a borrev/d die, 
 
 f «| INa»€ ttv&m iwfe^los d^sKns imitare Bfitannos, 
 Ludis ct externo tindta vkatt caput. 
 
 Lib. ii. Ekg. 18. 
 
 D 2 It 
 
3 6 The Antiquity and Dial. III. 
 
 It is, you fee, the fame fpirit, a little varied 
 in its operations. 
 
 A. Your countrymen will not thank 
 you for having revived this branch of their 
 inheritance. But, to refume our fubjedt; 
 it is certain, that the love of this art has 
 been confidered in every civilized nation, 
 not only as a proof of their politenefs, but 
 even as the teft of their humanity. Vir- 
 gil, who feldom hazards his refledions, 
 has given us a fmgular inftance of his judg- 
 ment on this point, ^neas, on his land- 
 ing in Africk, has many fears touching the 
 temper and manners of the Africans j but 
 he no fooner fees the walls of their temple 
 covered with paindngs, than, fecure of a 
 reception, he cries out in a tranfport to his 
 friend \b'] : 
 
 j Sulit lacrymse rerum, et mentem mortalia tangunt. . 
 Solve metum. iEneid. i. 
 
 Here 
 
 I 
 
Dial. III. Ufefulnefs of Painting. 
 
 Here others ills are felt, the wretched here 
 Are fure to meet the tribute of a tear^ 
 Vain were our fears, 
 
 B. What then muft iEneas have 
 thought, had he heard, that in that 
 country, painting was taxed by the foot, 
 or feen his helplefs Penates hurried away to 
 the cuftom-houfe ? 
 
 A. Yoxj may exped, that, before I 
 quit the efFeds of paint, I fhould fay 
 fomething of the pleafure we receive from 
 it : But, as this is itfelf a paflion, found- 
 ed on the love of what is beautiful, and 
 the delight we feel in having our paf- 
 fions moved, it is eafier to affirm its 
 
 exiftence, than to explain its nature It 
 
 is enough therefore to obferve, that this 
 pleafure has prevailed in every age, and 
 takes in all charaders of men, from the 
 
 elegant. 
 
38 Tbe Jntlquiiy and, ^c. Dial. III. 
 elegant obferver of beauty, down to the 
 illiterate ruftic, who, as Horace humour-^ 
 oufly exprefies it, flares, contento poplite^ 
 at the daubings of the art, and is tranf- 
 ported with the magick of a charcoal 
 pencil, 
 
[ 39 ] 
 
 DIALOGUE IV, 
 
 D E S I G N . 
 
 J. TTT/E are told by Pliny, that all the 
 W ftatues before the time of Dae- 
 dalus, were reprefented ftiff a^nd motionlefs ; 
 with winking eyes, clofed feet, and arms 
 hanging in right lines to their fides [c] : 
 Thefe were the rude effays of defign. 
 
 [<:] Conniventibus oculis, pedibus junftis, brachiis in 
 Jatera demiffis, ftatu rigido. —The Egyptians con- 
 tinued to the laft, even when they were mafters of a 
 perfeft defign, to reprefent their deities in the man- 
 ner above defcribed : We cannot fuppofe that this 
 was owing to an ignorance of the advantages of a 
 graceful aftion, but rather to their bigotted attachment 
 to certain theological ideas. The motion they af- 
 eribed to their divinities, was neither that of walk- 
 ing nor flying; Milton, who has adopted their ide^, 
 defcribes itprecifely in the following lines,-—— 
 
 So fayingy by the hand he took me, rais'dy 
 
 And over fields and naaters, as in air 
 
 Smooth sliding without step, hji led me up 
 
 A ivoody mountain. ■ — 
 
 D 4 Psdalus 
 
40 0/Design.. Dial. IV. 
 
 Dsedalus, and his immediate followers, un- 
 folded thefe embarafled figures ; they threw 
 motion into the limbs, and life into the 
 countenance. In the progrefs of the art, 
 and in abler hands, motion was fafhioned 
 into grace, and life was heightened into 
 character. Now, too, it was, that beauty 
 of form was no longer confined to mere 
 imitation, which always falls fhort of the 
 obje6t imitated 5 to make the copy equal in 
 its efFe(5t, it was neceflary to give it fome 
 advantage over its model. The artift, 
 therefore, obferving, that nature was fpar- 
 ing of her perfedions, and that her efforts 
 ■were limited to parts, availed himfelf of 
 
 The Greeks who borrowed their religion, as they did 
 their arts, from the Egyptians, followed for fome time 
 this mode of reprefentation ; till at length, (which 
 was, perhaps, the era Pliny mentions) their averfion 
 to every thing that was ungraceful, overcame their 
 prejudices ; and this might have been a principal rea^ 
 fon, that in the end they fo far excelled their maf- 
 ters.— — 
 
 her 
 
Dial. IV. 0/ Design. 4.1 
 her inequality, [d] and drawing thefe fcat- 
 tered beauties into a more happy and com- 
 pleat union, rofe from an imperfed: imi- 
 tative, to a perfeft ideal beauty. We are 
 informed, that the painters of Greece pref- 
 fed in crowds to defign the bofom and 
 breafts of Thais : Nor were the elegant pro- 
 portions of Phryne lefs the objeft of their 
 fludy. By this conftant contemplation of 
 the beautiful, they enriched their imagina- 
 tion and confirmed their tafte ; from this 
 fund they drew their fyftems of beauty 
 and though we fhould confider them 
 but as imitators as to the parts, we muft 
 allow them to have been inventors in the 
 
 [J] Omt^ Tgowoy, ttctt tok rot ai,ya,>^(jiMla. tJIoi? SiccTr^ar- 
 TS(TV>f oi isoui TO wasp EXisera xa^on fft/vayayovls?. JC«» 
 
 x«Mo« ev Jyte? xai apliov koh ri^yuoofjuivov etvlo av\u> 
 
 exilo' Kaj UK uv iv^otf aufAct axfi^si xxla aXJiGftav ayaX- 
 
 Max. Tyr. Differt. xxiii. ed. Lond. 
 
 compofitions : 
 
42 0/.D.£siGN. Dial. IV. 
 
 CDrnpofLcions. And indeed, when we re^ 
 fleet on the talle and judgment requifite 
 to form thefe various ideas into fuch a won- 
 derful agreement, we cannot fet too high 
 a value on their produftions. The poets 
 and writers of antiquity acknowledge this 
 fuperioricy of invented to real beauty. — 
 
 Ovid thus defcribes Cyllarus the Cen* 
 taur, [e] 
 
 jf juji proportion^ and a manly grace ^ 
 Spread ihrs his Umbs, and kindled in his face, 
 Nature for once ajfum'd the fculptor' spart^ 
 And in a faulllefs beauty rivalled art. 
 
 And Philoftratus, fpeaking of the beauty of 
 Ncoptolemus, remarks, that it was as much 
 inferior to that of his father Achilles, as the 
 handfomefl men are to the fineft ftatues. 
 
 W Gratus in ore vigor: cervix, humerique, manufque, 
 Feftoraque artificum laudatis proxima fignis, 
 Exquapartevireft. Metam. lib. xii. 
 
 Should 
 
PiAL. IV. Of Design. 43 
 Should we ftill doubt of the truth orjuft- 
 nefs of the defcriptions, let us obfei've the 
 works which gave occafion to them. Let 
 us contemplate the fine proportions, the 
 ftyle of drawing in the Laocoon and Gla- 
 diator. Let us mark the fublime of the 
 art, in the exprefiive energy, the divine 
 ^ihara^ler of the Apollo. Let us dwell on 
 the elegant beauties of the Venus of Me- 
 dicis. Thefe are the utmoft efforts of de- 
 fign : It can reach no farther than a full 
 exertion of grace, charader, and beauty. 
 We have thus traced the genius of defign 
 from its firfl: effays to its full flight. But 
 there is an [/] enthufiafm in every art. 
 The Greek ilatuaries felt themfelves ftrait- 
 tcned within the out- lines of nature ; they 
 invented new proportions, they concieved 
 
 new 
 
44 O/DjEsiGN. Dial. IV. 
 
 new charafters. The [g] Jupiter and Mi^ 
 nerva of Phidias were fubjeds of aftonifh- 
 ment in the moft enHghtened ages. It 
 Ihould feem, that the wonderful efFedl: of 
 thefe ftatues, proceeded from an union of 
 the beautiful, with the great and uncom- 
 mon ; thus combining the whole influence 
 of vifible objects on the imagination. If 
 we are aflonilhed at the firft fight of the 
 Coloflal ftatues on the monte Cavallo'at 
 Rome, a fecret and growing pleafure 
 fucceeds this amazement: For, though the 
 immenfity of their form feems, at firft, to 
 fet them above the fcale of our ideas, yet, 
 fo happy is the fymmetry of their parts, 
 fuch a freedom of defign, fuch an aptnefs 
 for aftion prevail throughout, that the eye 
 foon becomes familiar with their propor- 
 tions, and capable of their beauties. 
 
 [g] Non vidit Phidias Jovem, fecit tamen, velut 
 tonantem ; rec ftetit ante oculos ejus Minerva, dignns 
 tamen ilia arte animus, et concepit Deos et exhibuit. 
 
 Senec. Ret. lib. x. 
 B, It 
 
DiA. IV. 
 
 Of Design. 
 
 45- 
 
 ^. It is probable, that a great part of 
 the pleafure which we receive in the con- 
 templation of fuch Coloffal figures, arifes 
 from a comparifon of their proportions 
 with our own. The mind, in thefe mo- 
 ments, grows ambitious; and feels itfelf 
 afpiring to greater powers, and fuperior 
 fundions : Thefe noble and exalted feel- 
 ings difFufe a kind of rapture through the 
 foul and raife in it conceptions and aims 
 above the limits of humanity. The fineft, 
 and, at the fame time, moft pleafing fen- 
 fations in nature, arethofe, which, (if I may 
 be allowed the expreflion) carry us out of 
 ourfeives, and bring us neareft to that di- 
 vine original from which we fpring. 
 
 A. To this power of humanizing, if I 
 may fo call it, thefe Coloffal proportions, 
 fucceeds that of annexing the fubiime to the 
 moft minute. When two fuch extremes 
 
 correfpond 
 
46 0/Design. Dial. IV. 
 correfpond in their effeds, we may be afibr- 
 ed, that the merit in both fprings from the 
 fame caufe, a [h] greatnefs of manner. The 
 mod celebrated inftance in this kind, was 
 the Hercules of Lyfippus •, which, though 
 not more than a foot in height, filled the 
 imagination equal to the Hercules Farnefe, 
 As this ftatue is loft, we muft con- 
 tent ourfelves with the defcription of it by 
 Statius [/]. 
 
 Jt thschajle hoard ihe god himfelf appear 
 jnfpires theartijU banquet cheers ; 
 
 He^ only he^ could teach ihee to confine 
 J great idea to minute deftgn j 
 
 [i] Hsc inter caftx genius tut^laque menfx 
 Amchitryoniades, &c. 
 
 1 Deus ille, Deus : Sefeque VidendaW 
 
 Indulfit, Lyfippe, tibi, parvufque videri 
 
 Sentirique ingens ; et cum mirabilis intra 
 
 Stet menfura pedem, tamen exclamare libebit, v^' 
 
 (Si vifus per membra feras) hoc pcaoj-a |*^s 
 
 Vaftator Nemees, &c. , ^ , 
 
 Lib. IV. Sylv. 
 
 From 
 
Dial. IV. O/DesigI^* 47 
 
 From fart to part our heated fancy fl'ies^ 
 Jfid gives to charaSter^ what /pace denies ; 
 Prefs'd by that arm^ the lion pants for breath j 
 And Cacus trembles attU impending death, 
 
 B. The Jupiter of Phidias, and Her- 
 cules of Lyfippus are equal examples of 
 the fuperior genius of the Greeks ; and it 
 muft be confcfTed, that if they have im- 
 proved on nature, it was not fo much by 
 quitting her proportions, as excelling her 
 ideas* When I refled on this evident fupe- 
 riority of the Greek artifts over the ancient 
 and Modern Roman, I am at a lofs to ac- 
 count for it : I cannot attribute it wholly 
 to a pre-eminence of genius ; being un- 
 willing to believe, that nature could confine 
 true tafte to fuch narrow boundaries : And 
 yet, if fhe is partial to particular ages, 
 why may not Ihe be fo to particular cli- 
 mates ? 
 
 A. This 
 
48 
 
 Of Design. Dial. IV. 
 
 A. This refledion is humbling ; let us 
 ]ook for a fccond caufe. [k'] Seneca ob- 
 ferves, " That naked bodies, as they be- 
 " tray their imperfedtions, fo they give a 
 " full exhibition of their beauties : " Each 
 of thefe effedts tends to the improvement 
 of defign, Cloathing on the contrary, dif- 
 guifes beauty, and gives a protection to 
 faults. The [I] Greeks, it is known, al- 
 moft ever reprefented their figures naked. 
 But the Romans, whofe charafter was mi- 
 litary, dreffed theirs in armour. That art 
 which challenges criticifm, muft always be 
 fuperior to that which Ihuns it. We are 
 told by Pliny, [m] " That Praxiteles had 
 
 {k"] Nuda corpora, vitia fi qua fint, non celant, nec 
 laudes parum oftentant. Lib. iii. Ep. 6. 
 
 [/] Gra?ca res eft nihil velare ; at contra, Romana ac 
 militaris, thoracas addere. Plin. lib. xxxiv. c. 5. 
 
 [tn] Duas fecerat Veneres Praxiteles, fimulque ven- 
 debat ; alteram velata fpecie, quam ob id quidem 
 
 made 
 
Dial. I?. 0/ D E s I G 49 
 
 «« made two ftatues of Venus, . which he 
 *' fold at the fame timej the pne clothed; 
 *' which, for that reafon, was preferred by 
 *' the people of Cos : Thofe of Gnidus 
 " purchafed that which was rejcfted. The 
 reputation of thefe ftatues was widely 
 " different for by this laft Praxiteles en- 
 *« nobled Gnidus.** We may conceive then 
 that the Greeks had the fame advantage 
 over the Romans^ that the naked Venus had 
 over the clothed : This advantage holds 
 ftill more ftrongly againft the moderns ; 
 who, borrowing their characters and fub- 
 jc£ls from a chafte religion, are not only 
 forced in decency to clothe their figures ; 
 but often, by propriety, to make that cloth- 
 ing of the coarfeft materials. Hence it is, 
 that we often fee a Saint bending under a 
 load of drapery, and the elegant form of a 
 
 prsetulerunt Coi ; rejef^afti Gnldii emerunt : Immen* 
 s4 differentia faiiia ; illo enim figno Praxitelc? ntibi- 
 litavit Gnidum. Lib. xxxvi. c. 5. 
 
 E riun 
 
0 0/ Design. Dial. IV'. 
 
 nun overwhelmed in the blanketting of her 
 order. If paint fometimes reprefents to us 
 the naked body of a Clirifl, it is either 
 ftretehed on a crofs, or disfigured by fuf- 
 ferings j whilft the virgin-mother is hooded 
 to the eyes, and the beauties of the Mag- 
 dalen are abforbed in velvet. The refult 
 of this habit is evident, when our firft ar- 
 tifts come to defign the nud ; a comparifon 
 of Raphael's figures, in the incendio di Bor- 
 go, with the Laocoon or Gladiator, would 
 have much the fame effedl, as that of a 
 Flemifh coach-horfe with an Arabian cour- 
 
 B. It may be offered in this place, that 
 as our fubjedls feldom admit the nude, we 
 are not fuch great fufFerers by a negled o^" 
 it. 
 
 ./fi But this negligence has the worft 
 efi^(fls, even where it Teems ptotcded for 
 
 we 
 
Dial. IVi CyDESiGN, ^"j 
 
 we findj that our painters are much more 
 happy in the difpofition and caft of their 
 draperies, than in the corrednefs of their 
 defign ; and Raphael would not be fo 
 much praifed, for giving us, in his clothed 
 figures, a fair exprefllon of form and pro- 
 portion, were not the contrary of this the 
 general charader of our painters. Thefe 
 reflexions have carried me fomewhat wide 
 ef my fubjefb j I muft return to it« 
 
 The defign of the ancients is diftinguifli- 
 ed by an union in the proportions, a fim- 
 plicity of Contour, and excellence of cha- 
 ra<5ler. Of the firft I have faid as much as 
 I might do, without venturing too far in- 
 to the mechanic of the art : But as I have 
 only hinted at the others, fome more par- 
 ticular remarks may not be improper. 
 There is no one excellence of defign, from 
 which we receive fuch immediate pleafure, 
 as from a gracefulnefs of adtion : If we 
 
 E a obferve 
 
52 O/Design. Dial. IV. 
 
 obferve the attitudes and movements of the 
 Greek ftatues, we fhall mark that carelefs 
 decency, and unafFe6led grace, which ever 
 attend the motions and geftures of men dll- 
 confcious of obfervation. There [n] is a- 
 prodigious difference, between thofe move- 
 ments which flow from nature, add thofe 
 which are diredleci by art. 
 
 The ancients knew this well ; and hence 
 followed that fingular fimplicity which cha- 
 raderifes their works : For, though at 
 times, as in the Venus of Medicis, and 
 daughters of Niobe, they rife to an afiumed 
 gracefulnefs ; and even profefs a defire to 
 pleafe ; yet this is confin*d to fo fimple a 
 contour; it is fo little above the meafure 
 of ordinary adion, that it appears lefs the 
 efFed of ftudy, than the natural refuk of 
 
 [w] PauKim intereffe cenfes, ex ahimo omiiia, 
 Ut fertnatura, facias, an de induftria ? 
 
 Terent. And. ad. iv. fcene i;, 
 
 a fuperior 
 
DiAU I¥. 0/Design. 53 
 
 a fupcrior charafter, or an habitual polite- 
 nefs. 
 
 B. Raphael has, in this particular, been 
 wonderfully happy in his imitation of the 
 antique. The moft c<ourtly imagination 
 cannot reprefent to itfelf an image of a 
 more winning grace, than is to be feen 
 an his Sanda Ca^cilia : Indeed, an elegant 
 fimplicity is the chara^eriflic of his defign ; 
 we no where meet in him the affeded con- 
 trails of Mie. Angelo, or the fludied atti- 
 tudes of Guido ; the true difference be- 
 tween thofe, may be belt conceived, in a 
 fuppofed comparifon of the real charaders 
 of the Drama, with the zdors who perfon- 
 ate them j in Raphael, and the antique, we 
 fee Alexander and Hamlet, in Mic. Angelo 
 and Guido And, 
 
 y/. Though in treating of grace and 
 beauty, chara(5ter, fo far as it is determin- 
 
 ]^ 3 -€d 
 
54 0/Design. Dial. IV. 
 
 cd by them, has been naturally included ; 
 yet there remains ftill a more effential part; 
 I mean, that expreflion of a mind, con- 
 veyed in the air of the head, and intelli- 
 gence of the countenance. If, in the other 
 branches of defign, the ancients are to be 
 admired ; in this they are wonderful. 
 However enlightened we may be by the 
 mod elegant obfervance of nature, or 
 warmed by the moft poetic defcriptions, 
 the Belvedere Apollo, and daughter of Ni- 
 obe ftill give us new ideas of noblenefs, 
 energy, and beauty. The ftatuaries cf 
 Greece, were not mere mechanicks j men 
 of education and literature, they were more 
 the companions than fervants of their em- 
 ployers : Their tafte was refined by the 
 converfation of courts, and enlarged by the 
 ledure of their poets : Accordingly, the 
 fpirit of their ftudies breathes thirough their 
 works. We fee no fuch influence in the 
 produdions of the moderns j their greatefl 
 
 meric 
 
Dial. IV. Of Design. 5,5 
 merit is a fervile imitation of the antique ; 
 the moment they lofe fight of them they 
 are loft. In the elegant, they are little ; 
 in the great, charged ; charafter they have 
 none ; their beauty is the refult of mea- 
 fure, not idea: And if, miftaking extra.- 
 vagance for fpirit, they aim at the fublime, 
 it ends in the blufterings of Bernini^ or 
 caricatures of Michael Angelo, 
 
 B. From .all that you Tiave offered on the 
 defign of the ancients, we may define 
 grace to be the moft pleafing conceivable 
 aflion, expreffed with the utmoft fimpli- 
 city each occafion will admit ©f, 
 
 j^. So far as a definition of Grace can 
 go, , yours gives a juft idea of it-, for, it 
 implies the higheft degree of elegance in 
 the choice ; of propriety in the application ; 
 and of eafe in the execution : You rightly 
 term it an aflion, for there is no grace 
 
 E 4 without 
 
^6 0/" D E s I e n: Dial. iV. 
 
 without motion. Thus, Milton diftia* 
 guilhes it from beauty. 
 
 Grace was in all her Jieps^ heav*n in hr eye. 
 
 Venus was but gueffed at by her beauty i 
 Ihe was known by her motions — ^ 
 
 Vera incejfu patutt I)ea. But, the per- 
 
 fe(5lion of Grace is, when it becomes [<?} 
 charaderiftick ; and marks fome amiable 
 emotion in the mind. Such, we may pre- 
 fume, was the excellence of Apelles [p] j 
 
 [o] Let us unite to thefe amiable expreffions, si 
 be.coming air of the head, flexure of the body, an4 
 an elegant difpofition of the limbs, we fhall then have 
 a clear conception of that correggiefque Grace, which 
 it has fo much puzzled our writers to explain. I have 
 in my poffeffioa an excellent copy of the St. Jerome of 
 Correggio, where one may fee in the Angel, the Ma- 
 donna, the C9ri&, and the Magdalen, fo many didin^t 
 examples of this idea. 
 
 [p] Praecipua ApelHs in arte venwftas fuit, cam 
 eadem xtate maximi pidlores effent ; quorum oper?i 
 cum admiraretur, coUaudatis omnibus, deeife lis unam 
 
 who. 
 
