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T H t 
 
 W O R K S 
 
 O F 
 
 Mr, JONATHAN RICHARDSON. 
 
 CONSISTING OF 
 
 I. The THEORY of PAINTING. 
 
 II. ESSAY on the ART of CRITICISMi 
 
 fo far as it relates to Painting. 
 
 III. The SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 All corre&ed and prepared for the Prefs 
 
 By his Son Mr. J. RICHARDSON. 
 
 LONDON; 
 
 Printed for T. Davies, in Ruffel-Street, Covent- Garden } 
 Bookseller to the Royal Academy. 
 
 MDCCLXXHI^ 
 

T O 
 
 Sir JOSHUA REYNOLDS, 
 
 Prefident of the Royal Academy, 
 
 AND 
 
 Fellow of the Royal Society, 
 
 S I R, 
 A New and improved Edition of 
 *■ •** the Works of Jonathan 
 Richardson cannot be infcribed 
 
 with 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 with fo much Propriety to any Body 
 as to you. 
 
 The Author has in his Theory 
 of Painting difcourfed with great 
 Judgment on the Excellences of this 
 divine Art, and recommended the 
 Study of it with a Warmth ap- 
 proaching to Enthufiafm. His Ideas 
 are noble, and his Obfervations 
 learned. I am emboldened to fay 
 this from a Converfation which I 
 
 had 
 
DEDICATIO M 
 
 had the Honour to have with you 
 pn this Subject. 
 
 Had Richardson lived to fee the 
 inimitable Productions of your Pen- 
 cil, he would have congratulated 
 his Qountry on, the Profpect of a 
 School of Painting likely to contend 
 fuccefsfully with thofe of Italy. 
 
 At the fame Time he would have 
 confeffed that your admirable Dif- 
 
 courles 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 courfes would have rendered his own 
 Writings lefs neceflary, 
 
 I am, with the greateft Refped, 
 S i R, 
 Your moft obedient and obliged 
 Humble Servant, 
 
 M A Y 4, 
 
 J 773- 
 
 The Editor. 
 
( i ) 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 SECOND EDITION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ESSAY 
 
 ON THE 
 
 THEORY of PAINTING. 
 
 THIS book being out of print, 
 and a new Edition delired, I have 
 retouched it : The publick did forgive 
 the incorrectnefles of an author that was 
 endeavouring to ferve them, together 
 with a noble, ufeful, and delightful art, 
 a but 
 
ii PREFACE. 
 
 but who pretends only to write as a 
 painter and a gentleman ; this indul- 
 gence however has not encouraged me 
 to let any faults pafs that I have now 
 obferved, fo that I hope their number is 
 fomewhat diminifhed ; and I muft do 
 myfelf the right to fay that I have had 
 the pleafure of finding I had nothing 
 to retra6t; which I mould not have 
 failed to have done had I difcovered any 
 wrong judgment. 
 
 I have made feveral additions, parti- 
 cularly of fome examples from pictures 
 which I had not feen when I firft wrote, 
 or which did not then occur to me ; more 
 might have been added, but that they are 
 to be found in great plenty fcattered up 
 and down in the other difcourfes I have 
 publifhed fmce the P. firfl Edition of this. 
 
 * They are inferted In this colleftion. 
 
 The 
 
PREFACE. iii 
 
 The chapter of the fublime was then 
 but entered upon, and recommended to 
 fome other hand : I have now attempted 
 fomething upon that noble branch of my 
 fubjeft, frill wifhing however that one 
 more capable of it would do it better ; 
 but this I have done that I might perfect 
 the whole defign as well as I could. And 
 for the fame reafon, and becaufe I find 
 there is more occafion for it than I 
 thought heretofore, I will take this op- 
 portunity a little to profecute what I have 
 fometimes only touched, which is, to 
 combat a falfe tafte, and a very low one ; 
 a tafte fo falfe, and fo low, as to ima- 
 gine the meaneft parts of painting to be 
 the whole, or the perfection of it. 
 
 The great bufinefs of painting I have 
 
 often faid, and would fain inculcate, is 
 
 a 2 to 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 to relate a hiftory or a fable, as the 
 befr. hiftorians or poets have done ; to 
 make a portrait fo as to do juftice at 
 leaft, and fometimes not without a little 
 complaifance ; and this to the mind, as 
 well as to the face and perfon ; to repre- 
 fent nature, or rather the belt of nature; 
 and, where it can be done, to raife and 
 improve it; to give all the grace and 
 dignity the fubjecr. naturally prefents, all 
 that a well inftrucled eye can difcover 
 in it, or which fuch a judgment can find 
 it is capable of in its mofl advantageous 
 moments. 
 
 Neatnefs and high flnifhing; a light, 
 bold pencil; gay and vivid colours, warm 
 and fombrous ; force and tendernefs ; all 
 thefe are excellencies when judicioufiy 
 employed, and in fubferviency to the 
 4 principal 
 
PREFACE. v 
 
 principal end of the art; but they are 
 beauties of an inferior kind, even when 
 fo employed; they are the mechanical 
 parts of painting, and require no more 
 genius or capacity, than is necelfary to, 
 and frequently feen in ordinary work- 
 men; and a picture, in this refpecl, is 
 as a fnuff-box, a fan, or any other toy; 
 thefe properties are, in paining, as lan- 
 guage, rhime, and numbers are in poe - 
 try : and as he that flops at thefe, as at 
 what conftitute the excellence of a poem 
 is a bad critick, he is an ill connoifTeur 
 who has the fame confideration for thefe 
 inferior excellencies in a picture. 
 
 ■ Neque enim concludere verfum 
 
 Dixeris, effe fatis 
 
 Ingenium cui fit, cui mens divi.nior. 
 
 Hor. 
 
 How 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 How much more if, for the fake of 
 thefe, a picture is efteemed where the 
 ftory is ill told, and nature is ill repre- 
 fented, or not well chofen : If it be ima- 
 gined to be good, becaufe a piece of lace 
 or brocade, a fly, a flower, a wrinkle, 
 a wart, is highly finifhed, and (if you 
 pleafe) natural, and well in its kind; 
 or becaufe the colours are vivid, or the 
 lights and fhadows ftrong, though the 
 efTential parts are without grace or dig- 
 nity, or are even ridiculous. 
 
 And ftill more if, though there is feen 
 much labour, not thofe trifles themfelves 
 are well, and the reft is execrable. 
 
 Carlo Maratti, in a very capital draw- 
 ing I have feen, (amongft many others) 
 
 in 
 
PREFACE. f vii 
 
 in the collection of Mr. Davenant *, has 
 reprefented Painting ; it is, indeed, a fort 
 of treatife on the art; there is perfpec- 
 tive, geometry and anatomy, each with 
 the motto, ' Tanto che bafti;' antique 
 ftatues with this, ' Non mai a baftanza/ 
 over all, the graces defcending in clouds, 
 the motto here is ' Senza di noi ogni fatica 
 * e vana.' - 
 
 A fine thought, grace and dignity, 
 will abundantly atone for the want of 
 even a due application to the leffer, to 
 the mechanical parts of a picture j but 
 when thefe are only, or chiefly regarded, 
 
 * It is now in that truly noble one of the duke 
 of Devonfhire, where the expence itfelf, though worthy 
 of fuch a fortune, doth not equal the tafte in the con- 
 ftant choice of the moft capital, as well as of the 
 beft and pureft ftile of every mailer. 
 
 a 4 it 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 it puts one in mind of what Hudibras 
 fays of his fanaticks 
 
 Who with more zeal kept holiday 
 The wrong, than others the right way. 
 
 THE 
 
[ ix 3 
 
 THE 
 
 CONTEN TS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 O N T H E 
 
 THEORY of PAINTING. 
 
 PREFACE — — Pagei 
 
 A difcourfe on the art of painting ; its 
 ufefulnefs, and the proper qualifications of a 
 painter — — — i 
 
 Introduction to the main work — 20 
 
 Of Invention — — 22 
 
 Exprcffion — — 48 
 
 Compolition — — 64 
 
 Defign or Drawing — 77 
 
 Colouring «— — 84 
 
 Of 
 
x CONTENTS. 
 
 Of Handling — — Page 89 
 
 Grace and Greatnefs — 93 
 
 The Sublime — — 124 
 
 Hiftorical and chronological feries of the prin- 
 cipal profeflbrs of painting — 148 
 
 THE 
 
[ xi ] 
 THE 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 O F T H E 
 
 ESSAY 
 
 O N T H E 
 
 ART of CRITICISM. 
 
 f"F"*HE introduction ■— Page 161 
 
 Of the Goodnefs of a Picture, &c. 
 
 No picture without fome faults — 166 
 
 Two ways of judging; directly from the thing 
 
 itielf, and obliquely by authority. The 
 
 latter of thefe I meddle not with ibid. 
 
 Avoid prejudices — 167 
 
 And certain improper arguments 168 
 
 No regard to be had to what perhaps the mafter 
 
 intended, but judge from what appears 170 
 
 Eflablifh 
 
xii CONTENTS. 
 
 Eftablifh rules — Page 171 
 
 An abfiract of thefe — 172 
 
 Be acquainted with the bed things 174 
 
 Of the fublime — — 175 
 
 Befides that goodnefs which confifts in a con- 
 formity to the rules of art, there is another 
 kind, and that is as the thing anfwers the 
 ends — — 176 
 
 The principal end of painting is the improve- 
 ment of the mind, and next to that mere 
 pleafure — — ibid. 
 
 In what proportion the feveral kinds and parts 
 of painting anfwer the ends — 178 
 
 A picture or drawing mould be confidered dis- 
 tinctly — — 182 
 And with method and order — ibid. 
 What order beft to be obferved 182 
 A fcale of merit propofed — ibid. 
 A diifertation on a half-length portrait of Van- 
 dyke * — — 184 
 On a hiftory of Nicolas Poufiin 192 
 A fhorter way of considering a picture, exem- 
 plified upon one of Annibale Carracci 200 
 
 Of the Knowledge of Hands. 
 
 In all pictures and drawings, the thought and 
 the hand is to be confidered — 202 
 
CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 No two men think and aft alike Page 203 
 
 There is a real difference therefore in the works 
 of the feveral mailers — ibid. 
 
 And that difcernable — 204 
 
 But in fome more than in others ibid. 
 
 The way to know hands is to get an idea of the 
 mailers — — 205 
 
 From hillory — — 206 
 
 From their works — • 207 
 
 Cautions to be obferved in the ufe of the 
 former — — ibid. 
 
 Obfervations on the ufe of the other 209 
 
 The mailers have differed from themfelves as 
 well as from each other; all their feveral 
 manners therefore mull be known 211 
 
 Some account of thefe — ibid. 
 
 Care mull be taken that the works on which 
 we form our ideas of a mailer be genuine 
 
 219 
 What helps a beginner may have in this par- 
 ticular — — ' — 220 
 
 Requifites to a connoilfeur in hands : 
 
 1. To be acquainted with the hillory of paint- 
 
 ing, and of the mailers — 221 
 
 2. To be able to form clear and juft ideas 222 
 
 3. Particular application — — ■ l ° l °- 
 
 Of 
 
xiv CONTENTS. 
 
 Of Originals and Copies. 
 
 The feveral kinds and degrees of thefe Page 223 
 Equivocal works — — 225 
 
 The queftion, Whether a picture or a draw- 
 ing is an original or a copy ? ftated 226 
 Arguments to be rejected — 227 
 
 1. The ftate of the queftion [Is it original, or 
 
 copy at large?] fpoken to — 228 
 
 2. Is it of fuch a hand, or after him ? 229 
 An objection anfwered — — 231 
 
 3. Is this of fuch a matter's own invention, or 
 
 copied by him after fome other? ibid. 
 
 4. Is it done by the mafter from the life, or 
 
 invention, or after another picture of his 
 
 own ? — — — — ibid. 
 
 Of prints — — — 233 
 
 It is necefTary to have clear and diftinct ideas 
 
 236 
 
 THE 
 
[ XV J 
 
 THE 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 O F T H E 
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 IN BEHALF OF THE 
 
 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 TNTRODUCTION — Page 241 
 
 ■*■ The fcience recommended by its dignity, 
 
 certainty, pleafure, and advantage 244 
 
 An idea of painting, whereby it appears that it 
 
 is not only a fine piece of workmanfhip, and 
 
 an exact imitation of common nature-, its bu- 
 
 finefs is chiefly to raife and improve nature, 
 
 and above all to communicate ideas 245 
 
 Painting 
 
xvi CONTENTS. 
 
 Painting compared with hiftory, poetry, and 
 fculpture-, particularly with the latter, and 
 preferred — -— Page 252 
 
 Illuftrated in the hiftory of count Ugolino of 
 Pifa, byViilani — — — 256 
 
 The fame ftory as managed by Dante 259 
 
 A bafib-relievo of the fame by Michael Angelo 
 
 262 
 
 Painting, and the fcience of a connoiffcur might 
 be made very beneficial to the public 267 
 
 1. In the reformation of our manners 268 
 
 2. The improvement of our people 271 
 
 3. The incfeafe of our wealth, &c. 272 
 The dignity of the fcience farther appears from 
 
 the qualifications requifite to a connoiffeur 
 
 283 
 
 Amongft others (which are mentioned) he muft 
 be a good hiflorian — - — 284 
 
 Hiftory of painting — — 286 
 
 Account of the feveral fchools of modern paint- 
 ing — — — — 290 
 
 The ancient painters probably excelled the 
 moderns — — — - — 292 
 
 The hiftory of the lives of the painters necef- 
 fary to be known by a connoiffeur 295 
 
 A general idea of them — — 296 
 
 The 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XVll 
 
 The works of the mailers completes their 
 hiftory • — — ■ * — P a ge 301 
 
 Thofe of the greateft quality not only con- 
 
 noiffeurs, but fome of them have painted 
 
 , alfo — - — — — ibid. 
 
 SECT. II. 
 
 The preceding difcourfe applied to the fcience 
 of a connoifTeur — — 302 
 
 The rules for judging of the goodnefs of a 
 picture, &c. inconteftable ; with a fhorter 
 abftract of thefe than in the former treatife 
 
 3°3 
 The like aflurance in many cafes as to the 
 
 hands and originality — — 305 
 Others lefs certain — — - — 306 
 Others more doubtful — — 308 
 
 But in the moft material cafes we are raoft 
 
 affured — — — — ibid. 
 Objection from the variety of opinions of con- 
 
 noifieurs — — 309 
 
 This does not always happen from the obfcu- 
 
 rity of the fcience, but from fome defect in 
 
 the men — — ibid. 
 
 b Nor 
 
xviii CONTENTS. 
 
 Nor is there fo great a difference in opinions as 
 there feems to be. — Page 3 1 2 
 
 SECT. III. 
 
 The fcience recommended by the pleafure it 
 affords — — 319 
 
 fn difcovering the great effects and beauties of 
 art — — — 321 
 
 The fubject being raifed — — 322 
 
 And with variety according to the feveral tem- 
 pers of the m afters — — 323 
 
 By this means the beauties of nature are better 
 feen — — — — ibid. 
 
 And the mind filled with great and lovely 
 images — -— 324 
 
 The rarity gives pleafure — 325 
 
 Incidental pleafures — — 326 
 
 Pleafures from the knowledge of hands when 
 we confider the hiftory of the mailers at the 
 fame time we fee their works 327 
 
 And when we compare them one with another, 
 and with themfelves, being a fine exercife of 
 our reafon — — , 331 
 
 And wherein we are at full liberty 332 
 
 SECT. 
 
CONTENTS. xix 
 
 SECT. IV. 
 
 The advantages of the fcience Page 332 
 
 1. The reformation of our manners, refine- 
 ment of our pleafures, increafe of our for- 
 tunes and reputation — 334 
 
 Improvement to painters, fculptors, &c. 235 
 
 2. It is an accomplifhment proper for a gentle- 
 man — — — 336 
 
 3. By this we are enabled to judge for our- 
 felves : —i — 239 
 
 A N 
 
A N 
 
 E S S AY 
 
 O N T H E 
 
 THEORY of PAINTING. 
 
 BECAUSE pictures are univerfally delightful, 
 and accordingly made one part of our orna- 
 mental furniture, many, I believe, confider the 
 art of painting but as a pleafing fuperfluity ; at 
 belt, that it holds but a low rank with refpeci to 
 its ufefulnefs to mankind. 
 
 If there were in reality no more in it than an in- 
 nocent amufement ; if it were only one of thofe 
 fweets that the divine providence has bellowed on 
 us, to render the good of our prefent being fupe- 
 rior to the evil of it, it ought to be confidered as 
 a bounty from heaven, and to hold a place in our 
 efteem accordingly. Pleafure, however it be de- 
 preciated, is what we all eagerly and inceffantly 
 purfue; and when innocent, and confequently a 
 divine benefaction, it is to be confidered in that 
 view, as an ingredient in human life, which the 
 fupreme wifdom has judged necefTary, 
 
 B Painting 
 
2 THEORY of PAINTING. 
 
 Painting is that pleafant, innocent amufement. 
 But it is more •, it is of great ule, as being one 
 of the means whereby we convey our ideas to 
 each other, and which in fome refpects has the 
 advantage of all the reft. And thus it mult be 
 ranked with thefe, and accordingly efleemed not 
 only as an enjoyment, but as another language, 
 which completes the whole art of communicating 
 our thoughts; one of thofe particulars which 
 raifes the dignity of human nature fo much above 
 the brutes ; and which is the more confiderable, 
 as being a gift bellowed but upon a few even of 
 our own fbecies. 
 
 Words paint to the imagination, but every 
 man forms the thing to himfelf in his own way: 
 language is very imperfect : there are innume- 
 rable colours and figures for which we have no 
 name, and an infinity of other ideas which have 
 no certain words univerlally agreed upon as de- 
 noting them •, whereas the painter can convey his 
 ideas of thefe things clearly, and without ambi- 
 guity ; and what he lays every one underftands in 
 the fenie he intends it. 
 
 And this is a language that is univerfal; men of 
 all nations hear the poet, moralift, hiftorian, divine, 
 or whatever other character the painter afllimes, 
 fpeaking to them in their own mother tongue. 
 
 Painting has another advantage over words ; 
 and that is, it pours ideas into our minds, words 
 only drop them. The whole fcene opens at one 
 view, whereas the other way lifts up the curtain 
 by little and little. We fee (for example) the fine 
 proipeel at Conllantinople, an eruption of mount 
 ^Etna, the death of Socrates, the battle of Blen- 
 heim, the perfon of king Charles the firft, &c. 
 in an inftant. 
 
 Segnius 
 
THEORY of PAINTING. 3 
 
 Segnius irritant animos demifTa per aures, 
 Quam quae funt oculis fubje&a fidelibus, & quae 
 Ipfe fibi tradit fpe&ator. — Hor. Ar. Poet. 
 
 The theatre gives us reprefentations of things 
 different from both thefe, and a kind of compo- 
 sition of both : there we fee a fort of moving, 
 fpeaking pictures, but thefe are tranfient - y whereas 
 painting remains, and is always at hand. And 
 what is more confiderable, the ftage never repre- 
 fents things truly, efpecially if the fcene be re- 
 mote, and the ftory ancient. A man that is ac- 
 quainted with the habits and cuftoms of anti- 
 quity, comes to revive or improve his ideas rela- 
 ting to the misfortune of Oedipus, or the death 
 of Julius Casfar, and finds a fort of fantaftical 
 creatures, the like of which he never met with 
 in any ftatue, bas-relief, or medal ; his juft notions 
 of thefe things are all contradicted and difturbed. 
 But painting fhews us thefe brave people as they 
 were in their own genuine greatnefs and noble 
 fimplicity. 
 
 The pleafure that painting, as a dumb art, 
 gives us, is like what we have from mufick ; its 
 beautiful forms, colours and harmony, are to the 1 
 eye what founds, and the harmony of that kind 
 are to the ear ; and in both we are delighted in 
 obferving the fkill of the artift in proportion to 
 it, and our own judgment to difcover it. It is 
 this beauty and harmony which gives us lb much 
 pleafure at the fight of natural pictures, a profpec~t, 
 a fine Iky, a garden, &:c. and the copies of thefe, 
 which renew the ideas of them, are confequently 
 pleafant : thus we fee fpring, fummer and autumn, 
 in the depth of winter; and froft and fnow, if " 
 we pleafe, when the dog-ftar rages. By the help 
 of this art we have the pleafure of feeing a vail 
 B 2 variety 
 
4 THEORY of PAINTING. 
 
 variety of things and actions, of travelling by 
 land or water, of knowing the humours of low 
 life without mixing with it, of viewing tempefts, 
 battles, inundations ; and, in fhort, of all real or 
 imagined appearances in heaven, earth, or hell ; 
 and this as we fit at our eafe, and cafl our eye 
 round a room : we may ramble with delight from 
 one idea to another, or fix upon any as we pleafe. 
 Nor do we barely fee this variety of natural ob- 
 jects, but in good pictures we always fee nature 
 improved, or at leaft the beft choice of it. We 
 thus have nobler and finer ideas of men, animals, 
 landfcapes, &c. than we fhould perhaps have ever 
 had ; we fee particular accidents and beauties 
 which are r.arely or never feen by us ; and all this 
 is no inconfiderable addition to the pleafure. 
 
 And thus we fee the perfons and faces of fa- 
 mous men, the originals of which are out of our 
 reach, as being gone down with the ftream of 
 time, or in diftant places ; and thus too we fee our 
 relations and friends, whether living or dead, as 
 they have been in all the ftages of life. In picture 
 we never die, never decay, or grow older. 
 
 But when we come to confider this art as it in- 
 forms the mind, its merit is raifed ; it dill gives 
 pleafure, but it is not merely fuch; the painter 
 now is not only what a v/ife orator who is a beau- 
 tiful perfon, and has a graceful a&ion is to a deaf 
 man, but what fuch a one is to an underftanding 
 audience. 
 
 And thus painting not only fnews us how things 
 appear, but tells us what they are - y we are in- 
 formed of countries, habits, manners, arms, build- 
 ings, civil and military, animals, plants, mine- 
 rals •, and, in line, of all kinds of bodies what- 
 loever. 
 
 This 
 
THEORY of PAINTING, 5 
 
 This art is moreover fubfervient to many other 
 ufeful fciences •, it gives the architect; his models; 
 to phyficians and furgeons the texture and forms 
 of all the parts of human bodies, and of all the 
 phenomena, of' nature. All mechanicks ftand in 
 need of it. But 'tis not neceffary to enlarge 
 here ; the many explanatory prints in books, and 
 •without which thofe books would in a great mea- 
 fure be unintelligible, fufficiently fhew the ufeful- 
 nefs of this art to mankind. 
 
 I pretend not to go regularly through all par- 
 ticulars, or here, or elfewhere throughout this 
 whole undertaking to fay all that is to be faid on 
 this fubject •, I write as the fcraps of time I can 
 allow myfelf to employ this way will permit me ; 
 and I write for my own diverfion, and my fon's 
 improvement, (who well deferves all the affiftance 
 I can give, though he needs it as little as rnoft 
 young men ; to whom I muft do this farther juf- 
 tice, as to own, that I am beholden to him in my 
 turn for fome confiderable hints in this undertak- 
 ing.) And if moreover what I write may here- 
 after happen to be of ufe to any body elfe, whe- 
 ther it be to put a lover of art in a method to 
 judge of a picture, (and which in rnoft things a 
 gentleman may do altogether as well as a painter) or 
 to awaken fome ufeful hints in fome of my own 
 profefiion ; at leaft to perfuade fuch to do no 
 difhonour to it by a low or vicious behaviour ; if 
 thefe confequences happen, it will be a fatisfacftion 
 to me over and above. But to return, and to 
 come to what is rnoft material. 
 
 Painting gives us not only the perfons, but the 
 
 characters of great men. The air of the head, and 
 
 the mien in general, give ftrong indications of the 
 
 mind, and illuftrate what the hiftorian fays more 
 
 B 3 exprefsly, 
 
6 THEORY of PAINTING. 
 
 exprefsly, and particularly. Let a man read a 
 character in my lord Clarendon, (and certainly 
 never was there a better painter in that kind) he 
 will find it improved by feeing a picture of the 
 fame perfon by Vandyke. Painting relates the 
 hiftories of paft, and prefent times, the fables of 
 the poets, the allegories of moralifts, and the good 
 things of religion ; and confequently a picture, 
 befides its being a pleafant ornament, befides that 
 it is ufeful to improve and inftruct us, is greatly 
 inftru mental to excite proper fentiments and re- 
 flections, as a hiftory, a poem, a book of ethicks, 
 or divinity is : the truth is, they mutually aflift 
 one another. 
 
 By reading, or difcourfe, we learn fome parti- 
 culars which we cannot have otherwife •, and by 
 painting we are taught to form ideas of what we 
 read •, we fee thofe things as the painter faw them, 
 or has improved them with much care and appli- 
 cation •, and if he be a Raphael, a Giulio Romano, 
 or fome fuch great genius, we fee them better than 
 any one of an inferior character can, or even than 
 one of their equals, without that degree of re- 
 flection they had made, pofllbly could. After 
 having read Milton, one fees nature with better 
 eyes than before, beauties appear which elfe had 
 been unregarded : fo by converging with the works 
 of the belt matters in painting, we form better 
 images whilft we are reading, or thinking. I fee 
 the divine airs of Raphael when I read any hif- 
 tory of our Saviour ; and the awful ones he gives 
 the apoftles, when I read of their actions ; and 
 conceive of thofe actions, that he and other great 
 men defcribe, in a nobler manner than otherwife I 
 fhould ever have done. When I think of the 
 ftory of the Decii, or that of the three hundred 
 
 Lacede- 
 
THEORY of PAINTING. 7 
 
 Lacedemonians at Thermopylae, I fee them with 
 iuch faces and attitudes, as Michel Angelo, or 
 Giulio Romano would have given them ; and 
 Venus and the Graces I fee of the hand of Par- 
 meggiano ; and fo of other fubjects. 
 
 And if my ideas are raifed, the fentiments ex- 
 cited in my mind will be proportionably improved. 
 So that fuppofing two men perfectly equal in all 
 other refpects, only, that one is converfaht with 
 the works of the belt mailers (well chofen as to 
 their fubjects) and the other not ; the former fhall, 
 neceffarily, gain the afcendant, and have nobler 
 ideas, more love to his country, more moral vir- 
 tue, more faith, more piety and devotion than 
 the other; he fhall be a more ingenious, and a 
 better man. 
 
 To come to portraits •, the picture of an abfent 
 relation, or friend, helps to keep up thofe fenti- 
 ments which frequently languifli by abfence, and 
 may be inftrumental to maintain, and fometimes 
 to augment friendfhip, and paternal, filial,- and 
 conjugal love, and duty. 
 
 Upon the fight Of a portrait, the character, and 
 mafter-ftrokes of the hiftory of the perfon it re- 
 prefents are apt to flow in upon the mind, and to 
 be the fubject of converfation :' fo that to fit for 
 one's picture, is to have an abftract of one's life 
 written, and published, and ourfelves thus con- 
 figned over to honour, or infamy *. I know not 
 what influence this has, or may have, but me- 
 
 * Charles V. feeing, in the church-yard of a monaftery, a 
 magnificent monument of a cejtain Spanifh lady, who, in her 
 time, had laboured for nothing, lefs than good report, faid thefe 
 words to the prior of the convent ; * Is it not enough, father. 
 
 * that this poor lady hath done publick penance for four hundred 
 1 years ? take her away, and hide her in fome bye place, where 
 
 * her infamy may die after her.' — Ant. de vera, vidade Carlos V. 
 
 B 4 thinks 
 
t THEORY of PAINTING. 
 
 thinks it is rational to believe that pictures of 
 this kind are fubfervient to virtue j that men are 
 excited to imitate the good actions, and perfuaded 
 to fhun the vices of thofe whofe examples are thus 
 fet before them; uieful hints muft certainly be 
 frequently given, and frequently improved into 
 practice : and why mould we not alio believe, that 
 confidering the violent thirft of praife which is 
 natural, especially in the nobleft minds, and the 
 better fort of people, they that fee their pictures 
 are fet up as monuments of good, or evil fame, 
 are often fecretly admonifhed by the faithful friend 
 in their own breafts to add new graces to them by 
 praiie-worthy actions, and to avoid blemifhes, or 
 deface what may have happened, as much as 
 poflible, by a future good conduct. A flattering 
 mercenary hand may reprefent my face with a 
 youth, or beauty, which belongs not to me, and 
 which I am not one jot the younger, or the hand- 
 fomer for, though I may be a juft Tubject of ridicule 
 for defiring, or iuffering fuch flattery : but I my- 
 felf muft lay on the molt durable colours, my own 
 conduct gives the boldeft ftrokes of beauty, or 
 deformity. 
 
 I will add but one article more in praife of this 
 noble, delightful, and ufeful art, and that is this ; 
 the treafure of a nation confifts in the pure pro- 
 ductions of nature, or thofe managed, or put to- 
 gether, and improved by art : now there is no 
 artificer whatfoever that produces fo valuable a 
 thing from fuch inconfiderable materials of nature's 
 furnifhing, as the painter; putting the time (for 
 that alfo muft be confidered as one of thofe mate- 
 'rials) into the account : it is next to crea- 
 tion. This country is many thoufand of pounds 
 the richer for Vandyke's hand, whofe works are 
 
 as 
 
THEORY of PAINTING. 9 
 
 as current money as gold in moll parts of Europe, 
 and this with an inconfiderable expence of the 
 productions of nature ; what a treafure then have 
 all the great mafters here, and elfewhere given to 
 the world ! 
 
 It is nothing to the purpofe to fay, by way of 
 objection to all this, that the art has alfo been 
 fubfervient to impiety, and immorality, I own 
 it has ; but am fpeaking of the art itfelf, and not 
 the abufe of it: a misfortune to it in common 
 with other excellent things of all kinds, poetry, 
 mufick, learning, religion, &c. 
 
 Thus painters, as weil as hiflorians, poets, phi- 
 Jofophers, divines, &c. confpire in their feveral 
 ways to be ferviceable to mankind ; but not with 
 an equal degree of merit, if that merit is to be 
 eftimated according to the talents requifite to excel 
 in any of thefe profeffions. 
 
 * But (by the way) it is not every picture-maker 
 that ought to be -called a painter, as every rimer, 
 or grubilreet tale-writer is not a poet, or hiftorian : 
 a painter ought to be a title of dignity, and un- 
 derftood to imply a perfon endued with fuch ex- 
 cellencies of mind, and body, as have ever been 
 the foundations of honour amongft men. 
 
 He that paints a hiftory well, mull be able to 
 write it ; he mull be thoroughly informed of all 
 things relating to it, and conceive it clearly, and 
 nobly in his mind, or he can never exprefs it upon 
 the canvas : he mull have a folid judgment, with 
 
 * ' Neque enim concludere verfum 
 
 Dixeris die fatis ; neque li qui fcribat, uti nos, 
 Sermoni propiora, putes hunc elfe poetam. 
 Ingenium cui fit, cui mens divinior, atque os • 
 Magna fonaturum, des nominis hujus honorem. 
 
 Hor. Sat, 4. v. 41. 
 
 a lively 
 
io THEORY of PAINTING. 
 
 a lively imagination, and know what figures, and 
 what incidents ought to be brought in, and what 
 every one fhould iay, and think. A painter there- 
 fore of this clafs muft poiTeis all the good qualities 
 requisite to an hiftorian * ; unlefs it be language 
 (which however fcldom fails of being beautiful, 
 when the thing is clearly, and well conceived.) 
 But all this is not fufficient to him, he muft more- 
 over know the forms of the arms, the habits, 
 cuftoms, buildings, &c. of the age, and country, 
 in which the thing was tranfacted, more exactly 
 than the other needs to know them. And as his 
 bufinefs is not to write the hiftory of a few years, 
 or of one age, or country, but of all ages, and all 
 nations, as occafion offers, he muft have a pro- 
 portionable fund of ancient and modern learning 
 of all kinds. 
 
 As to paint a hiftory, a man ought to have the 
 main qualities of a good hiftorian, and fomething 
 more ; he muft yet go higher, and have the talents 
 requifite to a good poet f; the rules for the conduct 
 of a picture being much the fame with thofe to be 
 obferved in writing a- poem ; and painting, as well 
 as poetry, requiring an elevation of genius beyond 
 what pure hiftorical narration does ; the painter 
 muft imagine his figures to think, fpeak, and act, 
 as a poet fhould do in a tragedy, or epick poem ; 
 efpecially if his fubject be a fable, or an allegory. 
 If a poet has moreover the care of the diction, and 
 verfification, the painter has a tafk perhaps at leaft 
 equivalent to that, after he has well conceived the 
 thing, (over and above what is meerly mechanical, 
 
 * ■ Cui Iecta potenter erit res, 
 
 Nee facundia deferet hunc, nee lucidus ordo. 
 
 Hor. A. P. 40. 
 f Utpiftora pcefis. Hor. A. P. 
 
 and 
 
THEORY of PAINTING. n 
 
 and other particulars, which fhall be fpoken to 
 prefently) and that is, the knowledge of the na- 
 ture, and effe&s of colours, lights, fhadows, re- 
 flections, &c. And as his bufinefs is not to com- 
 pofe one Iliad, or one iEneid only, but perhaps 
 many, he muft be furnifhed with a vail ftock of 
 poetical, as well as hiftorical learning. 
 
 Befides all this, it is abfolutely neceffary to a 
 hiftory-painter that he underftand anatomy, ofteo- 
 logy, geometry, perfpective, architecture, and 
 many other fciences which the hiflorian, or poet, 
 has no occafion to know. 
 
 He muft moreoyer not only fee, but thoroughly 
 fludy the works of the moft excellent mafters in 
 painting, and fculpture, ancient, and modern; 
 for though fome few have gone vaft lengths in 
 the art by the ftrength of their own genius, with- 
 out foreign affiftance, thefe are prodigies, the 
 like fuccefs is not ordinarily to be expe&ed ; nor 
 have even thefe done what probably they would 
 have done with the advantages the fludy of other 
 mens works would have given them. I leave 
 Vafari and Bellori * to difpute whether Raphael 
 was beholden to Michael Angelo's works for the 
 greatnefs of his ftyle, but that he improved upon 
 his coming to Rome, and made advantages from 
 what he faw there is inconteftable -}-. Nor am I 
 certain that Coregio faw the S. Cecilia of Raphael 
 at Bologna, as has been afferted; but that he 
 would have been the better for it if he had feen 
 that, and other works of that mailer, I can eafily 
 believe. 
 
 * See Bellori, defcriffione delle magini depinte da Raphaellg 
 nelle camere del vaticano. p. 86, &c. 
 
 f See a difTercation on this queftion, publifhed by Mor>f. 
 Croratt 
 
 To 
 
12 THEORY of PAINTING. 
 
 To be a good face-painter, a degree of the 
 hiftorical, and poetical genius is requifite, and a 
 great meafure of the other talents, and advantages 
 which a good hifiory-painter muft pofifefs : nay 
 fome of them, particularly colouring, he ought to 
 have in greater perfection than is abfolutely necef- 
 fary for a hiftory-painter. 
 
 It is not enough to make a tame, infipid refem- 
 blance of the features, fo that every body mall 
 know whom the picture was intended for, nor even 
 to make the picture what is often faid to be prodi- 
 gious like : (this is often done by the lowed of 
 face-painters, but then it is ever with the air of a 
 fool, and an unbred perfon ;) a portrait-painter 
 mull underftand mankind, and enter into their 
 characters, and exprefs their minds as well as their 
 faces : and as his bufinefs is chiefly with people of 
 condition, he muft think as a gentleman, and a 
 man of fenfe, or it will be impofiible to give fuch 
 their true, and proper refemblances. 
 
 But if a painter of this kind is not obliged to 
 take in fuch a compafs of knowledge as he that 
 paints hiftory, and that the latter upon fome ac- 
 counts is the nobler employment, upon others the 
 preference is due to the portrait-painter ; and the 
 peculiar difficulties fuch a one has to encounter 
 will perhaps balance what he is excufed from, He 
 is chiefly concerned with the nobleft, and molt 
 beautiful part of human nature, the face •, and is 
 obliged to the utmoft exa&nefs. The hiftorical 
 painter is allowed vaft liberties; if he is to give 
 life, and greatnefs, and grace to his figures, and 
 the. airs of his heads, he may chufe what faces, 
 and figures he pleafes ; but the other muft give all, 
 that (in fome degree at leaft) to fubjecTis where it 
 is not always to be found ; and muft 6nd, or make 
 
 variety 
 
THEORY of PAINTING. 13 
 
 variety in much narrower bounds than the hiftorian 
 has to range in. 
 
 Add to all this, that the works of the portrait- 
 painter muft be feen in all the periods of begin- 
 ning, and progrefs, as well when finimed, as when 
 they are not, oftener than when they are fit to be 
 feen, and yet judged of, and criticifed upon, as if 
 the artift had given his laft hand to them, and by 
 all forts of people ; nor is he always at liberty to 
 follow his own judgment. He is moreover fre- 
 quently difappointed, obliged to wait till the vi- 
 gour of his fancy is gone off, and to give over 
 when it is ftrong, and lively. Thefe things, and 
 feveral others which I forbear to mention, often- 
 times try a man's philofophy, and complaifance, 
 and add to the merit of him that fucceeds in this 
 kind of painting. 
 
 A painter mull not only be a poet, an hiftorian,. 
 a mathematician, &c. he muft be a mechanick, 
 his hand, and eye, muft be as expert as his head 
 is clear, and lively, and well ftored with fcience : 
 he muft not only write a hiftory, a poem, a de- 
 fcription, but in a fine character; his brain, his 
 eye, his hand, muft be bufied at the fame time. 
 He muft not only have a nice judgment to diftin- 
 guifh betwixt things nearly refembling one another, 
 but not the fame, (which he muft have in common 
 with thofe of the nobleft profeffions ;) but he muft 
 moreover have the fame delicacy in his eyes to 
 judge of the tincts of colours which are of infinite 
 variety ; and to diftinguifh whether a line be 
 ftraight, or curved a little ; whether this is exactly 
 parallel to that, or oblique, and in what degree,; 
 how this curved line differs from that, if it differs 
 at all, of which he muft alfo judge -, whether what 
 he has drawn is of the fame magnitude with what 
 
 he 
 
i 4 THEORY of PAINTING. 
 
 he pretends to imitate, and the like •, and muf£ 
 have a hand exact enough to form thefe in his 
 work, anlwerable to the ideas he has taken of 
 them. 
 
 An author muft think, but it is no matter what 
 character he writes, he has no care about that, it is 
 fufficient if what he writes be legible : a curious 
 mechanick's hand muft be exquifite, but his thoughts 
 are commonly pretty much at liberty •, but a painter 
 is engaged in both refpects. When the matter is 
 well thought and digefted in the mind, a work 
 common to painters and writers, the former hath 
 ftill behind a vaftly greater talk than the other, and 
 which to perform well, would alone be a fufficient 
 recommendation to any man who mould employ a 
 whole life in attaining it. 
 
 And here I muft take leave to endeavour to do 
 juftice to my profeffion as a liberal art. 
 
 It was never thought unworthy of a gentleman 
 to be mafter of the theory of painting. On the 
 contrary, if fuch a one hath but a fuperficial fkill 
 that way, he values himfelf upon it, and is the 
 more efteemed by others, as one who hath attained 
 an excellency of mind beyond thofe that are igno- 
 rant in that particular. It is ftrange if the fame 
 gentleman mould forfeit his character, and com- 
 mence mechanick, if he added a bodily excellence, 
 and was capable of making, as well as of judging 
 of, a picture. How comes it to pafs, that one 
 who thinks as well as any man, but hath more- 
 over a curious hand, Ihould, therefore, be efteemed 
 in a clafs of men at all inferior ? An animal that 
 has the ufe of hands, and fpeech, and reafon, is 
 tne definition of a man : the painter has a lan- 
 guage in common with the reft of his fpecies, and 
 one fuperadded peculiar to himfelf, and exercifes 
 
 his 
 
THEORY of PAINTING. 15 
 
 his hands, and rational faculties to the utmoft 
 ftretch of human nature; certainly he is not lefs 
 honourable for excelling in all the qualities of a 
 man as diftinguiihed from a brute. Thofe employ- 
 ments are fervile, and mechanical, in which bodily 
 ftrength, or ability, is only, or chiefly required, 
 and that, becaufe in fuch cafes the man approaches 
 more to the brute, or has fewer of thofe qualities 
 that exalt mankind above other animals ; but this 
 consideration turns to the painter's advantage : 
 here is indeed a fort of labour, but what is purely 
 human, and for the conduct of which the greateft 
 force of mind is neceffary. 
 
 To be employed at all will not fure be thought 
 lefs honourable than indolence, and inactivity : 
 but perhaps, though a gentleman's painting for 
 his pleafure, without any reward, is not unworthy 
 of him ; to make a profeflion of, and take money 
 for this labour of the head and hand is the diiho- 
 nourable circumftance, this being a fort of letting 
 himfelf to hire to whofoever will pay him for his 
 trouble. Very well! and is it more becoming for 
 a man to employ himfelf fo as that he fhall thereby 
 be enabled to enjoy more himfelf, or be more 
 ufeful to his family, or to whomfoever elfe he fees 
 fit, than fo as it mall turn to lefs -account, or 
 none at all ? And as to letting ourfelves to hire, 
 we are content to own this is really the cafe ; and 
 if this hath fomething low, and fervile in it, we 
 muft take our place amongfb men accordingly. 
 But here we have this to comfort us, we have 
 good company, that is, all thofe who receive mo- 
 ney for the exercife of their abilities of body, or 
 mind. And if a man looks abroad in the world 
 he may obferve a great many of thefe ; they are in 
 the courts of princes, and of judicature, in camp' 1 ;, 
 
 in 
 
iS THEORY of PAINTING. 
 
 in churches, in conventicles, in the ftreets, in our 
 houfes ; they abound every where : fome whereof 
 are paid for each particular piece of fervice they 
 do, and others have yearly falaries, and perqui- 
 fites, or vails ; but this alters not the cafe. 
 
 Nor is it difhonourable for any of us to take 
 money : He that ftipulates for a reward for any 
 fervice he does another, acts as a wife man, and a 
 good member of fociety : he gives what is plea- 
 fant, or ufeful to another, but confidering the de- 
 pravity of human nature, trulls not to his grati- 
 tude, but fecures himfelf a return •, and money 
 being in effect every thing that is purchafeable, he 
 takes that, as chufing for himfelf what pleafure, 
 or conveniency he will have ; as he to whom he 
 performs the fervice alfo does when he employs 
 him. 
 
 Thus painters, as the reft, bufy themfelves, and 
 make advantage to themfelves, as well as to others, 
 of their employments ; they let themfelves out to 
 hire much alike ; and one is a more honourable 
 way than another in proportion to the kind, and 
 degree of abilities they require, and their ufeful- 
 nefs to mankind. What rank a painter (as fuch) 
 is to hold amongft thefe money-takers I fubmit to 
 judgment, after what I have faid has been confi- 
 dered ; and I hope it will appear that they may be 
 placed amongft thole whom all the world allow to 
 be gentlemen, or of honourable employments, or 
 profeffions. 
 
 And in fadl by the politeft people, and in the 
 beft ages, paft, as well as prefent, the art has been 
 much efteemed, and painters have lived in great 
 reputation, and fome of them with much magni- 
 ficence : nor have thofe of the fublimeft quality 
 thought them unworthy of confiderable additional 
 
 honours, 
 
THEORY of PAINTING. 17 
 
 honours, and amongft the reft of their conven- 
 tion, and friendfhip : of which I might give many 
 inftances. 
 
 It is true;, the word painter does not generally 
 carry with it an idea equal to what we have of 
 other profeffions^ or employments not fuperior 
 to it -, the reafon of which is, that term is appro- 
 priated to all forts of pretenders to the art, which 
 being numerous, and for the moft part very defi- 
 cient, (as it muft needs happen^ lb few having 
 abilities and opportunities equal to fuch an under- 
 taking) thefe confequently have fallen into con- 
 tempt, whether upon account of fuch deficiency, 
 or the vices-, or follies which were in part the occa- 
 fions, or effects of it \ and this being vifible in a 
 great majority, it has diminifhed the idea which 
 ought to be applied to the term I am fpeaking of; 
 which therefore is a very ambiguous one, and 
 mould be confidered as fuch, if it be extended 
 beyond this, that it denotes a perfon praetifing 
 fuch an art, for no body can tell what he ought 
 to conceive farther of the man, whether to rank 
 him amongft fome of the meaneft, or equal to the 
 moft confiderable amongft men. 
 
 To conclude : to be an accomplifhed painter, 
 a man muft poffefs more than one liberal art, which 
 puts him upon the level with thofe that do fo, and 
 makes him fuperior to thofe that poffefs but one 
 in an equal degree : he muft be alfo a curious 
 artificer, whereby he becomes fuperior to one who 
 equally poffeffes the other talents, but wants that* 
 A Raphael therefore is not only equal, but fupe- 
 rior to a Virgil^ or a Livy, a Thucydides, or a 
 Homer. • 
 
 What I now advance may appear chimerical : 
 In that cafe I only deiire it jnay be .confidered, 
 
 G whether 
 
18 THEORY of PAINTING. 
 
 whether it is not a necefTary confequence of what 
 went before, and was, and muft be granted. This 
 I alio infift upon as my right, if any thing elfe ap- 
 pears to be exaggerated : for my own part I write 
 as I think. 
 
 I thought fit to do juftice to the art of painting 
 in the nrtt place ; and, before I entered upon the 
 rules to be obferved in the conduit of a picture, 
 to tell the painter what qualities he himfelf ought 
 to have. To which I will add, (but not as the 
 leaft confiderable) that as his profeflion is honour- 
 able, he fliould render himfelf worthy of it by ex- 
 celling in it, and by avoiding all low, and fordid 
 actions, and converfation, all bafe, and criminal 
 pafiions : his bufinefs is to exprefs great, and 
 noble fentiments ; let him make them familiar to 
 him, and his own, and form himfelf into as bright 
 a character as any he can draw. His art is of a 
 vaft extent, and he ftands in need of all the time, 
 and all the vigour of body, and mind allowed to 
 human nature; he mould take care to hufband, 
 and improve thefe as much as pofiible by prudence, 
 and virtue : The way to be an excellent painter is 
 to be an excellent man -, and thefe united make a 
 character that would mine even in a better world 
 than this *. 
 
 But as a picture may be efteemed a good, and 
 a valuable one, in which all the good qualities of 
 a picture are not to be found, (for that never hap- 
 pens) and thofe that are, but in a rank fhort of the 
 
 * The excellence of a poet (fays Strabo in the fine difcourfe 
 before his Geography) is of a far other natvire than that of an 
 artificer, who aims at nothing that is noble and venerable, but 
 that of a poet is infeperable from that of the man ; and never 
 certainly can there be a good heroic or tragic poet, who is not 
 firft a good man. See the farther reafons of this wife and judi- 
 cious writer. 
 
 utmoft ; 
 
THEORY of PAINTING. i 9 
 
 Utmoft •, nay, if a picture have but one of them in 
 a confiderable degree it is to be valued ; painters 
 have a right to the fame indulgence, and have had 
 it in paft ages, as well as in the prefent • for whe- 
 ther for their own fakes* or from principles of 
 reafon, virtue, good-nature, or whatever other mo- 
 tive the world is not wanting to cherifh, and re- 
 ward merit, though in a narrow compafs, and in- 
 ferior degrees : we have no reafon to complain* 
 
 Only give me leave to add, that a painter Who 
 holds but the fecond or third rank in his profeffionj 
 is entitled to an equal degree of efteem with one 
 in the firft in another, if to arrive at that inferior 
 ftation, as many good qualities are requifite as to 
 attain to the higheft in that other. 
 
 CV ON 
 
[ 20 ] 
 
 O N T H E 
 
 ART of PA IN T ING. 
 
 THE whole Art of Painting confifts of 
 thefe Parts : 
 
 INVENTION, 
 
 EXPRESSION, 
 
 COMPOSITION, 
 
 DRAWING, 
 
 COLOURING, 
 
 HANDLING, 
 
 AND 
 
 GRACE and GREATNESS. 
 
 What is meant by thefe terms, and that they 
 are qualities requifite to the perfection of the art, 
 and really diftinct from each other, fo that no one 
 of them can be fairly implied by any other, will 
 appear when I treat of them in their order ; and 
 this will juftify my giving fo many parts to paint- 
 ing, which fome others who have wrote on it have 
 not done. As to thofe properties in a picture lb 
 much fpoken of, fuch as force, fpirit, the under- 
 flanding of clair-obfcure, or whatever other there 
 may be, they will be taken notice of hereafter, as 
 being reducible to fome of thefe principal heads. 
 
 The 
 
ART op PAINTING. 21 
 
 The art in its whole extent being too great to 
 be compaffed by any one man in any tolerable de- 
 gree of perfection, fome have applied themfelves to 
 paint one thing, and fome another: Thus there 
 are painters of hiftory, portraits, landfcapes, bat- 
 tles, drolls, ftill-life, flowers and fruit, mips, &c. 
 but every one of thefe feveral kinds of pictures 
 ought to have all the feveral parts or qualities juft 
 now mentioned ; though even to arrive at that in 
 any one kind of painting, is beyond the reach of any 
 man. Even in drolls there is a difference ; there is 
 a grace and greatnefs proper to them, which fome have 
 more than others. The hiftory painter is obliged 
 oftentimes to paint all thefe kinds of fubjects, and the 
 face painter mod of them ; but befides that they 
 in fuch cafes are allowed the affiftance of other 
 hands, the inferior fubj efts are in comparifon of 
 their figures as the figures in a landfcape, there is 
 no great exaftnefs required, or pretended to. 
 
 Italy has unqueftionably produced the beft mo- 
 dern painting, efpecially of the beft kinds, and 
 pofTeffed it in a manner alone, when no other na- 
 tion in the world had it in any tolerable degree ; 
 that was then confequently the great fchool of 
 painting. About a hundred years ago there were 
 a great many excellent painters in Flanders ; but 
 when Vandyke came hither, fie brought face 
 painting to us ; ever fince which time (that is, for 
 above fourfcore years) England has excelled all 
 the world in that great branch of the art •, and 
 being well ftored with the works of the greateft 
 mafters, whether paintings or drawings, here be- 
 ing moreover the flneft living models, as well as 
 the greateft encouragement, this may juftly be" 
 efteemed as a complete and the beft fchool for 
 face painting now in the world j and would pro- 
 
 C 3 bably 
 
24 Of INVENTION. 
 
 bably have been yet better, had Vandyke's model 
 been followed : But fome painters poflibly rinding 
 themfelves incapable of fucceeding in his way, and 
 having found their account in introducing a falfe 
 tafte, others have followed their example; and, 
 forfaking the ftudy of nature, have proftituted a 
 noble art, chufing to exchange the honourable 
 character of good painters for that fordid one of 
 profelfed, mercenary flatterers ; and fo muchworfe 
 than the meaneft of thofe, in that they give under 
 their hands, and to be feen of every body, what 
 thofe only utter in words, and to thofe chiefly 
 whom they find weak enough to be their dupes. 
 
 As for the other branches of painting, fome few 
 of feveral nations have been excellent in them ; as 
 the Borgognone for battles, Michael Angelo the 
 battaglia, and Campadoglio for fruit •, father Se- 
 gers, Mario de' Fiori, and Baptift for flowers ; 
 Salvator Rofa, Claude Lorain, and Jafper Poufiin 
 for landfcapes ; Brower and Hemfkerk for drolls; 
 Perfellis and Vandevelde for fea-pieces; and feveral 
 others. But I am not difpofed to enlarge on this 
 article. 
 
 Of INVENTION. 
 
 BEING determined as to the hiftory that is to 
 be painted, the firft thing the painter has to 
 do is, to make himfelf mafter of it as delivered 
 by hiftorians, or otherwife j and then to confider how 
 to improve it, keeping within the bounds of pro- 
 bability. Thus the antient fculptors imitated na- 
 ture •, and thus the belt hiftorians have related their 
 ftories. No body can imagine (for example) that 
 Livy, orThucidides, had direct, exprefs authori- 
 ties for all the fpeeches they have given us at 
 
 length, 
 
Of INVENTION. 23 
 
 length, or even for all the incidents they have de- 
 livered to us ; but they have made their {lories as 
 beautiful and confiderable as they could ; and this 
 with very good reafon, for not only it makes the 
 reading of them the more pleafant, but their rela- 
 tions with fuch circumftances (keeping Hill rigo- 
 roufly nice to fact) are fometimes more probably 
 the truth, than when nothing more is fuppoied to 
 have happened than what they might have had 
 exprefs warrant for. Such an improvement Ra- 
 phael hath made in the ftory of our Saviour's di- 
 recting St. Peter to feed his flock, commonly 
 called the giving him the keys. Our Lord feems, 
 by the relation of the Evangelift (at lead a Roman 
 Catholick, as Raphael was, mufl. be fuppoied to 
 underftand it fo) to commit the care of his church 
 to that apoftle preferably to the reft, upon the 
 fuppofition of his loving him better than any of 
 the others loved him. Now though the hiftory is 
 lilent, it is exceeding probable that St. John, as 
 he was the beloved difcipje, would have expected 
 this honour, and be piqued at his being thought 
 to love his Mafter lefs than St-. Peter : Raphael 
 therefore, in that carton, makes him addrefs him- 
 felf to our Lord with extream ardour, as if he 
 was intreating him to believe he loved him no lefs 
 than St. Peter, or any of the other apoftles. And 
 this puts the fpectator upon imagining fome fine 
 fpeeches that it may be fuppofed were made on, 
 this occafion, whereby Raphael hath given a hint 
 for every man to make a farther improvement, to 
 himfelf, of this ftory. 
 
 The fame liberty of heightening a ftory is very 
 commonly taken in pictures of the crucifixion ; • 
 the Virgin is reprefented as fwooning away at the 
 
 C 4 fight. 
 
24 Of INVENTION. 
 
 fight, and St. John and the women with great 
 propriety dividing their concern between the two 
 objects of it, which makes a fine fcene, and a 
 considerable improvement •, and probably was the 
 truth, though the hiftory fays no fuch thing. 
 
 In like manner, when the facred body was taken 
 from the crofs, the Virgin-mother is frequently in- 
 troduced as fwooning away alfo, when even her 
 being prefent is not authorized by the facred hif- 
 tory j yet it being very probable that me that 
 could fee her fon crucified (which the fcripture 
 fays fhe did) would fee him alfo after he was dead, 
 it is a liberty the painter not only may, but ought 
 to take. 
 
 An improvement much of the fame nature is, 
 the angels that are frequently introduced in a na- 
 tivity, or on other occafions, the noble, though 
 not rich habit of the Virgin, and the like, though 
 perhaps not altogether in the fame degree of pro- 
 bability. 
 
 But that circumftance of the Virgin-mother be- 
 ing a fpectator of the crucifixion of her fon, 
 ought not to have been introduced, notwithstand- 
 ing any advantage it might give the picture, with- 
 out exprefs warrant from the hiftory, for reafons 
 that are obvious ; and the like restrictions are ne- 
 ceSTary in other fuch cafes. 
 
 One inftance more of an improvement upon the 
 fu eject well deferves to be added. I have feen a 
 picture of Albani, a madona, the child is afleep ; 
 the fubject is a common, a plain one; to heighten 
 it the painter has reprefented Chrift dreaming of 
 his future paffjon. How is this indicated ? By 
 placing juft by his head a fort of glafs vafe, wherein 
 }s feen faintly, and as it were by reflection (feen 
 
 through 
 
Of INVENTION. 25 
 
 through a glafs darkly) the crofs, and other in- 
 struments of his differing*. This is a beautiful 
 thought, uncommon and delicate, and fpreads the 
 imagination much farther than it would otherwife 
 naturally have gone. 
 
 As the painter may add to the ftory for the ad- 
 vantage of it, he may, to improve his picture, 
 leave out fome things. I have a drawing of Ra- 
 phael wherein he hath taken liberties of boththefe 
 kinds ; the ftory is the defcent of the Holy Ghoft 
 on the day of Pentecoft; (a mod amazing event! 
 and worthy to be defcribed by the firft painter of 
 the world) the tongues of lire on the heads of the 
 infpired, would have been fufficient to have in- 
 formed us of the ftory, and what part the holy 
 fpirit had in the affair, and is all that the facred 
 hiftory relates ; but he hath added the dove hover- 
 ing over all, and cafting forth his beams of glory 
 throughout all the void fpace of the picture over 
 the figures, which gives a wonderful majefty and 
 beauty to the whole. This is the painter's addi- 
 tion. On the other hand, the fcripture fays there 
 were about one hundred and twenty perfons pre- 
 fent j the whole number, at that time, of the in- 
 fant church. Now as the brino-inp- in all thefe 
 would have made a crowd of infigniiicant figures, 
 the painter hath contented himfelf with taking the 
 twelve difciples only, with the Virgin and two 
 other women, as reprefentative of all the reft. 
 
 Under the prefent rule are comprehended all 
 thoie incidents which the painter invents to inrieh 
 his compolition •, and here, in many cafes, he hath 
 
 a vaft latitude ; as in a battle, a plague, a fire, 
 
 • 
 
 * Though this thought Is beautiful, it is not new, for Par- 
 zneggiano had taken poffeffion of it in the fame fubjett. See 
 Vafari, Part III. Vol. I. 4to. 236. Ed. Girenti. 
 
 the 
 
26 Of INVENTION. 
 
 the (laughter of the innocents. Raphael has finely 
 imagined ibme of thefe (for example) in his pic- 
 ture of the Incendio di Borgo in the Vatican. The 
 ftory is of a fire of a fuburb of Rome miraculoufly 
 extinguished by St. Leo IV. Becaufe a fire is fel- 
 dom very great, but when there happens to be a 
 high wind, he has painted fuch a one, as is {een 
 by the flying of the hair, draperies, and other 
 circumftances that are the confequence of fuch an 
 accident. There you fee a great many inftances 
 of diftrefs, and paternal and filial love. I will 
 mention but one, where the ftory of TEneas and 
 Anchifes was thought of-, they were already out 
 of the great danger, and the fon carries the old 
 man not only as commodioufly as poffible, but 
 with the utrrioft care, left he mould (tumble or 
 fall with his precious burthen. I refer you to the 
 print, for there is one of this picture. 
 
 The fame Raphael, in the ftory of the delivery 
 of St. Peter out of prifon (which by the way is 
 finely chofen to compliment his patron Leo X. 
 the then Pope, for it alludes to his imprifonment 
 and enlargement when he was a cardinal legate) 
 hath contrived four feveral lights, two from the 
 two angels, a third from a torch, and the fourth 
 the moon gives •, which being attended with pro- 
 per reflections, and all perfectly well underftood, 
 produce a furprifing effect. There are other cir- 
 cumftances finely invented in this picture, for 
 which I refer you to Bellori's defcription of it. 
 One might give innumerable inftances to this pur- 
 pofe, but let thefe fuffice. 
 
 A painter is allowed fometimes to depart even 
 from natural and hiftorical truth. 
 
 Thus in the carton of the draught of fifties, 
 Raphael has made a boat too little to hold the 
 
 figures 
 
Of INVENTION. 27 
 
 figures he has placed in it ; and this is fo vifible, 
 that fome are apt to triumph over that great man, 
 as having nodded on that occafion ; which others 
 have pretended to excufe, by faying it was done 
 to make the miracle appear the greater -, but the 
 truth is, had he made the boat large enough for 
 thofe figures his picture "would have been all boat, 
 which would have had a difagreeable effect ; and 
 to have made his figures fmall enough for a vefTel 
 of that fize, would have rendered- them unfuitable 
 to the. reft of the fet, and have made thofe figures 
 appear lefs confiderable ; there would have been 
 too much boat, and too little figure. It is amifs 
 as it is, but would have been worfe any other way, 
 as it frequently happens in other cafes. Raphael 
 therefore wifely chofe this leffer inconvenience, 
 this feeming error, which he knew the judicious 
 would know was. none ; and for the reft he was 
 above being folicitous for his reputation with 
 them. So that upon the whole, this is fo far 
 from being a fault, that it is an ' inftance of the 
 confummate judgment of that incomparable man, 
 which he learned in his great fchool the antique 
 where this liberty is commonly taken *. 
 
 He hath departed from hiftorical truth in the 
 pillars that are at the beautiful gate of the temple; 
 
 • * In an eminent manner in the Trajan and Antoninian co- 
 lumns, and on many other occafions, in the fineft bafs reliefs. 
 And, to note it by-the-bye, it feems to be a ftrange rafhnefs 
 and felf-fufficiency in a fpe&ator or a reader when he thinks 
 he fees an abfurdity in a great author, to take it immediately 
 for granted it is fuch. Surely it is, a moft reafonable and juft 
 prejudice in favour of a man we have always known to acl 
 with wifdom and propriety, on every occafion, to fufpend at 
 leaft our criticifm, and caft off illiberal triumph over him ; 
 and to fuppofe it at leaft poffible, that he might have had rea- 
 sons that we are not aware of. 
 
 the 
 
28 Of INVENTION. 
 
 the imagery is by no means agreeable to the fuper- 
 ftition of the Jews at that time, and all along after 
 the captivity. Nor were thofe kinds of pillars 
 known even in antique architecture, I believe, in 
 any nation ; but they are fo nobly invented by 
 Raphael, and fo prodigioufly magnificent, that it 
 would have been a pity if he had not indulged 
 himfelf in this piece of licentioufnefs, which un- 
 doubtedly he knew to be fuch. 
 
 But thefe liberties mull be taken with great 
 caution and judgment •, for in the main hiftorical 
 and natural truth muft be obferved, the ftory may 
 be embellifhed, or fomething of it pared away, 
 but ftill fo as it may be immediately known ; nor 
 muft any thing be contrary to nature but upon 
 great necefiity and apparent reafon. Hiftory muft 
 not be corrupted, and turned into fable and ro- 
 mance : Every perfon and thing muft be made to 
 juftain its proper character ; and not only the 
 ftory, but the circumftances muft be obferved, 
 the fcene of action, the country or place, the 
 habits, arms, manners, proportions, and the like, 
 muft correfpond. The ftory of the woman taken 
 in adultery muft not be reprefented in the open 
 air, but in the temple. When Alexander comes 
 to vifit the family of Darius, now his prifoners, 
 they muft be ihen in the tent of their conquered 
 king •, yet Paulo Veronefe, from his ignorance in 
 the uniform account in the hiftories, hath repre- 
 prcfented them in the open air. If that of the 
 fame Alexander coming to Diogenes, and the Cy- 
 nick defiring him not to deprive him of what he 
 could not give, the light of the fun ; I fay, if 
 
 * this be painted, the light muft not be made to 
 come the contrary way, and Diogenes in the lun- 
 beams. Nor muft our Saviour be made to help 
 
 to 
 
Of INVENTION. 29 
 
 to put himfelf into his fepulchre as I have feen it 
 reprefented in a drawing, otherwife a good one. 
 Thefe things are too obvious to need being en- 
 larged on. 
 
 Every hiftorical picture is a reprefentation of one 
 fingle point of time; this then muft be chofen; 
 and that in the ftory which is the moft advanta- 
 geous muft be it. Suppofe, for inftance, the 
 ftory to be painted is that of the woman taken in 
 adultery ; the painter feems to be at liberty to choofe 
 whether he will reprefent the fcribes and p'harifees 
 accufing her to our Lord ; or our Lord writing on 
 the ground ; or pronouncing the laft of the words. 
 He that is without' fin among you, let him firft: 
 caft a Hone at her ; or laftly his abfolution, Go thy 
 way, fin no more. The firft muft be rejected, 
 becaufe in that moment the chief actors in the 
 ftory are the fcribes, and pharifees ; it is true, 
 Chrift may appear there with the dignity of a 
 judge, but that he does afterwards, and with 
 greater advantage. In the fecond our Lord is 
 in action j but ftooping down, and writing on the 
 ground makes not fo graceful, and noble appear- 
 ance as even the former would have done; nor have 
 we here the beft choice of the actions of the accu- 
 fers ; the firft, and moft vigorous moments of the 
 accufation being already paft. When our Saviour 
 fays the words, He that is without fin among you, 
 let him firft caft a ftone at her ; he is the principal 
 actor, and with dignity ; the accufers are difap- 
 pointed, afhamed, confounded, and perhaps cla- 
 morous ; and the accufed in a fine fituation, hope, 
 and joy fpringing up after fhame, and fear • all 
 which affords the painter an opportunity of exert- ' 
 ing himfelf, and giving a plealing variety to the 
 compofition $ for betides the various paflions, and 
 
 fentiments 
 
30 Of INVENTION. 
 
 fentiments naturally arifing, the accufers begin to 
 difperfe, which will occafion a fine contrail in the 
 attitudes of the figures, fome being in profile, 
 fome fore-right, and fome with their backs turned ; 
 fome preffing forward as if they were attentive to 
 what was faid, and fome going off: and this I 
 fhould chufe ; for as to the laft, though there our 
 Lord pronounces the decifive fentence, and which 
 is the principal action, and of the moil dignity in 
 the whole ftory, yet now there was nobody left but 
 himfelf, and the woman •, the reft were all droped 
 off one by one, and the fcene would be disfur- 
 nifhed. 
 
 The picture being to reprefent but one inftant of 
 time, no action mull be chofen which cannot be 
 fuppofed to be doing in that inftant. Thus the 
 fcribes and pharifees, in the ftory juft now men- 
 tioned, mull not be accufing when our Lord was 
 fpeaking ; that was then over, and they muft ap- 
 pear in that fituation which they might be then 
 imagined to be in. 
 
 Thefe two laft mentioned rules are finely ob- 
 ferved by Raphael in his cartons of feed my fheep, 
 and the death of Ananias, to name no more. In 
 the firft, the moment is chofen of our Lord's 
 having juft fpoken, and S. John's addrefTmg him- 
 felf to fpeak •, and in the other, the inftant of 
 Ananias's fall, and before the people were ap- 
 prifed of it •, in both which, as they are the moft 
 advantageous that could poffibly have been ima- 
 gined, nothing is doing but what might be fup- 
 pofed to be doing at that inftant. 
 
 I ffiall obferve moreover on the carton of 
 Ananias, that Raphael hath been fo fcrupulous in 
 the obfervation of the Unity of Time, that he 
 hath not introduced the death of Sapphira, which 
 
 happened 
 
Of INVENTION. 31 
 
 happened immediately after, and was a part of the 
 miraculous event. 
 