Dial. IV. 0/Desigk. 57 
 " who, living at the ftirie lime with fomc; 
 " of the greateft painters 5 after lie had 
 « feen and admired their feveral works, 
 «* declared, that the only thing wanting in 
 *' them was Grace; that they pofTeffed 
 " every other excellence j but in this, liQ 
 faw no one equal tp himfelf." 
 
 ^. Th^ teftimoni.es which ypM produce 
 from their writings but abpve all, the 
 Greek flatues, which we may look upon as 
 living witneffes, fufRciently prove the me-f 
 ric of the ancients. Let us now, if yo^ 
 pleafe, confider that of the moderns : Thus, 
 eftabliflnng a general idea of comparifon 
 between the two, we ihall have a more per* 
 fed one of both. I do not mean to lead 
 you into a derail of the perfections or im- 
 perfe6lions of our different artifts j it will 
 
 illam Venerem dicebat, quam Grseci Xa^tltc yocantj 
 csetera omnia contigifle, fed hac foli fibi neminem pa- 
 renj. Plio. lib. xxxv. c. 10, 
 
 be 
 
5? 0/Design, DiAL.IV^, 
 
 be fulEcient to throw the merit of the 
 caufe upon fome one, who is generally air 
 lowed to be the mod excellent. 
 
 A. There is no difficulty in our choice-: 
 I {hall lay before you the refieftions I have 
 made on the defign of Raphael ; with this 
 latitude, that you may admit or rejed them 
 as they happen to fquare with your own ; 
 for, this fbould always be the cafe, where 
 we profefsto have no other guide but feel- 
 ing i and to form our judgment merely 
 from cffefts. — — — 
 
 . The defign of Raphael was, in its be- 
 ginnings, dry, but corredt ; he enlarged it 
 much on feeing the drawings of Michael 
 Angelo : Of too juft an eye to give intire- 
 jy into the exceffes of his model, he llruck 
 out a middle ftyle ; which, however, was 
 not fo happily blended, nor fo perfedly 
 original, as quite to throw off influence 
 %. of 
 
Dial. IV. Of Design-. 59 
 of the extremes: Hence, in the great, 
 he is too apt to fwell into the charged ; 
 in the delicate, to drop into the little. — 
 His defign, notwithftanding, is beautiful ; 
 but never arrived to that perfedion, which 
 we difcover in the Greek ftatues. He is 
 excellent in the charaders of Philofophers, 
 Apoftles, and the like; but the figures 
 of his v/omen have not that elegance, which 
 is diftinguifhed in the Venus ofMedicis, 
 or the daughter of Niobe ; in thefe, his 
 convex Contours have a certain heavinefs, 
 which, when he feeks to avoid, he falls 
 into a drynefs ftill lefs pardonable, 
 
 B. Yet his proportions are efteemeci 
 excellent i and their fymmetry fuch, as to 
 give to his figures an cffed beyond the pro- 
 pife of theix ftature. 
 
 A At 
 
^9 0/De sign. Dial. I"^ 
 
 A. It is true, but yet, not having form- 
 ed his manner on the moft beautiful an- 
 tique, we do not fee in him that elegance 
 in the proportions, that freedom in the 
 joints, which lend all iheir motion to the 
 Laocoon and Gladiator. Inftead of thefe, 
 the figures of Michael Angelo were his mo- 
 dels in the great ftyle j whence, in his con- 
 vex Contour, having quitted the lines of 
 mature, and not having fubftituted thofe of 
 ideal beauty, he became too like his ori- 
 ginal ; as may be feen in his Incendio di 
 Borgo. Would you therefore place Ra- 
 phael in his true point of view, you muft 
 obferve him in the middle age; in old 
 men ; or, in the nervous nature : In his 
 Madonna's, he knew very well how to 
 choofe, as likewife how to vary the moft 
 beautiful parts in nature : But, he knew 
 aot, like the Greek ftatuaries, how to ex- 
 prefs a beauty fuperiorto the natural. Thus, 
 
 in 
 
Dial. IV. 0/De sign. 6t 
 in his Galatea, at the palace Chigi, Where 
 he has [q] profefledly attempted a cha- 
 rafter of perfedl beauty, he has fallen 
 fhort of the beauty of his Madonna's: The 
 caufe of which feems to me to be this, that, 
 in the former, he drew after his own ideas, 
 which were imperfed; in the latter, he 
 copied beautiful nature, which was almoft 
 perfeft. I am confirmed in this opinion by 
 a fecond ofervation : Of all the objedts of 
 paint, Angels call mod for ideal beauty ; 
 thofe of Raphael, are by no means diftin- 
 guifhed in this particular ; for, he had no 
 examples for them in nature, but was 
 
 [f\ In a letter to the count Baldaffar Caftiglione, 
 hefpeaksof his Galatea in the following words : '* Dellft 
 " Galatea, mi terrei an gran nraeftro, fe vi foffcro la 
 " meta delle tante cofe, che V. S. mi fcrive: E le 
 ** dico, che per dipingere una bella, mi bifognariar 
 ** veder piu belle : Ma eflendo careftia di belle donne, 
 *' io mi fervo dl certa idea, che mi viene alia mente. 
 " Se quefta ha in fe alcuna eccellenza d'arte, io noa 
 **fo: Ben mi afFatico di averla.". ' ; 
 
 I obliged 
 
62 0/ Design. Dial. IV. 
 
 obliged to draw them from his own ima- 
 gination. 
 
 B. Accordingly, he h^s given them a 
 motion, fpirit, and exprefTion, for which 
 he could have no example. 
 
 J. True ; but thefe do not conftitute 
 beauty, which is our prefent obje6l: Gn 
 the contraryj in Raphael they often coun- 
 teraa it : Thus, in the heads of his Ma* 
 donna*s, the nofe is generally too large ; 
 he thought, no doubr, that this gave more 
 meaning and fenfibility to the face. In the 
 fame manner, his men, of the middle and 
 advanced age, have their features too ftrong- 
 iy marked t the mufcles, particularly thofe 
 of the lips and eye-brows, are charged t 
 It is plain, that he preferred this form, be- 
 caufe, by it, he could more eafily exprefs 
 the feveral emotions of the mind. But, 
 the perfedion of an art, is, to unite the 
 
 jufteft 
 
Dial. IV. 0/ D e s i g n. % 
 
 jufteft expreffions to the fineft forms. The 
 Belvedere Apollo, and the daughter of Ni- 
 obe, are the ftandards of beauty ; what 
 energy, what a divine expreflidn is there 
 in the one ? what diftrefs, what an afFeding 
 fenfibility in the other ? There are few ex- 
 prelTions (if we except thofe, which excite 
 in the beholders either hatred or contempt ) 
 which may not be ratore happily marked 
 in a fine countenance, than in fuch as are 
 ill-favoured j where the features are charg.- 
 ed, the flighted movements throw them 
 into forcible exprefllons ; the confequences 
 of which are, that the finer fymptoms of 
 paflion are in a great meafure loft; and 
 the ftronger ones lofe much of their force, 
 by the facility with which they are expref- 
 fed: But, in a face naturally beautiful and 
 compofed, not oply the degrees of paflion are 
 traced with delicacy ; but, the violent agi- 
 tations of the foul, affe6l us more fenfibly^ , 
 by the total difturbance and alteration which 
 
 they 
 
^4 D/ D t S I G W. t)lAL. IV* 
 
 they produce in the cotifttenante. This 
 idea will always have a grtat effeO: on the 
 intelligent obferver; and, in prb{>ortion 
 as the execution is rnort difficitlr, it will 
 do more honour to the artift. I muft add 
 to thefe remarks, that, e^tclurive of the 
 force which beauty gives to expreflfions in 
 general, there are fome, which cannot well 
 cxift without it! Thus, if dignity, courage, 
 love, or joy be thrown into a charged or 
 ill-favoured countenance, they grow into an 
 txtremity, by which they lofe their very 
 cflence ; and are transformed into pride, 
 fiercenefs, luft and grimace. You are not 
 to fuppofe, that in the cafes above-mentioti- 
 lioned, I always fpeak of either abfolure 
 beauty, or abfolute deformity; there are 
 degrees in both; and the judgment oiP the 
 artift confifts, in proportioning thofe de* 
 grees to the feveral occafions. 
 
 B. This, 
 
Dial. IV. 0/ Design. 65 
 
 B. This is, to turn a pleafing art into an 
 ufeful fciencci and to make every pidure 
 a fchool of virtue. But yet, I cannnot for- 
 give you, the having reduced the defign of 
 Raphael, fo much below the ftandard, at 
 which it is generally placed. 
 
 A. The judicious Pouffin has gone much 
 farther than I have done, or even than he 
 had a right to go -, when he affirmed, 
 that Raphael among the moderns was an 
 angel, but, that compared with the ancients, 
 he was an afs. This is too much ; how- 
 ever, it ferves to fliow how fenfibly this 
 painter felt the difference that was between 
 them. But, fetting afide thefe comparifons 
 our purpofe is to come at a fettled idea of 
 the moft perfed: defign : What is it to us, 
 whether the examples were produced two 
 thoufand, or two hundred years ago? A 
 pan of tafte, like the philofopher, fhould 
 F be 
 
66 Of Design. Dial. IV, 
 
 be a citizen of the world, acknowledge 
 merit wherever he meets ir, indifferent whe- 
 ther it fhines forth in a Raphael or ApelleSj 
 in a Michael Angeloor Glycon. 
 
 B. You have advanced, that the greateft 
 excellence of defign was grace ; whence is 
 it then, that Correggio, who, in this is in- 
 imitable, is, by many, placed fo low in 
 the clafs of Defigners ? 
 
 y^. This arifes from a want of attention 
 to the charader and purfuits of this amiable 
 painter. His conftant aim was grace : And 
 a happy effeft of clear obfcure : A wav- 
 ing and varied Contour was neceflary to 
 this end ; Hence, he gave wholly into the 
 lerpentinc, ftudioufly avoiding right lines, 
 and acute angles, as too fimple in their 
 effefls. [r] Thus the habit, and even ne- 
 
 [?■] Nullum fine venia placuit ingenium : Da mihi 
 Quemcumque vis magni nominis virum, dicam illi quid 
 2 teffity 
 
Dial. IV* 0/ Design. 67 
 
 ceflity of continually varying his out line, 
 threw him into little errors in drawing, 
 which Ipring not, as fome think, from an 
 ignorance of this branch of his art, but 
 from a predilection for another ; and, there 
 are few, I believe, who would wifh thofe 
 inadvertencies away, accompanied with the 
 charms which gave occafion to them. 
 
 A It is a difpute among the critics, 
 whether he ever faw or imitated the an- 
 tique. 
 
 A. This difpute is his greateft praife ; 
 for, they who fuppofe he did, cannot 
 otherwife account for the general beauty, 
 
 srtas' fua ignoverit, quid in illo fciens diflimulaverit : 
 MuUos dabo, quibus vitia non nocuerint ; quofdam^ 
 quibus profuerintj quos, fi quis corrigit, delet: Sic 
 enim vitia virtutibus immifla funt, ut illas fecum trac- 
 tura fint. Sen. Ep. cxjv. 
 
 F % and 
 
6S 0/ Design. Dial. IV. 
 
 and elegance of his defign : While thofc 
 who are of a contrary opinion, ground- 
 ed on imperfed relations of his Jife, pr 
 the lapfes and unfteadinefs of his pencil, 
 are forced to impute that beauty and 
 elegance to a pure ftrength of genius. 
 Certainly, his manner feems to have in 
 it all the warmth of invention, as it has 
 a certain boldnefs, fuperior to imita- 
 tion, and productive of uncommon graces. 
 Upon the whole, I think, we may af- 
 firm of his defign, where it is not facri- 
 ficed to his more favourite aims, that it 
 is often mafterly, and always pleafing; 
 a quality, rarely met with in thofe fer- 
 vile and unideai painters, who think 
 they have attained every perfedion, if 
 they keep within the rules of drawing; 
 .«* H with thefe, leannefs paffes for 
 
 Is] Macies illis pro fanitate, et judicii loco in- 
 famitas eft J et dum fatis putant vitio carere, in 
 
 " health. 
 
t)iAL. IV. 0/ Design. 69 
 
 "health, and weaknefs for judgment; 
 " and, while they think it fufficient 
 " to be free from faults, they fall in- 
 " to that capital fault, the want of 
 " beauties." 
 
 id ipfum inciduht vitium, quod virtutibus ca- 
 rent. Quint, xi. 4. 
 
 DIA. 
 
I 70] 
 
 DIALOGUE V, 
 
 Of Colouring. 
 
 ^. QHOULD themofl: able mafter in 
 O defign, attempt to reprefent, by 
 that alone, a rofe or grape, we Ihould 
 have but a faint and imperfedt image ; let 
 him add to each its proper colours, we no 
 longer doubt ; we fmell the rofe, we touch 
 the grape ; hence the poet [/] : 
 
 So glotu'd the grape, foperfeSi the deceit ^ 
 
 My hand reached forward, ere I found the cheat* 
 
 It feems then, that the firft gives a general 
 idea ; the fecond a particular exiftence. It 
 was this, no doubt, that induced Plutarch 
 
t)iAL. V. 0/ Colouring. yi 
 to affirm, " [u] that in painting, we are 
 " more ftruck by colouring than drawing* 
 " by reafon of its fimilitude and decep- 
 «' tion:" And another obferves, " M ThaE 
 " the painter may defign the outlines and 
 " proportions of a man, but it is by co- 
 *' louring, that he brings it to reprefent a 
 *' Socrates or Plato." The ancients were 
 not contented with attributing to colours 
 the power of realizing objedls ; they make 
 them to be their chief ornament, the very 
 fdui of beauty : [j] Thus Tully, " There 
 « is in the body a certain harmony of pro- 
 " portions, united to the charm of colour- 
 " ing, and this is called beauty. An au- 
 
 ttiiS'ge»xtXo» xai «7ra1i)Xoi'i De Poetis aud. 
 
 [a;] O ^aiygaipo? vsmn <a^u]ov xoivo* mBpaivov ti> aKi»y^x- 
 
 Tw»a. Ammonias in x. Categ. Ariftot. 
 
 [y] Corporis eft quaedam apta figura membrorum, 
 cum coloris quadam faavitatc, eaque dicitur- pulchri- 
 tude* 
 
 F 4 " thor, 
 
7^ CyCoLouR I N G. Dial. V. 
 ** thor, of no lefs authority, obferves ; [z] 
 " that fuch a body may be deemed truly 
 «* beautiful, in which a temperate and 
 *' pure blood fills the limbs, and fwells 
 « the mufcles, fpreading through the whole 
 " a ruddy tinge and glow of beauty." 
 Hence it was, that a Grecian lady of ad- 
 mired tafte, being afked, which was the 
 fined colour in nature, anfwered, the blufh 
 of an ingenuous and beautiful youth. 
 
 E. You need not draw all your examples 
 from antiquity : Whatever rank our paint- 
 ers may hold, we have Titians in our poets^ 
 — Obfei ve how Shakefpear pencils : 
 
 'Tis beavty truly blent ^ whofe red and white 
 Natures own fweet and cunning hand laid on. 
 
 [«} In quo temperatus ac bonus fanguis implet 
 membra, et exfurgit toris ; ipfos quoque nervos ru- 
 bore tegit, ac decore commendat. De cauf. corrupt, 
 eloq. c. 21. 
 
 And 
 
Dial. V. ^ 0/C ol ou r i ng. 73 
 And Fletcher, who excels in the defcription 
 of beauty and its efFedsi 
 
 Have I not received 
 A lady to my bed, that in her eye 
 Keeps mounting fire, and on her tender cheeks 
 Inevitable colour ? Maid's Tragedy. 
 
 Thus too our divine Milton: 
 
 To whom the angel, with a fmile that glowed 
 Cele/iial rofy red. Love's proper hue. 
 
 Such as thefe may be truly called colours 
 dipped in heaven ; and, a fine complexion, 
 in the language of a poet, is the die of 
 Love : Certainly it gives a wonderful efFed 
 to beauty it is a hint of fomething more 
 than human ; it comes forth as the emana- 
 tion of an intrinfic purity and lovelinefs, 
 and difFufes through the human form a tinge 
 of the angelic nature. 
 
 ^.You 
 
^4 6/ G o L o u R I N Gi Dial. V.- 
 
 y^. You paint it like one who had ftlc 
 ks power. The influence, indeed, of this 
 fpecies of beauty, which is the refult of co- 
 lours, feems to be univerfal ; and to extend 
 to all beings capable of love. But (if we 
 may credit the nice obfervefs of nature) 
 it is in none more remarkable than in 
 birds [a1 i 
 
 Thro* the bright flocks the cautious wooer Jties, 
 Dweels on each fpoi, and notes their various dies : 
 Foe to a Jiranger love^ he yields alone 
 To kindred tints, and beauties like his ovm. 
 
 j5. I fliall wifh hence forward to under- 
 Hand the language of a goldfinch j what 
 a pleafure would it be, to hear the male 
 warbling forth, 
 
 {<2]— — Agjnina late 
 
 Faeminea explorat cautus, maculafque requirit 
 Cognatas, paribufque interlita corpora gutds. 
 
 Sped. N°. 412. 
 
 Vrit 
 
iDlAL. V. 0/ C 0 L O U R I N G. 
 
 Urtt me Glycera nitor, 
 
 Et vultus nimtum lubricus afpici. 
 
 A. The open was palpable, and your 
 raillery is perfedlly fair. But, to return to 
 Our fubje(5l: ; whatever may be the influence 
 of colours on other beings, we can have no 
 doubt of it in ourfelves ; infomuch, that 
 irregular, and even ordinary features, fhall 
 often, by the mere luftre of red and white, 
 overbear the power of the moft perfect 
 fymmetry. 
 
 We are not to wonder therefore, that 
 the poets, hurrying over the other circum- 
 fiances of beauty, dwell with fo much 
 pleafure upon this. Thus the elegant 
 TibuUus [^], 
 
 Candor erat, qualem praefert Latonia Luna, 
 Et color in niveo corpore purpureas. 
 
 Ut juvent primum virgodedudta marito* 
 loficitur teneras ore rubente genas ; 
 
 Zttcb 
 
76 0/ CoLatf RING. Dial. V. 
 
 Such a mix'd whitenejs fpfeads the doubtful moon 
 So thro' his fnotvy Jkin the fcarlet Jhone 5 
 Thus^ ting'd in blujhes, moves the conf clous maid 
 JVith fiep fufpended to the nuptial bed : 
 Thus intermixed with lilies breathes the rofe^ 
 And ripening apple with vermilion glows. 
 
 Statius on a fimilar occafion is more warm^ 
 and kindles aim oft to extravagance [f] ; 
 
 Stripped of his garments^ with a fudden bound 
 He Jlarts to -view, and deals a brightnefs round 1 
 His polijh'd limbs ^ and glowing breaft dlfplay 
 Beauties, that gladden like the fprlng of day ; 
 Thro' his whole frame dlffm'd, our eyes may trace 
 Tfie kindred blujh and fplendor of his face. 
 
 Etcum contexunt amaranthis alba puellx 
 Lilia, et autumno Candida mala rubent. 
 
 Lib. iii, Eleg. 4, 
 
 [f] Emicat, et torto chlamydem diffibulat auro. 
 
 EfFulfere artus, membrorumque omnis aperta eft 
 Laetitia, infignefque humeri, nec peftora nudis 
 Deteriora genis, latuitque in corpore vultus. ' 
 
 Theb.Iib. vi. 
 
 If 
 
Dial. V. O/" C o l o u r i n g. 77 
 
 If the poets confidered colouring as the 
 chief beauty in nature ; it is no wonder, 
 jthat painters, whofe art is an imitation of 
 nature, fhould make it the great objcd of 
 their ftudy. Accordingly, ParrhafiuSjZeuxis, 
 and Apelles, the moft celebrated painters, 
 were at the fame time, the moft excellent 
 colourifts. If we examine the praifes be- 
 flowed on the laft of them, we fliall find, 
 that they turn chiefly on that truth and 
 beauty, which are the gift of colours : The 
 mafter-piece of this painter, and confe- 
 quently of the art itfelf, was his Venus 
 anadyomene. Tully thus marks its perfec- 
 tions, [d] " In the Coan Venus, that is 
 " not real body, but the refemblance of a 
 body : Nor is that ruddinefs, fo difFufed 
 *« and blended with white, real blood, but 
 
 M In Venere Coa, corpus illud non eft, fed fimile 
 corpori j nec ille fufus et candore mixtus rubor, fan- 
 guis eft, fed quaedam fanguinis fimilitudo. De nat. 
 Deor. lib. i. 
 
 "a certain 
 
yS CyCoLOURING. DlAL.V^ 
 
 " a certain refemblance of blood." Ovid 
 alludes to this fame tendernefs and warmth 
 of pencil [d]. 
 
 In graceful her fea-wet locks comprefs'd. 
 Send the quick drops which trickle down her hreaft^ 
 O'er her bright Jkin the melting bubbles fpread^ 
 And clothe her beauties in a Jofter Jhade, 
 
 {e] Apelles a little before his death attempt- 
 ed a fecond Venus, which was to have tx- 
 
 y\ Sic madidos ficcat digitis Venus uda capillos, 
 Et jnodo maternis tefta videtur aquis. 
 
 Lib. xi. Trift. 
 To the famepurpofe the epigram matift Aufonius, 
 Ut complexa manu madidos falis xquore crines, 
 Humidulis fpumas ftringit utraque comis. 
 
 [f] Apelles Veneris caput, et fumma pedloris politif- 
 fima arte perfecit : Reliquam pratem corporis inchoa, 
 tarn reliquit. Lib. i. Ep, 9. 
 