 It has been attempted to bring a whole feries of 
 hiftory into one picture, as that of the prodigal 
 fon's going out, his voluptuous way of living, his 
 diftrefs and return, which I have feen thus repre- 
 fented by Titian ; but this is juft fuch a fault as 
 crowding a whole year into one play, which will 
 always be condemned, though done by Shakefpear 
 himfelf. 
 
 There muit be one principal action in a picture. 
 Whatever under-actions may be going on in the 
 fame inftant with that, and which it may be pro- 
 per to infert, in order to illuftrate, or amplify the 
 compofition, they mult not divide the picture, and 
 the attention of the fpectator. O divine Ra- 
 phael! forgive me if I take the liberty to fay I 
 cannot approve in this particular of that amazing 
 picture of the transfiguration, where the incidental 
 action of the man's bringing his fon poffeffed with 
 the dumb devil to the difciples, and their not be- 
 ing able to call him out, is made, at leaft, as con- 
 fpicuous, and as much a principal action as that 
 of the transfiguration. This under-ftory would 
 have made a fine epifode to the other (though the 
 other would not properly to this, as being of more 
 dignity than the principal ftory in this cafe) but 
 both together mutually hurt one another. 
 
 Raphael hath conducted an epifode differently 
 on other occaficns. In the carton of the death of 
 Ananias, the principal action is that furprifing 
 event, and, accordingly, this is what immediately 
 takes the eye, and declares itfelf to be the fubject 
 of the piclure -, but there are alfo fome people 
 offering money, and others receiving it, who are 
 fo intent upon what they are about, as not to 
 
3 2 Of INVENTION. 
 
 feem (at that inftant) to know any thing of the 
 matter, though fo very interefting. The epifode 
 is very juft, and agreeable to the hiftory, but by no 
 means comes in competition with the principal 
 action. In a holy family, a picture of the fame 
 Raphael, which I have, the Chrift, and Virgin are 
 moft confpicuoufly diftinguifhed, and appear with 
 infinite beauty, grace and dignity-, but becaufe 
 S. Elizabeth, and S. Jofeph fhould not be idle, or 
 not employed worthily (which is frequently the 
 cafe in fuch pictures) he has a book before him as 
 having been reading, and fhe is fpeaking to him 
 as affifling his underftanding, and he attending to 
 her exposition; (which indeed, to judge by his air, 
 he feems to ftand in need of.) This difcourfe 
 is carried on behind the principal figures, and is 
 an action the moft worthy, and proper that could 
 poffibly be imagined for thefe perfons, but appa- 
 rently inferior to that of the principal figures ; the 
 Virgin being employed in carefTing, fuftaining, 
 and taking care of the divine child ; and he, with 
 as great dignity as an infant God incarnate can be 
 fuppofed to do, carefling, and rejoicing with his 
 great mother. Here are two diftinct actions, but 
 no manner of diftraction, ambiguity, or compe- 
 tition. 
 
 Nor muff, the attention be diverted from what 
 ought to be principal, by any thing how excellent 
 foever in itfelf. Protogenes in his famous picture 
 of the latyr leaning againft a pedeftal, on which 
 a partridge was perching, had painted the par- 
 tridge fo exquifitely well, that it feemed a living 
 creature, and was admired by all Greece ; but 
 that being moft taken notice of, he defaced it 
 entirely. That illuftrious action of Mutius Scas- 
 vola's putting his hand in the fire, after he had, 
 
 by 
 
Of INVENTION 23 
 
 by miftake, killed another inftead of Poffenna, is 
 fufficient alone to employ the mind; Polidore 
 therefore in a capital drawing I have of him of 
 that ftory, (and which by the way was one of his 
 moft celebrated works) has left out the dead man 5 
 it was fufficiently known that one was killed, but 
 that figure, had it been inferted, would neceiiarily 
 have diverted the attention, and deflroyed that 
 noble fimplicity, and unity which now appears. 
 
 So in the carton of the death of Ananias, the 
 money, that a moment before had been laid at the 
 Apoftle's feet, is not feen for the fame reafon •, for 
 little circumflances mult be avoided, if not abfo- 
 lutely neceffary.* 
 
 Every action muft be reprefented as done, not 
 only as it is poffible it might be performed, but 
 in the beft manner. In the print after Raphael, 
 engraved by Marc Antonio, you fee Hercules gripe 
 Anteus with all the advantage one can wifh to have 
 over an adverfary : So in the picture defigned by 
 Michael Angelo, and painted by Annibale Car- 
 racci, the eagle holds Ganymede to carry him up 
 commodioufly, and withal to make a beautiful 
 appearance together; the print of which is amongft 
 thofe of the pictures of duke Leopold. Daniele 
 da Vol terra has not fucceeded fo well in his fa- 
 mous picture of the defcent from the crofs-f-, where 
 one of the afllftants, who ftands upon a ladder 
 drawing out a nail, is fo difpofed as is not very 
 natural, and convenient for the purpofe. 
 
 Nor is Raphael himfelf fo juft in his conduct 
 of the fame ftory as he ufually is ; St. John is 
 upon a ladder to afiifl, and is receiving the body 
 with great affection and tendernefs; but it is evi- 
 
 * See Strabo, lib. xiv. 
 
 f In the church of the Trinita di Monte at Rome. 
 
 D dent 
 
34 Of INVENTION. 
 
 dent the whole weight of it will fall upon hiir^ 
 which is too much for any one man to manage, 
 efpecially (landing upon a ladder : Nor is there 
 any below to receive the facred load, or to affift 
 him j fo that fuppofing every figure in the pofition 
 as Raphael hath represented them, the dead body 
 of our Lord muft fall upon the heads of the 
 bleifed Virgin, and the women that are with her. 
 The picture is engraved by Marc Antonio. 
 
 No fupernumerary figures or ornaments ought 
 to be brought into a picture. A painter's lan- 
 guage is his pencil, he mould neither fay too 
 little, nor too much, but go directly to his point, 
 and tell his ftory with all poffible fimplicity. As 
 in a play there muft not be too many actors, in a 
 picture there muft not be too many figures. An- 
 nibale Carracci would not allow above twelve •, 
 there are exceptions to this rule, but certainly all 
 the management in the world cannot put toge- 
 ther a great number of figures and ornaments with 
 that advantage as a few. 
 
 Where the ftory requires that there be a crowd 
 of people, there may be fome figures without any 
 particular character, which are not fupernumerary, 
 becaufe the ftory requires a crowd. In the car- 
 tons there are very few idle figures : Nor are all 
 thofe fuch that may feem to be fo ; there are two 
 in the carton of St. Paul preaching that are walk- 
 ing at a diftance amongft the buildings, but thefe 
 ferve well to intimate that there were fome who 
 like Gallio cared for none of thefe things. 
 
 So far mould the painter be from inferring any 
 thing fuperfluous, that he ought to leave lbme- 
 thing to the imagination. He muft not fay all he 
 can on his fubject, and fo feem to diftruft his 
 reader, and difcover he thought no farther himfelf. 
 
 Nothing 
 
Of INVENTION. 35 
 
 Nothing abfurd, indecent, or mean ; nothing 
 contrary to religion or morality, muft be put into 
 a picture, or even intimated or hinted at. A dog 
 with a bone, at a banquet, where people of the 
 higheft characters are at table-, a boy making 
 water in the beft company, or the like, are faults 
 which the authority of Paulo Veronefe*, or a 
 much greater man, cannot juftify. 
 
 Raphael, in the picture of the donation of Con- 
 ftantine in the Vatican, has put a naked boy aftride 
 upon a dog in a void fpace in the fore-ground : 
 What reafon he had for it I cannot comprehend ; 
 it feems to be brought in only to fill up that fpace, 
 which it had been better (at leaft I think fo) to 
 have left empty : But certainly in fuch company, 
 and on fo folemn an occafion as the emperor ma- 
 king a prefent of Rome to the pope, fuch a light 
 incident mould not have been inferted, much lefs 
 made fo confpicuous. 
 
 There is fomething lower yet, than this, in the 
 carton of giving the keys, which I have often won- 
 dered Raphael could fall into, or fuffer in his 
 picture ; and that is, in the landfcape there is a 
 houfe on fire ; and, in another place, linen dry- 
 ing on the hedges. 
 
 Polidore, in a drawing I have feen of him, has 
 made. an ill choice with refpect to decorum ; he 
 has fhewn Cato with his bowels gufhing out, 
 which is not only offenfive-in itfelf, but it is a 
 fituation in which a great and refpectable cha- 
 racter mould not be leen, although a real and 
 fi:riking circumftance of the hiftoryf. Such things 
 mould be left to imagination, and not difplayed 
 
 * Marriage of Canaan. 
 
 f ... . ■ qua? 
 
 Defperat traftata notefcere pofle relinquitw — Hor. Ar. Poet. 
 D 2 on 
 
36 Of INVENTION. 
 
 on the ftage J. But Michael Angelo, in his laft 
 judgment, has finned againft this rule moft egre- 
 gioufly. 
 
 Thefe reftrictions being obferved, there muft be 
 as much variety in the picture as the fiibject will 
 admit of. In fome it is abfolutely neceffary -, as 
 in a fermon, or other addrefs to a multitude, a 
 faint distributing alms, healing, &c. the paflions, 
 the attitudes, the conditions, and other circum- 
 ftances of the people mould be varied as much is 
 pofiible; but naturally, and without affectation. 
 Rembrandt hath fucceeded admirably in this, as 
 in feveral of the other parts of painting in many 
 of his works •, particularly in that of our Lord 
 healing the fick. The work is not crowded, but 
 there are feen people of both fexes, and of all 
 ages and conditions •, rich and poor, fat and lean, 
 in all the variety of circumftances proper to the 
 fu eject. And here are not only thofe that come 
 for cure, fome are obferving what paffes, and, of 
 thefe, there are friends, enemies, enquirers, fcor- 
 hers, and difputers. But this great genius hath, 
 not contented himfelf with all this ; among thofe 
 that come to be healed there is an ^Ethiopian of 
 quality that is difeafed in his eyes, as appears by 
 a bandage over them •, and, in a great meafure, 
 even by the attitude of his head, and the fet of 
 his mouth ■> he is attended by fervants and beafts 
 of carriage, which add much to the variety I am 
 remarking upon-, and all this moreover raiies the 
 Subject, by mewing how far the fame of Jefus, 
 and the wonders he performed was fpread •, and what 
 credit was given to thofe relations in countries far 
 diftant. I might have given examples to my pur- 
 it ■ Non tairien intus 
 Digna geri promes in fee nam. — Hor. At. Poet. 
 
 pofe 
 
Of INVENTION. 37 
 
 pofe from the works of feveral other matters, but 
 I made choice of this, not only as being at leaft 
 equally remarkable with the beft I could have 
 found, but to do juftice to one, who though he 
 hath excelled moft others in fome of the parts of 
 painting not the leaft confiderable, yet having 
 wanted (generally, not always) grace and great- 
 nefs, and adhering to common nature, common to 
 him, who converfed not with the beft, his fur- 
 prifing beauties are overlooked in a great meafure, 
 and loft with moft, even lovers of painting, and 
 connoifTeurs*, 
 
 Methinks it would not be amifs, if a painter, 
 before he made the leaft drawing of his intended 
 picture, would take the pains to write the ftory, 
 and give it all the beauty of deicription, with an 
 account of what is faid, and whatever elfe he 
 would relate, were he only to make a written hif- 
 tory j or if he would defcribe the picture he cje-r 
 figned as if it were already done. And though 
 perhaps it may feem at firft to be too much trou- 
 ble, it may in the main fave him fome, as well as 
 advance his reputation, 
 
 There are pictures reprefentlng not one parti- 
 cular ftory, bqt the hiftory of philofophy, of po- 
 etry, of divinity, the redemption of mankind, 
 and the like : Such is the fchool of Athens, the 
 Parnafius, the picture in the Vatican, commonly 
 called the difpute of the lacrament, all of Ra- 
 phael •, and the large one of Federico Zuccaro of 
 the annunciation, and God the father, with a hea- 
 
 * This was written before Rembrandt came into the im- 
 menfe reputation which he then juftly poifeifed ; and which is, 
 furely, in fome meafure, owing to my father's frequent men- 
 tion of him, as well as here, with admiration and fondnefs. 
 
 P 3 ven, 
 
5 8 Of INVENTION. 
 
 ven, the prophets, &c. f Such compofitions as 
 thefe, being of a different nature, are not fubject 
 to the fame rules with common hiftorical pictures; 
 but here mull be principal, and fubordinate fi^ 
 gures, and actions ; as the Plato and Ariflotle in 
 the fchool of Athens, the Apollo in the Par- 
 naffus, &(c. 
 
 Now I have mentioned this defign, I cannot 
 pafs it over without going, a little out of my way 
 to obferve fome particulars of that admirable 
 group of the three poets, Homer, Virgil, and 
 Dante •, (for I confider it as it is in the print en- 
 graved by Marc Antonio : In the painting Ra- 
 phael has put himfelf with them ; befides, that it 
 is different in feveral other things.) J 
 
 The figure of Homer is an admirable one, and 
 managed with great propriety : He is grouped 
 with others, but is neverthelefs alone : He ap- 
 pears to be raifed in contemplation, repeating 
 fome of his own fublime verfes, which he does 
 with a moft becoming action-, and that peculiarity 
 of his works having been taken from his mouth, 
 as he happened to utter them, and fo remembered 
 and written, and afterwards the feattered parts 
 collected and connected together, and formed into 
 the volumes we have, is finely intimated by a 
 young man attending to him, and ready to write 
 what he fays. 
 
 Behind this great, this only man, (lands Virgil 
 and Dante, the former directing the other to 
 Apollo : This is a compliment Raphael has made 
 to Dante, by whofe direction he has done this ; 
 for in his firft canto of hell he fays, 
 
 Ode 
 
 + See the print of Cornelius Cort in two (heets. 
 X See Bellori's description of the pitturei of Raphael in the 
 Vatican, p. 25. 
 
Of INVENTION. 39 
 
 O de gli altri poeti honore e lume, 
 
 Vagliami il lungo ftudio, el grande amore 
 Che mha fatto cercar lo tuo volume 
 
 Tu fei lo mio maeftro, el mio autorej 
 Tu fei folo colui, da cui io tolfi 
 Lo bello ftilo, che mha fatto honore. 
 
 In the fame canto he makes Virgil fay, 
 
 Ond io per lo tuo me penfo e difcerna, 
 Che tu me fegui - } & io faro tua guida. 
 
 Soon after Dante fays, 
 
 Et io a lui ; poeta io ti richieggio 
 
 Per quello dio " 
 Che tu mi meni, &c. 
 
 And ends the canto, 
 Allhor ft mofTej & io li tenni dietro. 
 
 But Raphael has made his beloved Daiite ftill a 
 greater compliment, in placing him with Homer 
 and Virgil ; for though he was an excellent poet, 
 his was another, and a very inferior kind of po- 
 etry : This too Raphael did by Dante'* own di- 
 rection, in his fourth canto of hell : 
 
 Cofi vidi adunar la bella fcola ; 
 
 Di quei fignor de laltiflimo canto ; 
 
 Che iuura gli altri, com aquila uola. 
 Da chebber ragionato infieme alquanto j 
 
 Volferfi a me con faluteuol cenno ; 
 
 El mio maeftro forrife di tanto : 
 E piu dhonore ancor aflai mi fenno : 
 
 Cheffi mi fecer de ]a loro fchiera, 
 
 It appears that Raphael was fond of Dante \ 
 
 for befides what he hath done here, he hath put 
 
 him amongft the divines in his difpute of the fa- 
 
 crament, to which he had very little pretence ; 
 
 D 4 befides 
 
fy Of INVENTION. 
 
 befides that, he calls the three parts of his poem, 
 hell, purgatory, and paradife. To return. 
 
 In pictures reprefenting the character of fome 
 perfon, if that perfon is in the picture, it is the 
 principal figure •, if not, the virtue he is intended 
 to be chiefly celebrated for, as the principal part 
 of the character, is it. 
 
 In thofe of human life, or where fome parti- 
 cular leffon is to be taught, or the like, that which 
 a writer would chiefly infift upon is to be the prin- 
 cipal figure, or group. 
 
 In all thefe kinds of pictures the painter mould 
 avoid too great a luxuriancy of fancy and obfcu- 
 rity. The figures reprefenting any virtue, vice, 
 or other quality, fhould have fuch infignia as are 
 authorized by antiquity and cuftom -, or if any be 
 neceflarily of his own invention, his meaning 
 mould be apparent. Painting is a fort of writing, 
 it ought to be eafily legible. There are fine ex- 
 amples of thefe in the palace of Chigi, or the 
 little Farnefe in Rome : Raphael has there painted 
 the fable of Cupid and Pfyche, and intermixed 
 little loves with the fpoils of all the gods •, and 
 laflly, one with a lion and a fea-horfe, which he 
 governs as with a bridle, to fhew the univerfal 
 empire of love. Bellori hath a fine poetical de- 
 scription in the book above cited, p. 64; andDo- 
 rigny has made prints of the whole work. 
 
 Innumerable examples of thefe kinds of repre- 
 sentations might be given from the works of the 
 ancients and moderns, the former efpecially -, and 
 the iconologia of Ripa is a large collection of fuch, 
 which therefore I will not enlarge upon •, only 
 there is one important inftance that ought not to 
 be paflTed over, which is that of the true God. 
 
 Perhaps 
 
Of INVENTION. 41 
 
 Perhaps the beft way is to leave it to contem- 
 plation, without imagining any form whatsoever. 
 Rubens in a drawing I have has done this finely ; 
 angels are hovering on the wing, and feem to be 
 rejoicing at fomething that has happened below 
 (I fuppofe it was intended for the upper part of 
 the picture of the nativity) : Above thefe appears 
 a great glory, and multitudes of cherubims not 
 regarding what the angels are intent upon, but 
 looking ftedfaftly upwards, as if the deity was 
 there in a peculiar manner •, and as thefe ways of 
 leaving much to the imagination have great ad- 
 vantages in the vaft compafs that is given, one 
 may alfo fuppofe he is approaching to honour the 
 event in the lower part of the picture. 
 
 But the ufual way of reprefenting God is by a 
 human form. I will not enter into the queftion, 
 whether this mould be done at all, or no, becaufe 
 our church difapproves of it •, but certainly thofe 
 that do undertake thus to delineate God, ought 
 to ftrain their utmoft powers to give him the 
 greateft dignity they poflibly can. This Raphael 
 was as capable of as ever man was ; but Raphael 
 hath not always been equal to himfelf in this par- 
 ticular, for fometimes the figure appears to be 
 not only as one would defcribe the ancient of days, 
 but feeble and decrepid. Giulio Romano in a 
 drawing I have of him of the delivery of the law 
 to Mofes hath avoided this fault, but fallen into 
 another •, he has made the face of a beautiful, vi- 
 gorous old man, but (what one would not have 
 expected from him) there wants greatnefs and ma- 
 jefty. In the hiftories of the Bible which Raphael 
 painted in the Vatican, there are feveral reprefen-' 
 tations of the deity, which have a wonderful fub- 
 limity in them* and are, for the moft part, per- 
 fectly 
 
42 Of INVENTION. 
 
 fectly well adapted to the Mofaical idea, which 
 was his affair; this God is not our Godf; he ap- 
 pears to us under a more amiable view. When 
 the trinity is drawn, efpecially when the virgin- 
 mother of God is alio introduced, it is fomething 
 too much favouring of Polytheifm. I have a draw- 
 ing of Raphael, where the idea he feems to have 
 intended to give, is majefty and awfulnefs, toge- 
 ther with great benignity ; not however fo lavifh 
 of his benefits, but that with our good things 
 there is a mixture of unhappinefs •, though ftill 
 the good abundantly preponderate and manifeft 
 the great Lord of the univerfe to be an indulgent 
 and wife father. This is an idea worthy of the 
 mind of Raphael. The drawing is a fmgle figure 
 of a beautiful old man, not decayed or impaired 
 by age ; there is majefty in his face, but not ter- 
 ror ; he fits upon the clouds, his right hand lifted 
 up giving his benediction ; the left arm is wrapped 
 in his drapery, and unemployed, only that hand 
 appears, and refts on the cloud near his right 
 elbow. A man cannot look upon and confider 
 this admirable drawing without fecretly adoring 
 and loving the fupreme being, and particularly for 
 enduing one of our own fpecies with a capacity 
 fuch as that of Raphael's. 
 
 f See what archbifhop Tillotfon fays on this fubjeft, as 
 quoted by Echard in his collection of Tillotfon's Maxims, &c. 
 from his works, p. 21. " The difference between the ftile of 
 the Old and New Teftament is fo remarkable, that one of the 
 greatefl fedls of the primitive church, the Gnoftics, did, upon 
 this very ground, found their herefy of two Gods ; the one 
 evil, fierce, and cruel, whom they called the God of the Old 
 Teftament ; the other, good, kind, and merciful, whom they 
 galled the God of the New. So great a difference is there 
 between the reprefentations which are made of God in the 
 books of the Jewiih and Chriftian Religion, as to give at leaft 
 fome colour and pretence for an imagination of two Gods." 
 
 But, 
 
Of INVENTION. 43 
 
 But, as we are not always to expect a Raphael, 
 I think it is more decent, as being more refpect- 
 ful and fubmiflive, not to prefume at all to repre- 
 fent a chara&er that, cannot be an object of our 
 fenfes ; and withal, far too fublime for the utmoft 
 effort of our conceptions. Accordingly, we often 
 fee reprefentations of this fole and univerfal being, 
 that not only degrade the awful idea, which they 
 always muft do, but that are a burlefque of it ; 
 as that painter of whom the learned and pious 
 dean of St. Paul's, Dr. Donne, fays, " that having 
 " painted a God the father, not according to the 
 " dignity of the fubject, but his own well-mean- 
 " ing ignorance, though. he had made a very bad 
 " God, he had made a very good Devil." 
 
 In portraits the invention of the painter is ex- 
 ercifed in the choice of the air and attitude, the 
 action, drapery and ornaments, with refpect to the 
 character of the perfon. 
 
 He ought not to go in a road, or paint other 
 people as he would chufe to be drawn himfelf. 
 The drefs, the ornaments, the colours, muft be 
 fuited to the perfon and character. I remember a 
 good obfervation of an ingenious gentleman upon 
 two late painters ; " One (he faid) could not paint 
 " an impudent fellow, nor the other a modeft one, 
 " they put fo much of themfelves in every thing 
 *« they did," 
 
 Concerning what fort of refemblances portraits 
 ought to have, opinions are divided ; fome are for 
 flattery, others for exact likenefs. 
 
 If the former be received, care mull be taken 
 that it be really flattery, and not too apparently 
 fo. 
 
 Many painters have taken a fancy to make cari- 
 catures of people's faces ; that is exaggerating the 
 
 defects, 
 
44 Of INVENTION. 
 
 defects, and concealing the beauties, however prc- 
 ferving the refemblance ; the reverfe of that is to 
 be done in the prefent cafe, but the character muft 
 be feen throughout, or it ceafes to be a compli- 
 ment; it is the picture of fomebody elfe, or of 
 nobody, and only tells the perfon how different he 
 or me is from what the painter conceives to be 
 beauty. I will allow a poem, but not a romance. 
 
 If exact likenefs is pretended to, all accidents, 
 bad weather, indifpofition, &c. muft be allowed 
 for -, and as there are fome things in nature that 
 art cannot reach, if fomething be not done to 
 compenfate for that deficiency, the picture will 
 be no more an exact copy of the face than a 
 literal tranflation will be of the original book. 
 Befides, whoever aims only at exactnefs will cer- 
 tainly fall mort of it. We cannot tell affuredly 
 how like the pictures were of thofe great matters 
 we fo juftly admire, but it appears to be very 
 probable that Vandike, with all his excellencies, 
 fell frequently below the truth •, his pictures were 
 doubtlefs exceeding like, but furely fome of them 
 might have been more fo, by being more graceful. 
 
 That admirable family-picture of the Senators 
 of Titian which the duke of Somerfet hath, is 
 finely invented : the eldeft of the three is appa- 
 rently the principal figure, and admirably ex- 
 preflfeth the action, and manner of an old man ; 
 the two others are well placed, and in proper 
 attitudes : The boys are got upon the fteps with a 
 dog amongft them ; a very likely amufement for 
 them while the old gentlemen are at their devo- 
 tions, which is their bufinefs ! The girls are more 
 orderly, and attend, in appearance, to the affair 
 in hand : the attitudes of the figures in general 
 are juft, and delicate •, the draperies, the fky, 
 
 every 
 
Of INVENTION. 45 
 
 every thing throughout the whole picture is well 
 thought, and conducted. Nor is there any ap- 
 pearance of flattery, at leait not to a degree as to 
 hurt the refemblance. 
 
 Some fubjects are in themfelves fo difadvanta- 
 geous as to ftand in neec^ of fomething to raife 
 their character. Of this I have a fine example in 
 a head of marble which feems to have been done 
 for a monument, the face itfelf is fomething poor, 
 and tho' never fo well followed would not have 
 pleafed; the fculptor therefore has raifed the eye- 
 brows, and opened the mouth a little, and by this 
 expedient has given a fpirit, and a dignity to a fub- 
 ject not confiderable otherwife ; befides that proba- 
 bly the perfon was accuftomed to give himfelf fome 
 fuch air, and then this has this farther advantage, 
 that it makes the refemblance more remarkable. 
 
 I need not go through the other branches of 
 painting; as landfcapes, battles, fruit, &c. what 
 has been already faid is, in their feveral ways, ap- 
 plicable to any of thefe : nor fhall I concern rny- 
 felf with them hereafter, when I treat of the other 
 parts of painting, for the fame reafon. 
 
 There are an infinity of artifices to hide defects, 
 or give advantages, which come under this head 
 of invention •, as do all caprices, grotefque, and 
 other ornaments, mafks, &c. together with all 
 uncommon, and delicate thoughts : fuch as the 
 cherubims attending on God when he appeared to 
 Mofes in the burning bufh, which Raphael hath 
 painted with flames about them inftead of wings ; 
 an angel running, and holding up both arms as 
 juft raifing himfelf for flight, of which I have a 
 drawing of Parmeggiano, as well as many other 
 examples of theie kinds in drawings of Raphael, 
 Michael Angelo, Giulio Romano, Leonardo da 
 
 Vinci, 
 
4 6 Of INVENTION. 
 
 Vinci, &c. They are to be found perpetually in 
 the works of the great mailers, and add much to 
 their beauty, and value. 
 
 The mention of grotefques fuggefts a rule to 
 my mind which I will infert: it is this, that all 
 creatures of imagination ought to have airs, and 
 actions given them as whimfical, and chimerical 
 as their forms are. I have a drawing, of the 
 fchool of the Caraches, of a male and female 
 fatyr fitting together •, there is a great deal of hu- 
 mour in it, fo as to be a fine burlefque upon 
 Corydon and Phillis. The anatomy figures in 
 Vefalius, are prettily fancied : there is a feries of 
 denuding a figure to the bone, and they are all in 
 attitudes feeming to have mod pain as the opera- 
 tion goes on, till at laft they languifh, and die : 
 but Michael Angelo hath made anatomy figures 
 whofe faces and actions are impoflible to be de- 
 fcribed, and the mod delicate that can be ima- 
 gined for the purpofe. " Mr. Fontenelle, in his 
 " dialogue betwixt Homer and ./Efop, after Ho- 
 " mer had faid he intended no allegory, but to be 
 " taken literally, makes the other demand how he 
 68 could imagine mankind would believe fuch ri- 
 " diculous accounts of the gods ? O (fays he) you 
 " need be in no pain about that •, if you would 
 " give them truth you muft put it in a fabulous 
 " drefs, but a lie enters freely into the mind of man 
 " in its own proper fhape. Why then, fays iEfop, 
 " I am afraid they will believe the beads have 
 " fpoken as I have made them. Ah! (fays Ho- 
 " mer) the cafe is altered; men will be content 
 " that the gods fhould be as great fools as them- 
 " ielves, but they will never bear that the beafts 
 " mould be as wife.*' It would be well if painters 
 could reprefent gods, heroes, angels, and other 
 
 iuperior 
 
Of INVENTION. 47 
 
 fuperior beings, with airs, and actions more than 
 human; but to give fatyrs, and other inferior 
 creatures a dignity equal to men, would be unpar- 
 donable. 
 
 In order to affift, and improve the invention, a 
 4 painter ought to converfe with, and obferve all 
 forts of people, chiefly the beft, and to read the 
 bell books, and no other : he mould obferve the 
 different, and various effect of mens paflions, and 
 thofe of other animals, and in fhort, 'all nature ; 
 and make fketches of what he obferves, to help 
 his memory. 
 
 So fhouid he do of what he fees in the works of 
 great mailers, whether painters, or fculptors, 
 which he cannot always fee, and have recourfe 
 to. 
 
 Nor need any man be afhamed to be fome- 
 times a plagiary, it is what the greater!: painters, 
 and poets have allowed themfelves in. Raphael 
 hath borrowed many figures, and groups of fi- 
 gures from the antique; and Milton hath even 
 tranflated many times from Homer, Virgil, Dante, 
 and Taffo, and put them as his own : Virgil him- 
 felf hath copied. And indeed it is hard that a 
 man's having had a good thought mould give him 
 a patent for it for ever. The painter that can 
 take a hint, or infert a figure, or groupes of fi- 
 gures from another man, and mix thefe with his 
 own, fo as to make a good compofition, will 
 thereby eftablifh fuch a reputation to himfelf, as 
 to be above fearing to fuffer by the mare thofe to 
 whom he is beholden will have in it. 
 
 Raphael, and Giulio Romano are efpeeially ex- 
 cellent for invention : amongft their other works 
 thofe of the former at Hampton-Court, and in 
 . the Vatican ; and of the latter the palace of T. 
 
 near 
 
4 8 Of EXPRESSION. 
 
 near Mantua are fufficient proofs of it. There 
 are prints of almoft all thefe ; and Bellori has de- 
 fcribed thofe in the Vatican, as Felibien has that 
 ttupendous work of Giulio. 
 
 Of EXPRESSION. 
 
 WHATEVER the general character of the 
 ftory is, the picture muft difcover it 
 throughout, whether it be joyous, melancholy, 
 grave, terrible, &c. The nativity, refurrection, 
 and afcenfion ought to have the general colouring, 
 the ornaments, back-ground, and every thing in 
 them chearful, and joyous, and the contrary in a 
 crucifixion, interment, or a pieta. 
 
 But a diftinction mult be made between grave, 
 and melancholy, as in a holy family of Raphael, 
 in my collection, and which hath been mentioned 
 already-, (p. 32.) the colouring is brown, and 
 folemn, but yet all together the picture hath not 
 a difmal air, but quite otherwife. I have ano- 
 ther holy family of Rubens, painted as his man- 
 ner was, as if the figures were in a funny room : 
 I have confidered what effect it would have had if 
 Raphael's colouring had been the fame with Ru- 
 ben's on this occafion, and doubtlefs it would 
 have been the worfe for it. There are certain 
 fentiments of awe, and devotion which ought to 
 be raifed by the firft fight of pictures of that fub- 
 ject, which that folemn colouring contributes very 
 much to, but not the more bright, though upon 
 other occafions preferable. 
 
 I have feen a fine inftance of a colouring pro- 
 per for melancholy fubjects in a pieta of Vandike : 
 that alone would make one not only grave, but 
 fad at firft fight; and a coloured drawing that I 
 
 have 
 
Of EXPRESSION, 49 
 
 have of the fall of Phaeton after Giulio Romano* 
 fhews how much this contributes to the expreffionw 
 It is different from any colouring that ever I faw, 
 and admirably adapted to the fubject : there is a 
 reddifh purple tinct fpread throughout, as if the 
 world was all inveloped in {mouldering fire. 
 
 There are certain little circumftances that con- 
 tribute to the expreflion. Such an effect the burn- 
 ing lamps have that are in the carton of healing at 
 the beautiful gate of the temple ; one fees the 
 place is holy, as well as magnificent. 
 
 The large fowl that are feen on, the fore-ground 
 in the carton of the draught of fifties have a good 
 effect. There is a certain fea-wildnefs in them v 
 and as their food was fiih, they contribute mightily 
 to exprefs the affair in hand, which was fifhing^ 
 They are a fine part of the fcene. 
 
 Paflerotto has drawn a Chrift's head as going to 
 be crucified, the expreffion of which is marvell- 
 ously fine; but (excepting the air of the face) 
 nothing is more moving ; not the part of the crofs 
 that is feen ; not the crown of thorns, nor the 
 drops of blood falling' from the wounds that 
 makes ; nothing can exprefs more than an igno- 
 minious cord which comes upon part of the 
 moulder and neck. Raphael Borghini, in his 
 Ripolb, in the life of Paflerotto, has given an 
 account of this drawing, which with others of 
 that mailer (by him alfo fpoken of) I have. 
 
 The robes, and other habits of the figures 5 
 their attendants, and enfigns of authority, or dig- 
 nity, as crowns, maces, &cj help to exprefs their 
 diftinct characters ; and commonly even their place 
 in the Compofition. The principal perfons and 
 actors muft not be put in a corner, or towards ths 
 extremities of the picture, unlefs the necefiity of 
 
 E the 
 
5 o Of EXPRESSION. 
 
 the fubjeift requires it. A Chrift, or an Apoftle 
 mud not be dreffed like an artificer, or a fifher- 
 man •, a man of quality mud be diftinguifhed 
 from one of the lower orders of men, as a well- 
 bred man always is in life from a peafant. And 
 fo of the reft. 
 
 Every body knows the common, or ordinary 
 diftinctions by drefs •, but there is one inflance of a 
 particular kind which I will mention, as being 
 likely to give ufeful hints to this purpofe, and 
 moreover very curious. In the carton of giving 
 the keys to S. Peter, our Saviour is wrapt only in 
 one large piece of white drapery, his left arm, and 
 bread, and part of his leg naked •, which un- 
 doubtedly was done to denote him now to appear 
 in his refurrection-body, and not as before his 
 crucifixion, when this drefs would have been al- 
 together improper. And this is the more re- 
 markable, as having been done upon fecond 
 thoughts, and after the picture was perhaps fi- 
 nifhed, which I know by having a drawing of 
 this carton, very old, and probably made in 
 Raphael's time, though not of his hand, where 
 the Chrift is fully clad j he has the very fame 
 large drapery, but one under it that covers his 
 breaft, arm, and legs down to the feet. Every 
 thing elfe is pretty near the fame with the carton *. 
 That the face, and air, as well as our actions, 
 indicate the mind is indifputable. It is leen by 
 every body in the extreams on both fides. For 
 example ; let two men, the one a wife man, and 
 the other a fool, be {ten together dreffed, or dil- 
 
 * Omnis motus animi fuum quendam a natura habet vul- 
 tum & fonum & gellum ; totumque corpus hominis, & ejus 
 omnis vultus, omnefque voces, ut nervi in fidibus, ita tonant, 
 tu a motu animi quoque funt fulta. Cic. de Oiat. III. 
 
 guifed 
 
Of EXPRESSION. 5* 
 
 guifed as you pleafe, one will not be miftaken for 
 the other, but diftinguifhed with the firrt glance of 
 the eye ; and if thefe characters are {lamped up- 
 on the face, fo as to be read by every one when 
 in the utmoft extreams, they are fo proportionably 
 when more or lefs removed from them, and 
 legible accordingly, and in proportion to the fkill 
 of the reader. The like may be obferved of 
 good, and ill-nature, genteelnefs, rufticity, &c. 
 
 Every figure and animal muft be affected in 
 the picture as one mould fuppofe they would, or 
 ought to be. And all the expreffions of the feve- 
 ral paffions and fentiments muft be made with 
 regard to the characters of the perfons moved by 
 them. At the raifing of Lazarus, fome may be 
 allowed to be made to hold fomething before 
 their nofes, and this would be very juft, to de- 
 note that circumftance in the ftory, the time he 
 had been dead ; but this is exceedingly improper 
 in the laying our Lord in the fepulchre, although 
 he had been dead much longer than he was -, how- 
 ever, Pordenone has done it. When Apollo flea* 
 Marfyas, he may exprefs all the anguifh and im- 
 patience the painter can give him, but not fo in 
 the cafe of St. Bartholomew. That the Virgin 
 Mary mould fwoon away through the excefs of her 
 grief, is very proper to fuppofe, but to throw her 
 in fuch a pofture as Daniel da Vokerra has done 
 in that famous picture of the defcent from the 
 crofs, is by no means justifiable. He hath fuc- 
 ceeded much better in that article, if a drawing I 
 have which is imputed to him is really of him > 
 (it was once in .the collection of Georgio Vafari, as , 
 appears by its border, which is of his hand ;) 
 there the expreffions of forrow are very noble, 
 uncommon, and extraordinary. 
 
 E 2 Polidore^ 
 
5 2 Of EXPRESSION. 
 
 Polidore, in a drawing of the fame fubject 
 (which I alfo have) has finely expreffed the ex- 
 ceffive grief of the Virgin, by intimating it was 
 otherwife inexpreflible : her attendants difcover 
 abundance of paffion, and forrow in their faces, 
 but hers is hid by drapery held up by both her 
 hands : the whole figure is very compofed, and 
 quiet-, no noife, no outrage, but great dignity 
 appears in her, fuitable to her character. This 
 thought Timanthes had in his picture of Iphige- 
 nia *, which he probably took from Euripides ; 
 as perhaps this of Polidore is owing to one, or 
 both of them. 
 
 Putting the fore-finger in the mouth to exprefs 
 an agony, and confufion of mind is rarely ufed. 
 I do not remember to have feen it any where but 
 in the tomb of the Nafonii, where the Sphynx is 
 propofing the riddle to CEdipus ; and in a draw- 
 ing I have of Giulio Romano, and which is painted 
 in the palace of T. at Mantua. Giulio had not 
 this thought from the other, that tomb not being 
 difcovered in his time; but in both thefe, this 
 exprefiion is incomparably fine. 
 
 In that admirable carton of St. Paul preaching, 
 the exprefiions are very juft, and delicate through- 
 out :• even the back-ground is not without its 
 meaning •, it is exprelTive of the fuperftition St. Paul 
 was preaching againft. But no hiftorian or orator 
 can poffibiy give me fo great an idea of that elo- 
 quent and zealous Apoitle,. as that figure of his 
 does ; all the fine things related as faid, or wrote 
 by him cannot; for there I fee a perfon, face, 
 air, and action, which no words can fufficiently 
 defcribe, but which allure me as much as thole 
 
 * Pliny xxxv. 10. 
 
 can, 
 
Of EXPRESSION. 53 
 
 can, that that man muft fpeak good fenfe, and to 
 the purpofe. And the different fentiments of his 
 auditors are as finely expreiTed ; fome appear to 
 be angry, and malicious ; others to be attentive, 
 and realbning upon the matter within themfelves, 
 or with one another •, and one especially as appa- 
 rently -convinced. Thefe laft are the free-thinkers 
 of that time, and ar-e placed before the Apoflle ; 
 the others are behind him, not only as caring lefs 
 for the preacher, or the doctrine, but to raife the 
 apoflolick character, which would lofe Something 
 of its dignity, if his maligners v/ere fuppofed to 
 be able to look him in the face. ■ 
 
 Elymas the forcerer is blind from head to foot] 
 but how admirably are terror, and aftonifhment 
 expreiTed in the people prefent, and how varioufly, 
 according to the Several characters ! The proconful 
 has thefe Sentiments, but, as a Roman, and a gen- 
 tleman ; the reft in feveral degrees, and manners. 
 
 The fame fentiments appear alfo in the carton 
 •of the death of Ananias, together with thofe of 
 joy and triumph which naturally arifes in good 
 minds upon the fight of the effects of divine 
 juftice, and the victory of truth. 
 
 The airs of the heads in my holy family of 
 Raphael are perfectly fine, according to the feve- 
 ral characters ; that of the mother of God has all 
 the fweetnefs and goodnefs that could poflibly 
 .appear in herfelf ; what is particularly remarkable 
 is, that the Chrift, and the St. John are both fine 
 boys, but the latter is apparently human, the 
 •other, as it ought to be, divine. 
 
 Nor is the expreffion in my drawing of the defcent 
 of the Holy Ghoft * lefs excellent than the other parts 
 
 * The fame from which the print of Marc Antonio is 
 -taken. ; 
 
 E 2 of 
 
54 Of EXPRESSION. 
 
 of it. The Virgin is feated in the principal part 
 of the picture, and fo diftinguifhed as that none 
 in the company feems to pretend to be in comper 
 tition with her; and the devotion, and modefty 
 with which fhe receives the ineffable gift is wor- 
 thy of her character. St. Peter is on her right 
 hand, and St. John on her left •, the former hath 
 his arms crofted on his breaft, his head reclined, 
 as if afhamed of having denied fuch a mafter, and 
 receives the infpiration with great compofure-, but 
 St. John with a holy boldnefs raifes his head and 
 hands, and is in a moft becoming attitude ; the 
 women behind St. Mary are plainly of an inferior 
 character. Throughout, there is great variety of 
 expreftions of joy and devotion, extreamly well 
 adapted to the occafion. 
 
 I will add one example more of a fine expref- 
 fion, becaufe though it is very juft, and natural, 
 it hath not been done by any that I know of, ex- 
 cept Tmtoret, in a drawing I have feen of him. 
 The fiory is our Saviour's declaration to the 
 apoftles, at fupper with him, that one of them 
 fhould betray him : fome are moved one way, and 
 fome another, as is ufual, but one of them hides 
 his face, droped down betwixt both his hands, as 
 burft into tears from an excefs of forrow that his 
 Lord fhould betrayed, and by one of them. 
 
 In portraits it muft be feen whether the perfon 
 is grave, gay, a man of bufinefs, or wit, plain, 
 genteel, &c. Each character muft have an atti- 
 tude, and drefs ; the ornaments and back-ground 
 proper to it : every part of the portrait, and all 
 about it muft be expreflive of the man, and have 
 a refemblance as well as the features of the face. 
 
 If the perfon hath any particularities as to the 
 kt 9 or motion of the head, eyes, or mouth, (fuch 
 
 as 
 
Of EXPRESSION. 55 
 
 as Shakefpear fomevvhere calls the trick of the 
 eye, fuppofing it be not unbecoming) thefe mult 
 be taken notice of, and ftrongly pronounced. 
 They are a fort of moving features, and are as 
 much a part of the man as the fixed ones : nay, 
 fometimes they raife a low fubjedt, as in the cafe 
 of my marble head already fpoken of, and con- 
 tribute more to a furprifing likenefs than any 
 thing elfe. Vandyke, in a picture I have of him, 
 has given a brifk touch upon the under-lip, which 
 makes the form, and fet of the mouth very parti- 
 cular, and doubtlefs was an air which Don Diego 
 de Gufman, whofe portrait it is, was accuftomed 
 to give himfelf, which an inferior painter would 
 not have obferved* or not have dared to have pro- 
 nounced, at leaft fo ftrongly : but this, as it gives 
 a marvellous fpirit, and fmartnefs, undoubtedly 
 gave a proportionable refemblance. 
 
 If there be any thing particular in the hiftory 
 of the perfon which is proper to be exprefTed, as 
 it is ffill a farther defcription of him, it is a great 
 improvement to the portrait, to them who know 
 that circumftance. There is an inftance of this 
 in a pi&ure of Vandyke made of John Lyvens, 
 who is drawn as if he was liftening at ibmething ; 
 which refers to a remarkable ftory in that man's 
 life. The print is in the book of Vandyke's 
 heads : which book, and the heads of the artifis 
 in the Lives of Giorgio Vafari are worth con- 
 sidering with regard to the variety of attitudes 
 Anted to the feveral characters, as well as upon 
 other accounts. 
 
 Robes, or other marks of dignity, or of a pro- 
 feflion, employment or amufement, a book, a fhip, » 
 a favourite dog, or the like, are hiftorical exprel- 
 $ons common in portraits, which muft be men- 
 
 E 4 tionecj 
 
56 Of EXPRESSION. 
 
 tioned on this occafion j and to fay more of them 
 is not neceffary. 
 
 There are feveral kinds of artificial expreflions 
 indulged to painters, and practifed by them, be- 
 caufe of the difadvantage of their art, in that 
 particular, in companion of words. 
 
 To exprefs the ienie of the wrath of God with 
 which our Lord's mind was filled, when in his 
 agony, and the apprehenfion he was then in of 
 his own approaching crucifixion, Federico Barocci, 
 in a drawing I have of him, hath reprefented this 
 wondrous object in a proper attitude •, and not 
 only with the angel holding the cup to him, which 
 is common, but in the back-ground you fee the 
 crofs, and flames of fire. This is new and poe- 
 tical. 
 
 In the carton where the people of Lycaonia are 
 going to facrifice to St. Paul and Barnabas, the 
 occafion of this is finely told : The man who was 
 healed of his lamenefs is one of the forwarded to 
 exprefs his fenfe of the divine power which ap- 
 peared in thofe apoftles; and to fhewit to be him, 
 not only a crutch is under his feet on the ground, 
 but an old man takes up the lappet of his gar- 
 ment, and looks upon the limb which he remem- 
 bered to have been crippled, and exprelfes great 
 devotion and admiration ; which fentiments are 
 alfo feen in the other with a mixture of joy. When 
 our Saviour committed the care of his church to 
 Peter, the words he ufed on that occafion are 
 related by Raphael, who hath made him pointing 
 to a flock of fheep. * When the flory of Jofeph's 
 
 interpre- 
 
 * Here is, belides, another fine inftance of exprefllon. The 
 intention of this pi&ure was doubtlefs to honour the papal dig- 
 nity. St. Peter was to be here reprefented in his brighteft 
 
 chara&er i 
 
Of EXPRESSION. 57 
 
 interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams was to be re- 
 lated, Raphael hath painted thofe dreams in two 
 circles over the figures ; which he hath alfo done 
 when Jofeph relates his own to his brethren. His 
 manner of expreffing God's dividing the light from 
 darknefs, and the creation of the fun and moon, 
 is altogether fublime. The prints of thofe laft- 
 mentioned pictures are not hard to be found, they 
 are in what they call Raphael's Bible, but the 
 paintings are in the Vatican ; the beft treafury of 
 the works of that divine painter, except Hamp- 
 ton-Court. 
 
 The hyperbolical artifice of Timanthes to ex- 
 prefs the vaftnefs of the Cyclops is well known, 
 and was mightily admired by the ancients ; he 
 made feveral fatyrs about him as if he was afleep, 
 fome were running away as frightened, others ga- 
 zing at a diftance, and one was meafurinp- his 
 thumb with his thyrfus, but feeming to do it with 
 great caution left he mould awake. This expref- 
 fion was copied by Giulio Romano with a little 
 variation. Corregio, in his picture of Danae-f, 
 has finely expreffed the fenfe of this ftory ; for, 
 upon the falling of the golden fhower, Cupid 
 draws off her linen covering, and two loves are 
 trying upon a touchftone a dart tipped with gold. 
 I will add but one example more of this kind, and 
 that is of Nicolas Poufnn to exprefs a voice J, 
 
 chara&er ; which confifts in his having the keys, and the 
 flock of Chriir. committed to him; but this laft being conferred 
 on him after the other, for Chrift was then rifen from the 
 dead, and the keys he was in poffeffion of before the cruci- 
 fixion ; both hiftories could not be brought in without making 
 a double pifture. The firft is therefore expreffed by his having » 
 the keys in his hand. 
 
 f Engraved by Du Change. 
 
 % Engraved by Del Po. 
 
 which 
 
5 8 Of EXPRESSION. 
 
 which he has done in the baptifm of our Saviour, 
 by making the people look up and about, as it is 
 natural for men to do when they hear any fuch, 
 and know not whence it comes, especially if it be 
 otherwife extraordinary, as the cafe was in this 
 hiftory. 
 
 Another way practifed by painters to exprefs 
 their fenfe, which could not otherwife be done in 
 painting, is by figures reprefentative of certain 
 things. This they learned' from the ancients, of 
 which there are abundance of examples, as in the 
 Antoninian, or rather Aurelian pillar §, where to 
 exprefs the rain that fell when the Roman army 
 was prefer ved, as they pretended, by the prayers of 
 the Meletenian or thundering legion, the figure of 
 Jupiter Pluvius is introduced : But I need not 
 mention more of thefe. Raphael hath been very 
 fparing of this expedient in facred ftory, though 
 in the palfage of Jordan he hath reprefented that 
 river by an old man dividing the waters, which 
 are rolled and tumbled very nobly ; but in poe- 
 tical flories he hath been very profufe of thefe, as 
 in the judgment of Paris and elfewhere. The 
 like has been commonly practifed by Annibale 
 Carracci, Giulio Romano, and others. And there 
 are fome entire pictures of this kind, as in thofe 
 made to compliment perfons or focieties, where 
 their virtues, or what are attributed to them, are 
 thus reprefented. 
 
 When we fee in pictures of the Madona thofe 
 of St. Francis, St. Katherine, or others not cotem- 
 porary, nay even the portraits of particular per- 
 fons living when the pictures were made, this is 
 
 § This auguft monument of antiquity is engraved by Pietro 
 Santa Bartoli, with a commentary of Bellori. This figure is 
 n. 15. 
 
 not 
 
Of EXPRESSION.' 59 
 
 not fo blameable as people commonly think. We 
 are not to fuppofe thefe were intended for pure 
 hiftorical pictures, but only to exprefs the attach- 
 ment thofe faints or perfons had for the Virgin, or 
 their great piety and zeal : So I have feen whole 
 families rcprefented with the mantle of the Virgin 
 Mary fpread over their heads, doubtlefs to denote 
 their putting themfelves under her protection. 
 With this key a great many feeming absurdities of 
 good matters will be difcovered to be none. 
 
 In the hiftory of Heliodorus, who was miracu- 
 Joufly chaftiied when he made a facrilegious at- 
 tempt upon the treafure in the temple of Jerufa- 
 lem, Raphael has brought in the reigning Pope 
 Julius II. to compliment him, who gloried in 
 having driven out the enemies of the ecclefiaftical 
 ftate. 
 
 The famous S^. Cecilia at Bologna is accom- 
 panied by St. Paul, St. John, St, Auguftin, and 
 jSt. Mary Magdalen, not as being fuppofed to have 
 lived together ; but pofTibly thofe being faints of 
 different characters are introduced to heighten that 
 of the faint, which is the principal one in the 
 compofition. |] Though- Albani thought it was 
 done by Raphael in pure compliance with the po- 
 fitive direction of thofe for whom the picture was 
 made ; which (by the way) is not feldom the oc- 
 cafion of real faults in pictures, and which there- 
 fore are not to be imputed to the painter. ' My 
 lord Somers has a drawing of the fame fubject at- 
 tributed to Innocentb da Imola, which I believe 
 was done after fome former defign of Raphael, 
 for there are the fame figures, placed juft in the 
 fame manner, only the attitudes are confiderably 
 
 }| See Felfma Pittrice, torn. II. p, 245. 
 
 varied ; 
 
£o Of EXPRESSION. 
 
 Varied ; for there the other faints have regard only 
 to the heroine of the picture : This helps to ex- 
 plain the other. 
 
 Of all the painters Rubens hath made the 
 boldeft life of this kind of exprefiion (by figures) 
 in his pictures of the Luxembourg gallery, and 
 has been much cenfured for it. The truth is, it 
 is a little mocking to fee fuch a mixture of antique 
 and modern figures of chriftianity and heathenifm 
 In the fame pictures ; but this is much owing to 
 its novelty. He was willing not only to relate the 
 actions done, but a great deal more than could be 
 related any other way ; and for the fake of that 
 advantage, and the applauie he mould receive for 
 it from thofe who judged of the thing in its true 
 light, he had the courage to hazard the good opi- 
 nion of others. He had moreover another very 
 g-ood reafon for what he did on this occafion : 
 The ftories he had to paint were modern, and the 
 habits and ornaments muft be fo too, which would 
 not have had a very agreeable effect in painting : 
 Thefe allegorical additions make a wonderful im- 
 provement ; they vary, enliven, and enrich the 
 work; as any one may perceive that will imagine 
 the pictures as they mult have been, had Rubens 
 been terrified by the objections which he certainly 
 mult have forefeen would be made afterwards, 
 and fo had left all thefe heathen gods and god- 
 tteffes, and the reft of the fictitious figures out of 
 the compofition. 
 
 I will acid but one way of exprefiion more, and 
 that is, plain writing. 
 
 Polygnotus, in the paintings made by him in 
 the temple of Delphos, wrote the names of thofe 
 whom he repreiented. 
 
 The 
 
Or EXPRESSION. 61 
 
 The old Italian and German mailers improved 
 upon this ; the figures they made were, literally* 
 fpeaking figures •, they had labels coming out o£ 
 their mouths, with that written in them which 
 they were intended to be made to fay •, but even 
 Raphael and Annibale Carracci have condefcended 
 to write rather than leave any ambiguity or ob- 
 fcurity in their work : Thus the name of Sappho 
 is written to mew it was this celebrated poetefs, 
 and not one of the mules intended in the Parnafius. 
 And in the gallery of Farnefe, that Anchifes 
 might not be miitaken for Adonis, Genus unde 
 latinum was written. 
 
 In the carton of Elymas the forcerer, it doth 
 not appear that the proconiul was converted, 
 otherwife than by the writing \ nor do I conceive 
 how it was poffible to have expreiTed that impor- 
 tant circumftance fo properly any other way. 
 
 In the peft of the fame mailer, engraved by 
 Marc Antonio, there is a line out of Virgil which, 
 as it is very proper (the plague being that de- 
 fcribed by this poet, as will be ken prefently) 
 admirably heightens the'expreffion, though, with- 
 out it, it is one of the moil wonderful inflances 
 of this part of the art that perhaps is in the 
 world in black and white, and the utrnoft that 
 human wit can fuggefb - 3 there is not the moll mi- 
 nute circumftance throughout the whole defign 
 which does not help to exprefs the mifery there 
 intended to be mewn: But the print being noc 
 hard to be feen, need not to be deicribed. 
 
 Writing is again ufed in this defign : In one 
 part of it you fee a perfon on his bed, and two 
 figures by him ; this is iEneas, who (as Virgil re- 
 lates) was advifed by his father to apply hirnlelf 
 to the Phrygian Gods to know what, he mould do 
 
 to 
 
62 Of EXPRESSION. 
 
 to remove the plague •, and being refolved to go, 
 the deities appeared to him, the moon mining 
 very bright (which the print reprefents) -, here 
 Effigies Sacne Divom Phrygian* is written, be- 
 caufe otherwife this incident would not probably 
 have been thought on, but the group would have 
 been taken to be only a lick man, and his atten- 
 dants. 
 
 The works of this prodigy of a man ought to 
 be carefully ftudied by him who would make him- 
 felf mafter in expreflion, more efpecially with re- 
 lation to thofe pafllons and fentiments that have 
 nothing of favage and cruel ; for his angclick 
 mind was a flranger to thefe, as appears by his 
 Daughter of the innocents, where, though he hath 
 had recourfe to the expedient of making the fol- 
 diers naked to give the more terror, he hath not 
 fucceeded io well as even fo inferior a mafter as 
 Pietro Tefta, who, in a drawing I have of him 
 of that ftory, has fhewn he was fitter for it than 
 Raphael : But you mud not expect to find the 
 true airs of the heads of that great mafter in prints, 
 not even in thofe of Marc Antonio himfelf. Thofe 
 are to be found only in what his own inimitable 
 hand has done, of which there are many un- 
 queftionably right in feveral collections here in 
 England ; particularly in thofe very admirable and 
 copious ones of the duke of Devonfhire, and the 
 earl of Pembroke •, to whom I take leave on this, 
 as on all other occafions, to make my humble ac- 
 knowledgments for the favour of frequently fee- 
 ing and confidering thofe noble and delicious cu- 
 riofities. But Hampton-Court is the great fchool 
 of Raphael ! and God be praifed that we have fo 
 
 * JEneid III. 140* 
 
 near 
 
Of EXPRESSION. 6$ 
 
 near us fuch an invaluable bleffing. May the 
 cartons continue in that place, and always to be 
 feen, unhurt and undecayed, fo long as the nature 
 of the materials of which they are compofed will 
 poffibly allow. May even a miracle be wrought 
 in their favour, as themfelves are fome of the 
 greateft inftances of the divine power's interfering 
 to endue a mortal man with abilities to perform 
 fuch ftupendous works of art. 
 
 Befides him, I know of none of the old maflers 
 that are remarkable for expreffion, unlefs for par- 
 ticular fubjects -, as Michael Angelo for infernal or 
 terrible airs •, amongd others I have the drawing 
 he made for the Caron in the famous picture of 
 the laft judgment, which is admirable in its kind ; 
 and which (by the way) Vafari, who was well ac- 
 quainted with him, fays, he took from thefe three 
 lines of Dante, an author he was very fond of: 
 
 Caron demonio con occhi di bragia 
 Loro accennando tutte le raccoglie 
 Batte col remo qualunque fadagia. 
 
 Giulio Romano has fine airs for mafks, a^Silenus, 
 fatyrs, and the like. And for fuch ftories as that 
 of the Decii, the three hundred Spartans, the de- 
 struction of the giants, &c. I have feveral proofs 
 of this. Others of later times have fucceeded 
 well in this part of the art, as Domenichino and 
 Rembrandt, but thefe are the principal ; only for 
 portraits, and herein, next to Raphael, perhaps 
 no man hath a better title to the preference than 
 Vandyke ; no not Titian himfelf, much lefs Ru- 
 bens. 
 
 But there is no better fchool than nature for ex- 
 preffion. A painter therefore mould on all occa- 
 sions obferve how men look and act, when pleafed, 
 grieved, angry, &c. 
 
 Of 
 
[ 64 ] 
 
 Of COMPOSITION. 
 
 THIS is putting together for the advantage of 
 the whole, what mall be judged proper to 
 to be the feveral parts of a picture ; either as being 
 cflential to it, or becaufe they are thought necei- 
 fary for the common benefit : and moreover, the 
 determination of the painter as to certain attitudes, 
 and colours which are otherwife indifferent. 
 
 The compofition of a picture is of vaft con- 
 fequence to the goodnefs of it ; it is what firft of 
 all prefents itfelf to the eye, and prejudices us in 
 favour of, or with an averfion to it; like what 
 the great queen Iiabella of Caftile faid of a hand- 
 fome and ingenious countenance, that it was a 
 letter of recommendation. It is this that directs 
 us to the ideas that are to be conveyed by the 
 painter, and in what order-, and the eye is de- 
 lighted with the harmony at the fame time as the 
 underftanding is improved. Whereas this being 
 bad and injudicious, though the feveral parts are 
 fine, the picture is troublefome to look upon, and 
 like a book in which are many good thoughts, 
 but flung in confufedly, and without method. 
 
 Every picture mould be fo contrived, as that at 
 a diflance, when one cannot difcern what figures 
 there are, or what they are doing, it mould appear 
 to be compofed of maffes, light, and dark; the 
 latter of which ferve as repofes to the eye. The 
 forms of thefe maffes mult be agreeable, of what- 
 foever they confift, ground, trees, draperies, fi- 
 gures, &c. and the whole together lhould be 
 lweet, and delightful, lovely ffiapes and colours 
 without a name; of which there is an infinite 
 variety. 
 
 And 
 
Of COMPOSITION. 65 
 
 And it is not enough that there be great maf- 
 fes ; they mult be fubdivided into lefler parts, or 
 they will appear heavy, and difagreeable : thus 
 though there is evidently a broad light (for exam- 
 ple) in a piece of filk when covering a whole 
 figure, or a limb, there may be lefler folds, 
 breakings, flickerings, and reflections, and the 
 great mafs yet evidently prefer ved. 
 
 Sometimes one mafs of light is upon a dark 
 ground, and then the extremities of the light muft 
 not be too near the edges of the picture, and its 
 greateit ftrength muft be towards the centre ; as 
 in the defcent from the crofs, and the burial of 
 Chrift, both of Rubens, and of both which there 
 are prints, one by Vofterman, and the other by 
 Pontius. 
 
 I have a painting of the holy family by Rubens 
 of this ftructure; where, becaufe the mafs of 
 light in one part would elfe have gene off too 
 abruptly, and have made a lefs pleafing figure, 
 he hath fet the foot of St. Elizabeth on a little 
 ftool ; here the light catches, and fpreads the 
 mafs fo as to have the defired effect. Such ano- 
 ther artifice Raphael hath practiied in the famous 
 Madona, in the tribunal at Florence. He has 
 brought in a kind of an ornament to a chair for 
 no other end (that I can imagine) but to form the 
 mafs agreeably. 
 
 Vandyke, that he might keep his principal 
 light near the middle of his pitture, and to fhew 
 to advantage the body of the figure, which he 
 feems to have intended to exert himfelf in, hath 
 even kept the head fombrous in an ecce homo I 
 have of him, which makes the whole have a fine 
 effect. 
 
 F I have 
 
66 Of COMPOSITION. 
 
 I have many times obferved with a great deal of 
 pleafure the admirable compofition (befides the 
 other excellencies) of a fruit-piece of Michael 
 Angelo Compadoglio, which I have had many 
 years. The principal light is near the centre 
 (not exactly there, for thofe regularities have an 
 ill effect-,) and the tranfition from thence, and 
 from one thing to another, to the extremities 
 of the picture all round is very eafy, and delight- 
 ful ; in which he has employed fine artifices by 
 leaves, twigs, little touches of lights ftriking ad- 
 vantageoufly, and the like. So that there is not a 
 ftroke in the picture without its meaning; and 
 the whole, though very bright, and confifting of 
 a great many parts, has a wonderful harmony, 
 and repofe. 
 
 One of the drawings that Corregio made for 
 the compofition of his famous picture of the 
 nativity, called La Notte del Corregio, I have, 
 and it is admirable in its kind : there is nothing 
 one could wifh were otherwife with refpect to the 
 compofition, but that the full moon which he has 
 made in one of the corners at the top had been 
 omitted-, it gives no light, that all comes from 
 the new-born Saviour of the world, and fweetly 
 diffufes itfelf from thence as from its centre all 
 over the picture, only that moon a little troubles 
 the eye. 
 
 The comporuion of my holy family of Raphael 
 is not inferior to its other parts, and the tranfi- 
 tion from one thing to another is very artful : 
 to inftance only in one particular; behind the 
 Madona is St. Jofeph refting his head on his 
 hand, which is placed upon his mouth, and chin ; 
 this hand fpreads that fubordinate mafs of light, 
 
 and 
 
Of COMPOSITION. 6y 
 
 and together with the coiffure of the Virgin, and 
 the little ring of glory round her head (which con- 
 tribute alfo to the fame end) makes the tranfition 
 from her face to that of St. Jofeph very grateful, 
 and eaiy. The whole figure of St. Jofeph is con- 
 nected with that of the Madona, but fubordi- 
 nately, by one fmart touch of the pencil artfully 
 applied upon his drapery in the holy family I have 
 of Rubens ; than which there cannot be a more 
 perfect example for compofition, both as to the 
 mafTes, and colour: but I will not multiply in- 
 fiances. 
 
 Sometimes the ftructure of a picture, or the 
 tout-enfemble of its form, mall refemble dark 
 clouds on a light ground; as in two affump* 
 tions of the Virgin by Bolfwert after Rubens : but 
 in both of them the figures of thefe mafles are 
 fomething too indhtinct. Le Brun in a ceiling of 
 the fame fubject, graved by young Simonneau, 
 has put a group of angels, which almoft hide the 
 cloudy voiture of the Virgin ; but this mafs is of 
 too regular, and heavy a fhape. I refer you to 
 prints, becaufe they are eafy to be got, and ex- 
 plain this matter as well as drawings, or pictures, 
 and in fome refpects better. 
 
 There are inftances where two mafles, a light, 
 and a dark one, divide the picture, each polfef- 
 fing one fide. I have of this fort by Rubens, and 
 as fine a compofition as can be feen •, the maffes 
 are fo well rounded, the principal light being near 
 the middle of the bright one, and the other having 
 fubordinate lights upon it fo as to connect, but 
 not to confound it with the reft; and they are 
 in agreeable fhapes, and melting into one ano- 
 ther, but nevertheless fufficiently determined. 
 
 F 2 Very 
 
6$ Of COMPOSITION. 
 
 Very commonly a picture confifts of a mafs of 
 light, and another of fhadow upon a ground of a 
 middle tinct. And fometimes it is compofed of a 
 mafs of dark at the bottom, another lighter above 
 that, and another, for the upper part, (till lighter ; 
 (as ufually in a landfcape.) I have a Paolo Vero- 
 nefe where a large group of figures, the principal 
 ones of the ftory, compofe this lower brown ma is •, 
 architecture, the fecond ; more buildings, with 
 figures and the fky, the third •, but moft com- 
 monly in pictures of three maflfes, the fecond is 
 the place of the principal figures. 
 
 Of fuch confequence are thefe agreeable mafTes 
 in a picture, that for the fake of them what is 
 lefs material muft be dilpenled with when both 
 cannot be had. As the principal figure, and 
 action muft be diftinguifhed, (of which more 
 prefently) thofe limbs of a figure that are chiefly 
 employed ought to be made confpicuous ; Luca 
 Giordano, in a picture I have, has reprefented the 
 little Jefus as riding on St. John's lamb, and fup- 
 ported by that young Saint-, the legs of the 
 lamb being his own ftipport, and that of his 
 rider fhould have been very obvious j but if they 
 had, the mafs where they are would have been 
 too much, and difagreeably broken, they are only 
 feen therefore, and the mafTes are preferved, and 
 fo beautifully as to be a great part of the merit of 
 the picture. 
 
 As the tout-enfemble of a picture muft be beau- 
 tiful in its mafles, fo mult it be as to its colours. 
 And as what is principal mull be (generally fpeak- 
 ing) the molt confpicuous, the predominant co- 
 lours of that mould be diffufed throughout die 
 whole. This Raphael has oblerved remarkably 
 
 in 
 
Of COMPOSITION. 69 
 
 in the carton of St. Paul preaching •, his drapery is 
 red and green, and thefe colours are fcattered 
 every where; but judicioully; for fubordinate 
 colours as well as fubordinate lights ferve to fofiten, 
 and fupport the principal ones, which otherwife 
 would appear as fpots, and confequently be offen- 
 sive. 
 
 And when the fiibjeet does not necelfarily re- 
 quire a due variety or beauty of tincts, or per- 
 haps the picture when thought to be finifhed is 
 found to want fomething of this kind, a few red, 
 or yellow leaves of trees, flowers, of whatever- 
 colour, in fhort, any thing otherwife indifferent, 
 may be flung in very advantageoufly. 
 
 In a figure, and every part of a figure, and 
 indeed in every thing elie there is one part which 
 muft have a peculiar force, and be manifestly 
 diftinguifhed frbm the reft, all the other parts of 
 which muft alfo have a due Subordination to it, 
 and to one another. The fame muft be obferved 
 in the compofition of an entire picture; and this 
 principal, diftinguifhed part, ought (generally 
 fpeaking) to be the place of the principal figure, 
 and action : and here every thing muft be higher 
 finifhed, the other parts muft be lefs fo gradually. 
 
 Pictures fhould be like bunches of grapes, but 
 they muft not refemble a great many fingle grapes 
 fcattered on a table ; there muft not be many little 
 parts of an equal ftrength, and detached from one 
 another, which is as odious to the eye as it is to 
 the ear to hear many people talking to you at 
 once. Nothing muft flare, or be too ftrong for 
 the place where it is ; as in a concert of mufick 
 when a note is too high, or an inftrument out of 
 tune ; but a iweet harmony and repofe muft refult 
 
 F 3 from 
 
jo Of COMPOSITION. 
 
 from all the parts judicioufly put together, and 
 united with each other. 
 
 In the deicent from the crofs of Rubens, the 
 Chrift is the principal figure, this body being 
 naked and about the centre of the picture would 
 have been diftinguifhed as the heightening of this 
 mafs of light •, but not content with that, and to 
 raife it ftill more, this judicious mafter has added 
 a meet in which the body lies, and which is iup- 
 pofed to be ufeful to deliver it down fafely, as 
 well as to carry it off afterwards, but the main 
 defign is what I am obferving, and for that it is 
 admirably introduced. 
 
 Ananias is the principal figure in the carton 
 which gives the hiftory of his death ; as the apo- 
 ffcle that pronounces his fentence is of the iubordi- 
 nate group, which confifts of apoftles. (Which 
 therefore is fubordinate, becaufe the principal 
 action relates to the criminal, and thither the eye 
 is directed by almoft all the figures in the picture.) 
 St. Paul is the chief figure in that carton where 
 he is preaching, and amongft his auditors one is 
 eminently diftinguifhed, who is principal of that 
 group ; and is apparently a believer, and more fo 
 than any of them, or he had not had that fecond 
 place in a picture conducted by fo great a judg- 
 ment as that of Raphael's. Thefe principal, and 
 fubordinate groups, and figures, are fo apparent, 
 that the eye will naturally fix firft upon one, then 
 upon the other, and confider each in order, and 
 with delight. I might give other examples were 
 it neceffary ; where it is not thus, the compofition 
 is lefs perfect. 
 
 It is to be noted, that the forcerer in the carton 
 of his chaftifement is the principal figure there, 
 
 but 
 
Of COMPOSITION. 7 x 
 
 but hath not the force in all its parts that it ought 
 to have as fuch, and to maintain the harmony; 
 this is accidental, for it is certain his drapery 
 was of the fame ftrength and beauty, as that on 
 his head, however it has happened to have changed 
 its colour. 
 
 The ftiadows in the drapery of St. Paul alfo, in 
 that carton where the people are about to facrifice 
 to him and Barnabas, have loft fomething of their 
 force. 
 
 Sometimes the place in the picture, and not the 
 force, gives the diftinction ; as in my drawing of 
 the defcent of the Holy Ghoft : the principal 
 figure is the fymbol of that divine perfon in the 
 facred trinity, who is the great agent, and is 
 diftinguifhed both by the place it is in, and the 
 glory which lurrounds it : the principal of the 
 next group is the Virgin, who is placed directly 
 under the dove, and in the middle of the picture ; 
 but fome of the apoftles who appear not to be 
 the chief, have a greater force than ihe, or any of 
 thofe that compole that group ; however the place 
 Ihe pofTeffes preferves that diftinction that the in- 
 comparable artift intended to give her. 
 
 And fometimes the painter happens to be obliged 
 to put a figure in a place, and with a degree of 
 force which does not fufflciently diftinguilh it. Jn 
 that cafe, the attention muft be awakened by the 
 colour of its drapery, or a part of it, or by the 
 ground on which it is painted, or fome other 
 artifice. 
 
 Scarlet, or fome vivid colour, is very proper on 
 fuch occafions : I think I have met with an in- 
 ftance of this kind from Titian, in a Bacchus and • 
 Ariadne ; her figure is thus diftinguilhed for the 
 reafon I have given. And in a picture of 
 F 4 Albano, 
 
72 Of COMPOSITION. 
 
 Albano, which Sir James Thornhill has, our 
 Lord is feen at a diftance as coming towards fome 
 of his difciples, and, though a fmall figure, is 
 neverthelefs the moft apparent in the picture by 
 being placed on a rifing ground, and painted upon 
 the bright part of the iky juft above the horizon. . 
 In a compofition, as well as in every fingle 
 figure, or other part of which the picture confitls, 
 one thing mult contrail, or be varied from ano- 
 ther. Thus in a figure, the arms and legs muft 
 not be placed to anlwer one another in parallel 
 lines. In like manner if one figure in a compo- 
 fition (lands, another muft bend, or lie on the 
 ground; and of thofe that (land, or are in any 
 other pofition, if there be feveral of them, they 
 muft be varied by turns of the head, or fome 
 other artful difpofition of their parts •, as may be 
 feen (for inftance) in the carton of giving the keys. 
 The maifes muft alib have the like contrail, two 
 muft not be alike in form or fize, nor the whole 
 mafs compofed of thofe leifer ones of too regu- 
 lar a fhape. The colours muft be alfo contrafted, 
 and oppofed, fo as to be grateful to the eye : 
 there muft not (for example) be two draperies in 
 one picture of the fame colour and ftrength, un- 
 lefs they are contiguous, and then they are but as 
 one. If there be two reds, blews, or whatever 
 other colour, one muft be of a darker, or paler 
 tinct, or be fome way varied by lights, fhadows, 
 or reflections. Raphael, and others have made 
 great advantage of changeable filks to unite the 
 contrafting colours, as well as to make a part of 
 the contraft themfelves. As in the carton of giv- 
 ing the keys, the apoftle that ftands in profile, 
 and immediately behind St. John, has a yellow 
 garment with red fleeves, which connects that 
 
 figure 
 
Of COMPOSITION. 75 
 
 figure with St. Peter, and St. John, whofe drape- 
 ries are of the fame fpecies of colours. Then the 
 fame apoftle has a loofe changeable drapery, 
 the lights of which are a mixture of red and 
 yellow, the other parts are blewifh. This unites 
 itfelf with the other colours already mentioned, 
 and with the blew drapery of another apoftle 
 which follows afterwards ; between which, and 
 the changeable filk is a yellow drapery fomething 
 different from the other yellows, but with fhadows 
 bearing upon the purple, as thole of the yellow 
 drapery of St. Peter incline to the red : all which, 
 together with feveral other particulars, produce a 
 wonderful harmony. 
 
 The exotick birds that are placed on the fhore, 
 in the fore-ground in the carton of the draught 
 of fifties, prevent the heavinefs which that part 
 would otherwife have had by breaking the parallel 
 lines which would have been made by the boats, 
 and bafe of the picture. 
 
 The back ground of the picture of the death- 
 bed of Germanicus by Poufiln, is architecture; 
 but the many perpendicular lines over the heads 
 of the figures throughout, would have had an 
 ill effect : he has therefore fpread a fort of curtain 
 or canopy, over the principal of them ; (which 
 alfo helps to diftinguifh them) this remedies that 
 inconvenience ; the reft of the back ground is con- 
 trafted by ftandards, arms, &c. 
 
 Though a mafs may confift of a number of 
 little parts, there ought to be one, or more, larger, 
 and as it were governing the reft, and this is ano- 
 ther fort of contraft. My lord Burlington has a 
 picture of the good Samaritan by Baffano, which is . 
 a fine inftance of this. In the fame picture, there 
 are two knees of two feveral figures, pretty near 
 
 together, 
 
74 Or COMPOSITION. 
 
 together, and the legs and thighs of which make 
 angles too much alike, but this is contrafted by 
 one being naked, and the other clad •, and over 
 the latter, a little fort of faih falls, which is an 
 additional expedient. 
 
 There is an admirable contraft in the carton of 
 St. Paul preaching; his figure (which is a fublime 
 one) ftands alone, as it ought to do, and confe- 
 quently is very confpicuous, which is alfo per- 
 fectly right ; the attitude is • as fine as can be 
 imagined •, but the beauty of this noble figure, 
 and with it of the whole picture depends upon 
 this artful contraft I have been fpeaking of; of fo 
 great confequence is that little part of the dra- 
 pery flung over the apoftle's (boulder, and hang- 
 ing down almoft to his waift ; for, befides that 
 it poizes the figure, which leans forward in the 
 energy of his difcourfe, had it gone lower, fo as 
 to have, as it were, divided the outline of the 
 hinder part of the figure in two equal, or near 
 equal parts, it had been offenfive ; as it had been 
 lels pleafing if it had not come fo low as it does. 
 This important piece of drapery preferves the mafs 
 of light upon that figure, but varies it, and gives it 
 an agreeable form, whereas without it the whole 
 figure would have been heavy, an&diiagreeable - y 
 but there was no danger of that in Raphael. 
 There is another piece of drapery in the carton of 
 giving the keys, which is very judicioufly flung 
 in •, the three outmoft figures at the end of the 
 picture, (the contrary to that where our Lord is) 
 made a mafs of light of a ihape not very pleafing, 
 till that knowing painter itruck in a part of the 
 garment of the laft apoftle in the group as folded 
 under his arm, this breaks the ftraight line, and 
 gives a more grateful form to the whole mafs •, 
 
 which 
 
Or COMPOSITION, 75 
 
 which is alfo affifted by the boat there ; as the 
 principal figure in this compofition is by the flock. 
 of fheep placed behind him, and which moreover 
 ferves to detach the figure from its ground, as 
 well as to illuftrate the hiftory. 
 
 The naked boys in the carton of healing the 
 cripple are a farther proof of Raphael's great 
 judgment in compofition: One of them is in fuch 
 an attitude as finely varies the turns of the figures ; 
 but here is moreover another kind of contraft, 
 and that is caufed by their being naked, which 
 how odd foever it may feem at firft, and without 
 confidering the reafon of it, will be found to have 
 a marvellous effect : Cloath them in imagination; 
 drefs them as you will, the picture fuffers by it, 
 and would have fuffered if Raphael himielf .had 
 done it. 
 
 It is for the fake of this contraft, which is of fo 
 great confequence in painting, that this knowing 
 man, in the carton we are now upon, hath placed 
 his figures at one end of the temple near the cor- 
 ner, where one would not fuppofe the beautiful 
 gate was : But this varies the fides of the picture, 
 and at the fame time gives him an opportunity to 
 enlarge his buildings with a fine portico, the like 
 of which you muft imagine muft be on the other 
 fide of the main ftructure; all which together 
 makes one of the nobleft pieces of architecture 
 that can be conceived. 
 
 He has taken a greater licence in the carton of 
 the converfion of Sergius Paulus, where the ar- 
 chitecture will be difficult to account for, other- 
 wife than by faying, it was done to give the con- 
 traft we are fpeaking of; but this will juftify it 
 fufficiently. 
 
 Not 
 
j6 Or COMPOSITION. 
 
 Nor is this contrail only necefTary in every par- 
 ticular picture, but if feveral are made to hang in 
 one room they ought to contraftone another. This 
 Titian confidered when he was making feveral pic- 
 tures for our king Henry VIII. as appears by a 
 letter he wrote to that prince, which (amongfl 
 others of Titian to the emperor and other great 
 men) is to be found in a collection of letters 
 printed at Venice, anno 1574. p. 403. 
 
 " Et perche la Danae ch'io mandai gia a 
 
 u noflra maefta, fi ucdeua tutta dalla parte dinanzi, 
 " ho uoluto in quell' altra poefia, uariare, & farle 
 " moftrare la contraria parte, accioche riefca in 
 " camerino doue hanno da flare piu gratiofo alia 
 " uifta. Tofto le mandero la poefia di Perfeo &: 
 " Andromeda, che haura un' altra uifta, differente 
 " da quelle, & cofi Medea &: Jaibne." 
 
 " And becaufe the Danae, which I have al- 
 
 " ready fent to your majeily, is feen in front, I 
 " defign in this other table to vary, and then the 
 " back parts of this contraft will have a better 
 " effect in the room in which they are to hang. I 
 " fhall fend alio in a fhort time the Perfeus and 
 " Andromeda, which will have another view ftill 
 " different from both thefe, and fo too the Jaibrt 
 kC and Medea." 
 
 There is another fort of contraft which I have 
 often wondered painters have not more confidered 
 than we generally find •, and that is, making fome 
 fat, and lbme lean people •, fuch a face and air as 
 Mr. Locke's, or Sir Ifaac Newton's, would mine 
 in the bed compofition that ever Raphael made, 
 as to exprefs their characters would be a tafk wor^ 
 thy of that divine hand. In the cartons there are 
 one or two figures fomething corpulent, but I 
 think not one remarkably lean j I have a drawing 
 
 of 
 
DESIGN or DRAWING. 77 
 
 of Eaccio Bandinelli where this contrail is, and 
 has a fine effect. 
 
 The mailers to be fludied for compofition are 
 Raphael, Rubens, and Rembrandt moil efpecially, 
 though many others are worthy notice, and to be 
 carefully confidered ; amongfl which Vandevelde 
 ought not to be forgotten ; who, though his fub- 
 jefts were mips, which confiiling of fo many little 
 parts, are very difficult to fling into great mafleSt, 
 has done it, by the help of fpread fails, fmoak, 
 and the bodies of the veifels, and a judicious ma- 
 nagement of lights and fhadows. So that his- 
 compofitions are many times as good as thofe of 
 any mailer. 
 
 The more to be convinced of the advantage of 
 compofition, as well as the better to comprehend 
 what I have been laying, it may not be amifs to 
 compare fome of thoie things, I have inilanced 
 in, as good, with others that are not fo \ fuch as 
 the famous defcent of the crofs by Daniele da 
 Volterra, where all is confuiion ; the crucifixion 
 of our Lord between the two thieves by Rubens, 
 engraved by JBoliwart, where, though they are 
 diftinct, they are of difagreeable forms, and un- 
 connected. 
 
 DESIGN or DRAWING. 
 
 BY thefe terms is fometimes underilood the ex- 
 preiling cur thoughts upon paper, or what- 
 ever other flat fuperficies ; and that by refem- 
 blances formed by a pen, crayon, chalk, or the 
 like. But more commonly the giving the jufl 
 form and dimenfion of vifible objects, according 
 as they appear to the eye ; if they are pretended 
 to be defcribed in their natural dimeniions - s if 
 
 bigger 
 
78 DESIGN or DRAWING. 
 
 bigger or lefs, then drawing or defigning fignifies 
 only the giving thofe things their true form, which 
 implies an exact proportionable magnifying, or 
 diminifhing in every part alike. 
 
 And this comprehends alfo, giving the true 
 fhapes, places, and even degrees of lights, fha- 
 dovvs, 2nd reflections ; becaufe if thefe are not 
 right, if the thing hath not its due force, or re- 
 lief, the true form of what is pretended to be 
 drawn cannot be given. Thefe mew the outline 
 all round, and in every part, as well as where the 
 object is terminated on its back-ground. 
 
 In a compofition of feveral figures, or whatever 
 other bodies, if the perfpective is not juft, the 
 drawing of that compofition is falfe. This there- 
 fore is alio implied by this term. 
 
 I know, drawing is not commonly underftood 
 to comprehend the clair-obfcure, relief, and per- 
 fpective •, but it doth not follow however that what 
 1 advance is not right. 
 
 But if the outlines are only marked, this alio 
 is drawing - t it is giving the true form of what is 
 pretended to, that is, the outline. 
 
 The drawing, in the latter and mod common 
 fenfe, befides that it muft be juft, muft: be pro- 
 nounced boldly, clearly, and without ambiguity : 
 Confequently, neither the outlines, nor the forms 
 of the lights and fhadows, muft be confuied and 
 uncertain, or woolly, upon pretence of foftnefs ; 
 nor, on the other hand, may they be lharp, hard, 
 or dry •, for cither of thefe are extreams ; nature 
 lies between them. 
 
 As there are not two men in the world who at 
 this inftant, or at any other time, have exactly the 
 fame fet of ideas •, nor any one man that hath the 
 fame fet twice, or this moment, as he had the lall; 
 
 for 
 
DESIGN or DRAWING. 79 
 
 for thoughts obtrude themfelves, and pafs along 
 in the mind continually, as the rivers 
 
 Stream and perpetual draw their humid train. — Milt. 
 So, neither are there two men, nor two faces, no, 
 not two eyes, foreheads, nofes, or any other fea- 
 tures •, nay farther, there are not two leaves, 
 though of the fame fpecies, perfectly alike. 
 
 A defigner therefore muft coniider, when he 
 draws after nature, that his bufinefs is to defcribe 
 chat very form, as diftinguiflied from every other 
 form in the univerfe. 
 
 In order to give this juft reprefentation of na- 
 ture, for that is all we are now upon, as being all 
 that drawing, in the prefent fenfe, and fimply con- 
 fidered, implies (grace and greatnefs, are to be 
 fpoken to afterwards) I fay, in order to follow 
 nature exactly, a man muft be well acquainted 
 with nature, and have a reafonable knowledge of 
 geometry, proportion, (which muft be varied ac- 
 cording to the fex, age, and quality of the perfon) 
 anatomy, ofteology, and perfpective. I will add 
 to thefe, an acquaintance with the works of the 
 beft painters and fculptors, ancient and modern : 
 For it is a certain maxim, " No mm fees what 
 " things are, that knows not what they ought to 
 " be." 
 
 That this maxim is true, will appear by an aca- 
 demy figure drawn by one ignorant in the ftruc- 
 ture and knitting of the bones, and anatomy, 
 compared with another who underftands thefe 
 thoroughly : Or by comparing a portrait of the 
 fame perfon drawn by one unacquainted with the 
 works of the beft mafters, and another of the 
 hand of one to whom thofe excellent works are no 
 ftrangers j both fee the fame life, but with dif- 
 ferent eyes - t for, as no two things in nature are 
 
 perfectly 
 
8o DESIGNorDR AW I N G. 
 
 perfectly alike, fo neither do any two perfons eyes 
 fee the fame thing exactly alike •, the former fees 
 it as one unskilled in tmific hears a concert or 
 fingle inftrument •, the other as a matter in that 
 fcience : Thefe hear equally, but not with like 
 diftinction of founds, and observation of the fkill 
 of the compofer. 
 
 Perhaps Albert Durer drew as correctly, ac- 
 cording to the idea he had of. things, as Raphael-, 
 and the German eye faw (in one fenfe) as well as 
 the Italian ; but thefe two mailers conceived dif- 
 ferently, nature had not the fame appearance to 
 both, and that becaufe one of them had not his 
 eyes formed to fee the beauties that are really 
 there j the perception of which lets us into an- 
 other world, more beautiful than is feen by un- 
 taught eyes:* And which is ftill improveable by 
 a mind ftored with great and lovely ideas, and ca- 
 pable of imagining fomething beyond what is 
 feen. Such a one every defigner ought to have. 
 But this is to be fpoken to when I treat of grace 
 and greatnefs. 
 
 Michael Angelo was the moil learned and cor- 
 rect: defigner of all the moderns, if Raphael were 
 not his equal, or, as.fome will have it, fuperior. 
 The Roman and Florentine fchools have excelled 
 all others in this fundamental part of painting ; 
 and of the firil, Raphael, Giulio Romano, Poli- 
 dore, PierinodelVaga,&c. as Michael Angelo, Leo- 
 nardo da Vinci, Andrea del Sarto, &c. have been 
 the beft of the Florentines. Of the Bolognefe, 
 Annibale Carracci, and Dominchino have been 
 excellent defigners. But the beft having been, in 
 fome degree, deficient in anatomy, there are more 
 
 * Nos etiam eruJitos habemus oculos. — Cic. 
 
 inltances 
 
DESIGN or DRAWING. 8r 
 
 inflances of faults in this part of painting than in 
 any other •, for it is not enough to underftand the 
 true ftructure and form of the mufcles of a hu- 
 man body, but to know how they will appear in 
 every attitude and operation ; a fcience which pro- 
 bably no man hath ever had leifure and genius 
 to acquire fufficiently. We are fure that Michael 
 Angelo, the moft learned in this particular, hath 
 frequently failed ; Raphael {till oftenen 
 
 When a painter intends to reprefent a hiftory 
 (for example) the way commonly is to defign the 
 whole in his mind, to confider what figures to 
 bring in, and what they are to think, fay, or do ; 
 and then to fketch upon paper this his idea ; and 
 not only the invention but compolition of his in- 
 tended picture : This he may alter upon the fame 
 paper, or by making other fketches, till he is 
 pretty well determined (and this is the firft fenfe 
 in which I faid the term drawing or defigning was 
 to be underftood). In the next place his bufinefs 
 is to confult the life, and to make drawings of 
 particular figures, or parts of figures, or of what 
 elfe he intends to bring into his work, as he finds 
 neceffary ; together alio with proper ornaments, 
 or other things belonging to his invention, as 
 vafes, frizes, trophies, &c. till he has brought 
 his picture to fome perfection on paper, either in 
 theie loofe ftudies, or in one entire drawing. This 
 is frequently done, and fometimes thefe drawings 
 are finifhed very highly by the mafter, either that 
 his difciples might be able from them to make a 
 greater progrefs in the grand work, and fo leave 
 the lefs for himlelf to do ; or for the perufal of 
 the perfon for whom the picture was to- be made, 
 and who commonly could not make any judgment 
 of what this would appear, but from fuch a 
 G finifhed. 
 
82 DESIGN or DRAWING. 
 
 finifhed drawing; and perhaps fometimes for his 
 own pleafure. 
 
 Of thefe drawings of all kinds, thofe great 
 mailers (whofe names and memories are fweet to 
 all true lovers of the art) made very many; fome- 
 titnes feveral for the fame work, and not only for 
 the fame picture, but for one figure, or part of a 
 picture ; and though too many are perilhed and 
 loft, a confiderable number have efcaped, and 
 have been preferved to our times-, fome very well, 
 others not, as it has happened ; and thefe are ex- 
 ceedingly prized by all who underfland, and can 
 fee their beauty •, for they are the very fpirit and 
 quinteffence of the art : Here we fee the ileps the 
 mafter took, the materials with which he made his 
 finifhed paintings, which are little other than co- 
 pies of thefe, and frequently (at leaft in part) by 
 fome other hand ; but thefe are undoubtedly al- 
 together his own, and true and proper originals. 
 
 It mull be confelfed, in the paintings you have 
 the colours, and the laft determination of the 
 mafter, with the entire completion of the work. 
 The thoughts and finifhings are in a great mea- 
 fure feen in the prints of fuch works of which 
 prints are made, nor is a drawing deftitute of co- 
 louring abfolutely ; on the contrary, one fre- 
 quently fees beautiful tints in the paper, wafhes, 
 ink, and chalks of drawings ; but what is want- 
 ing in fome refpects is abundantly recompenfed in 
 others ; for in thefe works the m afters, not being 
 embarraffed with colours, have had a full fcope 
 and perfect: liberty, which is a very confiderable 
 advantage. There is a fpirit, a fire, a freedom, 
 a delicacy in. the drawings of Giulio Romano, Po- 
 iidore, Parmeggiano, Guido, and even the Car- 
 raches themfelves, which are not to be feen in 
 
 their 
 
DESIGN or DRAWING. 83 
 
 their paintings. A pen or chalk will perform 
 what cannot poflibly be done with a pencil ; and 
 a pencil, with a thin liquid only, what cannot be 
 done when one has a variety of colours to manage, 
 cfpecially in oil. 
 
 And there is this farther confideration to endear 
 thefe drawings to us ; no more can be had than 
 what are now in being ; no new ones can be made ; 
 the number of thefe muft neceflarily diminifh by 
 time and accidents, but cannot be fupplied ; the 
 world muft be content with what it has : For 
 though there are ingenious men endeavouring to 
 tread in the fteps of thefe prodigies of art, whofe 
 works we are fpeaking of, there is yet no appear- 
 ance that any will equal them ; though I am in 
 hopes that our own country does, or will produce 
 thofe that will come as near them as any other 
 nation, I mean as to hiftory painting, for that we 
 already excel all others in portraits is indifpu- 
 table. 
 
 The vaft pleafure I take in thefe great curiofi- 
 ties has carried me perhaps too far : I will only 
 add, that the firft Iketches not being intended to 
 exprefs more than the general ideas, any incor- 
 reftnefs in the figures or perfpective, or the like, 
 are not to be efteemed as faults ; exaftnefs was 
 not in the idea ; the fketch, nctwithftanding fuch 
 feeming faults, may (hew a noble thought, and be 
 executed with great fpirit, wlfjeh was all that was 
 pretended to, and which being- reformed, it may 
 be faid to be well drawn, although incorrect as to 
 the other matters. But when correction is pre- 
 tended to (and this is always the cafe of a fmifhed 
 drawing or picture) then to have any defect in 
 drawing, in this fenfe of the term, is a fault. 
 
 Q 2 COLOUR- 
 
. [ s 4 ] 
 
 COLOURING. 
 
 COLOURS are to the eye what founds are to 
 the ear, taftes to the palate, or any other ob- 
 ject of our fenfes are to thofe fenfes ; and accord- 
 ingly an eye that is delicate takes in proportion- 
 able pleafure from beautiful ones, and is as much 
 offended with their contraries. Good colouring 
 therefore in a picture is of great confequence, not 
 only as it is a truer reprefentation of nature, where 
 every thing is beautiful in its kind, but as admi- 
 niftring a considerable degree of pleafure to the 
 ienfel 
 
 The colouring of a picture muft be varied ac- 
 cording to the fubject, the time, and place. 
 
 If the fubject be grave, melancholy or, terrible, 
 the general tinct of the colouring muft incline to 
 brown, black or red, and gloomy ; but it muft. 
 be gay and pleafant in fu ejects of joy and tri- 
 umph. This I will not enlarge upon here, having 
 fpoken to it already in the chapter of expreffion. 
 Morning, noon, evening, night ; funfhine, wet, 
 or cloudy weather, influences the colours of things; 
 and if the fcene of the picture be a room, open 
 air, or partly open and partly inclofed, the colour- 
 ing muft be accordingly. 
 
 The diftance alio alters the colouring, becaufe 
 of the medium of air through which every thing 
 is feen, which being blue, the more remote any 
 object is, the more it muft partake of that colour; 
 confequently muft have lefs force or ftrength; the 
 ground therefore, or whatfoever is behind a figure 
 .(for example) muft not be fo ftrong as that figure 
 is ; nor any of its parts which retire and round 
 off, as thofe that come nearer the eye ; and this 
 
 not 
 
COLOURING. 85 
 
 not only for the reafon already given, but becaufe 
 moreover there will always be reflections ftronger, 
 or weaker, that will diminifh the force of the 
 ihadows ; which reflections (by the way) muft 
 partake of the colours of thofe things from whence 
 they are produced. 
 
 Any of the feveral lpecies of colours may be 
 as beautiful in their kinds as the others ; but one 
 kind is more fo than another, as having more 
 variety, and confifting of colours more pleafing 
 in their own nature ; in which, and the harmony, 
 and agreement of one tinct with another, the 
 goodnefs of colouring confifts. 
 
 To (hew the beauty of variety I will mftance in 
 a guelder-rofe, which is white; but as it hath 
 many leaves one under another, and thefe lying 
 hollow, fo as to be feen through in fome places, 
 this occafions feveral tincts of light and fha- 
 dow ; and, together with thefe, fome of the leaves 
 having a greenifh tinct, the whole together produces 
 that variety which gives a beauty not to be found in 
 this paper, though it is white, nor in the inlide of 
 an egg-fhell though whiter, nor in any other white 
 object that has rfot that variety. 
 
 And this is the cafe, though this flower be (een 
 in a room in gloomy, or wet weather •, but let it 
 be expofed to the open air when the fky is ferene, 
 the blue that thofe leaves, or parts of leaves that 
 lie open to it, will receive, together with the re-^ 
 flections that then will alfo happen to ftrike upon 
 it, will give a great addition to its beauty : but 
 let the fun-beams touch up its leaves where they 
 can reach with their fine yellowifh tinct, the other 
 retaining their fky-bi«*.-*, together with the fhadows 
 and brilk reflections it will then receive, you will 
 fee with delight what a perfection of beauty it 
 
 G 3 will 
 
86 COLOURING. 
 
 will have, not only becaufe the colours are more 
 pleafant in themfelves, but becaufe there is greater 
 variety. 
 
 A iky entirely blue would have lefs beauty than 
 it has being always varied towards the horizon, 
 and by the fun-beams, whether rifing, fetting, or 
 in its progrefs ; but neither thus hath it fuch beauty 
 as when more varied with clouds tinged with yel- 
 low, white, purple, &c. 
 
 A piece of filk or cloth hung or laid flat, 
 hath not the beauty, though the colour of it be 
 pleafing, as when flung into folds ; nay a piece of 
 filk that hath little beauty in itfelf mail be much 
 improved only by being pinked, watered, or 
 quilted ; the reafon is, in thefe cafes there arifes a 
 variety produced by lights, fhades, and reflections. 
 
 There are, as I faid, certain colours lefs agree- 
 able than others, as a brick-wall, for example; 
 yet when the fun flrikes upon one part of it, and 
 the fky tinges another part of it, and fhadows and 
 reflections the reft, this variety fhall give even 
 that a degree of beauty. 
 
 Perfect black, and white are difagreeable ; for 
 which reafon a painter fhould fcreak thofe ex- 
 treams of colours that there may be a warmth, 
 and mellownefs in his work : let him (in flefh 
 efpecially) remember to avoid the chalk, the 
 brick, and the charcoal, and think of a pearl, and 
 a ripe peach. 
 
 But, it is not enough that the colours in them- 
 felves be beautiful fingly, and that there be variety, 
 they muft be fet by one another fo as to be mutu- 
 ally affiftant to each other * ; and this not only in 
 the object painted, but in tie ground, and what- 
 
 Sic pofitae, quoniam fuaves mifcetis odores, as Virgil fays of 
 flowers on a like occafion. 
 
 foever 
 
COLOURING. 3; 
 
 foever comes into the compofition ; fo as that 
 every part, and the whole together may have a 
 pleating effect to the eye ; fuch a harmony as a 
 good piece of mufick has to the ear; but for 
 which, in either cafe no certain rules can be 
 given : except in fome few general cafes which 
 are very obvious, and need not therefore be men- 
 tioned here. 
 
 The_ beft that can be done is to advife one that 
 would know the beauty of colouring, to obferve 
 nature, and how the beft colourifts have imitated 
 her. 
 
 What a lightnefs, thinnefs, and tranfparency , 
 what a warmth, cleannefs, and delicacy is to be 
 feen in life, and in good pictures ! 
 
 He that would be a good colourift himfelf 
 mull moreover praclife much after, and for a 
 confiderable time accuftom himfelf to fee, well- 
 coloured pictures only : but even this will be in 
 vain, unlefs he has a good eye in the fenfe,< as 
 one is faid to have a good ear for mufick ; he 
 mull not only fee well, but have a particular 
 delicacy with relation to the beauty of colours, 
 and the infinite variety of tincts, 
 
 The Venetian, Lombard, and Flemifh fchools 
 have excelled in colouring; the Florentine and 
 Roman in defign ; the Bolognefe mailers in both ; 
 but not to the degree generally as either of the 
 other. Corregio, Titian, Paul Veronefe, Rubens, 
 and Vandyke, have been admirable colourifts ; 
 the latter in his beft things has followed common 
 nature extreamly clofe, perhaps too clofe! 
 
 Raphael's colouring, efpecially in his fhadows, 
 is blackifh : this was occafioned by the ufe of a 
 fort of printer's black *, and which has changed its ' 
 * See Giorgio Vafari in his life. 
 
 G 4 tmc\ 
 
88 COLOURING. 
 
 tinct, though it was warm, and glowing at firft, 
 upon Vs hich account he was fond of it, though he 
 was advifed what would be the confequence. 
 However by the vaft progrefs he made in colour- 
 ing after he applied himfelf to it, it is judged he 
 would in this part of painting alfo have excelled, as 
 in the others •, here would have been a double pro- 
 digy! fince no one man has ever pofTefTed even colour- 
 ing and defigning to that, or any very confiderable 
 degree. 
 
 Though the cartons are fome of the laft of his 
 works, it mull be confeffed the colouring of them 
 is not equal to the drawing •, but at the lame time 
 time neither can it be denied but that he that 
 painted thofe could colour well, and would have 
 coloured better. It mull be confidered they were 
 made for patterns for tapellry, not profelTed pic- 
 tures, and painted, not in oil, but in diltemper : 
 if therefore one fees not the warmth, and mellow- 
 nefs, and delicacy of colouring which is to be 
 found in Corregio, Titian, or Rubens, it may 
 fairly be imputed in a great meafure to thefe 
 caufes. A judicious painter has other confidera- 
 tions relating to the colouring when he makes 
 patterns for tapellry to be heightened with gold 
 and filver, than when he paints a picture without 
 any fuch view ; nor can a fort of drynefs and 
 harlhnefs be avoided in dillemper, upon paper : 
 time moreover has apparently changed fome of 
 the colours. In a word, the tout-enfemble of the 
 colours is agreeable, and noble ; and the parts of 
 it are in general extreamly, but not fuperlatively 
 good. 
 
 I will only add one obfervation here concerning 
 the colours of the draperies of the apollles which 
 are always the fame in all the cartons, only St. 
 
 Feter 
 
HANDLING. B 9 
 
 Peter when he is a fiflierman has not his large 
 apoftolical drapery on. This apoftle, when 
 dreffed, wears a yellow drapery over his blue 
 coat •, St. John a red one over a green •, fo does St. 
 Paul j which is alfo the fame that he wears in the 
 famous St. Cecilia, which was painted a little 
 before. 
 
 HANDLING. 
 
 BY this term is underftood the manner in which 
 the colours are left by the pencil upon the 
 picture ; as the manner of ufing the pen, chalk, 
 or pencil in a drawing is the handling of that 
 drawing. 
 
 This confidered in itfelf abftractedly is only a 
 piece of mechanicks, and is well or ill as it is per- 
 formed with a curious and expert, or heavy and clum- 
 fy hand ; and this whether it is fmboth or rough, or 
 however it is done ; for in all the manners of work- 
 ing, the pencil may be well or ill in their kind ; 
 and a fine light hand is feen as much in a rough, 
 as in a fmooth manner. 
 
 I confefs I love to fee a freedom and delicacy of 
 hand in painting as in any other piece of work ; 
 it hath its merit. Though, to fay a picture is 
 juftly imagined, well difpofed, truly drawn, is 
 great, has grace, or the other good qualities of 
 a picture; and withal that it is finely handled, is 
 as if one Ihould fay a man is virtuous, wife, good 
 natured, valiant, or the like, and is alfo hand- 
 fome. 
 
 But the handling may be fuch as to be not only 
 good, abftractedly confidered, but as being pro- 
 per, and adding a real advantage to the picture : 
 and then, to fay a picture hath fuch and fuch 
 
 good 
 
9 o HANDLING. 
 
 good properties, and is alfo well handled (in that 
 fenfe) is as to fay a man is wife, virtuous, and 
 the like, and is alfo handfome, and perfectly well 
 bred. 
 
 Generally if the character of the picture is 
 greatnefs, terrible, or favage, as battles, robberies, 
 witchcrafts, apparitions, or even the portraits of 
 men of fuch characters, there ought to be em- 
 ployed a rough, bold pencil; and contrarily, if 
 the character is grace, beauty, love, innocence, 
 &c. a fofter pencil, and more finifhing is proper. 
 
 It is no objection againft a fketch, if it be left 
 unfinifhed, and with bold rough touches, though 
 it be little, and to be feen near, and whatfoever 
 its character be ; for thus it anfwers its end, and 
 the painter would after that be imprudent to fpend 
 more time upon it. But generally fmall pictures 
 iho.uld be well wrought. 
 
 Jewels, gold, filver, and whatfoever has fmart 
 brightnefs, require bold, rough touches of the 
 pencil in the heightenings. 
 
 The pencil mould be left pretty much in 
 linen, fiiks, and whatfoever has a gloffinefs. 
 
 All large pictures, and whatfoever is feen at a 
 great diftance mould be rou^h ; for befides that it 
 would be lois of time to a painter to finifh fuch 
 things highly, fince diftance would hide all that 
 pains •, thcfe bold roughneffes give the work a 
 greater force, and keep the tincts diftinct. 
 • The more remote any thing is fuppofed to be, 
 the lefs finifhing it ought to have. I have feen a 
 fringe to a curtain in the back-ground of a pic- 
 ture, which perhaps was half a day in painting, 
 but might have been better done in a minute. 
 
 There is often a fpirit and beauty in a quick, 
 or perhaps an accidental management of the chalk, 
 
 2 pen, 
 
HANDLING. 91 
 
 pen, pencil, or brum in a drawing, or painting, 
 which it is impoffible, or very difficult to preferve, 
 if it be more flnimed. It is better therefore to 
 incur the cenfure of the injudicious, than to hazard 
 the lofing luch advantages to the picture. Apelles, 
 comparing himfelf with Protogenes, faid, ' Perhaps 
 
 * he is equal, if not fuperior to me in fome things, 
 
 * but I am fure I excel him in this : I know when 
 
 * to have done.' 
 
 Flefh in pictures to be feen at a common dis- 
 tance, and efpecially portraits, fhould (generally 
 fpeaking) be well wrought up, artd then touched 
 upon every where in the principal lights and 
 fhadows, and to pronounce the features ; and this 
 more, or lefs, according to the fex, age, or cha- 
 racter of the perfon, avoiding narrow or long 
 continued flrokes, as in the eye-lids, mouth, &c. 
 and too many fharp ones : this being done by a 
 light hand judicioufly, gives a fpirit, and retains 
 the lbftnefs of flefh. 
 
 In fhort, the painter fhould confider what man- 
 ner of handling will bell conduce to the end he 
 propofes, the imitation of nature, or the expref- 
 fing thofe raifed ideas he has conceived of pof- 
 fible perfection in nature, and that he ought to 
 turn his pencil to ; always remembering that what 
 is fooneft done is bell, if it is equally good upon 
 all other accounts. 
 
 There are two miflakes very common ; one is, 
 becaufe a great many good pictures are very rough 
 painted, people fancy that is a good picture that is 
 fo. There is bold painting, but there is alfo im- 
 pudent painting. Others on the contrary judge of 
 a picture not by their eyes, but by their fingers # 
 ends, they feel if it be good. Thofe appear to 
 Juiow litple of the true beauties of the art, that 
 
 thus 
 
9 i HANDLING. 
 
 thus fix upon the leafr. confiderable circumftance 
 of it as if it were all, or the principal thing to be 
 confidered. 
 
 The cartons, as they are properly no other than 
 coloured drawings, are handled accordingly, and 
 extreamly well. The fierti is generally pretty much 
 finimed, and then finely touched upon. There is 
 much hatching with the point of a large pencil 
 upon a prepared ground. The hair is made with 
 fuch a pencil for the moft part. 
 
 Leonardo da Vinci had a wonderous delicacy of 
 hand in finifhing highly •, but Giorgione and Cor- 
 regio have especially been famous for a fine, that 
 is, a light, eafy, and delicate pencil. You fee a 
 free, bold handling in the works of Titian, Paul 
 Veronefe, Tintoretto, Rubens, the Borgognone, 
 SalvatorRofa,&c. The Maltefe had a very particular 
 manner, he painted chiefly Turkey-work'd car- 
 pets, and left the pencil as rough as the carpet it- 
 felf, and admirably well in its kind. For works 
 at a great diftance, Lanfranc had a noble manner 
 of handling ; as particularly in the cupola of St. 
 Andrea dellaValle, which is in frefco, and where 
 the colours are flung on with a fpunge, inftead of 
 a pencil or a brum ; not for a whim, but as molt 
 proper to the purpofe -, and an eye (for example) 
 appears near, as one rude fpot •, but, as it ought, 
 at its intended diftance. Perhaps no man ever 
 managed a pencil in all the feveral manners better 
 than Vandyke. 
 
 GRACE 
 
[ 93 1 
 
 GRACE and GREATNESS. 
 
 THERE is fome degree of merit in a picture 
 where nature is exactly copied, though in a 
 low fubjed; fuch as drolls, country wakes, flowers, 
 landfcapes, &c. and more in proportion as the fub- 
 ject rifes, or the end of the picture is this exact 
 reprefentation. Herein the Dutch and Flemifh, 
 matters have been equal to the Italians, if not fu- 
 perior to them in general. What gives the Italians, 
 and their mailers, the ancients, the preference, is, 
 that they have not fervilely followed common na- 
 ture, but raifed and improved, or at leaft have al- 
 ways made the beft choice of it. This gives a 
 dignity to a low fubject, and is the reafon of the- 
 efteem we have for the landfcapes of Salvator 
 Rofa, Philippo Laura, Claude Lorrain, the Poufiins; 
 the fruit of the two Michael Angelo's, the Bat- 
 taglia and Campadoglio ; the flowers of Mario da 
 Fiori ; and this, when the fubject itfelf is noble, 
 is the perfection of painting : As in the beft por- 
 traits of Vandyke, Rubens, Titian, Raphael, &c. 
 and the hiftories of the beft Italian matters, 
 chiefly thofe of Raphael, he is the great model of 
 perfection ! All the painters being ranked in three 
 feveral clafTes according to the degrees of their 
 merit, he muft be allowed to poifefs the firft 
 alone. 
 
 Common nature is no more fit for a picture than 
 plain narration is for a poem. A painter muft 
 raife his ideas beyond what he fees, and form a 
 model of perfection in his own mind which is not 
 to be found in reality ; but yet fuch a one as is 
 probable and rational. Particularly with refpect 
 to mankind,-- he muft as it were raife the whole 
 
 fpecies, 
 
94 GRACE and GREATNESS. 
 
 fpecies, and give them all imaginable beauty and 
 grace, dignity and perfection •, every ieveral cha- 
 racter, whether it be p-ood or bad, amiable or de- 
 teflable, muft be ftronger and more perfect. 
 
 At court, and elfewhere, amongft people of 
 condition, one fees another fort of beings than in 
 the country, or the remote and inferior parts of the 
 town ; and amongft thefe there are fome few that 
 plainly diftinguifh themfelves by their noble and 
 graceful airs and manner. There is an eafy gra- 
 dation in all nature ; the moft ftupid of animals 
 are little more than vegetables, the moft fagacious 
 and cunning are hardly inferior to the loweft order 
 of men, as the wifeft and moft virtuous of thefe, 
 we are aflured, are little bdow the angels.* One 
 may conceive an order fuperior to what can any 
 where be found on our globe ; a kind of new 
 world may be formed in the imagination, confift- 
 ing, as this, of people of all degrees and charac- 
 ters, only heightened and improved : A beautiful 
 genteel woman muft have her defects overlooked, 
 and what is wanting to compleat her character fup- 
 plied : A brave man, and one honeftly and wifely 
 purfuing his own intereft, in conjunction with that 
 of his country, muft be imagined more brave, 
 more wife, more exactly and inflexibly honeft 
 than any we know, or can hope to fee : A villain 
 muft be conceived to have fomething more 
 diabolical than is to be found even amongft us •, a 
 gentleman muft be more fo, and a peafant have 
 more of the gentleman, arid fo of the reft. With 
 fuch as thefe an artift muft people his pictures. 
 
 Thus the antients have done. Notwithftanding 
 the great and exalted ideas we may have of the 
 
 * See my father's hymn to the morning liar, n. 3. of his 
 morning thoughts. MS. 
 
 people 
 
GRACE and GREATNESS. 95 
 
 people of thofe times from their hiftories (which 
 probably are improved by the hiftorians * nfing 
 the fame management in their writings as I am re- 
 commending to the painters ; it was the poet's 
 proper bufinefs fo to do) one can hardly believe 
 them to be altogether fuch as v/e fee in the antique 
 ftatues, bas-reliefs, medals, and intaglias. And 
 thus the bed modern painters and fculptors have 
 done. Michael Angelo no where faw fuch living 
 figures as he cut in marble. Raphael fays, him- 
 felf, writing to his great friend the famous count 
 BaldafTar Caftiglione, on occafion of the Galatea 
 he was then painting, " To reprefent a perfect 
 " beauty, I mull examine feveral beautiful women; 
 " with this condition alfo, that your excellency 
 " would be by, to aflift me in feiecling the moft 
 " beautiful parts of the moft beautiful feverally ; 
 " but as there is a fcarcity of truly fine perfons, 
 " and perhaps a ftill greater of true judges, whofe 
 *' advice I can avail myfelf of, I am obliged to 
 " recur to a certain model of accomplifhed beauty 
 " that I have formed in my own mind." 
 
 Bellori hath given the whole letter in his defcrip- 
 tion of the pictures of Raphael in the Vatican. 
 
 A Bolognefe nobleman, a great patron of Guer- 
 cino's, was induced by this laft to endeavour to get 
 out of Guido what woman was the model he made 
 ufe of for his fine and gracious airs of heads, 
 Accordingly he came to fee him ; and in conver- 
 fation, while he was admiring one of his fine 
 heads, " for God's fake, Signior Guido, what afto- 
 " nifhing beauty of a girl do you hug up to your- 
 * c felf, that fupplies you with fuch divine airs ?" 
 
 * This they ought not to have done, but they did. 
 Quicquid Grscia mendax 
 
 Audet in hiftoiia. 
 
9 6 GRACE and GREATNESS. 
 
 " I will fhew you," faid Guido, (who found what 
 he was about) fo he called his colour-grinder, a 
 great greafy fellow, with a brutal look like the 
 devil, and bade him fit down, and turn his head 
 and look up to the fky, and then, taking his 
 chalk, drew a Magdalen after him, exactly in the 
 fame view and attitude, and fame lights and fha- 
 dows, but as handfome as an ang;el. The count 
 thought it was done by enchantment. " No," 
 faid Guido, " my dear count •, but tell your pain- 
 " ter, that the beautiful and pure idea muft be in 
 " the head, and then it is no matter what the mo- 
 " del is." Felfina Pittrice, torn. ii. p. 80. 
 
 When a man enters into that awful gallery at 
 Hampton-Court, he finds himlelf amongft a fort 
 of people fuperior to what he has ever feen, and 
 very probably to what thofe really were. Indeed 
 this is the principal excellence of thofe wonderful 
 pictures, as it muft be allowed to be that part of 
 painting which is preferable to all others. 
 
 What a grace and majefly is feen in the great 
 apoftle of the Gentiles in all his actions, preach- 
 ing, rending his garments, denouncing vengeance 
 upon the forcerer ! What a dignity is in the other 
 apoftles wherever they appear, particularly the 
 prince of them in the carton of the death of Ana- 
 nias ! How infinitely and divinely great, with all 
 his gentlenefs and fimplicity, is the Chrift in the 
 boat ! But thefe are exalted characters which have 
 a delicacy in them as much beyond what any of 
 the gods, demi-gods, or heroes cf the ancient 
 heathens can admit of, as the chriftian religion 
 excels the ancient fuperftition. The proconful 
 r Sergius Paulus has a greatnefs and grace fuperior 
 to his character, and equal to what one can fup- 
 pofe Julius Caviar, Auguftus, Trajan, or the greateft 
 
 amongit 
 
GRACE and GREATNESS. 97 
 
 amongft the Romans to have ha'd. The common 
 people are like gentlemen; even the fifhermen, 
 the beggars, have fomething in them much above 
 what we fee in thofe orders of men. " 
 
 And the fcenes are anfwerable to the actors ; 
 not even the beautiful gate of the temple, nor 
 any part of the firft temple, nor probably any 
 building in the world had that beauty and magni- 
 ficence as appears in what we fee in the carton of 
 healing the cripple. Athens and Lyftra appear 
 in thefe cartons to be beyond what we can fup- 
 poie they were when Greece was in its utmoft 
 glory: Even the place where the apoilles were 
 affembled (in the carton of Ananias) is no com- 
 mon room ; and though the ileps and rails which 
 were made on pnrpofe for them for the exercife 
 of their new function, have fomething expreflive 
 of the poverty and fimplicity of the infant church, 
 the curtain behind, which alfo is part of the 
 apoftolical equipage, gives a dignity even to that. 
 
 It is true there are fome characters which are 
 not to be improved, as there are others impoffible 
 to be perfectly conceived, much lefs exprefled. 
 The idea of God no created being can compre- 
 hend, the divine mind only can, and it is the, 
 brighter! there, and infinitely bright I 
 
 No flatue or picture, no words can reach this 
 character ; the ColoiTean ftatue of Phidias, the 
 pictures of Raphael, are but faint fhadows cf thi3 
 infinite and incomprehensible being. The Thun- 
 derer, the Beft and Greateft : The Father of Gods 
 and Men, of Horner : The Elohim, the Jehovah, 
 the I Am that 1 Am of Mofes : The Lord of 
 Hofts of the Prophets : Nay, The God and Fa- 
 ther of our Lord Jefus Chrift : The Alpha and 
 Qmega : The All in All of the New Teitament. 
 
 H Thefe 
 
98 GRACE and GREATNESS. 
 
 Thefe give us not an adequate idea of him •, 
 though that comes neareft where not terror and 
 fury, but majetty, power, wifdom, and goodnefs, 
 are belt exprefTed. " For God is Love." 
 
 * May thy idea ever dwell with me, 
 
 From reafon, not from prejudice deriv'd, 
 
 Enlarg'd, improv'd, and brighten'd more and more, 
 
 As oriental day, ferene and fweet, 
 
 When fpring and fummer for the prize contend : 
 
 The richeft cordial for the heart ! a light 
 
 Difcovering error's infinite labyrinths ! 
 
 'The ornament and treafure of the foul ! 
 
 Imperfect as it is. 
 
 That incomparable hand which painted the hiftory 
 of Cupid and Pfyche, in the palace of Chigi at 
 Rome, has carried the fictitious deities of the hea- 
 thens as high as poflible, but not beyond what 
 fhould be conceived of them ; as Michael Angelo 
 Buonarota (particularly in two or three drawings I 
 have of him) hath made devils not fuch as low 
 geniufes reprefent them, but like thofe of Milton ; 
 
 His face 
 
 Deep fears of thunder had intrench'd, and care 
 Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows, 
 Of dauntlefs courage, and confiderate pride 
 
 Waiting revenge : Cruel his eye 
 
 Milton's Par. Loft, B. I. I. 660. 
 
 But the proper idea of a devil has fuch an excefs 
 of evil in it as cannot be exaggerated : In all fuch 
 cafes it is fufficient if all be done that can be doner 
 The painter muft fhew what he aims at, he muft 
 give him who views the picture all the afliftance 
 he can, and then leave him to fupply the reft in 
 
 * This from his Hymn to God, ver. 286. MS. 
 
 2 his 
 
GRACE and GREATNESS. 99 
 
 his own imagination ; which he will do in pro- 
 portion as his imagination is lively and correct ; 
 
 Ipfe fibi tradrt fpeclator. 
 
 There are other characters which, though infe- 
 rior to thefe, are fo noble, that he mint be a happy- 
 man who can conceive them juftly, but more fo 
 if he can exprefs them : Such are thofe Gf Mofes, 
 Homer, Xenophon, Alcibiades, Scipio,- Cicero, 
 Raphael, &c. If we fee thefe pretended to be 
 given in picture, we expect to fee them 
 
 Comely, and in act 
 
 Rais'd, as of fome great matter to begin. 
 
 As when of old fome orator renown'd 
 
 In Athens, or free Rome, where eloquence 
 
 Flourifh'd, fince mute, to fome great caufe addrefs'd 
 
 Stood in himfelf collected, while each part, 
 
 Motion, each act won audience e'er the tongue. 
 
 Milton's Par. Loll, B. IX. 1. 668, 
 
 We expecl all that greatnefs and grace I have been 
 recommending; all is neceffary here in order to 
 fatisfy us that the hiftory is truly related ; as the 
 pleafure we take in having our minds filled with 
 fine and extraordinary ideas is a fumcient reafon 
 for raifmg all the more inferior characters. Life 
 would be an infipid thing indeed if we never faw 
 or had ideas of any thing but what we commonly 
 fee, a company of aukward and filly-looking peo-, 
 pie, doing what is of no confequence but to them- 
 felves in their own little affairs •, and to fee fuch in 
 picture can give no great pleafure to any who have 
 a true and refined taile. 
 
 A hiftory painter muft defcribe all the various 
 characters, real or imaginary ; and that, in all their 
 filiations, pleafed, grieved, angry, hoping, fear- 
 ing, &c. .A face painter has to do with all the 
 H .1 real 
 
ioo GRACE and GREATNESS. 
 
 real characters, except only fome few of the meaneft, 
 and the moft fublime ; but not with that variety 
 of fentiments as the other. The whole bufinels 
 of his life is to defcribe the golden age, when 
 
 ■ ■ Univcrfal Pan 
 
 Knit with the graces, and the hours in dance 
 Led on th' eternal fpring. 
 
 Milton's Par. Loft, B. IV. I. 266. 
 
 Every one of his people therefore mud appear 
 pleafed and in good humour ; but varied fuitably 
 to the railed character of the perfon drawn ; whe- 
 this tranquillity and delight be fuppofed to arife 
 from the fight of a friend, a reflection upon a 
 fcheme well laid, a battle gained, fuccefs in love, 
 a confcioufnefs of one's own worth, beauty, wit ; 
 agreeable news, truth difcovered, or from what- 
 ever other caufe. ]f a devil were to have his por- 
 trait made, he mull be drawn as abftracted from 
 his own evil, and ilupidly good (to ufe Milton's 
 words once again). 
 
 If fome grave chara&ers require an air of 
 thoughtfulnefs, as if engaged in a diligent fearch 
 after truth, or in fome important project, they 
 muil however not appear diipleafed, unlefs in fome 
 rare inflances, as Vandyke has put fomething of 
 forrow in one picture of his unfortunate patron 
 king Charles I. (I mean that at Hampton- Court) 
 which I believe was done when he was entering 
 into his troubles, and which is therefore in that 
 refpect hiflorical. In general, the painting-room 
 rauft be like Eden before the fall, like Arcadia ; 
 no joylefs, turbulent pafllons mull enter there. 
 
 Thus, to raife the character, to divert an un- 
 bred perion of his rullicky, and give him fome- 
 thing at leaft of a gentleman, to make one of a 
 
 moderate 
 
GRACE and GREATNESS.. 101 
 
 moderate fhare of good fenfe appear to have a 
 competency, a wife man to be more wife, and a 
 brave man to be more fo, a modeft, difcreet wo- 
 man to have an air fomething angelical, and fo of 
 the reft ; and then to add that joy, or peace of 
 mind at leafl, and in fuch a manner as is fuitable 
 to the feveral characters, is abfolutely neceflary to 
 a good face painter ; but it is the moft difficult 
 part of his art, and the laft attained ; perhaps it 
 is never fo much as thought of by fome : All that 
 they aim at is to make fuch a likenefs of the face 
 as (hall be known immediately; and that it be 
 young, fair, and handfome ; and frequently thofe 
 for whom the pictures are made expect no more ; 
 whether the characters of wifdom or folly be im- 
 preffed upon them it matters not. Accordingly 
 we fee portraits which are perfect burlefques upon 
 the minds of the perfons drawn ; a wife man mall 
 appear with the air of a fop ; a man of fpirit and 
 wit, like a fmart or a pretty fellow ; a modeft in- 
 genious man like a beau ; a virtuous lady as a 
 mere coquet. 
 
 The duke of Buckingham [Villiers] in fome 
 company where they were talking of a certain 
 lady, they afked him, " If he knew her I" He faid* 
 " He did not." " Why," faid they, " that is 
 " ftrange, becaufe me is one of the moft extraor- 
 " dinary women perhaps in England. She hath 
 " a vaft capacity in every branch of knowledge, 
 " a great deal of ready wit; hath even learning, 
 " not only French and Italian, but claflical too ; 
 " and withal hath as much goodnefs as fhe hath 
 " parts " " Ay," faid the duke, " but then fhe 
 " is damned ugly." " Why, you faid you did. 
 *' not know her." " No, but a woman whofe 
 ** beauty is not the firft quality to be boafted of, 
 
 H 3 « I 
 
xo2 GRACE and GREATNESS. 
 
 " I am fure hath none to boaft of." A painter 
 mould obferve and pronounce ftrongly the brighteft 
 part of the character of him he draws. To give 
 an air of youth and gaiety to the portrait of one 
 who is entitled to nothing higher, is well enough ; 
 but to overlook a noble and fublime character, 
 and fubftitute this in the place of it, is unpardon- 
 able. The only fuppofing a man capable of being, 
 pleafed with fuch a piece of falie flattery, is a lam- 
 poon upon his understanding. 
 
 Nor is the beauty of the face and perfon, whe- 
 ther as to the age, feature, fhape or colour to be 
 unregarded, or (where it can be done) unimproved: 
 Indeed fomething of this will naturally fall in when 
 the mind is exprefTed, which cannot be done to 
 advantage without giving fome to the body. 
 
 But the face painter is under a greater constraint 
 in both refpects than he that paints hiftory ; the 
 additional grace and greatnefs he js to give, above 
 what is to be found in the life, mud not be thrown 
 in too profufely, the refemblance mull be pre- 
 ferved, and appear with vigour -, the picture mull 
 have both. Then it may be faid, that the gentle- 
 man or lady makes a fine or a handfome picture • 
 But the likenefs not being. regarded, it is not they 
 but the painter that makes it •, nor is there any 
 great difficulty in making fuch fine pictures. 
 
 But there is a very great one indeed, and it is 
 the laft effort of a truly fkilful portrait painter, fo 
 to improve, as to be ftill prefently known ; though 
 this cannot always fucceed to the greateft, becaufe 
 fome eyes cannot difcover a likenefs that departs 
 ever fo little, with what advantage foever, from 
 what they fee before them. 
 
 Some 
 
GRACE and GREATNESS. 103 
 
 Some company coming to fee their fon's pic- 
 ture at Sir Godfrey Kneller's, flood {taring about 
 the room to look for it ; and then afked Sir God- 
 frey where it was, when it was all the while before 
 them. This did not ufe to be the cafe with him ; 
 and accordingly he was provoked, yet kept his 
 temper •, but as foon as they were gone, he turned 
 to Bing, who always attended him "on thefe occa- 
 fions, " My God, Bing, I did never paint a liker 
 " picture than that young lord ; but, by God man, 
 " I did put a little fenfe in his face, and now his 
 " friends do not know their fool again." 
 
 1 was lately obferving, with a great deal of 
 pleafure, how the ancients had fucceeded in the 
 three feveral ways of managing portraits : I hap- 
 pened to have then before me (amongft others) 
 feveral medals of the emperor Maximinus, who 
 was particularly remarkable for a long chin : One 
 medal of him had that, but that the artift might 
 be fure of a likenefs, he had exaggerated it : An- 
 other had a mind to flatter, and he had pared off 
 about half of it : But thefe as they wanted the juft 
 refemblance, fo there was a poverty in them ; they 
 were deftitute of that life and fpirit which the other 
 had, where nature feems to have been more clofely 
 followed. In making portraits we muft keep na- 
 ture in view ; if we launch out into the deep we 
 are loft. 
 
 What it is that gives the grace and greatnefs I 
 am treating of, whether in hiftory or portraits, is 
 hard to fay. The following rules may however be 
 of fome ufe on this occafion. 
 
 The airs of the heads muft efpecially be regarded. 
 
 This is commonly the firft thing taken notice of , 
 
 when one comes into company, or into any public 
 
 afiembly, or at the firft fight of any particular 
 
 H 4 perfon j 
 
104 GRACE and GREATNESS. 
 
 perfon ; * and this firil ftrikes the eye, and affects 
 the mind when we fee a picture, a drawing, 
 &c. 
 
 The fame regard muft be had to every action 
 and motion. The figures muft not only do what 
 is proper, and in the moft commodious manner, 
 but as people of the belt fenfe, and breeding, 
 (their character being confidered) would, or mould 
 perfoi'm fuch actions -f\ . The painter's people 
 muft be good actors i they muft have learned to 
 vile a human body well ; they muft fit, walk, lie, 
 falute, do every thing with grace. There muft 
 be no awkward, fheepilb, or affected behaviour, 
 no ftrutting, or filly pretence to greatnefs ; no 
 bombaft in action : nor muft there be any ridicu- 
 lous contorfion of the body, nor even fuch ap- 
 pearances, or fore-fhortenings as are difpleafing to 
 the eye, though the fame attitude in another view 
 might be perfectly good. 
 
 The contours muft be large, fquare, and boldly 
 pronounced to produce greatnefs-, and delicate, 
 and finely waved and contrafted to be gracious. 
 There is a beauty in a line, in the fhape of a fin- 
 ger, or toe, even in that of a reed, or leaf, or the 
 moft inconfiderable things in nature : I have draw- 
 ings of Giulio Romano of fomething of this kind •, 
 his infects and vegetables are natural, but as 
 
 * A face painter fhculd frequently reflect en that fine faying 
 of the great Jfabella of Caftile, " That an agreeable air was a 
 *< letter of recommendation ;" and not forget that ftory that 
 Pliny tells of a certain queen, whom a painter (for fome in- 
 jury he thought he had received from her) painted in the arms 
 of a groom ; but then he had painted her moll exquifitely 
 beautiiul, and fo the forgave him. 
 
 f They mud be like Tibullus Sulpicia, 
 
 Illam, quicquid agit, quoque veiiigia flecut, 
 Componit funim, fubfequiturque decor. 
 
 much 
 
GRACE and GREATNESS. 105 
 
 much above thofe of other painters as his men 
 are : there is that in thefe things which common 
 eyes fee not, but which the great mailers know 
 how to give, and they only. 
 
 But this is not all: nature with all its beauties 
 has its poverties, fuperfluities, and defects, which 
 are to be avoided, and fupplied; but with great 
 care, and judgment, that inftead of exceeding na- 
 ture, it be not injured. 
 
 The draperies muft have broad maffes of light 
 and lhadow, and noble large folds to give a great- 
 nefs; and thefe artfully fubdivided, add grace. 
 As in that admirable figure of St. Paul preach- 
 ing, of which I have already fpoken, the drapery 
 would have had a greatnefs if that whole broad 
 light had been kept, and that part which is flung 
 over his moulder, and hangs down his back had 
 been omitted: but this adds alfo a grace. Not 
 only the large folds and malTes muft be obferved, 
 but the fhapes of them, or they may be great, 
 but not beautiful. 
 
 The linen muft be clean and fine; the filks 
 and fluffs new ; and the beft of the kind. 
 
 Lace, embroidery, gold and jewels muft be 
 fparingly employed. Nor are flowered filks fo 
 much ufed by the beft mafters as plain ; nor thefe 
 fo much as fluffs, or fine cloth; and this not to 
 fave themfelyes trouble, of which at the fame time 
 they have been profufe enough in a more proper 
 place. In the cartons Raphael hath fometimes 
 made filks, and fome of. his draperies are fcolloped, 
 fome a little ftriped, fome edged with a kind of 
 gold lace, but generally they are plain. Though 
 he feems to have taken more pains than needed in 
 the landfcapes, as he hath alfo in thofe badges of 
 fpiritual dignity on the heads of Chrift, and the 
 
 apoftles : 
 
io6 GRACE and GREATNESS. 
 
 apoflles : but thefe, as all other enfigns of gran- 
 deur and diftinction, as they have been wifely in- 
 vented to procure refpect, awe and veneration, 
 give a greatnefs, as well as beauty to a picture. 
 
 It is of importance to a painter to confider well 
 the manner of cloathing his people. Mankind 
 have fhewn an infinite variety of fancy in this, 
 and for the mofl part have difguifed rather than 
 adorned human bodies. But- the truefl tafte in this 
 matter the ancient Greeks and Romans feem to have 
 had •, at leail the great idea we have of thofe brave 
 people prejudices us in favour of whatever is theirs, 
 ib that it (hall appear to us to be graceful and 
 noble : upon either of which accounts, whether 
 of a real or imagined excellence, that manner of 
 cloathing is to be chofen by a painter when the 
 nature of his fubjecl will admit of it. PofTibly, 
 improvements may be made, and mould be endea- 
 voured, provided one keeps this antique talle in 
 view, lb as to preferve the benefit of prejudice 
 juft now fpoken of. And this very thing Raphael 
 hath done with great fuccefs, particularly in the 
 tartons. Thofe who, in reprefenting ancient {lo- 
 ries, have followed the habits of their own times, 
 or gone off from the antique, have fuffered by it ; 
 as moil of thofe of the Venetian fchool have done. 
 
 But howfoever a figure is clad, this general 
 rule is to be oblerved, that neither mull the naked 
 be loft in the drapery, nor too confpicuous ; as in 
 many of the flatues, and baf-reliefs of the ancients, 
 and which (by the way) they were forced to, be- 
 cauie to have done otherwise would not have had 
 a good effect in ftone. The naked in a cloathed 
 figure, like the anatomy in a naked one, mould be 
 fhewn, but not with affectation. 
 
 'Portrait 
 
GRACE and GREATNESS. 107 
 
 Portrait painters, feeing the difadvantage they 
 were under in following the drefs commonly worn, 
 have invented one peculiar to pictures in their own 
 way, which is a compofition partly this, and partly 
 fomething purely arbitrary. 
 
 Such is the ordinary habit of the ladies, that 
 how becoming foever they may be fuppofed, as 
 being worn by them, or fuch as we are accuftomed 
 to, or upon whatever other* account, it is agreed 
 on all hands that in a picture they have but an ill 
 air-, and accordingly are rejected for what the 
 painters have introduced in lieu of it, which is in- 
 deed handfome, and perhaps may be improved. 
 
 In the gentlemens pictures the cafe is very 
 different, it is not not fo eafy to determine as to 
 their drapery. 
 
 What is to be faid for the common drefs is, 
 that 
 
 It gives a greater refemblance •, and 
 
 Is hiftorical as to that article. 
 
 The arguments for the other are, that 
 
 They fuit better with the ladies pictures, which 
 (as has been obferved) are univerfally thus dreffed 5 
 
 They are not fo affected with the change of the 
 fafhion as the common drefs 5 and 
 
 Are han.df0m.er5. that is, have more Grace and 
 Greatnefs, 
 
 Let us fee how the cafe will ftand, this latter 
 confideration of handfomenefs being for the pre- 
 fent fet afide. 
 