 Nemo piftor eft inventus, qui Veneris earn partem, 
 quam .Apelles inchoatnm reliquiffet, abfolveretj oris 
 enim pulchritudo, reliqui corporis imitandi fpem au- 
 ^e^ebat. De Officiis, lib, iii. 
 
 ceeded 
 
Dial. V* 0/ C©lou ring.' 
 
 ceeded the firft ; but died, jufl: as he had 
 finifhed the head and breafts. We are toid, 
 that no painter could be prevailed on to 
 complete this figure ; the idea> the cha- 
 racter, the ftyle of defign were determined ; 
 it fhould feem then, that what they dread- 
 ed, was, a comparifon of their tints with 
 his. It is certain, the reputation of this 
 painter was not owing to great compofi- 
 tions J many of his mod celebrated works 
 were [/] Tingle figures, and, fome of 
 them, painted from the life; a pra6lice, 
 which naturally produces, as is proved in 
 Titian, an excellency in colouring; as this 
 is only to be learnt, by an accurate and 
 diligent obfcrvance of the mixed and fubtile " 
 tints in nature. Accordingly, Pliny tells 
 
 [/] Fecit Apelles Antigonum thoracatum, cum 
 equo incedentem : Peritiores artis prasferunt omnibus 
 ejus operibus eundem regcm fedemem equo. Alexan- 
 drum et Philippum quoties pinxerit, enumerare fuper- 
 vacumeft. Plin. xxxv. lo. 
 
 U5, 
 
So 0/ Colour INC. Dial. V. 
 
 us, that he [g] " painted a hero naked, in 
 " which he challenged nature herfelf." 
 But, above all, Propertius pays him the 
 prettieft compliment, and, at the fame time, 
 eives us the iufteft notion of his merit, 
 when, diflfuading his miftrefs from the ufe 
 of paint, he recommends to her to truft 
 %Q her real complexion which he com- 
 pares to the native carnation of Apel- 
 Ics. — — 
 
 [g] Pinxit et heroa nudum ; eaque pi£lura naturam 
 ipfam provocavit. Lib. xxxv. lo. 
 
 [h] The common objeaion to the colouring of 
 Apelles, is, that he ufed but four colours : For this 
 we have the authority of Pliny, who, at the fame 
 time, names the colours, viz. black, white, red and 
 yellow. Now, as it does not feem poffible to form a 
 f erfea carnation from thefe, we muft either fuppofc 
 that Pliny was miftaken, or, that the praifes bellowed 
 on the colouring of Apelles, by all the bell judges of 
 antiquity, and by Pliny himfelf among the reft, were 
 not iuft. There is a palTage in Cicero, which, I thmk. 
 clears this difRculty, and proves that Pliny was mif- 
 taken i it is as follows : Similis in pidura ratio eft, m 
 
Dial. V. 0/ Colouring. tt 
 
 ^talh Apelleh ejl color in tahuits. 
 
 Thus making it a merit in nature, to rife 
 to a competition with art. By attempting 
 to prove that colouring was the great ex- 
 cellence of Apelles, it muft not be inferred 
 from hence, that he was wanting in the 
 other parts : The age in which he lived, 
 ■was diftingtiiflied above all thofe before and 
 after, by a perfedion in defign ; a weaknefs 
 therefore in this, would not have pafled 
 Uncenfured in fo capital a painter. The 
 refemblance, likewife, in the praifes be- 
 ftowed on him, with thofe, which, in later 
 times have been attributed to Correggio, 
 
 qua Zeuxim, et Polygnotum, et Timentem, eteorum, 
 qui non funt ufi plus quatuor coloribus, formas ct linea^ 
 laudamus. AtinAetione, Nicomacho, Proto- 
 geneet Apelle, jam perfeda funt omnia. Thus, thofd 
 who ufed but four colours, are praifed for their tro^ 
 forttons and charaaers only ; but, Apelles is diftin- 
 gu.fhed from them, and declared to be perfeft in 6very 
 branch of his art. The inference is obvious. 
 
 ^ the 
 
8<2 0/ Co LOU Rf NG. Dial. V. 
 the great mafter in the clear obfcure, gives 
 juft reafon to fuppofe, that he was in this 
 particular, equal, if not fuperior to any 
 of his time. I would recommend this to 
 the obfervation of thofe, who, on a compa^ 
 rifon of modern with ancient painting, arc 
 fo ready to fuppofe the advantage on the 
 fide of the former; as I do likewife all 
 that I have offered on the character of 
 -Apelles, to thofe fanguine admirers of the 
 Roman School, who confider colouring as 
 a kind of fuperfluity in paint. Having 
 thus far /hewn the merit of colouring, fo 
 far as it is produftive of truth and beauty i, 
 you may exped I fhould fay fomething of 
 a branch much cultivated and admired by 
 the moderns ; I mean that harmony and 
 tone, which fpring from a happy difpofi- 
 tion of variegated draperies: A perfeft 
 knowledge of the union and oppofition of 
 ■colours, together with the effects of their 
 different fhades and refiedions, requires, 
 
 no 
 
DiAL.V. 0/ Colouring. 83 
 no doubt, great ftudy and pradlice ; but I 
 apprehend, that too great an attention to 
 this flattery of the eye, has often made our 
 moderns negledful of the more efTential 
 parts. That this was the cafe in the inferior 
 fEra of ancient painting, we have the autho- 
 rity of Dionyfius Halicarnaffeus : " [/] The 
 " paintings of the ancients, (fays he) were 
 " fimple and unvaried in their colourino- • 
 *' but corred in their drawing ; and diftin- 
 guiflied by their elegance : Thofe which 
 " fucceeded, lefs corred in drawing, were 
 " more finifhed, more varied in their lights 
 *' and fhades ; truaing their effeds to the 
 " multitude of their colours." Tou will 
 obferve, that this boafted Icience of the 
 moderns, was, to the ancients, a fy mptom 
 
 ['] Afp^«»a» y^(z(f)<zi yji^yMtT^i ufyaa^imi. aV;\a)f, xj^j 
 Of " Tc; p7,Aacr»» ixwcrccx -aro.x.XtaF, a.K^,Quc o\ rat? 
 ypfAfAai;, VJO-Kv To ;^a^i£v si/ Tayrat? i-xjiv<7ui" A\ h ^tt' 
 
 T£ ifotj <p<i^i •C704Jf^^^o^A£^al, *a, ■ ty Tu Twv (^iy^/i,a!]uii 'mXr.Bu 
 
 1T.V iayy: ly^w^n.^, Dion. Hal. in Ifeo, p. 1 67. ed. Oxon„ 
 
 G 2 of 
 
$4 Cy Colour IN G. E)ial. V, 
 
 of the decay of paint : And indeed, can the 
 happieft effedl in this kind, that ever flow- 
 ed from the pencil of Titian, make us 
 amends for his frequent errors in drawing, 
 or poverty of charadt^r ? Can the bed 
 painted drapery of a Garrache, or Guido,- 
 balance the want of grace and beauty in the 
 one, of warmth and exprefTion in the other ? 
 Apelles feeing a Helen, that had been paint- 
 ed by one of his fcholars, loaded with orna- 
 ments: Criedout, [k] " So, young man! not 
 *« able to paint her beautiful, thou haft 
 " made her fine." When I reflecb on the 
 authority of the writers, and the agreement 
 of their notions on the fubjeft of colouring, 
 I am inclined to believe, that the ancients 
 were equal,> if not fuperior to the moderns 
 in the moft effential parts : I Ihould lay 
 little ftrefs on general praifes, or the extra- 
 
 vagance 
 
Dl AL. T. 0/ C O L 0 U R I If G. 85 
 
 vangance of admiration ; becaufe, it is natu- 
 ral to us to praife the beft we know : But, 
 when I meet with diftindions, which mark 
 the degrees of perfedlion, and with efFeds, 
 which can proceed but from the Higheft, I 
 can no longer doubt. I fhall offer you an 
 inftance in each kind, wtiich ftrike me as 
 decifive. Parrhafius and Euphranor had 
 each painted a Thefeus *' [/] Euphra- 
 " nor obje<Sled to his rival, that his Thefeus 
 *' looked as if he had fed on rofes, his own 
 " as if he had fed on flefh." What more 
 could we fay of Titian and Barocci ? Yet, 
 this flight and florid fl:yle, was not the con^ 
 ftant manner of Parrhafius ; Pliny tells us, 
 that he painted two warriors, one of which 
 rufliing to the battle feemed to fweatj the 
 other, fliripped of his armour, was feen to 
 
 [/j 'Evpfxvup TOV 0»ijsa TOW icivlov, To) Tlctppcta'iov wa^f- 
 
 x^tx Plutarch. Bellone an pace clarior^s fuerint 
 
 Athenienfes. 
 
 G I pant. 
 
86 0/ Colour INC. Dial. V. 
 pant. "What a warmth, what a tendernefs 
 of pencil ? Can paint exprefs that melting 
 diffufion, that dewy moifture, which fprings 
 from a quickening perfpi ration .? The mel- 
 loweft tints of the Venetian fchool furnifh 
 no fuch ideas. Our notions of excellence 
 are too much limited by our experience ; 
 had we never feen better colouring than that 
 of the Galatea of Raphael, a defcription of 
 the Venus of Titian would pafs for extra- 
 vagant. Why might not the Greek fchool 
 have been as far fuperior to the Venetian, as 
 this is to the Roman ? We will now pur- 
 fue the fame method we propofed before, 
 and confider the colouring of the moderns 
 in their greateft matter Titian. 
 
 B. Though I confefs this was the rule 
 propofed, yet, I muft take the liberty to 
 break in upon it, and to beg, that you 
 would firft give your opinion of the colour- 
 ing of Raphael. 
 
 The 
 
Dial. V. Of Co l our i n g. 87 
 
 - The advances of fuch a painter in every 
 branch of his art, are worthy cur obferva- 
 tion i particularly too, as I find the critics 
 much divided on this point, fome holding 
 him to be an excellent, others an indifferent 
 colourift. 
 
 A. Raphael, at his fetting, out, had no 
 other guide than his own genius j as, the 
 painters his predecefTors, could furnifli him 
 with no examples to imitate. After fome 
 time,'he learnt from Fra. Bartholomeo a bet- 
 ter ftyle ; his touch became more vigor- 
 ous, his colouring grew warmer, and he 
 finilhed lefsj yet, he ftill preferved too 
 great a famenefs ; and all his perfonages had 
 the fame brown and dufky complexion. He 
 perfifted a long time in this tafte; and, 
 one may venture to affirm, that he never 
 wholly abandoned it. In his pifture of the 
 difpute of the facrament, which is the beft 
 G 4 coloured 
 
% 0/ do LOURING. Dial. V, 
 coloured of all his works in frefco, one dif^ 
 covers a difference between the carnation of 
 his angels and men; - fuch a circumftance 
 would not be remarked in our beft colour- 
 ift^; who pref^rve this diaindion, not only 
 in 'different beings, but like wife in the dif- 
 ferent fexes and ages. In the St. Jerome 
 of Correggio, the complexion of the faint, 
 the angel, the child, the mother, and the 
 Magdalen, are all varied, agreeable ro their 
 different ages, natures, and charadlers. In 
 his fchool of Athens, Raphael was more 
 bold, and lefs finifhed ; and, changing ftill 
 his manner in the Heliodorus, he painted 
 in a ftyle more free and varied ; though yet, 
 in the delicate, he was fhort of perfeftion. 
 At length, hispaffion for defign, made him 
 negligent of colouring; as we fee in the 
 Incendio di Borgo. About this time, he be- 
 gan to paint with lefs diligence; and hav- 
 ing eftabliHied his charader, left much to 
 hisfcholars; till at length, finding his rc. 
 
 putation 
 
Dial. V. 0/ Colouring. 89 
 
 putation diminifhed, he determined to re- 
 eftablifh it, by exerting his whole fkill and 
 knowledge in his transfiguration. The co- 
 louring of this is efteerned good; yet, frorn 
 that quality or fainenefs, which I noticed 
 before, his flefh is ftiil hard and dry. His 
 demitiqts were compofed merely of lights 
 and fhades, whence they retained always 
 a greyifh and dufky caft; and, whereas, a 
 fine and delicate fkin, has a greater variety 
 of tints, than the grofs ; Raphael, no? pofr 
 fefling this variety, his carnations are ge- 
 nerally coarfe and denfe. We mufl: obfervc 
 in this place, that the paintings of Raphael 
 in frefco, are better coloured than thofe in 
 oil : As the firft was his favourite practice, 
 he left the fecond moftly to his fcholars, 
 particularly to Jqlio Romano ; contenting 
 Jiimfelf with retouching and finifhing : For 
 this reafon, we cannot fo well judge of his 
 paintings in oil ; In which, fuch as we fee 
 them, he is much inferior, with refped to 
 
 colouring. 
 
gify 0/ C o L o u R I N G. Dr At. V; 
 colouring, to Correggio and Titian ; but, 
 in frefco, he is fuperior to all. 
 
 B. Your obfervations on the failings of 
 Raphael, will be as fliades to the merit and 
 beauty of Titian. 
 
 ' ^. Portrait painting has all along been 
 the favourite pradice of the Venetian fchool. 
 This conftant imitation of nature, has led 
 them into the knowledge of thofe various 
 tints, by which flie at once diftinguiflies, 
 and exprefles the different carnations. To 
 d'efcribe, what colours, or mixtures of them, 
 produce thofe various appearances, is the 
 rriechanic part of the art ; pur fubjed is the 
 ideal. We may compare, or determine the 
 degrees of merit in the beft painters, with- 
 out following minutely their mechanic pro- 
 cefs ; I can affirm, for inftance, without 
 danger of being contradided, that Correg- 
 gio has not the tendernefs or delicacy of 
 4 Titian: 
 
Dial. V. 0/ C o l o u r i n g. ' gi- 
 
 Titian : His flefli is too firm j the fkin too 
 much ftretched the humid of our compo- 
 fition is not fufficiently marked. An artift 
 might tell us, that thefe defefls proceed 
 from a colouring too yellow or red ; from 
 demitints too much verging on die green ; 
 whereas, nature, and the paintings of Titian, 
 prove, that, in clear and tranfparent Ikins,, 
 the humid ever produces a bluifli caft. 
 
 But, to leave this matter to thofe whofe 
 province it is. I fhaM content myfelf, in 
 this place, with obferving, that in colour- 
 ing, [ml Titian, of ail the moderns, comes 
 the neareft to nature, and of courfe to per- 
 fedlion. To enlarge more particularly on 
 his merit, would be but a repttition of the 
 
 [fa] Might I prefume to cenfure the colotiring of 
 Titian in any particular, it would be in this, that his 
 male and female tints (if I may fo call them) are not. 
 fufficiently diftingiiiftied : They are both extremely 
 tender and animated, but, the colouring in his women 
 is too vigorous and mafculine. 
 
 remarks, 
 
9*2 0/ C o L 0 u R N I G. Dial. 
 remarks which I have already offered on the 
 colouring of the ancients : Let us apply 
 thofe remarks to his works, they will reci- 
 procally illuftrate each other. 
 
 B. I AM fenfible, from the nature of the 
 fubjeft, as likewifc from what you have al- 
 ready touched on, that a more minute exa- 
 mination of this matter would embarrafs us 
 in the mechanic. You have fatisfied me, 
 how far colouring is an aid to beauty, and 
 neceflary to truth : You have (hewn, how 
 highly it was efleemed by the critics, how 
 induftrioLifly cultivated by the artifts of an- 
 tiquity. By marking the failings of Ra- 
 phael, and proportioning the merit of Cor- , 
 regio, you have led me into a feeling of the 
 mellow and tender tints of Titian. It would 
 be unreafonable to exad more from you on 
 this point ; but there is another, on which 
 I mud beg you to be more explicit ; I mean 
 the general tone or harmony of colours •, in 
 
 Q. which, 
 
t)iAL. V. 0/ Colouring. 9^ 
 which, you juft now fuppofed the moderns- 
 10 be much fuperior to the ancients. 
 
 A. My fuppofition was grounded on th^ 
 ^bfcurity of their writers, and the differenq^; 
 of their praftice. The ancients verfed iti 
 the nude, derived from this, as I have befote 
 obferved, their elegance and corrednefs iri 
 defign. They wtre no lefs indebted to it, 
 for their truth and beauty of colouring. 
 The moderns, on the' other hand, particu-. 
 larly the Venetians, accuftomed to clothe 
 their figures, in velvet, filks, woolen, linen 
 and the like, were naturally led into an ob- 
 fervance of the different [»] effeds of their 
 
 [ff] We may form a general idea of the varioa* 
 efFefts of refledions from the following examples : If 
 a blue be refleaed on a yellow, ihe lattof becomes 
 greesilh ; if on a red, the fed becomes purple; and 
 fo on through a variety of combinations : And as the 
 white is of a nature to receive all the colours, and to 
 be tinged with that of each refleaion, the painter 
 jnuft be careful how his carnations may be affeSed by 
 fhe feveral reflexions, 
 
 reflexions; 
 
^4 0/CoLouRiNG. Dial. V. 
 fefledlions : as, of the accord or difagree- 
 inent in their appofition. In order to be 
 convinced, that this accord or difagreement 
 is not fantaftical, we need but obferve the 
 rainbow in its full difplay of colours ; at 
 which time, their union is perfcd : Let the 
 red, the blue, or yellow difappear, it is en- 
 tirely difturbed. In the fame manner, place 
 green and yellow or yellow and red toge- 
 ther in a pi{5ture, they are evidendy at va- 
 riance ; let the blue interpofe, their corre- 
 fpondence is reftored. Rubens has painted 
 in imitation of the rainbow ; all the colours 
 co-operate ; the effed is good but accident- 
 al J but, in Titian and Correggio, this ar- 
 rangement is the refult of fcience, it is a 
 harmony, which fprings from a judicious 
 and happy union of confenting colours. 
 
 B. It Ihould Teem that the Mexicans 
 were great mafters of this harmony or cor- 
 refpondence of colours, of which, Antonio 
 
 de 
 
Dial. V. 0/ Colouring. 95- 
 
 de Solis, the elegant author of theConqueft 
 of Mexico, gives the following remarkable 
 inftance. " Among the prefents fent to 
 .** Cortez from the emperor, was a quanti- 
 " ty of plumes and other curiofities, made 
 " of feathers ; whofe beauty and natural 
 " variety of colours found on rare birds 
 " that country produces, they fo placed and 
 " mixed with v/onderful art, diftributing 
 " the feveral colours, and fhadowing the 
 " light with the dark fo exadly, that, with- 
 " out making ufe of artificial colours, or 
 " of the pencil, they could draw pidures, 
 " and would undertake to imitate nature, 
 
 *« In another place, Montezuma is de- 
 '* fcribed feated on a chair of burniflied 
 ^' gold, which glittered through the vari- 
 ^' ous works of feathers, placed in hand- 
 " fome proportion about, the nice diftri- 
 " bution of which, in fome meafureiTeem- 
 
 cd to outvie the coft of the metal." 
 
 A. The 
 
5^ 0/ CoLovRi NGi Dial. V. 
 
 A The example you have produced irt 
 the praaice of the Mexicans, is an extra- 
 ordinary inftance of the happy efFeft from 
 an union of colours j and it is probable that 
 their aftifts were, in this particular, nothing 
 inferior to the Italians. Their Ikill, in wav- 
 ing thofe various colours into a kind of fea- 
 thered tapeftry, or Mofaick, and forming 
 in them regular piaures, and lively imita- 
 tions of nature, far exceeds the defcriptions 
 we meet with, of the Babylonian tiflues : 
 As, in their painted language, they evi- 
 dently refemble, and feem to have excelled 
 the hieroglyphicks of the Egyptians. 
 
 When we meet with fuch ftrokes of 
 i^efemblance in the efforts of human wit, 
 among nations cut off from all intercourfe 
 ivith each other, we are moved with a kind 
 Cf pleafing furprife ; fome treat them as 
 ihe inventions of hiftorians i others account 
 
 for 
 
Dial. V. 0/Colouring. 97 
 
 for them by fuppofed, though undifcover- 
 ed, communications ; and yet, to confider 
 things juftly, rfothing can be more natural 5 
 the feeds of ingenuity, like thofe of good 
 fenfe, are fown in all foils ; and it is no 
 more extraordinary, that their produflions 
 fliould be alike, than, that the oranges of 
 New-Spain Ihould refemble thofc of Old, 
 
 H 
 
 DI A- 
 
t98 1 :. 
 
 DIALOGUE VL 
 
 Of the Clear obscure. 
 
 A. [pYiA^ perfuaded, that notwithftarjd-r,^ 
 A ing all the pains you have takeii^^ , 
 to form a juft idea of the Clear obfcure, 
 from the writings of Vafari, Felibian, and 
 the reft, you will agree with me, that you 
 have more fatisfadion in this matter, from 
 a fingle glance at a pidure of Correggio, 
 than from all you .have ever read on that 
 fubjed. Whether this proceeds from a want 
 of knowledge in thofe writers, or our ignor- 
 ance of the mechanic of the art, which 
 they are fo apt to confound with the ideal, 
 
 [o] Tandem fefe ars ipfa diftinxit, et invenit lumen 
 atque umbras, differentia colorum alterna vice fefe 
 excitante. Plin. lib. xxxv. c. 5. 
 
 Ifliali 
 
Dial. VI. Of the Clear obscure. 99 
 
 I (hall not take upon me to determine : But, 
 ©ertain it is, had we not before our eyes the 
 examples to which they refer us, we lliould 
 be often at a lofs for their meaning. No w, in 
 treating of the Clear obfcure of the ancients, 
 we have neither the works [^] nor writings 
 of their painters to guide us. Happily, their 
 claflic authors, men of parts and erudition, 
 were univerfally admirers of this art. Hence 
 their frequent allufions to it ; their meta- 
 phors borrowed from it ; with the defcrip- 
 tions of particular paintings, and their ef- 
 fefls. In thefe laft we cannot be deceived ; 
 like efFeds, in picture, as in nature, muft 
 proceed from uniform caufes : And when 
 
 \p\ I do not mention in this place the paintings 
 found at Hercalaneum, becaufe 1 cannot lool< on them 
 as of a clafs to reft on them the merits of the ancient 
 artifts. There are beauties, it is true, fcattered through- 
 out them ; but, they are the beauties morientis artif, 
 of an art in its dechnc ; fuch as Pliny defcribes it to 
 have been in his time ; when, as he feelingly Uiments, 
 there wai riullanobilis pi^Jura. 
 