 The firft argument in favour of the arbitrary 
 loofe drefs feems-to have no great weight; nor is 
 there fo much as is commonly thought in the 
 fecond ; becaufe in thofe pictures which have that 
 kind of drapery, fo much of the drefs of the 
 
 time 
 
io8 GRACE and GREATNESS. 
 
 time is always, and muft be retained, and this in 
 the mod obvious, and material parts, that they 
 are influenced by the change of fafhion in a man- 
 ner as much as thofe in the habit commonly worn. 
 For proof of this I refer you to what was done 
 when the great wigs, and fpreading huge neck- 
 cloths were in fafhion. So that here does not 
 feem to be weight enough to balance againft what 
 is on the other fide, even when the greateft im- 
 provement as to the colour, or materials of the 
 common drefs is made, for ftill there will be a 
 fufficient advantage upon account of refemblance 
 and hiftory, to keep down the fcale. 
 
 Let us now take in the argument cf Grace 
 and Greatnefs, and fee what effect that will have. 
 
 The way to determine now is to fix upon the 
 manner of following the common drefs, whether 
 it mail be with, or without improvement, and in 
 what proportion : this being done, let that you 
 have fixed upon be compared with the arbitrary 
 loofe drefs in competition with it, and fee if the 
 latter has fo much the advantage in Grace and 
 Greatnefs as to over-balance what the other had, 
 when thefe were not taken in : if it hath, this is to 
 be choien ; if not, the common drefs. 
 
 Thus I have put the matter into the beft me- 
 thod I was able in order to afiift thofe concerned 
 to determine for themfelves, which they can beft 
 do, fancy having fo great a part in the affair. 
 And fo much for this controverfy. 
 
 As it hath been frequently obferved, but never 
 accounted for that I know of, that a portrait 
 forms to look at every one in the room, from what- 
 ever point it is feen i I will here explain the mif- 
 tery. It confifts only in this j the life is round, 
 the pidure is flat* look at a man, the lines vary 
 
 with 
 
GRACE and GREATNESS. .109 
 
 with your pofition; it is otherwifc with a por- 
 trait ; there you always fee thofe of an eye bent 
 on him with whom the perfon converfeth; the 
 eye was drawn to view that which views the eye •, 
 nor can your change of place move the painted 
 feature from its given direction. 
 
 There is an artificial Grace and Greatnefs ariling 
 from the oppofition of their contraries. As, in the 
 tent of Darius by Le Brun, the wife and daugh- 
 ters of that prince owe fomething of their beauty 
 and majefty to the hideous figures that are about 
 them. But a greater man than Le Brun feems to 
 have condefcended to be beholden to this artifice 
 in the banquet of the gods at the marriage of Cupid 
 and Pfyche; for Venus who comes in dancing is 
 furrounded with foyles, as, the Hercules, the face 
 of his lion's fkin, Vulcan, Pan, and the mafk in her 
 hand of the mufe next to her. Some fubje&s carry 
 this advantage along with them ; as, the ftory of 
 Andromeda and the monfter; Galatea with the 
 Tritons ; and in all fuch where the two contraries, 
 the mafculine and feminine beauties are oppofed, 
 (as the figures of Hercules and Dejanira for in- 
 ftance) thefe mutually raife, and ftrengthen each 
 other's characters. The holy family is alfo a very 
 advantageous fubject for the fame reafon. I need 
 not enlarge here ; the artifice is well known, and 
 of great extent ; it is practifed by poets, hifto- 
 rians, divines, &c. as well as painters. 
 
 What I have hitherto faid will be of little ufe 
 to him who does not fill and iupply his mind with 
 noble images. A painter fhould therefore read 
 the bell books, fuch as Homer, Milton, Virgil, 
 Spenfer, Thucydides, Livy, Plutarch, &c. but 
 chiefly the holy fcripture j where is to be found an 
 inexhauftible fpring, and the greateft variety of the 
 
 moft 
 
no GRACE and GREATNESS. 
 
 moft fublime thoughts, exprelTed in the nobleft 
 manner in the world. He mould alfo frequent the 
 brighteft company, and avoid the reft; Raphael 
 was perpetually converfant with the fineft geniufes, 
 and the greateft men at Rome -, and fuch as thefe 
 were his intimate friends. Giulio Romano, Titian, 
 Rubens, Vandyke, &c. to name no more, knew 
 well how to fet a value upon themfelves in this 
 particular. But the works of the bell mafter in 
 painting and fculpture mould be as a painter's 
 daily bread, and will afford him delicious nouriih- 
 ment. 
 
 Good God, what a noble fpirit has human na- 
 ture been honoured with ! Look upon what the 
 ancients have done ; look into the gallery of Hamp- 
 ton-Court ; turn over a book of well-chofen draw- 
 ings, then will it be found that the Pfalmift 
 was divinely infpired, when, applying himfelf to his 
 Creator, he faid of man, 5 Thou hail made him a 
 " little lower than the angels, thou hail crowned 
 ' him with glory, and honour!' 
 
 4 If I had been fhewn a picture of Raphael* (faid 
 Carlo Maratti * to a friend of mine) ' and, not 
 1 having ever heard of him, had been tcld it was 
 c the work of an angel, I ihould have believed it.* 
 The fame friend allured me he had feen an entire 
 book confiiling of about two or three hundred 
 drawings of heads which the fame Carlo had made 
 after that of the Antinoiis, and which he faid he 
 had felected out of about ten times the number he 
 
 * This was Mr. Hugh Howard, an intimate acquaintance of 
 Carlo's, as he was of my father; and who after his death was 
 fo good as to lend me, with leave to copy it which I did, a 
 rr.anufcript he had himfelf made from Bellori's manufcript 
 life of this great mafter; and which Card. Albani had lent 
 him to copy for himfelf, far more compleat than chat afterwards 
 publilhed. 
 
 had 
 
GRACE and GREATNESS. m 
 
 had drawn after that one head j but confeffed he 
 had never been able to reach what he faw in 
 his model. Such was the excellency of the fculp- 
 tor ! and fuch the diligence, perfeverance, and 
 inodefty of Carlo ! 
 
 Fiamingo continuing to improve and polifh a 
 figure of his, that was his favourite production, 
 (and is that of the flying Cupid that hath juft 
 ihot his arrow, which we have here in England) 
 a friend who flood by, faid, he could not imagine 
 what he could add to the perfection it was then in. 
 
 * Ah, my dear friend,' faid he, ' you don't fee the 
 
 * original that I am labouring to come up to, which 
 ' is in my head, but not yet in my hand *.' And this 
 hath ever been the cafe of all men of true and 
 genuine genius, in all arts and fciences •, and I am 
 perfuaded that the author of this Antinoiis did not 
 exprefs all that himfelf conceived, no more than 
 Fiamingo, who is, in my opinion, the foremoft of 
 all the modern fculptors, both for correctnefs and 
 purity of flyle ; and comes the neareft to, if he 
 doth not wholly equal, the tafte of the author of 
 that Antinoiis that Carlo Mar&tti was fo juftly fond 
 of. 
 
 The ancients poffefled both the excellent quali- 
 ties I have been rreating of, among whom Apelles 
 is diftinguifhed for grace. Raphael was the mo- 
 dern Apelles, not however without a prodigious 
 degree of greatnefs. His ftyle is not perfectly 
 antique, but feems to be the effect of a fine ge- 
 nius, accomplifhed by fludy in that excellent fchool: 
 it is not antique, but (may, I dare to fay it) k is 
 better, and that, by choice, by judgment ! Giulio 
 Romano had Grace and Greatnefs, more upon the 
 antique tafte, but not without a great mixture of 
 * Bellon, vit. p. 281. 
 
 what 
 
ii2 GRACE and GREATNESS. 
 
 what is peculiarly his own, and admirably good, 
 but never to be imitated *. Polidore in his beft 
 works was altogether antique. The old Florentine 
 fchool had a kind of greatnefs that, like Hercu- 
 les in his cradle, promifed wonders to come, and 
 which promife was accomplifhed, in a great mea- 
 fure, by Leonardo da Vinci (who alfo had grace) ; 
 but more fully and perfectly by Michael Angelo 
 Buonarota : his ftyle is his own, not antique, but 
 he had a fort of Greatnefs in the utmoft degree, 
 which fometimes ran into the extream of terrible ; 
 though in many inftances he has a fine feafoning 
 of Grace. I have a woman's head of him of a 
 delicacy hardly inferior to Raphael, but retains 
 the Greatnefs, which was his proper character. 
 When Parmegiano copied him, and flung in his 
 own fweetnefs, they, together, make a fine com- 
 pofition, of which I have feveral examples : I do 
 not fay however that they are preferable to what 
 is entirely of Michael Angelo, or to what is en- 
 tirely of Parmegiano; but they are as if they 
 were of another hand, of a character between 
 boch : for Parmegiano was infinitely fweet ! Grace 
 fhines in all he touched, and a Greatnefs fupports 
 it, fo as one would not wifh him other than he is ; 
 his flyle is entirely his own, not in the leaft mo- 
 dern, nor very much upon the antique : what he 
 did feems to flow from nature, and are the ideas of 
 one in the golden age, or ftate of innocence : rich 
 in invention, and alway charming, with a certain 
 greatnefs, which, though more condefcending, and, 
 as it were, familiar, than that of Raphael or of 
 Michael Angelo, is not the lefs noble for being 
 more delicious. 
 
 Multa directum Ievat aura eyenum. 
 Dear Parmeigano! I have a great number of ex- 
 
 # Decipit examplar vitiis imitabile. Hor. 
 
 quiflte 
 
GRACE and GREATNESS. 113 
 
 quifite drawings of him. Baccio Bandinelli had 
 a great ftyle, and fometimes not without grace. 
 Corregio had grace not inferior to Parmegiano, 
 and rather more greatnefs ; but different in both 
 from him, and from the antique: what he had 
 was alfo his own, and was chiefly employed" on 
 religious fubjects, or what had nothing terrible 
 in them. Titian, Tintoret, Paulo Verone'fe, and 
 others of the Venetian fchool have greatnefs and 
 grace, but it-is not antique, however it is Italian. 
 Annibale Carracci was rather great than genteel ; 
 though he was that too ; and Guido's character is 
 grace. Rubens was great, but raifed upon a 
 Flemifh idea. Nicholas Poufiln was truly great 
 and graceful, and juftly ftyled the French Raphael. 
 Salvator Rofa's lartdfcapes are great, as thofe of 
 Claude Lorrain are delicate : fuch is the ftyle of 
 Filippo Laura ; that of the Borgognone is great. 
 To conclude, Vandyke had fomething of both 
 thefe good qualities, but not much, nor always ; 
 he generally kept to nature, chofen in its beft 
 moments, and fomething raifed and improved; 
 for which reafon he is in that particular, and 
 when he fell not lower, the beft model for por- 
 trait painting, unlefs we prefer a chimasra of the 
 painter, to a true, or at molt a civil reprefentation 
 of ourfelves, or friends •, and would have a cheat 
 put upon pofterity •, and our own, or friends re- 
 femblance loft, and forgotten for the fake of it. 
 
 Quodcurique oftendis mihi' fie incredulus odi. 
 
 As in reafoning a man ought not to reft upon 
 authorities, but to have recourfe to thofe principles 
 on which thefe are, or ought to be founded ; fo, 
 to rely upon what others have done, is to be 
 always copying. A painter therefore mould have 
 original ideas of Grace and Greatnefs, taken from 
 
 I his 
 
ii 4 GRACE and GREATNESS. 
 
 his own obfervation of nature, under the conduct 
 and afiiftance however of thole who with fuccefs 
 have trod the fame path before him. What he 
 fees excellent in others he muft not implicitly fol- 
 low, but make his own, by entering into the rea- 
 fon of the thing, as thofe muft have done who 
 originally produced that excellence ; for fuch things 
 happen not by chance. 
 
 The notions of mankind vary in relation to 
 beauty ; it may be worth a painter's while to ob- 
 ferve what were thofe the ancients had in thefe 
 matters, and then to confider whether they agree 
 with the prefent tafte, and if they do not, whether 
 they or we are in the right, if it can be deter- 
 mined by reafon ; if it depends upon fancy only, 
 then let him confider whether the prejudices we 
 are apt to have for the ancients will ballance againft 
 the opinion of the prefent age. As to the dra- 
 peries, the ancients muft be ftudied with caution, 
 as has been already noted. 
 
 Inftead of making caricaturas, a fort of lam- 
 poons of peoples faces (a foolifh cuftom of bur- 
 lefquing them, too much ufed) painters fhould 
 take a face*, and make an antique medal, or 
 bas-relief of it, by diverting it of its modern dif- 
 guifes, raifing the air and the features, and giving 
 
 it 
 
 * Sir Godfrey Kneller had painted the duke of Hamilton's 
 pitture at whole length, and when quite finifhed, fent to him 
 to defire he would call and fee it before it was fent home, that, 
 if there mould be any thing he would have altered, it might be 
 done before it was hung up. The duke looked a great while at 
 it, faid nothing ; ferious — went to the glafs and looked at 
 himfelf, returned to the picture ; went back to the glafs — ra- 
 ther out of humour. — Sir Godfrey was uneafy, piqued — alked, 
 with fome warmth, if his grace difliked the picture. Z — d's, 
 faid he, when I look in the glafs I am a poltron, when I look 
 there I am a man of quality. And then took out his pocket 
 book, and prefented him with a bank bill. No, my lord, 
 
 faid 
 
GRACE and GREATNESS. 115 
 
 it the drefs of thofe times, and fuitable to the 
 character intended. Our nation is allowed on all 
 hands to furnifh as proper models as any other in the . 
 world, with refpect to external grace and beauty : 
 nor perhaps can ancient Greece or Rome boaft of 
 brighter characters than we ; would to God we had 
 not alfo as great inftances of the contrary ! 
 
 Laftly -f, a painter's own mind mould have 
 Grace and Greatnefs; the mind itfelf mould be 
 beautifully J, and nobly formed. 
 
 But, how beautiful and nobly formed foever the 
 mind may be, it is moreover necelfary that it mould 
 enjoy repofe and tranquillity. When it is pleafed 
 and joyous, then is the feafon for thefe glorious 
 qualities to exert themfelves in great and magni- 
 ficent, as well as agreeable and gracious ideas -, 
 but above all, to have a clear and candid con- 
 fcience, and refigned to whatever providence mail 
 think fit. Then will the mind be turned up to 
 enjoyment; indifferent things will be delicious, 
 and calamities themfelves tolerable. 
 
 For, as in writing, pureil excellence 
 
 Is feen, proportion'd to the reader's knfe - y 
 
 As he the author's meaning penetrates 
 
 He judgeth, and to his mind the charm tranflates ; 
 
 faid fir Godfrey, by God I will not receive more than one for 
 the fame picture; you haveover paid it already. — Dr. Campbell. 
 This ftory the duke told me, on having juil read thefe books 
 of my father, of which he faid to me, and Mr. Ram fey the 
 painter, and a great deal of other company laft night, (Sunday, 
 his aflembly night, 28 March 63.) the moil obliging and the 
 moft fenfible things ; and among them, told this ftory to ex- 
 plain what he thought my father had done by his fubject, as 
 he found it left by the other writers. 
 
 f As according to the Italian proverb, every painter paints 
 himfelf. 
 
 X Michael Angelo faid, that " a painter mould not fcrupu- 
 " lou fly follow the mechanical meafure of his model, but 
 ** : fhould have the compares in his eyes." Bellori, vit. p. 10. 
 
 I 2 So 
 
n6 GRACE and GREATNESS. 
 
 So nature's form by him is lovelieft feen 
 Who is hirnfelf moil beautiful within. 
 
 The Author, Morning Thoughts (9 Aug. 41.) 
 
 For good in the barometer of life 
 Afcends and falls, nor ever fix'd remains : 
 But every feafon has peculiar fweets, 
 Or more, or lefs, which he who can extract, 
 And feed upon, has learn'd the art to live. 
 
 Hymn to God. MS. 
 
 There is no man, no nor any animal, or even 
 created thing, that hath not its good and bad. 
 The art, the wiidom, the happinels of mankind, 
 the only rational being here, is, like the bee, to 
 pick out, and with all his fkill and induftry, ex- 
 tract the honey ; and not the poifon, like the 
 fpider. 
 
 Some people may fancy it is of ufe to them to 
 depreciate and be out of humour with every thing; 
 it is of none to painters : They ought to view all 
 things in the belt light, and to the greatefl advan- 
 tage : They mould do in life as I have been fay- 
 ing they muft in their pictures ; not make carica- 
 tures and burlefques ; not reprefent things worfe 
 than they are ; not amufe themlelves with drollery 
 and buffoonery •, but raife and improve what they 
 can, and carry the reft as high as pofilble. 
 
 Yet genius and induilry are not alone lufficient; 
 virtue, as it is truly great and lovely in itfelf, as 
 it arifes from the wifeft and moll noble fentiments, 
 it produces fuch -, and a mind impregnated with 
 thefe is the molt likely to conceive and execute 
 what one polluted and incumbered with vice can- 
 not. A virtuous man has generally more tran- 
 quillity, health and vigour, and confequently fewer 
 interruptions and difficulties, and makes the bell 
 improvement of all his time ; fo that the common 
 
 complaint 
 
GRACE and GREATNESS. 117 
 
 complaint of the fhortnefs of life, with refpect to 
 the attainment of arts, and the accomplifliment of 
 great defigns, is not fo juft as it feems to be; it 
 is fhort, but men contract it by their own mifma- 
 nagement. 
 
 I know it will be faid, that great and lively fpi- 
 rits are naturally fubjecT: to violent paflions and 
 appetites, and difficult to be kept in due bounds : 
 But is not this becaufe there is not yet ftrength of 
 mind enough ? And though there have been great 
 vicious men, would they not have been greater 
 had they been virtuous ? As to painters, it is true, 
 many of them have been a fcandal to their pro- 
 feflion •, but thefe are, for the molt part, of the 
 loweft clafs of the confiderable painters : Thole 
 whofe works we fo highly efteem were men of 
 folid fenfe and virtue; or if fome of them were 
 not free from all vice, their faults were fuch as are 
 the moft excufable, fuch as the beft minds are 
 fufceptible of; this hindered them not from being 
 great men indeed ; however, it is undeniable, had 
 they arrived to a ftrength of mind fo as to be vir- 
 tuous throughout, they had been greater painters 
 than they were ; and the world would have been bet- 
 ter furnifhed, and more enriched and adorned with 
 their works, as they would have enjoyed a greater 
 fhare of health, and have been longer lived. 
 
 A painter ought to have a fweet and happy turn 
 of mind, that great and lovely ideas may have an 
 eafy and natural reception there ; and thefe enlarge 
 that happinefs which themfelves were derived from-, 
 they nourifh their amiable parent, and both mu- 
 tually cherith each other. Few profeffions have 
 this advantage ; lawyers, phyflcians, and divines, 
 are frequently engaged in fuch circumftances, as 
 thotigh cuftom may render them tolerable, yet can 
 never be agreeable ; and moreover have to do with 
 
 I 3 people 
 
n8 GRACE and GREATNESS. 
 
 people too often when they are out of humour. A 
 painter's head is, or ought to be, filled with the 
 nobleft thoughts of the deity, the braveft actions 
 of mankind in all ages, the fineft and mod exalted 
 ideas of human nature, and he is to obferve all 
 the beauties of the creation. A face painter's bu- 
 finefj is with thofe only who are in good humour, 
 or will feem to be fo while with him ; this, if he 
 has a true pictufefque tafte of pleafure, will con- 
 tribute exceedingly to produce this happy ftate of 
 mind which is fo neceffary to him. How great a 
 variety fo'ever there may be in mens taftes of plea- 
 fure, and what unhappy mixtures foever they may 
 make, this will be generally allowed to be delight- 
 ful. And there is one particular which I will re- 
 mark, becaufe I believe it is not commonly taken 
 notice of, and this is the vaft advantage the light 
 hath above the other fenfes with refpect to plea- 
 lure i thofe receive it, but it is by ftarts and flaihes, 
 with long infipid intervals, and frequently worfe ; 
 but the pleafures of the eye are like thofe of heaven, 
 perpetual, and without fatiety-, and if offenfive ob- 
 jects appear, we can reject them in an inftant. It 
 is true other men may fee, and will be in raptures 
 where another is infenfible. The painter Nicoma- 
 ches, looking with tranfport at Zeuxis's Helena, 
 faid to one who wondered what he could fee there 
 to be fo delighted with, " Take my eyes, and you 
 " will be as much delighted, but not with fuch 
 " eyes as a painter or a connoifTeur fees -, they have 
 " no fpeculation in thofe eyes which they do glare 
 " with." A man is taught to fee as he is other 
 fciences, for a fcience it is, and a moft ufeful and 
 valuable one, as the beauties of nature open them- 
 felves to our fight by little and little, after a long 
 practice in the art of feeing.* A judicious well- 
 
 * Qjam multa vident pittores, quas nos non videmus ? 
 
 . inftructed 
 
GRACE and GREATNESS. 119 
 
 inftructed eye fees a wonderful beauty in the fhapes 
 and colours of the commoner! things, and what are 
 comparatively inconfiderable ; nay, fuch a one will 
 difcover fomething pleafing where another finds 
 only poverty or deformity. 
 
 I am very fenfible, as all created beings in the 
 univerfe feek pleafure as their chiefeft good,-]- there 
 is an infinite variety of taftes with relation to it : 
 Every fpecies has fome peculiar to themfelves, and 
 man is in this an epitome of the whole ; there are 
 certain clafTes amongft them who can no more re- 
 liih or enjoy the pleafure of others, than a fifh 
 can thofe of a bird, or a tyger of a lamb : An en- 
 thufiaft, who fhuts himfelf up in a monaftery, 
 does not forfake, but purfue pleafure as eagerly as 
 a debauche, only both rejec~b what the other calls 
 pleafure, but which themfelves, as their minds are 
 conftituted, cannot enjoy, for what themfelves can 
 have and relifh; I neither blame nor pity thofe 
 who differ from me ; it is very fit there fhould be 
 this variety of taftes ; if we were all of a mind 
 we fhould be perpetually at variance with one an- 
 other •, I only obferve, that though another man 
 may poffibly defpife what I have been fpeaking of 
 as a delicious kind of enjoyment, he that is inca- 
 pable of this kind of pleafure has not a mind truly 
 turned for painting. 
 
 But not only that the mind may be at liberty, 
 and in humour to apply itfelf to the fine ideas ne- 
 ceffary to painters, and that it may be filled with 
 the nobleft and moft beautiful fentiments, they 
 fhould have grace and greatnefs there in order to 
 put thofe properties into their works : For (as it 
 has been obferved by others before me, and muft 
 
 f Sequitur fua quemque voluptas. 
 
 I a be 
 
120 GRACE and GREATNESS. 
 
 be true in the main from the nature of things) 
 painters paint themfelves. A trifling fpirit will 
 naturally look about for and fix upon Something 
 comical and foppifh, if it be to be found, and 
 will imagine it if it be not ; that to him, is what 
 great and beautiful is to another whofe mind has 
 a better turn. One will overlook or debafe a 
 fine character, the other will raife a mean one. 
 " Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of 
 " thirties ?" Suppofe a man well acquainted with 
 the feveral fliles of Raphael and Michael Angelo, 
 but a ftranger to their characters, and let him be 
 told that one of thefe artifts was a fine gentleman, 
 good-natured, prudent, modeft, a companion and 
 friend of the greateft men, whether for quality or 
 wit, then at Rome, and a favourite of Leo X. 
 the politeil man in the world -, and that the other 
 was rough, bold, fierce, &c. that he and Julius II. 
 (the mod impetuous fpirit alive) mutually loved 
 each other; I fay let fuch a one be told this, it 
 would be impoflible for him not to know which 
 was the work of Raphael, and which of Michael 
 Angelo. One might make the fame experiment 
 upon others with the like fuccefs. 
 
 That the Greeks have had a beauty and majefty 
 in their fculpture and painting beyond any other 
 nation, is agreed on all hands •, the reafon is, they 
 painted and carved themfelves. When you fee 
 and admire what they have dorfe, remember Sala- 
 mis and Marathon where they fought, and Ther- 
 mopylae v/here they devoted themfelves for the li- 
 berty of their country •, " Go, ftranger, tell the 
 " Lacedemonians we lie here by their command," 
 was written on the graves of thefe latter. When 
 at the theatre, in a play of vEfchylus, fomething 
 was faid which favoured of impiety, the whole 
 
 audience 
 
GRACE and GREATNESS. 121 
 
 audience took fire, and rofe at once, crying out* 
 " Let us deftroy the reproacher of the gods :" 
 Amynias his brother immediately leaped upon the 
 ftage, and produced his moulder, from whence he 
 had loft his arm at the battle of Salamis •, alledg- 
 ing alfo the merit of his other brother Cynasgyrus, 
 who at the fame time. bravely facrificed himfelf for 
 his country; the people unanimoufly condemned 
 iEfchylus, but gave his life to his brother Amy- 
 nias. Thefe were Greeks ! Thefe were the people 
 who fhortly after carried painting and fculpture to 
 fo great a height ; they were fuch men as thefe, 
 who had that prodigious grace and greatnefs in 
 their works which we fo juftly admire. Other na- 
 tions have had greater advantages than they, ex- 
 cept in this j but magnanimity was their characte- 
 riftick. 
 
 The ancient Romans fill the fecond place; grace 
 and greatnefs is alfo in their works, for they were 
 a brave people ; but they confeffed the fuperiority 
 of the other in condefcending to be their imitators. 
 
 Longinus fays, the Iliad of Homer is the flow- 
 ing, and the Odyffey is the ebbing of a great 
 ocean. The fame may be faid of the ancient and 
 modern Italians. 
 
 O Rome ! thou happy repofitory of fo many 
 ftupendous works of art which my longing eyes 
 have never feen, nor fhall fee, thou wert fated to 
 be the miftrefs of the world ! when (as in the na- 
 tural courfe of fublunary things it muft happen) 
 thou couldefl no longer fupport an empire, raifed 
 and maintained by arms, thou (upon a foundation, 
 improbable enough at firft fight, and without at- 
 tentively cbnfidering the folly, credulity and fu- 
 perftition of the bulk of mankind) haft raifed an- 
 other, of a different nature indeed, but of vaft 
 
 extent 
 
122 GRACE and GREATNESS. 
 
 extent and power, and governed at eafe and with- 
 out hazard : It is one of the moil amazing inftances 
 of human policy that the world ever faw ! No 
 wonder then that as ancient Rome, fo modern 
 Italy, has carried painting to fuch a height. 
 
 Whatever degeneracy may have crept in, from 
 caufes which it is not my prefent bufinefs to en- 
 quire into, no nation under heaven fo nearly re- 
 fembles the ancient Greeks and Romans as ours. 
 There is a haughty courage, an elevation of 
 thought, a greatnefs of tafte, a love of liberty, a 
 fimplicity and honefty among us, which we in- 
 herit from our anceftors, and which belong to us 
 as Englishmen -, and it is in thefe this refemblance 
 confifts. I could exhibit a long catalogue of fol- 
 diers, ilatefmen, orators, mathematicians, philo- 
 fophers, &c. and all living in or near our own 
 times, which are proofs of what I advance, and 
 confequently do honour to our country, and to 
 human nature. But as I confine myfelf to arts, 
 and fuch as have an affinity to painting, and more- 
 over avoid to mention on this occafion the names 
 of any now alive (though many of thofe I have 
 in view will immediately occur to the thoughts of 
 every man) I will only inltance in Inigo Jones for 
 architecture, and Shakefpeare and Milton, the one 
 for dramatic, the other for epic poetry, and leave 
 them to feat themfelves at the table of fame 
 amongft the moll illultrious of the ancients. 
 
 A time may come when future writers may be 
 able to add the name of an Englifh painter. But 
 as it is in nature where from the feed is firft pro- 
 duced the blade, then the green ear, and laftly the 
 ripe corn, fo national virtues fprout up, firft in 
 leflcr excellencies, and proceed by an eafy grada- 
 tion. Greece and Rome had not painting and 
 
 fculpture 
 
GRACE and GREATNESS. 123 
 
 fculpture in their perfection till after they had ex- 
 erted their natural vigour in humbler inftances. I 
 am no prophet, nor the fon of a prophet-, but 
 confidering the necefTary connection of caufes and 
 events, and upon feeing fome links of that fatal 
 chain, I will venture to pronounce (as exceedingly 
 probable) that if ever the ancient great and beau- 
 tiful tafte in painting revives, it will be in Eng- 
 land ; but not till Englifh painters, confcious of 
 the dignity of their country, and of their pro- 
 feffion, refolve to do honour to both by piety, vir- 
 tue, magnanimity, benevolence and induftry, and 
 a contempt of every thing that is really Unworthy 
 of them. 
 
 And now I cannot forbear wifhing that fome 
 younger painter than myfelf, and one who has had 
 greater and more early advantages would exert 
 himfelf, and practife the magnanimity I have been 
 recommending, in this fingle inftance of attempt- 
 ing and hoping only to equal the greatefl matters 
 of whatfoever age or nation. What were they 
 which we are not, or may not be ? What helps 
 had any of them which we have not ? Nay, we 
 have feveral which fome of them were deftitute 
 of: I will only mention one, and that is a very 
 confiderable one ; it is our religion, which has 
 opened a new and a noble fcene of things ; we 
 have more juft and enlarged notions of the deity, 
 and more exalted ones of human nature than the 
 ancients could poffibly have : And as there are 
 fome fine characters peculiar to the chriftian reli • 
 gion, it moreover, affords fome of the nobleft 
 iubjects that ever were thought of for a picture. 
 
 Of 
 
[ 124 ] 
 Of the SUBLIME. 
 
 Higher argument 
 
 Remains, fufficient of itfelf to raife 
 
 That name, unlefs an age too late, or cold 
 
 Climate, or years damp my intended wing 
 
 Deprefs'd, and much it may if all be mine, 
 
 Not her's, who brings it nightly to my ear. 
 
 Defcend from heav'n Urania. Milton. 
 
 THE Sublime is much talked of, but what is 
 meant by this term * is not well agreed on ; 
 for which reafon, before I make uie of it, I will 
 take the privilege that every man hath of explain- 
 ing his own meaning : I will fay what I underftand 
 by it, and why I do fo ; and that, without enter- 
 ing into a formal difpute upon any point wherein 
 I differ from others. It is a word that at prefent 
 conveys but a confufed, uncertain idea, or rather 
 none at all •, for, as I faid, its fignification is not 
 agreed on ; I therefore fix one to it for my own 
 ufe, and for that of others, if they like it •, if not, 
 they may do as I do, explain it in their own way, 
 and life it accordingly. It is a wild word •, and I 
 am endeavouring to tame it, and make it fervice- 
 able •, and as it is chiefly ufed with relation to wri- 
 ting, I will firft confider it in that view. 
 
 By the fublime in general I mean the mod ex- 
 cellent of what is excellent, as the excellent is the 
 beft of what is good. The dignity of a man con- 
 fifts chiefly in his capacity of thinking, and of 
 communicating his ideas to another-, the greateft 
 and moil noble thoughts, images or fentiments, 
 conveyed to us in the beft chofen words, I take 
 
 * See Boileau's works, torn. II. 
 
 therefore 
 
Of the SUBLIME. 125 
 
 therefore to be the perfect fublime in writing j the 
 admirable, the marvellous. 
 
 But as there may be degrees even in the fublime, 
 fomething ihort of the utmoft may be alfo fub- 
 lime. 
 
 Thought and language are two dift-inct excel- 
 lencies : There are few who are capable of adding 
 dignity to a great fubject, or even of doing right 
 to fuch a one ; in fome cafes none : The bulk of 
 mankind conceive not greatly, nor do they know 
 how to utter the conceptions they have to the beft 
 advantage ; and thofe who have higher capacities 
 exert them but rarely, and on few occafions : 
 Hence it is that we fo juftly admire what is fo ex- 
 cellent, and fo uncommon. 
 
 The great manner of thinking (as thought in 
 general) is either pure invention, or what arifes 
 upon hints fuggeftea from without. 
 
 That " in the beginning God created the heavens 
 " and the earth," had been a noble thought had it 
 been invention ; and more or lefs fo as the inventor 
 had underftood it himfelf : And if he had gone 
 about to convey that idea to others, it might have 
 occasioned more to explain and illuftrate it. 
 
 As this original thought was conveyed to Mofes 
 by infpiration, and to us very concifely by him 
 (fuppofing he had faid no more of it than thele 
 words) though it could but have appeared great 
 to any one that conceived tolerably, it would have 
 done fo more or lefs according to the different ca- 
 pacities of men, and their feveral manners of 
 thinking •, and which would have given fcope to 
 invention, though the firft hint was from another. 
 For creation may be conceived as the producing 
 of this globe and its inhabitants, and of the fun, 
 moon and rears, and that out of nothing \ or as 
 
 the 
 
126 Of the SUBLIME. 
 
 the formation of thefe things from a chaos ; or as 
 the original of univerfal matter j or, laftly, as f 
 together with that, modified as we fee it, of all 
 fpiritual beings •, that is, of all forts of exiftences 
 whatfoever, God himfelf excepted, who muft be 
 conceived to be perfect and happy, though alone 
 exifting eternal ages before this great revolution. 
 
 To be fublime the thought muft be great : 
 What is mean and trifling is incapable of it : 
 There muft be fomething that fills the mind, and 
 this with dignity. 
 
 And it is not always neceffary that fuch thoughts 
 be ftriclly juft and philofophical in all cafes: That 
 of the creation I have been fpeaking of, as it is 
 great in what fenfe foever it is underftood, though 
 the different fenfes are not equally fo, yet any of 
 them may be fublime ; fo all we can fay of God 
 is infinitely fhort of what he is ; and notwithftand- 
 ing the utmoft that can be faid, even that compa- 
 ratively low idea of God, as it is the beft that can 
 be attained to of that moft fublime being, or ra- 
 ther the only fublime one, when compared with 
 all others, muft be efteemed fublime. 
 
 But though greatnefs is effential, and truth is 
 not, a great and ufeful truth is preferable to what 
 is but equally great, and either not true, or not of 
 
 f God fpake, and angels and archangels were, 
 And fpirits immortal firft began to be ; 
 All but himfelf, he ever liv'd, and muft, 
 In full perfection, happy tho' alone. 
 God fpake; the void immenfe was full, and worlds, 
 And peopled worlds innumerable fhone ; 
 Nature, yet unexifting heard him call, 
 Life, being, fubftance, form, receiv'd with joy, 
 This inftant was not, and this inftant was, 
 From nothing all; and God was all in all. 
 
 Opening of his Hymn to God. MS. 
 
 ufe : 
 
Of the SUBLIME. 127 
 
 ufe : A great idea of the power of God may- be 
 fublime as well as another of his goodncfs ; hut 
 the latter will have a beauty in it to us which is 
 wanting in the former. " Thus faith the high and 
 " lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whofe name 
 " is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place, with 
 " him alfo that is of a contrite and humble fpirit, 
 " to revive the fpirit of the humble, and to revive 
 " the heart of the contrite ones," would therefore 
 be preferable upon that account to " let there be 
 " light, and there was light," if they were other- 
 wife equal. 
 
 We know fo little of what is poflible to be, 
 even on our own globe, that there is a great lati- 
 tude as to images, even when what is faid is to be 
 literally taken ; as for hyperboles and other figures, 
 every one knows they give fcope enough ; how- 
 ever, in either cafe, what is abfurd or ridiculous 
 muft be avoided. But the fentiments muft be juft 
 and rational to be fublime ; thus far truth is ne- 
 cefTary, or • at leaft natural probability ; the fenti- 
 ments muft be fuch as it is fuppofed a man might 
 have ; and, if he had, he would not be extrava- 
 gant and romantic ; whether ever any man had 
 really fuch, or at leaft practifed accordingly, is not 
 fo material. What I have heard St. Auguftin fay 
 fomewhere, " If I was Lord God, and he bifhop 
 " of Hippo, I would "become -bifhop of Hippo 
 " that he might be Lord God," is a profane rant, 
 not a fublime fentiment. As that of Lopez de 
 Vega in his divine meditation, " O my God, 1 am 
 " fo afflicted for having offended Zaca,thatl mould 
 " flay myfelf or Zaca, hadft thou not commanded 
 " me to love my enemies." It is plain that this is 
 a wit that is making a fally of his imagination ra- 
 ther than a picture of his heart. The father of 
 
 ■ the 
 
128 Of the SUBLIME. 
 
 the Horatii, in the tragedy of Corneille, has car- 
 ried magnanimity to the utmoft height ; when he 
 was told two of his fons were killed, and the other 
 fled, he regrets not the lofs of the two, but all 
 his concern is for the fhameful flight of the other ; 
 " One againil three ! What would you have had 
 w him done ? Died." Perhaps Hudibras faid a 
 wifer thing, though as it is ludicroufly fpoken it 
 could not have been fublime had the fentiment 
 been great as well as juft : 
 
 He that runs may fight again, 
 Which he can never do that's flain. 
 
 But this of the old man is truly fublime, though 
 upon the very borders of extravagance, for the 
 fentiment is noble •, and though it were really un- 
 reafonable, the manners of the ancient Romans 
 would juftify it : Notwithstanding all which, Boi- 
 Jeau has furnifhed me with another more beauti- 
 ful, becaufe as great and more rational : He cites 
 it from the Athaliah of Racine as an inftance of 
 the perfeft fublime in all refpects. Abner repre- 
 fents to the high prieft, that Athaliah was enraged 
 againft himfelf and all the Levitical order - t his 
 anfwer is, 
 
 * Celui qui met un frein a la fureur des flots 
 Sait auffi des medians arreter les complots ; 
 Soumis avec refpecl: a fa volunte fainte, 
 
 Je crains Dieu, cher Abner, & n'ai point d'autre crainte. 
 
 Suppofing an equal degreee of greatnefs, where 
 there is moft folidity there is moft beauty, it is the 
 moft fublime. 
 
 * He who the ocean's violence reftrains, 
 Within due bounds men's wickednefs contains; 
 What God inflicts with reverence I bear, 
 
 And fearing him can have no other fear. 
 
 As 
 
Of the SUB L I ME. 129 
 
 As the thoughts, fo the language of the fublime 
 mull be the mod excellent ; what that is, is the 
 queftion. Whether it be confined to the florid, 
 to magnificent and fonorous words, tours, figures, 
 &c. or whether brevity, fimplicity, or even com- 
 mon and low words are the beft on lbme occafions ? 
 
 Poetry, hiftory, declamation, &c. have their pe- 
 culiar ftiles ; but the fublime (as our high court of 
 parliament is not under the reftriftions which in- 
 ferior courts are) is not limited to any particular 
 ftile : The beft, is the fublime language, and that 
 is beft which fets the idea in the ftrongeft light ; 
 that is the great end and ufe of words ; but if thofe 
 which pleale the ear do equally ferve that purpofe, 
 no doubt they are preferable, but not otherwife. 
 Plain and common words paint a great image 
 fometimes ftronger than any other. 
 
 — We are fuch fluff 
 
 As dreams are made on, and our little life 
 Is rounded with a fleep. 
 
 * Shakespeare's Tempest. 
 
 To me comes a creature, 
 
 Sometimes her head on one iide, fome another, 
 
 I never faw a veffel of like forrow 
 
 So rill'd, and fo becoming : In pure white robes, 
 
 Like very fanclity (he did approach 
 
 My cabin where I lay ; thrice bow'd before me, 
 
 And (gafping to begin fome fpeech) her eyes 
 
 Became two fpouts — 
 
 And fo with fhrieks 
 
 She melted into air . 
 
 The Winter's Tale. 
 
 What is fome-body ? What is no-body ? Man is the 
 dream of a fhadow. Pin par. . 
 
 • K And 
 
i 3 o Of the SUBLIME. 
 
 And more than Echo taik'd along the walls. 
 
 Pope's Abelard. 
 
 Oh now does death line his dead chaps with fteel, 
 The fwords of foldiers are his teeth, his phangs, 
 And now he feafrs, mouthing the fleih of men 
 In undetermin'd differences of kings. 
 
 King John. 
 
 Low language may fo.metimes debafe the idea, 
 and draw down the mind from its due pitch, but 
 that being avoided, the fublime may come to us 
 by that mean voiture, the image may have more 
 force than when defcribed in greater words : The 
 fpouts which the eyes of the ghoft in Shakefpeare 
 are faid to be, are overlooked by the mind's being 
 filled with the idea of the gufh of tears pouring 
 down •, the great image bears fo ftrongly upon us, 
 as to drive out the other ; but if thefe eyes had 
 been compared to rivers, cataracts, or feas, it 
 would not have touched like thefe fpouts. 
 
 Simplicity, and brevity, even one word has 
 fometimes more force and beauty than the moft 
 magnificent and fonorous language, and the moft 
 harmonious periods. 
 
 The laconic anfwer of the father of the Horatii 
 I mentioned juft now, doubles the force of the 
 great fentiment •, that Hngle word is a flrong and 
 mafterly touch of the pencil which paints the mind 
 refolute and determined better than the fineft fpeech 
 the poet could have invented. 
 
 " Let there be light, and there was light," con- 
 iidered only as an hiftorical account of that part 
 of the creation, admirably defcribes the inftanta- 
 neous change from darknefs to light •, expatiating, 
 however elegantly, would have fpoiled the image. 
 Milton is more diffufed, but then he paints not 
 
 the 
 
Of the SUBLIME. 131 
 
 the fame thing, it is a very different image ; the 
 light, according to him, came on flowly : 
 
 Let there be light, faid God, and forthwith light 
 Etherial, firft of things, quinteffence pure 
 Sprung from the deep, and from her native eaft 
 To journey thro' the airy gloom begsn, 
 Spher'd in a radiant cloud, for yet the fun 
 Was not ; me in a cloudy tabernacle 
 
 Sojourn'd the while — — 
 
 Milton's Par. Loft, B. VII. 1. 243. 
 
 Here the flow defcription paints the motion of* 
 the light as of a vapour exhaled from the earth* 
 and riling, and increafing by little and little, it is 
 as the dawning of the day behind the hills ; that 
 of Mofes is lightning, or a magazine that has taken 
 fire on a fudden, it flames as you read. 
 
 Milton's idea is very poetical, though he hath 
 loft the divine fimplicity of this concife and fimple 
 image; which he hath done, in order to account 
 for the diftance between the creation of light on 
 the firft day, and that of the fun on the fourth. 
 
 And I believe every man who reads with tafte 
 the profe text only, though a tranflation of Job 
 and the Pfalms (efpecially that of thefe laft in the 
 Common-Prayer) will find the plain and natural 
 fimplicity of this, will affect, him more than any 
 of the poetical paraphrafes. 
 
 But this is the leail part of the important image 
 in the infpired writer, and the leaft inftance of the 
 concifenels of his ftile in this place ; for what is 
 implied is a vafl; idea of the power of God, whofe 
 word in an inftant produced lb noble and fo ufeful 
 a creature as light ; the words I have ufed, or 
 much better, the beft that could have been chofen, 
 could not have ftruck the imagination lb ftrongly 
 as this hint has done. 
 
 K 2 This 
 
i 3 2 Of the SUBLIME. 
 
 This way of exprefling a thing not directly, but 
 by a tour, is very poetical and fubiime. I will 
 give another inflance of it. " How beautiful upon 
 " the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth 
 " glad tidings !" The image here given is of no 
 confequence ; what is intended is a dry precept •, 
 " Take care to be a meffenger of good news only, 
 " if you would be acceptable •," but this way of 
 giving it gratifies the mind with a great and pleafing 
 image, and not at all the lefs enriches it with a 
 moft ufeful inftruction. 
 
 That the florid, poetic, or heroic ftile has alfo 
 its beauties, is fo far from being doubted, that 
 fome have confined fublimity to this only ; and 
 when it is luftained by a great thought, and befl 
 conveys that, and fo ferves both purpofes, ufe, 
 and delight, it is then preferable, never elfe : Ap- 
 ply it to nonfenfe, it is naufeous ; to a low trivial 
 thought, it is fo far from raifing it, that it makes 
 it ridiculous ; or he that reads is fo, if he is cheated 
 by it, and fancies the thing hath more fenfe in it 
 than it really has ; or than it would have appeared 
 to have had, if it had not been tricked up with 
 thofe improper ornaments. Nay, when it is ufed 
 to convey a great idea, and more is done than is 
 neceffary to that end, it is a defect, not a beauty: 
 For even in this ftile too great a latitude mu ft not 
 be given to the fancy i and though the amplifica- 
 tions fpread themfelves all around, each of them 
 in particular mould be formed as concifely as the 
 nature of them will admit of. 
 
 In Milton's defcription of the devil, and his 
 hoft of fallen angels, there is a profufion of orna- 
 ment, particularly in fimiles, but in each of them 
 there is a great ceconomy Ihewn in the language, 
 not a word but is to the purpofe : 
 
 He 
 
Of the SUBLIME. 133 
 
 He above the reft 
 
 In fhape, and geflure proudly eminent 
 Stood like a tower ; his form had yet not loft 
 All her original brightnefs, nor appear 'd 
 Lefs than archangel ruin'd, and th' excels 
 Of glory obfcur'd : As when the fun new ris'n 
 Looks thro' the horizontal mifty air 
 Shorn of his beams ; or from behind the moon 
 In dim eclipfe difaftrous twilight (beds 
 On half the nations, and with fear of change 
 Perplexes monarchs. Dark'n'd fo, yet fnone 
 Above them all th' archangel : But his face 
 Deep fears of thunder had intrench'd, and care 
 Sate on his faded cheek, but under brows 
 Of dauntlefs courage, and considerate pride 
 Waiting revenge ; cruel his eye, but caft 
 Signs of remorfe, and paffion to behold 
 The fellows of his crime, the followers rather 
 (Far other once beheld in blifs) condemn'd 
 For ever now to have their lot in pain, 
 Millions of fpirits for his fault amerft 
 Of heaven, and from eternal fplendors flung 
 For his revolt, yet faithful how they ftood 
 Their glory wither 'd. As when heaven's fire 
 Hath fcath'd the foreft oaks, or. mountain pines, 
 With finged top their ftately growth, tho' bare, 
 
 Stands on the blafted heath.- 
 
 Milton's Par. Loft, B. I. 1. 589. 
 
 More than this had been too much. There is 
 no fiich danger in what follows-, it ;s the defcription 
 of the fecond perfon in the trinity, coming with his 
 celeftial attendants 
 
 — — to create new worlds. 
 
 On heav'nly ground they flood, and from the fhore 
 They view'd the vaft, immeafurable abyfs 
 Outrageous as a fea, dark, wailful, wild, 
 Up from the bottom turn'd by furious winds, 
 And furging waves as mountains to anault 
 Heav'n's heighth, and with the center mix the pole : 
 
 K 2 Silence 
 
134 Of the SUBLIME. 
 
 Silence ye troubled waves, and thou deep, peace, 
 
 Said then th' omnific word, your difcord end. 
 
 Nor ftaid, but on the wings of cherubim 
 
 Uplifted, in paternal glory rode 
 
 Far into chaos, and the world unborn j 
 
 For chaos heard his voice. 
 
 Milton's Par. Left, B. VII. J. 209. 
 
 I have not given thefe fpecimens of all the fe- 
 veral ftiles as proofs, that each or any of them are 
 the language of the fublime, for that would be 
 begging the queftion, it net being proved that 
 thofe paffages are fuch ; on the contrary, if any 
 ftile is a bar to fublimiLy where this is found, the 
 paffage cannot be fublime ; but I have produced 
 thefe to mew, that any of the feveral ftiles may be 
 beft on fome occafions ; and if that appear, fure 
 it will not be faid that a worfe is the only fublime, 
 and that, merely for the fake of the words, con- 
 fidered as diftinct from the fenfe and true ufe of 
 them •, for thus the perfect fublime mult be the 
 nobleft thoughts, but not the beft way of expreff- 
 ing thofe thoughts. If the beft be the fublime, 
 the fublimity of thofe feveral ftiles is then efta- 
 blifhed. And this will prove, that thofe paffages 
 are alfo fublime, if there was no other objection 
 to their fublimity but the ftile, though it was not 
 what I chiefly intended. 
 
 The only reafons that can be given for a pecu- 
 liarity of ftile in the fublime are, that as the thought 
 muft be great, the language muft be fo too, as 
 beft exprefling fuch thought ; and becaufe the mu- 
 fic of the words ferves to the fame purpofe, and 
 moreover pleafeth, I own all this is generally true : 
 Why do we ufe the term fublime, and not the very 
 beft, both which exprefs the fame thing, only that 
 one raifes, and the other depreffes the idea r But I 
 
 deny 
 
Of the SUBLIME. 135 
 
 deny that it is always thus ; and only contend, 
 that a plain flile may, fometimes, be the molt ex- 
 cellent, though low and trivial thoughts never can 
 be diflinguifhed ; and when fuch a flile bed ferves 
 the main end of language when the image is beft 
 conveyed, though not delicately.as with a feal, but 
 roughly as with the thump of a mallet, it is then, 
 and only then ("according to me) the fublime flile, 
 becaufe it is the bell on that occafion ; and what 
 none but a great genius dare venture on, or lhall 
 venture on with fuccefs. And when this happens, 
 the pleafure that is wanting in the found is abun- 
 dantly recompenfed by obferving the judgment of 
 him who made fo wife a choice. 
 
 There is a beauty in brevity and fimplicity which 
 fufficiently compenfates for what it wants ; the 
 mind is fixed, as it were, to a point, and to the 
 fenfe ; whereas it is apt to be diffipated by the al- 
 lurements of a florid flile •, and called off to the 
 lefTer beauties that enter no deeper than the ear. 
 
 Longinus has furnifhed us with a proof of the 
 advantage that fimplicity has above ornament in 
 his account of the famous text of Moles : Whe- 
 ther he never faw a true copy, or that he has en- 
 deavoured to improve upon it, he puts it thus : 
 '* And God faid, What ? Let there be light, and 
 " there was light." This particle, what, ieems to 
 have been a flower ftuck in by fome rhetorician, 
 and that to awaken the attention * and fo it might 
 have been applied very juilly, when one of an in- 
 ferior character had fpoke ; but when it is faid God 
 fpake, it is enough ; and, to fuppofe any thing elfe 
 necefTary, is to deprefs the idea of the fpeaker. 
 
 Having thus explained, and as well as I could 
 
 jufiified my definition, it appears that my notion 
 
 K 4 of 
 
136 Or the SUBLIME. 
 
 of the fublirne differs from that of * fome others: 
 I confine it to fcnfe, and give a latitude as to the 
 ftile ; they are for a certain ftile, and allow that a 
 feparate fublhnity, whatever the thought be : We 
 alfo differ in the way of fupporting our feveral 
 notions •, I have built only on reafon, or what ap- 
 peared to me to be fuch. 
 
 I confefs, after all, it cannot be faid with cer- 
 tainty, what is, and what is not fublirne, becaufe it 
 cannot be faid in all cafes what thought is of that 
 fupreme excellence, and that fuch, or fuch a way 
 of expreffing it is beft ; this mufl be judged of 
 by every one for himfelf, as on many other more 
 important occafions : But what I have done may 
 perhaps help to clear thefe points, at leaft it hath 
 ihewn what I mean by the term, and fo prepared 
 my way to what I chiefly intended, which was, to 
 fpeak cf the iublime in painting. The term in- 
 deed is not fo generally applied to that art, but 
 would have been, had it been fo generally under- 
 ftood, and fo much treated on as writing : For 
 certainly the fupreme excellence in painting is as 
 worthy of that diftinclion ; and more fo, as em- 
 ploying more of the nobleft faculties peculiar to 
 the nobleft creature we are acquainted with. 
 
 And here I take the fublirne to be the great eft 
 and moft beautiful ideas conveyed to us the moft 
 advantageoufly. 
 
 By beauty I do not mean that of form or co- 
 lour, copied from what the painter fees -, thefe be- 
 
 * See Longinus, chap. 32, &c. Boileau's Definition of the 
 Sublime in his twelfth critical reflection on Longinus. Dif- 
 fertation of Mr. Huet and Le Clerc againft Boileau, &c. Tho', 
 to fay the truth, the two firil of thefe, in the places here cited, 
 fpeak contrary to what is the general ttnor of their feveral 
 difco ur fes. 
 
Of the SUBLIME. 137 
 
 ing never fo well imitated, I take not to be fub- 
 lime, becaufe thefe require little more than an eye 
 and hand, and practice; An exalted idea of co- 
 lour in a human face or figure, might be judged 
 to be fublime, could that be had and conveyed to 
 us, as I think it cannot, fince even nature has not 
 yet been equalled by the beft colou rifts ; here fhe 
 keeps art at a djftance whatever courtihip it hath 
 made to her. In forms it is otherwife, as we find 
 in the beft antique ftatues, which therefore I allow 
 to have a fublimity in them : And mould do the 
 fame in regard to the fame kind and degree of 
 beauty, if it were to be found in any picture, as I 
 believe it is not. Though in pictures is feen a grace 
 and greatnefs, whether from the attitude, or air of 
 the whole, or the head only, that may juftiy be 
 efteemed fublime. 
 
 It is to thefe properties therefore, as alfo to the 
 invention, expreffion and compofition, that I con- 
 fine the fublime in painting ; and this as they are 
 found in hiftories and portraits. 
 
 If the ftory, fublime in itfelf, lofes nothing of 
 its own dignity under the painter's hand, or if it 
 is raifed and improved, which it cannot be, if the 
 airs of the heads, and attitudes of the figures are 
 not conformable to the greatnefs of the fubject : If 
 expedients and incidents are introduced, that dif- 
 cover an elevation of thought in the mafter, and 
 all is artfully conveyed to us, whether in a fketch 
 or drawing, or in a finished picture ; this I efteem 
 fublimity in painting. Nor lefs fo, if a noble cha- 
 racter is given or improved ; a character of wif- 
 dom, goodnefs, magnanimity, or whatever other 
 virtues or excellencies •, and that together with a 
 juft and proper refemblance. But a low fubject, 
 
 and 
 
138 Of the SUBLIME. 
 
 and a mean character, are incapable of fublimity; 
 as is the bed compofition when employed on iuch. 
 
 When one fpeaks of the fublime in writing, the 
 inftance proper to illuftrate and explain what is 
 faid concerning it may be fet before your eyes, and 
 that without any diminution of its original luftre. 
 Painting has not this advantage ; much of the 
 beauty will be loft in the defcription how artful 
 foever ; as who can defcribe the air of the head, 
 whether as to its general character of grace or 
 dignity, or thofe particular ones of wifdom, good- 
 nefs, lovelinefs, or what are the effects of any 
 paflion, or emotion of foul ! Who can by words 
 fhew what Raphael, Guido, or Vandyke have done 
 with their pencils ! I fhould for this reafon have 
 been fparing of examples, if I had not already 
 given many for other purpofes, but which are alfo 
 inftances of the fublime in painting, and which 
 are fcattered up and down throughout all I have 
 written on this amiable fubject : But one or two I 
 will add in this place. The firft fhall be from 
 Rembrandt •, and furely he has given us fuch an 
 idea of a death-bed on one quarter of a meet of 
 paper, in two figures, with few accompaniments, 
 and in clair-obfcure only, that the moil eloquent 
 preacher cannot paint it fo ftrongly by the mod 
 elaborate difcourfe ; I do not pretend to defcribe 
 it, it muft be feen: I will however tell what the 
 figures and the reft are. An old man is lying on 
 his bed juft ready to expire; this bed has a plain 
 curtain, and a bmp hanging over it, for it is in a 
 little fort of an alcove, dark otherwife, though it 
 is bright day in the next room, and which is 
 neareft the eye, there the fon of this dying old man 
 is at prayers. O God ! What is this world ! We 
 fpend our years as a tale that is told. All is over 
 
 with 
 
Of the SUBLIME. 159 
 
 with this man, and there is fuch an expreflion in ' 
 this dull lamp-light at noon-day, fuch a touching 
 folemnity and repofe, that thefe equal any thing 
 in the airs and attitudes of the figures, which have 
 the utmoft excellency that I think I ever faw, or 
 can conceive is poffible to be imagined. 
 
 It is a drawing, I have it. And here is an in- 
 ftance of an important fubject, imprefTed upon 
 our minds by fuch expedients and incidents, as 
 difplay an elevation of thought and fine invention ; 
 and all this with the utmoft art, and with the 
 greateft fimplicity ; that being more apt, at leaft 
 in this cafe, than any embelliihment whatfoever. 
 
 The other inftance I promifed fhall be from 
 Federico Zuccaro : He hath reprefented the an- 
 nunciation fo as to give fuch an idea as we ought 
 to have of that amazing event : Over the Virgin 
 and the Angel, aloft, in a heaven of glory, ap- 
 pears God the father and the dove, all furrounded 
 by an innumerable multitude of angels, adoring, 
 rejoicing, &c. On each fide fit the prophets with 
 cartells, on which are written their predictions of 
 the miraculous incarnation of the Son of God. 
 
 I am perhaps prejudiced in favour of painting ; 
 but however, not fo much but that I am ready to 
 acknowledge, that we have few inftances, if any, 
 of the perfect fublime ; that is, where the thought 
 is fo, and the manner of conveyance equal to it ; 
 fome defects will always be found in the beft pic- 
 tures, whereas there are fublime pafiages in writers 
 where the words are not only the moil apt and 
 proper, but the moft beautiful : This, neverthe- 
 lefs is to the honour of our art. No man yet 
 hath arrived at excellency in all the parts of it : 
 This were the tank of an angel, or fome angelick 
 man, fuch as hath not yet appeared, Raphael 
 
 and 
 
i 4 o Or the SUBLIME. 
 
 and others have reached the fublime, and rofe as 
 high as Homer or Demofthenes ; but you can 
 rarely fee an entire picture, or even a fingle figure, 
 ■wherein an accurate though candid critic might 
 not wifh fomething otherwife •, whereas in writers 
 you often have their beautiful parts detached and 
 perfect. 
 
 But the fublime, as the crown in the ftate hides 
 all defects, it fills and fatisfies the mind ; nothing 
 appears to be wanting, nothing to be amifs, or if 
 it does, it is eafily forgiven. All faults die and 
 vanifh in prefence of the fublime, which when it 
 appears is as " the fun traverfmg the vaft defert of 
 " of the fky." Pindar. 
 
 Longinus rightly accounts for the defects that 
 are feen in men who have attained to fublimity ; 
 their minds, fays he, intent upon what is great, 
 cannot attend to little things •, and indeed the life 
 and capacity of a man are infufficient for both, 
 and even for all that is great in painting. But 
 who, fays Longinus, would not rather be De- 
 mofthenes than Hyperides, though one of thefe 
 had no faults, and the other many ? This other 
 had the fublime ! He was admirable, not merely 
 irreproachable. When we fee the fublime, it ele- 
 vates the foul, gives her a higher opinion of her- 
 felf, and fills her with joy, and a noble kind of 
 pride, as if herfelf had produced what fhe is ad- 
 miring. It ravifhes, it tranfports, and creates in 
 us a certain admiration, mixed with aftonifhment. 
 And, like a tempefl, drives all before it. 
 
 ■ ■ And muft confefs to find 
 
 In all things elfe delight indeed, but fuch 
 
 As us'd, or not, works in the mind no change, 
 
 Nor vehement defire : . 
 
 > But here 
 
 Far 
 
Of the SUBLIME. 141 
 
 Far otherwife tranfported I behold. 
 
 Here paffion firft I felt, 
 
 Commotion ftrange, in all enjoyments elfe 
 Superior and unmov'd. 
 
 Milton's Par. Loft, B. VIII. I. 523. 
 
 In the foregoing treatife I have been fhewing 
 what I take to be the rules of painting ; and tho' 
 any one had underftood and practifed them all, I 
 muft yet fay one thing is wanting, " Go, and en- 
 " deavour to attain the fublime." For a painter 
 mould not pleafe only, but fhould delight, fhould 
 tranfport, mould furprize. 
 
 Plus ultra * was the motto of Charles V. whofe 
 actions were of the fublime kind ; and, as Mon- 
 fieur St. Evremont finely diftinguifhes, rather vaft 
 than great : And this Ihould be the motto of all 
 who apply themfelves to any noble art, particu- 
 larly that of a painter - 3 he muft not propole like 
 Pyrrhus to conquer fuch a country, then fuch a 
 one, then another, and then reft ; he muft refolve, 
 like time, to be always going on, 
 
 Like the Pontick fea 
 
 Whofe icy current, and compulfive courfe 
 Ne'er knows retiring ebb, but keeps due on 
 To the Propontick, and the Hellespont. 
 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 In fhort, he muft be perpetually advancing. And 
 whatever rules are given as fundamental of the 
 art, plus ultra, like a golden thread, fhould be 
 woven in, and run throughout the whole piece. 
 
 To be contented with mediocrity in art, is an 
 argument of a meannefs of fpirit incapable even 
 of that}* and though it be attained, it is a ftateof 
 
 * " Ne plus ultra," fsid Hercules. 
 
 infipidity, 
 
142 O-F THE SUBLIME. 
 
 infipidity, a kind of non-entity : To be remark- 
 able for nothing, is not to be at all •, and lefs eli- 
 gible than to be remarkably a blockhead. 
 
 For who would lofe 
 
 Though full of pain this intellectual being, 
 Thofe thoughts that wander through eternity, 
 To perifh rather, fwallow'd up, and loft 
 In the wide womb of uncreated night. 
 
 Milton's Par. Loft, B. II. 1. 146. 
 
 He that upon trial finds himfelf incapable of 
 the fcience he had applied himfelf to, may turn to 
 fomething elfe, until he lights upon that in which 
 he may excel, as there is none but may do fo in 
 one thing or another-, but he who does juft tole- 
 rably well, flops there, and never gets higher in 
 any thing, is a fpecies of animals that makes the 
 tranfition from men to brutes eafy . 
 
 When we propofe only an exact imitation of 
 nature, we fhall certainly fall fhort of it •, fo when 
 we aim no higher than what we find in any one, or 
 more matters, we mall never reach their excellence : 
 He who would rife to the fublime muil form an 
 idea of fomething beyond all we have yet feen, or 
 which art or nature has yet produced ; painting, 
 fuch as when all the excellences of the feveral maf- 
 ters are united, and their feveral defects avoided. 
 
 The greateft defigners among the modems want 
 much of that exquifite beauty, in all the feveral 
 characters, that is to be feen in the antique; the 
 airs of the heads, even of Raphael himfelf, are 
 inferior to what the ancients have done (their fub- 
 jects being equal); and for grace, to fome of Guido: 
 The colouring of Rubens and Vandyke falls fhort 
 of that of Titian and Corregio •, and the beft maf- 
 ters have rarely thought like Raphael, or compofed 
 
 like 
 
Of. the SUBLIME. 143 
 
 like Rembrandt. Let us then imagine a picture 
 defigned as the Laocoon, the Hercules, the Apollo, 
 the Venus, or any of thefe miraculous remains of 
 antiquity : The airs of heads, like what is to be 
 found in the flatues, buds, baf-reliefs, or medals, 
 or like ibme of thofe of Guido ; and coloured like 
 the moft celebrated colourifts, with the lighted 
 pencil, and the moft proper to the fubject ; and 
 all this fuitably invented and cOmpofed; here 
 would be a picture! Such a one a painter fhould 
 imagine, and \o fet before him for imitation. 
 
 Nor mud he flop here, but create an original 
 idea of perfection. The utmoft that the bed 
 mailers have done, is not to be fuppofed the ut- 
 moft it is poflible for human nature to arrive at ; 
 Leonardo da Vinci, or Michael Angelo, might 
 have been thought to have carried the art as far as 
 it could go, had not Raphael appeared ; as Cima- 
 bue and Giotto were thought to have done in their 
 days ; 
 
 Credette Cimabue nella pittura 
 
 Tener lo campo, & or ha Giotto il grido 
 
 Si che la fema di colui ofcura. 
 
 Dante, Purgatorio XL 
 
 Who knows what is hid in the womb of time ! 
 Another may eclipie Raphael ; a new Columbus 
 may crofs the Atlantic Ocean, and leave the pil- 
 lars of that Hercules far behind. The out-lines 
 and airs of the bed antique, with the befl colour- 
 ing of the moderns united, would do this ± but 
 more yet than this is not impoflible; and this more 
 mould be attempted : 
 
 As God no model for the worlds could find, 
 But form'd them in his own eternal mind ; 
 So mould the artift, warm'd with heav'nly fire, 
 To a perfection yet unknown afpire. 
 
 This 
 
144 Of the SUBLIME. 
 
 This is the great rule for the fublime; not to be 
 given however until thofe fundamental ones of the 
 art have been well known and praetifed : This is 
 to be opened when a man hath got far on his way, 
 as the commiiTions of admirals or generals going on 
 fome great expedition frequently are. The fublime 
 difdains to be trammelled, it knows no bounds, it 
 is the fally of great geniufes, and the perfection of 
 human nature ; but like Milton's paradife 
 
 Wild, above rule, or art, enormous blifs ! 
 
 Milton's Par. Loft, B. V. 1. 297. 
 
 Return me to my native element 
 Left from this flying fteed, unrein'd (as once 
 Bellerophon tho' from a lower clime) 
 Difmounted, on the Aleian field I fall. 
 Erroneous there to wander, and forlorn. 
 
 Ibid. B. VII. 1. 16. 
 
 I have now done as much as may reafonably be 
 judged to come to my fhare, to fhew my hearty 
 love to my profeffion, having thus facriflced a great 
 many of thofe hours which would otherwife have 
 been gi/en (as they ought) to reft and diverfion ; 
 much more might be added, for the fubject is a 
 noble and a copious one •, but I muft take leave to 
 recommend what is farther to be done to fome 
 other hand, without the common flourilh of ex- 
 cufing myfelf upon account of inability ; though 
 I am alfo very fenfible of that. But the true realbn 
 of my declining it is that juil now given. 
 
 As for the prefent work, no body can be more 
 ready to fay, than I am to acknowledge, that it is 
 not fo well as it mould be: But as in drawings, 
 thofe are good which anfwer their end-, if no more 
 than the compofition (for example) is pretended to, 
 it were impertinent to fay they are incorrect* here 
 
 the 
 
Of the SUBLIME. 145 
 
 the reader mould diftinguifh between the writer and 
 the painter : My bufinefs is painting : If I have 
 fucceeded tolerably well in that character, the pub- 
 lic has no reafon to complain. Such as it is, and 
 fuch as my abilities, and the proportion of time 
 and application I have thought it reafonable for me 
 to beftow, has enabled me to make it, I now offer 
 it to the world; though I was not refolved lb to do 
 when I began to write. I remember to have heard 
 a ftory which (like others told on fuch occafions) 
 is not to be too ftrictly applied ; however the reader 
 may do as he thinks fit. A man of quality, Sir 
 Peter Lely's intimate friend, was pleafed to fay to 
 him one day, u For God's fake, Sir Peter, how 
 " came you to have fo great a reputation ? You 
 
 " know that I know you are no painter." 
 
 " My lord, I know I am not ; but 1 am the belt 
 " you have." 
 
 INTRO- 
 
[ i 4 6 ] 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 TO THE 
 
 Chronological List, 8cc. 
 
 TH E following hiftorical and chronological 
 lift (as to the main of it) I took the pains to 
 make fome years ago for my own ufe. I have 
 been pretty careful in it, lb that 1 believe there are 
 not many miftakes. Where I could find no ac- 
 count of the time of a mafter's birth, his place in 
 the lift will fhew whereabouts it probably was. 
 The double dates are the different accounts of au- 
 thors, the moft confiderable is that of Corregio ; 
 I have been determined to put him fo low upon 
 the authority of a manufcript of father Refta, a 
 late connointur at Rome, and who befides his in- 
 finite diligence in thefe matters, and a particular 
 regard, and even fondnefs, for Corregio, hath had 
 very great opportunities of being righdy informed, 
 confidering the diftance of time. The account of 
 the degrees in which fome of the moft eminent of 
 thefe matters excelled, is fcattered up and down 
 in the preceding difcourfe ; but of this you may 
 fee farther at the end of a fmall book of Mr. de 
 Piles, printed anno 1708. Cours de Peinture par 
 Principes. He has made a fcale, the higheft num- 
 ber of which is 18, and denotes the higheft degree 
 
 to 
 
INTRO D U C T I O N, &c. 147 
 
 to which any one hath arrived that we know of; 
 then he fuppofes the art to confift of Compoiition, 
 Defign, Colouring, and Expreflion, of each of 
 which he makes a feparate column, and in thefe 
 puts his number according as he judges the mafter 
 whofe name he applies them to has merited. The 
 thing is curious and ufeful; but fome confiderable 
 parts of painting being omitted, it gives not a juft 
 idea of the mafters. For example ; according to 
 this fcale Rembrandt feems to be equal to Giulio 
 Romano, and fuperior to Michael Angelo and 
 Parmegiano. Whereas had he brought Invention, 
 Greatnefs, Grace, &c. into the account, it would 
 have fet the matter right, fuppofmg he had al- 
 lotted the juft degrees, which neither he, nor any 
 one elfe can do fo as to pleafe univerfally. 
 
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 HU fi^-S| .<i2 .OT^SA-dSK-g ^'r2 
 
 
 
 
AN 
 
 ESSAY 
 
 ON THE WHOLE 
 ART of CRITICISM, 
 
 AS IT RELATES TO 
 
 PAINTING. 
 
 SHEWING HOW TO JUDGE, 
 
 L Of the Qoodnefs of a Pifture. 
 II. Of the Hand of the Mafter. 
 
 AN D 
 
 JII. Whether it is an Original, or a Copy, 
 
I 161 ] 
 
 A N 
 
 E S S A 
 
 ON THE 
 
 ART of CRITICISM, &c. 
 
 IT is true, the rules and priciples of an art are 
 the materials whereby to form a judgment of 
 the goodnefs of any production of that art. The 
 Theory of Painting therefore, which I have already 
 treated of, furnifhes fuch for the judging of the 
 goodnefs of a picture. But it is another art to 
 know how to make proper ufe of thofe ; and this 
 is what I have now undertaken to write upon in 
 the firft place. 
 
 And as I have been often afked how we know 
 the hands of the feveral mailers, and diftinguifh, 
 copies from originals, and am perfuaded a fatis- 
 faftory anfwer to thefe queftions will be very ac- 
 ceptable to moll gentlemen, as well as to thofe 
 particular enquirers ; I have determined to take 
 this way of anfwering them all at once, and that 
 more fully and accurately than could pofTibly have 
 been done off-hand, and in the time I could have ' ' 
 bellowed in making particular anfwers. 
 
 M I might 
 
161 An ESSAY on the 
 
 I might have excufed myfelf upon account of 
 that bufinefs in the way of my profefiion, in which 
 I am conftantly engaged •, and it is a plea which I 
 believe every one who knows me will be ready to 
 make for me; but there are fome hours, efpecially 
 in the winter-feafon, not fit for painting ; nor can 
 a. man always have his pencil in his hand in the 
 long days of fummer. Thefe portions of time, 
 well hufbanded by temperance and prudence, 
 amount to what is very considerable in the courfe 
 pf one's life ; and fufHcient to difpatch more than 
 will be eafily imagined by thofe who have never 
 tried, as being of an inactive temper and loving 
 procraflination •, or who lavifh away their time in 
 impertinent or criminal amufements. 
 
 And as I could not honeftly make any of this 
 fort, I will not trouble any of my readers with ex- 
 cufes for my inability of the other kind : I afiure 
 them I am not infenfible of it myfelf, but care not 
 how little they obferve it. Such as they are I have 
 given them my thoughts as well as I could ; and 
 fhall be glad if others are the better for my ftudies 
 in this way. And thefe have not been wanting; 
 for, as from my infancy I have never had a tafte 
 for the molt part of what is generally called plea- 
 fure and diverfion, whether from conftitution, or 
 upon a philofophical, prudential or religious con- 
 fideration, but on the contrary always loved retire- 
 ment and bufinefs, and, above all other ftudies 
 and employments, that of painting; and being 
 competently, not to fay abundantly, furnifhed 
 with materials for my purpcie (would to God 
 however I had feen, or could yet fee Italy !) I fay, 
 thus qualified, I have for fome years pail applied 
 myfelf, with all my powers of body and mind, to 
 this one purfuit, of adorning the province that 
 • had 
 
ART of CRITICISM. 163 
 
 had fallen to my lot ; and have done it with im- 
 partiality and freedom. 
 
 1 am well aware, that after all, I may perad- 
 venture be fometimes miftaken; let thofe who 
 think I am fo in any inftance confider the matter 
 as I have done, before they pronounce too pofi- 
 tively, for neither are they infallible : Readers are 
 too apt, at firft fight, to condemn as error, what 
 an author may have found, after a laborious and 
 tedious enquiry, to be truth. But however others 
 may judge, or whether I am in the right, or mif- 
 taken, I Hand equally acquitted in my own mind, 
 having taken the right way to arrive at truth. I 
 have not taken any thing upon truft ; but have 
 gone on and eftabliihed myfelf upon what ap- 
 peared to me warranted by reafon. 
 
 I afk the reader's pardon for detaining him fo 
 long with what chiefly concerns myfelf; I will 
 only take leave to plead one piece of merit, which 
 I pretend to have with the public, and that isy that 
 I have made a new acquisition for the common- 
 wealth of letters ; I believe this is the only book 
 extant upon the fubjecl:. Apelles wrote many vo- 
 lumes upon painting, perhaps among them fome* 
 thing might be faid on the knowledge of hands, 
 and how to diftinguifh copies from originals ; but 
 thefe have long ago had the fate of all things not 
 immortal. Father Orlandi, in his Abcedario Pit- 
 torico, has given us -a catalogue of about one hun- 
 dred and fifty books relating to painting in feveral 
 languages, but none that I can find treats of this 
 fcience. M. de Piles (to whom we are obliged for 
 fome curious and ufeful hints he has furnilhed us 
 with in his feveral works) is the only one I know 
 of who hath fo much as entered upon this matter ; 
 it is but ten or twelve pages in his Abrege de la 
 M 2 vie 
 
1 64 An ESSAY, &c. 
 
 vie des Peintres. If I had received any advantage 
 from what he has done on this head, considerable 
 enough to require it, I mould not have failed to 
 have acknowledged it on this occaflon ; and yet I 
 believe I have profited by it as much as any man 
 has, or can pcflibly. Not but that M. de Piles 
 feems well qualified upon feveral accounts to have 
 given us great light in this matter, if he had 
 thought fit, but he has not done it, he has only 
 flruck out a flight fketch of fome common and 
 obvious thoughts, and very little more. Whether 
 the fubject is worthy of a more elaborate eifay the 
 reader will judge for himfelf; it is evident I thought 
 it was, and I flatter myfelf it will appear to have 
 been not without reafon •, and as the politer part 
 of mankind in general, delight in this engaging 
 ftudy, or value them lei ves upon what lkill they 
 can attain to in judging of the hands and origi- 
 nality of thefe fine works, one mult fuppofe that 
 all thefe think as I do in this particular. 
 
 O F 
 
[ i6s ] 
 OF THE 
 
 GOODNESS of a PICTURE, &c. 
 
 " "TirHEREFORE calleft thou me good, 
 " VV there is none good but one, that is 
 " God ?" faid the Son of God to the young man 
 who prefaced a noble queftion with that com- 
 pliment. This is that goodnefs that is perfect, 
 fimple, and properly fo called ; it is what is pecu- 
 liar to the Deity, and fo, to be found no where 
 elfe. But there is another improper, imperfect, 
 comparative goodnefs, and no other than this is 
 to be had in the works of men, and this admits 
 of various degrees, A picture, drawing, or print, 
 therefore may* be good though it has feveral 
 faults. 
 
 In one of the Tatlers there is fine reafoning to 
 this purpofe-, " The heathen world had fo little 
 " notion that perfection was to be expected a- 
 " mongft men, that with them, any one quality or 
 " endowment in an heroick degree made a god. 
 " Hercules had ftrength, but it was never ob- 
 " jetted to him that he wanted wit. Apollo pre- 
 " fided over wit, and it was never afked whether 
 " he had ftrength. We'hear no exceptions againfh 
 " the beauty of M^ojwa^ or the wifdom of \^- 
 "^e*wr Thefe wife heathens were glad to im- 
 " mortalize any one ferviceable gift, and over- 
 " look all imperfections in the perfon that had it." 
 
 If in a picture the ftory be well chofen, and 
 finely told (at leaft) if not improved, if it fill the 
 mind v/ith noble and inftructive ideas, I will not 
 fcruple to fay it is an excellent picture, though 
 the drawing be as much fhorc of precife cor- 
 M 3 rectnefs 
 
i66 GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 
 
 rectnefs as that of Corregio, Titian, or Rubens ; 
 the colouring as difagreeable even as that of Poli- 
 dore, Battifta Franco, or Michael Angelo. Nay, 
 though there is no other good but that of the 
 colouring, and the pencil, I will venture to call 
 it a good picture ; that is, that it is good in thole 
 refpects. In the firfl inflance here is a fine ftory 
 artfully communicated to my imagination, not by 
 fpeech, nor writing, but in a manner preferable to 
 either of them •, in the other there is a beautiful 
 and delightful object, and a fine piece of work- 
 manfhip, to fay no more of it. 
 
 There never was a picture in the world without 
 fome faults, and very rarely is there one to be 
 found which is not notorioufly defective in fome 
 of the parts of painting. In judging of it's 
 goodnefs, one mould pronounce it fuch in propor- 
 tion to the number of the good qualities it has, and 
 their degrees of goodnefs. I will add, and, as a 
 philofopher, one mould only confider the ex- 
 cellency we fee, and enjoy that, as being, all be- 
 longing to it. No more regretting what it has 
 not, or thinking of it fo as to diminifh our plea- 
 sure in that it has, than we do the want of tafte 
 in a rofe, fpeech in a picture of Vandyke, or life 
 in one of Raphael. 
 
 There are two ways whereby a gentleman may 
 come to be perfuaded of the goodnefs of a pic- 
 ture or drawing ; he may neither have leifure nor 
 inclination to become a connoiiTeur himlelf, and 
 yet may delight in thefe fine productions, and de- 
 fire to pofiefs them -, he hath no way then but to 
 take up his opinions upon trufr, and implicitly 
 depend upon another's judgment. Here his own 
 is determined, upon arguments in favour of the 
 honefty and underftanding of the man he relies 
 
 on-, 
 
GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 167 
 
 on -, not at all relating to the intrinfick worth of 
 the work in queftion ; and this may be the wifeft 
 and beft courfe he can take, all things confi- 
 dered : though it is certain, when a man judgeth 
 for himfelf he may arrive at a higher degree of 
 perfuafion that the picture or drawing is good ; 
 becaufe one man may be as good a judge as 
 another, if he applies himfelf to it •, fo that here 
 the gentleman, and his guide are upon an equa- 
 lity •, either indeed may be miflaken, but he that 
 relies upon the judgment of another, hath a dou- 
 ble chance againft him of being deceived, for he. 
 may be miflaken in his opinion of the honefty, or 
 understanding of this other. 
 
 This way of judging upon the authority of 
 another I meddle not with : The firft thing then 
 to be done in order to become a good connoiffeur 
 one's felf, is to avoid prejudices, and falfe rea- 
 foning. 
 
 Error abounds every where ; we are furrounded 
 with miftake; from our infancy we imbide notions 
 and principles, without any, or upon flight exa- 
 mination ; and what are, at all, confidered, are ufu- 
 ally built on others already admitted, without due 
 confideration. Thefe crudities {till produce more, 
 and the accumulated heap encreafeth with our 
 years •, and would be greater than it is, but that 
 many are forgotten, and others carried off by ac- 
 cidental conviction ; fometimes from truths, and 
 fometimes from new miflakes. 
 
 We mould confider ourfelves as rational beings 
 at large, no matter of what age, or of what 
 country, nor even of what part of the nniverfe we 
 are inhabitants, no more than it would be to con- 
 fider ourfelves as of fuch a city, or fuch a parifh. 
 Opinions taken up early, and from thofe we have 
 M 4 loved 
 
105 UUUJJINJtlSS OF A flllUKL 
 
 loved and honoured, and which we fee to be ap- 
 proved and applauded by fuch, be their numbers 
 ever fo great, muft have no advantage with us 
 upon thefe accounts. Neither mud our own paf- 
 fions, or intereft be allowed to give the leaft biafs 
 to our judgments when we are upon a rational 
 enquiry. A connoifTeur muft confider the an- 
 cients, the Italians, Vandyke, Annibale Caracci, 
 Giulio Romano, Michael Angelo, and even the 
 divine Raphael himielf as fallible, and examine 
 their works with the fame unbiafied indifFerency, 
 as if he had never heard of fuch men. Nor muft 
 any thing be taken for granted ; we muft examine 
 up to flrft principles, and go on ftep by ftep, in 
 all our deductions •, contenting ourfelves with that 
 degree of light we can thus ftrike out, without 
 fancying any degree of afTent is due to any pro- 
 portion beyond what we can fte evidence for; 
 if the nature of the thing admits of no proof, we 
 are to give no aflent. And as truth is uniform, 
 and evermore confiftent with itfelf,- the mind thus 
 remains in perfect ferenity ; whereas we muft be 
 eternally perplexed and uneafy if we mix rea- 
 fon with prejudice, and when we difcover a bright 
 beam of truth by rational evidence, endeavour to 
 reconcile it with proportions taken up in ano- 
 ther manner, if thofe happen to be erroneous ; 
 and ftill the more, if, for the fake of thofe un- 
 examined notions, we reject what our reaion is 
 otherwife convinced of. 
 
 There are certain arguments, which a con- 
 noifTeur is utterly to reject, as not being fuch by 
 which he is to form his judgment, of what life 
 foever they may be to thofe who are incapable of 
 judging otherwife, or who will not take the pains 
 to know better. Some of thefe "have really no 
 
 weight 
 
GOODNESS or a PICTURE. i% 
 
 weight at all in them, the beft are very preca- 
 rious, and only ferve to perfuade us the thing is 
 good in general, not in what refpect it is fo. That 
 a picture or drawing has been, or is much efteemed 
 by thofe who are believed to be good judges ; or 
 is, or was part of a famous collection, coll fo 
 much, has a rich frame, or the like. Whoever 
 makes ufe of fuch arguments as thefe, befides that 
 they are very fallacious, takes the thing upon, 
 truft, which a good connoifTeur mould never 
 condefcend to do. That it is old, Italian, rough, 
 fmooth. Thefe are circumftances hardly worth 
 mentioning, and which belong equally to good 
 and bad. A picture or drawing may be too old 
 to be good ; but in the golden age of painting, 
 which was that of Raphael, about two hundred 
 years ago, there were wretched painters, as well as 
 before, and fince; and in Italy, as well as elfe- 
 where. Nor is a picture the better, or the worfe, 
 for being rough, or fmooth 5 fimply confidered. 
 Of works that are left us of the ancients them- 
 felves, nine parts in ten are but indifferent, and 
 many wretched. One of the commoneft and moll 
 deluding arguments that is ufed on this occafion 
 is, that it is of the hand of fuch a one. Though 
 this has no great weight in it, even admitting it to 
 be really of that hand, which very often it is not r 
 The beft mailers have had their beginnings and 
 decays, and great inequalities throughout their 
 whole lives, as fhall be more fully noted hereafter. 
 That it is done by one who has had great helps 
 and opportunities of improving himfelf, or one 
 that fays he is a great m after, is what people are 
 very ready to be cheated by, and not one jot the 
 lefs for having found that they have been fo cheated 
 again and again before, nay, though theyjuftly 
 
 laugh 
 
170 GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 
 
 laugh at, and defpife the man at the fame time. 
 To infer a thing is, becaufe it ought to be, is un- 
 reafonable, becaufe experience fhould teach us 
 better ; but often we think there are opportunities, 
 and advantages where there are none, or not in the 
 degree we imagine •, and to take a man's own 
 word, where his intereft, or vanity mould make 
 us fufpect him is fufliciently unaccountable. Who- 
 ever builds upon a fuppofition of the good fenfe, 
 and integrity of mankind has a very fandy founda- 
 tion, and yet this is what we find many a popular 
 argument refts upon, in other cafes, as well as in 
 this. But, (as I faid) whether thefe kind of argu- 
 ments above-mentioned have any thing in them 
 or not, a connoiffeur has nothing to do with them ; 
 his bufinefs is to judge from the intrinfic qualities 
 of the thing itfelf •, as when a man receives a 
 propofition in divinity, (for example) not becaufe 
 it was believed by his anceftors, or eftablifhed a 
 thoufand years ago, or for whatever other fuch 
 like reafons ; but becaufe he has examined, and 
 confidered the thing itfelf as if it were juft now 
 offered to the world, and abfolutely diverted of all 
 thofe collateral advantages. 
 
 In making our remarks upon a picture, or a 
 drawing, we are only to confider what we find, 
 without any regard to what, perhaps, the mailer 
 intended. It is commonly faid of commentators, 
 that they difcover more beauties than the author 
 ever thought of: perhaps they do •, and what then ? 
 are they lefs beauties for that, or lefs worthy our 
 notice ? or are there not defects alfo that were never 
 intended ? If one may not be brought to account, 
 neither let the other : This is the advantage a 
 writer, or painter, or any other artift ought to 
 
 have j 
 
GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 171 
 
 have; his lucky inadvertencies fhould help to 
 ballance againft his unlucky ones. 
 
 But after all, perhaps thefe beauties were thought 
 of, and intended by the mafter or author; and 
 perhaps, a great many more than the commentator 
 ever dreamt of: and perhaps alfo what are judged 
 to be defects are not fo. The author, or artift of 
 what fort foever (if he be a good one efpecially) is 
 in more danger of fuffering by the overfights, ig- 
 norance, malice, or other evil quality of his com- 
 mentators, than he is likely to gain by their pene- 
 tration, indulgence, good nature, or whatever o- 
 ther good quality. Commentators are in a fine 
 fituation! We, like the poor mariners, with in- 
 finite pains and hazards fetch in from all parts 
 things for ufe or delight ; they, like the mer- 
 chants at their eafe receive all from our hands, and 
 fay this is well, or that ill, as their opinion or 
 caprice fuggefts. For God's fake, let us have 
 juftice if we are not allowed indulgence : Let 
 there not be a draw-back upon what is well, and 
 none on what is amifs : Either let fuppofes, and 
 peradventures be equally admitted on both fides ; 
 or (which is better) let them be intirely excluded. 
 
 To judge of the goodnefs of a picture, draw- 
 ing, or print, it is neceffary to eftablilh to ourfelves 
 a fyftem of rules to be applied to that we intend 
 to give a judgment of; thefe are no other than 
 thofe which he that is to give fuch judgment would 
 have been directed by, had he been to have made, 
 what now he is to judge of. 
 
 And thefe rules mull be our own ; whether as 
 being the refult of our own ftudy and obfervation, 
 and drawn up and compofed by us ; or by fome 
 other, and examined, and approved by us, 
 
 1-^exe 
 
172 GUUDINkisS of A FiLTURE. 
 
 Here in order to make this difcourie as com- 
 pleat as I could I mould have been obliged to 
 have given fuch a fyftem, but having done that 
 at large in my former effay, that affair is over, it 
 is at the reader's fervice, and he may ufe that or 
 any other, or one compofed out of feveral, with 
 additions and improvements, or without, as he 
 thinks fit: However I will here make him an 
 offer of an abftract of what I take to be thofe by 
 which a painter or connoiffeur may fafely conduct 
 himfelf, referring to the preceding effay for further 
 fatisfaction. 
 
 I. The fubject, whatever it be, hiftory, por- 
 trait, landfcape, Sec. mult be finely imagined, 
 and if poffible improved in the painter's hands -, 
 he muft think well as a hiftorian, poet, philofo- 
 pher, or divine, and moreover as a painter in 
 making a wile ufe of all the advantages of his 
 art, and finding expedients to fupply its defects. 
 
 II. The exprefiion muft be proper to the fub- 
 ject, and the characters of the perfons ; it muft be 
 ftrcng, fo that the dumb-fhew may be perfectly 
 well, and readily underftood. Every part of the 
 picture muft contribute to this end ; colours, ani- 
 mals, draperies, and efpecially the actions of the 
 figures, and above all the airs of the heads. 
 
 III. There muft be one principal light, and 
 this, and all the fubordinate ones with the fhadows 
 and repofes, muft: make one intire harmonious 
 mafs-, the feveral parts muft be well connected 
 and contrafted, fo as that the whole compofition at 
 firft view, muft be grateful to the eye, as a good 
 piece of mufick is to the ear. By this means the 
 picture is not only more delightful, but better 
 fecn and comprehended. 
 
 IV. The 
 
GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 173 
 
 IV. The drawing muft be juft; nothing muft 
 be flat, lame, or ill-proportioned ; and thefe pro- 
 portions muft vary according to the characters of 
 the perfons drawn. 
 
 V. The colouring, whether gay or folid, muft 
 be natural, beautiful and clean, and what the eye 
 
 1 is delighted with, in fhadows as well as lights and 
 middle tints. 
 
 VI. And whether the colours are laid on thick, 
 or finely wrought, it muft appear to be done by a 
 light and accurate hand. 
 
 Laftly, Nature muft be the foundation. This 
 muft ftili and ever appear ; but nature muft be 
 raifed and improved, not only from what is com- 
 monly feen to what is but rarely ; but even yet 
 higher, from a judicious and beautiful idea in the 
 painter's mind, fo that grace and greatnefs may 
 mine throughout; more or ieis however as the 
 fubject may happen to be. And herein confifts 
 the principal excellency of a picture or drawing. 
 
 Thefe few plain rules, being thoroughly com- 
 prehended and remembered (which may be done 
 with a tolerable meafure of good fenfe, a little 
 trouble in reading, and a good deal of obfervation 
 on nature, and pictures and drawings of good 
 mafters) I will venture to fay are fufficient to qua- 
 lify a gentleman to be a good judge in thefe mat- 
 ters, as being derived from, and evidently founded 
 upon reafon -, and though not deftitute of abun- 
 dant authority, yet neither borrowed from thence, 
 or at all trufting to that for their fupport. 
 
 And, let me be again permitted to fay it, I ad- 
 vance nothing upon the foot of authority. What- 
 ever authorities there may be for any propofition, 
 the fingle value of thefe themfelves confifts in their 
 being derived from reafon ; and they weigh with 
 
 me 
 
174 GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 
 
 me in proportion as I can fee they do fo ; they 
 then become my own, and I have no occafion to 
 produce the author, but the reafon : Or (if this be 
 obvious) leave it to be obferved by the reader. 
 
 And the matter would terminate here, though 
 we had a book of rules for painting faid to be 
 written by Apelles himfelf, and it were allowed 
 that what Apelles faid was infallibly true ; for 
 then, inftead of faying are thefe rules good, are 
 they founded upon reafon? the queftion would 
 only be, Are they really of him ? Their authority 
 then will reft, not upon the credit of Apelles, but 
 upon the teftimony of thofe who affirm they are 
 his. Which I fhall not want, if I find the rules 
 to be good •, and if I do not, it will be infufficient : 
 And all this without the leaft prejudice to the pro- 
 found refpect I have for Apelles ; nay, it is a necef- 
 fary confequence of it. 
 
 To judge of the degrees of goodnefs of a pic- 
 ture or drawing, it is neceffary that the connoifteur 
 fhould be thoroughly acquainted and perpetually 
 converfant with the beft. For how perfectly fo- 
 ever he may be mafter of the rules of the art, he 
 will know that thofe are like what divines call pre- 
 cepts of perfection -, that is, they are given as what 
 we mould endeavour to go by as far as we are able. 
 The beft things we know will be the ftandard by 
 which we mall judge of thofe and all the reft. Carlo 
 Maratti and Ginfeppe Chiari will be a Raphael, 
 and Giulio Romano, to him who has never feen 
 better •, and then an inferior mafter will make a 
 good Carlo. I have been furprized to obferve what 
 pleafure fome connoiffeurs have taken in what 
 another looked upon with little, if not with con- 
 tempt, until I have confidered one was not fo well 
 
 acquainted 
 
GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 175 
 
 .acguainted with the works of the beft mailers as 
 the other, and that accounts for it fufficiently. 
 
 All the different degrees of goodnefs in paint- 
 ing may be reduced to thefe three general claffes. 
 The mediocre or indifferently good, the excellent, 
 and the fublime. The firft is of a large extent ; 
 the fecond much narrower ; and the laft ftill more 
 fo. I believe moft people have a pretty clear and 
 juft idea of the two former ; the other is not fo 
 well underftood ; which therefore I will define ac- 
 cording- to the fenfe I have of it 1 and I take it to 
 confift of the higheft degrees of excellence in thofe 
 kinds and parts of painting which are excellent; 
 the fublime therefore mufl be marvellous and fur- 
 prizing •, it muft ftrike vehemently upon the mind, 
 and fill and captivate it irrefiftibly. 
 
 Upon this occafion we will juft enquire, en 
 paffant, whether it is our intereft to have fo refined 
 a tafte in general, as to be pleaied only with a very 
 few things, and thefe rarely to be found; which 
 therefore contracts our enjoyments, whereas it is our 
 bufinefs rather to enlarge them. It will be readily 
 fuggefted in anfwer to this, That what is loll upon 
 account of the number of our pleaflires, will be 
 gained in the quality of them. The queflion then 
 will be, Whether the noify, tumultuous pleafures 
 of the vulgar are not equivalent to thofe which the 
 moft refined wits tafte; that is, whether one man is 
 not as happy, or pleafed (which is the fame thing) 
 with an uncommon, diverting accident at the bear- 
 garden, or with a bad picture, as another in confi- 
 dering fome of the nobleft inftances of the fublime 
 in Raphael or Homer ? The anfwer to which is 
 very fhort, He is not ; and that for the fame rea- 
 fon as an oyfter is not capable of the fame degree 
 of pleafure as a man. It will not follow however 
 
 that. 
 
jj6 GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 
 
 that, upon the foot of the account, one is more 
 happy than the other ; becaufe that delicacy and 
 acutenefs of mind which is fufceptible of the greateft 
 pleaiiire, is proportionably fo with refpect to its 
 contrary : But the competition is not now betwixt 
 enjoyment and mifery, but one pleafure and an- 
 other. And thus it appears, that a man is in no 
 danger of diminifhing his happinefs by refining his 
 tafte. " God was not in the ftorm, nor in the 
 " earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the ftill fmall 
 " voice." 
 
 Hitherto I have been confidering the goodnefs 
 of a picture as being done according to the rules 
 of art: There is another kind of goodnefs, and 
 that is, as the picture or drawing aniwers the ends 
 intended to be ferved by them •, of which there are 
 feveral, but all reducible to thefe two general ones, 
 pleafure and improvement.* 
 
 I am forry the great and principal end of the 
 art hath hitherto been fo little confidered ; I do 
 not mean by gentlemen only, but by thofe who 
 ought to have gone higher, and to have taught 
 others to have followed them. It is no wonder if 
 many who are accuftomed to think fuperficially 
 look on pictures as they would on a piece of rich 
 hangings •, or if fuch as theie (and fome pain- 
 ters among the reft) fix upon the pencil, the co- 
 louring, or perhaps the drawing, and fome little 
 circumftantial parts in the picture, or even the 
 juft reprefentation of common nature, without 
 penetrating into the idea of the painter, and the 
 beauties of the hiftory, or fable. I fay, it is no 
 wonder if this fo frequently happens when thofe, 
 
 * Et prodefle volunt & delegare poetae : 
 
 Ut piftura poefis. Hor. Ar. Poet. 333. 
 
 whether 
 
GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 177 
 
 whether ancients or moderns, who have wrote of 
 painting, in defcribing the works of painters in 
 their lives, or on other occafions, have very rarely- 
 done any more ; or, in order to give us a great 
 idea of fome of the beft painters, have told us 
 fuch filly ftories * as that of the curtain of Par- 
 rhafius which deceived Zeuxis, of the fmall lines 
 one upon the other in the contention -f- between 
 Apelles and Protogenes, of the J circle of Giotto, 
 and fuch like ; trifles, which if a man were ever 
 fo expert at, without going many degrees higher, 
 he would not be worthy the name of a painter,. || 
 much lefs of being remembered by pofterity with 
 honour. 
 
 It is true, there are fome kinds of pictures which 
 can do no more than pleafe, as it is the cafe of 
 fome kinds of writings j but one may as well fay 
 a library is only for ornament and oftentation, as 
 a collection of pictures or drawings. If fuch is 
 the only end, I am fure it is not from any defect 
 in the nature of the things themfelves. 
 
 I repeat it again, and would inculcate it, paint- 
 ing is a fine piece of workmanfhip •, it is a beau- 
 tiful ornament, and as fuch gives us pleafure; but 
 over and above this, painters are upon the level 
 with writers, as being poets, hiftonans, philofo- 
 phers and divines, the/ entertain and inftruct 
 
 * See Plinv, Hift. Nat. xxx. 10. 
 
 f Id. ib. ' 
 
 X See Vafari in his life,. 
 
 H ■ ■ Neque enim concludere verfum 
 
 Dixeris effe fatis, neque fi quis fcribat, uti nos,- 
 Sermoni propiora; putes hunc effe poetam. 
 Ingenium cui fit, cui mens divinior, atque os 
 Magna fonaturum, des nomines hujus honorem. 
 
 Hor. Sat. iv. 40. 
 
 N equally 
 
178 GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 
 
 equally with them. This is true, and manifeft 
 beyond difpute, whatever mens notions have been ; 
 
 To wake the foul by tender ftrokes of art, 
 To raife the genius, and to mend the heart. 
 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 is the bufinefs of painting as well as of tragedy. 
 
 There being pictures of feveral kinds, fome ca- 
 pable only of pleafing, arid others alfo of inftruct- 
 ing and improving the mind •, this being the no- 
 bler end, a difference ought to be made accord- 
 ingly ; two pictures may be equally good, v/ith 
 refpect to the rules of the art, equally well drawn, 
 coloured, &c. but very different, with refpect to 
 the rank they ought to hold in our eftimation : A 
 boor opening of mufcles, and a Madona may be 
 jpne as well painted as the other, but there can be 
 no difpute when the quefton is, which of thefe two 
 is preferable. 
 
 So feveral of the parts of painting may be 
 equally well in the fame picture, but they are not 
 equally confiderable in themfelves •, a fine pencil 
 (for example) is not comparable to a fine inven- 
 tion. 
 
 When therefore we are to make a judgment in 
 what degree of goodnefs a picture or drawing is, 
 we mould confider its kind firil, and then its fe- 
 veral parts. A hiftory is preferable to a landfcape, 
 fea-piece, animals, fruit, flowers, or any other flill 
 life, pieces of drollery, &c. the reafon is, the 
 latter kinds may pleafe, and in proportion as they 
 do fo they are eftimable, and that is according to 
 every one's tafte, but they cannot improve the 
 mind, they excite no noble fentiments-, at leaft 
 not as the other naturally does. Thefe not only 
 give us pleafure, as being beautiful objects, and 
 
 furnifhjng 
 
GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 179 
 
 furnilhing us with ideas as the other do, but the 
 pleafure we receive from hence is greater (I fpeak 
 in general, and what the nature of the thing is 
 capable of) it is of a nobler kind than the other •, 
 and then moreover, which is the chief of all, the 
 mind may be enriched and made better. 
 
 A portrait is a fort of general hiftory of the 
 life of the perfon it reprefents, not only to him. 
 who is acquainted with it, but to many others, 
 who upon occafion of feeing it are frequently told, 
 of what is molt material concerning him, or his 
 general character at leaft t, the face and figure is 
 alfo defcribed, and as much of the character as 
 appears by thefe, which oftentimes is here feen in 
 a very great degree. Thefe therefore many times 
 anfwer the ends of hiftorical pictures. And to re- 
 lations or friends give a pleafure greater than any 
 other can. 
 
 There are many fingle heads which are hiflxM 
 rical, and may be applied to feveral ftories. I 
 have many fuch; I have, for inftance, a boy's 
 head of Parmegiano, in whole every feature ap- 
 pears fuch an overflowing joy, and that too not 
 common, but holy and divine, that I imagine him 
 a little angel rejoicing at the birth of the Son of 
 God. I have another of Leonardo da Vinci of a 
 youth very, angelical, and in whom yet appears an 
 air fuch as Milton defcribes 
 
 Dim fadnefs did not fpare 
 
 That time celeftial vifages, yet mixt 
 With pity, violated not their blifs. 
 
 This I fuppofe to be prefent at the agony of our 
 Lord, or his crucifixion, or feeing him dead, with 
 his blelfed mother in that her vail diftrefs, Single 
 figures may be alfo thus applied and made hifto- 
 N 2 rical. 
 
1S0 GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 
 
 rical. But heads, not thus applicable, muft be 
 reckoned in an inferior clafs, and more or lefs fo 
 according as they happen to be. As portraits that 
 are not known are not equally confiderabie with 
 thofe that are ; though upon account of the dig- 
 nity of the fubject they may be reckoned in the 
 firft clafs of thofe wherein the principal end of 
 painting is not fully anfwered, and capable how- 
 ever of the fublime. 
 
 The kind of picture or drawing having been 
 confidered, regard is to be had to the parts of 
 painting; we fhould fee in which of thefe they 
 excel, and in what degree it excels. 
 
 And thefe feveral parts do not equally contri- 
 bute to the ends of painting ; but (I think) ought 
 to ftand in this order : 
 
 GRACE and GREATNESS, 
 
 INVENTION, 
 
 EXPRESSION, 
 
 COMPOSITION, 
 
 COLOURING, 
 
 DRAWING, 
 
 HANDLING. 
 
 The laft can pleafe only; the next (by which I 
 underftand pure nature, for the great and genteel 
 {tile of drawing falls into another part) this alfo 
 can only pleafe, colouring pleafes more ; compo- 
 fition pleafes at leaft as much as colouring, and 
 moreover helps to inftruct, as it makes thofe parts 
 that do fo more confpicuous •, exprefiion pleafes, 
 and inftructs greatly ; the invention does both in 
 a higher degree, and grace and greatnefs above 
 all. Nor is it peculiar to that ftory, fable, or 
 whatever the fubject is, but in general raifes our 
 
 idea 
 
GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 181 
 
 idea of the fpecies, gives a moft delightful vir- 
 tuous pride, and kindles in noble minds an ambi- 
 tion to act up to that dignity thus conceived to be 
 in human nature. In the former parts the eye is 
 employed, in the other the underftanding. 
 
 By thus confidering in what rank of eftimation 
 the leveral parts of painting ought to ftand, we 
 may (by the v/ay) obferve what degrees of merit 
 each mafter hath, for thofe are more or leis in 
 proportion as he has excelled in thofe parts which 
 are preferable. Thus Albert Durer, though his 
 defign was very correct, can by no means ftand in 
 competition with Corregio, who was defective in 
 that particular, becaufe the latter, had grace and 
 greatnefs, which the other had not. 
 
 And thus alfo it is feen that drawings, in many 
 refpects, are preferable to paintings, as having 
 thofe qualities which are moft excellent in a higher 
 degree than paintings generally have, or can pofli- 
 bly have •, and the others (excepting only colour- 
 ing) equally with them. There is a grace, a deli- 
 cacy, a fpirit in drawings, which, when the mafter 
 attempts to give them in colours, are commonly 
 much diminifhed ; thefe being a fort of copying 
 from thofe firft thoughts -, and while the mafter is 
 labouring to attain qualities that drawings have 
 not, he lofes, in fome degree, thofe which they 
 have, and which are of a higher kind. 
 
 There are other confiderations relating to pio 
 tures, drawings, and more particularly to prints ; 
 but as thefe are intirely diftinct from that of their 
 goodnefs as works of art, and are only concern- 
 ing their value to the buyer or feller, fuch as the 
 condition they are in, their rarity, or other fuch 
 like circumftances •, though thefe things are of " 
 importance on fome occafions they are foreign to 
 N 3 the 
 
182 GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 
 
 the fubject of my prefent difcourfe, and fo it h 
 enough jufl to have mentioned them. 
 
 Whatever we look upon therefore mould be 
 confidered diflinctly and particularly, and not only 
 feen in general to be fine or not, but nicely de- 
 fined, wherein it is one or the other. Moll of our 
 writers have been very fuperficial in this refpect ; 
 they have faid where a picture of fuch a mailer 
 was, and have told us the. fubject, and beftowed 
 certain epithets upon it, as that it was divine, fur- 
 prizing, or that fuch a figure feemed to be alive, 
 and the like ; and this without diflinction to works 
 of very different characters, but the fame general 
 defcriptions ferve for all •, fo that we can have no 
 clear idea of them from thole authors ; and I do 
 not doubt but moft of thofe that look upon pic- 
 tures or drawings, take in fuch imperfect, un- 
 formed and confufed ideas ; if we are pleafed or 
 difpleafed, if our minds are improved or hurt, we 
 fhould obferve from what caufe this has happened, 
 what part of painting the mailer has fucceeded,- 
 or been defective in, and to what degree ? Or is 
 this owing to the fubject, rather than to the man- 
 ner of treating it, and how far ? Such, and the 
 like confiderations will help to give us clear and 
 diftinct ideas of the work and the mailer, which 
 a good connoiffeur fhould always form in his mind. 
 And the better to do this he mould 
 
 Lailly, Obferve method and order in his way of 
 thinking ; not mixing and jumbling obfervations, 
 of different kinds, but going on gradually from 
 one thing to another, dilpatching the firft before 
 he embarrafleth himlelf with any other. 
 
 And this every one may do for himfelf, and 
 perhaps better than he can be directed by another. 
 
 The 
 
GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 183 
 
 The following method feems to me to be the moft 
 natural, convenient, and proper. 
 
 Before you come fo near the picture to be con- 
 (Idered as to look into particulars, or even to be 
 able to know what the fubjedt of it is, at lead be- 
 fore you take notice of that, obferve the tout-en- 
 femble of the maffes, and what kind of one the 
 whole makes together. It will be proper at the 
 fame diftance to confider the general colouring; 
 whether that be grateful, chearing, and delightful 
 to the eye, or difagreeable ; then let the compofi- 
 tion be examined near, and fee the contrails, and 
 other particularities relating to it, and fo finifti 
 your obfervations on that head. The fame then 
 may be done with refpedt to the colouring ; then 
 the handling, and afterwards the drawing; thefe 
 being difpatched, the mind is at liberty carefully 
 to confider the invention ; then to fee how well the 
 expreffion is performed. And laftly, what grace 
 and greatnefs is fpread throughout, and how fuit- 
 able to each character. 
 
 Monfieur de Piles has a pretty thought of a 
 fcale, whereby he gives an idea in fhort of the 
 merit of the painters. I have given fome account 
 of it in the latter end of my former eifay. This, 
 with a little alteration and improvement may be of 
 great ufe to lovers of art and connoiffeurs. 
 
 1 will keep to the number 18 to denote the 
 higher! degree of excellence ; and that, and the 
 preceding one fhall ftand for the fublime in thofe 
 parts of painting that are capable of it. 16. 15. 
 14. 13. mail denote excellence in thefe 4 degrees, 
 as from 1 2 to 5 inclufive fhall fignify the mediocre : 
 And though bad pictures are not worth our no- 
 tice at all, good ones may be bad in fome particu- 
 lars ; I will therefore referve the other 4 numbers 
 N 4 to 
 
1 84 GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 
 
 to exprefs that. Not that the province of bad is 
 of no greater extent than that of excellent, but 
 becaufe good matters, whofe works only I am con- 
 cerned about, very rarely fink many degrees into 
 bad ; if it mould lb happen, let that be marked 
 with a cypher only. 
 
 The ule to be made of this fcale is this: A little 
 pocket-book might be always ready, every leaf of 
 which fhould be prepared as fhall be feen pre- 
 fently. And when one confiders a picture, an 
 eflimate might be made of it by putting fuch 
 figures under each head as fhall be judged proper-, 
 or more than one if in one part of the picture 
 there be any confiderable difference from what is 
 in another, or if there be a double confideration 
 requiring it. 
 
 1 will give a fpecimen of what I have been pro- 
 pofing ; and the fubject fhall be a portrait of Van- 
 dyke, which I have : it is a half-length of a coun- 
 tefs dowager of Exeter, as I learn from the print 
 made of it by Faithorn, and this is almoft. all one 
 can learn from that concerning the picture, be- 
 sides the general attitude and difpofition of it. 
 
 The dreis is black velvet, and that appearing 
 almoft: one large fpot, the lights not being fo ma- 
 naged as to connect it with the other parts of the 
 picture; the face and linen at the neck,, and the 
 two hands, and broad cuffs at the wrifls, being 
 by this means three feveral fpots of light, and that 
 near of an equal degree, and forming almoft an 
 equilateral triangle, the bale of which is parallel 
 to that of the picture, the compofition is defec- 
 tive ; and this occafioned chietiy from the want of 
 thofe lights upon the black. But fo far as the 
 head, and almoft to the waift, with the curtain 
 behind, there is an admirable harmony; the chair 
 
 alfo 
 
GOODNESS op a PICTURE. 185 
 
 alfo makes a medium between the figure and the 
 ground. The eye is delivered down into that dead 
 black fpot, the drapery, with great eale j the neck 
 is covered with linen, and at the brea'ft the top of 
 the ftomacher makes a flraight line. This would 
 have been very harfh and difagreeable, but that it is 
 very artfully broken by the bows of a knot of narrow 
 ribbon which rife above that line in fine, well-con- 
 trafted fhapes. This knot fallens a jewel on the 
 breaft, which alfo helps to produce the harmony 
 of this part of the picture ; and the white gloves 
 which the lady holds in her left hand, helps the 
 compofition fomething, as they vary that light fpot 
 from that which the other hand and linen make. 
 
 The general hue of the colouring is extreamly 
 beautiful ; it is folemn, but warm, mellow, clean, 
 and natural ; the flefh, which is exquifitely good, 
 efpecially the face, the black habit, the linen and 
 cufhion, the chair of crimfon velvet, and the gold 
 flowered curtain mixt with a little crimfon have an 
 admirable efFecT:, and would be perfect were there 
 a middle tincl: among the black. 
 
 The face and hands, are a model for a pencil in 
 portrait painting-, it is not Vandyke's firft laboured 
 Flemifh manner, nor in the leaft. carelefs or flight ; 
 the colours are well wrought, and touched in his 
 belt ftyle j nor is the curtain in the leaft inferior 
 in this particular, though the manner is varied as 
 it ought to be, the pencil is there more feen than 
 in the flefh j the hair, veil, chair, and indeed 
 throughout, except the black drefs is finely hand- 
 led. 
 
 The face is admirably well drawn ; the features 
 are pronounced clean, and firmly, fo as it is evi- 
 dent he who did that, conceived ftrong and, * 
 diltincTb ideas, and faw wherein the lines that 
 
 formed 
 
zftg GOODNESS o# a PICTURE. 
 
 formed thofe differed from all others •, there ar> 
 pears nothing of the antique, or Raphael tafte of 
 defigning -, but nature, well underftood, well cho- 
 fen, and well managed ; the lights and ihadows 
 are juftly placed and fhaped, and both fides of the 
 face aniwer well to each other. The jewel on 
 the breaft is finely difpofed, and directs the eye to 
 the line between the breafls, though concealed 
 otherwife by the widow drefs, and gives the body 
 there a great relief; the girdle alfo hath a good 
 effect, for by being marked pretty ftrongly the 
 eye is fhown the waift very readily. The linen, 
 the jewel, the gold curtain, the gaufe veil are all 
 extreamly natural, that is they are juftly drawn 
 and coloured. But the want of thofe lights I 
 have fo often lamented is the caufe that the figure 
 does not appear to fit firmly, the thighs and knees 
 are loft. Nor is the drawing of the arms, nor 
 even of the hands altogether as one would wifh, 
 particularly the left, and this not only in the out- 
 lines, but the lights and Ihadows ; efpecially of 
 that hand, which by being too light is brought 
 out of its true place, and nearer the eye than it 
 ought to be. There are alio fome overfights in the 
 perfpective of the chair and curtain ; in the lineal 
 part of the former, and in the aerial part in both. 
 
 Thefe being thus difpatched we are at liberty 
 to confider the invention. Vandyke's thought 
 feems to have been that the lady fhould be fitting 
 in her own room receiving a vifit of condolance 
 from an inferior with great benignity, as fhall be 
 feen prefently ; I would here obferve the beauty* 
 and propriety of this thought. For by this the 
 picture is not an infipid reprefentation of a face 
 and drefs, but here is alio a picture of the mind, 
 and what more proper to a widow than forrow ? 
 
 and 
 
GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 187 
 
 and more becoming a perfon of quality than hu- 
 mility and benevolence? Befides, had fhe been 
 fuppofed to have appeared to her equals, or fupe- 
 riors, the furniture of the place muft have been 
 mourning, aid her gloves on, but the colours of 
 the curtain and chair* and the contrail occafioned 
 by the gloves in her hand have a fine effect. 
 
 Never was a calm becoming forrow better ex- 
 preffed than in this face, chiefly there where it is 
 always moft confpicuous, that is in the eyes : Not 
 Guido Reni, no, nor Raphael himfelf could have 
 conceived a paffion with more delicacy, or more 
 flrongly exprefled it! to which alfo the whole at- 
 titude of the figure contributes not a little-, her 
 right hand drops eafily from the elbow of the chair, 
 which her wrift lightly refts upon, the other lies in 
 her lap towards her left knee, all which together 
 appears fo eafy an.d carelefs, that what is loft in 
 the compofition by the regularity I have taken 
 notice of, is gained in the expreffion ; which, be- 
 ing of greater confequence, juftifies Vandyke in 
 the main, and mows his great judgment, for though 
 as it is, there is (as I laid) fomething amifs, I 
 cannot conceive any way of avoiding that incon- 
 venience without a greater. 
 
 And notwith (landing the defects I have taken 
 the liberty to remark, with the fame indifFerency 
 as I have pbferved the beauties, that is, without 
 the lead regard to the great name of the mailer, 
 there is a grace throughout that charms, and a 
 greatnefs that commands refpect ; fhe appears at 
 firit fight to be a well-bred woman of quality, by 
 her face, and in her mien ; and as her drefs, orna- 
 ments, and furniture contribute fomething to the 
 greatnefs, the gaufe veil coming over her forehead, 
 and the hem of it hiding a defect (which was want 
 
 of 
 
188 GOOttNESS of a PICTURE. 
 
 of eye-brows,) is a fine artifice to give more grace. 
 This grace and greatnefs is not that of Raphael, 
 or the antique, but what is fuitable to a portrait, 
 to one of her age and character; and confequently 
 better than if fhe had appeared with the grace of 
 a Venus, or Helena, or the majefty of a Minerva, 
 or Semiramis. 
 
 It remains to confider this picture in the other 
 view ; we have feen in what degree the rules of 
 painting have been obferved •, let us now enquire 
 how far the ends of pleafure, and advantage are 
 anfwered. 
 
 And this is more or lefs as a man's prefent 
 fancy, judgment, or other circumftances happen 
 to be ; thefe confiderations are purely perfonal, 
 and every man mufl judge for himfelf. Here 
 therefore I fhall be very fhort, I will omit many 
 reflections that I might make, and expatiate upon, 
 and only touch fome of the principal. 
 
 The beauty and harmony of the colouring give 
 me a great degree of pleafure; for, though this 
 is grave and folid, it hath a beauty not lefs than 
 what is bright and gay. So much of the compo- 
 fition as is good does alfo much delight the eye ; 
 and though the lady is not young, nor remark- 
 ably handfome, the grace and greatnefs that are 
 here reprefented pleafe exceedingly. In a word, 
 as throughout this whole picture one fees inftances 
 of an accurate hand, and fine thought, thefe mure 
 give proportionable pleafure to fo hearty a lover 
 as I am. 
 
 The advantages of this picture to me, as a 
 painter, are very considerable. A better mailer 
 for portrait painting, and the fimple reprefenta- 
 tion of nature, as it is, perhaps never was, and a 
 better manner of this m..fter I have never feen : 
 
 there 
 
GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 189 
 
 there is fuch a benignity, fuch a genteel, becom- 
 ing behaviour, fuch a decent forrow, and resig- 
 nation expreffed here, that a man muft. be very 
 jnfenfible that is not the better for confidering it ; 
 the mourning habit excites ferious thoughts, which 
 may produce good effects. But what I confefs I 
 am particularly affected with, I who (I thank 
 God) have for many years been happy as a huf- 
 band, is the circumftance of widowhood, not 
 that it gives me forrow as remembering the con- 
 jugal knot muff be cut, but I rejoice that it yet 
 fubfifts. 
 
 Hail facred wedlock where difcretion join'd 
 With virtue choofes, and approves the choice. 
 ** Perpetual fountain of domeftick fweets ! 
 " Here Love his golden {hafts employs, here lights 
 <4 His conftant lamp, and waves his purple wings, 
 " Reigns here, and revels;" not in the bought fmil& 
 Of harlots, equally obtain'd by all, 
 And with contempt, and various terrors mixt. 
 This fweet fociety diflblves our fears, 
 Doubles our pleafures, and divides our cares ; 
 Here love with friendfhip, and efteem is found, 
 And mutual joy with innocence is crown'd. 
 
 I will only add before I produce my fcale, that 
 this being a portrait, and the face therefore by 
 much the moft confiderable, I have made a par- 
 ticular column for that, which for other pictures 
 is not neceffary. 
 
 Countefs 
 
i 9 o GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 
 
 Countefs Dowager of Exeter. 
 VANDYKE. 
 
 October the 16th, 1717. 
 
 Fa c e. 
 
 Compofition 
 
 
 10 
 
 18 
 
 Colouring 
 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 Handling 
 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 Drawing 
 
 
 10 
 
 17 
 
 Invention 
 
 
 18 
 
 18 
 
 ExprcfTion 
 
 
 18 
 
 18 
 
 Grace and Gi 
 
 -eatnefs 
 
 18 
 
 18 
 
 Advantage Pleafure 
 
 18 Sublime. 16 
 
 The blank is for landfcapes or animals, or any 
 other particular in a hiftory, or portrait that is 
 worthy remarking in an article by itfelf. That at 
 the bottom for any memorandum that may be 
 thought proper befides what is faid at top where the 
 picture, owner, time leen, &c, may be fpecified. 
 
 Whoever 
 
GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 191 
 
 Whoever practices a regular way of confidering 
 a picture or drawing, will, I am confident, find 
 the benefit of it -, and if they will moreover note 
 down the degrees of eftimation, in this manner, 
 it will be of further ufe •, it will give a man a 
 more clear and diftinct idea of the thing, it will 
 be a further exercife of his judgment, 2. remem- 
 brance of what he hath feen, and by confidering 
 it together with the picture, months, or years 
 afterwards, he will fee whether his judgment is 
 altered, and wherein. 
 
 And it ftill any one wijll give himlelf the trou- 
 ble to make a differtation upon what he thinks 
 worthy of it, fuch a fcale of merit, made upon 
 the place, will ferve as fhort notes to help his 
 memory if he hath not the picture before him j 
 but the making fuch a differtation will be a fine 
 exercife of a gentleman's abilities as a connoiffeur, 
 and may moreover be an agreeable amufement. 
 
 In fuch differtation it will not be neceffary for 
 any one to confine himfelf to the order in which it 
 is belt to confider the picture ; he may begin at 
 the invention, if a hiftory, or at the face, if a 
 portrait, or how he thinks beft ; and remark on 
 the advantage and pleafurc to be had from it or 
 not. 
 
 Notwithstanding what I have already done, I 
 fancy an example of fuch a differtation will not 
 be unacceptable, becaufe it mail be of a very 
 capital picture, and one wherein there is an in- 
 ftance of expreffion which will be fupplemental 
 to the chapter in my theory on that head -, it is 
 what I have not mentioned there, for I had aot 
 feen one of that kind when I wrote that. 
 
 The fpecimen I am now about to give is part of 
 a letter (though in another language) written to a 
 
 gentle- 
 
i 9 2 GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 
 
 gentleman at Rotterdam *, an excellent connoif- 
 feur, a hearty lover of the art, and matter of a 
 noble collection of pictures, drawings, and an- 
 tiques ; and one for whom I have upon thefe, 
 and many other accounts the utmoft refpect and 
 friendfhip that it is pofiible to have for one whom 
 I have never had the happinefs to fee, or converfe 
 with, otherwife than at this diftance •, though my 
 fon hath, and has received particular marks of 
 his favour, with a prefent at parting of a fine an- 
 tique figure in marble, and a drawing of Raphael. 
 The correfpondence we have the honour to have 
 with him is by me, and my fon jointly, for rea- 
 fons not here necefTary to be given. 
 
 A friend of ours (Mr. Thorn- 
 hill, an excellent hiftory painter) has been in 
 France lately, and has bought feveral good pic- 
 tures, fome of which are arrived, the principal of 
 thefe is a capital one indeed ; we will give you as 
 good an account of it as we can, and of the other 
 when they arrive if they merit it, as we doubt 
 not they will. 
 
 This is of N. Pouffin f, it is 3 foot 3 inches 
 long, and 2 foot 6 inches high, perfectly well 
 
 prelerved •, it was Monfieur 's 
 
 who was lb feverely fqueezed by the chamber of 
 juftice that all his goods were fold, and this pic- 
 ture amonglt the reft. It is a ftory of Tafib's 
 Gerufalemme, cant, 19. which is briefly this: 
 
 * Monf. Flinck, fince dead. 
 
 f This picture, my father's and my good and ancient friend, 
 the late Mr. William Locke, bought at fir James Thornhill's 
 fale; and is now in the pofleflion of his fon; whofe natural 
 fine tafte in thefe arts, improved by his acquaintance with the 
 works of the great matters abroad, give him a juft enjoyment 
 of this, as well as the reil of his elegant collection. 
 
 Tancred 
 
GOODNESS of a PICTURE. i 93 
 
 Tancred a chriftian hero, and Argante a pagan 
 giant, retire to a folitary place amongft the moun- 
 tains to try their fortune in fingle combat ; Ar- 
 gante is flain, the other fo defperately wounded, 
 that after he had gone a little way he dropped, and 
 fell into a fwoon. Erminia who was in love with 
 him, and Vafrino his efquire (by what accident it is 
 too long to tell) found him in this condition, but 
 after the firft fright, perceiving life in him, his 
 miftrefs bound up his wounds, and her veil not 
 being fufficient for that purpofe, fhe cut off her fine 
 hair to fupply that defect, and fo recovered him, 
 and brought him fafe to the army. 
 
 Pouffin hath chofen the inftant of her cutting 
 off her hair ; Tancred lies in a graceful attitude, 
 and weU contrafted towards one end of the picture, 
 his feet coming about the middle, and at a little 
 diflance from the bottom ; Vafrino is at his head 
 raifing him up againft a little bank, on which he 
 fupports himfelf kneeling on his left knee. Er- 
 minia is at his feet, kneeling on the ground with 
 her right knee; beyond her, at a diftance, lies 
 Argante dead ; behind, are the horfes of Erminia, 
 and Vafrino ; and toward the top at that end of 
 the picture which is on the left hand as you look 
 upon it, and over the heads of Tancred and Va- 
 frino are two loves with their torches in their 
 hands ; the back-ground is compofed of rocks, 
 trunks of trees with few leaves or branches, and a 
 fombrous fky. 
 
 The ftile is a mixture of Pouflin's ufual man- 
 ner, and (what is very rare) a great deal of Giulio 
 Romano's, particularly in the head, and attitude 
 of the lady, and both the horfes ; Tancred is 
 naked to the waifr, having been ftripped by Er- 
 minia and his efquire to fearch for his wounds; he 
 
 O has 
 
194 GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 
 
 he has a piece of loofe drapery which is yellow, 
 bearing upon the red in the middle tincts and fha- 
 dows, this is thrown over his belly and thighs, 
 and lies a good length upon the ground; this 
 doubtlefs painted by the life, and is of a more 
 modern tafte than his generally was. And, that 
 nothing might be mocking or difagreeable, the 
 wounds are much hid, nor is his body or garment 
 ftained with blood, only fome appears here and 
 there upon the ground juft below the drapery, as 
 if it flowed from fome wounds which that covered-, 
 nor is he pale, but as one reviving, and his blood 
 and fpirits returning to their ufual motion. 
 
 The habits are not thofe of the age in which 
 the fcene of the fable is laid, thefe muft have been 
 Gothick, and difagreeable, it being at the latter 
 end of the eleventh or the beginning of the twelfth 
 century : Ermihia is clad in blue, admirably fold- 
 ed, and in a great ftile, fomething like that of 
 Giulio, but more upon the antique, or Raphael ; 
 one of her feet is leen which is very genteel, and 
 artfully difpofed •, her fandal is very particular, 
 for it is a little railed under the heel as our chil- 
 dren's (hoes. Vafrino hath a helmet on, with a 
 large bent plate of gold, inftead of, and fome- 
 thing with the turn of a feather. We do not re- 
 member any thing like it in the antique; there is 
 no fuch thing in the column of Trajan, nor that 
 of .Antonine (as it is ufually called, though it is 
 now known to be of M. Aurelius) nor (I believe) 
 in the works of Raphael, Giulio, or Polidore, 
 when they have imitated the ancients ; though 
 thefe, efpecially the two former, have taken like 
 liberties ; and, departing from the fimplicity of 
 their great mailers, have in thefe inftances given 
 a little into the Gothick tafte. This is probably 
 
 Pouffin's 
 
GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 195 
 
 Pouflin's own invention, and hath fo fine an effect, 
 that I cannot imagine any thing elfe could pofiibly 
 have been fo well. This figure is in armour, not 
 with labels, but fcarlet drapery, where thofe ufually 
 are in the antique. The two Cupids are admira- 
 bly well difpofed, and enrich and enliven the pic- 
 ture-, as do the helmet, fhield, and armour of 
 Tancred which lie at his feet. The attitudes of 
 the horfes are exceeding fine ; one of them turns 
 his head backwards with great fpirit, the other has 
 his hinder part raifed, which not only has a noble 
 effect in the picture, but helps to tell what kind 
 of place it was, which was rough and unfre- 
 quented. 
 
 It is obfervable, that though Taffo fays only 
 that Erminia cuts off her hair, PoufTin was forced 
 to explain what me cut it off withal, and he has 
 given her her lover's fword. We do not at all 
 queftion but there will be thofe who will fancy 
 they have here difcovered a notorious abfurdity in 
 PoufTin, it being impoflible to cut hair with a 
 fword ; but though it be, a pair of fciffars inftead 
 of it, though much the fitter for the purpofe, had 
 fpoiled the picture j painting and poetry equally 
 difdain fuch low and common things. This is a 
 licence much of the fame kind with that of Ra- 
 phael in the carton of the draught of fifhes, where 
 the boat is by much too little for the figures that 
 are in it ; or with the Laocoon who is naked ; 
 whereas, being a prieft in his facerdotal office, he 
 muft have been fuppofed to have been clad : But 
 we need not tell you, Sir, why thofe noble pieces 
 of painting and fculpture were thus reprefented. 
 This puts me in mind of a fine diftich of our 
 Dryden : 
 
 O 2 For 
 
196 GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 
 
 For he that lervilely creeps after fenfe 
 Is fafe, but ne'er arrives at excellence. 
 
 It will be worth while to obferve a fmall cir- 
 cumftance : One of the h .rfes is fattened to a tree; 
 if it were fuppoied to be Erminia's, and done by 
 htrfeif, it would be an intolerable fault againft 
 decorum ; (he muff have had other thoughts than* 
 to fecure her horle when fhe difmounted ; for it 
 was not till Vafrino had found that he whom at firft 
 fight they took to be a flranger (as well as Ar- 
 gante) was Tancred -, and then fhe is finely de- 
 fcribed by TafTo as flinging herfelf, rather than 
 lighting, from her horle. 
 
 Non fcefe, no, precipito di fella. 
 
 But it may as well be Vafrino's •, or if it was her's, 
 perhaps his care was divided betwixt the wounded 
 hero and the lady, to whom it was of confequence 
 to have her horle fecured. It will not be thought 
 partiality to luppole fo great a man as Pouffin 
 would not be guilty of fuch an overfight as this, 
 taking it in the world fenfe •, but it would be un- 
 jufl to determine otherwife, when the molt favour- 
 able opinion is alfo the mod probable -, and that 
 being taken, here is a beauty not a fault-, it am- 
 plifies and raiies the character of Vafrino, though 
 it would have fpoiled that of Erminia. 
 
 The expreffion of this picture is excellent 
 throughout. The air of Vafrino is juft, he hathacha- 
 racter evidently inferior, but neverthelefs he appears 
 brave, and full of care, tendernefs and affection. 
 Arsante ieems to be a wretch that died in rage 
 and defpair, without the leait ipark of piety. Tan- 
 cred is good, amiable, noble and valiant. There 
 are two circumftances in TafTo which finely raile 
 thefe two characters. When thefe champions with- 
 drew 
 
GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 197 
 
 drew to fight, it was in the view of the chriftian 
 foldiers, whofe fury againft the pagan could hardly 
 be reftrained : Tancred protected him from them, 
 and as they retired together covered him with his 
 fhield : Afterwards, when he had him at his mercy, 
 and Tancred would have given him his life, and 
 in a friendly manner approached him with the offer, 
 the villain attempted bafely to murder him, upon 
 which provocation he difpatched hirn immediately 
 with fcorn and fury. Thefe incidents could not 
 be inferted in the picture ; but Pouffin has told us, 
 by the airs he hath given them, that either were 
 capable of any thing in thefe feveral kinds. Er- 
 minia muft appear to have a mixture of hope and 
 fear, joy and forrow •, this being the time when 
 fhe had difcovered life in her lover, after having 
 fuppofed him dead •, to exprefs this (you know, 
 Sir) muft be exceeding difficult, and yet abfolutely 
 neceffary, and that ftrongly and evidently, that 
 thofe who look upon the picture may know to what 
 end fhe cuts off her hair; and that it is not a 
 tranfport of diftracted grief for the death of him 
 fhe loved, who is not yet recovered from his fwoon ; 
 becaufe this miftake would lofe all the beauty of 
 the ftory. For this reafon the two loves are ad- 
 mirably contrived to ferve this purpofe, befides the 
 other already mentioned; one of them, and that 
 the fartheft from the eye, has forrow and fear; 
 the other, joy and hope evidently in his face ; and 
 to exprefs this yet more perfectly (and this is Mr, 
 Thornhill's observation) the former has two ar- 
 rows in his hand, to denote thefe two paffions and 
 their pungency ; but the quiver of his companion 
 is faft fhut up with a fort of a cap on the top of 
 it. He has alfo a chaplet of jeffamine on his 
 head. 
 
 O 3 The 
 
198 GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 
 
 The compofition is unexceptionable : There are 
 innumerable inftances of beautiful contrails •, of 
 this kind are the feveral characters of the perfons 
 (all which are excellent in their feveral kinds) and 
 the feveral habits •, Tancred is half naked •, Ermi- 
 nia's fex diftinguifheth her from all the reft •, as 
 Vafrino's armour and helmet fhew him to be in- 
 ferior to Tancred (his lying by him) and Argante's 
 armour differs from both of them. The various 
 pofitions of the limbs in all the figures are alfo 
 finely contrafted, and, all together, have a lovely 
 effect j nor did I ever fee a greater harmony, nor 
 more- art to produce it, in any picture of what 
 mafter foever; whether as to the eafy gradation 
 from the principal to the fubordinate parts, the 
 connection of one with another, by the degrees of 
 the lights and fhadows, and the tincts of the co- 
 lours. 
 
 And thefe too are good throughout •, they are 
 not glaring, as the fubject, and the time of the 
 ftory (which was after fnn-fet) requires : Nor is 
 the colouring like that of Titian, Corregio, Ru- 
 bens, or thofe fine colourifls •, but it is warm and 
 mellow, it is agreeable, and of a tafte which none 
 but a great man could fall into : And without 
 confidering it as a ftory, or the imitation of any 
 thing in nature, the general hue of the colours is 
 a beautiful and delightful object 
 
 You know, Sir, the drawing of Poufiln, as 
 you have yourfelf feveral admirable pictures of 
 his hand ; this we believe is not inferior to any of 
 him. But there is an overfight or two in the per- 
 fpective : The fword Erminia holds appears by 
 the pomel of it to incline with the point going off, 
 but by the blade it feems to be upright ; the other 
 
 is not worth mentioning. 
 
 The 
 
GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 199 
 
 The picture is highly finifhed, even in the parts 
 the moil inconfiderable ; the drawing is firmly pro- 
 nounced ; and fometimes, chiefly in the faces, 
 hands and feet, it is marked more than ordinarily 
 with the point of the pencil. 
 
 And (to fay all in one word) there is fuch a 
 grace and greatnefs mines throughout, that it is 
 one of the moft defirable pictures we have yet feen; 
 there is nothing to be wifhed or imagined which it 
 hath not ; nothing to be added or omitted but what 
 would have diminished its excellency ; unlefs we 
 h^ave leave to except thofe little particulars we 
 have remarked, hardly worth mentioning •, and 
 whether we are in the right in thofe is fubmitted 
 to better judgments. But there are a great many 
 beauties we have not mentioned, and fome that 
 cannot be exprefled in words, nor known without 
 feeing the picture. And perhaps fome of both 
 kinds we have not penetration enough yet to ob- 
 ferve. 
 