 H 2 we 
 
100 0//^<? Clear OBSCURE. Dial. VL 
 
 we find thefe to correfpond exadlly with our 
 own obfervations on the works of the mo- 
 derns, this analogy leads us into a certainty, 
 as to the fimiiitude of the means by which 
 they were prouuced. 
 
 B. Such inferences as thefc, when they 
 are natural and unforced, are more conclu- 
 five than pofitive aflertions ; for we are more 
 . apt to be deceived by authority, than by the 
 reafon of things. 
 
 A. [j] " LoNGiNus obferves, that, if we 
 place in parallel lines, on the fame plane, 
 *< a bright and an obfcure colour, the for- 
 mer fprings forward, and appears much 
 *' nearer to the eye." Hence we may re- 
 mark, that when painters would give a pro- 
 
 [q] Ew» TOW a.v[ov «Eij»Evw» "sragaXXriXw* Xfw- 
 
 fiacrj T»)f crx»a? Tf Ken <f)u\ocj of*w? <ai^wrra.v[a, Tt to f«? rai; 
 
 funi[lut, LoDginus, fed. xviii. 
 
 jedion 
 
Dial. VI. Of the Clear' OBScukE. loi 
 jeflion to any part of a figure, as the breads 
 of a virgin, and the like, they throw its ex- 
 tremities into lliade that thele retiring 
 from the eye, the intermediate parts may 
 have their juft relief. From this fimple 
 Jaw of nature, fprings all the magic of the 
 Clear obfcure ; not only parts are diftin- 
 guiflied, but intire figures are detached 
 from their fond ; feem furrounded by air ; 
 and meet the imagination witli all the ener- 
 gy of life. Thus Fhiloftratus prettily de- 
 fer ibes the picture of a Venus : *' [r] The 
 " goddefs will not feem to be painted, but 
 " fprings from the canvafs as if Ihe would 
 «* be purfued.'* The fame writer tells us, 
 that Zeuxis, Polygnotus, and Euphranor, 
 were, above all things, [jj attentive, to 
 fhade happily, and animate their figures j 
 
 fr] Ot) (3otJXsIfltt VFy^as^Qai JoXHi/ jj Seof, Exxenat It olx 
 
 'AaQi^xi. De pidlura Veneris, lib, ii. p. 8io. 
 
 K»i EVWOVVf XXt TO SiVf^oy Tt 
 
 x<»*^|i?i«>. In vita Apollonii, lib. ii. p. 72. 
 
 H 3 by 
 
102 0/" 7^^ Clear OBSCURE. Dial. Vf. 
 by which he. infinuates,. that animation, or 
 the foul of painting, owes its being to a 
 jufl: condua of lights and fhades: And 
 hence it was, no doubt, that the paintings 
 of Parrhafius v/cre termed * realities ; they 
 being poffeffed of fuch a force of Clear ob- 
 fcure, as to. be no longer the. imitations of 
 things, but the things themfelves : Agree- 
 able to this, is the obfervation of an ancient 
 writer, " That in painting, [/] the contour 
 " of the illumined part, lliould be blended 
 *' with and loft in the fhade *, for on^this, 
 joined to the advantage of colouring, de- 
 *« pend animation, tendernefs, and the fimi- 
 *' litude to truth." 
 
 [^] Alt Tuv axictii xat 7ctv ypjufta* STsep^^amo-OatJ tin, 
 Tts y^a.(ptoc. To ya.^ e,w-i|/v;^'iV x«» to oncahov, xai to /i4tft»^»j- 
 
 J^iolx yivilon ha, tsv']*'*. Theagfis Pythagoricus apud 
 
 B. Ovip 
 
Dial. VI. 0//^^ Clear qbscure. loj 
 
 B. Ovid thus marks this tranfition 
 of colours in his defcription of the rain- 
 bow [«]. 
 
 jf ihoufand colours gild the face of day. 
 With fever' d beauties, and dijiinguift! d ray ; 
 IVhil/i in their contaSl they elude the fight ^ 
 And lofe diJiinSiion in each others light, 
 
 A. A REMARK made by Petronius Ar- 
 biter, on certain paintings of Apelles, points 
 out the happy effeds of this delicacy of 
 
 [a] In quo diverfi niteant cum mille colores, 
 Tranfitus ipfe tamen fpeftantia lumina fallit, 
 Ufque adeo quod tangit idem eft, tamen ultima 
 difiant. Metam. lib. vi. 
 
 Videmus in Iride aliquid flammei, allquid lutei, ali- 
 quid cffirulei, etalia in PiSur^e nwdum fubtilibus lineis 
 duda, ut alt Poeta ; ut an d'iflimiles colores fint, fcirc 
 nonpoflis, nifi cum primis extrema contaleris ; ufque 
 adeo mira arte naturae, quod a fimillimis coepit in 
 diffimilia definit. Seneca Nat. qusft. lib. i. c. 3. 
 
 H 4 pencil. 
 
ro4 0//^^ CtEA]^ OBSCutiE. Dial. VI. 
 pencil. *'[;^] With fucb fubtilty, fuch a 
 Jikenefs to nature, were the extremities 
 
 " of the figures blended with their (hades, 
 " that you muft have taken what was be- 
 fore you for real hfc." Nicias the Athe- 
 nian is praifed by Phny, for his knowledge 
 in ,the Clear obfcure ; " [y] He preferved 
 " the lights and fhades, and, was particu- 
 " larly careful, that his paintings fliould 
 *' projcd from the canvafs." But, thegreat- 
 
 [x] Tanta enim fubtilitate extremitates imaginum 
 crant ad fimHitudinem prscifae, ut crederes etiam ani- 
 moriim efle piduras. In Satyrico. 
 
 Men of a refined taftc, have a feeling of thofe de- 
 licacies, which efcape the notice of common obfervers ; 
 thus Pliny, ambire enim debet feextremitas ipfa et fie 
 definere, ut promittat alia poft fe, oftendatque etiam 
 quaJoccultat. 
 
 This artifice 'of withdrawing the outline impercep- 
 tibl>f from the eye, is that which gives to bodies their 
 roundnefs or projedion : It was much ftudied by the 
 ancients, and too much negleded by Raphael ; whofe 
 contours are fometimes fo marked, that his figures ap- 
 pear too evidently to be of a piece with thecanvafs, 
 
 [y] Lumen ef iimbtas curtod vit, atque ut eminerent 
 e tabulis pidur?e, maxime curavit. Lib. xxxv~-i i . 
 
 eft 
 
DiAt. VI. 0/"/;^^ Clear OBSCURE. lo^ 
 
 eft efFedl ia this kind, is by the fame attri- 
 buted to the Alexanxler of Apelles, in the 
 ch*fracler of Jupiter the thunderer : " fz] 
 « The fingers ffays he) feem to fhoot foY- 
 " ward, and the thunder to be out of the 
 ^' -pifture." This paflage is too ftriking to 
 need a comment. Let us compare the idea 
 we receive from this, with the happieft pro- 
 dudions of the modern artifts ; what could 
 we expefl more from the magick pencil of 
 Correggio? I mean as to the effed of 
 clear obfcure ; for, I am at a lofs, from 
 whom to exped, the beauty and grace of 
 an Alexander, united to the majefty and 
 fplendor of a Jove. If it appears from 
 what I have offered, that the painter cart 
 by a nice condud of light and (hade, give 
 to the charaders he brings on the fcene a 
 kind of real exiftence : So can he, by a par- 
 
 [k] Pinxit et fulmen tenentem; digit! emin ere vi- 
 dentur, et fulmen extra tabulam elTe. Lib. xxxv. lo. 
 
 tial 
 
ro6 0/^^^ Clear. ofescuRE. Dial. VI; 
 
 tial diftribution of this advantage, give 
 tlhem an evident preference one to the other ; 
 and by adding a degree of fplendor to each 
 chara«?ter, proportioned to its importance in 
 the drama, he becomes mafter of a beautiful 
 gradation, : no lefs fatisfaflory to the under- 
 ftanding, than plcafing to the eye. 
 
 Since I cannot offer you an example of 
 this in any of the ancient paintings now to 
 be feen, I fhall remind you of a piece of 
 poetic painting, in which you will find eve- 
 ry drcumftance of dignity and beauty, fet 
 ciff with the fined efFeft of Clear obfcure, 
 that, perhaps, ever entered into the ima- 
 gination of cither poet or painter. It is, 
 where Virgil introduces JEneas into the 
 prefence of Dido [a]. 
 
 {a] Vix ea fatus erat, cum circumfufa repente 
 Scindit fe nubes, et in sethera purgat apertum. 
 Reftitit uEneas, clara<jue in luce refulfi^, 
 
 Scam 
 
Dial. VI. Of th Clear obscure. 107 
 
 Scarce had he /poke, when lo ! the burjling cloud 
 Melts into air : Confejsd the hero Jlood, 
 Marie d by the form and fplendor of a god ; 
 The rays maternal round his temples play^ 
 And gild his beauties with a brighter day ; 
 Theft the fond mother ftudious to improve. 
 Breath' d on his perfonall the powers of love j 
 Thro' his long winding locks the magic floivs^ 
 Beams from his eyes^ and in each feature glotvs. 
 
 There is fomething in this defcription fa 
 truly pidurefque, it breaks upon the ima-r 
 gination with fuch a fudden energy of Cleac 
 obfcure, that l am perfuaded, the poet mufl; 
 have had in his eye, fome celebrated picture 
 in this ftyle. It is eafy to diftinguifh, when 
 the arts borrow their ideas one from ano-r 
 ther, and the lights which they fo commu- 
 
 Os, humerofque Deo fimilis : Namque ipfa decoram 
 Cjefariem nato Genetrix, lumenque Juventa: 
 Furpureum, et Isetos oculis aillarat honores. 
 
 ^neid. i. ver. 590. 
 
 nicatc 
 
*08 0//i'^ CleAJT OBSCURE. DlAL.VI» 
 
 nicate and receive, reverberate, and prove 
 reciprocally their beauties. 
 
 B. I COULD never read the paflage you 
 have juft quoted, without being ftruck with 
 the beauty of this image ; but you have 
 fupplied me with an adventitious pleafure ; 
 , The correfpondence of thefe fider arts, afts, 
 in fome degree, like the harmony of con- 
 fenting voices 5 the idea, which they ex- 
 prefs, is the fame, but the tfFea is doubled 
 in their agreement. When warmed by the 
 defcription of Virgil's Laocoon, we gaze 
 on that at the Vatican, his cries are more 
 piercing, his pains more exquifite, and the 
 ideas of the poet are as unifons to thofe of 
 the ftatuary. 
 
 jf. Thus far T have touched on the two 
 leading objeds of the Clear obfcure; firft. 
 That roundnefs or projedtion, by which 
 figures are difengaged from their fond, and 
 2 fpring. 
 
DiAt. VI. 0///^^CtEAR OBSCURE. IO9 
 
 fpring, as it Svere, from canvafs into life.-^ 
 Secondly, The diftinflive or pidurefque 
 diftribution of light to the feveral characters 
 introduced on the fcene. 
 
 I s A Y, I have only touched on thefe fub- 
 jefts, it being my defign, rather to trace 
 the outlines, than to give the full image of 
 painting. To be equal to this laft, I muft 
 have, not only an informed judgment, but 
 a creative hand ; for, without a knowledge, 
 and praaice in the mechanic, there is no 
 venturing into the depths of this art. How- 
 ever, I flatter myfelf, that this Iketch, rude 
 as it is, will carry with it more of the true 
 .features of the original, than any you could 
 collt6l from the writings of our painters. Or 
 the authority of our Cicerones and though 
 it fliould not give us a perfefl knowledge, 
 it will give us a pleafing and clafiical view 
 of our fubjea. The third care of the paint- 
 in the Clear obfcure, if not fo obvious, 
 
 is 
 
no 0//^^ Clear OBSCURE. Dial. Vf. 
 is no way left effential than the former. 
 When feveral objeds prefent themfelves in 
 one view to the eye, we may obferve, that 
 they all differ in the force of their appear- 
 ance, each receiving and refledting the rays 
 of light varioufly, according to its peculiar 
 form, texture, or pofition : This variety in 
 nature, exerted in its imitation, gives to' 
 painting a wonderful air of truth ; the eye 
 meeting the fame effeds in the copy, which 
 it has been ufed to in the original, lofes fight 
 of art, and receives the new creation as from 
 the hand of nature. To this, no doubt; 
 Philoftratus alludes, when having propofed 
 [^] hills, woods, and rivers, as the objects 
 
 [^J A^crij, Kott o^n, XXI <Bjyiyoti;, to» a^Qipx ev u ravlx, 
 
 Inexod. Icon. p. 763. Ed. Lip. ' ,, 
 
 That the ancients excelled in Landfcape painting, 
 we have the teftimony of Pliny ; Ludius, Divi Augufti, 
 :?tate primus inftituit amceniflimam parietem pidluranjc 
 Villas, et porticus, ac topiarca opera liicos, nemor^^ 
 colles, pifcinas, euripos, amnes, litora qiialia quis op- 
 taret : Varias ibi obarabulantium fpecles, aut navi- 
 gantium. Lib. xxxv. 10. 
 
 ' of 
 
DiAt. VI. Of the Clear obscure. 1 1 1 
 
 of paint, he adds, and the air in which they 
 aire : Now, there is no reprefenting the air 
 otherwife than by its efFe£ls; the which, 
 can be fenfible only, in the relative appear- 
 ances of fuch objeds, as are contained in it- 
 Bur, of all thefe circumftances of diverfity, 
 the difference arifing from their refpedive 
 diftances, is the moft obvious and exten- 
 livej this is to be diftinguiflied two ways 
 by the diminution of forms-, and the de- 
 greeing of colours. Thefe vary, accord- 
 ing to the denfity, or depth of the medium, 
 through which they are feen. The firfl:, 
 being the meafurement of proportions, is 
 regulated by the laws of perfpedive: But 
 the fecond, though it muft co-operate with 
 
 And Pliny the younger, defcribing one of his Villas, 
 in a letter to a friend, endeavours to give him the 
 higheft idea of it, by comparing it with a well paintr 
 ed landfcape. Lib. v. Ep. 6. 
 
 Let thofe, who affirm fo confidently, that the ancients 
 were unacquainted with the Clear obfcure and per- 
 fpedtive, explain, how thefe things are to be reprefent- 
 «d without them. 
 
 the 
 
112 Of ihe Clear obscure. Dial. VI. 
 the former, can be governed only by the 
 eye, and comes within the province of the 
 Clear obfcure which, by fetting its objeds 
 in full or diminifhed lights, can mark mi- 
 nutely their withdrawing from the eye, and 
 determine their feveral diftances, by the re- 
 lative force of thtir appearances. What 
 knowledge the ancients had ofthefelaws, 
 and what ufe they made of them, may be 
 collected from many paffages in their writ- 
 ings ; it will be fufficient to quote an exam- 
 ple of each ; touching the meafurement of 
 forms. " \^c] How pleafing, faysPhiloftratus, 
 ** is the artifice of the painter ; for, hav- 
 ** ing manned the walls with armed foi- 
 *' dier^, he piefents fome intire, fome half 
 •* figures ; of fome we fee the breafts, now 
 
 'H?u to ero^nr[A.a, rov ^ay^otf^ov' 'nTE^tSistX^wi ya^ To»? 
 
 Koftdat; y.o*oK;, eilaf uiy}i.x<^. h.va.'Koyio. rxtPiX, a «r«t> ^st 
 >«p *X;7r'iec-6a» rov; o(^9aA>Kiu{ rot? evr.lnS'uot? xyxXoK ovv- 
 
 •wiei-laj.. Philoftratus, lib. i. p. 763. Ed. Lipf. 
 
 ■ " the 
 
BiAL. VI. Of the Clear OBseuR-E. 113' 
 
 *' the helmets, and laft of all their fpears : 
 " This is proportion, young man ; for^ 
 *' the objeds mud thus fteal from the eye, 
 as it follows the feveral groupes through 
 *' their proper gradations." The fame 
 author, is equally explicit, concerning the 
 gradation of colours •, for, defcribing in a 
 pidture, the efFe6ls of vifion through water, 
 he obferves^ " \d\ That the fiih n&ar the 
 " top feemed black ; the next to them, kfs 
 *' fo J the next to thofe begin to elude the 
 " eye ; now they are fhadowyj now wa- 
 tery, and now mere fancy ; for, the eye< 
 as it deepens in the water, finds its powers 
 " to grow dull and confuftd." 
 
 B. You have advanced, that, to give 
 depth to a perpendicular plane, '^and of 
 
 sHa v^xp'-'i} Ella LiTTofaritrai. 'Ka^aCaicoycra yap st? To v^a/p i) 
 
 c-^n aixQ?^vvt]sti SiCilfi<ocvv Tx tv ai^.ui FhU. Xcon. JiS. 
 c. Pifcatores, p. 784. 
 
 1 coiirfe,.' 
 
114 0/ Clear OBSCURE. Dial: VI. 
 cburfe, the degreeing and diftancing of ob- 
 jedls, is the province of the Clear obfcure : 
 It (hould feem, that the modern fculptors 
 have not thought fo, when, without any 
 fuch aitis, they have attempted in their baf- 
 fo Relievo*s to produce the fame efFefls. 
 
 A. Their ill fuccefs juftifies my obfer- 
 vation their firft line of figures, only, has 
 a plane to reft on ; the others are fufpended, 
 and, contrary to the laws of nature, as they 
 retire from the eye, and diminifli in propor- 
 tion, they rife in height ; infomuch, that 
 the feet of the hindmoft are often on a par- 
 allel with the knees of the foremoft. The 
 ancients were too wife to give into fuch an 
 abfurdity ; their purfuit, in all their works, 
 was a good effeft ; and nothing could have 
 a worfe than this. We therefore find, that 
 in Iculpture, they attempted not to mark 
 their diftances, other wife, than byafimple 
 diminution of the Relieves but, left to 
 
 painting. 
 
Dial. VI. Of the Clear obscure. 115 
 
 painting, what fculpture could not afllime, 
 the deception of the Clear cbfcure. 
 
 B. Yet, from this, which was an inftance 
 of their good fenfe, has been drawn an ar- 
 gument of their ignorance ; and, becaufe 
 they did not force the laws of the Clear ob- 
 fcure into fculpture, to which they are 
 aliens ; it has been inferred, that they knew 
 not their connexion with painting, out of 
 which they naturally grow. 
 
 A. I HAVE, I think, both from reafon 
 and authority, proved the weaknefs of this 
 fuppofition ; but, fhould you ftill have the 
 Jeaft doiibt, the teftimony of Virtruvius 
 muft intirely remove it. By this, it will 
 appear, that the Greek painters, not only 
 knew the rules and ftudied the efFeds of 
 perfpedlive ; but that their greatcft philo- 
 fophers, and mathematicians, thought it 
 worthy their attention, to reduce thefe ef- 
 
 I 2 fads 
 
ti6 0//^<J Clear cBscuRE. Dial. VI* 
 
 fedls to fure and determined laws. [e] Aga- 
 " tharcus was the firll who painted a fcenCj 
 *' at the time when ^fchylus exhibited his 
 " tragedies at Athens : He has left a com- 
 " mentary on this fubjedl. From this hint, 
 *' Democritus and Anaxagoras wrote on 
 " perfpe6live ; explaining, in what manner 
 *' we fliould, agreeable to the appearances 
 " in nature, from a central point, make the 
 " lines to correfpond with the eye, and the 
 direftion of the vifual rays : So that, from 
 ** a feeming confufion, may refult a natural 
 " effed i and the fcene become a true re- 
 " prefentation of buildings : And, that 
 
 [e] Agatharcus primum, Athenis yEfchylo docente 
 tragoediam, fcenam fecit ; et de ea re commentarium 
 reliquit : Ex eo moniti Democritus et Anaxagoras, de 
 cadem re fcripferunt, quemadmodutn oporteat ad aci- 
 €ni oculorum, radiorumque extenfionem, certo loco 
 centre conftituto, ad lineas naturali ratione refpon- 
 dere ; uti de incerta re, certae imagines aEdificiorum 
 in fcenarum pifturis redderent fpeciem ; et quae in di- 
 reftis planifque frontibus fmt figuratje, alia abfcf dentia, 
 alia prominentia •ffe videantui-. In Prsef. lib. vii. 
 
 " thofe 
 
Dial. VI. Of the Clear, obscure. 117 
 *' thofe bbjedls which are drawn on a per- 
 pendicular plane, may appear, fome re- 
 " tiring from the eye, others advancing to- 
 *' wards it.'* You will obferve on this paf- 
 fage, that the painter was before-hand with 
 the philofopher-, and by imitating the va- 
 rious eflfeds of vifion, had worked himfelf 
 into the myftery of its laws. So that in 
 this, as in many other cafes, practice, in- 
 ftead of being the child, was the parent of 
 fcience. 
 
 B. You have fully vindicated the fcience 
 of the ancients in the particular before us, 
 and diffipated that cloud, with which the 
 vanity of the moderns had obfcured it ; I 
 am afraid, the more we examine any pre- 
 tended advantage over them, the lefs reafon 
 we fhall find to triumph, 
 
 J. Having thus given a fketch oF the 
 three principal objeds of the Clear obfcure \ 
 I 3 if 
 
ii8 Of the Clear obscure. Dial. VI. 
 it will be fufficient to mention the fourth, 
 as it feems to fpring of itfeJf frpm a jufl exer- 
 tion of the former ; I mean the union of 
 the Clear obfcure. This is, when the par- 
 ticular accidents of lights and fhades fo co- 
 operate, as to produce, in the general, a fine 
 efFedi and that the pidure fends forth fuch 
 a proportion of light, as is moft pleafing to 
 the eye, and advantageous to its feveral ob- 
 je6ls. Of this, if I underftand him right, 
 Pliny fpeaks in the following palTage. 
 " [/] Now fplendor was added, this is a 
 " different thing from light ; but, being 
 " the refult of light and fhade, it was there- 
 " fore called the tone." And Plutarch, 
 fpeaking of the painting of Dionyfius [^], 
 ufes force and the tone as fynonymous ; and 
 
 [/] Adjeaus eft fplendor, alius hie quam lumen: 
 quem, quia inter hoc et umbram effet, appellaverunt 
 ToNON. Lib. XXXV. 5. 
 