 It is hard to quit fo agreeable a fubject. Let 
 us obferve for the honour of Poudin, and of the 
 art, what a noble and comprehenfive thought ! 
 What richnefs and force of imagination ! What a 
 fund of fcience and judgment ! What a fine and 
 accurate hand are abfolutely neceffary to the pro- 
 duction of fuch a work ! That two or three 
 ftrokes of a pencil (for example) as in the face of 
 Argante, can exprefs a character of mind fo 
 ftrongly and fignificantly ! 
 
 We will only obferve further the different idea 
 given by the painter and the poet. A reader of 
 TafTo, who thought lefs finely than Pouflin, would 
 form in his imagination a picture, but not fuch a 
 one as this. He would fee a man of a lefs lovely 
 and beautiful afpect, pale, and all cut and man- 
 O 4 gkd; 
 
200 GOODNESS of a PICTURE. 
 
 gled •, his body and garments fmeared with blood ; 
 he would fee Erminia, not fuch a one as Pouffin 
 has made her ; and a thoufand to one with a pair 
 of fchTars in her hand, but certainly not with 
 Tancred's fword •, the two little loves would never 
 enter into his mind -> horfes he would fee, and let 
 them be the fineft he had ever fecn, they would 
 be lefs fine than thefe ; and fo of the reft. The 
 painter hath made a finer ftory than the poet, tho* 
 his readers were equal to himfelf, but without all 
 companion much finer than it can appear to the 
 generality of them. And he has moreover not 
 only known how to make ufe of the advantages 
 this art has over that of his competitor, but in 
 what it is defective in the comparifon he has fup- 
 plied it with fuch addrefs, that one cannot but re- 
 joice in the defect which occafioned fuch a beauti- 
 ful expedient. 
 
 I confefs we have not always time and oppor- 
 tunity thus to confider a picture how excellent fo- 
 ever it may be : In thofe cafes, let us not employ 
 that time we have in amufing ourfelves with the 
 lefs confiderable incidents, but remark upon the 
 principal beauties, the thought, expreffion, Sec. * 
 
 Mr. Thornhill has lately brought from France 
 another picture no lefs worthy a particular differ- 
 tation than the former, as will eafily be allowed, 
 for it is of Annibale Carracci : Here (as it is for 
 my prefent purpofe) I will only obferve in fhort 
 upon what is moft remarkable in this furprizing 
 picture ; which hath not been long out of my 
 mind fince the firfl moment that I faw it. 
 
 * Felicem culpam qua talem & tantum meruit habere re- 
 demptorem ! fays St. Aultin fomewhere, on a much more im- 
 portant fubjeft. 
 
 The 
 
GOODNESS of, a PICTURE. 201 
 
 The fubject of it is the Virgin, as protectrefs of 
 Bologna : This appears by the profpect of that 
 city at the bottom of the picture under the clouds 
 on which me is ieated in glory, encompaffed with 
 cherubims, boy-angels, and others as ufually de- 
 fcribed : But oh ! the fublimity of expreffion ! 
 What dignity and devotion appears in the Virgin ! 
 What awful regard ! What love ! What delight 
 and complacency in thefe angelic beings towards 
 the Mother of the Son of God ! The afpect of 
 the Chrift is proper to the character he here 
 fuftains -, he is now only to denote the Virgin, as 
 St. Jerome's lion, St. John's eagle, and the like ; 
 he is not here as the fecond perfon in the trinity ; 
 the Virgin is the only principal figure •, he is as it 
 were a part of her, whofe character is alone to be 
 confidered in this cafe-, and accordingly every 
 thing contributes to raife it as much as poflible ; 
 and this is done furprizingly. But as every thing 
 elfe in the picture is addreffed towards her, me, in 
 the humbleft and mofl devout manner, lifts up her 
 eyes towards the invifible fupreme being, directing 
 our thoughts thither alio, with like humble, pious 
 and devout fentiments. If me, to whom the an- 
 gels appear fo vaftly inferior, is in his prefence but 
 a poor fuppliant, what an exalted idea muft this 
 give of him ! 
 
 Angelic minds the neareft to thyfelf, 
 Thofe who conceive of thee as far beyond 
 Our low conceptions as the eagle's flight 
 Tranfcends our utmoft ftretch, thefe tee thee not, 
 Nor canlt thou be difcern'd but by thyfelf; 
 What art thou then as by thyfelf behdd ! 
 Juft as thou art ! unclouded ! undiminifh'd ! 
 In full perfection ! O the joy divine ! 
 
 Ineffable ! of that enlighmed mind 
 
 Where 
 
202 KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 
 
 Where this idea fhines eternally ! 
 
 The nobleft, lovelieft, and moft excellent, 
 
 Ev'n the mind divine itfelf conceives ! 
 
 Hymn to God. v. 
 
 O F T H E 
 
 KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 
 
 IN all the works of art there are to be confidered, 
 the thought and the workmanihip, or manner 
 of expreffing or executing that thought. What 
 ideas the artift had we can only guefs at by what 
 we fee, and confequently cannot tell how far he 
 has fallen fhort, or perhaps by accident exceeded 
 them. But the work, like the corporeal and ma- 
 terial part of man, is apparent, and to be feen to 
 the utmoft. In the art I am difcourfing upon, 
 every thing that is done is in purfuance of fome 
 ideas the matter hath conceived, whether he can 
 reach with his hand the conceptions of his mind 
 or no ; and this is true in every part of painting. 
 As for invention, exprefllon, difpofition, and grace 
 and greatnefs, thefe e/ery body muft fee direct 
 us plainly to the manner of thinking, to the idea 
 of the painter •, but even in drawing, colouring 
 and handling, in thefe alfo are feen his manner of 
 thinking upon thofe fubjects •, one may by thefe 
 guefs at his ideas of what is in nature, or what 
 was to be wifhed for or chofen at lead. Never- 
 thelefs, when the idea or manner of thinking in a 
 picture or drawing is oppofed to the executive part, 
 it is commonly underftood of thefe four firft men- 
 tioned, as the other three are implied by its op- 
 pofitc. 
 
 No 
 
KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 203 
 
 No two men in the world think and act alike, 
 nor is it poflible they mould •, becaufe men fall 
 into a way of thinking and acting from a chain of 
 caufes which never is, nor can be the fame to dif- 
 ferent men. This difference is notorious, and (een 
 by every one with refpect to what is the object of 
 our fenfes ; and it is as evident to our reafon as it 
 is that what I have afTigned as the caufe of it is 
 the true one. There are two inflances that are 
 very familiar and well known, and thofe are our 
 voices and hand-writing •, people of the fame age, 
 the fame conftitution, and in feveral other parti- 
 culars in the fame circumftances, for ought ap- 
 pears to common obfervation, are yet as eafily dif- 
 tinguifhed by their voices, as by any other means : 
 And it is wonderful to confider, that in fo few 
 circumftances as what relates to the tone of the 
 voice, there mould be (as there is) an infinite va- 
 riety, fo as to produce the effect I am fpeaking of. 
 So in the other cafe, if an hundred boys learn of 
 the *ame matter, at the fame time, yet fuch will 
 be the difference, that their hands mall be diftin- 
 guifhed, even while they are at fchool, and more 
 eafily afterwards ; and thus it would be if a thou- 
 fand or ten thoufand could learn in the fame man- 
 ner. They fee differently, take in different ideas, 
 retain them varioufly, have a different power of 
 hand to form what they conceive. 
 
 And as it is in the cafes I have mentioned, fo it is 
 in all others. 
 
 So, therefore, in the works of the painters, and 
 in a degree proportionable to what thofe works are; 
 in paintings therefore more than in drawings, and 
 in large compofitions more than in fingle figures, or 
 other things confifting of a few parts. If in form- 
 ing an A or a B, no two men are exactly alike, nei- 
 ther 
 
204 KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 
 
 ther will they agree in the manner of drawing a 
 finger or a toe, lefs in a whole hand or foot, lefs 
 (till in a face, and fo on. 
 
 Not only every mailer differs effentially from 
 every other mafter, but he frequently varies, more 
 or lefs, from himfelf ; yet generally there will be 
 fuch a refemblance, fuch a fort of famenefs, in 
 the main, as mall (hew them all, to an accurate 
 obferver, to be of him, whatever variety thofe 
 manners may have compared with one another. 
 
 If there is really a difference, it will be difcern- 
 able if things be attentively confidered and com- 
 pared, as is evident from experience in a thoufand 
 inftances befides thofe I have mentioned. 
 
 The feveral manners of the painters, confe- 
 quently their way of thinking and of executing, 
 are to be known, if we have a fufficient quantity 
 of their works to form our judgments upon. 
 
 But though there is a real difference in things, 
 this is in various degrees, and fo proportionably 
 more or lefs apparent. Thus, fome of the man- 
 ners of the painters are as unlike one another as 
 Alcibiades and Therfites •, others are lefs remark- 
 ably unlike, as the generality of mens faces are ; 
 fome again have a fraternal refemblance; and there 
 are fome few which have that which is frequently 
 found in twins where the difference is but juft 
 difcernable. 
 
 There are fuch peculiarities in the turn of 
 thought and hand to be feen in fome of the maf- 
 ters (in fome of their works efpecially) that it is 
 the eafieft thing in the world to know them at firft 
 fight •, fuch as Leonardo da Vinci, Michael An- 
 gelo Buonarotti, Giulio Romano, Battifta Franco, 
 Parmegiano, Paolo Farinati, Cangiagio, Rubens, 
 Caftiglione, and fome others ; and in the divine 
 
 Raphael 
 
KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 205 
 
 Haphael one often fees fuch a tranfcendent excel- 
 lence that cannot be found in any other man ; and 
 allures us this mult be the hand of him who was, 
 what Shakefpeare calls Julius Casfar, " The fore- 
 *' moil man of all the world." 
 
 There are feveral who by imitating other maf- 
 ters, or being of the fame fchool, or from what- 
 foever other caufe, have had fuch a refemblance 
 in their manners as not to be fo eafily diPtinguifhed. 
 Timoteo d' Urbino and Pellegrino da Modena, 
 imitated Raphael ; Carfare da Seito, Leonardo da 
 Vinci •, Schidone, Lanfranco, and others, imitated 
 Corregio : Titian's firft manner was very like that 
 of Giorgione ; Gio. Battifta Bertano followed his 
 mailer Giulio Romano •, the fons of BaiTano, and 
 thofe of Paiferotto, imitated their fathers; Roma- 
 nino, Andrea Schiavone, and Giovanni Battifta 
 Zelotti, feverally imitated Titian, Parmegiano, and 
 Paulo Veronefe. Biaggio Bolognefe imitated fome- 
 times Raphael, and iometimes Parmegiano. Ru- 
 bens was imitated by Abraham J aniens, and Van- 
 dyke by Long- John in hiftory, and Guildenaifel 
 in portraits. Matham followed Giufiepino; and 
 Ciro Ferri, Pietro da Cortona. There is a great 
 •refemblance of the manner of Michael Angelo in 
 fome of the works of Andrea del Sarto, greater 
 in the hands of the two Zuccaroes ; and greater 
 yet in thofe of Maturino and Polidore. 
 
 The reft of the matters are generally of a mid- 
 dle clafs, not fo eafily known as the former, nor 
 with fo much difficulty as the latter. 
 
 There is but one way to come to the knowledge 
 of hands ; and that is to fumifh our minds with 
 as juft and compleat ideas of the mailers as we can; 
 and in proportion as we do thus we fhall be good 
 connoifleurs in this particular. 
 
 For 
 
206 KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 
 
 For when we judge, who is the author of any 
 picture or drawing, we do the fame thing as when 
 we fay, whom fuch a portrait refembles j in that 
 cafe we find the picture anfwers to the idea we have 
 laid up in our minds of fuch a face •, fo here we 
 compare the work under confideration with the 
 idea we have of the manner of fuch a mafter, and 
 perceive the fimilitude. 
 
 And as we judge of the refemblance of a pic- 
 ture by the idea we have of the perfon whether 
 prefent or abfent, (for we cannot fee both at the 
 fame inftant,) juft fo we do in the prefent cafe, 
 though we compare that in queftion with one or 
 more works allowed to be of the fame mafter, 
 which we have before us at the fame time. 
 
 Thefe ideas of the feveral mafters are to be had 
 from hiftory, and from their works. 
 
 The former of thefe give us general ideas of 
 thefe great men as to the turn of their minds, the 
 extent of their capacity ; the variations of their 
 ftyles, how their characters were fingly, or as com- 
 pared one with another. 
 
 And as the defcription of a picture is a part of 
 the hiftory of the mafter •, a copy, or a print after 
 fuch a one may be confidered as a more exact and 
 perfect defcription of it than can be given by 
 words; thefe are of great advantage, in giving 
 us an idea of the manner of thinking of that 
 mafter, and this in proportion as fuch a print or 
 copy happens to be. And there is one advan- 
 tage which thefe have in this matter, which even 
 the works themfelves have not-, and that is, in 
 thofe commonly their other qualities divert, and 
 divide our attention, and perhaps fometimes biafs 
 us in their favour throughout-, as, who that fees 
 
 the 
 
KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 207 
 
 the vaftnefs of ftile, and profound fkill in defign- 
 ing of Michael Angelo; or the fine colouring, 
 and brave pencil of Paulo Veronefe, can forbear 
 being prejudiced in favour of the extravagance, 
 and indecorum of the one, and the other's neglect 
 of hiftory, and the antique-, whereas in thefe, 
 what one fees of the manner of thinking of the 
 the mafter one fees naked, and without danger of 
 being prejudiced by any other excellencies in the 
 work itfelf. 
 
 But it is on thefe works themfelves we muft 
 chiefly and ultimately depend, not only as expo- 
 fitors of the hiftories of the mafters, but as carry- 
 ing us much further, principally by giving us ideas 
 which no words poflibly can give, being fuch for 
 which we have no name, and which cannot be 
 communicated but by the things themfelves. 
 
 Hiftory will inform us of fome particulars which 
 are neceffary to be known, and which we could 
 not learn from their works ; but with this alone it 
 would be impoflible to be a connoifTeur in hands ; 
 and, what is worfe, we fhall be frequently milled 
 if we trull too much to the ideas we receive from 
 thence. Hiftory, whether written or traditional, 
 commonly gives us exalted characters of great 
 men •, he of whom the hiftorian treats is his hero 
 for that time, and it is commonly fuch a one's 
 intention, not to make a juft, but a fine picture 
 of them-, to which our own prejudices in their 
 favour do not a little contribute. By this means 
 it is natural for us to imagine a work in which we 
 fee great defects could not be of a hand, of which 
 we have fo favourable an idea. It is necefiary 
 therefore to corredt this way of thinking, and re- 
 member that great men are but men frill, and that 
 
 there 
 
208 KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 
 
 there are degrees, and kinds of excellence of which 
 we may have an idea, but to which the greateft of 
 men could never arrive; God hath faid to every 
 man as to the ocean, " Hitherto fhalt thou go, 
 " and no farther •" there are certain bounds fet to 
 the moft exalted amongft men, beyond which they 
 are upon the level with the moft inferor ; nor can 
 any man always exert thofe high qualities he pof- 
 felTeth, or in equal degrees to what he generally 
 does ; a notorious fault, or more than one in a 
 work, nay in a fingle figure, is confident with a 
 juft idea of Raphael himfelf, and that in his beft 
 time : Raphael indeed could not have made a 
 lame, ill-proportioned figure, or limb ; that is, if 
 he had taken care, and did as well as he could •, 
 but Raphael might be in hafle, negligent, or for- 
 get himfelf; he might be weary, indifpofed, or 
 out of humour. Could the inferior mafter, to 
 whom the work is to be attributed upon account 
 of thefe faults, be fuppofed capable of doing the 
 reft ? If we had feen an intire work of that bad 
 kind, could we have believed the hand that did 
 that have done like the good part of the work in 
 queftion ? It is eafitr to defcend than to mount : 
 Raphael could more eafily do like an inferior 
 mafter, in certain inftances, than fuch a one could 
 do like Raphael in all the reft. 
 
 And as the ideas we have of men frequently 
 miflead us in judging from thence of their works, 
 with refpedt to their goodneis, the fame happens 
 as to the kinds of them. When one is pofteffed 
 of the character of Michael Angelo (for inftance) 
 as fierce, bold, impetuous, haughty, and even 
 gone beyond great, io as to have a mixture of the 
 iavage; fublimity itfelfrun mad! when one reads 
 
 fuch 
 
KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 2-09 
 
 fuch an account of him as this I have * cited be- 
 low in the note •, (and which I was the more in- 
 clined to do becaufe it is curious, and gives one a 
 more lively idea of the man than I have found 
 almofl any where elfe f, and is withal little known) 
 one finds it hard to conceive that fuch a one drew 
 very neatly, and finifhed very highly -, and confe- 
 quently young connoifTeurs having this idea of 
 this great mailer will not very readily believe fuch 
 drawings to be of him, and yet it is inconteftable 
 that he did make fuch very frequently. 
 
 Hiftory neverthelefs has it's ufe in giving us ideas 
 of the mafters, in order to judge of their hands, as 
 has been feen already in part, and will further ap- 
 pear prefently •, but thefe ideas muft be corrected, 
 regulated, and perfected by the works themfelves. 
 
 A picture or drawing hath fo many particulars 
 relating to it, fuch as the manner of thinking, 
 ftile of the compofition, way of folding the dra- 
 peries, airs of heads, handling of the pen, chalk, 
 or pencil, colouring, &c. that it is no difficult 
 matter to fix upon fuch peculiarities of each 
 mailer, in fome one or more of thefe, as to form 
 
 • Je puis dire avoir veu Michel 1' Ange, bien 
 
 qu' age de plus de ibixante ans, & encore non de plus robuftes, 
 abbattre plus d'efcailles d' un tref-dur marbre en un quart d* 
 heure, que trois jeunes tailleurs de pierre n'euflent peu faire 
 en trois ou quatrej chofe prefqu' incroyable a qui ne le verroit; 
 & alloit d' une telle impetuofite & furie, que je penfois que 
 tout 1' ouvrage deuft aller en peices, abbatant par terre, d' un 
 feul coup, de grofs morceaux de trois ou quatre doigts d' ef- 
 paiffeur, fi ric a ric de fa marque, que u' 1 euft paffe outre tant 
 foit peu plus qu'il ne falloit, il y avoit danger de perdre tout, 
 parceque cela ne fe peut plus reparer par apres, ny replafter 
 comme les images d' Argille, ouStuc. — Annotations deBLAisE 
 de Vigenere fur le Satvre de Calliftrate. p. 855. 
 
 t See a proof of this, in a figure of a layman in the 
 Gallery of Florentine Pictures in Italy. 
 
 P a clear 
 
2io KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 
 
 a clear and diftinct idea of them : if they refem- 
 ble one another in fome things, in others the dif- 
 ference will be more apparent : The colouring of 
 feveral of the mafters of the Venetian fchool have 
 been like one another, but Titian's majefty of in- 
 vention, Tintoret's fury, Baffan's rufticity, Paulo 
 Veronefe's magnificence, have eminently diftin- 
 guifhed them : As do the exquifite genteelnefs and 
 fweet proportions of Parmegiano •, the firmnefs of 
 the contours and vaftnefs of manner of Michael 
 Angelo, the antique fbile carried often to excefs 
 of Giulio, the divine airs of the heads, and every 
 virtue under heaven in the works of Raphael. 
 Every one of them have fomething whereby they are 
 more efpecially known •, and which may be ob- 
 ferved by converfing with their works, but can- 
 not be exprefled by words. 
 
 In forming our ideas of the mafters on their 
 works, diligent obfervation muft be made on fuch 
 of them as have been copied wholly, or in part, 
 from other mafters j or are imitations of them. A 
 connoiffeur therefore muft obferve how much is 
 every man's own, and what is not fo. Battifta 
 Franco (for example) drew from the antique, after 
 Raphael, Michael Angelo, Polidore. You fee the 
 fame fmall and moft elegant pen throughout, this is 
 always his own, but the manner of thinking can- 
 not be fo ; nor is the handling always intirely ; be- 
 caufe he has fometimes imitated that of the mat- 
 ter he has copied ; as when it is a drawing he hath 
 copied, and not a painting* or the antique, he 
 then often divergeth into the .matter's manner of 
 handling the pen. Thefe occaiional variations 
 muft not make a part of our ideas of the mafters, 
 iinlefs confiderea as fuch. 
 
 To 
 
KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 211 
 
 To compleat our ideas of the mafters it is necef- 
 fary to take in their whole lives, and to obferve 
 their feveral variations fo far as we pofTibly can. 
 It is true, he that knows any one manner of a 
 matter, may judge well of the works he meets 
 with in that manner, but no farther. And the 
 mifchief is, men are apt to confine their ideas of 
 the mafter to fo much only as they know, or have 
 conceived of him ; fo that when any thing ap- 
 pears different from this they attribute it to fome 
 other, or pronounce it not of him; as he who 
 fixes only upon the Roman manner of Raphael 
 will be apt to do by a work of his, before he was 
 called to Rome ; or if he builds his ideas only on 
 the belt works of that great man, he will reject 
 the others, and afcribe them to fome other hand, 
 known, or unknown. 
 
 There are none of the mafters but muft have 
 had their firft, their middle, and their latter times : 
 Generally (though not always) their beginnings 
 have been moderately good, and their latter works 
 (when they have happened to out-live themfelves, 
 and to decay, through age, or infirmities) are like 
 what their bodies then were, they have no more 
 of their former beauty and vigour. If they died 
 early, their latter time was probably the bell; 
 Michael Angelo, Titian, and Carlo Maratti lived, 
 and painted to a very great age ; Raphael 
 
 Dropt from the Zenith like a falling ftar — 
 
 Other men by flow and eafy fteps advance in their 
 improvements : He flew from one degree of excel- 
 lence to another with fuch a happy vigour, that 
 every thing he did feemed better than what he had 
 done before; andhislaft works, the cartons atHamp- 
 
 P 2 toft 
 
212 KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 
 
 ton-Court, and the famous transfiguration are efteem- 
 ed to be, and undeniably are, his bed. His firft man- 
 ner when he came out of the fchool of his mafter 
 PietroPerugino, was like thole of that age, ftiff, and 
 dry ; but he foon mellowed his (tile by the flrength 
 of his own fine genius, and the fight of the works 
 of other good matters of that time, in and about 
 Florence, chiefly of Lionardo da Vinci ; and thus 
 formed a fecond manner with which he went to 
 Rome. Here he found, or procured whatever 
 might contribute to his improvement ; he faw great 
 variety of the precious remains of antiquity, and 
 employed ieveral good hands to defign all of that 
 kind in Greece, and elfe where, as well as in Italy ; 
 of which he formed a rare collection ; here too 
 he faw the works of Michael Angelo, whofe ftile 
 may be faid to be rather gigantick than great, 
 and which abundantly cfiftinguifhed him from all 
 the mafters of that agp *; I know it hath been 
 difputed whether Raphael made any advantage 
 from feeing the wo/ks of thisv great fculptor, 
 architect, and paintp4 ; which, though intended as 
 a compliment to Jiim, feems to meSto be directly 
 the contrary ; he, was too wife, and too modeft no/ 
 to make ule of, and profit by, whatsoever was 
 worthy of his- confideration ; and that he did fo in 
 this cafe is evident by a drawing 1 have of his 
 hand, in which one fees plainly the Michael An- 
 gelo tafte. Not that he refted here, his noble 
 mind afpired to fomtthing beyond this vafl genius ; 
 and whatever elfe the world had then to mew -f-, 
 and he accomplifhed it, in a (tile, in which there 
 is fuch a judicious mixture of the antique, of the 
 
 * See Bellori, defcrifiione delle imagine, &c. p. '86, &c. 
 f As the emperor Charles V. flopped not fhort with Her- 
 cules himfelf, but bravely cried, plus ultra! 
 
 modern 
 
KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 213 
 
 modern tafte, and of nature, together with his 
 Own admirable ideas, that the glorious refult hath 
 created a manner that alone could have been pro- 
 per and equal to the fublimity of the works he 
 hath executed. What further views he might 
 have ftill had, and how much higher he would 
 have carried the art, had the divine providence 
 (who, to the honour of human nature, endued 
 him with fuch excellent qualities) thought fit to 
 have lent him longer to the world, that divine 
 wifdom only knows. 
 
 Thus Raphael had three feveral manners, which 
 are called his Perugino, his Florentine, and his 
 Roman manners j in all which this great genius is 
 evidently feen. But having in the two former 
 raifed himfelf above all the other mailers, the 
 competition afterwards was only between Raphael 
 to day, and Raphael yefterday. 
 
 A great variety is to be found in the works of 
 the fame men from caufes as natural as youth, 
 maturity, and old age. Our bodies and minds 
 have their irregular, and, feemingly, contingent 
 changes as wellas thofe ftated and certain ones; 
 fuch are indifpofition or weaknefs, the weather *, 
 the feafon of the year, joy, and gaiety, or grief, 
 heavinefs, or vexation, all thefe, and a thoufand 
 other accidents influence our works, and produce 
 a great variety in them. Sometimes the work it- 
 felf does not pleafe us as to the kind of it, fome- 
 times it does not fucceed as we endeavour it 
 fhould •, this is for thofe we honour, and defire 
 to pleafe, for what reafo'ns foever; this goes on 
 
 * Fallor ? an & nobis redeunt In carmina vires, 
 Ingeniunique mihi munere yeris adeft? 
 tylunere veris adeft, iterumque vigefcit ab illo. 
 
 Miltqn. 
 
 P 3 heavily, 
 
2i4 KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 
 
 heavily, being for thofe who are lefs obliging, or 
 lefs capable of feeing, or being touched with 
 what we do for them. Some are done in hopes 
 of confiderable recompence, others without any 
 fuch profpect. Tintoret was particularly remark- 
 able for undertaking all forts of bufinefs, and at 
 all prices, and performed accordingly. 
 
 The nature of the works itfelf makes another 
 variety in the hands of the mafters. Parmegiano 
 in his drawings appears to be a greater man than 
 one (tts him in his paintings, or etched prints. 
 Polidore upon paper, or in Chairo Scuro is one 
 of the foremoft in the fchool of Raphael, but 
 give him colours, and you remove him back many 
 degrees. Battifta Franco's drawings are exqui- 
 fitely line, his paintings contemptible ; even Giulio 
 Romano's pencil in oil has not the tranfcendent 
 merit of his pen in drawings, this has a fpirit, a 
 beauty and delicacy inimitable, that is compara- 
 tively heavy and difagreeable for the moft part, 
 for I know of fome exceptions. The fubject alfo 
 makes a vaft difference in the works of thefe great 
 men •, Giulio Romano was fitter to paint the birth 
 of the fon of Saturn, than that of the Son of 
 God ; as Michael Angelo was better qualified to 
 paint a Hercules, and Anteus, than the laft judg- 
 ment; but Parmegiano and Corregio, who were 
 prodigies in all iubjects that were lovely and 
 angelical, would have been almoft upon the level 
 with common men in either of thofe other ; a holy 
 family of Raphael is as the work of an angel of 
 the higheft order, a (laughter of the innocents of 
 him feems to be done by one of a lower. 
 
 It is no unufual thing for mafters to go from 
 one manner to another that they like better, whe- 
 ther to imitate fome other mafters or otherwife. 
 
 Spagnoletto 
 
KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 215 
 
 Spagnoletto fet out finely, imitating Corregio with 
 great fuccefs ; this good manner he forfook for that 
 terrible one he is fo well known by, and in which 
 he continued to the laft. Giacomo Pontormo, 
 from a good Italian ftile, fell to imitating Albert 
 Durer ; Giacinto Brandi left his firft Caravaggio- 
 manner, in which he was an excellent mafter, and 
 applied himfelf to its direct oppofite, that of Guido, 
 in which not fucceeding, he endeavoured to return 
 to his former way of painting, but could never 
 regain the ground he had loft. Even Guido him- 
 felf, animus meminiffe horret ! for a time quitted 
 his lovely angel : Airs of heads, enlightened with 
 the gleams of paradife, for the debauched and la- 
 vage oppofitions of fierce lights and darks of Ca- 
 ravaggio, that then corrupted Rome ; but he foon 
 returned -, his native purity purged off the black 
 Tartareous cold infernal dregs. Befides this, one 
 mafter imitates anc'.her occafionally, and copies 
 their works or their ftile, at leaft to try experi- 
 ments, or to pleafe themfelves, or thofe that em- 
 ploy them, or perhaps fometimes to deceive, or 
 for whatever other reafons. 
 
 In copying, though never fo fervilely, there will 
 be fuch a mixture of the copier as to make what 
 is done a different manner ; but it is very appa- 
 rently fo when this is done by a mafter who can- 
 not, or will not, fo ftrictly confine himfelf. Some- 
 times fuch a one copies, as it were, but in part ; 
 that is, he takes the thought of another, but keeps 
 to his own manner of executing it : This was fre- 
 quently done by Raphael after the antique •, Par- 
 megiano and Battifta Franco thus copied Raphael 
 and Michael Angelo •, and fo Rubens copied Ra- 
 phael, Titian, Pordonone, &c. of which I have 
 many inftances. In.thefe cafes the mafter will be 
 P 4 evidently 
 
216 KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 
 
 evidently feen •, but, being mixed with the idea of 
 other men, this compound work will be very dif- 
 ferent from one intirely his own. 
 
 In drawings one finds a great variety, from their 
 being firft thoughts (which often are very flight, 
 but fpirituous fcrabbles) or more advanced or 
 finifhed. So fome are executed one way, fome 
 another; a pen, chalks, wafhes of all colours, 
 heightened with white, wet, or dry, or not height- 
 ened at all, but the paper itlelf left to exprefs the 
 lights. All the mafters have had the firft kind of 
 variety, though fome more than others. There are 
 few finifhed works of Titian, BafTano, Tintoretto, 
 Baccio Bandinelli, Coregio, Annibale Caracci, and 
 others •, I mean few in proportion to the number 
 of the drawings which we have of them •, which 
 indeed may be faid of them all, though of thofe 
 I have named more particularly ; but of Rubens, 
 Giufeppino, Paolo P'arinato, v rimaticcio, Michael 
 Angelo, Lionardo da Vinci, many fuch are feen ; 
 Biaggio Bolognefe rarely made any other. And 
 of Parmegiano, Battifta Franco, Pierino del Vaga, 
 Polidore, Giulio Romano, Andrea del Sarto, and 
 even of Raphael himfelf, one frequently fees fi- 
 nifhed drawings. As for the latter kind of variety, 
 it i§ to be found chiefly in Raphael, Polidore, and 
 Parmegiano ; whereas Michael Angelo, Baceio 
 Bandinelli, Biaggio Bolognefe, Giulio Romano, 
 Battifta Franco, Paolo Farinato, Cangiagio, Paf- 
 ferotto, and the two Zuccaroes, kept generally to 
 the fame manner ; and fome of them are inftantly 
 known by it. 
 
 There are inftances, laftly, of fome whofe man- 
 ners have been changed by fome unlucky circum- 
 ftances. Poor Annibale Caracci ! he funk at once ! 
 his great fpirit was fubdued by the barbarous ufage 
 
 of 
 
KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 217 
 
 of cardinal Farnefe, who for a work which will 
 be one of the principal ornaments of Rome, fo 
 long as the palace of that name remains, which 
 coft that vaft genius many years inceffant ftudy 
 and application •, and which he had all poffible 
 reafon to hope would have been rewarded in fuch 
 a manner as to have made him eafy the remainder 
 of his life : For this wOrk that infamous eccle- 
 fiaftick paid him as if he had been an ordinary 
 mechanick. After this he lived not long, painted 
 but little, and that in no degree equal to what he 
 had done before. It rauft be confeiTed that Anni- 
 bale made himfelf cheap ; and, in truth, other 
 people will not efteem us more than we feem to 
 do ourfelves •, if we ftoop, they will lean upon 
 us ; and if we lie down they will tread upon us. 
 An inftance of the timidity and the utter poor- 
 fpiritednefs of this great painter (but this only) 
 and of the flight he put on his own works, by 
 laviihing them to the moft low and unworthy peo- 
 ple, in Malvalfa, p. 465, and in many other 
 places. 
 
 Guido Reni, from a prince-like affluence of for- 
 tune (the juft reward of his angelick works) fell 
 to a condition like that of a hired fervant to one 
 who fupplied him with money for what he painted 
 at a fixed rate, and that, by his being bewitched 
 with a pafTion for gaming, whereby he loft vaft 
 fums of money, and even what he got in this his 
 ftate of fervitude by day, he commonly loft at 
 night •, nor could he ever be cured of this curfed 
 madnefs. Thofe of his works therefore which he 
 produced in this unhappy part of his life may 
 eafily be conceived to be in a different ftile from 
 what he had done before, which in fome things, 
 that is, in the airs of the heads, had a delicacy in 
 
 them 
 
218 KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 
 
 them peculiar to himfelf, and almoft more than 
 human. But I muil not multiply inftances. Par- 
 megiano is one that alone takes in all the feveral 
 kinds of variation ; one fees, in his drawings, all 
 the feveral manners of handling ; pen, red chalk, 
 black chalk, warning, with and without height- 
 ening •, on all coloured papers, and in all the de- 
 grees of goodnefs, from the indifferent up to the 
 fublime •, 1 can produce evident proofs of my af- 
 fertion in fo eafy a gradation, that one cannot deny 
 but that he who performed that might alfb be the 
 author of this, and very probably was fo ; and thus 
 one may afcend and defcend like the angels on Ja- 
 cob's ladder, whofe foot was upon the earth, but 
 its head reached to heaven. 
 
 And this great man had alfo his unlucky cir- 
 cumftance ; he became mad after the philofopher's 
 ftone, and fmoaked away his whole time that he 
 could have employed fo glorioufly, and with fo 
 much profit. Judge what that was, the alteration 
 of ftile from what he had done, before this devil 
 poffeffed him. His creditors endeavoured to ex- 
 orcife him, and did him fome good, for he fet 
 himfelf to work again in his own way ; and with 
 fuccefs, as Vafari affures ; but he lived not long 
 afterwards; and what he painted whilft his thoughts 
 were upon fomething elfe, and not only his che- 
 miftry but his poverty, to which that had brought 
 him, had cramped and turned afide his genius, 
 could not fure be equal to thofe lovely produc- 
 tions that flowed from love of his art, and eafe in 
 his affairs. 
 
 Thus it is evident, that to be good connoifTeurs 
 in judging of hands we mult extend our thoughts 
 to all the parts of the lives, and to all the circum- 
 ftances of the mailers ; to the various kinds and 
 
 degrees 
 
KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 219 
 
 degrees of goodnefs of their works, and not con- 
 fine ourfelves to one manner only, and a certain 
 excellency found only in fome things they have 
 done, upon which fome have formed their ideas of 
 thofe extraordinary men, but very narrow and im- 
 perfect ones. 
 
 Great care muft be taken as to the genuinenefs 
 of the works on which we form our ideas of the 
 mafters •, for abundance of things are attributed 
 to them, chiefly to thofe that are molt famous, 
 which they never faw. 
 
 If two or more coniiderable mafters referable 
 each other, the molt confiderable ufually fathers 
 the works of them both : A copy, or an imitation 
 of a great man, or even the work of an obfcure 
 hand that has any fimilitude to his, is prefently 
 of him. Nay, pictures or drawings are frequently 
 chriitened (as they call it) arbitrarily or ignorantly, 
 as avarice, vanity, or caprice directs. I believe 
 there are few collections without instances of thefe 
 mifnamed works, fome that I have feen are noto- 
 rious for it. Nor do I pretend that my own hath 
 not fome few on which I would not have the leaft 
 dependance in forming an idea of the mafters 
 whole names they bear. They are as I found them, 
 and may be rightly chriftened for ought 1 know ; 
 I leave the matter as doubtful, in hopes of future 
 difcoveries. j but a name which I know, or believe 
 to be wrong, I never fuffer to remain, I either ex- 
 punge it, and leave the work without any, or give 
 it fuch as I am allured, or have probable argu- 
 ments to believe is right. 
 
 It cannot be denied but that this is a confider- 
 able difcouragement to one that is delirous to be a 
 ConnohTeur, not much unlike that which is apt to 
 perplex well-meaning people when they reflect upon 
 
 the 
 
220 KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 
 
 the many contrary opinions pretended to be of di- 
 vine authority. But as in that cafe there are cer- 
 tain fundamental, felf-evident, or demonftrable 
 principles, or fuch whofe authority is fufficiently 
 cftablifhed by rational arguments, to which prin- 
 ciples a man may always have recourfe ; and, by 
 comparing doctrines pretended to be from God 
 with thefe, be able to judge for himfelf of the 
 truth of fuch pretences : So here there are certain 
 pictures and drawings of feveral of the matters, 
 chiefly of the moft considerable ones, that even an 
 early connohTeur will find at his firft fetting out, 
 and always meet with in his way, that will ferve 
 him as fate and fufficient guides in this affair. 
 
 Such are thofe whofe genuinenefs is abundantly 
 eftabliflied by hiftory, tradition, and univerfal con- 
 fent j as the works of Raphael in the Vatican, and 
 at Hampton-Court ; thofe of Coregio in the cu- 
 pola at Parma •, of Annibale Caracci in the Far- 
 nefe gallery at Rome ; of Vandyke in many fami- 
 lies in England, and a great many more of thefe 
 and other maflers all over Europe. 
 
 The defcriptions of works in Vafari, Cinelli, 
 and other writers, or, ftill more, the prints extant 
 of them, prove abundance of pictures and draw- 
 ings to be genuine, fuppofing them not to be co- 
 pies •, which their excellency may be as certain a 
 proof of to a good judge of that, and propor- 
 tionably to one that is lefs advanced in that branch 
 of fcience. 
 
 The general confent of connohTeurs is what I 
 believe will be allowed to be fufficient to confti- 
 tute a picture or a drawing to be a guide in this 
 cafe. 
 
 Many matters have fomething fo remarkable and 
 peculiar, that their manner in general is foon 
 
 known - y 
 
 
KNOWLEDGE of HANDS. 221 
 
 known •, and the beft in thefe kinds fufficiently ap- 
 pear to be genuine, fo that a young connoifleur 
 can be in no doubt concerning them. 
 
 Now, though fome mailers differ exceedingly 
 from themfelves, yet, in all, there is fomething of 
 the fame man ; as in all the ftages of our lives 
 there is a general refemblance ; the fame features 
 are feen in our old faces as we had in our youth ; 
 when we have fixed a few of the works of the 
 mailers as genuine, thefe will direct us in the dis- 
 covery of others, with greater or lefs degrees of 
 probability, as the fimilitude betwixt them and 
 thofe already allowed to be genuine happens to be. 
 
 An idea of the mod confiderable mailers who 
 have had a great variety in them may be foon got- 
 ten, as to their moft common manner and general 
 character ; which by feeing pictures and drawings, 
 with care and obfervation, will be improved and 
 enlarged perpetually. 
 
 And there are fome mailers who, when you have 
 feen two or three of their works, will be known 
 again eafily, having had but very little variety in 
 the manners, or fomething fo peculiar throughout 
 as to difcover them immediately. 
 
 As for obfcure mailers, or thofe whofe works 
 are little known, it is impoifible to have any juft 
 idea of them, and confequendy to know to whom 
 to attribute a work of their hands when we hap- 
 pen to meet them ; but then it is alfo of little im- 
 portance whether we do or not. 
 
 When we are at a lofs, and know not to what 
 hand to attribute a picture or drawing, it is of ufe 
 to coniider of what age and what fchool it proba- 
 bly is. This will reduce the inquiry into a nar- 
 row compafs, and oftentimes lead us to the mailer 
 we are feeking for. So that befides the hiflory of 
 
 the 
 
222 KJNUWJLillJLr^ OF HAJNJJ5. 
 
 the particular mailers, which (as hath been feen 
 already) is neceifary to be known by every one who 
 would be a connoiffeur in hands ; the general one 
 of the art, and the characters of the feveral fchools 
 is fo too. Of the firfl I have occafionally given 
 fome few touches throughout the preient and fore- 
 going part of this work : Of the other I mall 
 make light fketches, referring you for the whole 
 to the accounts at large in the authors who have 
 profefledly treated on thofe fubjects. 
 
 He who would be a good connoiffeur in hands 
 muft know how to diftinguifh clearly and readily, 
 not only betwixt one object and another, but when 
 two different ones nearly refemble ; for this he will 
 very often have occafion to do, as it is eafy to ob- 
 ferve by what hath been faid already. But I fhall 
 have a further occafion to enlarge on this particular, 
 
 Laftly, To attain that branch of fcience of which 
 I have been treating, a particular application to 
 that very ftudy is requifite. A man may be a 
 good painter, and a good connoiffeur as to the 
 merit of a picture or drawing, and may have ken 
 all the fine ones in the world, and not know any 
 thing of this matter: It is a fpeculation intirely 
 diftincl: from all thefe qualifications, and requires 
 a turn of thought accordingly. 
 
 f F 
 
[ 223 ] 
 O F 
 
 ORIGINALS and COPIES. 
 
 AL L that is done in picture is done by inven- 
 tion, or from the life, or from another pic- 
 ture •, or, laftly, it is a compofition of one or more 
 of thefe. 
 
 The term picture I here underftand at large as 
 fignifying a painting, drawing, engraving, &c. 
 
 Perhaps nothing that is done is properly and 
 ftrictly invention, but derived from Something al- 
 ready feen, though fometimes compounded and 
 jumbled into forms which nature never produced ; 
 thefe images laid up in our minds are the patterns 
 by which we work when we do what is faid to be 
 done by invention •, juft as when we follow nature 
 before our eyes -, the only difference being that in 
 the latter cafe, thefe ideas are frefh taken in, and 
 immediately made ufe of, in the other they have 
 been repofited there, and are lefs clear and lively. 
 
 So that is faid to be done by the life which is 
 done, the object intended to be reprefented being 
 fet before us, though we neither follow it intirely, 
 nor intend fo to do ; but add or retrench by the 
 help of preconceived ideas of a beauty and per- 
 fection we imagine nature is capable of, though 
 rarely or never found. 
 
 We fay a picture is done by the life as well when 
 the object reprefented is a thing inanimate, as when 
 it is an animal; and the work of art as well as na- 
 ture; but then for diftinction the term Hill-life is 
 made ufe of as occafion requires. 
 
 A,£opy is the repetition of a work already done 
 when the artift endeavours to follow that ; as he^ 
 
 that 
 
224 ORIGINALS and COPIES. 
 
 that works by invention, or the life, endeavouring 
 to copy nature, ken or conceived, makes an ori- 
 ginal. 
 
 Thus, not only that is an original painting that 
 is done by invention, or the life immediately ■, but 
 that is fo too which is done by a drawing or fketch 
 fo done ; that drawing or fketch not being ulti- 
 mately intended to be followed, but ufed only as 
 a help towards the better imitation of nature, whe- 
 ther prefent or abfent. 
 
 And though this drawing or fketch is thus ufed 
 by another hand than that by which it is made, 
 what is fo done cannot be faid to be a copy; the 
 thought indeed is partly borrowed, but the work 
 is original. 
 
 For the fame reafon if a picture be made after 
 another, and afterwards gone over by invention, 
 or the life, not following that, but endeavouring 
 to improve upon it, it thus becomes an original. 
 
 But if a picture or drawing be copied, and the 
 manner of handling be imitated, though with 
 fome liberty, fo as not to follow every ftroke and 
 touch, it ceafes not to be a copy ; as that is truly a 
 tranflation where the fenle is kept, though it be not 
 exactly literal. 
 
 If a larger picture be copied though in little, 
 and what was done in oil is imitated with water- 
 colours, or crayons, that firft picture being only 
 endeavoured to be followed as clofe as poflible 
 with thofe materials, and in thofe dimenfions; 
 this is to be efteemed a copy, juft as if it were 
 done as large, and in the fame manner as the ori- 
 ginal. 
 
 There are fome pictures and drawings which are 
 neither copies nor originals, as being partly one, 
 and partly the other. If in a hiftory, or large 
 
 compo- 
 
ORIGINALS and COPIES. 225 
 
 compofition, or even a fingle figure, a face or 
 more is inferted, copied from what has been done 
 from the life, fuch picture is not intirely original. 
 Neither is that fo, nor intirely copy, where the 
 whole thought is taken, but the manner of the 
 copier ufed as to the colouring and handling. A 
 copy retouched in fome places by invention, or 
 the life, is of this equivocal kind. I have feveral 
 drawings firft copied after old mailers (Giulio Ro- 
 mano for example) and then heightened and en- 
 deavoured to be improved by Rubens -, fo far as 
 his hand hath gone is therefore original, the reft 
 remains pure copy. But when he has thus wrought 
 upon original drawings (of which I have alfo many 
 inftances) the drawing lofes not its firft denomina- 
 tion, it is an original ftill, made by two feveral 
 mafters. 
 
 The ideas of better and worfe are generally at- 
 tached to the terms original and copy, and this 
 with good reafon •, not only becaufe copies are 
 ufually made by inferior hands, but becaufe tho' 
 he who makes the copy is as good or even a better 
 mafter than he who made the original, whatever 
 may happen rarely and by accident, ordinarily the 
 copy will fall fhort ; our hands cannot reach what 
 our minds have conceived ; it is God alone whole 
 works anfwer to his ideas. In making an original 
 our ideas are taken from nature, which the works 
 of art cannot equal ; when we copy, they are thefe 
 defective works of art from which we take our 
 ideas ; thefe are the utmoft we endeavour to arrive 
 at ; and thefe lower ideas too our hands fail of ex- 
 ecuting perfectly; an original is the echo of the 
 voice of nature, a copy is the echo of that echo. 
 Moreover, though the mailer that copies be equal 
 in general to him whole work he follows, yet, in 
 Q_ the 
 
226 ORIGINALS and COPIES. 
 
 .the particular manner of that mafter he is to imi- 
 tate, he may not : Vandyke (for example) might 
 have as fine a pencil as Titian j Parmegiano might 
 handle a pen or chalk as well as Raphael j but 
 Vandyke was not fo excellent in the manner of 
 Titian ; nor Parmegiano in that of Raphael, as 
 they themfelves were. Laftly, in making an ori- 
 ginal we jiaye a vaft latitude as to the handling, 
 colouring, drawing, exprefiion, &c. in copying 
 we are confined •, confequently a copy cannot have 
 the freedom and fpirit of an original ; fo that tho' 
 the mafter who made the original, copies his own 
 work, it cannot be expected it fhould be as well. 
 
 But though it be generally true that a copy is 
 inferior to an original, it may fo happen that it 
 may be better j as when the copy is done by a 
 much better hand ; whether as to his general cha- 
 racter, or in fome particulars, whereby fome de- 
 fects may be avoided, and improvements made, 
 though not throughout. An excellent mafter can 
 no more fink down to the badnefs of fome works, 
 than the author of fuch can rife to the other's ex- 
 cellence. A copy of a very good picture is pre- 
 ferable to an indifferent original •, for there the in- 
 vention is feen almoft intire, and a great deal of 
 the exprefiion and difpolition, and many times 
 good hints of the colouring, drawing, and other 
 qualities. An indifferent original hath nothing 
 that is excellent, nothing that touches, which fuch 
 a copy I am fpeaking of hath, and this in pror 
 portion to its goodnefs as a copy. 
 
 When we confider a picture or a drawing, and 
 the queftion is, Whether it is a copy or an ori- 
 ginal ? the ftate of that queftion will be, 
 
 Firft, In thofe very terms. 
 
 Secondly, Is this of fuch a hand, or after him ? 
 
 Thirdly, 
 
ORIGINALS and COPIES. 227 
 
 Thirdly, Is fuch a wcrk, leen to be of fuch a 
 mailer, originally of him, or a copy after fome 
 other ? 
 
 And, laftly, Is it done by this mafter from the 
 life, or invention ? or copied after fome other pic- 
 ture of his own ? 
 
 In the firft of thefe cafes, neither the hand nor 
 the idea is known : In the lecond, the idea is fup- 
 pofcd to be fo, but not the hand : In the third, 
 the hand is known, but not the idea : And in the 
 laft, both the hand and the idea are known, but 
 not whether it is original or copy. 
 
 There are certain arguments made ufe of in de- 
 termining upon one, or more of thefe queftions, 
 which are to be rejected : If there are two pictures 
 of the fame fubjecl:, the fame number of figures* 
 the fame attitudes, colours, &c. it will by no 
 means follow that one is a copy, unlefs in the 
 latter fenfe, juft now mentioned ; for the matters 
 have frequently repeated their works, either to 
 pleafe themfelves or other people, who feeing and 
 liking one, have defired another like it. Some 
 have fancied the great mailers made no finifhed 
 drawings, as not having time or patience fufficient, 
 and therefore pronounce all fuch to be copies ; 
 I will not oppofe this falfc reafoning by fome- 
 thing in the fame way, though I might ; I hate 
 arguments ad hominem, becaufe if I difpute, it is 
 not for victory but truth ; but let the drawing 
 have the other good properties of an original, 
 thole will be arguments in its favour, which the 
 finifhing cannot overthrow, or fo much as weaken. 
 Nor will the numbers of drawings which we have 
 here in England, which are attributed to Raphael, 
 or any other mailer, be any argument not only 
 againft the originality of any one of them in par- 
 Q^2 ticular 
 
£28 ORIGINALS and COPIES. 
 
 ticular (for this for certain it cannot be) no, nor 
 even that forne of them mud be copies. That 
 thefe great men * made vaft numbers of drawings 
 is certain, and oftentimes many for the fame work ; 
 and that they are hardly to be found in Italy is 
 nothing to the purpofe ; the riches of England, 
 Holland, France, and other countries of Europe, 
 may well be fuppofed to have drawn away by much 
 the greateft number of what curiofities could be 
 removed. But I have no inclination to dwell upon 
 fuch a poor and low way of arguing, and fo un- 
 worthy of a connoifieur ; let us judge from the 
 things themfelves, and what we fee and know, and 
 thus only. 
 
 I. There are fome pictures and drawings which 
 are feen to be originals, though the hand and man- 
 ner of thinking are neither of them known, and 
 that by the fpirit and freedom of them ; which 
 fometimes appears to fuch a degree, as to allure 
 us it is impolTible they mould be copies. But we 
 cannot fay, on the contrary, when we fee a tame, 
 heavy handling, that the work is not original 
 merely upon that account, becaufe there have been 
 many bad originals, and fome good mailers have 
 fallen into a feeblenefs of hand, efpecially in their 
 old age. 
 
 Sometimes there appears fuch a nature, toge- 
 ther with fo much liberty, that this is a further 
 evidence of the originality of fuch works. 
 
 There is another, and a more mafterly way of 
 judging, and that is, by comparing the unknown 
 "hand, and manner of thinking one with another. 
 The invention and difpofition of the parts in a 
 
 * Witnefs Carlo Maratti, of whom a friend of my father's 
 had feen an entire book of three hundred from the head alone 
 of the Antinoiis. See above in his Theory, p. no. 
 
 copy, 
 
ORIGINALS and COPIES. 229 
 
 copy, and fome of the expreffion always remains, 
 and are the fame as in the original; let thefe be 
 compared with the airs of the heads, the grace 
 and greatnefs, the drawing and handling •, if thefe 
 be all of a piece, and fuch as we can believe all 
 may be the work of the fame perfon, it is pro- 
 bable that this is an original, at leaft we cannot 
 pronounce it to be otherwife. But if we fee a wife 
 and learned invention, a judicious difpofition, but 
 want of harmony ; graceful and noble actions, but 
 ill performed ; (illy airs of heads, bad drawing, a 
 low tafte of colouring, and a timorous or heavy 
 hand ; this we may be aflured is a copy, in a de- 
 gree proportionable to the difference we fee in the 
 head and hand that contributed to the production 
 of this motley performance. i 
 
 II. To know whether a picture or drawing be 
 of the hand of fuch a mailer, or after him, one 
 muil be fo well acquainted with the hand of that 
 mailer as to be able to diflinguifh what is genuine, 
 from what is not fo; the bell counterfeiter of 
 hands cannot do it fo well as to deceive a good 
 connoiffeur ; the handling, the colouring, the 
 drawing, the airs of heads, fome, nay all of thefe, 
 difcover the impofture •, more or lefs eafily how- 
 ever as the manner of the mafter happens to be y 
 what is highly finimed (for example) is more eafily 
 imitated than what is loofe and free. . 
 
 It is impoflible for any one to transform himfelt* 
 immediately, and become exactly another man •, a 
 hand that hath been always moving in a certain 
 manner, cannot at once, or by a few occafional 
 efiays, get into a different kind of motion, and be 
 as perfect at it as he that praclifes it continually : 
 It is the fame in colouring and drawing ; they are; 
 as impoflible to be counterfeited as the handling : 
 
 Q*3 % e */ 
 
230 ORIGINALS and COPIES. 
 
 Every man will naturally and unavoidably mix 
 fomething of himfelf in all he does, if he copies 
 with any degree of liberty : If he attempts to fol- 
 low his original fervilely and exactly, that cannot 
 but have a ftifrnefs which will eafily diftinguifh 
 what is fo done from what is performed naturally, 
 eafily, and without reflraint. 
 
 I have perhaps one of the greater! curiofities of 
 this kind that can be feen, becaufe I have both the 
 copy and the original •, both are of great mafters ; 
 the copier was moreover the difciple of him he 
 endeavoured to imitate, and had accuftomed him- 
 felf to do fo, for I have feveral inftances of this, 
 which I am very certain of, though I have not 
 feen the originals. Michael Angelo made that I 
 am now fpeaking of, and which I joyfully pur- 
 chafed lately of one who had juft brought it from 
 abroad ; it is a drawing with a pen upon a large 
 half fheet, and confifts of three ftanding figures : 
 The copy is of Battifla Franco, and which I have 
 had feveral years, and always judged it to be what 
 I now find it is. It is an amazing thing to fee 
 how exactly the meafures are followed, for it does 
 not appear to have been done by any other help 
 than the correctnefs of the eye-, if it had been 
 traced off, or meafured throughout, it is as ftrange 
 that the liberty mould be preierved that is feen in 
 it ; Battifta has alfo been exact in following every 
 ftroke, even what is purely accidental, and with- 
 out any meaning ; fo that one would think he en- 
 deavoured to make as juft a copy as poflible, both 
 as to the freedom and exactnefs. But himfelf is 
 feen throughout moll apparently : As great a mat- 
 ter as he was, he could no more counterfeit the 
 vigorous, blunt pen of Michael Angelo, and that 
 
 terrible 
 
ORIGINALS and COPIES. %$%. 
 
 terrible fire that is always feen in him, than he 
 could have managed the club of Hercules. 
 
 I am well aware of the objection that will be 
 made to what I am faying, founded upon the in-" 
 ftances of copies that have deceived very good 
 painters who judged them to be of the hands they 
 were only counterfeits of, and even when thefe 
 hands have been their own : To which I anfwer, 
 
 Firit, A man may be a very good painter and 
 not a good connoifleur in this particular. To 
 know and diftinguifh hands, and to be able to 
 make a good picture, are very different qualifica- 
 tions, and require a very different turn of thought, 
 and both a particular application. 
 
 Secondly, It is probable thofe that have been 
 thus miftaken have been too precipitate in giving 
 their judgments ; and not having arty doubt upon 
 the matter have pronounced without much exami- 
 nation. 
 
 Laftly, Admitting it to be true* that there have 
 been inftances of copies of this kind not poffible 
 to be detected by the ableit ConnoifTeurs (which 
 however I do not believe) yet this muffc needs: 
 happen fo very rarely that the general rule will 
 however fubfift. 
 
 III. The nextqueftion to be fpoken to, is, Whe- 
 ther a work feen to be of fuch a mailer is origi- 
 nally of him, or a copy after fome other ? 
 
 And here the firft enquiry will be, Whether as 
 we fee the hand of fuch matter in the picture, or 
 drawing before us, his idea is alio in it : And if 
 it be judged, the thought is not originally of him, 
 we muft further enquire^ whether he who did the 
 work under confidcration endeavoured to follow 
 that other mafter as well as he could, fo as to 
 make what he did, properly, a copy ; or took 
 Q.4 & ch 
 
232 ORIGINALS and COPIES. 
 
 ftich a liberty as that his work thereby becomes 
 an original. 
 
 This mixture, the hand of one, and the idea of 
 another, is very frequently feen in the works of 
 fome of the greater!: m afters. Raphael hath much 
 of the antique in his, not only imitations, but 
 copies. Parmegiano, and Battifta Franco drew 
 after Raphael, and Michael Angelo ; and the latter 
 made abundance of drawings from the antique, 
 having had an intention to etch a book of that 
 kind. Rubens drew very much from other maf- 
 ters, efpecially from Raphael; almoft all that 
 Biaggio Bolognefe did was borrowed from Raphael; 
 or Parmegiano, or imitations of their way of think- 
 ing. But this mixture is rarely, or never feen in 
 Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Angelo, Corregio, 
 and others : Giulio Romano, and much more 
 Polidore, had fo imbibed the tafte of the ancients, 
 as to think much in their way, though eafily to 
 be diftinguifhed however. It would be too tedi- 
 ous to be more particular; thofe who acquaint 
 themfelves thoroughly with the works of thefe 
 great men will furnifh themfelves with obfervations 
 of this kind fufficient for their purpofe: And this 
 he who would judge in the prefent cafe muft do; 
 for it is obvious, the only way to know whether 
 the ideas and the hand are of the fame mafter, is, 
 by being thoroughly verled in the hands and ideas 
 of the mailers. And then to know, whether the 
 work ought to be confidered as an original or not, 
 he muft clearly conceive what are the juft defini- 
 tions of a copy, and an original, as diftinguiihed 
 from each other. 
 
 IV. Copies made by a mafter after his own 
 work are difcoverable by being well acquainted 
 with what that mafter did when he followed na- 
 ture ; 
 
ORIGINALS and COPIES. 233 
 
 ture ; thefe fhall have a fpirit, a freedom, a natu- 
 ralnefs which even he himfelf cannot put into what 
 he copies from his own work •, as hath been noted 
 already. 
 
 As for prints, though what I have been faying 
 not only in the prefent, but precedent chapters, is 
 for the mod part applicable to them as well as to 
 pictures and drawings, (which I have all along 
 had almoft wholly in my mind,) yet there being 
 fomething peculiar to thefe I have chofe to referve 
 what I had to fay concerning them in particular to 
 this place. 
 
 Prints, whether engraved in metal or wood, 
 etched or in mezzotinto, are a fort of works done 
 in fach a manner as is not lb proper as that where- 
 by paintings or drawings are performed •, it not 
 .being pofllble by this to make any thing fo excel- 
 lent as in the others. But this way of working is 
 chofen upon other accounts, fuch as that thereby 
 great numbers are produced inftead of one, fo that 
 the thing comes into many hands ; and that at an 
 eafy price. 
 
 Of prints there are two kinds ; fuch as are done 
 by the mafters themfelves whofe invention the work 
 is •, and fuch as are done by men not pretending to 
 invent, but only to copy (in their feveral ways) 
 other mens works. 
 
 The latter fort of prints are always profeffed 
 copies, with refpect to the invention, compofition, 
 manner of defigning, grace and greatnefs. But 
 thefe prints may be alfo copied, as they frequently 
 are •, and, to know what are fo, and what are 
 originals, is by being well acquainted with the 
 hands of the engraver or etcher, who in this refpect 
 are the mafters, as the painter from whom they 
 copied were to them. 
 
 The 
 
234 ORIGINALS and COPIES. 
 
 The former fort may again be fubdivided into 
 three kinds, i. Thofe they have done after a 
 painting of their own. 2. Thofe done after a 
 drawing alfo done by themfelves •, or, laftly, what 
 is defigned upon the plate, which hath been fome- 
 times done, efpecially in etching. The firft of 
 thefe are copies after their own works j and lb may 
 the fecond, or they may not, according as the 
 drawing they have made previoufly to it happens 
 to be i but both are fo but in part ; what is thus 
 done being a different way of working. But if it 
 be defigned on the plate, it is a kind of drawing 
 (as the others are) though in a manner different 
 from the reft, and is purely and properly original. 
 
 And the hands of the matters are to be known 
 in this way as in all others, and fo what are ge- 
 nuine, and what are copies, and how far. 
 
 The excellence of a print, as of a drawing, 
 confifts not particularly in the handling ; this is 
 but one, and even one of the leaft considerable 
 parts of it: It is the invention, the grace and 
 greatnefs, and thofe principal parts that in the firft 
 place are to be regarded. There is better engrav- 
 ing, a finer burin in many worthlefs prints than in 
 thofe of Marc Antonio, but thofe of this laft that 
 come after Raphael are generally more efteemed 
 than even thofe which are engraved by the mafters 
 themfelves •, though the expreflion, the grace and 
 greatnefs, and other properties wherein that in- 
 imitable man fo much excelled all mankind, ap- 
 pear to be but faintly marked if compared with 
 what Raphael himfelf hath done ; yet even that 
 fhadow of him hath beauties that touch the foul 
 beyond what the belt original works of moft of the 
 other mafters, though very considerable ones, can 
 do : And this muft be faid too, that though Marc- 
 Antonio's 
 
ORIGINALS and COPIES. 235 
 
 Antonio's engravings come farfhort of what Raphael 
 himfelf did, all others that have made prints after 
 Raphael come vaftly fhort of him, becaufe he has 
 better imitated what is moft excellent in that be- 
 loved, wonderful man than any other has done. 
 
 The prints etched by the mafters themfelves*, 
 fuch as thofe of Parmegiano, Annibale Caracci, 
 and Guido Reni, (who are the chief of thofe of 
 whom we have works of this kind) are confider- 
 able upon the fame account ; not for the handling, 
 but the Ipirit, the expreilion, the drawing, and 
 other the moft excellent properties of a picture or 
 drawing ; though, by the nature of the work, they 
 are not equal to what thefe fame mafters have exe- 
 cuted with their pencil, chalk, or pen. 
 
 And it is further to be obferved, that as prints 
 cannot be fo good as drawings, they abate in the 
 goodnefs they have by the wearing of the plates ; 
 they thus become to have lefs beauty, lefs fpirit, 
 the expreflion hath lefs energy, the airs of the 
 heads are tamer, and the whole is the worfe in 
 proportion as the plate is worn : unlefs it be too 
 hard at firft, and then thofe prints are the better 
 that are taken after that hardnefs is fomething worn 
 off. 
 
 It were much to be wifhed that all who have 
 applied themfelves to the copying of other mens 
 works by prints (of what kind foever) had more 
 ftudied to become mafters in thofe branches of fci- 
 ence which are necefTary to a painter (except what 
 are peculiar to them as fuch) than they have gene- 
 rally done j their works would then have been 
 much more defirable than they are. Some few 
 indeed have done this, and their prints are efteemed 
 accordingly. 
 
 To 
 
230 UJK.1VJHN/1.L,;) and Lunnb. 
 
 To conclude ; it muft be obferved to the advan- 
 tage of prints as compared with drawings •, though 
 they are by no means equal to them upon other 
 accounts (as has been already noted) they are ufu- 
 ally done from the finifhed works of the matters, 
 and fo are their laft, their utmoft thoughts on the 
 fubjeet, whatever it be. So much for prints. 
 
 There is one qualification abfolutely necefTary to 
 him that would know hands, and diftinguifh copies 
 from originals ; as it alio is fo to him who would 
 judge well of the goodnefs of a picture or draw- 
 ing, or indeed of any thing elfe whatfcever, and 
 with which therefore I will finiih this difcourfe; 
 and that is, he muft accultom himfelf to take in, 
 retain, and manage clear and diftinct ideas. 
 
 To be able to diftinguifh betwixt two things of 
 a different fpecies (efpecially if thofe are very 
 much unlike) is what the molt ftupid creature is 
 capable of, as to fay this is an oak, and that a 
 willow -, but to come into a foreft of a thoufand 
 oaks, and to know how to diftinguifh any one 
 leaf of all thofe trees from any other whatfoever, 
 and to form fo clear an idea of that one, and to 
 retain it fo clean as (if occafion be) to know it fo 
 long as its characterifticks remain, requires better 
 faculties than every one is matter of ; and yet this 
 may certainly be done. To fee the difference be- 
 tween a fine metaphyseal notion, and a dull 
 jeft-, or between a demonftration, and an argu- 
 ment but juft probable -, thefe are things which 
 he who cannot do is rather a brute, than a ratio- 
 nal creature j but to difcern wherein the difference 
 confifts when two notions very nearly refemble 
 each other, but are not the fame-, or to fee the 
 juit weight of an argument, and that through all 
 
 its 
 
ORIGINALS and COPIES. 237 
 
 irs artificial difguifes •, to do this it is necefTary to 
 conceive, diftinguifh, methodize, and compare 
 ideas in a manner that few of all thofe multitudes 
 that pretend to reafoning have accuftomed them- 
 felves to. But thus to fee, thus nicely to diftin- 
 guifh things nearly refembling one another, whe- 
 ther vifible, or immaterial, is the bufinefs of a con- 
 noiffeur. It is for want of this diflinguifhing faculty 
 that fome whom I have knov/n, and from whom one 
 might reafonably have expected better, have blun- 
 dered as grofsly as if they had miftaken a Coregio 
 for a Rembrandt ; or (to fpeak more intelligibly 
 to thofe who are not well acquainted with thefe 
 things) an apple, for an oyfler: But lefTer mis- 
 takes have been made perpetually, when the dif- 
 ference between the two manners, that which we 
 faw before us, and that which it was judged to 
 be, whether as to the mailer's way of thinking, or 
 jof executing his thoughts, was nevertheleis very 
 .eafily difcernible. 
 
 It is as necefTary to a connoiffeur as to a philo- 
 fopher or divine, to be a nice logician •, the fame 
 faculties are employed, and in the fame manner, 
 the difference is only in the fubject. 
 
 1. He muft never undertake to make any judg- 
 ment without having in his mind certain determined 
 ideas, he muft not think, or talk at random, and 
 when he is not clear in the thing ; as thofe gen- 
 tlemen Mr. Locke fpeaks of fomewhere, who were 
 difputing warmly upon a certain liquor in the 
 body, and might probably never have come to any 
 conclufion if he had not put them upon fettling 
 the meaning of that term liquor ; they talked all 
 the while in the clouds. 
 
 2. A good connoiffeur will take care not to con- 
 found things in which there is a real difference, 
 
 becaufe 
 
238 ORIGINALS and COPIES. 
 
 bec2iife of the refemblance they may feem to have. 
 This he has perpetual occafion to be upon his 
 guard againft, for many times the hands and 
 manners of different mafters very nearly refemble 
 each other. 
 
 3. He mufl not make a difference where there is 
 none, and fo attribute thofe works to two feveral 
 mafters which were both done by the fame hand. 
 
 4. A connoiffeur having fixed his ideas mould 
 keep clofe to them, and not flutter about in con- 
 fuiion from one to another. 
 
 A DIS- 
 
DI SCOURSE 
 
 O N T H E 
 
 DIGNITY, CERTAINTY, 
 
 PLEASURE and ADVANTAGE, 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
[ 24' ] 
 
 DISCOURSE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR, 
 
 IT is remarkable, that in a country as ours^ 
 rich and abounding with gentlemen of a 
 juft and delicate tafte in mufick, poetry, and 
 all kinds of literature -, fuch fine writers ! fuch 
 folid reafoners ! fuch able ftatefmen ! gallant 
 foldiers ! excellent divines, lawyers, phyficians, 
 mathematicians, and mechanicks ! and yet fo 
 few, fo very few lovers and connouTeurs in 
 painting ! 
 
 & U 
 
242 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 In mod of thefe particulars there is no na- 
 tion under heaven which we do not excel -, in 
 lbme of the principal, moft of them are bar- 
 barous compared with us •, fince the beft times 
 of the ancient Greeks and Romans, when this 
 art was in its greateft efteem and perfection, 
 fuch a national magnanimity as feems to be 
 the characteriftic of our nation has been loft 
 in the world ; and yet the love and knowledge 
 of painting, and what has relation to it, bears 
 no proportion to what is to be found, not 
 only in Italy, where they are all lovers, and 
 almoft all connohTeurs, but in France, Hol- 
 land, and Flanders. 
 
 Every event in the natural and moral world 
 hath its caufes, which are caufed by other 
 caufes, and fo on up to the firft caufe, the 
 immutable and unerring will, without which 
 not fo inconfiderable an accident (as it will be 
 called) as the falling of a fparrow, or the 
 change of the colour of a fingle hair, can 
 happen ; fo that there is nothing ftrange : 
 "What is commonly the fubjecl of admiration 
 is fo for no other reafon but that we do not 
 fee its caufes, nor remember it mud needs 
 have had fuch, and which mull as infallibly 
 operate in that manner as thofe we fee, and 
 which are moft ordinary and familiar to us. 
 That fo few here in England have confidered 
 
 that 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 243 
 
 that to be a good conrtoiffeur is fit to be part 
 of the education of a gentleman, that there are 
 fo few lovers of painting ; not merely for fur- 
 niture, or for often tation, or as it reprefents 
 their friends or themfelves ; but as it is an art 
 capable of entertaining and adorning their 
 minds as much as, nay perhaps more, than 
 any other whatfoever; this event alfo has its 
 caufes ; to remove which, and confequently 
 their effects^ and to procure the contrary good, 
 is what I am about to endeavour, and hope in 
 fome meafure to accomplish. 
 
 Nor is this a trivial undertaking*, I have 
 already been giving the principles of it, and 
 here I recommend a new fcience to the world* 
 or one at leaft little known, or confidered as 
 fuch : So new, or fo little known* that it is yet 
 without a name ; it may have one in time ; till 
 then I mull be excufed when I call it, as I do, 
 The SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR, for 
 want of a better way of exprefiing myfelf : I 
 open to gentlemen a new fcene of pleafure. a 
 new innocent amufement, and an accomplifh- 
 ment which they have yet fcarce heard of, 
 but no lefs worthy of their attention than 
 moft of thole they have been accuftomed to 
 acquire. I offer to my country a fcheme by 
 which its reputation, riches, virtue and power 
 may be increafed. And this I will endeavour 
 R 2 to 
 
244 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 to do, not as an orator, or as an advocate, but 
 as a ftrict reafoner-, and fo as I am verily 
 perfuaded will be to the conviction of every 
 one that will impartially attend to the argu- 
 ment, and not be prejudiced by the novelty of 
 it, or their own former fentiments. 
 
 My prefent bufinefs then in fhort is, to en- 
 deavour to perfuade our nobility and gentry 
 to become lovers of painting and connoifTeurs ; 
 which I fhall attempt to do, by fhewing the 
 dignity, certainty, pleafure and advantage of 
 that fcience. 
 
 One of the principal caufes of the general 
 neglect of the fcience I am treating of, I take 
 to be, that very few gentlemen have a juft 
 idea of painting - y it is commonly taken to 
 be an art whereby nature is to be reprefented ; 
 a fine piece of workmanfhip, and difficult to 
 be performed, but produces only pleafant orna- 
 ments, mere fuperfluities. 
 
 This being all they expect from it, no won- 
 der they look no farther ; and, not having 
 applied themfelves to things of this nature, 
 overlook beauties which they do not expect 
 to find •, fo that many an excellent picture is 
 pailed over and difregarded, and an indifferent 
 or a bad one admired, and this upon low and 
 
 even 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 245 
 
 even trivial confiderations ; from whence arifes 
 naturally an indifference, if not a contempt for 
 the art, at beft a degree of efteem not very 
 confiderable ; efpecially fince there are (compa- 
 ratively) fb few pictures in which are to be 
 found either nature clofely reprefented, or 
 beauty, or even fine workmanfhip. 
 
 Though I have already in the beginning of 
 the Theory of Painting, and indeed through- 
 out this work, endeavoured to give the world 
 a juft idea of the art, I will in this place 
 more particularly attempt it, as being very per- 
 tinent to my prefent defign ; and perhaps it 
 may be fome advantage (as we find it is to 
 pictures) to place it in feveral lights. 
 
 Painting is indeed a difficult art, productive 
 of curious pieces of workmanfhip, and greatly 
 ornamental ; and its bufinefs is to reprefent 
 nature. Thus far the .common idea is juft ; 
 only that k is more difficult, more curious, 
 and more beautiful, than is commonly ima- 
 
 gined. 
 
 It is an entertaining thing to the mind of 
 man to fee a fine piece of art in any kind; 
 and every one is apt to take a fort of pride 
 in it as being done by one of his own fpecies, 
 to whom, with refpect to the univerfe, he 
 R 3 ftands 
 
246 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 {lands related as to one of the fame country, 
 pr the fame family. Painting affords us a great 
 variety of this kind of pleafure in the delicate 
 or bold management of the pencil; in the 
 mixture of its colours, in the fkiiful contrivance 
 of the feveral parts of the picture, and infinite 
 variety of the tin&s, fo as to produce beauty 
 and harmony. This alone gives great pleafure 
 * to thofe who have learned to fee thefe things. 
 To fee nature juftly reprefented is very de- 
 lightful ; it gives us pleafing ideas, and per- 
 petuaies and renews them ; pleafing, whether 
 by their novelty or variety, or by the confi- 
 deration of -f our own eafe and fafety, when 
 we fee what is terrible in themfelves, as llorms 
 and tempefts, battles, murders, robberies ; 
 or elle when the fubject is fruit, flowers, 
 landfcapes, buildings, hiftories ; and ? above 
 all, ourfdves, relations, or friends. 
 
 Thus far the common idea of painting goes ; 
 and this would be enough if thefe beauties 
 were feen and confidered as they are to be found 
 
 * Nos etiam eruditos habemus oculos. — Cic. ad Attic. 
 
 -f Suave mari magno turbantibus aquora ventis 
 
 • E terra magnum alterius fpcclare laborem ; 
 Non quia vexari quenquam eft jocunda voluptas, 
 Sed quibus ipfe malis careas quia cernere fuave-eft. 
 
 Lucret. 
 
 in 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 247 
 
 in the works of the beft mailers, whether in 
 paintings or drawings, to recommend the art. 
 But this is fuch an idea of it as it would be of 
 a man to fay, he has a graceful and noble 
 form, and performs many bodily actions with 
 great ftrength and agility, without taking his 
 fpeech and his reafon into the account. 
 
 The great and chief ends of painting are 
 to raife and improve nature ; and to commu- 
 nicate ideas ; not only thofe which we may re- 
 ceive otherwife, but fuch as without this art 
 could not poffibly be communicated ; whereby 
 mankind is advanced higher in the rational 
 flate, and made better ; and that in a way eafy, 
 expeditious, and delightful. 
 
 The bufinefs of painting is not only to re- 
 prefent nature, and to make the bed choice 
 of it, but ta raife and improve it from what 
 is commonly or even rarely feen, to what never 
 'was, or will be in fad:, though we may eafily 
 conceive it might be. As in a good portrait, 
 from whence we conceive a better opinion of 
 the beauty, good fenfe, breeding, and other 
 good qualities of the perfon than from feeing 
 themfelves, and yet without being able to fay 
 in what particular it is unlike ; for nature muft 
 be ever in view, 
 
 R 4 Unerring 
 
448 SCIENCE or a CONNOISSEUR, 
 
 Unerring nature ftill divinely bright, 
 One clear, unchanged, and univerfal light j 
 Life, force, and beauty mud to ail impart, 
 At once the fource, and end, and teft of art ; 
 That art is befl which raofl refembles her, 
 Which (till prefides, yet never does appear. 
 
 Pope's EfTay on Criticifm. 
 
 I believe there never was fuch a race of men 
 upon the face of the earth, never did men look 
 and act like thofe we fee reprefented in the 
 works of Raphael, Michael Angelo, Coregio, 
 Parmegiano, and others of the bed mailers, 
 yet nature appears throughout ; we rarely or 
 never fee fuch landfcapes as thofe of Titian, 
 Annibale Carracci, Salvator Rofa, Claude 
 Lorrain, Jafper Pouflin, and Rubens. Such 
 buildings and magnificence as in the pictures of 
 Paulo Veronefe •, but yet there is nothing but 
 what we can believe may be. Our ideas even 
 of fruits, flowers, infects, draperies, and indeed 
 of ail vifible things, and of lome that are in- 
 vifible, or creatures of the imagination, are 
 raifed and improved in the hands of a good 
 painter; and the mind is thereby filled with 
 the nobleft, and therefore the mod delightful 
 images. The defcription of one in an adver- 
 tifement of a news-paper is nature, fo is a 
 character by my Lord Clarendon, but they 
 are nature very differently reprefented. 
 
 I 9 wr * 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 249 
 
 I own there are beauties in nature which we 
 cannot reach ; chiefly in colours, together with 
 a certain fpirit, vivacity, and lightnefs ; motion 
 alone is a vaft advantage ; it occafions a great 
 degree of beauty purely from that inftant va- 
 riety it produceth ; fo that what I have faid 
 elfewhere is true, it is impofiible to reach na- 
 ture by art; but this is not inconfiftent with 
 what I have been faying juft now ; both are 
 true in different fenfes. Some things in nature 
 are immutable ; others art can improve upon, 
 and thofe very confiderable ones. 
 
 When I fay nature is to be railed and im- 
 proved by painting, it muft be underftocd that 
 the actions of men muft be reprefented better 
 than probably they really v/ere, as well as that 
 their perfons muft appear to be nobler, and 
 more beautiful than is ordinarily feen. In 
 treating a hiftory, a painter has other rules to 
 go by than a hiftorian, whereby he is as much 
 obliged to embellifli his fubject, as the other 
 is to relate it juftly - 3 for painting is poetry. 
 
 Not only fuch ideas are conveyed to us by 
 the help of this art as merely give us pleafure, 
 but fuch as enlighten the underftanding, and 
 put the foul in motion. From hence are learned 
 the forms and properties of things and perfons ; 
 ^e are thus informed of paft events ; by this 
 
 means 
 
2.5o SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 means joy, grief, hope, fear, love, averfion, 
 and the other paffions, and affections of the 
 foul are excited, and above all we are not only 
 thus inftructed, greatly inftructed may be, and 
 this with equal delight ; other means of in- 
 ftruction are often rude and offenfive j this, 
 whilil it informs, polifheth the mind. 
 
 Painting is another fort of writing, and is 
 fubfervient to the fame ends as that of her 
 younger filler ; that by characters can commu- 
 nicate fome ideas which the hieroglyphic kind 
 cannot, as this, in other refpecls, fupplies its 
 defects. 
 
 And the ideas thus conveyed to us have this 
 advantage^ they come not by a flow progreflion 
 of words, or in a language peculiar to one 
 nation only ; but with fuch a velocity, and in a 
 manner fo univerfally understood, that it is 
 fomething like intuition, or infpiration ; as the 
 art by which it is effected refembles creation ; 
 things fo confiderable, and of fo great a price, 
 being produced out of materials fo inconfider- 
 able, of a value next to nothing ! 
 
 What a tedious thing would it be to defcribe 
 by words the view of a country (that from 
 Greenwich-hill for inftance) and how imperfect 
 an idea muft we receive from thence ! Painting 
 
 mews 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 25 1 
 
 ihews the thing immediately and exactly. No 
 words can give you a fatisfactory idea of the 
 face and perfon of one you have never feen; 
 Painting does it effectually ; with the addition 
 of fo much of his character as can be known 
 from thence ; and moreover in an inftant re- 
 calls to your memory, at leafl the molt consi- 
 derable particulars of what you have heard 
 concerning him, or occafions that to be told 
 which you have never heard. 
 
 * " Agoftino Carracci, difcourfing one day 
 " of the excellency of the ancient fculpture, 
 •*' was profufe in his praifes of the Laocoon, 
 f* and obferving his brother Annibale neither 
 .*' fpoke, nor feemed to take any notice of what 
 " he faid, reproached him as not enough efteem- 
 " ing fo ftupendous a work : He then went on 
 " defcribing every particular in that noble re- 
 tt. main of antiquity. Annibale turned himfelf 
 " to the wall, and with a piece of charcoal 
 " drew the flatue as exactly as if it had been 
 " before him •, the reft of the company were 
 " furprized, and Agoftino was filenced ; con- 
 " felling his brother had taken a more effectual 
 " way to demonftrate the beauties of that won- 
 " derful piece of fculpture ; li poeti dipingono 
 f* con le parole, li pittori parlano con l'opere, 
 ." faid Annibale." 
 
 * Bellori's life of Annibale Carracci. 
 
 When 
 
252 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 When Marius, being driven from Rome by 
 Sylla, was prifoner at Minturnas, and a foldier 
 was fent to murther him, upon his coming into 
 the room with his fword drawn for that purpofe, 
 Marius faid aloud 2u </)»» rtKyifc «V9f«T£ T&la 
 Mt^tov ivktfltv ! Dareft thou, man, kill Caius Ma- 
 rius ! which fo terrified the ruffian, that he re- 
 tired without being able to effect what he came 
 about. This (lory, and all that Plutarch has 
 wrote concerning him, gives me not a greater idea 
 of him than one glance of the eye upon his 
 ftatue that I have feen ; it is in the noble col- 
 lection of antiques at my lord Lemfter's feat, 
 at Torcefter in Northamptonfhire. The Odyfiey 
 cannot give me a greater idea of Ulyffes than 
 a drawing I have of Polidore, where he is 
 difcovering himfelf to Penelope and Telema- 
 chus by bending the bow. And I conceive as 
 highly of St. Paul, by once walking through 
 the gallery of Raphael at Hampton Court, as 
 by reading the whole book of the Acts of the 
 Apollles *, though written by divine infpira- 
 tion. So that not only painting furnifhes us 
 with ideas, but it carries that matter farther 
 than any other way whatfoever. 
 
 * Segnius irritant animos demifTa per aurem 
 Quam qua; funt oculis fubjefta fidelibus, & qua; 
 Ipfe fibi tradit fpettator. Hon. A. P. 
 
 The 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 25 
 
 55 
 
 The bufinefs of hiftory is a plain and juft 
 relation of facts •, it is to be an exact picture of 
 human nature. 
 
 Poetry is not thus confined, but, provided 
 natural truth is at the bottom, nature muft 
 be heightened and improved, and the imagi- 
 nation filled with finer images than the eye 
 commonly fees, or in fome cafes ever can; 
 whereby the paflions are more ftrongly touched, 
 and with a greater degree of pleafure than by 
 plain hiftory. 
 
 When painters are to be rallied upon ac- 
 count of the liberties they take of inventing, 
 Horace's Pictoribus atque Poetis never fails- 
 Let them own the charge ; but then the parallel 
 muft be underftood to confift in fuch a depar- 
 ture from truth as is probable, and fuch as 
 pleafes and improves, but deceives nobody. 
 
 The poets have peopled the air, earth, and 
 water with angels, flying boys, nymphs and 
 fatyrs ; they have imagined what is done in 
 heaven, earth, and hell, as well as on this globe, 
 and which could never be known hiftorically -, 
 their very language, as well as their meafures 
 and rhimes, muft be above what is in com- 
 mon ufe. The opera has carried this matter 
 
 ftill 
 
254 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 ftill farther, but fo far as that, being beyond 
 probability, it touches not as tragedy does ; it 
 ceafes to be poetry, and fometimes degenerates 
 into mere fhew and found ; if the paflions are 
 affected, it is from thence, though the words 
 were not only heard distinctly, but underftood. 
 By the way, let it be placed in this light ; let 
 the opera be confidered as fhew and mufick, 
 one of the inftruments being a human voice, 
 the common objection to its being in an un- 
 known tongue falls to the ground. 
 
 As the poets, fo the painters have ftored 
 our imaginations with beings and actions that 
 never were ; they have given us the fineft na- 
 tural and hiftorical images, and this, for the 
 fame end, to pleafe, whilfl they inftruct and 
 make men better. I am not difpofed to carry 
 on the parallel, by defcending to particulars, 
 nor is it my prefent bufinefs : Mr. Dryden 
 hath * done it, though it were to be wifhed 
 he had been in lefs hafte, and had underftood 
 painting better when his fine pen was fo em- 
 ployed. 
 
 Sculpture carries us yet farther than poetry, 
 and gives us ideas that no words can give •, fuch 
 forms of things, fuch airs of heads, fuch ex- 
 
 * In his Preface to Frefnoy's Poem de Arte Graphic! 
 
 expref- 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. i§ S 
 
 preflions of ■ the paflions as cannot be defcribed 
 by language. 
 
 It hath been much difputed, which is the mcft 
 excellent of the two arts, fculpture or painting ; 
 and there is a ftory cf its having been left to 
 the determination of a blind man, who gave it 
 in favour of the latter, being told that what 
 by feeling feemed to him to be flat, appeared to 
 the eye as round as its competitor. I am not 
 fatisfied with this way of deciding the contro- 
 verfy. For it is not the difficulty of an art that 
 makes it preferable, but the ends propofed to 
 be ferved by it, and the degree in which it 
 does that, and then the lefs difficulty the better. 
 
 Now the great ends of both theie arts is to 
 give pleafure, and to convey ideas, and that cf 
 the two which bell anfwers thofe ends is un- 
 doubtedly preferable ; and that this is painting 
 is evident, fince it gives us as great a degree of 
 pleafure, and all the idea that fculpture can, 
 with the addition of others ; and this not only 
 by the help of her colours ; but becaufe fhe 
 can exprefs many things which marble, brals, 
 or other materials of that art cannot, or are not 
 fo proper for. A fbatue indeed is feen all round, 
 and this is one great advantage which is alledged 
 in favour of fculpture, but without reafon : If 
 the figure is feen on every fide, it is alfo wrought 
 
 on 
 
256 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 on every fide, it is then to be confidered as 
 lb many feveral pictures ; and a hundred views 
 of a figure may be painted in the time that 
 that figure is cut in marble, or caft in brafs. 
 
 As the bufinefs of painting is to raife and 
 improve nature, it anfwers to poetry •, (though 
 upon occafion it can alfo be ftrietly hiftorical) 
 and as it ferves to the other more noble end, 
 this hieroglyphic language completes what words 
 or writing began, and fculpture carried on,, and 
 thus perfects all that human nature is capa- 
 ble of in the communication of ideas, till 
 we arrive at a more angelical and fpiritual 
 ftate in another world. 
 
 I believe it will not be unacceptable to my 
 readers, if I illuftrate what I have been fay- 
 ing by examples, and the rather becaufe they 
 are very curious, and very little known. 
 
 Vallani * in his Florentine hiftory fays, that in 
 the year 1288, there were great divifions in 
 the city of Pifa, for the fovereigntyj one of 
 the parties was headed by the judge Nino di 
 Galium de 'Vifconti •, the chief of another party 
 was count Ugolino de 'Gherardefchi ; and the 
 archbifhop Ruggieri of the family of the 
 
 * Lib. VI. c. 120, 127. 
 
 Ubaldini 
 
SCIENCE of A CONNOISSEUR. 257 
 
 tJbaldini was at the head of the third party, 
 in which were alfo the Lanfranchi, the Sigif- 
 mondi, the Gualandi, and others ; the two firft 
 of thefe parties were Guelfs, the other Ghibel- 
 lines, (factions that at that time, and for many 
 years before, and after, made difmal havock 
 in Italy.) Count Ugolino^ to get the power 
 into his own hands, caballed fecretly with the 
 archbifhop to ruin the judge, who never fuf- 
 pecled that, he being a Guelf as the count 
 was, and moreover his near relation ; however 
 the thing was effected •, the judge and his fol- 
 lowers were driven out of Pifa, and thereupon 
 went to the Florentines, and ftired them up to 
 make war upon the Pifans ; thefe in the mean 
 time fubmitted themfelves to the count, who 
 thus became lord of Pifa. But the number of 
 the Guelfs being diminifhed by the departure of 
 the judge and his followers; and that faction 
 growing daily weaker and weaker, the archbi- 
 ihop laid hold of the opportunity, and be- 
 trayed the victor in his turn; he put it into 
 the heads of the populace, that the count 
 intended to give up their caftles to their 
 enemies the Florentines and Lucchefes : This 
 was eafily fwallowed; the mob fuddenly rofe„ 
 and ran with great fury to the palace, which 
 they foon gained with little lofs of blood ; their 
 new fovereign they clapt up in a prifon, to- 
 S gether 
 
253 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR.' 
 
 gether with his two fons, and two grandforrs , 
 and drove all the reft of his family and fol- 
 lowers, and in general all the Guelfs out of 
 the city. A few months after this the Pifans 
 being become deeply engaged in the inteltine 
 war of the Guelfs and Ghibellines, and having 
 chofe count Guido de Montifeltro for their ge- 
 neral, the pope excommunicated them and him, 
 and all his family ; this incenfed them the more 
 againft count Ugolino, fo that having feen the 
 gates of the prifon well iecured, they flung the 
 keys into the river Arno, to the end that none 
 might relieve him and his children with food ; 
 who therefore in a few days perimed by famine. 
 This farther circumflance of cruelty was exer- 
 cifed on the count ; he was denied either prieft 
 or monk to confefs him, though he begged it 
 of his enemies with bitter cries. 
 
 The poet carries this ftory farther than die 
 hiftorian could, by relating what palled in the 
 prifon. This is Dante, who was a young man 
 when this happened, and was ruined by the 
 commotions of thefe times. He was of Flo- 
 rence, which city after having been long divided 
 by the Guelf and Ghibelline factions, at lad 
 became intirely Gyelf; but this party then 
 fplit into ohers under the names of the Bian- 
 chi and the Neri, the latter of which prevail- 
 ing, plundered, and banilhed Dante; not be- 
 
 caule 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 259 
 
 caufe he was of the contrary party, but for be- 
 ing neuter, and a friend to his country. 
 
 When virtue fails, and party-heats endure, 
 The poft of honour is the leaft fecure. 
 
 This great man (in the 33d canto of the ifl: 
 part of his Comedia) in his paffage through 
 hell, introduces count Ugolino gnawing the 
 head of this treacherous and cruel enemy the 
 archbifhop, and telling his own fad ftory, at 
 the. appearance of Dante. 
 
 La bocca folleud dal fiero pafto 
 Quel peccator, &c. 
 
 He from the horrid food his mouth withdrew, 
 And wiping with the clotted offal hair 
 His fliudd'ring lips, raifing his head thus fpake. 
 
 You will compel me to renew my grief 
 Which e're I fpeak opprenes my fad heart ; 
 But if I infamy accumulate 
 On him whofe head I gnaw, I'll not forbear 
 To fpeak, tho' tears flow fafter than my words, 
 
 I know not who you are, nor by what power, 
 Whether of faints or devils, you hither came, 
 But by your fpeech you feem a Florentine -, 
 Know then that I count Ugolino am, 
 Archbifhop Ruggieri this ; which known, 
 That I by him betray 'd was put to death, 
 Is needlefs to relate, you fure have heard j 
 
 S 2 Cut 
 
2to SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR' 
 
 But what muft be unknown to mortal men, 
 The cruel circumstances of my death, 
 Thefe I will tell ; which dreadful fecret known, 
 You will conceive how juft is my revenge. 
 
 The ancient tow'r in which I was confin'd, 
 And which is now the tow'r of Famine call'd, 
 Had in her fides lbme fymptoms of decay; 
 Through thefe I faw the firft approach of morn, 
 After a reftlefs night, the firft I flept 
 A prifoner in its walls ; unquiet dreams 
 Opprefs'd my lab'ring brain. I faw this man 
 Hunting a wolf, and her four little whelps 
 Upon that ridge of mountains which divides 
 The Pifan lands from thofe which Lucca claims ; 
 With meagre, hungry dogs the chafe was made, 
 Nor long continued, quick they felz'd the prey 4 
 And tore their bowels with remorfelefs teeth. 
 
 Soon as my broken flumbers fled, I heard 
 My fons (who alfo were confin'd with me) 
 Cry in their troubled fleep, and afk for bread ; 
 
 you are cruel if you do not weep, 
 Thinking on that which now you well perceive 
 My heart divin'd; if this provoke not tears, 
 At what are you accuftomed to weep ? 
 
 The hour was come when food mould have been 
 brought, 
 Inftead of that, O God ! I heard the noife 
 Of creaking locks and bolts, with doubled force 
 Securing our deftru&ion. I beheld 
 The faces of my fons with troubled eyes ; 
 
 1 look'd on them, but utter'd not a word j 
 
 Nor 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 261 
 
 JTor could I weep; they wept; Anfelmo faid, 
 (My little dear Anfelmo) what's the matter, 
 Father, why look you fo ? I wept not yet, 
 Nor fpake a word that day, nor following night. 
 
 But when the light of the fucceeding morn 
 Faintly appear 'd, and I beheld my own 
 In the four faces of my w etched fons, 
 I, in my clenched fifts, faften'd my teeth ; 
 They judging 'twas for hunger role at once, 
 You, fir, have giv'n us being, you have cloath'd 
 Us with this miserable flefh, 'tis yours, 
 Suftain yourfelf with it, the grief to us 
 Is lek to die, than thus to fee your woes. 
 Thus fpake my boys : I like a ftaiue then 
 Was filent, frill, and not to add to theirs, 
 Doubled the weight of my own miferies : 
 
 This, and the following day in filence pafs'd. 
 Why cruel earth didft thou not open then ! 
 
 The fourth came on ; my Gaddo at my feet 
 Cry'd, father help mej faid no more but dy'dj 
 Another day two other fons expir'd ; n 
 
 The next left me alone in woe; their griefs 
 Were ended, Blindnefs now had feiz'd my eyes, 
 But no relief afforded ; I faw not 
 My fons, but grop'd about with feeble hands 
 Longing to touch their famifh'd carcaffes, 
 Calling firft one, then t'other by their names, 
 'Till, after two days more, what grief could not, 
 That famine did. He faid no more, but turn'd 
 With baleful eyes diftorted all in hafte, 
 And feiz'd again., and gnaw'd the mangled head. 
 
 S 3 The 
 
262 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 The hiftorian and poet having done their 
 parts, comes Michael Angelo Buonarotti, and 
 goes on in a bas-relief I have feen in the hands 
 of Mr. Trench, a modeft, ingenious painter, 
 lately arrived from his long ftudies in Italy. 
 He fhews us the count fitting with his four 
 fons, one dead at his feet, over their heads is 
 a figure reprefenting Famine, and underneath is 
 another to denote the river Arno, on whofe 
 banks this tragedy was acted. Michael An- 
 gelo was the fitted man that ever lived to cut, 
 or paint this ftory, if I had wifhed to fee it 
 reprefented in fculpture or painting, I mould 
 have fixed upon this hand* he was a Dante 
 in his way, and he read him perpetually. I have 
 already obferved, and it is very true, there are 
 certain ideas which cannot be communicated by 
 words, but by fculpture or painting only ; it 
 would be ridiculous then on this occafion to 
 undertake to defcribe this admirable bas-relief j 
 it is enough for my prefent purpofe to fay there 
 are attitudes, and airs of heads fo proper to 
 the fubjecl, that they carry the imagination 
 beyond what the hiftorian or poet could pof- 
 fibly ; for the reft I muft refer to the work 
 itfelf. It is true a genius equal to that of 
 Michael Angelo, may form to itfelf as ftrong 
 and proper exprefTions as thefe j but where is 
 that genius ! Nor can even he communicate 
 them to another, unlefs he has alfo a hand 
 
 like 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 263 
 
 like that of Michael Angelo, and will take that 
 way of doing it. 
 
 And could we fee the fame ftory painted by 
 the fame great mafter, it will be eafily conceived 
 that this muft carry the matter ftill farther; 
 there we might have had all the advantages of 
 exprefiion which the addition of colours would 
 have given, and the colouring of Michael An- 
 gelo was as proper to that, as his genius was to 
 the ftory in general; thefe would have lhewn 
 us the pale and livid flefh of the dead, and 
 dying figures, the rednefs of eyes, and blueifh 
 lips of the count, the darknefs and horror of 
 the prifon, and other circumftances, befides the 
 habits (for in • the bas-relief all the figures are 
 naked as more proper for fculpture) thefe might 
 be contrived fo as to exprefs the quality of the 
 perfons the more to excite our pity, as well 
 as to enrich the picture by their variety. 
 
 Thus, hiftory begins, poetry raifes higher, 
 not only by embelliihing the ftory, but by ad- 
 ditions purely poetical : Sculpture goes yet far- 
 ther, and painting compleats and perfects, and 
 that only can ; and here ends ; this is the ut- 
 moft limit of human power jn the communi- 
 cation of ideas. 
 
 S 4 I have 
 
264 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 I have obferved elfewhere, and will take leave 
 to put my reader in mind of it once more. It 
 is little to the honour of painting, or of the 
 matters of whom the ftories are told, that the 
 birds have been cheated by a painted bunch of 
 grapes-, or men by a fly, or a curtain, and 
 fuch like ; thefe are little things in comparifon of 
 what we are to expect from the art. Thofe who 
 have fancied thefe kind of things confiderable 
 have been wretched cOnnoifTeurs, how excels 
 lent foever they may have been in other refpects. 
 Raphael would have difdained to have attempted 
 fuch trifles, or would have blufhed to have 
 been praifed for them *; but Raphael would 
 have painted a god, a hero, an angel, a Ma- 
 dona ; or he would have related fome noble 
 hiftory, or made a portrait in fuch a manner, 
 as whoever faw it with genius and attention, 
 fhould treafure up in his mind an idea that 
 ihould always give him pleafure, and be a wifer 
 and better man all his life after. 
 
 The bu'finefs of painting is to do almoft all 
 that difcourfe and books can, and, in many 
 inftances, much more, as well as more fpeedily 
 
 * As Philip afked his fon Alexander, if he was not 
 afhamed to play fo finely on the flute ? becaufe the 
 time and parts that had been fpent in acquiring fuch 
 a trifling excellence, fhould h,ave been employed on 
 Worthier fubje&s. 
 
 and 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 265 
 
 and more delightfully 5 fo that if hiftory, if 
 poetry, if philofophy, natural or moral, if 
 theology, if any of the liberal arts and fcicnces 
 are worthy the notice, and ftudy of a gentle^ 
 man, painting is fo too. To read the fcrip- 
 ture I know will be allowed to be an employ- 
 ment worthy of a gentleman, becaufe (amongft; 
 other reafons) from hence he learns his duty to 
 God, his neighbour and himfelf; he is put 
 in mind of many great and instructive events, 
 and his paflions are warmed and agitated, and 
 turned into a right channel-, all thefe noble 
 ends are anfwered, I will not fay as effectually, 
 but I will repeat it again and again they are 
 anfwered when we look upon, and confider what 
 the great mailers have done when they have 
 affumed the characters of divines or moralifts, 
 or have in their way related any of the facred , 
 ftories. Is it an amufement or an employment 
 worthy of a gentleman to read Homer, Virgil, 
 Milton ? the works of the moft excellent painters 
 have the like beautiful defcriptions, the like 
 elevation of thought, and raife and move the 
 paflions, inftruct and improve the mind as thefe 
 do. Is it worthy of a gentleman to employ, or 
 divert himfelf by reading Thucydides, Livy, 
 Clarendon ? the works of the moft excellent 
 painters have the like beauty of narration, fill 
 the mind with ideas of the like noble events, 
 and inform, inftruct, and touch the foul alike. 
 
 Is 
 
2 66 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 Is it worthy of a gentleman to read Horace, 
 Terence, Shakefpeare, the Tatlers, and Spec- 
 tators ? The works of the moft excellent pain- 
 ters do alio thus give us an image of human 
 life, and fill our minds with ufeful reflections, 
 as well as diverting ideas ; all thefe ends are an- 
 fwered, and oftentimes to. a greater degree than 
 any other way. To confider a picture aright is 
 to read ; but in refpect of the beauty with 
 which the eye is all the while entertained, whe- 
 ther of colours or figures, it is not only to read 
 a book, and that finely printed and well bound, 
 but as if a concert of mufic were heard at the 
 fame time : You have at once an intellectual 
 and a fenfual pleafure. 
 
 I plead for the art, not its abufes ; it is a 
 fublime paflage that in Job, " If when I beheld 
 " the fun when it mined, or the moon walking 
 " in brightnefs, and my heart hath been fe- 
 4< cretly enticed, or my mouth hath kififed my 
 " hand, this alfo was an iniquity to be punifhed 
 " by the judge, for I mould have denied the 
 *' God that is above." If when I fee a Ma- 
 dona, though painted by Raphael, I be enticed 
 and drawn away to idolatry •, or if the fubject 
 of a picture, though painted by Annibale Car- 
 racci, pollutes my mind with impure images, 
 and transforms me into a brute ; or if any other, 
 though ever lb excellent, rob me of my inno- 
 cence 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 267 
 
 ccnce and virtue, " May my tongue cleave to 
 " the roof of my mouth, and my right hand 
 " forget its cunning" if I am its advocate, as it 
 is inftrumental to fuch detefted purpofes : But 
 thefe abufes excepted (as what hath not been ? 
 what is not abufed ?) the praife of painting is a 
 fubject not unworthy of the tongue or pen of 
 the greateft orator, poet, hiftorian, philofopher, 
 or divine ; any of which, when he is confider- 
 ing the works of our great mailers, will not 
 only find him to be one of themfelves, but 
 fometimes all thefe at once, and in an eminent 
 degree. I know I fpeak with zeal, and an ar- 
 dent paflion for the art, but I am ferious, and 
 fpeak from conviction and experience; and who- 
 ever considers impartially, and acquaints him- 
 felf with fuch admirable works of painters as I 
 have done, will find what I have {aid is folid 
 and unexaggerated truth. 
 
 The dignity of the fcience I am recommend- 
 ing will farther appear if it be confidered, that 
 if gentlemen were lqvers of painting, and con- 
 nouTeurs, it would be of great advantage to the 
 public, in 
 
 Firft, The reformation of our manners. 
 
 Second, The improvement of our people* 
 
 Third, 
 
26S SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 Third, The increafe of our wealth, and with, 
 all thefe of our honour and power, 
 
 Anatomifts tell us there are feveral parts in 
 the bodies of animals that fingly ferve to feveral 
 purpofes, any of which would juftify the wif- 
 dom and goodnefs of providence in the forming 
 of them ; but that they are equally ufeful and 
 neceffary to all, and ferve the end of each as 
 effectually as if they were applied to one only ; 
 this is alfo true of painting •, it ferves for orna- 
 ment and ufe ; it pleafes our eyes, and more- 
 over informs our underftandings, excites our 
 pafiions, and inftructs us how to manage them. 
 
 Things ornamental, and things ufeful, are 
 commonly diftinguifhed •, but the truth is, or^ 
 naments are alfo of ufe, the diftinction lies only 
 in the ends to which they are fubfervient. The 
 wife creator in the great fabrick of the world 
 hath abundantly provided for thefe, as well as 
 for thofe that are called the neceffaries of life j 
 let us imagine ouffelves always inhabiting be- 
 tween bare walls ; wearing nothing but what 
 was requilite to the covering of our bodies, and 
 protecting them from the inclemencies of the 
 weather \ no diftinction of quality or office j 
 feeing nothing to delight, but merely what 
 ferves for the maintenance of our being •, how 
 favage and uncomfortable mull this be ! Orna- 
 ments 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 269 
 
 ments raife and exhilarate our fpirits, and help 
 to excite more ufeful fentiments than is com- 
 monly imagined ; and if any have this effect, 
 pictures (confidered only as fuch) will do fo in 
 an eminent degree, as being one of the prin- 
 cipal of this kind. 
 
 But pictures are not merely ornamental, they 
 are alfo inftructive; and thus our houfes are not 
 only unlike the caves of wild beafts, or the 
 huts of favages, but diftinguifhed from thofe of 
 Mahometans, which are adorned indeed, but 
 with what affords no inftruction to the mind : 
 Our walls, like the trees of Dodona's grove, 
 fpeak to us, and teach us hiftory, morality, di- 
 vinity ; excite in us joy, love, pity, devotion ; 
 if pictures have not this good effect, it is our 
 own fault in not chufing them well, or not ap- 
 plying ourfelves to make a right ufe of therm 
 But I have fpoken of this fufficiently already, 
 and will only take leave to add here, that, if 
 not only our houfes, but our churches were 
 adorned with proper hiftories or allegories well 
 painted, the people being now fo well inftructed 
 as to be out of danger of fuperftitious abufes, 
 their minds would be more fenfibly affected than 
 they can poffibly be without this efficacious 
 means of improvement and edification. 
 
 If 
 
270 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 If gentlemen were lovers of painting, and 
 connohTeurs, this would help to reform them- 
 felves, as their example and influence would 
 have the like effect upon the common people. 
 All animated beings naturally covet pleafure, 
 and eagerly purfue it as their chief good ; the 
 great affair is to chufe thofe that are worthy of 
 rational beings, fuch as are not only innocent, 
 but noble and excellent. Men of eafy and plen- 
 tiful fortunes have commonly a great part 
 of their time at their own difpofal, and the 
 want of knowing how to pafs thofe hours away 
 in virtuous amulements, contributes perhaps as 
 much to the mifchievous effects of vice, as co- 
 vetoufnefs, pride, luft, love of wine, or any 
 other paflion whatfoever. If gentlemen there- 
 fore found pleafure in pictures, drawings, 
 prints, ftatues, intaglias, and the like curious 
 works of art ; in difcovering their beauties and 
 defects ; in making proper obfervations there- 
 upon ; and in all the other parts of the bufinefs 
 of a connoifieur, how many hours of leifure 
 would here be profitably employed, inftead of 
 what is criminal, fcandalous, and mifchievous ! 
 I confefs I cannot fpeak experimentally, becaufe 
 I have not tried thofe ; nor can any man pro- 
 nounce upon the pleafures of another •, but I 
 know what I am recommending is fo a great a 
 one, that I cannot conceive the other can be 
 
 equal 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 271 
 
 equal to it, efpecially if the drawbacks of fear, 
 temorfe, fhame, pain, expence, &c. be taken 
 into the account. 
 
 Second, Our common people have been ex- 
 ceedingly improved within an age or two by 
 being taught to read and write; they have alfo 
 made great advances in mechanicks, and in 
 feVeral other arts and fciences 5 and our gentry 
 and clergy are more learned, and better rea- 
 foners than in times paft; a farther improve- 
 ment might yet be made, and particularly in 
 the arts of defign : If as children are taught other 
 things, they, together with thefe, learned to 
 draw, they would not only be qualified to be- 
 come better painters, carvers, engravers, and 
 to attain the like arts immediately and evidently 
 depending on defign, but they would thus be- 
 come better mechanicks of all kinds. 
 
 And if to learn to draw, and to underftand 
 pictures and drawings, were made a part of the 
 education of a gentleman, as their example 
 would excite others to do the like, it cannot be 
 denied but that this would be a farther im- 
 provement even of this part of our people; the 
 whole nation would by thefe means be removed 
 fome degrees higher into the rational ffcate, and 
 
 make 
 
272 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR; 
 
 make a more confiderable figure amongft the 
 polite nations of the world. 
 
 Third, If gentlemen were lovers of painting* 
 and connoiffeurs, as of courfe they would foon 
 be, many fums of money which are now la- 
 vished away, and confumed in luxury, would 
 be laid up in pictures, drawings, and antiques, 
 which would be, not as plate or jewels, but a 
 really improving eftate •, fince, as time and ac- 
 cidents muft continually wafte and diminifh 
 the number of thefe curiofities, and no new 
 fupply (equal in goodnefs to thofe we have) is 
 to be hoped for, as the appearance of things at 
 prefent are, the value of iuch as are prelerved 
 with care muft neceflarily increafe more and 
 more ; efpecially if there is a greater demand 
 for them, as there * certainly will be if the 
 tafte of gentlemen takes this turn : Nay, it is 
 not improbable that money laid out this way, 
 with judgment and prudence (and if gentlemen 
 are good connoifTeurs they will not be impofed 
 upon as they too often are) may turn to better 
 account than almoft in any other. 
 
 * How greatly time hath verified this, and from the 
 caufe my father fuggefts, is manifeft ; as it hath alfo done 
 feveral of the following hints. 
 
 We 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 273 
 
 We know the advantages Italy receives from 
 her pofTeflion of fo many fine pictures, ftatues, 
 and other curious works of art : If our country 
 becomes famous in that way, as her riches will 
 enable her to be, if our nobility and gentry are 
 lovers and connohTeurs, we (hall fhare with 
 Italy in the profits arifing from the concourie 
 of foreigners for the pleafure and improvement 
 that is to be had from the feeing and consider- 
 ing fuch rarities. 
 
 If our people were improved in the arts of 
 defigning, not only our paintings, carvings and 
 prints, but the works of all our other artificers 
 would alfo be proportionably improved, and 
 confequently coveted by other nations, and 
 their price advanced, which therefore would 
 be no fmall improvement of our trade, and 
 with that of our wealth, 
 
 1 have obferved heretofore, that there is no 
 artift whatfoever that produces a piece of work 
 of a value fo vaftly above that of the materials 
 of nature's furnilhing, as the painter does; nor 
 confequently that can enrich a country in any 
 degree like him : Now if pointing were only 
 confidered as upon the level with other manu- 
 factures, the employment of more hands, and 
 the work being better done, would certainly 
 T tend 
 
274 
 
 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 tend to the increafe of our wealth -, but this 
 confideration over and above adds a great 
 weight to the argument in favour of the art as 
 inftrumental to this end. 
 
 Inftead of importing vail quantities of pic- 
 tures, and the like curiofities for ordinary ufe, 
 we might fetch from abroad only the beft, and 
 fupply other nations with better than now we 
 commonly take off their hands : For as much a 
 fuperfluity as thefe things are thought to be, 
 they are fuch as no body will be without ; not 
 the meaneft cottager in the kingdom, that is not 
 in the extremeft poverty, but he will have 
 fomething of picture in his fight. The fame is 
 the cuflum in other nations, in fome to a greater, 
 in others to a lefs degree: Thefe ornaments 
 people will have as well as what is abfolutely 
 neccffary to life, and as fure a demand will be 
 for them as for food and cloaths ; as it is in 
 fome other inftances, which had been thought 
 at firft. to be equally fuperfluous, but which are 
 now become confiderable branches of trade, and 
 confequently of great advantage to the public. 
 
 Thus a thing as yet unheard of, and whofe 
 very name (to our difhonour) has at prefent an 
 uncouth found, may come to be eminent in the 
 world, I mean the Englifh fchool of painting ; 
 
 and, 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 275 
 
 and, whenever this happens, who knows to 
 what heights it may rife ; for the Englifh na- 
 tion is not accuftomed to do things by halves. 
 
 Arts and politenefs have a conftant rotation ; 
 thefe parts of Europe have twice received them 
 from Italy, me from Greece, who had them 
 from Egypt and Perlia. In one age fuch a part 
 of the globe is enlightened, and the reft in 
 darknefs ; and thofe that were fa v ages for many 
 centuries, in a certain revolution of time, be- 
 come the polifhed part of the world. The arts 
 of defign have long ago forfaken Perfia, Egypt 
 and Greece, and are now, a third time, much 
 declined in Italy -, fome other country may fuc- 
 ceed her in this particular, as fhe fucceeded 
 Greece. Or if the arts continue there, they 
 may fpread themfelves, and other nations may 
 equal, if not excel, the Italians : There is no- 
 thing unreafonable in the thing, nay, it is ex- 
 ceeding probable, 
 
 I have faid it heretofore, and will venture to 
 repeat it, notwithftanding the national vanity of 
 fome of our neighbours, and our own falfe 
 modefty and partiality to foreigners (in this re- 
 fpeft, though in others we have fuch demon- 
 ftrations of our fuperiority that we have learned 
 to be confcious of it) if ever the great tafte in 
 
 T 3 painting, 
 
276 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 painting, if ever that delightful, ufeful, and 
 noble art does revive in the world, it is proba- 
 ble it will be in England. 
 
 Befides that greatnefs of mind which has al- 
 ways been inherent in our nation, and a degree 
 of folid fenfe not inferior to any of our neigh- 
 bours, we have advantages greater than is com- 
 monly thought. We are not without our fhare 
 of drawings, of which Italy has been in a man- 
 ner exhaufted long fince : We have fome fine 
 antiques, and a competent number of pictures 
 of the beft matters. But whatever our number 
 or variety of good pictures is, we have the beft 
 hiftory pictures that are any where now in be- 
 ing, for we have the cartons of Raphael at 
 Hampton-Court, which are generally allowed, 
 even by foreigners, and thofe of our own na- 
 tion who are the moil bigotted to Italy or 
 France, to be the beft of that mafter, as he is 
 inconteftably the beft of all thofe whofe works 
 remain in the world. And for portraits we 
 have admirable ones, and perhaps the beft of 
 Titian, Rubens, and above all of Vandyke, of 
 whom we have very many ; and thefe are the 
 beft portrait painters that ever were. 
 
 In ancient times we have been frequently 
 fubdued. by foreigners, the Romans, Saxons, 
 
 Danesj 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 277 
 
 Danes, and Normans have all done it in their 
 turns ; thofe days are at an end long fince; and 
 we are by various fleps arrived to the height of 
 military glory by fea and land. Nor are we lefs 
 eminent for learning, philofophy, mathematicks, 
 poetry, ftrong and clear reafoning, and a great- 
 nefs and delicacy of tafte j in a word, in many 
 of the liberal and mechanical arts we are equal 
 to any other people, ancients or moderns, and 
 in fome perhaps fuperior. We are not yet come 
 to that maturity in the arts of defign •, our 
 neighbours, thofe of nations not remarkable 
 for their excelling in this way, as well as thofe 
 that are, have made frequent and fuccefsful 
 inroads upon us, and in this particular have 
 lorded it over our natives here in their own 
 country. Let us at length difdain as much to 
 be in fubjection in this refpecl: as in any other ; 
 let us put forth our ftrength, and employ our 
 national virtue, that haughty impatience of 
 fubjection and inferiority, which feems to be the 
 characteriftic of our nation in this as on many 
 other illuilrious occafions, and the thing will 
 be effected ; the Englilh fchool will rife and 
 flourifh. 
 
 And to this, and to the obtaining the bene- 
 
 fits to the public confequent thereupon, what I 
 
 have been pleading for would greatly contri- 
 
 T 3 bute; 
 
278 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 bute ; for if our nobility and gentry were lo- 
 vers and connoifleurs, public encouragement 
 and afiiftance would be given to the art •, acade- 
 mies would be fet up, well regulated, and the 
 government of them put into fuch hands, as 
 would not want authority to maintain thofe 
 laws, without which no fociety can profper, or 
 long fubfift. Theie academies would then be 
 well provided of all neceflaries for inflru&ion 
 in geometry, perfpeftive, and anatomy, as well 
 as defigning ; for without a competent profi- 
 ciency in the three former, no confiderable pro- 
 grefs can be made in the other. They would 
 then be furnifhed with good matters to direct 
 the fludents, and good drawings and figures, 
 whether calls or originals, antique or modern 
 for their imitation. Nor mould thefe be con- 
 fidered merely as fchools or nurferies for pain- 
 ters and fculptors, and other artifts of that 
 kind, but as places for the better education 
 of gentlemen, and to complete the civilizing 
 and poliihing of our people, as our other 
 fchools and univerlities, and the other means 
 of inftruclion are. 
 
 If our nobility and gentry were lovers of 
 painting, and connoifleurs, a much greater 
 treafure of pictures, drawings and antiques, 
 would be brought in, which would contribute 
 
 abundantly 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR, 279 
 
 abundantly to the raifing and meliorating our 
 tafte, as well as to the improvement of our 
 artifts. 
 
 And then too people of condition would 
 know that at prefent, whatever hath been the 
 ftate of things heretofore, foreigners (be they 
 Italians or of whatever other country) have not 
 the advantage over us, whether as connoifTeurs, 
 or as painters, as they have been accuftomed to 
 imagine : They will then know that, if in 
 fome inftances the advantage is on their fide, in 
 others it is on ours : Thus that partiality fo dif- 
 couraging and pernicious to our own people 
 will be removed. 
 
 Such men being connoifTeurs, and lovers of 
 painting, and zealous for the honour and in- 
 tereft of their country in this particular, would 
 raife the fame fpirit in others, and amongft the 
 reft in the artifts themfelves if it were not there 
 before ; and thefe would then be obliged to la- 
 bour to improve in their feveral ways, becaufe 
 they muft be otherwife without employment ; 
 whereas they will be tempted to indulge them- 
 felves in floth and ignorance, when they find 
 there are eafier methods of attaining fame and 
 riches, at leaft of living tolerably well, than 
 T 4 by 
 
iSo SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 by making any confiderable progrefs in their 
 
 art. 
 
 A good tafle and judgment in thofe who em- 
 ploy them would not only compel painters to 
 itudy and be induftrious, but put them in a 
 right way if they fell not into it of themfelves : 
 It hath been faid King Charles the Firft took 
 fuch delight in painting that he frequently fpent 
 feveral hours with Vandyke, remarking upon 
 his works, and giving him fuch hints as much 
 contributed to the excellence we fee in them. 
 Painters would thus learn not to attach them- 
 felves meanly and fervilely to the imitation of 
 this or that particular manner or mailer, and 
 thofe perhaps none of the beft, but to have 
 more noble, open, and extenfive views ; to go 
 to the fountain head from whence the grea:eft 
 men have drawn that which has made their 
 works the wonder of fucceeding ages ; they 
 would thus learn to go to nature, and to the 
 reaion of things. Let them receive all the light 
 they can from drawings, pictures and antiques, 
 but let them not flop there, but endeavour to 
 difcover what rules the great mailers went by, 
 what principles they built upon, or might have 
 built upon, and let them do the fame ; not be- 
 caufe thofe matters did fo, or were fuppofed to 
 have done fo } but becaufc it was reafonable. 
 
 if, 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 281 
 
 If, laflly, men of birth and fortunes were 
 generally lovers of painting, and connoiffeurs, 
 as they would be convinced of the dignity of 
 the profeffion, they would caufe more of their 
 younger fons (at leaft) to be applied this way, 
 as well as to law, divinity, arms, navigation, 
 &c. Thefe by a generous education, and not 
 being obliged to work for bare fubfiftence, 
 would be better qualified for fo noble a ftudy, 
 and have better opportunities of improvement 
 in it. There can be no fuch thing as a mere 
 painter ; to merit the name of a painter, it is 
 neceflary to be much more ; he muft be con- 
 iiderable without that addition. It is not here 
 as in numbers, where if a unit be fet before 
 feveral cyphers it may make a fum ; there muft 
 be a large fum firft, and then this unit fet at 
 the head of them hath a value, and makes the 
 whole ten times more. 
 
 I have been fhewing how beneficial the art of 
 painting is, and how much more it might be 
 made to the public in the reformation of our 
 manners, improvement of our people, and in- 
 creafe of our wealth, all which would bring a 
 proportionable addition of honour and power to 
 this brave nation •, and I have fhewn that for a 
 gentleman to become a lover of the art, and a 
 connoiffeur, is the way to attain this end: This 
 
 alone 
 
282 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 alone, if there was no other argument, would 
 prove it to be worthy of fuch a one to turn 
 
 his thoughts this way. ■ 
 
 Here being a full period, and the ftrft oppor- 
 tunity I have had, I will inform the public that 
 I have at length found a name for the Science 
 of a ConnoiiTeur, of which I am treating, and 
 which I obferved at the entrance of this fubject 
 wanted one. After fome meets of this work 
 were printed, in a former edition, I was com- 
 plaining of this defect to a friend, who I knew, 
 and every body will readily acknowledge was 
 very proper to be advifed with on this or a 
 much greater occafion ; and the next day had 
 the honour of a letter from him on another 
 affair, wherein however the term CONNOIS- 
 SANCE was ufed ; this I immediately found 
 was that he recommended, and which I fhall 
 ufe hereafter. And indeed fince the term CON- 
 NOISSEUR, though it has a general fignifica- 
 tion, haJi been received as denoting one fkilful 
 in this particular fcience ; there can be no rea- 
 fon why the fcience itfelf mould not be called 
 CONNOISSANCE. Perhaps it is not without 
 fome mixture of vanity in myfelf, but in juftice 
 to my friend I muft not conceal his name -, it is 
 Mr. Prior. • 
 
 I will 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 28^ 
 I will now go on with my difcourfe. 
 
 There are few who pretend to be connoif- 
 feurs, and of thofe few the number of fuch as 
 deferve to be fo called is vt:ry fmall : It is not 
 enough to be an ingenious man in general, nor 
 to have feen all the fineft things in Europe, 
 nor even to be able to make a good picture, 
 much lefs the having the names and fomething 
 of the hiftory of the mailers ; all this will not 
 make a man a good connoifTeur. To be able 
 to judge of the goodnefs of a picture, moft of 
 thofe qualifications are neceflary which the 
 painter himfelf ought to be poffefied of, that 
 is, all that are not practical ; he mull be mailer 
 of the fubject, and if it be improveable he 
 mull know it is fo, and wherein ; he mull not 
 only fee and judge of the thought of the painter 
 in what he hath done, but mull know more- 
 over what he ought to have done ; he mull be 
 acquainted with the paffions, their nature, and 
 how they appear on all occafions. He mull 
 have a delicacy of eye to judge of harmony 
 and proportion, of beauty of colours, and ac- 
 curacy of hand ; and lallly he mull be conver- 
 fant with the better fort of people, and with 
 the antique, or he will not be a good judge of 
 grace and greatnefs. To be a good connoifTeur 
 a man mull be as free from all kinds of pre- 
 judice 
 
284 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR; 
 
 judice as poflible; he muft moreover have a 
 clear and exact way of thinking and reafoning •, 
 he muft know how to take in, and manage 
 juft ideas ; and throughout he muft have not 
 only a folid, but an unbiafTed judgment. Thefe 
 are the qualifications of a connoifieur ; and are 
 not thefe, and the exercife of them, well be- 
 coming a gentleman ? 
 
 The knowledge of hiftory hath ever been 
 efteemed to be fo. And this is abfolutely 
 neceflary to a connoifieur, not that only which 
 may enable him to judge how well the painter 
 has managed fuch and fuch a ftory, which he- 
 will have frequent occafion to do, but the par- 
 ticular hiftory of the arts, and efpecially of 
 painting. 
 
 Methinks it mould be worth the while of 
 fome one duly qualified for fuch an undertak- 
 ing, inftead of the accounts of revolutions in 
 empires and governments, and the means or 
 accidents whereby they were effected, military, 
 or political, to give us the hiftory of mankind 
 with refpect to the place they hold among 
 rational beings ; that is, a hiftory of arts and 
 fciences •, wherein it would be feen to what 
 heights fome of the fpecies have rifen in fome 
 ages, and fome countries, whilft at the fame 
 time, on other parts of the globe, men have 
 
 been 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 285 
 
 been but one degree above common animals; 
 and the fame people who in this age gave a 
 dignity to human nature, in another funk almoft 
 to brutality, or changed from one excellency 
 to another. Here we might find where and 
 when fuch an invention firft appeared, and by 
 what means ; what improvements and decays 
 happened ; when fuch luminary rofe, and what 
 courfe it took ; and whether it is now afcend- 
 ing; in its zenith, declining, or fet. Here it 
 would be confidered what improvements the 
 moderns have made upon the ancients, and 
 what ground they have loft. Such a hiftory 
 well written, would give a clear idea of the 
 nobleft fpecies of beings we are acquainted 
 with, in that particular wherein their pre-emi- 
 nence confifts. And (by the way) I will take 
 leave to obferve, that we fhould find them to 
 have arrived at a vaft extent of knowledge and 
 capacity in natural philofophy, in aftronomy, 
 in navigation, in geometry, and other branches 
 of the mathematics, in war, in government, 
 in painting, poetry, mufic, and other liberal 
 and mechanic arts ; in other refpe&s, particu- 
 larly in metaphyfics and religion, to have been 
 ridiculous and contemptible ; except where the 
 divine goodnefs hath vouchfafed an extraordi- 
 nary portion of light, like the fun-beams dart- 
 ing out here and there upon the earth in a 
 
 cloudy 
 
286 SCIENCE or a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 cloudy day, or where it has blazed out plenti- 
 fully by fupernatural revelation. 
 
 In fuch a hiflory it would be found that the 
 arts of defign, painting, and fculpture, were 
 known in Perfia and Egypt, long before we 
 have any accounts of them amongft the Greeks ; 
 but that they carried them to an amazing height, 
 from whence they afterwards fpread themfelves 
 into Italy, and other parts, with various revo- 
 lutions, till they funk with the Roman empire, 
 and were loft for many ages, fo that there was 
 not a man upon the face of the earth able to 
 delineate the form of a houfe, a bird, a tree, a 
 human face, a body, or whatever other figure 
 confiding of any variety of curved lines,, other- 
 wife than as a child amongft us : to do this, 
 right, and as it is done now, was as much 
 above the capacity of the fpecies, at that time, 
 as it is now to make a voyage to the moon, 
 In this ftate of things, about the middle of the 
 13th century Giovanni Cimabue a Florentine, 
 prompted to it by a natural genius, and aflifted 
 at firft by fome wretched painters from Greece, 
 began to reftore thofe arts which were improved 
 by his difciple Giotto. 
 
 In fuch a hiftory it would follow that after 
 feveral endeavours and advances had been 
 
 made 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 287 
 
 made by Simone Memmi, Andrea Verrocchio, 
 and others, MafTaccio born about anno 141 7 at 
 Florence, in his Ihort life of fix and twenty- 
 years, made fo confiderable an improvement 
 upon what he found had been done before him, 
 that he may juftly be (as he is) efteemed, the 
 father of the fecond age of modern painting. 
 The light thus happily kindled in Tufcany dif- 
 fufed itfelf into Lombardy; for foon after the 
 death of Mafaccio, the Bellinis, Jacopo, and 
 his two fons firft introduced the art into Venice ; 
 and foon after, Francefco Francia appeared at 
 Bologna, and was the MafTaccio of tfcat city; 
 for the art had raifed its head there long 
 before *, and fome fay more early than even 
 at Florence ; though it was but juft kept alive 
 there till many years after. About this time 
 too Andrea Mantegna Ihewed the art to thofe 
 of Mantua and Padua. Germany alfo had 
 her Albert Durer about the latter end of the 
 fame" century, and in the beginning of the 
 next Lucas van Leyden was famous in Hol- 
 land ; as was Hans Holbein quickly after 
 here in England. But Florence was Hill the 
 center of light, where it brightened more and 
 more; for in the year 1445 Lionardo da Vinci 
 was born there; this was a univerfal man, 
 and, amongft other arts, was excellent in paint- 
 
 ? See count Malvafia's Felfina Pittrice. 
 
288 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR." 
 
 ing and defigning, efpecially the latter, in 
 which he fometimes almoft equalled the belt 
 matters the world ever faw. About 30 years 
 after him arofe Michael Angelo Buonarotti, 
 the head of the Florentine fchool, a vaft genius, 
 fuperior to all the moderns in fculpture, and 
 perhaps in defigning, and a profound know- 
 ledge in anatomy j and moreover as excellent 
 an architect. Thefe two great men coming 
 to Rome, where (though there was fo great 
 a difproportion in their years) they were com- 
 petitors, transferred the feat of the art to that 
 happy city. Though in Venice- it went on 
 improving, and growing up to maturity and 
 perfection, which it attained to (in fome of 
 its parts, particularly colouring) in Giorgione, 
 and more eminently in Titian, and in Corre- 
 gio upon the terra firma of Lombardy. And 
 now, that is, upon the entrance of the 16th 
 century the great luminary of painting ap- 
 peared above the horizon, the undoubted head 
 of the Roman fchool, and of the modern paint- 
 ers Raphael Sanzio da Urbino. Whether any 
 of the ancients excelled him, and if they did, 
 in what degree, are queftions which the his- 
 tory 1 am recommending as proper to be 
 written may endeavour to refolve, I will not. 
 But fuch an hiftorian will go on to fliew how 
 the flame which blazed fo glorioufly in Raphael, 
 and continued bright, though with a dimi- 
 
 nifhed 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 289 
 
 nifhed luftre in his difciples Ginlio Romano, 
 Polidoro, Pierino, and others ; and at Flo- 
 rence in Andrea del Sarto; and there, and 
 elfewherej as well as at Rome in BaldafTar 
 Peruzzi, Primaticcio, Parmegiano, the elder 
 Palma,Tintoretto, Baroccio, PauloVeronefe, and 
 many odiers, decayed by little and little ; till it 
 was blown up again in the fchool of the Caracci 
 in Bologna, about an hundred and forty years 
 ago ; and continued with great brightnefs in 
 their difciples and others ; Guido, Albani, Do- 
 minichino, Lanfranco, &c. But as the Jews 
 wept when they faw the fecond temple, which, 
 though magnificent, was not equal to the nrft, 
 fo neither was this great effort capable of pro- 
 ducing fuch ftupendous works of art) as thofe 
 of the Raphael age. And though we have 
 had great men in their feveral ways, as Ru- 
 bens, Spagnoletto, Guercino, Nicholas Pouflin, 
 Pietro da Cortona, Andrea Sacchi, Vandyke, 
 Cafliglione, Claude Lorenefe, the Borgognone, 
 Salvator Rofa, Carlo Maratti, Luca Giordano, 
 and feveral others of lefier note, though never- 
 thelefs of confiderable merit, yet the art has 
 vifibly declined. As for its prefent date in 
 Italy, here, and elfewhere, the hiftorian I am 
 fpeaking of may write what he thinks fit, and 
 perhaps by that time new matter may arife ; I, 
 for my own part, inftead of entering upon that 
 fubjecl, will content myfelf with obferving in 
 U general. 
 
290 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 general, that, though mankind hath always 
 exprefTed a love to it, and been ready to en- 
 courage the weakeft endeavours this way, (I 
 only except the Jews, an Arabian impoflor, and 
 his fanatick difciples, and fome few enthufi- 
 afts, and four, flupid people) the fpecies in 
 all the many ages of their exiftence hath been 
 rarely able, and in a narrow extent of country 
 at any one time to perform any thing confider- 
 able in painting •, there have been innumera- 
 ble geniuies in other arts and fciences, but in 
 this the number is very fmall ; great mailers 
 in many other arts have appeared in all ages ; 
 of painting there have been none in all the fix 
 thoufand years fince the birth of the world, ex- 
 cept thole in Greece and Italy, two thoufand 
 years ago, and this perhaps for about the fpace 
 of five hundred years -, and thofe in this latter 
 age of the art of which I have been offering a 
 curfory view. 
 
 It mull have been obferved that the art hath 
 flourifhed at Florence, Rome, Venice, Bologna, 
 Sec. in each of which places the llyle of paint- 
 ing has been different ; as it hath been in the 
 feveral ages in which it has flourimed. When 
 it firfl began to revive after the terrible devaf- 
 tations of fuperflition and barbarifm, it was 
 with a lliff, lame manner, which mended by 
 little and little, till the time of Mafaccio, who 
 2 role 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 29 i 
 
 rofe into a better tafte, and began what was 
 referved for Raphael to complete. However, 
 even this bad ftyle had ibmething manly and 
 vigorous •, whereas in the decay, whether after 
 the happy age of Raphael, or that of Hanni- 
 bal, one fees an effeminate, languid air, or, if 
 it has not that, it has the vigour of a bully, 
 rather than of a brave man : The old bad paint- 
 ing has more faults than the modern, but this 
 falls into the infipid. 
 
 The painters of the Roman fchool were the 
 bell defigners, and had more of the antique 
 tafte in their works than any of the others, but 
 generally they were not good colourifts; thofe 
 of Florence were good defigners, and had a 
 kind of greatnefs, but it was not antique. The 
 Venetian and Lombard fchools had excellent 
 colourifts, and a certain grace, but entirely 
 modern, efpecially thofe of Venice; but their 
 drawing was generally incorrect, and their know- 
 ledge in hiflory, and the antique very little : 
 And the Bolognefe fchool is a fort of compo- 
 fition of the others ; even Hannibal himfelf 
 poffeffed not any part of painting in, the perfec- 
 tion which is to be feen in thofe from whom his 
 manner is compofed ; though, to make amends, 
 he poffefTed more parts than perhaps any other 
 mafter, and all in a very high degree. The 
 works of thofe of the German fchool have a 
 U 2 drynefs 
 
292 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 drynefs and ungraceful ftifFnefs, not like what 
 is feen amongll the old Florentines, this has 
 fomething in it pleafing however, but that is 
 odious, and as remote from the antique as 
 Gothicifm could carry it. The Flemings have 
 been good colourifts, and imitated nature as 
 they conceived it, that is, inftead of raifing 
 nature, they fell below it, though not fo much 
 as the Germans, nor in the fame manner ; Ru- 
 bens himfelf lived and died a Fleming, though 
 he would fain have been an Italian ; but his 
 imitators have caticaturaed his manner, that is, 
 they have been more Rubens in his defects than 
 he himfelf was, but without his excellencies. 
 The French (excepting fome few of them, N. 
 Pouflin, Le Seur, Sebaflien Bourdon, &c.) as 
 they have not the German ftifFnefs, nor the 
 Flemifh ungracefulnefs, neither have they the 
 Italian folidity •, and in their airs of heads and 
 manners, they are eafily diftinguifhed from the 
 antique, how much foever they may have en- 
 deavoured to imitate them. 
 