 To* A}tiiv7tw t,i)y^a.<^n^ct[ct) 1(7^,11/ tXfi!]» KXt to toy. 
 
 Plutarch in Timoleonte. 
 
 with 
 
Dial. VI. 0//^^ Clear obscure. 119 
 
 with reafon, as it is this accord or harmony 
 of the Clear obfcure, that gives to painting 
 its firfl: and ftriking effeft. This it is that 
 enchants us, in the Nativity, and other pieces 
 of Correggio ; and to reprefent its power 
 in the ftrongeft light, I need but obferve, 
 that where this is, we are charmed by aCa- 
 ravaggio where it is wanting, we look cold- 
 ly on a Raphael. 
 
 B. I HAVE often thought, when I have 
 had before me a painting of the Roman 
 fchool, that it was like looking at a profpeft 
 in a gloorny day : T he beauties of nature 
 are there 5 but they want that, which fliould. 
 illumine and embellifh them. The union 
 of the Clear obfcure, fuch as you have de- 
 feribed it, is the furi of piflure. 
 
 J. You have expreffed itjuftly, for it is 
 not only pleafing in its general effeft, but 
 gives vigour and warmth to each particular 
 I 4 objed 5 
 
i2o O///^ -Clear OBSCURE. Dial. VL 
 obje<5l ; and beftows on them, like the breath 
 of Venus, the Utos honores, thofe gladfome 
 beauties, which raife them above the condi- 
 tion of an ordinary appearance. 
 
 B. When i confidered how little fatis- 
 fadion I had received on this fubjedt, from 
 the writings of the moderns, I did not ima- 
 gine that you could ever clear this obfcuri- 
 ty, by lights borrowed from thofe of the 
 ancients ; efpecially, as I have been accuf- 
 tomed to believe, [^6] that their painters 
 v/ere but fuperficially, if at all, verfed in 
 this branch of their art. You have explain- 
 ed fo fiilly the different powers and merits 
 
 [^] Some have afferted roundly, that the ancients 
 were unacquainted with the Clear obfcure ; others 
 (who confider, that a certain degree of it is infeperable 
 from the very nature of painting) fuppofe, that, what 
 they knew of it, was nothing more than the mere ef- 
 feft of imitation ; without principles or fcience. Had 
 this been rhe cafe, is it to be imagined, that fo judi- 
 cious a critic as Cicero, would have fpoken of the 
 
PiAL. Vr. Of the Clear obscure. 121 
 
 of the Clear obfcurc, that I think, in order 
 to have a reafonable degree of knowledge 
 in this matter, we need do no more, than 
 apply thofe obfervations to the paintings of : 
 the Venetian and Lombard fchools. But 
 yet, as in treating of this fubjedt, you have 
 mentioned Raphael and Correggio ; and 
 feerped to fet them in contraft one to the 
 other ; it would be a further fatisfadion, 
 fliould you mark more particularly, in what 
 that difference confifts. 
 
 A. It fliould feem, that in the Clear ol> 
 fcure, Raphael knew no part but the imi-» 
 tativej we find the caft of his lights and 
 lhades, to be no other, than the cafual ef- 
 
 lights and fhades of eloquence ; or propofed the con- 
 duft of painters in the Clear obfcure, as worthy the 
 imitation of orators? The paffage is as follows, and 
 merits a particular attention : Sed habeat tamen ilia 
 in dicendo admiratio, ac fumma laus umbram aliquam, 
 Ct receffum, quo magis id, quod erit illuminatum, cx- 
 Itare, atque eminere videatur. De Oratore, lib. iii. 
 
 fed 
 
122 O//^^ Clear oBscuPE. Dial. VI. 
 fed of the difpoficion of his figures. Cor- 
 reggio, on the other hand, is intirely ideal ; 
 and confiders the difpofition of his figures, 
 merely as it tends to produce a better efFeft 
 of Clear obfcure. Ic is no wonder there- 
 fore, that fcience fhould be fuperior to ac- 
 cident. 
 
 Raphael's fyftem, in the compofition of 
 his hiftory, was fimple and uniform ; it con- 
 Med Vv holly in placing his ftrongeft lights 
 foremoft, and giving them a gradual dimi- 
 nucion into the fond. Hence, moft fre- 
 quently, his figures in the firft plane are 
 dreffed in white ; a pradice, which he learn- 
 ed from the Florentine fchool : But X^or- 
 reggio, and the Lombard fchool, put for- 
 ward the pure and unmixed colours ; fuch 
 as red, yellow, and blue obferving that 
 the white has an efFcd [i] too tranfparent 
 
 [/] For this reafon Titian brought forward his ob- 
 fcures, and threw his clears into the back ground. 
 This may appear to counteradt the principle I' at firft 
 
 and 
 
Dial. VI. 0/ /^i? C/.ear obscure. 123 
 
 and weak. This method of Raphael, fuch 
 as I have defcribed it, anfwers fully in giv- 
 ing a roundnefs to his foremoft figures; 
 but it is weak in its general efFed: He 
 knew not the powers of the different colours, 
 Hill lefs, the beauties which they communi- 
 cate and receive from each other. Correg- 
 gio was a matter of both •, he not only 
 knew their ju ft balance and reciprocal in- 
 fluence, but extends this knowledge- even 
 to their (hades. Thus, you may diftinguifh 
 in a painting of his, the fliade of a rofe co- 
 loured drapery, from that of a red ; as you 
 may, the ihade of a clear white, from that 
 of one more obfcure. It is eafy to conceive, 
 what advantages, an uncommon genius, and 
 elegant imagination, muft draw frona fuch 
 refources as thtfe ; hence fprings that 
 
 laid down ; but, as the clears and obfcures from 
 each other, they mutually ferve, according as they 
 are placed, to throw each cither forward, or at ^ 
 diilance. 
 
 warmth. 
 
124 O//^^ Clear OBSCURE. Dial. VI, 
 warmth, that variety, that magic, which 
 enchants the eye, and prepoflefles the un- 
 derftanding: For, certainly we do not judge 
 of Correggio as of other painters ; preju- 
 diced by the charms of his Clear obfcure, 
 grimace fometimes paffes for beauty, affec- 
 tation for grace 5 it is by this that he always 
 gains his end, which is to pleafe ; and we 
 ^iew his works with a predilection, which 
 doubles his beauties, and blinds us to his 
 errors. 
 
 S. From this reprefentation of the merit 
 of Correggio, are we not to look upon it 
 rather as fantaftical than real ? Does it not 
 operate more, by feducing the eye, than fa- 
 tisfying the judgment ? 
 
 J. This fedudion is no fmall merit in 
 a painter j it is an union of the mechanic 
 and ideal i it is the power of realizing his 
 conceptions i from which, however, we 
 
 ihould 
 
Dial. VI. 0//;&tf Clear obscure. 125 
 
 Ihould receive little pleafure, were not thofe 
 conceptions in themfelves pleafing ; for the 
 Flemifh artiftSj are in this equal, if not fu- 
 periortoanyi but their aims are vulgar: 
 But Correggio is, in general, amiable in his 
 ideas, and happy in his expreffionsi he was 
 more conftant in his purfuit of grace than, 
 of beauty; hence he as often out-runs the, 
 one, as he falls fliort of the other j but th^ 
 Iplendor of his Clear obfcure overbears our, 
 cenfure •, and he is to us, what Apelles 
 was to the ancients, theftandard of the ami- 
 able and the graceful, 
 
 B. Might we not, by blending the Clear, 
 obfcure of Correggio, with the compofition 
 of Raphael, form to ourfelves an image of 
 perfed painting ? 
 
 A. It cannot be denied, that, had the 
 latter been more knowing in this branch of 
 his art, his paintings would have had a much 
 
 better 
 
126^ 0/ /,&^ Clear -OBSCURE. Dial. VI. 
 better effect ; and yet, nothing is more na- 
 tural, than that the event fliould be fuch as 
 w J find it. The ideas of Correggio, tend 
 ing ever to pleafe, led him, of courfe, to 
 the difcovery of the means produdlive of 
 his aim ; Raphael, on the other hand, while 
 he was biifisd in tracing the palTions, and 
 intent on determining their movements, 
 was naturally led by the feverity of his pur- 
 fuit into a fimplicity, or perhaps, a neglect 
 of colouring. The reafonablenefs of this 
 conclufion, is confirmed by an example from 
 antiquity ; Ariftides, who was probably the 
 moft ethic of all their painters, was, as we 
 are told by Pliny, rather hard in his co- 
 louring. 
 
 B. However general the cafe may bCj 
 it does not prove that the things are in 
 themfelves difcordant ; on the contrary, 
 you have fatisfied me in the charafbers of 
 Apelles and Parrhafius, that they may very 
 2 well 
 
Dial. VL Of the Clear obscure. 127 
 well exift in one and the fame artift. Caa 
 a painter be excufable who is weak in the 
 moft eflential part of his art, namely, that 
 which gives reality to his imitations ? His 
 aim, in general, may not be to flatter the 
 eye ; but, it fhould be always to fatisfy our 
 feeling. He may think juftly, and convey 
 his thoughts clearly yet, his work is but a 
 fbozzo, till, by colouring and the Clear ob- 
 fcure, it puts on the femblance of truth. 
 But, exclufive of the good effed of this fci- 
 ence in the general, there are particular 
 cafes, in which it is indifpenfable ; as, in 
 the reprefentations of heavenly and aerial 
 beings: When thefe, inftead of being fu- 
 fpended in a bright and diaphanous glory, 
 are nailed to a muddy fondj or wade thro% 
 the obftrudions of a heavy dawbing, wc 
 are offended at the impropriety of their ap- 
 pearance ; and the fir ft thought we have, 
 is, to wonder how they came there. 
 
 A. The 
 
128 0//^tf Clear ofisctTRE. DrAL. Vf. 
 
 A» The imagination enlightened by the 
 <varm and glowing images which it receives 
 Froni the poets, bears with impatience thoft 
 gloomy and ponderous bodies, with which 
 our painters people their heavens. The de- 
 fed of education in our artifts, is no wherd 
 fofenfible, as on thefe occafions what fire 
 might a painter catch from the following 
 defcription ; 
 
 T^or delafd the winded faint 
 After his charge received j ' but from among 
 Thoufand celeftial ardors^ where he ftood 
 Veiled with bis gorgeous wings ^ up fpringing light 
 Flew thro' the midft of Heaven 
 
 Par. Loft, book v. ver. lijt 
 
 What an ejOTeft of clear obfcure is hinted^ 
 in thefe lines ? 
 
 Hafte hither^ Eve^ and worth thy fight beholdy . 
 Eaftward among thofe trees ^ what glorious fidpe 
 
 Corses 
 
Dial. VI. //?'^ Clear obscure. 129 
 
 Comes this way moving j fecms another morn 
 Ris^n on tnidnooji. 
 
 Par. Loft, book v. ver. 308. 
 
 The Italian painters have no excufe. Ari- 
 ofto and Taflb abound with beautiful and 
 pidurefque ideas. There is not, perhaps, 
 a finer image in poetry, than the following 
 one by Taflb. 
 
 Ccji dicendo, Jiammeggio di zeh 
 " iP^r gli occh'io fucr del mortal ufo accenft : 
 " Pot nelprofondode fuoiraifi chiufe^ 
 £ Jtaroe. ganto xii. Stanza 9 3. 
 
 What a fubjecSjt for a fine colourift, to d.eline- 
 ate the form of an angel, retiring and melt- 
 ing into the fplendor which furrounds it ? 
 
 B. The painting of Correggio alone 
 verges on thefe poetic ideas : We acknow. 
 ledge in his angels the inhabitants of hea- 
 ven j crayoned in fplendor, pellucid in 
 K glory. 
 
X^O 0///&fi ClEJVR OBSCURE. DiALi VI, 
 
 glory, their clear and animated tints breathe 
 a divinity ; they flit in air, like the fkirtings 
 of a pafTing cloud, they drop from heaven, 
 like rain through an April fun. 
 
 A. One would imagine that Pope had 
 been animated with the fpirit of Correggio, 
 and had taken pofleflion .of his pencil, when 
 he thus pidured his fylphs: 
 
 Zome in the fields of pureji ather play^ 
 And lajk and uuhiien In the blaze of day. 
 
 Men of a fuperior genius, view nature 
 through the fame medium, a fine imagina- 
 tion ; fo that, however different their arts 
 may be in the mechanic part, they will ofteti 
 ajpproach each other in the ideal. Of all the 
 arts, poetry and painting are the moft con- 
 genial ; and we may obferve,. that as the 
 former* never appears more lovely, than 
 when (he drefles herfelf in the beauties of 
 painting j fo, the latter is never fo tranf- 
 
 porting. 
 
Dial. VI. 0//!'^ Clear obscure. 13J 
 porting, as when Ihe emulates the flights, 
 and catches the images of poetry. 
 
 B. What you have faid in this place of 
 Correggio, is much to his advantage ; but, 
 you juft now treated him rather ilightJy on 
 the article of Beauiy ; a merit, a,pplied to 
 him by others as peculiar and diftindive: 
 I am at a lofs to a.ccount for this oppofition 
 of fentiments. A Greek philofopher being 
 alked, what was Beauty ? Anfwered, This 
 was the [k] queftion of a blind man ; yet I 
 am tempted to fubjed myfelf to the fame 
 Tebukci for withoijit fome explanation of 
 this matter, we mufl: ever, in our judg- 
 fflientson painters, contradid;^ or talk unin- 
 telligibly to one another. 
 
 'HQ . 
 
 J. I SHOULD think fuch beauty abfolute, 
 in which we ihould find, a purity of co- 
 lours, an elegance in the proportipns, harr 
 
 [if] Tf^Xou To t^wlnfAX* 
 
 ]^ 2 mony 
 
132 0/ /^^ Cle^r OBSCURE, DrAL.Vr. 
 mony of features, and happinefs of char 
 rader. 
 
 Bi Excmt me a minute ; what do you 
 rfieari in-thils place by charader? toixalq 
 
 J. I ME^N that emanation of the mim^,-. 
 which marks its pecuhar complexion which 
 infpires the features, graces the adion, and: 
 gives to the whole .perfon a particular ain^ 
 and fignificance. Hence the poet, 
 
 Thus doth Jjeaufy divell 
 ^jere moft confpicuous, een in outward Jhapey 
 IVhere dawns the high exprejjion of a mind, 
 
 PI. of the ln^. 
 
 Now the reafon why we differ fo muchlni 
 our judgments on beauty, is, that in theufe 
 of this word, we annex to it, fome more, 
 lome fewer of the forementioned ideas ; as 
 each man differs from another, in the caft 
 of his imagination, or the juftnefs of his eje. 
 
 Thus 
 
t)iAL. VI. Q/^/-&^ Cl^ A R OBSCURE. 1^3 
 
 Thus one, much delighted with the pure 
 and vivid tints of Titian, fhall with difficul* 
 ty acknowledge beauty in the grofs com- 
 plexions of Raphael, however elegant the 
 proportions, or happy the charader. A 
 fecond, to whom harmony of features fil!s 
 his conception of beauty, fiiall admire Car^^ 
 lo-Maratte-, to the furprife of thofe, who 
 feel no effe6t from an upion of features un-' 
 enlivened by expreffion. Oppofed to this 
 perfon fhall be one, vvith whom character 
 alone ftands for beauty thus, when a Ma- 
 donna of Correggio gazes on her child, with 
 a fondnefs truly maternal ; orfmilcs delights 
 ed with his playful aftion j he calls that 
 beauty, which a more correal" eye Cobferving 
 that the proportions are not perfectly juif, 
 and the caft of features, perhaps, even vul- 
 gar) fhall admit to be nothing more- thari 
 a pieafing expreffion. Bur, exclufive of 
 thefe, particular ' acceptations, we ure this 
 word in a fcnfe ftill more vague'and gene- 
 K 3 rai; 
 
1^4 O//^ Clear o-BscuRE. DrAL. Vt 
 ral J for, as it is the nature of beauty, td 
 excite in the beholders certain pleafing 
 fenfations, we apply indifcriminately the 
 fame title, to every thing which produces 
 a like effed; and this is evidently the cafe, 
 when we are flattered by the union of co- 
 lours, or the charms of the Clear obfcure. 
 Thus, an ancient writer obferves, " [/] That 
 *' the moft oppofite colours co-operate in 
 the formation of beauty A teflimony, 
 which not only ferves my prefent purpofe, 
 but like wife, brings the paintings of the 
 ancients into the fame point of view with 
 thofe of Correggio ; fliewing, that this lafl: 
 ^cies of beauty was equally known and 
 cultivated by both, 
 
 B. Though, what you have offered, be 
 applied only to painting, may we not extend 
 it to common life ; and account, from hence. 
 
 2. for 
 
Dial. VI. Of tk^ Clear obscure. 135 
 for the difference of our opinions, concern- 
 ing the beauty of women ; each man efteem- 
 ing her moft beautiful, who moft readily 
 excites in him thofe fenfations, which arc 
 the end of beauty ? 
 
 yf. Our Britifh Lucretius, it Ihould feem, 
 thought fo, when he tells us, that virtue 
 
 JJfumes a various feature^ to atir&lt 
 With charms refponf.ve to each gazers eye 
 Theheartsof mm, 
 
 PI, jtbc IiiJ, 
 
 DI A- 
 
t '36 J 
 
 t) 1 A L <© # U E VII. 
 
 (^ C O M P O S I T I O N* 
 
 ^- XT ISTORY Painting is the repre- 
 A X fentation of a momentary dra- 
 ma : We niay therefore, in treating of com- 
 pofition, borrow our ideas from the ftage 5 
 and divide it into two parts, the fcenery^ 
 and the drama. The excellence of the firft, 
 confifts in a pleafing difpofition of the fi- 
 gures which compofe the adlion : However 
 trifling the pleafure we recieve from this 
 may appear to fome, it is certain, that it is 
 founded on nature, and of courfe muft me- 
 rit our attention : If we look in a clear night 
 on a ftarry Iky, our eyes prefently fix oa. 
 thofe parts, where the ftars are (if I may fo 
 
 term 
 
Dial. VIJ. 0/Co'mposi tiOn. 137 
 
 term it) grouped into confteJlations. The 
 mind, indifferent to a loofe unideal difper- 
 fion, feeks for:; fqmerhing of fyftfem " andf 
 CBconomy ; and catches at every image of 
 contrivance and defign. Perhaps too, there 
 may be foniething of harmony in a particu- 
 lar arrangement of objeds ; fimilar to that» 
 which ftrikes us, in the correfpondence of 
 founds, or flatters us, in the union of 
 colours. 
 
 B. Whatever the principal may be, we 
 cannot doubt of the effed. The eye charm- 
 ed With the elegant diflribution of a Lan- 
 franc, or Pietro di Cortona, looks with cold^- 
 nefson the fcattcred compofitions of a Do- 
 menichino ; and often wifhes for fomething 
 more Piattering in thofe of the great Rjt- 
 phael. 
 
 A. Your obfervation, To far as it touches 
 Eaphael, fliews the necelHty of a diftindiion 
 
 in 
 
ij8 0/CoM POSITION. Dial. VII. 
 in this place. The difpofitron, of which 
 we have been fpeaking hitherto, is purely 
 piclurefque : But there is a fecond kind^ 
 which we may call the exprefTive. When 
 many perfons are prefent it an aflion, in 
 which they are interefted, it naturally fets 
 them in motion ; their movements will de- 
 pend on their charaflers and feeling ; an- 
 ger, love, or aftonifhment, fliall with pro- 
 priety be expreffed by fingle figures ; whilft' 
 others fiiall be coUedled into parties, or 
 groupes, to communicate their fears, doubts,., 
 belief, and the like. Thus, in that inimi- 
 table pi6ture by Leonardo da Vinci, when 
 Chrift, at fupper with his difciples, declares, 
 that one of them lhall betray him j they 
 all inftantly take the alarm : One of the 
 youngeft, rifing from his feat, his hands 
 crofled on his breaft, looks on Chrift with 
 an adion full of love and attachment tp his 
 perfon j the zealous and impatient St. ^Pe- 
 ter, throws himfelf a-crols two or three 
 
 others,, 
 
t)l Vil. 0/ C O M P O S I T 1 0 1 39 
 
 Others and whifpers the beloved difciple, 
 who is next to Chrift; no doubt, to afk his 
 matter who it fhould be. The reft are di- 
 vided into parties, reafoning and difputiiag 
 on their different fentiments. It is eafy tQ 
 perceive, that the artift, intent on giving a 
 full expreffion to the fentiments and pafHons 
 becoming the occafion, confidered thedif- 
 pofition ofhispidure, merely, as it tended 
 to explain or add force to his principal ac- 
 tion. This Will ever be the cafe with the 
 greateft painters: They may fet a juft va- 
 lue on the fcenery of their piece, but never 
 facrifice to that the expreffion of their fub- 
 je£t. When Chrift gives the keys to Peter, 
 nothing is more natural, than that the dif- 
 ciples fhould all crowd together, to be wit- 
 neffes of an aftion which fb much concern- 
 ed them. This difpofition is true and ex- 
 prefTive, but by no means pidurefque: 
 Raphael was too wife, to flatter the eye, 
 the expence of the uaderflandiog ; y«t. 
 