 "Which have been the moft excellent painters, 
 the ancients or the moderns, is a queftion often 
 propofed, and which I will, juft by the by, en- 
 deavour to refolve. That the painters of thofe 
 times were equal to the fculptors in invention, 
 expreflion, drawing, grace and greatnefs, be- 
 fides their own authors all affirming it, is fo 
 
 exceed- 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 293 
 
 exceeding probable, that I think it may be 
 taken for granted. If fo, that in drawing, 
 grace and greatnefs, the ancients have the ad- 
 vantage is certain -, and little lefs than certain 
 that in colouring, and compofition the moderns 
 have it more. 
 
 Now, as drawing reprefents to us the beauty 
 of forms, and colouring the animated tints of 
 the life, this feems, in a great meafure, to make 
 amends, in favour of the moderns, for what 
 they may be, in fome degree, wanting, in re- 
 gard to the other; yet not wholly, fmce no 
 colours can ever equal the beauties of nature ; 
 whereas drawing, we can almoft venture to 
 fay, can furpafs nature itfelf ; at lead fuch as 
 one ever fees it in the fame fubject. 
 
 The manner of thinking of the ancients is 
 fuch as is not to be mentioned without the ut- 
 moft veneration allowed to be given to mortal 
 men ; but when I fee what fome of the moderns 
 have done in thefe parts of painting, I profefs 
 1 dare not determine which has the preference. 
 It would be a fine amufement, or rather a no- 
 ble and a ufeful employment for a gentleman 
 to collect and compare the many fine thoughts 
 and exprefHons on one fide and the other : For 
 me to do it here would be too tedious, and 
 too great a talk, having already undertaken 
 U 3 what 
 
294 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 what will coft me more pains and time than I 
 intended, or perhaps is fit for me to bellow 
 this way. 
 
 Thus far the fcale feems pretty equal ; un- 
 lefs it be thought to incline a little on the 
 fide of the ancients. There remains to oppofe 
 the compofition of the moderns, to this fmall 
 advantage, and to that, far more confiderable 
 one, their high excellence in grace and great- 
 nefs. But perhaps all this will not be fufficient 
 to give them the preference; for, without 
 mentioning our Parmegiano, our Corregio, our 
 Michael Angelo, let us infift on our Raphael 
 alone, " In quo inftar omnium auxiliorum eft;" 
 let us reflect on what he hath done for us, in 
 fubjects far more fublime than the ancients 
 ever had to treat, (and by the way let this be 
 added to the fcale of the moderns, that they 
 are pofTeffed of fuch fubjects) and let us give 
 compofition its due fhare, in which the ancients 
 come in no fort of concurrence with us ; let us 
 reflect, that this, which is like perfpicuity in 
 writing, that arifes from the methodical difpo- 
 fition of the feveral parts of the fubject; and 
 that it not only gives a relief to, and improves 
 the other beauties, but ftill more ftrongly urges 
 the expreffion itfelf, which is the very life and 
 foul of the work, by making it every where 
 remarked ; I think I may venture to decide in 
 
 favour 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 295 
 
 favour of the moderns : However I mould be 
 glad to fee this curious queftion handled with 
 accuracy and judgment. 
 
 Another part of hiftory, no lefs worthy a 
 gentleman's confideration than neceffary to a 
 conrtoifleur, is that of the lives of the particular 
 mafters. When we reflect upon the vigorous 
 Tallies which forne of the fpecies have made, 
 whereby they have as it were connected ours 
 with that of the next order of beings above us, 
 we rriuft naturally defire to have a more exact 
 account of every ftep they made towards that 
 glorious diftinction ; this alio will be of ufe to 
 ourfelves, and help to excite us to do fomething 
 whereby we alfo may be diftinguifhed with ho- 
 nour, and our memories be fweet to pofterity. 
 
 As in reading the lives of great captains 
 and ftatefmen, we are inftructed in the hiftory 
 of their times, and their own and neighbouring 
 nations; in thofe of philofophers and divines 
 we fee the ftate of learning and religion •, fo in 
 the lives of the painters we fee the hiftory of 
 the art ; and I believe there has been as many 
 accounts of thefe great men who have done fo 
 much honour to human nature, and many of 
 them as well written as of any clafs of men 
 whatfoever. 
 
 U 4 The 
 
ic,6 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR, 
 
 The general idea I have of thofe excellent 
 men, I mean of the principal of them, fuch 
 as thofe of whom I have given an hiftorical 
 and chronological lift at the end of the firft part 
 of this work is this, they were mofl of them 
 men of fine, natural parts, and fome of them 
 went very far into learning and other fciences, 
 particularly mufic and poetry •, many of them 
 have received various public honours, and fome 
 have entailed nobility on their pofterity ; mofl 
 of them advanced their fortunes very confider- 
 ably, they have generally been in great favour 
 with their fovereigns, or much efteemed and 
 honoured by men of the firft quality ; lived in 
 great reputation, and died regretted by the beft 
 and wifeft of their countrymen : Several of 
 them were remarkably fine gentlemen, and if 
 any of them were not fo, they were not fordid, 
 low, vicious creatures. Annibaie Carracci took 
 more pleafure in his painting than in the gaie- 
 ties of a court, or the converfation or friendfhip 
 of the great, which with a fort of Stoical, and 
 perhaps a mixture of a Cynical pride he de- 
 fpifed i but he had a greatnefs of mind that 
 pleads effectually in his behalf, and compels us 
 to overlook his faults, which were much owing 
 to his natural melancholy. The hiftories of 
 Raphael, Lionardo da Vinci, Michael Angelo, 
 Titian, Giulio Romano, Guido, Rubens, Van- 
 dyke, 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 297 
 
 dyke, Sir Peter Lely, and Sir Godfrey Kneller, 
 (to name no more) are well known ; they lived 
 in great honour, and made a very confiderable 
 figure in their feveral times and countries. 
 
 That it hath frequently happened to good 
 painters to have been idle and fots, is a vulgar 
 error •, on the contrary, I know not even one 
 inflance of this among thofe great mailers whom 
 I have all along been fpeaking of, and who 
 alone are confiderable in their profeflion ; tho* 
 indeed thofe that have given occafion for this 
 fcandal may pofTibly have been the beft whofe 
 works thole people who have thus thought 
 have been acquainted with. 
 
 Another miflake of this kind is, that the 
 painters, how excellent foever they may have 
 been in their art, have often been inconfiderable 
 otherwife : But (as I have obferved heretofore) 
 a valuable man will remain, though a good 
 painter is deprived of his eyes and hands. 
 
 When after a brouillerie between pope Julius 
 and Michael Angelo, upon account of a flight 
 the artift conceived the pontiff had put upon 
 him (the ftory is at large in Vafari) Michael 
 Angelo was introduced by a bifhop (who was a 
 ftraijger to him, but was deputed by cardinal 
 
 Soderini, 
 
298 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 Soderini, who being Tick could not do it him- 
 ielf as was intended) this bifhop thinking to 
 fcrve Michael Angelo by it, made it an argu- 
 ment that the pope mould be reconciled to him, 
 " Becaufe men of his profeflion were often igno- 
 " rant, and of no confequence otherwife •" his 
 holinefs, enraged at the bifhop, (truck him with 
 his ftaff, and told him, " It was he that was 
 " the blockhead, and affronted the man himfelf 
 " would not offend :" The prelate was driven out 
 of the chamber, and Michael Angelo had the 
 pope's benediction accompanied with prefents. 
 This bifhop had fallen into this vulgar error, 
 and was rebuked accordingly. 
 
 "What I have been faying puts me in mind 
 of a flory which paffes very currently of this 
 great mailer, and that is, that he had a porter 
 fixed as to a crofs, and then ftabbed him that 
 he might the better exprefs the dying agonies 
 of our Lord in a crucifix he was painting -, I 
 find no good ground for this flander. Perhaps 
 it is a copy of a like ftory of Parrhafius, the 
 tr N uth of which is alfo much doubted of; it is 
 faid he fattened a flave he had bought to a ma- 
 chine, and then tormented him to death •, and 
 whilft he was dying painted the Prometheus he 
 made for the temple of Minerva at Athens. 
 Thofe who invented thefe ridiculous ftories, did 
 
 not 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 299 
 
 not confider, that the fort of expreflions and 
 diftortions of thefe low men could not have 
 ferved to reprefent the agonies of Chrift on the 
 crofs ; nor even thofe of fo high a character as 
 that of Prometheus. 
 
 Now that I am upon particulars, there is one 
 of a different fort relating to Titian, which I 
 will take this occafion to make more public 
 than has yet been done : It is a letter written by 
 him to the emperor Charles V. I find it in a 
 collection of Italian letters printed at Venice 
 1574. Ridolfi, nor any other writer that I 
 know of has this, though he has another written 
 to the emperor, and one to Philip II. kino- of 
 Spain, as he has alfo one or two letters' from 
 that king to Titian. 
 
 " Invittiflimo principe, fe dolfe alia facra 
 * { maefta uoftra la falfa nuoua della morte mia, 
 " a me e ftato di confolatione d' elTere percio 
 " fatto piu certo che Y altezza uoftra della mia 
 *' feruitu fi ricordi, onde la uita m' e doppia- 
 " mente cara. Et humilmente prcgo N. S. 
 " Dio a conferuarmi (fe non piu) tanto che 
 " finifca 1' opera della cefarea maefta uoftra, la 
 " quale fi truoua in termine che a fettembre 
 " proflimo potra comparire dinanzi 1' altezza 
 8 uoftra ; alia quale fra quefto mezzo con ogni 
 
 " hnmilta 
 
300 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 " humilta m'inchino, Sc riuerentcmente in fua 
 
 do. 
 
 " TlTIANO VeCELLIO." 
 
 " gratia mi raccommando. 
 
 Lomazzo, in his Idea del Tempio della 
 Pittura, page $j, prettily characterizes feveral 
 of thofe great mailers I have been fpeaking of, 
 by animals j and famous men, chiefly philofo- 
 phers. 
 
 To Michael Angelo he afligns a dragon> 
 and Socrates. 
 
 To Gaudentio an eagle, and Plato, 
 To Polidoro a horfe, and Alcides. 
 
 To Lionardo da Vinci a lion, and Pro- 
 metheus. 
 
 To Andrea Mantegna a ferpent, and Archi- 
 medes. 
 
 To Titian an ox, and Ariflotle. 
 
 To Raphael a man, and Solomon. 
 
 For the reft I refer you to the books. 
 
 But 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 301 
 
 But what completes the hiftory of thefe 
 great painters is their works ; of which a great 
 number, efpecially of drawings, are preferved 
 to our times. Here we fee their beginning, 
 progrefs, and completion ; their feveral various 
 ways of thinking \ their different manners of 
 expreffing their thoughts ; the ideas they have 
 of beauty in vifible objects ; and what accu- 
 racy and readinefs of hand they had in ex- 
 prefling what they conceived. Here we fee 
 the fteps they made in fome of their works, 
 their diligence, careleiihefs, or other inequali- 
 ties, the variation of their ftiles, and abun- 
 dance of other circumftances relating to them. 
 If therefore hiftory, if the hiftory of the arts, 
 if the hiftory of the particular artifts, if thefe 
 are worthy of a gentleman, this part of the 
 hiftory, thus written, where almoft every page, 
 every character is an inftance of the beauty and 
 excellency of the art, and of the admirable 
 qualities of the men of whom it treats, is alfo 
 well worthy his perufal and ftudy. 
 
 I will conclude this branch of my argument 
 relating to the dignity of painting, and con- 
 nohTance, with obferving, that thofe of the 
 greateft quality have not thought it unworthy 
 of them to practife, not the latter only, but the 
 other. And that if it is not yet a diminution 
 of fuch a one's character, not to be a connoif- 
 
 feur, 
 
3 02 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 feur, it is an addition to it if he is •, and is 
 judged to be fo by every body. And fome 
 fuch we have of our own nation, who are dil- 
 tinguifhed not only by their birth and for- 
 tunes, but by other the moil amiable qualities 
 that juftly endear them to all who have the 
 honour and happinefs of knowing them, and 
 being known to them ; if withal they have a 
 due fenfe of virtue, integrity, honour, love of 
 their country, and other noble qualities, which 
 thofe illuftrious connoifTeurs poiTefs in fo emi- 
 nent a degree. 
 
 SECT. II. 
 
 Let us now fee whether in the fcience I am 
 treating of as much certainty is not to be had 
 as perhaps in any other whatfoever. 
 
 As to the flrft branch, the manner of judging 
 of the goodnefs of a picture, it is eftablifhed on 
 inconteftable principles, founded on the fenfes. 
 The other, the knowledge of hands, and the 
 diftinguilhing copies from originals, have the 
 fame fecurity as our lives, our goods, and every 
 thing elfe that depends on order and happinefs 
 in the world. All thefe would be very uncer- 
 tain indeed, and precarious, if one could make 
 no difference ; and if they could be fo counter- 
 feited, 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 303 
 
 feited that it would be impoffible to detect the 
 abufe. 
 
 Rules may be eftablifhed fo clearly derived 
 from reafon as to be utterly indifputable. If 
 the defign of the picture be (as in general it is) 
 to pleafe * and improve the mind (as in poetry) 
 the ftory mull have all poffible advantages given 
 to it, and the actors mull have the utmoft 
 grace and dignity their feveral characters will 
 admit of. If hiftorical and natural truth only 
 be intended, thefe muft be kept to ; though the 
 beft choice of thefe aifo mull be made; in both 
 cafes, unity of time, place, and action ought 
 to be obferved ; the compofition muft be iuch 
 as to make the thoughts appear at firfl fight 5 
 and the principal of them the moft confpi- 
 cuoufly ; and the whole muft be fo contrived 
 as to prefent a grateful object to the eye, both 
 as to the colours and the malfes of light and 
 Ihadow. Thefe things are fo evident as not to 
 admit of any difpute or contradiction ; as it 
 alfo is that the exprefllon muft be ftrong, the 
 drawing juft, the colouring clean and beautiful, 
 the handling eafy and light, and all thefe pro- 
 per to the fubject. Nor will it be difficult to 
 
 * 
 
 Aut prodefle volunt, aut delegare poetae; 
 Aut fimul & jucunda & idonea dicere vit<e. 
 
 Hoa. Art. Poet, 333. 
 Snow 
 
3 04 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 know affuredly what is fo, unlefs with relation 
 to the juftnefs of the drawing; but, in the 
 main, whether any thing is lame, diftorted, mif- 
 fhapen, ill proportioned, or flat ; or, on the 
 contrary, round and beautiful, is what any eye 
 that is tolerably curious can judge of. 
 
 The rules being fixed and certain, whether a 
 picture or drawing hath the properties required 
 is eafily feen ; and, when they are difcovered, 
 a man is as certain he really fees what he thinks 
 he fees, as in any other cafe where his own 
 ienfes convey the evidence to' his underflanding. 
 
 And by being accuftomed to fee and obferve 
 the beft pictures, a man may judge in what de-. 
 gree thefe excellencies are found in that under 
 confideration ; for all things muft be judged of 
 by comparifon ; that will be thought the beft 
 that is the beft we know of. 
 
 If a picture has any of the good properties 
 I have been fpeaking of (as none has all) we 
 can fee which or how many they have, and 
 what they are; and can tell what rank they 
 ought to hold in our eftimation, and whether 
 the excellencies they have will atone for thofe 
 they want, as the molt delicate pencil, the 
 fineft colouring, the greateft force (though thefe 
 are valuable) will not make amends for a lewd 
 
 or 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 365 
 
 Or profane fubject, a poor and infipid way of 
 thinking, larnenefs, or ftiffnefs, want of har- 
 mony, and tamenefs, meannefs, and ungrace- 
 fulnefs throughout; for this would be like 
 good language and mufical numbers in a poem 
 without fenfe, invention, elevation, propriety, 
 and the other requifites in poetry. 
 
 Without principles a man is in the dark, and 
 fluctuates in uncertainty ; but having thefe he 
 will be fteady and clear : If care be taken to 
 keep to them, and that we <lo not judge by 
 fomething elfe befides, or inftead of them ; and 
 moreover that they be folid and juft. 
 
 Here now is a very great degree of certainty 
 to be had, in by much the moft material branch 
 of the fcience. And that being fecured, it is 
 comparatively of little confequence of what 
 hand a work is, or whether it is an original 
 or not. 
 
 But here too there are many cafes wherein 
 we can have an equal degree of affurance as in 
 the former. Thus it is with refpect to the belt 
 works of the belt mailers ; efpecially when if it 
 is a picture, hiftory or tradition confirms our 
 opinion ; and, if a drawing, it is known for 
 what picture it was made ; or when we have an 
 opportunity (which frequently happens) of 
 X comparing 
 
3 o6 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 comparing one of the fame matter and manner 
 with another. In the bell works of the bell 
 mailers, not only their characters are evidently 
 feen, but here they are exalted above the pofli- 
 bility of being copied or imitated fo as not to 
 be difcovered. And befides, providence hath 
 preferved to us a fufficient number of the works 
 of thefe excellent men whereon fecurely to form 
 our ideas concerning them. 
 
 A like degree of evidence we have for the 
 works of thofe who have been great mannerifts, 
 and of whom we have many pictures or draw- 
 ings. It is true, a tolerable copy of one of 
 thefe mailers may at firfl fight be taken for an 
 original, as an imitation may be thought to be 
 genuine ; but it is very rarely found that the 
 difference is not plainly difcovered with a little 
 attention ; generally it is feen immediately and 
 inconteftably. 
 
 There are many fketches, or other free works, 
 whether pictures or drawings, of whofe origi- 
 nality we are alio abfolutely certain. 
 
 I pretend not to go through all the cafes 
 wherein this affurance, or high degree of per- 
 fuafion is to be had, it would be too tedious. 
 We may be reafonably well perfuaded in many 
 others •, as where we have confiderable numbers 
 
 4 of 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 307 
 
 of genuine works of mailers not fo excellent, 
 nor whofe manners are more particularly re- 
 markable. We may alfo be thus perfuaded of 
 thofe that are not the beft of the greater!: hands, 
 or manners which they feldom ufed ; and this 
 by comparing thefe works with thofe which are 
 indifputable •, for there is in all the matters, 
 though not in all equally, a certain character 
 and peculiarity that runs through all their works 
 in fome meafure, and which a good connoifTeur 
 knows, though he cannot defcribe it to an- 
 other. 
 
 This way of comparifon too helps us to a 
 higher degree of perfuafion than otherwife we 
 mould have had with relation to the works of 
 mailers of whom we have but a fmall number : 
 as for example of Dominichino ; we know his 
 general character, that is eflablifhed by thofe 
 few of his works that are in Rome, Naples, 
 and elfewhere, and by the writers'; as we alfo 
 know the character of Annibale Carracci by 
 the fame means, but in a greater degree. If 
 then we cannot confront a work, thought to be 
 of the former, with another already judged to 
 be of him, it may be of considerable ufe to 
 compare it with one of Annibale, and to fee 
 what degree and kind of goodnefs it has in that 
 comparifon, and whether that anfwers to the 
 X 2 character 
 
3 o8 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 character of Dominichino, as compared with 
 the other •, if it does, it is an additional evi- 
 dence over and above what we had before. 
 
 From thefe we defcend to more doubtful 
 cafes, which it is troublefome, and of no great 
 ufe to enumerate ; only in general this is cer- 
 tain, that thefe cafes are fuch as are of the leafl 
 confequence, as being for the molt part with 
 relation to fome of the worft works of the better 
 mailers, or thofe of inconfiderable ones. If it 
 is doubtful whether a picture or a drawing is a" 
 copy or an original, it is of little confequence 
 which it is ; and more or lefs in proportion as 
 it is doubtful : If the cafe be exceeding diffi- 
 cult, or impoflible to be determined, it is no 
 matter whether it is determined or no ♦, the pic- 
 ture, fuppofing it to be a copy, muft be in a 
 manner as good as the original. 
 
 After all it muft be acknowledged, that as in 
 other fciences there are certain branches of them 
 wherein one man excels, and another in others, 
 but knows little of the reft •, fo in connoiffance, 
 no one man can be acquainted with the hands 
 of all, even of the moft confiderabte matters •, 
 nor with all the manners perhaps of any one of 
 thofe who have had great variety of them ; nor 
 to be very expert in more than a few of thefe : 
 
 He 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 309 
 
 He mult be contented with a moderate fkill in 
 many, and to be utterly ignorant in fome of 
 them : Such is the narrownefs of our faculties, 
 the extent of the fcience, or the want of helps 
 and materials for the ftudy. 
 
 However, let it be remembered too, that 
 -every connoiffeur may judge concerning the 
 goodnefs of a picture or drawing as to all the 
 parts of it, except the invention and expreffion 
 in hiftory, and the refemblance in portraits ; and 
 thefe no one man can judge accurately of in all 
 cafes, becaufe no one man can be acquainted 
 with all the ftories or fables, or other fubjects 
 of the picture, as no one man can know every 
 body. 
 
 The variety of opinions of connoifTeurs, or 
 fuch as pretend to be fo, will be made an ob- 
 jection to what I have advanced. And it may 
 feem to be a very confiderable one. But this 
 does not always happen from the obfcurity of 
 the fcience ■, it is frequently from fome defect in 
 the men, or in their management on thefe occa- 
 fions, whether weaknefs, rafhnefs, intereft, &c. 
 fo as to render thefe their opinions, or what 
 they call fo, utterly infigniflcant, 
 
 X 3 There 
 
3 10 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 There are fome people who never had any 
 opinions of their own, properly fpeaking •, fome 
 there are, hardly fome, who have, but have 
 taken up their notions upon trufl •, they talk 
 from whim or fancy, or as they have heard 
 others talk, without fixing upon or eftablifhing 
 any certain principles, whereby to conduct 
 themfelves in this affair. 
 
 Others may have confidered more, but to as 
 little purpofe, having gone upon principles 
 falfe or precarious ; to which they are bigoted, 
 and refolve to adhere ; never impartially en- 
 quiring whether they were in the right or no x 
 or perhaps fo much as fufpecting they were 
 not, or imagining fuch a thing was poffible. 
 
 As the former never ftudied at all, thefe have 
 done fo but in part j they have not dug down 
 to the foundation, but taken the firft appear- 
 ance, and thought it was all •, thefe, if they 
 have had the opportunity of feeing good things, 
 efpecially if they have been abroad, and above 
 all in Italy, and there picked up the names of 
 fome of the matters, and a little of the hiftory, 
 fet up for connoiffeurs of courfe, without 
 taking the requifite pains to be really what they 
 affect to be. And as truth lies in one fingle 
 .point, and error is infinite, fuch people as thefe 
 
 may 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 3 1 1 
 
 may ftudy, difpute, and wrangle eternally, and 
 always find plaufible arguments on both fides, 
 but never get out of the labyrinth. 
 
 Again, fome there are who are incapable of 
 being good connoifTeurs, let them take what 
 pains they will •, thofe who want genius, and a 
 competent meafure of understanding in this par- 
 ticular ftudy, however fenfible men they may be 
 in general, can never penetrate into the beau- 
 ties or defects of a pidture ; they can never be 
 judges of the degrees of its goodnefs. And 
 thole that know not how to form clear and dil- 
 tinct ideas, and have not a memory to retain, 
 and fkill to manage them, can never be good 
 judges of hands, or know copies from ori- 
 ginals. 
 
 A man may be a good connohTeur in general, 
 and an ingenious man, and yet his judgment in 
 many cafes is not to be regarded; he may be 
 exactly upon the level with thofe that are nei- 
 ther one, nor the other; there is a certain circle 
 beyond which the wifeft men are fools •, every 
 man's capacity ha-s its bounds ; and it is not 
 every one's talent to know the utmoft extent of 
 thefe, or to keep himfelf from making excur- 
 fions. One connoifTeur is well acquainted with 
 the hands of fome of the mailers, or with fome 
 X 4 of 
 
312 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 of their manners, but not with others ; if he 
 pretends to give his judgment in thofe cafes 
 wherein he is ignorant, it is at leaft an equal 
 chance but he is wrong; and if he is fo, 
 another, who may not be a better connoifTeur 
 in the main though he is fo in this particular, 
 will probably differ from him. The difpute 
 then will lie between a wife man and a fool, in 
 the prefent cafe ; but, that there is a difpute at 
 all, is not from the obfcurity of the fcience, 
 but the indifcretion of one of the difputants. 
 I have obferved frequently inftances of this 
 inequality in ingenious men with fome furprize; 
 I have known the fame man talk like a very 
 able connoifTeur at one time, and at another 
 like one that had never ccnfidered thefe things 
 at all; whether, that he was, at fuch times, 
 carelefs, or abfent from himfelf, or that he 
 was really out of his depth in thofe particulars, 
 I know not. 
 
 Nor is there after all, indeed, fo great a 
 difference of opinions in fome cafes, nor fo 
 great a conformity in others as there feems to 
 be amongft men. 
 
 When one fays a picture is good and the other 
 the contrary, either may fix upon certain pro- 
 perties wherein both may be in the right ; the 
 
 only 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 3 13 
 
 ,only fault may be in denominating the whole 
 from a part, and not underftanding one another. 
 
 Some men, and indeed all men at fome times, 
 will give their judgments in hafte, and before 
 they have enough confidered and recollected 
 themfelves; whether from a natural vivacity 
 of temper, an affectation of appearing to be 
 ready, or from whatever other caufe ; fuch Rid- 
 den opinions are commonly different from what 
 the fame perfon's more deliberate judgment 
 would have been : But fuch is the pride and 
 folly of fome people, that what they have once 
 faid, the opinion they have once efpoufed, they 
 will adhere to, how much in the wrong foever 
 they may find themfelves to have been; and 
 this rather than own it was pofTible for them 
 to have been miftaken •, though that is com- 
 mon to the wifefl of men, and the perfifting 
 in a known error none but a fool (in that re- 
 fpect at leaft) is capable of; that has no dis- 
 honour in it, and oftentimes the contrary; this 
 is fhamefui and ridiculous. 
 
 Some are exorbitant in the praifes of what 
 themfelves poffefs, and as much depreciate 
 every thing elfe ; and this from partiality on 
 the one hand, and pure malice and ill nature 
 on the other; but however it be, an account 
 
 is 
 
3 14 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 is thus given of pictures, or drawings very 
 different from what will be had from other con- 
 noiffeurs. Juft as I have ken party-men in 
 civil or religious matters reprefent the caufe 
 they efpoufe as without fpot or blemiih, and 
 that of their opponents as utterly abfurd and 
 mifchievous •, whereas the great difference is in 
 their interefts and inclinations, not in their 
 judgments. 
 
 Men frequently diffemble their real fentiments 
 in connoiffance ; and this either with an ill 
 intention, or very juftifiably. The firft of thefe 
 cafes many a gentleman has known to have 
 happened to his coft in fome inftances •, and in 
 more, they never have been, nor ever will be 
 undeceived. There are picture-jockeys who 
 will make what advantage they can of the 
 credulity of others, and their own fuperior 
 understandings in that particular, and to that 
 end aflert what themfelves believe to be falfe. 
 
 Others again put on the mafk, for their own 
 fakes in part, and partly for the fakes of other 
 people. We frequently meet with pictures or 
 drawings which we know are not what the 
 owners of them take them to be : What can 
 we do in this cafe ? What, but the fame as 
 every wife man muft, and will do in like cir- 
 cumitances ; and many cafes there are in the 
 
 world 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 315 
 
 -world where wife men are thought to think 
 otherwife than they do, becaufe they are too 
 wife to tell their real thoughts ; the maxim 
 which fir Henry Wootton recommended to Mr. 
 ^Milton when he was entering upon his travels 
 " i penfieri ftretti, ed il vifo fciolto; Clofe 
 " thoughts, and open countenance;" is as necef- 
 fary to be obferved by connoiffeurs as tra- 
 vellers, or any other fort of men whatfoever. 
 " Some years fince a very honeft gentleman 
 " came to me, and amongft other difcourie, 
 *' with abundance of civility, invited me to 
 " his houfe. I have (fays he) a picture of Ru- 
 i" bens, it is a rare good one -, there is little 
 " Howard t'other day came to fee it, and fays 
 
 " it is a copy, G d him, if any 
 
 " one fays that picture is a copy I'll break his 
 " head ; pray Mr. Richardfon will you do me 
 " the favour to come, and give me your real 
 ." opinion of it." 
 
 Mankind is generally difpofed to believe 
 thofe who tell them what they would have to 
 be true ; not becaufe their affent is regulated by 
 their paflions, and differently from the evidence 
 as it appears to them ; but they really conceive 
 a better opinion of thefe people, and think their 
 judgment is better than the others ; and thefe 
 kind of arguments being what they rely upon 
 in this cafe, they appear ftronger on this fide 
 
 than 
 
3 i6 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 than on the other ; their minds being alfo more 
 applied to the confideration of thefe, than thofe 
 other. 
 
 And thefe people have a degree of happi- 
 nefs by error in this cafe which truth would 
 deprive them of, and confequently they would 
 fuffer by it j and truth and error are indifferent 
 to us, but as either tends to our good, that is 
 to our happinefs ; or, in other words, the de- 
 gree of our enjoyments, the whole duration of 
 our exiftence being taken into the account. In 
 this world we probably enjoy as much from 
 our ignorance and miftakes, as from our know- 
 ledge and true judgments ; and we are many 
 times in fuch circumftances that truth would 
 make us extremely wretched; fo that he is 
 mifchievous to us who opens our eyes. A 
 good connoiffeur therefore, who is withal a 
 plain, fincere man, has great difficulties many 
 times when he fees a collection, or a fingle 
 picture or two •, chiefly when gentlemen will 
 urge him to give his opinion of fomething they 
 have lately acquired, and the honey-moon is 
 not yet over. On thefe occafions one cannot 
 avoid applying the words of our Saviour to his 
 difciples ; " I have many things to fay to you, 
 " but you cannot bear them now." 
 
 I mould be very loath to be an advocate 
 for infincerity of any kind, and indeed I am 
 
 very 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 317 
 
 very unfit for it : If the ftate of things would 
 admit of it, I mould be glad to come into a 
 general agreement, never to conceal the lead 
 thought of the heart by any word, look, or 
 action whatfoever ; but, as the cafe now ftands, 
 the difguifes I have been pleading for are fo 
 neceflary, and they are fo much the fame with 
 thofe complements and civilities univerfally prac- 
 tifed, that he that is deceived by them, if he 
 mould difcover it, would acquit and approve 
 the deceiver; or they will not deceive at all. 
 
 I will however take the liberty to put gen- 
 tlemen in mind of the great injury they do 
 themfelves by their being fo tender in regard 
 to their own things, as not to permit every 
 one to fpeak his mind freely, and without re- 
 ferve; not only their judgments by this means 
 are kept low, but they are fufFerers in their 
 purfes ; they lie open to be impofed on, and 
 in fact too often fling away their money upon 
 trafh ; they have pleafure indeed, but they 
 might have that too, and greater, and more 
 durable, without thofe difadvantages ; nay, 
 with the contrary circumflances, they might 
 become good connoiffeurs, and be good oeco- 
 nomifts at the fame time. 
 
 Another inflance of an apparent, but no 
 real difference in the opinions of connoiiTeurs 
 
 is 
 
3 i8 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR, 
 
 is this, (and it is the lafl: I fhall mention) 
 it is very common for other people (not the 
 owners) to afk our opinions of pictures, or 
 collections, when there may be good reafons 
 why we mould not be very exact and particu- 
 lar in our anfwers -, efpecially if the things in 
 queftion are to be difpofed of, and the opinion 
 is afked in a large and mixed company. In this 
 cafe the ufual way is to avoid the mention of 
 anjr faults, and to fay what good we can in ge- 
 neral terms •, which kind of character is indeed 
 no other than a tub flung out for the whale 
 to play with, that the fhip may get rid of him ; 
 for it gives no idea, or none fhould be taken 
 from thence-, the man that has got it is cer- 
 tainly not one jot the wifer for it, how well 
 fatisfied foever he may be with it. 
 
 At other times we may have as good rea- 
 fons to be clear and explicit in our characters ; 
 if thefe two accounts happen to be compared, 
 (as they often are) there will appear a difference 
 in judgment or infincerity; when thofe who 
 gave them were of the fame mind all along, 
 and fpake nothing but the truth, though not 
 all the truth. 
 
 Some cafuifts have faid, no man is bound 
 to deliver truth to him who has no right to 
 demand it. Of what ufe foever this rule may 
 
 be 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 3 19 
 
 be towards the difentangling us from the per- 
 plexities we find in the definition of a criminal 
 lie, thus far is plain and certain, that we are 
 not obliged to give our opinions to thofe who 
 are not entitled to them, whether by promife, 
 gratitude, common juftice, or prudence. 
 
 Underftanding in a fcience, as all other na- 
 tural or acquired advantages is the pofTefTor's 
 property, which every man fells at as good a rate 
 as he can for value received or expected. 
 This is common to all orders of men; why 
 connoiffeurs mould be expected to diftinguifh 
 themfelves by their generofity or prodigality, is 
 unaccountable. But it would be altogether 
 abfurd for them to do it, when they mail be 
 fure to create to themfelves enemies by that 
 means, and this only to fatisfy an infignificant 
 curiofity, or even to ferve thofe who probably 
 will never think themfelves obliged, or re- 
 member it afterwards. 
 
 Becaufe therefore we cannot otherwife r avoid 
 fome peoples' importunity, we are forced to be 
 provided, as with gold and filver, to pay our 
 debts, or purchafe necefTaries or conveniencies, 
 fo with half-pence for beggars. 
 
 SECT. III. 
 I am now come to the third branch of argu- 
 ment, whereby I would recommend the love 
 
 of 
 
320 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 of painting, and ftudy of connoiffance, upon 
 account of the pleafure it is capable of afford- 
 ing. 
 
 What is beautiful and excellent, is naturally 
 adapted to pleafe; but all beauties and excel- 
 lencies are not, naturally, feen. Mod gentle- 
 .men fee pictures and drawings, as the generality 
 of people fee the heavens in a clear, flarry 
 night i they' perceive a fort of beauty there, 
 but fuch a one as produces no great pleafure 
 in the mind ; but when one confiders the hea- 
 venly bodies as other worlds, and that there 
 are an infinite number of thefe in the empire of 
 God, immenfity, and worlds which our eyes 
 aflifted by the belt glaiTes can never reach, and 
 fo far remote from the moil diilant of what 
 we fee (which yet are fo far removed from us, 
 that when we confider it our minds are filled 
 with aftoniihment) that thefe vifible ones are as 
 it were our neighbours, as the . continent of 
 France is to Great Britain 5 when one confiders 
 farther, that as there are inhabitants on this 
 continent though we fee them not when we fee 
 that, it is altogether unreafonable to imagine 
 that thofe innumerable worlds are uninhabited 
 and defart * there mull be beings there, fome 
 perhaps more, others lefs noble and excellent 
 than man : When one thus views this vaft 
 profpect, the mind is othervvife affected than 
 
 before, 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 3 2t 
 
 before, and feels a delight which common 
 notions never can administer. So thofe who 
 at prefent cannot comprehend there can be 
 fuch pleafure in a good picture or drawing, 
 as connoiffeurs pretend to find, may learn to 
 fee the fame thing themfelves, their eyes being 
 once opened they may be faid to obtain a new 
 fenfe •, and new pleafures flow in as often as 
 the objects of that fuperinduced fight prefent 
 themfelves, which (to people of condition efpe- 
 cially) very frequently happens, or may be pro- 
 cured, whether here at home, or in their tra- 
 vels abroad. When a gentleman has learned 
 to fee the beauties and excellencies that are 
 really in good pictures and drawings, and 
 which may be learnt by converling with fuch,- 
 and applying himfelf to the confideration of 
 them, he will look upon that with joy which 
 he now paffes over with very little pleafure, if 
 not with indifference ; nay, a fketch, a fcrabble 
 of the hand of a great mailer will be capable 
 of adminiftering to him a greater degree of 
 pleafure than thofe who know it not by ex- 
 perience can have any conception of, befides 
 the graceful and noble attitudes, the beauty 
 of colours and forms, and the line effects of 
 light and Ihadow, which none fees as a co'n- 
 noiffeur does, fuch a one enters farther than 
 any other can do into the beauties of the 
 invention, expreflion, and other parts of the 
 
322 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 work, he is confidering. He fees ftrokes of* 
 art, contrivances, expedients, a delicacy and 
 fpirit that others fee not, or very imperfectly. 
 
 He fees what a force of mind the great 
 mafters had to conceive ideas ; what judg- 
 ment to fee things beautifully, or to imagine 
 beauty from what they faw ; and what a power 
 their hands were endued withal, in a few 
 ftrokes and with eafe, to fhew to another what 
 themfelves conceived. 
 
 What is it that gives us pleafure in reading 
 a hiftory or poem, but that the mind is thereby 
 furnifhed with variety of images ? And what 
 diflinguifhes fome authors, and fets them above 
 the common level, but their knowing how to 
 raiie their fubject ? The Trojan or Peloponefian 
 wars, would never have been thought of by 
 us, if a Homer or a Thiicydides had not told 
 the flories of them, who knew how to do it fo 
 as to fill the minds of their readers with great 
 and delightful ideas. He who converfes with 
 the works of the beft mafters, is always reading 
 fuch admirable authors-, and his mind confe- 
 quently, in proportion, entertained, and de- 
 lighted with fine hiftories, fables, characters, 
 the ideas of magnificent buildings, fine pro- 
 fpecls, &c. 
 
 4 
 
 And 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 32 3 
 
 And he fees thefe things in thofe different 
 lights, which the various manners of thinking 
 of the feveral matters fets them ; he fees them 
 as they are reprefented by the capricious, but 
 vaft genius of Lionardo da Vinci ; the fierce 
 and gigantick one of Michael Angelo; the 
 divine and polite one of Raphael ; the poeti- 
 cal fancy of Giulio; the angelical mind of 
 Corregio, or Parmegiano ; the haughty, fullen, 
 but accomplished Annibal, the learned Agoittno' 
 Caracci, &c. 
 
 A connoifTeur hath this farther advantage, 
 that he not only fees beauties in pictures and 
 drawings which, to common eyes, are invi- 
 fible-, but he learns by thefe to fee fuch in 
 nature, in the exquifite forms and colours, the 
 fine effects of lights, fhadows, and reflections, 
 which in her are always to be found - 3 and from 
 whence he hath a pleafure which otherwife he 
 could never have had *, and which none with 
 untaught eyes can poffibly difcern : He has a 
 
 * conitant pleafure of this kind even in the molt 
 common things, and the moft familiar to'us,- 
 fo that what people ufually look upon with 
 
 . the utmoit indifference creates an home-felt 
 
 * Nos etiam oculos habemus erudites, fays Cicero to his 
 friend Atticus, when, in Greece, he defires to fpare no 
 expence to procure him ftatues and bufts of philofophers* 
 hifbrians and poets, to crown his ncble Tufculan Library. 
 
 Y 2 delight 
 
324 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 delight in his mind. The nobleft works of 
 Raphael, the mod ravifhing mufick of Handel, 
 the mod mafterly ftrokes of Milton, touch not 
 people who are without difcernment. 
 
 So, the beauties themfelves of thofe all- 
 perfecl: works of the great author of nature 
 are not feen but by enlightened eyes, that is, 
 thofe eyes which are taught to fee •, to thefe they 
 appear far otherwife than before they were, fo, 
 fo far otherwife! that one fees through a glafs 
 darkly, (through the grofs medium of igno- 
 rance) the other, that of a connoiffeur, as when 
 the angel had removed the film from Adam's 
 eyes, and purged with euphrane and rue the 
 vifual nerve, feeth beauty, divine' and human, 
 as far as human may, as we hope to fee every 
 thing, ftill nearer to its true beauty and per- 
 fection, in a better ftate j When we mail " fee 
 ** what eye hath not feen, neither hath entered 
 ** into the heart of man." 
 
 By converfing with the works of the beft 
 mailers, our imaginations are impregnated with 
 great and beautiful images, which prefent them- 
 felves on all occafions in reading an author, 
 or ruminating upon fome great aftion, ancient 
 or modern -, every thing is raifed, every thing 
 improved from what it would have been other- 
 wife. Nay thofe lovely images with which our 
 
 minds 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 325 
 
 minds are thus enriched arife there continually, 
 and give us pleafure, with' or without any par- 
 ticular application. 
 
 What is rare and curious, exclufive of any 
 other confideration we naturally take pleafure 
 in ; becaufe, as variable as our circumflances 
 are, there is fo much of repetition in life, that 
 more variety is ftill deiirable. The works of 
 the great mailers would thus recommend them- 
 felves to us, though they had not that tranf- 
 cendent excellency as they have •, they are fuch 
 as are rarely feen ; they are the works of a 
 fmall number of the fpecies in one little coun- 
 try of the world, and in a fliort fpace of time. 
 But their excellency being put into the fcale, 
 makes the rarity of them juftly confiderable. 
 They are the works of men like whom none 
 are now to be found, and when there will be, 
 God only knows ! 
 
 Art, & guides tout eft dans les camps elyfees. 
 
 La Fontaine, 
 
 What the old poet Melanthius fays of Polyg- 
 notus (as he is cited by Plutarch in the life of 
 Cimon) may with a little alteration be applied 
 to thefe men in general ; it is thus already trans- 
 lated. 
 
 Y 2 This 
 
326 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 This famous painter at his own expence 
 Gave Athens beauty, and magnificence; 
 New life to all the heroes did impart; 
 Embellifh'd all the temples with his art: 
 The fplendor of the ftate reftor'd again : 
 And fo he did oblige both gods and men. 
 
 What frill adds to the rarity of the excel- 
 lent works we are fpeaking of is, their number 
 mufl neceffarily diminifh by fudden accidents, 
 or the flow, but certain injuries of time. 
 
 Another -pleafure belonging to connoiflance 
 js when we find any thing particular and curi- 
 ous : As the firft thoughts of a mafter for fome 
 remarkable picture. The original of a work 
 of a great mafter, the copy of which we have 
 already by fome other confiderable hand. A 
 drawing of a picture, or after an antique very 
 famous j or which is now loft ; or when we 
 make fome new acquifition upon reafonable 
 terms ; chiefly when we get for ourfelves fome- 
 thing we much deftred, but could not hope to 
 be mafters of; when we make fome new dif- 
 covery; fomething that improves our know- 
 ledge in connoiffance or painting, or otherwife ; 
 and abundance of fuch like incidents, and 
 which very frequently happens to a diligent 
 connoifTeuro 
 
 The 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 327 
 
 The pleafure that arifes from the knowledge 
 of hands is- not like, or equal- to that of the 
 other parts of the bufinefs of a connoifTeur ; 
 but neither is this deftitute of it. When one 
 fees an admirable piece of art, it is part of the 
 entertainment to know to whom to attribute 
 it, and then to know his hiftory; which arifes, 
 I hope, from a natural juftice in the human 
 mind, that loves and defires to pay a little tri- 
 bute of gratitude where it difcovers it to be 
 due to that merit of another which it is actually 
 enjoying. The cuftom of putting the author's 
 picture or life at the beginning of his book, is 
 kindly giving us • an opportunity of doing 
 this. 
 
 When one is confidering a picture or a draw- 
 ing, and at the fame time thinks this was done 
 by him * who had many extraordinary endow- 
 ments of" body and mind, and was withal a 
 virtuous man and a fine gentleman in his 
 whole life, and ftill more at his death, expiring 
 in the arms of one of the greater!: princes of 
 that age, Francis I. king of France, who loved 
 him as a friend. Another is of -f him who 
 lived a long and happy life, beloved of the 
 
 * Leonardo da Vinci, 
 •j- Titian. 
 
 Y 4 emperor 
 
3 23 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR, 
 
 emperor Charles V. and many others of the nrft 
 princes of Europe. When one has another in 
 his hand, and thinks this was done by J one who 
 fo excelled in three arts, as that any one of them, 
 in that degree he poffeffed them all, had rendered 
 him worthy of immortality; and who more- 
 over dared to contend with his fovereign (one 
 of the haughtieft popes || that ever was) upon a 
 flight offered to him, and extricated himfelf 
 with honour. 
 
 Another is the work of that great felf-formed, 
 authentic genius, who was the model of all 
 fupernatural grace •, who alone painted heaven, 
 as furely it is •, and hath reprefented to human 
 weaknefs the angelic nature. This too by in- 
 fpiration! not having had any mafter ; or none 
 but whom he left quite out of fight in the 
 earlieft progrefles of his divine pencil. He 
 even never faw the works of other great maf- 
 ters, having always confined himfelf to his 
 native JLombardy, except one fingle one of 
 Raphael •, and a great one indeed that was ; 
 his St. Cecilia when brought to Bologna; and 
 then, after confidering it with long attention, and 
 the admiration it deferved, he had the fpirit 
 (and he had a right to that fpirit) to fay; « Well, 
 
 X Michael Angelo Buonarotta. 
 H Julius IT. 
 
 f I am 
 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 329 
 
 * I am a painter too/ He was fo little known to 
 the reft of Italy, that he pafied, till very lately, 
 in the opinion of the world, for a low, poor, 
 indigent creature i from the ill information or 
 malice of Vafari, always prejudiced againft the 
 Lombard painters, when his character was 
 refcued from its affected obfcurity, and his 
 noble birth and connections, and fplendid wealth, 
 aflerted beyond all poffibility of difpute by the 
 indefatigable and learned induftry of Lodovico 
 Antonio David, a Milanefe painter, and pub- 
 limed at Bologna. » 
 
 Another we mall confider as the work of * 
 him who reftored painting when it was almoft 
 funk ; of him whom his art made honourable ; 
 but who neglecting and defpifing greatnefs 
 with a fort of cynical pride, was treated fuita- 1 \ 
 bly to the figure he gave himfelf, not to his 
 intrinfic merit ; which not having philofophy 
 enough to bear, it broke his heart. Another 
 is performed by f one, who (on the contrary) 
 was a fine gentleman, and lived in great mag- 
 nificence, and was much honoured by his own 
 and foreign princes-, who was a courtier, a 
 ftatefman, and a painter; and fo much ali 
 thefe that when he acted in either character., 
 
 * Annibal Caracci. 
 f Rubens. 
 
 that 
 
330 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 that Teemed to be his bufinefs, and the others 
 his diverfion ; when one thus reflects, befides 
 the pleafure arifing from the beauties and ex- 
 cellencies of the work, the fine ideas it gives 
 us of natural things, the noble way of think- 
 ing one finds in it, and the pleafing thoughts it 
 may fuggeft to us, an additional pleafure re- 
 fults from thefe reflections. 
 
 But oh the pleafure! when a connoifTeur and 
 lover of art, has before him a picture or draw- 
 ing, of which he can fay, this is the hand, 
 thefe the thoughts of * him who was one of 
 the politeft, beft-natured gentlemen that ever 
 was -, who was beloved and affifted by the 
 greateft wits, and the greateft men then at 
 Rome, at a time when politenefs and all thofe 
 arts which make life tafte truly agreeable, were 
 carried to a greater heighth than at any period 
 fince the reign of Auguftus : of him who 
 lived in great fame, honour, and magnificence, 
 and died univerfally lamented ; and even miffed a 
 cardinal's hat only by dying a few months too 
 foon ; but was, above all, highly efteemed and 
 favoured by two popes, the only ones who filled 
 the chair of St. Peter in his time. One (in 
 fhor-t) who could have been a Lionardo, a 
 Michael Angelo, a Titian, a Corregio, a Par- 
 
 * Raphael. 
 
 megiano, 
 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 3 3 1 
 
 megiano, an Annibal, a Rubens, or any other 
 when he pleafed, but none of them could ever 
 have been a Raphael. 
 
 Such as Diana when (he fprightly leads 
 The dance on cool Eurota's flow'ry meads ; 
 Or when the goddefs is delighted more 
 To chafe the ftag, or flapping goat, (he o're 
 Huge Tagetus, or Erymant'hus flies, 
 Whilft hunter's mufick echoes in the fkies : 
 A thoufand wood-nymphs eve; more are feen 
 Surrounding, and exulting in their queen, 
 But (he diftinguifhable is from far, 
 She taller, and more lovely does appear, 
 Supremely bright where every one is fair. 
 Her daughter chafte Latona (aw, (he fmil'd. 
 And with tranfcendent joy her heart was fill'd 
 
 i 
 
 When we compare the hands and manners of 
 one mailer, with another, and thofe of the 
 fame man in different times : When we fee the 
 various turns of mind and excellencies ; and, 
 above all, when we obferve what is well or ill 
 in their works, as it is a worthy, fo it is alfo 
 a very delightful exercife of our rational fa- 
 culties. 
 
 And there is one circumflance in it which 
 ought not to be forgotten, and with which I 
 will clofe this part of my argument. In law 
 we are tied down to precedents •, in phyfick it 
 is dangerous treading untrodden paths ; in 
 
 chyinity, 
 
33 2 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 divinity, reafon though flying before the wind 
 with all her fails fpread, muft flop if an article 
 of faith appears : But in this ftudy (he has her 
 full courfe •, the mind finds itfelf intirely at li- 
 berty, and with her plumes " winnows the buxom 
 " air" (to ufe Milton's ftile.) 
 
 Sometimes 
 
 She fcours the right hand coaft, fometimes the left, 
 Now fkims with level wing the deep, then foars 
 Up to the empyraean tow'ring high. 
 
 This is a pleafure which none but thinking 
 men can be fenfible of; and fuch know it to be 
 one of the greateft and moft excellent they can 
 enjoy. 
 
 SECT. IV. 
 
 I fancy an author and a reader are as two 
 people travelling together; if the book be in 
 manuicript, the writer takes the other into his 
 own calafh ; if it be printed, it is a common 
 voiture. We have thus been in company longer 
 than I expected, but are now entering upon the 
 laft day's journey. How my fellow traveller is 
 affected I know not, but I confefs I am pleafed 
 I am fo near home. 
 
 It 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR: 333 
 
 It was formerly a trite faying among the 
 Florentines (and may be fo ftill for ought I 
 know) " Cofa fatta capo ha; a thing done has 
 "ahead;" that is, till then it has no life, the 
 main circumftance is wanting, it is good for 
 little. I am always glad when I clap on the 
 head to any thing I undertake, becaufe then 
 that affair is brought to the perfection I can 
 give it ; it is fomething ; and then moreover I 
 am at liberty for a new enterprize. When I am 
 got to the end of the prefent work (and I am 
 now come to the laft general divifion of it) I 
 fhall have the fatisfaction of having done what 
 I could for my own improvement ; for he that 
 endeavours to give light to another in any matter 
 ftrikes up fome in his own mind, which would 
 never otherwife have kindled there ; and I fhall 
 enjoy a confcioufnefs of having tried to be as 
 ufeful to the public as my circumftances would 
 enable me to be ; I faw fomething of this kind 
 was wanting, and did not perceive that it was 
 very likely any one elfe would take the trouble 
 of it. I have therefore offered my prefent 
 thoughts on this new fubjeft, and in as good a 
 method as I could contrive. I am too fenfible 
 of the fallibility of human underflanding, and 
 of my own in particular, to be too well affured 
 that I am right throughout ; and fhall be glad 
 to better informed, if it appears that I am mif- 
 
 taken 
 
334 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 taken in any thing material ; and I have fome 
 pretence to fuch a favour, having fo freely com- 
 municatad thofe lights I believed I had ac- 
 quired, and that, with no fmall labour and ap- 
 plication, in a matter which I conceived might 
 be of ufe to the world. To be miftaken is a 
 fin of infirmity, which I pretend not to be ex- 
 empt from ; to perfift in the profeffion of an 
 error after conviction, is the deadly fin, and 
 which I hope I never fhall commit. 
 
 We will now go on, and fee what advantages 
 connoiffance brings along with it. 
 
 When I was reprefenting the benefits that 
 might accrue to the public by means of the art 
 of painting and connoiffance, I proved it had a 
 natural tendency to reform our manners, refine 
 our pleafures, and increafe our wealth, power, 
 and reputation. All thefe advantages every 
 particular connoilfeur will have, if prudence 
 accompanies that character. As to the two 
 former, no queftion can be made concerning 
 them ; nor of the two latter, fuppofing we have 
 thofe or her, together wirh the improvement of 
 our fortunes. Now, though it is true, a man 
 may employ fo much money this way, and in 
 fuch a manner as may not be proportionable to 
 his circumitances, nor proper, whatever thofe 
 
 are -, 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 335 
 
 are ; yet if (as I have faid) prudence is mixed 
 with connoifTance, not only this inconvenience 
 will be avoided, but the contrary advantage 
 obtained j for money may be as well laid out 
 this way as in any other purchafe whatsoever, 
 it will be as improveable as an eflate. There 
 is moreover another advantage of connoifTance, 
 not an inconfiderable one, and that is, the 
 pleafure it bellows will probably come in in- 
 ftead of others not only lefs virtuous, but more 
 expenfive. 
 
 As my difcourfe is addrefled to gentlemen in 
 general, I am not to infill upon thofe advan- 
 tages which are peculiar to painters and fculp- 
 tors, and fuch other artifls as have relation to 
 thefe ; which advantages are very important ; 
 not fo much from the knowledge of hands, 
 and how to diftinguifh copies from originals ; 
 (though thefe are fomething) but to know ac- 
 curately to difcover the beauties and defects of 
 a picture or drawing, they mull readily ac- 
 knowledge will not a little contribute to their 
 own improvement in their art: This however 
 not being proper to be infilled on here I profe- 
 cute it no farther ; but leave it to be ferioufly 
 confidered by thofe concerned. 
 
 To 
 
33 6 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR, 
 
 To be a connoifleur is to have an accom- 
 plimment, which, though it is not yet reckoned 
 amongft thofe abfolutely necefTary to a gentle- 
 man, he that pofifefTes it is always refpedted 
 and efteemed upon that account. 
 
 And, if it be confidered what qualifications 
 a good connoili :ur muft necefiarily have, it 
 will be found it cannot be otherwife. What 
 beautiful ideas ! clearly conceived, ftrongly re- 
 tained, and artfully managed ! What a lblid 
 and unbiaffed judgment ! What a fund of his- 
 torical, poetical, and theological fcience muft he 
 have •, and which cannot fail by perpetually con- 
 verging with good pictures and drawings always 
 to improve and increafe ! I will not go on to 
 multiply particulars ; he who has thefe in any 
 tolerable degree will be allowed to have an ac- 
 complifhment which all gentlemen ought to 
 have, and will be efteemed accordingly. 
 
 When the Roman power was broken and 
 diffipated, and arts, empire, and common ho- 
 nefty were Succeeded by ignorance, fuperftition 
 and prieft-craft, the diflionour of human na- 
 ture was compleated •, for it was begun long 
 before in Greece and Afia. In thefe miferabk 
 times, and for ages afterwards, God knows 
 there were no connoiffeurs ! to write and read 
 
 was 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 337 
 
 was then an accompiifhment for a prince to 
 value himfelf upon. As the fpecies began to 
 recover themfelves, and to gain more Itrength, 
 literature and painting aifo lifted up their 
 heads, but however not equally ; that degree 
 of vigour that ferved to produce a Dante in 
 writing, could rile no higher than a Giotto in 
 painting. 
 
 Arts went on in this proportion till the 
 happy age of Raphael •, which was productive 
 of feveral very great men in all kinds •, and 
 thefe parts of the world began to be re civi» 
 lized. 
 
 Our Own country 
 
 An old, and haughty nation, proud in arms. 
 
 Milton. 
 
 fhook off its Gothic ruft, and began early to 
 imitate its neighbours in politenefs ; in which 
 it has already (for this revolution was but about 
 two hundred years ago) equalled, if not gone 
 beyond the reft in a great many inftances. If 
 we go on, the time will come when it mall be 
 as diihonourable for. a gentleman not to be a 
 connoifieur, as now it is not to be able to read 
 any other than his own language, or not to fee 
 the beauties of a good author, 
 
 Z Painting 
 
338 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 Painting is but another. fort of writing; but, 
 like the hieroglyphicks anciently, it is a cha- 
 racter not for the vulgar ; to read it is not only 
 to know that it is fuch a ftory, or fuch a man, 
 but to fee the beauties of the thought and pen- 
 cil, of the colouring and compofition, the ex- 
 preflion, grace and greatnefs that are to be 
 found in it ; and not to be able to do this, is 
 a fort of illiterature and unpolitenefs. 
 
 And accordingly in convention (when as it 
 frequently does) it turns upon painting, a gen- 
 tleman who is a connoifTeur is diftinguiihed as 
 one who hath wit and learning is, when thefe 
 are the fubject of difcourfe. 
 
 D 
 
 On the contrary, not to be a connoifleur on 
 fuch occafions either filences a gentleman and 
 hurts his character, or he makes a much worfe 
 figure in pretending to be what he is not to 
 thofe who fee his ignorance.* " See you not,'* 
 faid Zeuxis to Megabyfes pried of Diana, " that 
 " the boys that grind my colours, who whilft 
 " you are filent look upon you with refpect 
 • becaufe of the gold and purple of your gar- 
 .," ments, no fooner hear you talk of what you 
 f underftand not, but they laugh at you.". 
 
 • iEHan, Hift. Var. IT. a. 
 
 Thofe 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 339 
 
 Thofe who are connoifleurs have this farther 
 advantage ; and what an advantage ! what a 
 prerogative ! In other cafes as well as in this, 
 and in far greater, they can judge for them- 
 felves ; they will have no occafion to afk or 
 rely on foreign judgment, like a blind man, 
 
 In power of others, never in their own. 
 
 Milton. 
 
 Thofe who are connoifleurs, I repeat it, be- 
 caufe there are fome who fancy they are fuch, 
 and are thought to be fo by others ; who never- 
 thelefs have no better pretence to this character 
 than a fuperftitious bigot, or a hypocrite has to 
 true piety. It is an obfervation (as I remem- 
 ber) of my lord Bacon, though it is no matter 
 who has faid it, if it be true, " That a little 
 " philofophy makes a man an atheifl, a great 
 " deal a good chriftian :" So a little connoif- 
 fance fets a man at a greater diftance from the 
 advantages of a true connoifieur than if he had 
 none ; if by his too good opinion of his own 
 abilities, or the prejudices of his friends, or 
 flattery of his dependents, he is perfuaded to 
 flop there, imagining that little is all. For 
 fuch a one not only is very apt to make himfelf 
 the fubjedr. of ridicule to the knowing, whatever 
 he may appear to the ignorant ; but befides, he 
 lies open to thole whofe bufmefs k is to find 
 Z 2 out, 
 
340 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 out, and profit themfelves of fuch felf-fufficient, 
 abortive connoiffeurs *, who will be fure to be- 
 lieve themfelves a match for them who are their 
 fuperiors in this cafe, and confequently be 
 over-powered by them •, whereas he that has no 
 opinion at all of his own ftrength will keep 
 himfelf out of danger. Gentlemen muft take 
 care therefore that they do not fuppofe them- 
 felves to be connoiffeurs too foon, and without 
 principles and experience j efpecially if they 
 undertake to collect, and pique themfelves of 
 hands and originals. Though, if I may have 
 the honour to advife in this cafe, they mould 
 begin with no other view than to have the beft 
 things i the reft will fall in in time, and with 
 obfervation and care, if they refolve to be com- 
 pleat connoiffeurs in all refpe&s. 
 
 At our firft coming into the world we are but 
 in a low degree even of animal life, growing up 
 however to a more perfect one ; and in a fort of 
 probationary ftate towards rational being; as, 
 when we arrive at this, we are candidates for a 
 glorious immortality. 
 
 With time our ftrength increafes naturally, 
 and we become more conliderable animals •, and 
 by obfervation and inftruclion every one ac- 
 quires a certain ihare of art and fcience, partly 
 
 infeiifibly, 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 34.1 
 
 infenfibly, and partly by direct application ; in 
 proportion to which we are advanced in the ra- 
 tional ftate. 
 
 To how minute an origin we owe 
 
 Young Amnion, Csefar, and the great Naffau ! 
 
 Garth. 
 
 Homer and Milton once were not divine, 
 
 The hand of Raphael could not draw a line, 
 
 And Lock and Newton once had thoughts like mine. 
 
 But to what height foever it is poflible for 
 human nature to arrive, and howfoever exteniive 
 their capacity may be, every individual is a fort 
 of centaur, a mixt creature •, in fome refpects a 
 rational being, in others a mere animal ; like 
 the whimfical picture Vafari fpeaks of in the life 
 of Taddeo Zuccaro, and which he fays was 
 then in the collection of the cardinal di Monte; 
 in fome views you might fee the portrait of 
 Henry the fecond of France-, in others the fame 
 face, but reverfed ; and in others a moon, and 
 an anagramatical copy of verfes. Every man, 
 thus, may be confidered in various lights •, in 
 one, where he hath fprung out the fartheft 
 length from the animal into the rational ftate ; 
 in another, where he has made lefs advances-, 
 and fome, where he remains juft where he was 
 in his infancy. 
 
 However 
 
34a SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 However different we are from ourfelves, of 
 one man is from another, every man is an epi- 
 tome of the whole fpecies ; the wifeft among us 
 is a fool in fome things, as the loweft among 
 men hath fome juft notions, and therein is as 
 wife as Socrates •, fo that every man refembles a 
 ftatue made to ftand in a nitch ; on one fide it 
 is a Homer, a Plato, a Demofthenes ; on the 
 other, it is a rough unformed piece of ftone. 
 
 For we have not abilities of body and mind, 
 nor time furlicient allotted to any one of us to 
 make any confiderable progrefs in many paths, 
 and by much the greater number flop fliort 
 without being excellent in any one art or fcience, 
 how mean foever it be. 
 
 Upon this account it is that we are excufed 
 if in many inftances we are intirely ignorant ; it 
 is no reflection upon us if we are mere animals 
 in fome views, and depend upon other people, 
 who alfo are low creatures in fome refpects, but 
 noble beings in regard to fuch attainments in 
 which we are defective ; herein they are our fu- 
 periors, our guides, our lords ; they are ratio- 
 nal beings, and we not, or but in an inferior 
 degree. Thus we are all dependent upon each 
 other to fupply our fingle imperfection : But 
 this is no otherwife an excufe than from the ne- 
 
 ceflity 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 343 
 
 cefllty of things ; for it is unworthy a rational 
 being to retain any one of the brute which he 
 can poffibly diveft himfelf of. 
 
 As it is difhonourable, fo it is inconvenient 
 to be in a ftate of dependence and pupillage : 
 Our condition approaches towards perfection in 
 proportion as we have the neceffaries and orna- 
 ments of life within ourfelves, and need not to 
 have recourfe to foreign afliftance ; which can- 
 not be had without parting with fomething of 
 our own, judged to be equivalent : Befides, an- 
 other man will rarely apply himfelf fo diligently 
 to my concerns as to his own, nor can I be af- 
 fured of his integrity in any cafe -, in fome there 
 is great reafon to fufpect it ; and in fome others 
 it is even unreafonable to expect any man will 
 open himfelf entirely to me. 
 
 It is true, a gentleman may be in fuch cir- 
 cumftances as permit him not (confiftent with 
 the character of a wife man) to apply himfelf 
 to become a very good connoiileur : It is not to 
 fuch as thefe, but to thofe many who have lei- 
 lure and opportunity, I have been taking the 
 liberty to. recommend that ftudy. S filch as thefe 
 
 however 
 
344 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR. 
 
 however may think fit to collect pictures or 
 drawings ; thefe have their nfes and beauties, 
 even to thofe who fee them but fuperficially, 
 and thefe circumitances may juftify fuch a one 
 in fubmitting to the direction and advice of an- 
 other upon the bell terms, and with as much 
 prudence as he can, as in law, phyfic, or any 
 other cafe : But it muft be owned, that it is 
 better, it is more for our honour and intereft, 
 if, as in all other cafes, fo in this, we are fuffi- 
 ciently qualified to judge for ourfelves, 
 
 A man that thinks boldly, freely, and tho- 
 roughly -, that ftands upon his own legs, and 
 fees with his own eyes, has a firmnefs and 
 ferenity of mind which he that is dependent up- 
 on others has not, or cannot reafonably have. 
 Nor is he fo liable to be impofed upon •, whereas 
 others are fubject to be driven about by the 
 breath of men, which is always blowing ftrongly 
 from every point of the compafs, 
 
 If any one tells a true connoifieur that fuch a. 
 picture or drawing of his is a copy, or not fo 
 good, or of fo good a hand as he judges it to 
 
 be •, or if fome fay one thing, and fome an- 
 other. 
 
SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR, 345 
 
 other, though in times paffc this might have 
 given him much uneafinefs ; now, if he fees the 
 incontestable marks of an original, the. unques- 
 tionable chara&eriftics of the hand, and judges 
 of its goodnefs upon principles which he fees to 
 be fuch as may be relied on, what is faid to the 
 contrary difturbs not him. So if a drawing or 
 picture be offered him as being of the hand of 
 the divine Raphael, if he is told there is un- 
 doubted or infallible tradition for its having been 
 in the Arundel collection, and bought by my 
 lord in Italy, but not till he had had it con- 
 fidered by the beft judges there, and even ex- 
 amined in the academy of painters at Rome, 
 in which there might probably have been fome, 
 at that time, old enough to have feen thofe who 
 had feen Raphael ; or, as an Italian writer * in 
 
 * But what fidelity fuch relations have in general, we can- 
 not fooner learn than from Eufebius, who, near the end of 
 his third book, fpeaking of Papias, a very ancient writer, 
 one that had heard St. John, and was known to many that 
 had feen and been acquainted with others of the apoftlesj 
 but being of a {hallow wit, and not underftanding thofe 
 traditions which he received, filled his writings with many 
 new do&rines and fabulous conceits. — See the whole fine 
 paffage, Milton, Prelatical Epifcopacy about the middle, 
 
 A a the 
 
346 SCIENCE of a CONNOISSEUR, 
 
 the hyperbolical flile of that nation fays, " had 
 " feen the Lord :" Yet if this judicious con- 
 noiffeur fees in it no fine thought, no juft nor 
 ftrong exprefiion, no truth of drawing, no 
 good compofition, colouring, or handling; in 
 fhort neither grace nor greatnefs •, but that, on 
 the contrary, it is evidently the work of fome 
 bungler, the confident pretences concerning it 
 impofe not on him •, he knows it is not, it can- 
 not poffibly be of Raphael. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
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