140 0/Co M p o S I T I o n; Dial. VJfi 
 
 where they could both be indulged with 
 propriety, his compofitioh was no lefs pic-- 
 turefque than expfeflive. in his St. Pairl~ 
 preaching at Athens, the difpofition in ge- 
 neral is not only pleafing, but the grouj^i 
 arc well inriaged, and happily connefted. In ^ 
 fhorr, the true difference between thefe at-' 
 tifbs, is this, with Raphael and Leonardo 1 
 da Vinci, difpofition is an acceflbry ; witht 
 Lanfranc and Pietro di Cortona, it is ndt'" 
 only a principal, but comprehends too often 
 the whole nierit of the pidure. -^'^^ 
 
 , B. Having fettled our ideaa of this paKt^,, 
 w^iich you call the fcenery of painting let 
 us, if you pieafcj examine the merit of the 
 ancients in this article : It is the received 
 opinion, I think, that their compoficions 
 in painting, like thofe of their baflb Re- 
 lievo*s, were extremely fimplej if fo, I 
 cannot exp^d much from you on this 
 head. 
 
 A This 
 
Dial. VII. 0/ Com p o s i t i o n. 141 
 
 yf» This opinion, is a neceflary confe-- 
 quencc of that, which I have already mciH * 
 tipned, namely, that they were un acquaint*?/ 
 ed with the laws of perfpedive, and the eS^q 
 feds of the clear obfcure. If the contrary 
 of this be true, which, itfeemsto me, I have 
 proved ; we may very well conclude, that^^' 
 poITefled of the fame means with the mo^.- 
 derns, and at leaft equal to them in genius; * 
 they flioujd employ them to the fame ends^. i 
 Was- their compoiicion fo fimple as it 
 thought^ there could be, in this particular,"; 
 no vaiiery in the art, and, of courfe, no de- 
 grees of merit in the artifts. Yet, we arc 
 told by PJiny, « [/] That Apelles confeflcdV 
 "^ Amphion to be his luperior inthedif^^ 
 *' pofition : It was then an objefl of attett- ' 
 tion ; it muft have been too, in the opinion • 
 of the ancients, of confequence j for, the 
 
 [/] Ceiib^t Amphioni de Difpofuione. 
 
 hiftorian 
 
142 Of C o M P o s I n o N. Dial. VII. 
 hiftorian gives it as an extraordinary in- 
 ilance of [fit] candor in the painter. It is 
 probable then, that, as Apelles was the Ra- 
 phael, fo Amphion was the Lanfranc of 
 Greece. 
 
 -tit bxsii "j;5in!i:Q 
 
 B. I AM inclined to believe from hence, 
 tl?at the firft painters among the ancients, 
 like thofe among the moderns, were, as it is 
 natural they fhould be, more ftudious of the 
 cacpreffive than the pidturefque; and this 
 naay be the reafon why the claffic writeris, 
 vfho borrowed their ideas of painting from' 
 their capital works, have not dwelt on the 
 article of difpofition ; looking on it as a 
 circumftance infeperable from the general 
 cxpreffion of the fubjed. 
 
 J. And yet they are not altogether fileftt 
 on this head : And we may find, even in 
 
 [«f] Fuit Apelles non minoris fimplicitatis quam ar- 
 tjs ; nam cedebac, &c. Lib. xxxxc, c. lo. 
 
 them 
 
I3l AL. .yiU 0/ C 0 M P 0 S I T I O N. 1 45 
 
 them, fufficient lights to fatisfy thofe, who 
 fet out with a, good opinion of the tafte and, 
 genius of the ancients. I'lutarch tells us, that 
 Euphranor painted the engagement of the 
 cavalry at the battle of Mantinea, [«] as if 
 he had been infpired. The painter had ne- 
 ver merited fuch fingular praife, had he not 
 wrought his fubjedl to the neareft fcmblance' 
 to truth ; and that this could not have been 
 ^Vithout a particular attention to the difpofi- 
 tion, the fame writer proves in another in- 
 ftance j when, fpeakingof the battle foughf 
 by Araftus againll the Etolians, he adds, 
 that Timanthes the painter, brought this 
 aiSion, as it were, before the eyes of the 
 beholders, by the [o] evidence of Ms difpoft- 
 t'ion. Thus, it is plain, that the Infpiration 
 of Euphranor, and the evidence of Timan- 
 thes, flowed from the fame excellence, aa 
 
 [»] OvK avEiBafj-Kxrwc. 
 
 De Gloria Athen. p. 346. Ed. Paris. 
 [0] EfA^avlixw? T>) ^taflto-jt. Jn Arato, p. 104.2. 
 
 union 
 
144 CyCoM posi Ti ON. Dial. Vn. 
 union of the two kinds of dirpofition, the 
 cxpreflive, and the pidturefque, 
 
 B. Having thus raifed the curtain and 
 examined the fcenery. Jet us preceded to 
 what you call the drama of painting. 
 
 J, It was with great propriety fo termed 
 by the ancients *, becaufe, like a dramatic 
 poem, it contains, firft, a fubjefl, or fable ; 
 iecondly, its order, or contrivance ; thirdly, 
 charafters, or the manners : Fourthly, the 
 various paffions which fpring from thofe 
 charafters. PhiJoftratus, fpeaking of the 
 compofition of a pi flu re, calls it in exprefs 
 terms the [/>] drama of the painter : Pliny 
 has [ql the fame idea, to his commendation 
 of Nichophanes. But we fball be better fa- 
 tisfied of the juftnefs of this application. 
 
 J Cothurnas ei, et gravitas artis. 
 
by examples, than by authorities, [r] 
 was the opinion of Nicias, one of rhe^reai- 
 eft of the Greek painters, that the fubje<^l:' 
 was of no lefs confequence in painting, thm 
 the fable in poetry ; and, of couffe, tlldtf 
 great and noble aclions tendtd- to elevstft' 
 and enlarge, as the contrary muft humble 
 and contradt the genius of the painter. The 
 ancients had great advantages in this parti- 
 dilar ; they had, not only their profane hif- 
 t6ry, rich in the mofl: glorious an'ct intereft- 
 in^ events', but their facred, wliiifl: it fur- 
 niihefl them witli tiew ideas of the fublime,' 
 gave no check to the pathetic. Their god?^ 
 iSptrior in grace, niajt fty and beauty, were 
 yet fubjed to- all the* feelings and paffiipnl 
 of humanity. Hbw unequal is the lot- qf 
 thfi'modern artifts ? employed by priefts, or* 
 pfinceS who thought like priefts, their fub- 
 
 [rj OeIo yoi^ Kxi TJiv vm^saiv ciTiiv jjie^og etysct T>>f 
 Dem. Phal. deeloc. § 76. 
 
14^ 0/CoMPOsi T ION. Dial. VIL 
 
 jeds are, for the mcft part, taken from a re-' 
 ligion, which profelTes to banifli, or fubdue 
 the paffions : Their charaders are borrowed 
 from the ioweft fpheres of life: Men,^ijii 
 whom, meannefs of birth, and fimplicity <&f 
 manners, were the beft titles to their eledlion* 
 Even their divine mafter, is no where, in 
 painting, attended with a great idea-, his 
 long ftrait hair, Jewifh beard, and poor ap- 
 parel, would undignify the moft exalted na^ 
 ture, humility and refignation, his charac- 
 teriftics, are qualities extremely edifying,, 
 but by no means pidurefque. Let us, for 
 example, compare (I muft be underftood to 
 mean only as fubjefls for painting) a Chrift 
 armed with a fcourge^ driving the money- 
 changers out of the temple, to an Alexan- 
 -der, the thunder in his hand, ready to dart 
 it on the rebellious nations. It is not in the 
 fublime alone, that their fubjeds are defi- 
 cient i they are equally fo in the pathetic : 
 The fuflferings, which they moitly reprefeht, 
 
 are 
 
t)lAL. Vii; 0/C OM POS I T ION. I47 
 
 are in obedience to prophecies and the will 
 of heaven ; they are often the choice of the 
 fufFerers J and a ten-fold premium is at 
 hand. When St. Andrew falls down to wor- 
 Ihip the crofs, on which he is foon after to 
 be nailed ; we may be improved by fuch 
 an example of piety and zeal ; but we can^ 
 not feel for one, who is not concerned for 
 himfelf. We are not fo ealm at the facri- 
 fice of Iphigenia ; beautiful, innocent, and 
 unhappy ; we look upon her as the vidiim 
 of an unjuft decree •, fhe might live the ob- 
 jed of univerfal love ; fhe dies the objc£b of 
 univerfal pity. This defedl in the fubjed, 
 and of habitude in the painters, accounts 
 for the coldnefs, with which, we look in ge- 
 neral on their works in the galleries and 
 churches the genius of painting wafting 
 its powers on crucifixions, holy families, 
 laft fuppers, and the like, wants nerves, if 
 at any time the fubjecfl calls for the pathe- 
 tic or fublime : Of this we have an inftance 
 L 2 ia 
 
if 4^ 0/ C 0 M p o s I f 1 0 N. Dial. Vll. 
 
 in the transfiguration by Raphael ; a Chrift 
 uplifted by a divine energy, dilating in glo^ 
 ry, and growing into divinity, was a fubje^t 
 truly fubliffie ; it is eafy to fee, on this oc- 
 cafion, that the painter had not that enthu- 
 liaftic fpirit, or thofe ideas of majefty, whichf^ 
 the fubjed: required : Accordingly, his pen- 
 cil is timid and unequal : It is not fo, when 
 he drops to the bottom of the mount, to ex- 
 prefs the various feelings and fentiments of 
 the diciples, diftrefled at their inability to 
 work a miracle in their matters abfence. 
 irhe truth was, his calm, though fertile ge- 
 nius, could better delineate the fine and de- 
 licate movements of the mind, which have 
 ' in them more of fentiment than paJTion. 
 This was his true fphere, and it is here, 
 that we muft ftudy, and admire Raphael. 
 
 B. Your obfervations on the charader of 
 Raphael, (how, how eflential to painting is 
 that, which you call the third part of the 
 2 dramaj 
 
DiAL. VII. 0/ Composition. 14^ 
 
 drama, namely, the charaders or man- 
 ners. 
 
 ji. The ar^cients thought them fo much 
 foj that they exprefsly term pi6ture [j] an 
 art defcriptive of the manners. Ariftotle 
 in his poetics, fays of Polygnotus, that he 
 was a [/j painter of the manners ; and ob- 
 jefts to Zeuxis his weaknefs in this part.' 
 We have in Philoftratus the following de- 
 fcription of a pidlure " [u] We may in- 
 " ftantly (fays he) diftinguifh Ulyffes, by 
 <« his feverity and vigilance j Menelaus, by 
 
 [j] Hfiawoifllo? Ts%i/». Calliftratus in Defcrip. flat, i^fcal. 
 
 Ariftides Thebanus animum pinxit, et fenfus omnes 
 cxpreffit, quos vocant Gr»ci tMn} id eft, perturbationes* 
 Plin. lib. XXXV, 10. 
 
 [a] EttjJijXoj 5 |XE» ifiasxjjiTK);, airorav r^vpfov xsct ly^r,- 
 yogolof, • 5*6 AyctiAijAvuff ctiro tow £»9eOf, to» ^« rov Tvhvt 
 ^^8fGeg»a yfx^st, ywgt^ot; c'a» xai von TcXee^^vtof, awo rov 
 (3^0(T^^fot;, Kill Toy Aoxpon avo rov irotftov. Philoftrat. in 
 Antilocho. 
 
 L 3 his 
 
150 0/Co M p o s I T I ON. Dial. Vil. 
 
 '*.his mildnefs and . Agapiemnon, by a 
 *' kind cf divine majefty in the fon of 
 ** Tydeus, is exprefled an air of freedom ; 
 " Ajax is known by his fullen fiercenefs j 
 and Antilochus by his alertnefs." To 
 give to thefe fuch fentiments and adlions, as 
 are confequential from their peculiar charac- 
 ters, is [x] the ethic of painting. We may 
 judge from hence, how advantageous it muft 
 be to painters in general, to be verfed in 
 claffical fubjefts ; for, they find themfelves 
 under a necefllty of expreffing the manners 
 as they flow naturally from characters pre- 
 determined. The [jy] Greek painters caught 
 their ideas from hiftorians and poets, and 
 tranQated the beauties of eloquence into 
 paint. 
 
 B.How wonderful muft have been that 
 genius, which, without thefe advantages, 
 
 [x] u^iiv tru^tx. Callift. in Defcrip. flat. Narcifli. 
 
 fjK ■ Apelles pinxit Dianam facrificantium virginum 
 choro miftam ; quibus viciffe Horaeri verfus videtur, 
 idipfum defcribentis. Th^. lib. xxxv. c, 10. 
 
 has 
 
Dial. VII. 0/C o m p o s i t i OK; 151 
 
 has all their effects ? Such was our divine 
 Raphael : He treats new fubjeds ; he in- 
 vents new charaders : The moft unpidtu- 
 refque a(Sl:ion, compofed by him, feems to 
 have been deftined for paint : Chrift gives 
 the keys to Peter ; how barren the incident !^ 
 yet his pencil, like the rod of Mofcs, ftrikes 
 a fpring out of this rock. 
 
 J. You have defcribed that facility, which 
 is the gift of genius, and the image of truth : 
 This does not confift wholly, as may b? 
 imagined, in the ready execution of a con- 
 ceived idea 3 but in the ioi mediate percep- 
 tion of the juftnefs of that idea ; in a con- 
 fummate knowledge of the human hearty 
 its various affe<5lions, and the juft meafure 
 of their influence on our looks and geftures ; 
 eafy in promife, but difficult of execution ; 
 janknown, unattainable by the herd of paint- 
 ers, it drops from the pencil of a Raphael, 
 Corre^gio, or Leonardo da Vinci. This 
 \u 4 quality 
 
152 0/ Co M p o s I T I o N. Dial. VII; 
 quality was confidered by the ancients as the 
 lureft teij of genius ; thus Plutarch praifes 
 the paintings of [z] Nicomachus, corapar- 
 ing them, in happinefs and facility, to the 
 poetry of Homer. Apelles affirmed him- 
 felf inferior in fome points to other painters ; 
 bwtin this unrivalled, if we except tbp 
 three, I juft now mejidoned, we fliould in 
 vain look for this knowledge, in the crowd 
 of modern painters. Contented with tole- 
 rable drawing, fome air of beauty, and a 
 good call of drapery, they abandon charac- 
 ter to the accident of features ; their dra- 
 ma^tis perfons, if we can call them fuch, are 
 like the tfollowers of ^neas, many adors 
 with ortQ face, fprtemtjue Gyam, fortemque 
 Cloanthum ; the different echoes of one poor 
 idea : Such charafters are fo far from grow- 
 
 %s^«? Kcii aiTBi^yxi^xip In Tim. Oleonte, p. 253, 
 Kd, Paris.' 
 
 ing 
 
Dial. VIL 0/ C o m p o s i t i o n. 15^5' 
 jng out of the fubjedl, that they hav€ alw^ays 
 the air of Exotics, and feem fitter for any 
 fpot than that in which they are. Inftead 
 of placing the Bacchus and Ariadne of Car- 
 rache, in a triumphal car ; we might put the 
 miftrefs into a cart, and fet her lover to 
 drive it. 
 
 B, The profeffors of the art, who praife 
 fo warmly the paintings in the palace Far- 
 Kefe, fliould diftinguifh better the mechanic 
 part from the ideal. I have never feen them 
 without regretting, that fuch a hand to exe- 
 cute fhould have been fo ill prompted. \ 
 compofition of this kind, though it be rlcli 
 in all the other powers of paint, if it has 
 neither beauty nor charadlers becoming the 
 fubjects, v^ill be confidered by a judicious 
 obferver, rather as the furniture than orna- 
 rnent of a gallery. 
 
 A. To 
 
t$4- 0/C 0 M p o S IT I o N. Dial. VII. 
 
 ji. To reprefent a Juno without majefty, 
 or a Venus without beauty, is an infult 
 on our underflandings ; the peacock and 
 dove, are not the means of diftin^tion wc 
 look for : The [a"] Juno of PoJycletus is 
 defcribed by Maximus Tyrius, with fnow 
 white arms, ivory fhoulders, beautiful eyes, 
 in royal robes, of a rnajeftic mien, and fe^t;- 
 cd on a throne of gold. 
 
 S. ^The modern ftatuaries are fo wholly 
 void of charader, that they are not to be 
 
 ^pvtnv d^vt>v. Differt. xiv. 
 
 The fame ftatoe is celebrated by Martial in the follow 
 Vig epigram : , , 
 
 Juno, labor, Polyclete, tuas, et gloria feli^r,^ 
 Phidiacse cuperent quam meruifle manus ; 
 Drenitettanto, qaantofuperaffet in Ida 
 judice convidlas non dubitante Deas. 
 Junonem, Polyclete, fuam nifi frater amaret, 
 Junonem poterat frater amare tuam. 
 
 Lib. X. Epig. 89. 
 
 mentioned 
 
Dial. VII. 0/Co m p o s i t i ow. 155 
 
 mentioned on this fubjed- ; even our befl: 
 painters are not fo accurate as we could wifli : 
 Domenichino, who excels in painting chil- 
 dren, often gives them expreflions which 
 no ways become their age, 
 
 A. The truth was, he had but one ex- 
 preffion to give them, which waa that of 
 fear ; fo that, right or wrong, they muft 
 be frightened ; he might have learned frotri 
 Parrhafius, that an innocent fecurity was of- 
 ten their truefl: charaderiftic ; pinxit fueros 
 duoSi in quibus fpe^atur fecuritaSy et ^etatiS 
 fmplicitas^ PJin. The Greek artifts, not 
 only excelled the moderns in the propriety 
 of their charafters, they were fometimes fu- 
 perior even to their own poets ; let us com- 
 pare the Vulcan of Homer, with that of AI- 
 camenes; the firft:, at a banquet of the 
 gods, limps along the buffoon of the com- 
 pany? i "the fecond ispraifed by Cicero, 
 
 " [h] for 
 
156^ 0/ C 0 M p o s I T I 0 NT. Dial. VII. 
 ** [^] for that his Jamenefs was marked fo 
 mildly, that it did not difgrace kirn." 
 Itmuft be confefled, that the ftatuary is by 
 far more decent than the poet. 
 
 We have thus far confidered charafter m 
 its calm expreflion of the manners ; let us 
 now trace it in its more turbulent efFe<5ts, 
 the paffions: It is obferved by Tully, "[c] 
 
 That every motion of the mind, has from 
 «' nature its peculiar countenance, [d] Do 
 *' not you fee, fays Seneca, what vigor is 
 *' given to the eye by fortitude ? what 
 
 fteadinefs by wifdom ; what modefty, 
 
 Ih] Athenis laudatpjis Vulcanum eum quem fecit 
 Alcamenes, in quo ftante atque veftito, leniter apparec 
 clandicatio non deformis. De Nat. Deor. lib. i. 
 
 [t] Omnis enim motus animi fuum quendam a na- 
 tora habet vultum. De Oratore, lib. iii. 
 
 [/} An non vides quantum oculis det vigorem 
 fortitado? quantam intentionem prudentia? quan- 
 tam modeftiam et quietem reverentia ? quantam fere- 
 nitatem Ixtitia? quantum rigorem feveritasi quan^ 
 tam remifiionem hilaritas ? Ep , cvi. 
 
 ^bat 
 
Dial. VII. 0/ Composition. 157- 
 
 «' what ftillnefs it puts on in the expreffion 
 <« of an awful refped ? how it is bright- 
 ened by joy ? how fixed by feverity, 
 " how relaxed by mirih ? " If fo much of 
 the inward habit of our minds is to be col- 
 leded from this intelligence of the eyes, how- 
 much more may be traced in the general, 
 tenor of the countenance, in its agreement 
 with the agitations of the body, the move- 
 ments of the limbs, and all the various in-^ 
 dications of aftion ? To catch thefe fymp«^ 
 toms of our inward feelings, to give theni 
 their juft meafure of expreffion, and render,' 
 if I may fo exprefs myfelf, the foul vifiblea, 
 is the great end of dramatic painting, 
 
 B. I HAVE often thought, on examining 
 the Laocoon by parts, that, had the focc 
 only been difcovered, tlie fwelled veins, the 
 ftraincd finews, and the irregular motion 
 the mufcles, might have led us into a con- 
 ception of thofe tortures, which are fo di- 
 
158 0/Go M P O'S I T I 0 N. Dial. Vit, 
 
 vinely expreffed in the face, fo wonderfully 
 marked throughout the whole body. 
 
 A* The ancients are no lefs remarkLable 
 for their fpirit in conceiving the primary 
 idea, than for their patience in purfuing it 
 in all its confequences : The \e\ exprefiion 
 ia this ftatue, is worked up to fuch a juft 
 extremity, their reigns through it fuch an 
 air of truth, that, as the lead addition would 
 be extravagance, fo every diminution would 
 be a defeft : We trace in it the labour of 
 years, we feel from it the impreffion of a 
 minute. The ftatuaries of Greece had no 
 other advantage over its painters, than that 
 they ufed more durable materials, blefifed 
 with equal genius, formed by the fame edu- 
 cation, their arts went hand in hand to per- 
 feaion. If Praxiteles be celebrated by Di- 
 
 [<f] Opus omnibus et piflaras et ftatuaris artis prse^ 
 ferendum. Plin. 
 
 odorus 
 
13i AL. Vn. 0/ C o M 6 s I T I o . 1 
 
 odorus Siculus, [/] for having tranrfufecl 
 into marble all the pafHons of the foul ; the 
 !ame power is attributed by Pliny to the 
 pencil of Ariftides it is not probable, that 
 men of tafte and letters, whilft they vjti6 
 cye-witnefles of the divine charaifler in' the 
 Apollo ; of the beauty and tendernefs of the 
 Venus ; and the wonderful expreflion of the 
 Laocoon; fhould celebrate thofe very quali- 
 ties in the works of their painters, were they 
 not eminently poflelTed of them, Pliny, {g} 
 
 [g] Timanthi vel plurimum alFuit ingenii : Ejus 
 cnim eft Iphigenia oratorura laudibus cdebrata ; qua 
 ilante ad aras peritura, cum mcBilos pinxiffet omnes, 
 praicipuc p.truum, cum triffitise omnem imaginem 
 confumliffet, Patris ipfiiss vultum velavit, quern digiw 
 lum ptoerat oftendere. Lib. xxxv. c. lo. 
 It has been imagined that Timanthes borrowed this 
 diQught from the following paffage in Sophocles : 
 
 ■ ^' eJBihi Aya-HifMiuv mvcc^ 
 
 ActK^vx «r^o)37£v^ ofificilm mirXn roge6f<f« 
 
 ia 
 
iSo 0/ C O M P O S I T ! O N. t>IAL. Vll. 
 
 in his defcription of that famous pidure of 
 the Sacrifice of Iphigenia, by Timanthes, 
 obferves, " that the painter having exhauft- 
 '* ed every image of grief in the by-ftanders 
 *« and above all in the uncle j threw a veil 
 *' over the face of the father^ whofe forroW 
 *« he was unable to exprefs." If the ingeni- 
 ous Timanthes has left us to conceive an 
 idea, which he could not execute, Ariftides, 
 on the other hand, has executed that which 
 is almpft above conception ; by him was 
 painted *' a town taken by ftorm, in 
 " which was feen an infant creeping to the 
 " breafl of its mother, who, though ex- 
 ** piring from her wounds, yet expreffcs an 
 " apprehenfion and fear Icaft the couife of 
 *' her milk being ftopt, the child Ihould 
 « fuck her blood." What a perfedt know- 
 
 [h] Hujus piftura eft, oppido capto, ad matris mo- 
 rientis e vulnere mammam adrepens infans : Intelligi- 
 turque fentire miater, et timere, ne emortuo la£le fan- 
 gainem infans lambat. Flin. lib. xxxv. c. xo. 
 
 ledge 
 
Dial. yif. 0/ Com posit lorf. i^^ 
 ledge of the human foiil mud this paihtef ' 
 have had, to enter thus feelingly into her 
 inmoftworkings I What a power, next to"' 
 creative, to make fuch tender movements 
 fenfible in the midft of tortures; ahd^he 
 mother's fondnefs diftinguifliable through 
 the agonies of death ? This pidure, it is 
 probable, gave occafion to the following 
 epigram [ij. 
 
 . Suck, little wretchiWhilft yet thy mother lives. 
 Suck the Ivft drop her fainting hofom gives. 
 She dies i her tcndernefs outlafts her breathy 
 And her fond love is provident in death. 
 
 The Philofletes of Par rhafius is a fine image 
 of hopelefs wretchednefs, of confuming grief. 
 The pidure itfelf is happily defcribed by the 
 
 EAxyaov u rail 01/ ya/** xctlxtpQiaitvi;. 
 H^U yccf ^ipetfffft y^vovmi' af^Xot to. fArjIgof 
 
 " Anthol. lib, 1:1.'* 
 
 M epigraiTj* 
 
Com posiTi 0 N. Dial. VHi 
 epigrammatift, and the compliment to the 
 painter^ has the elegance and fimplicity pe- 
 culiar to the Greeks [k\ 
 
 Draivn hy Parrhajiuiy as in ptrfon viiiu'd^ 
 Sad PhihSfetes feels his pains renevud. 
 " In his parched eyes the deep- funk tears exprefs 
 ilis endlefi fnifery^ his dire di/irefs. 
 : We bkm thee, painter, t ho* thy art -cammerjd', 
 , *T'Uias time his fvfferings with himf elf frould end.. 
 
 We cannot well conceive an image , mpre 
 tender, or more affe(5tirig than this. Let 
 terror be uoited With pity, the n^ufe of 
 painting has completed her^drama. Of this, 
 the Ajax and Medea of Timomachus are 
 
 AaXfV, zxi 0 T^^u t/loj tv»r* <ro»ef. 1 
 
 c. i s . ..5 . . Antholi lib*, fv., , . 
 
 c ' > , beautiful 
 
Dial. Vlfi 0/ C o m p a s i t r o m. 163 
 beautiful examples they are but juft men-f 
 tloneci by Ovid in the following lines, [/] : { 
 
 Here Jjax fits with fullen rage opprefs'd. 
 And iii Medea* s jeyss her crime* s con/efs%^ ) 
 
 Philoftratus is more particukr as to the for- 
 mer: [m] We cannot (fays he) do juftice to 
 the Ajax of Timomachus, whom he repre- 
 ferits diftraded, unlefs we previoufly form 
 in our minds the image of his condition : 
 and how natural it was, after the follies he 
 had committed, that he lliould lit down^ 
 overwhelmed with Ihame^ entering on the 
 refoludon to deftroy himfelf. This obfe** 
 
 [/] Utque fedet vultu faffus Telamonius iram ; 
 Inque oculi& facinus barbara mater habeC. 
 
 Lib.ii.Trm. 
 
 [m] Ot»y at rov Aisctld 'tif to» TifiofA.xX'ov ayxff^uif if 
 
 »ov» AtCLtloii uhovf xat i'j etito? otulot avutlotolet ra t» Tij 
 Tfoi« ^wkoKiUt KoJim^heti avn^tiitolct, 0ov\iit tiwvfitvet 
 Mi^tatlUi tclmai. Lib. ii. de vita ApoUonii* c. 10. 
 
 M 2 vation 
 
f^4 0/C 0 M p o s I T r 0 fJ. Dial. "Vlt^- 
 
 vation of the hiftorian, will ferve us as a* 
 comment on the epigrammatift [«]. 
 
 ^<fr^ art with nature holds a doubtful ftr'ife^- 
 
 And fummons Ajax to a fecond life : 
 
 We fee thee raging, and in every line 
 
 The painter' s fury rifes ftillwith thine: 
 
 Thy looks the anguijh of thy foul difclofe. 
 
 And the mix'd tear is charged with all thy woeu 
 
 The Medea was a fubjedt of emulation to 
 the wits of Greece ; each contending to do 
 juftice to thofe inimitable expreffions, whichk^ 
 they thus defcribe v 
 
 Medea^ painter, now provokes thy Jkill^ 
 Hop^fi thou to pi£iure a divided will ? 
 
 T»jf ^pcTjy. 'O yga\)/»{ eth as f/ixtvefjusvov, 
 
 Anthol. lib. iV, 
 
Dial. VII. 0/ Com posit foi^i t6$ 
 
 'Tis done : Behold^ united by his art 
 The lovers frenzy^ and the mother* s heart ; 
 Mark hoiv the Jtruggllngs of her foul appear ^ 
 Here fury flajhes, and th^re melts a tear, 
 ^Twas •well, her purpofe only yeu exprefs'dy 
 Who but Medea could fupport the reft ? 
 
 The fame is touch'd again with great fpirit 
 in the following epigram [^] : 
 
 What ventrous hand the curs' d Medea drenv f 
 And brought the parricide once more in view / 
 
 €lv TO jxjv Hi o^yav vtve, to 5' e»5 tXsov, 
 AfApto ^' £7r^»piuo■£f, opx Ttffov* ev yue awnAa, 
 
 Afxei y dv f*tMi5a»s, sJCa <ro^of. rsKvup 
 Ew^ETTs Mr,hin, X.' ov ^^s^t TtfAofJuixov. 
 
 Anthol. iib iv. 
 
 A»6i yaj ^ii}'*? ^(e<piuv (povov' ii t»5 I»!(T«y 
 
 Anthol. iib. iv. 
 
> B6 Of C 0 M p 0 s I T t oV. Dr AL. VIL 
 
 ' jfrt thoil by fiighied love pmvok^d again 
 
 Jn thy child's bload thy impious hands to Jiam ; j i 
 , Off murdrefs ! ev'n in paint thy crimes we feati 
 -^:; ,^d dl the harrors of thy foul au here. 
 
 It mint be confefled, that if thefc dr- 
 tlfts were happy in their power to pleaftfj' 
 they were no lefs fo, in having fuch feelinj^ 
 ^critics, fo capable of tranfmitting their iT^*' 
 rit to pofterity. We too have pur fliare 
 this happinefs ; thefe defcriptions are fojuft^ 
 fo lively, fo diftinguifhing, that we may loofe 
 mpon them as copies of thofe divine ori« 
 ginals. The moderns have not this advan- 
 tage; all ideas of their works will vanifli^ 
 with their colours. When Ariofto celfe;^ 
 brates Michael Angelo in the following 
 line, 
 
 E Michael, piu che mortal, ^"gfl diiino.'* 
 
 this ipfiA^tik exceffiye, npt dccifive j it par- 
 ries no idea. 
 
DlAl., VII. 0/ C 0 M P OS I T I CTN-. ' iSf 
 
 A The reafon is obvious, the artift did 
 not fumifti the" poej with any. Had the 
 palhters of Italy produced foch . i^xpfeiTons 
 as thofe of the Ajax and Mlfedea, the w 
 of that country, would not h^v§ been want- 
 ing in doing thegi juftice, I may, perhaps^ 
 appear too general, when T include eyeij^ 
 Raphael in this obfervation ; but if you rer' 
 fieft, you will find, that his exprelTions arc 
 Ciore addrefled to jthe underftanding tharj' 
 the pafllons : They are more to b? adtpirr 
 ed for their variety than force ; they have" 
 little, either of the pathetic or fubUme ; anct*^ 
 the images which they leave in the mind,^ 
 flip from it, almofl: as haftily, as the pidure^ 
 from the eye. It is not fo with the pairit- 
 jngs of Timomachus and Ariftjdes ; the 
 impreflions we receive from them ftrike full^ 
 upon the foul \ they dilate it, like the burfts 
 in the mufick of Borancllo j they agitate, 
 ^l^ey rouz€ it,i lik« the fymphoQie§;of Yec^r 
 
1 6S 0/ G 0 M P o s I T I o N. Dial. VII. 
 melH : Such exprefTiOns, fas was obferved 
 of the eloquence of Pericles) leave ftings 
 behind them. The fuperiority which I 
 have here attribut-d to the ancients, in the 
 comparifon of their excellencies with thofe 
 of Raphael, is no way injurious to the lat- 
 teV ; it is but placing his merit in a juft 
 point of view. The epithets of great and 
 divine, fo conftantly beftowed upon him, 
 carry with them every eircumftance of pef- 
 feflion : We may be, and are often led 
 thefe into wrong judgments : Let us, if 
 you pleafe, examine his principal works : 
 we have already taken notice of his condud 
 in the transfiguration, and of his preference 
 of the humbler to the more exaked fubjeft i 
 in this he did but obey the true biafs ot his 
 genius : The difciples, in theabfence of theli" 
 mafter, had attempted to difpoflefs a de- 
 moniac ; they failed in their aitem,pt : The 
 painter feizes this moment to exprefs their 
 
 furprife 
 
Dial. VH. 0/ Go m p o s i t i o n, 169 
 
 furprize and concern at their difappoint- 
 ment : Their fentiments on the ©ccafion, 
 are finely varied : and happily adapted tq 
 their different charafters. The beauties of 
 this pi<5tureare to be felt, not defcribed ; buE 
 yet they are beauties of an inferior order 
 They fatisfy the underftanding, but they dot 
 not touch the heart, 
 
 B. As to your critici^n on the transfigiii- 
 ration of Chirft, you muft confider, that to 
 liave given it its full effect, the fplendors of 
 the Clear obfcure, mufl have co-operated 
 with the fublime in the idea : For this rea- 
 fon, it is probable, Raphael did not care to 
 engage himfelf too far in fuch a fubjeft. 
 Had he conceived, that he was unequal tc^ 
 the fublime, he never would have attempt- 
 ed the hiflory of the creation. 
 
 [y] In affei3:ibus fere plus calor, quam diligentia, 
 valet. Quint. 
 
I jrO 0/ C 0 M P 0 S I T I qV. Di At. YlfQ 
 
 A. A SUBJECT great In cooceptibn, 
 may becom^ little in the execution. God 
 the Creator, prefiding in the center of the 
 univerfe, and ordering by his mighty fiat, 
 the fun and moon to break into exiftence, 
 is a fubje(5t truly fublime : But, when' this 
 is reprefehted, [r] by the figure of a man, 
 fufpended in the air, with one hand on the' 
 fiin, and the other on the moon, that, which 
 Was noble W the imagination, is trifling to 
 the eye*. The immenfity of our idea (brinks 
 
 [r] ThiB littlenefs of this idea will bell aSppe^jjsc^jUjf^ 
 comparing U with fuch as are truly great, ^ ^^^^^ 
 
 J ^ JUde forth, and bid the deep f 
 ■ '^tFithin appointed boundt be heaven and earth. ^"f 
 
 And in immediate confequence, .30 f}um 3i 
 
 fit/t in his eaft the glorious lamp masfemi 
 ^gentofda^. Par. Loft. ; -..^ii^tr'^ 
 
 Such a fubje£l as this will not admit of a me^ha^fdf 
 image ; we have a proof of this, when the fame poet 
 unhappily puts a compafs into the han^s of the Al~ 
 mightjr Agent, 
 
 tQ 
 
DiH. VII. cy* Com pos IT loiir lyx 
 to nothing, reduced to a world of a few 
 inchest The fubjed, therefore, was inju- 
 dicioufly chofen, and poorly trebled. In th|'^ 
 facne manner, when we reflefl on that adV^^^ 
 when God commanded the animals of th^^^ 
 e^}"th, to fpring from duft into life^ we are^o 
 iilled with the hi^heft conception pf his 
 power ; but, when we fee, in the midft of 
 numberlefs beafts, an old man, with eyes of 
 diminiflied lyftre, a wrinkled forehead, ^ 
 long beard, and his robe hanging to the 
 ground, we may acknowledge the venerable 
 Mierlin, but we have no lines of our Creator. 
 Such fymptoms of caducity do not fuit with 
 the divine nature ; if he is to be reprtfented, 
 it muftbe, by a fublime idea, a charader of , 
 pajefty more than human ; fuch as was 
 imagined by Homer, and executed by 
 jPhidias, 
 
 Plutarch 
 
172 0/CoM posi Tiofj, Dial. VII, 
 B. [j] Plutarch fuppofes fuch an idea 
 in the Alexander of Apelles, perfonating 
 Jupiter the Thunderer; which, according 
 CO this writer, was painted with fuch energy 
 and truth, that it « gave occafion to a 
 faying, that there were two Alexanders, 
 the one of Philip, invincible; the other 
 «* of Apeiles, inimitable.'' We learn from 
 the fame author, that Lyfippus was no lefs 
 ingenious than fublime, when he drew from 
 a flight inclination of the neck, which was 
 natural to Alexander, the hint of a great 
 cxpreffi> n; rcprefenting him looking up 
 to heaven, with that manly boldnefs, that 
 commanding majefty, which are thus hap- 
 pily marked by the epigrammatifi [/]. 
 
 yeyon. anxv%c, h ^£ AxeAAg^ «^,^,7o«. De Fort Vei 
 
 Virt. M. Alex. p. 335. Ed. Paris. 
 
 Let 
 
Dial; VU, Of Com P' oh i t r o n. 
 
 tet us dividey O J^ove I the conqueror cries': 
 t lord of earthy thou, tyrctnt afthe Jkies, 
 
 A. We mud not exped fuch exprefllons' 
 as thefe from the pencil of Raphael ; would 
 you fee hin^ in his true charader, obferve 
 where the angel turns our firfl: parents cue 
 of paradife it is plain, that lie ads in obe- 
 dience to a command ; he lays his finger 
 gently on the fhoulder of Adam, and mai ks, 
 by a certain tendernefs of adion, a compaP 
 lion of their paft weaknefs, and prefent mi- 
 fery. It is in tracing thefe flight and lefe 
 obvious movements of the mind, that this 
 amiable painter fhows the true beauty of 
 his genius; more excellent, perhaps, in cx- 
 prefling fuch feelings, in that he was not 
 franfported by the more violent* I have, 
 now brought you into the gallery of the 
 Vatican; we mufl: enter the apartments} 
 though we have little to do there; for, of 
 
 all 
 
?74 0/Co M POSIT I ON. Dial. VII; 
 all the works of Raphael, thefe the moft ce- 
 lebrated for the painting, are the leaft to be 
 noted for expreflion. An aflembly of Chri- 
 ftian dolors, or of Heathen philofophers, 
 are fubje<5ls of no motion. Heliodorus 
 driven by angels out of the temple, pro- 
 mifes expreflion ; but his terror is a grimace. 
 When the angel vifits St. Peter in prifon^. 
 we might reafonably cxped:, in the counter, 
 nance and aftion of the faint, fome kind ofj 
 emotion; how do we find him ? faft afleep-, 
 could Giotto have done lefs ? In the a<S]tion 
 ofAttila, indeed, there is fomewhat of digw. 
 nity and fpirit j but it would diftrefs the 
 moft fanguine admirers of Raphael, to pro- 
 duce, from this feries of painting, fuch exam-: 
 I^es of the pathetic or fublime, as might 
 entitle him to be ranked with the firft paint- 
 ers of antiquity. 
 
 B. I SHALL 
 
Di AL . VII;; Oj: Q p m p o ft i t i ti if, 175 
 ^B. I SHALL cJtcqfe your entering on a 
 particular examination of the hiftory of 
 Pfyche, or the banquet of the gods^ per- 
 fuadcd, that you would find the paintings 
 at the palace Chigi, as deftitute of the ex- 
 preflions you look for, as you have already 
 found thofe of the Vatican. Yet we muft 
 acknowledge an uncommon energy and fpi- 
 rit in the flight of Mercury 5 dtid'- it hasi' 
 been obferved, that the painter 4iai^^ With' 
 wonderful art, given to Pluto, Neptune, and 
 Jupiter, diftind chara(5ters, yet prefer ved in 
 all a brotherly likenefs. 
 
 J^. It would have done more honour to 
 his asrt^^ had he exprefled in any one of them 
 a great idea •, thfr conceptions of Euphranor 
 were- very diffei*ent on a like occafion ; [«] 
 
 [a] Qui cum Athenis duodeclm Deos pingcrct, 
 Neptuni imaginem quam poterat excellentiffirais ma- 
 jeftatis coloribus complexus eft, perinde ac Jovis ali- 
 4 who. 
 
ijS 0/ C o k p o S I T J o N. Dial. Vlt- 
 
 *' who, being employed at Athens, to paint 
 *' the twelve gods; expreffed in Neptune 
 the higheft idea of riiajefty, with d. defign 
 *' to make the Jupiter ftill more noble ; 
 *^hut having exhaufted the force of his 
 *' invagination in the former character, h&J 
 *' could Aot rife in the latter to the point 
 *' which he ambitioned.'* It will be eafily- 
 allowed, that the failure of Euphranor, .was 
 more glorious, than the fuccefs of Raphael: 
 The firft, hurried away by the impetuofity 
 of his geniusj aims at a flight beyond the 
 reach of humaniry : The fecond, fecure in 
 the mildriefs of his fpirit, hovers within the 
 circle of his calm conceptions, [x] We 
 may, according to Plutarch, be pleafed 
 
 tguanto afiguftiorem fepraefentaturus ; fed omni ira-« 
 jietu cogicacionis in fuperiore opere abfumpto, pofte- 
 riores ejus conatus affurgere quo tendebant, nCqai- 
 "•efant. Val. Max. lib. viii. c ii. 
 
 ivuv xoti QatviAx ^t]«». Plut. de educat. liberorum. 
 ' ' 2 ^ the 
 
Dial. VII. 0/C o m p o s i t i on. 177 
 theoncj but the other excites our wonder 
 and admiration. 
 
 B. Since we have had fo little fatis- 
 fatfiion, in the point of exprelTion, from the 
 paintings at the Vatican, and the palace 
 Chigi, let us examine thedefigns, or, as they 
 commonly are called, the cartons of Ra- ' 
 phael. For, whatever fliare his fcholars 
 may have had in the execution, we can 
 have no doubt, but that the compofitions 
 were taken wholly from his drawings. 
 
 j^. If the errors in drawing, and inequa- 
 lities in the feveral parts, mark, beyond a 
 doubt, the pencil of the fcholars j the vari- 
 ety and truth of the cxpreffions prove, with 
 equal force, both the hand and genius of the 
 mafter. Let us trace the latter in Cbrift's 
 charge to Peter ; the keys are no fooner 
 delivered, or the preference given, than we 
 N perceive 
 
178 0/CoMPOS I T ION. Dial. VII; 
 
 perceive the different effe<5ls manifeft in the 
 countenance and geftures of the feveral dif- 
 ciples : The two foremoft approve the ac- 
 tion J the one, with the calmnefs of age aijd 
 judgment, the other, with the eagarnefs of 
 youth and paflion. Of the two, which fol- 
 low, the one has his eyes fixed earneftly 
 on the face of Chrifl : The fecond, feems 
 fufpended between felf-love and the juftjce 
 of the choice. The remaining fix are di- 
 vided into two groupes ; in the former of 
 which, the foremoft figure, of a biHous 
 and meager temperament, looka haftily for 
 the agreement of the next to him ; who, of 
 a quite different complexion, feems loft in 
 a fimple and implicit admiration: Whilft 
 the third, piqued at their approbation, 
 marks by an impatience in his looks, and 
 a reftlefsnefs of aflion, how ill fatisfied he 
 is with the preference given to Peter. The 
 Uft groupe confifts, like the former, of three 
 
 figures ; 
 
Dial. VII. 0/C o m p o s i t ion. 179 
 
 figures ; the hindmoft is, by a concealment 
 of his countenance and aflion, withdrawn, 
 as it were, from the fcene. This gives a kind 
 of repofe to the imagination, and adds a fpi- 
 rit to the expreffions in the other two ; of 
 whom, onCj under a knit brow and forc- 
 ed compofure, fwells with a fullen difcon- 
 tent J but the other, of a more a^live and 
 fiery nature, breaks out into an open and un- 
 governed expreflion of envy. Upon the 
 whole, if we confider the fimplicity of the 
 fubjed, the variety and judicious contrafts 
 in the characters, the juftnefs and delicacy 
 in the expreffions, we muft confefs, that, 
 however unequal Raphael may be to the en- 
 thufiafm and pathetic of the antique, he is 
 an abfolute matter of the fubordinate affec- 
 tions; and admirable, in tracing through 
 middle life, the various and fubtile workings 
 of charadler. It would take up too much 
 of our time, to go through the feveral in- 
 N 2 ftancc* 
 
1 So 0/ C o M p o s I T I o u. Dial. Vlt, 
 fiances of the fagacity and conduft of ihh 
 painter*, yet one is fo fingular in its kind, 
 that I cannot pafs it in filence. When th« 
 inhabitants of Lyftra are about to offer fa- 
 crifice to Paul and Barnabas, it was necef- 
 
 -fary to let us into the caufe of all the motion 
 and hurry before us ; accordingly, the crip- 
 ple, whom they had miraculoufly healed, 
 
 -appears in the crowd : Obferve the means 
 which the painter has ufed, to diftinguifh 
 this objed, and, of courfe, to open the fub- 
 je6t of his piece. His crutches, now ufe- 
 lefs, are thrown to the ground j his attitude 
 IS that of one accuftomed to fuch a fuppo^t, 
 and flill doubtful of his limbs ; the eager- 
 nefs, the impetuofity with which he folicits 
 his benefadtors, to accept the honours def- 
 tined for them, point out his gratitude, and 
 the occafion of it : During the time that he 
 is thus bufied, an elderly citizen, of fomc 
 confequence by his appearance, draws near, 
 
 and 
 
Dial. VII. 0/ C 0 iM p o s I T I o N. i $ i 
 
 and lifting up the corner of his veft, furveys 
 with aftonifhment the limb newly reftored ; 
 .whiirt a man of middle age, and a youth, 
 looking over the flipulderqf the cripple, arc 
 intent on the iame obje^b. ; ,T'he ^y(it of 
 ^Tj an could not devife means more certain of 
 the end propofed j fuch a chain of circum- 
 ftances is equal to a narration : And, I can- 
 not but think, that the whole would have 
 been an example of invention and condu(5t, 
 even in the happieft age of antiquity. 
 
 B. You have at length done juftice to our 
 great modern ; and, it Ihould feem to mc, 
 from the light you have thrown on this fub- 
 je6t, that the true difference between the an- 
 cients and him, confifts in this, that the 
 former drew the paffions to a point, colledl- 
 ing the powers of painting to one fingle and 
 forcible expreffion ; whilft the genius of 
 Raphael, more placid and diffofed, illu- 
 N 3 mines 
 
tti 0/GoMPOSiTioN. Dial. VII. 
 mines and is- refleaed by numberlefs ob- 
 
 A. We may add to your obfervation anq- 
 ther reafoo why the paintings of the arxien^l;, 
 had greater effea than thofe of the moderns;^- , 
 they pofiefled more parts : Let me explain 
 myfelf. In order to have a juft idea of the 
 different parts of painting, we are obliged 
 to ftudy different matters ; for colouring, ' 
 Titian ; for the clear obfcure, Corree^no • 
 for defign and compofition, Raphael : It 
 will not be denied, that, had the laft of 
 thefe, united to his own the excellencies of 
 the other two, his works would have had 
 more the air of truth ; and (which is the end 
 of all imitative arts) flood more naturally 
 in the place of the things which they repre- 
 fent : It is this nearnefs to truth, or excel- 
 lency in the mechanic, which impofes on 
 our fenfes, and gives its powers to the ideal : 
 
 Now, 
 
Dial. VII. O/Com posit ion. 183 
 Now, I am inclined to believCj that the 
 firft painters of Greece were no lefs perfect 
 in the one than in the other. I think we 
 have proved this in Apelles and Parrhafius ; 
 Let us therefore fuppofe the merits of Ti- 
 tian, Correggio, and Raphael, united to the 
 grace, beauty, and fublime of the antique, 
 we (hall then have an idea of confummate 
 painting and our imagination may bring 
 before us, the Helen of Zeuxis, the Alex- 
 ander of Apelles, and the Medea of Timo- 
 machus. 
 
 B. I HAVE heard it maintained by profef- 
 fors in the art, that it was impoflible that any 
 one perfon fliould excel in all the feveral 
 branches of painting : affirming, that it was 
 above the condition of humanity i and, that 
 the time and labour bellowed on fome, muft 
 always be at the expence and to the diminu- 
 tion of the others. 
 
 N 4 A. This 
 
Of C o M P O S 1 T I O N, Pl At. VlL: 
 
 '* This recalls to my mind an imagct 
 I have fome where met viritji, of a man, 
 who, lying under a covering th^t is too 
 lliort, no fooner fecures his b;eaft, but. hc 
 muft bare his feet ; and this will be the event 
 in both cafes, where the genius or covering 
 is Icanty. But it will pot be fo, in men of. 
 quick and great abilities. I think we may 
 prove this from the progrefs of Raphael,, 
 0c no fooner fa\y the cartons of Michael 
 Angelp, and Leonardo da Vinci, than he. 
 dropped, in a great meafure, the drynefs of 
 his mafter Perruginoj and blending the 
 boldnefs of the firft, with his own delicacy, 
 ftruck out a ftyle of defign more perfedl than 
 his model : In the fame manner, and at the 
 lame time, his colouring was much improv- 
 ed by his imitation of Fran. Bartolomeo ; 
 his compofition, by the ideas he caught 
 from MalTaccio y and the clear obfcure of 
 
 th6 
 
Dai. VII. Of C"o"\f p 0 § I T 1 0 i sy 
 the Florentine fc.hool, ,fqGh as il^jWws,, he 
 made his own,: The misfortune of Rapha- 
 el was, not that. his genius was weak, bur^ 
 tiiat his exaniples .were itpperfe.(3; j. Xhe eaf^. 
 with which he lurpafied theiH?, ll^cws, 4;h^ 
 he was equal to greater : Had l^e, fcen th? 
 tender carnation in the Venus,|Of Titian ; 
 the enchantment of clear obfcure in the na-. 
 tivity of Correggip ; his ready and comprc- 
 benfivc fpirit would fpon have upited thetii 
 tp.his own defign and compofitipnl Of the 
 Jaft^^he w^s in a great meafure the inventory, 
 it is no wonder then, as. he died very young,, 
 tfct the beft part of his life was employed^, 
 in the improvement of them.. But this wa% 
 not the cafe with the greattft painters of an^:- 
 tiquity : Apelles had all the advantages,, 
 which Raphael wanted ; inftead of Per^^ 
 rug^iio, hp had a Pamphilus to his ma- 
 %r^^ he had excellent examples in^ 
 C|ifji part of painting. In defign, Phidias- 
 
J 85 0/ Composition. Dial. VII 
 and Polycletus ; in colouring and the 
 dear obfcure, Zeuxis and Parrhafius; 
 in cornpofition, [z] the happy ideas of 
 the laft, joined to the ingenuity of Timan- 
 thes : And, as incitements to his ambition, 
 the friendfhip of Alexander, the emulation 
 of Protogenes, the examples and counfels of 
 Praxiteles and Lyfippus. 
 
 B. Whatever might have been the re- 
 fult of thefe advantages ; how excellent fo 
 ever Apelles and his cotemporaries, in giv- 
 ing the utmoft beauty and energy to a fingle 
 idea ; you will allow, that, in mixed and 
 varied compofitions, Raphael is much their 
 fuperior ; a merit, which in the eyes of ma- 
 ny critics, will counterbalance the fublime 
 and pathetic of the ancients. 
 
 Jl. I HAVE admitted, that it was much 
 the tafte of the Greek painters, to reft the 
 merit of their compofitions on a fingle cha- 
 
 rader 
 
Dial. VII. 0/ Go M p o s I T I ON. iSf 
 
 rader or exprelfion. That they judged wtll 
 in this, the agreement of all the writers of 
 antiquity, in giving the preference to thefe 
 works, fufficientiy proves. No doubt, the 
 nobicft end of painting, is, by a fudden and 
 powerful impreffion, to ftrike home on the 
 pail! )n«: This will never be efl'eded, in 
 painting, by drawing the imaginatioh 
 through links of fucccfiive ideas. The chil- 
 dren of Medea, we are told, were reprefent- 
 ed fmiling at the dagger in their mother's 
 hand y her fury, mixed with a pity of their 
 innocence, has been fully defcribed : Would 
 you extend compofition beyond this, you 
 rather weaken than improve it is it to be 
 imagined, that a painter, capable of fuch 
 expreffions as thefe, could not have marked 
 the {t^bordiiiatfe emotions in a number of af- 
 fillants ? We have already taken noticb, 
 in the Iphigenia of Timanthes, of the Cli- 
 riiaK in the exprefTions and of his fingu- 
 2 lar 
 
i$8 0/ Com posi^riON. Dial. V|r. 
 Jar ingenuity, in diflinguifhing his principal 
 character ; can we fuppofe this artift un- 
 equal to trace the gradations of envy in 
 .Chria's charge to Peter, or the different ef- 
 feds of PauFs fcrmpn at Athens ? 
 
 B. I i^usf interrupt you a moment ; you 
 have affirmed, that in the pathetic, painting 
 ;to little advantage from a climax in the 
 "Ideas-; yet, poetry and mufick move the 
 pkflions, by a quick and growing fucceffion 
 of imprefljons ; the images of the one, 
 and Vibrations of the other, gentle at firfl, 
 accumulate, and prefs upon us, with fuch 
 -an impetuous re-iteration, as bears all be- 
 fore it. 
 
 ^ A Th is progrefs is juft inverted in paint- 
 , in^ i the whole produ.ftion is at once before 
 ^.us ; our. attention is immediately fixed on 
 ^he mpf}: interefting expreffion ; when we 
 
 have 
 
Dial. VII. 0/Go m p o s i t i oif. 1S9 
 have ftudied, and felt the powers of this, 
 we then, and not till then, defcend to the 
 examination of the inferior movements : 
 Thus, when we enter into an aflembly of 
 women, fliould there be one amongft therh 
 of diftinguilhed beauty, the eye dwells with 
 conftancy on her ; and having taken in all 
 advantages, paffes to a carelefs obfervji- 
 tion of the reft. It is evident, in both thefc 
 cafes, that the fuperior charader ads with 
 ati injcnnfick, and not a relative force. 
 
 B. But wc may fuppofe a fubje<5l, ia 
 which there may be many capital expreP 
 fions; for example, the flaughter of the in- 
 nocents. 
 
 ^. In this cafe, fome one more happy 
 would overbear the reft ; or, fhould they be 
 morejuftly dealt with, the equality of their 
 prctcnfions, would weaken their fevcrat ef- 
 fects : 
 
190 0/C o Ai p 0 s I T I o N. Dial. VIL 
 feds: Atbeft, the time neceflary to com- 
 bine all the ideas and feelings peculiar to 
 each, would deftroy any effeft, which might 
 be hoped for, from the fuccefiion of their 
 impreffions ; fo that, each could ad but as 
 a feperate pidure J and this is the reafon, 
 why painting can never tranfport the im- 
 agination, or ftimulate the fenfe, fo power* 
 fully as poetry or mufick • [^2] For, though 
 
 [a] When Venus appears to her fon on the coaft of 
 Africk, beauty of perfon, grace of adion, tendernefs of 
 expreffion, with all the aids of drefs, attributes, and 
 diftinftion of dear obfcure, are by the painter urged 
 in the fame inftant on the imagination. In poetry, 
 thefe ideas are fuccelTive, and (which proves the ad- 
 vantage of painting) the more quickly they fuccecd, 
 the more perfeft is the defcrtption ; I may add to this, 
 that grace and beatity, ftrike more warmly on the 
 fenfe, in their adual appearance, than by any images 
 formed of them by vVords ; fo that, by as much as the 
 real appearance would be fuperior to paint, by fo 
 much is paint in this particular fuperior to poetry. 
 
 But the poet has ample amends ; he. can renew and 
 vary thofe impreffions at will ; he can lengthen out 
 
 it 
 
Dial. VII. 0/ Com POSIT ION. 171 
 
 it has greatly the advantage of either in the 
 impreffion of the inftant, as it unites more 
 circumftanees in that one point of time ; yet 
 it falls fliort of both, in the quicknefs and 
 power of repeating its ideas. 
 
 his aftion by a chain of the moft intereftihg circum- 
 dances : He can do more ; he can call all the fenfes 
 to his aid, and improve his pidlures of beauty, by a 
 voice tuned to a heavenly fweetnefs, or air breathing' 
 a divine fragrance. Dryden has marked the advan- 
 vantageof this coalition of the fenfes. 
 
 ^he hearing gave new plea/ure to the fight ^ 
 
 And both to thought . 
 Milton has infinuated the fame in the following words, 
 addreffed by Adam to the angel, and, in the fweetnefs 
 of his numbers^ fiill breathes on our ears the angelic 
 accents. 
 
 For, <whiU I fit luUh thee, tfiem in hearv'n. 
 And fiweeler thy di/courfe is to my tar 
 Than fruits of palm-tree, plea/anteji to thirfi 
 And hunger hvth. 
 
 As to the fecond advantage I mentioned, every reader 
 feels, how much the following idea adds to the beauty, 
 an4,4ifcectains the divinity of Venus. 
 
i^t O/Co M po s I T I o N. Dial. VlL 
 
 B. But, does not the very inftance you 
 have given, in the Iphigenia of Timanthes 
 Ihew the advantage of a gradation in the^ 
 cxpreffionsj and of courfe, contradid all 
 that you have oppofed to it ? 
 
 yf. Hao the paffioh of grief been aftually 
 cxpreffed in the countenance of Agamerii- 
 iron, the cafe would have been precifcly as 
 I dated it.juft now : But his face being hid, 
 and his feelings left wholly to our imagina- 
 tion, our attention fixes firft on thofe ex- 
 pfeffions, which are the objedls of fenfe, and 
 rifea from the real to a conception of the 
 
 ** Ambrojiaipii coma div 'mum vertice odortm 
 *' Spiravert. 
 
 TBie fame efFeft is fenfible in Milton's defcriptioh of 
 die angel Raphael, alighting on the earth. 
 
 Like Maias fan he Jiood ; 
 Jndjhookhis pJumes, that htavenly fragrance filled 
 - * %he circtdt <vjide» 
 
 itna- 
 
Dial. VII. 0/ Co m pps i t ion. 193 
 
 imaginary. Now this, you fee, is not a 
 matter of expreflion, but a ftroke of inge- 
 nuity ; which, as well as all tjie; deli- 
 cate, and lefs obfervable motions of the^ 
 mind, are often found to owe their evidence 
 and force to their aflbci^te ideas. Thus, tho' 
 Ip, addrefles to the palTionSj the ancients, in- 
 tent on giving the iitmpft force to the pri- 
 mary idea, made ufe of but few accefforieg .s 
 they obferved a quite different niethod, when 
 the addrefs was to the imagination. What 
 fpirit 5 what variety ? what a fund of in- 
 vention, in the marriage of Alexander and 
 Roxana, as painted by Action, and defcrib^ 
 ed by Lucian ? The playful and wanton 
 compofitions of Albani, are but roles pulled 
 from this tree. We find in the fame au- 
 %ioi-, the defcription of the Centaur of 
 Zeuxis : How excellent in the mechanic ? 
 .;.^hat novelty, what boldnefs in the ideal ? 
 L,et fuch traits of genius be the ehara<il:er- 
 O iftic 
 
194 0/ CoMP osi T I ON. Dial. Vir. 
 iftic of the antique I fhall not difpute with 
 thofe, who admiic the pidturefque difpofi- 
 tion, the multiplied charadlers, and labour- 
 ed compofitions of the moderns. 
 
 B. I FIND, thefe Jaft have in you but a 
 falfe friend > you joined their party juft now, 
 in the praife you gave to Raphael, only to 
 turn upon them with more violence, when 
 the occafion offered. 
 
 ^,1 AM. a fincere admirer of the fagaci- 
 ty and refources of Raphael ; but lam more 
 moved by one great expreflion, than by fe- 
 veral minute ones. There is generally, in 
 thefe laft, fomething equivocal and unde- 
 cifive ; they are often made out more, by 
 the imagination of the beholders, than by 
 the pencil of the painter : To fome, they 
 convey imperfedt ideas ; to others, diffe- 
 rent. I hardly hav€ known any two agree 
 
 in 
 
Dial. Vn. G/ C o m p o s i t i o lii. 195 
 
 in the fentiments which they imputed to the 
 feveral auditors of St. Paul. I attempted 
 juft now a hiftory of the feelings of the dif- 
 ciples, on the preference given to Peter ; 
 feme are obvious ; but it is poflible you 
 may differ from me in many others. At 
 beft, they mud be ftudied toiDe underftood ; 
 this weakens and fubdivides the effe6l : It 
 is not fo in the pathetic, or fublime. In 
 the dying mother of Ariftide?, the Medea 
 of Timomachus, the Alexander of Apelles, 
 the ideas are manifeft ; the expreffions de- 
 citive ; and, we can no more confound, 
 than we can forget, the effefts which they 
 produce — — . 
 
 5, BifT, granting tliat the chief merit of 
 the arts fhould, as you fay, confift in great 
 or forcible expreffions, are not inftances of 
 Ihefe to be found in modern painting ? 
 
 O 2 A. Had 
 
Q/" Cqmp osi T ION. Dial. VII. 
 
 J. Had I known of any comparable to 
 thofe^ which I have quoted from the an- 
 tique, they fhould certainly have had the 
 preference i for whatever might have given 
 occafion to thefe difcourfes, my defign was, 
 much more, to fettle our ideas of the art, 
 than the prctenfions of the artifts. 
 
 B. May it not be objeded, that thefe ad^ 
 vantages, which you have fuppofed on the 
 fide of the ancients, might have exifted 
 more in the defcriptions, than in the works 
 ihemfelves ? 
 
 u^. When any work can be produced of 
 modern art, equal., in the fublime, to the 
 Apollo; in expreffion, to the Laocoonj 
 in grace and beauty, to the daughter of Ni- 
 obe i I lhall allow the force of this objec- 
 tion. With regard to thefe, as I have al- 
 ready 
 
Oi AL. VIL Of G G M p d s I T I o 19^ 
 ready obferved, the caufe of painting and 
 ftatuary is the fame. As to compofition, 
 the grand point is expreflfion colouring 
 and the clear obfcure are proper to paint; 
 hovv far the ancients excelled in thefe, ex- 
 clufive of all other proofs, might be pre- 
 fumed from theif fuperior genius, and inde- 
 fatigable application. And now, I hope 
 you have -received, from this inquiry, the 
 ia[isfa6lion I promifed you at our firft fet- 
 ting out. Gur purfuit has not been altoge- 
 ther technical ; a fine idea, whether it be 
 conveyed in colours or words, tends equally 
 to improve and enlighten the imagination ; 
 and, you cannot but have obferved all 
 along, a conftant and pleafing refemblance, 
 in the conceptions of the Greek artifts, to 
 thofe of their poets. The fameftyleof great- 
 nefs, the fame ftrokes of tendernefs, the 
 fame vein of elegance and fimplicity ihine 
 through and beautify their works. 
 
 B. This 
 
jgS Cy Com p osi Ti ON-. Dial. VII. 
 
 B. This may well be ej^pefted from the 
 known analogy in the operations and powers 
 of the two arts : Hence it is, that we can 
 with juftncfs transfer from one to the other 
 the terms proper to each j and, as poetry 
 IS often but the colouring of words, fo 
 painting may be llyled the eloquence of 
 colours. 
 
 jf. The lively and natural effeds of paint- 
 ing, are in nothing more fenfible, than in 
 the delight the poets take, in borrowing- 
 
 o 
 
 ■ tbeir images and metaphors from her. 
 Hence they learn to groupe and arrange 
 their objeas ; to fiiade and illumine their 
 figures.; to draw the outlines of grace ; to 
 lay on the tints of beauty ; and all the co- 
 louring of words brightens as from the 
 touches of the pencil. This correfpon- 
 dence prevails, not only in what relates: to 
 2 defcription. 
 
Dial. VII. 0/ Compos i t roi^. 199 
 defcription, but even in the very eflentials 
 of each art. Was I to obferve, that there 
 were grace and beauty in the perfons ; juft- 
 nefs in the fentiments ; warmth and fpiric 
 in the paflions ; I at once defcribe a good 
 poem, or a good piflure. As it is the 
 charader of fine writing, fo it is of excel- 
 lent painting, that the thoughts fiiould 
 be natural, not obvious ; elegant, not re- 
 mote. [^] A Greek arrift, having painted 
 a naval engagement on the river Nile, it 
 was neceflary to mark the fcene of adion ; 
 to this end, he reprefented an afs feeding 
 on its bank, beneath which was couched 
 a crocodile, ready to fpring upon his prey. 
 A modern would have planted at one end 
 a river god, with water iflfuing from feven 
 urns i and this, with no fmall conceit of his 
 erudition. The fame fimplicity and happi- 
 nefs of invention are attributed in genc- 
 
 [-^JNealces, ingeniofus et folers in arte. Plin. Jib, 
 XXXV. c. 12. 
 
 ral 
 
200 0/ C O M P 0 S 1 T I 0 N. Dl AL. Vlf. 
 
 ral to the paintings of Timanthes-, in one 
 of which, he reprefented, in a little pifture, 
 a Cyclops fleeping, and, to give an extra- 
 ordinary idea of his fjze, near him were 
 drawn fome fatyrs, meafuring his finger 
 with a thyrfus. On which occafion, Pliny 
 makes this remark, " [c] In all his works 
 " there is more underftpod than expreffed j 
 *' and though his execution be mafterly, 
 <^ yet his ideas exceed it.*' This is, in fo 
 many words^ a defcriptjon of the poetry of 
 Virgil. A circumftance, extrennely favour- 
 able to the Greek artifts, that the praifes 
 due to that divine poet, fhould be no lefs 
 applicable to this excellent painter. 
 
 [c] In omnibus ejus operibus intelligitur plus femper 
 quam pingitur ; et ctim ars fumma fit, ipgenium tamen 
 ultra artem eft. i-ib, xxjcV. c. lo. 
 
 FINIS,