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PRACTICAL ESSAYS

ON

ART.

By JOHN BURNET.

 

1. COMPOSITION. 2 LIGHT AND SHAD.
3. THE EDUCATION OF THE EYE.

REPRODUCED ENTIRELY BY PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY BY THE
PHOTOGRAVURE CO., NEW YORK.

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ARRANGED AND EDITED

By EDWARD L. WILSON,

AUTHOR OF ‘ WILSON’S PHOTOGRAPHICS,” WILSON'S QUARTER CENTURY IN PHOTOGRAPHY,”
AND EDITOR OF THE ‘‘ PHILADELPHIA PHOTOGRAPHER.”

NEW YORK:
EDWARD L. WILSON, PUBLISHER,

No. 853 BROADWAY,

1888.
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1887,

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PREFACE,

I NEED make no apology for the reproduction of the precious art
essays of John Burnet.

Artists have wished for such a consummation many years. The
interests of art have demanded it for a quarter of a century. Kor the
more the Burnet works are read and understood by the public, the
more will the enjoyment of pictures increase, for the public will buy
more pictures.

No one can carefully read Mr. Burnet’s Practical Hints without
knowing better how to look at pictures and loving them more.

The history of the trio which follows, is, briefly stated, thus:

Practical Hints on Composition in Painting, illustrated by ex-
amples from the great masters of the Italian, Flemish, and Dutch
Schools, was published in 1822.

Practical Hints on Light and Shade in Painting, illustrated by
examples from the Italian, Flemish, and Dutch Schools, was published
in 1826.

An Essay on the Education of the Eye, with reference to painting,
illustrated by copperplates and woodcuts, was published in 1837.

Mr. James Carpenter, Old Bond St., london, was the publisher, and
the original price was £2, 18,0. My set was collated by Mr. J. R.
Knox in 1866, and was purchased by me, in London, in 1873 for
forty dollars.

The original copies have been rare for many years. Several attempts
have been made to republish them. I twice tried it in parts myself;
but discontinued them for want of patronage. Others have tried and
failed. Once more I make the effort and already I am assured of success.

If the purchasers derive as much real help and enjoyment from them
as I have received, they will feel well repaid for their study of them.

- TDWARD 1... WILSON,

NEw York.

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PREFVACE TO “THE EDUCATION OF THE EYR”

IN prefacing a work of this brief description, where so many branches of the Art of Painting
are introduced with little more than an enumeration of their component parts, I ought to
apologize, in the first instance, for thus attempting to convey any information which can be

carried into practical usefulness in so small a compass: my motive for so doing was to give, if’

possible, an insight into the intricacies of the Art, without distracting the attention of the reader
by a multitude of examples, whose union often destroys the strong impression of a single
illustration. Though the varieties of painting are endless, yet the properties of which these
varieties are composed are, as in music, few in number ; I have endeavored, therefore, to notice
only the leading principles which must be known, and which by reflection and observation can
be extended to an infinite series of ramifications. The same simple rules which should regulate
the instruction of beginners, I have endeavored to point out as existing in the highest
departments of the Art, communicating by their presence that value which a vein of gold
imparts to a mass of inferior matter. To some it may appear that the subject is too physically
treated. I have been actuated so to do by the custom of the present time, and surely every one
ought to know something of the construction of that instrument he is in possession of, and of its
operations on the mind. In what I have advanced, I have quoted the opinions of the best
authors to corroborate and strengthen my own, thereby hoping to render an Art by which
civilized society is so highly embellished, more known and appreciated.

MarcH 2, 1837.

PREFACE TO “LIGHT AND SHADE”

I AM now induced to take up the second part of the Practical HINTS oN PAINTING, from
the encouragement the first has met with ; but more especially from the approbation of many
of our best painters, who are undoubtedly the best judges of the utility of the work. In this
part, treating of the conduct of the light and shade, I shall follow the same mode as before,
merely throwing out hints as they occur, without any relation to connection, or a regular treatise.
The mind is naturally fond of variety, and by leading it through a succession of images, provided
their advantages are shown or explained, the end of instruction is accomplished. There is no
fixed mode for conveying instruction ; those things which appear to the reader to be useful, he
will connect in his own mind by a chain of reasoning, shorter than the shortest which could be
furnished by writing : and the longest dissertation to prove the existence or utility of that which
appears of no advantage would be unavailing.

I have endeavored to trace the effects, as much as possible, to their first causes operating in
various ways on the minds of the different artists who have adopted them. Whether they were
guided by rules, or imitative instinct, we cannot now determine : nor is it my wish to inculcate
any doctrine where the student has a better mode of his own to serve as a guide. Let him,
however, always bear in mind, that in painting, as in other things, to use the words of Dr.
Johnson, ‘‘ The accidental compositions of heterogeneous modes are dissolved -by the chance
which combined them, but the uniform simplicity of primitive qualities neither admits increase
nor suffers decay.’
PRACTICAL HINTS

ON

COMPOSITION IN PAINTING.

COMPOSITION.

Composition is the art of arranging figures or objects, so as to adapt
them to any particular subject. In composition four requisites are neces-
sary ;—that the story be well told; that it possess a good general form ;
that it be so arranged as to be capable of receiving a proper effect of light
and shade; and that it be susceptible of an agreeable disposition of colour.
The form of a composition is best suggested by the subject or design, as
the fitness of the adaptation ought to appear to emanate from the circum-
stances themselves: hence the variety of compositions,

The point of time being fixed upon, the action, expression, and inci-
dental circumstances oblige us often to determine on a particular arrange-
ment, that we may be enabled to place the most interesting objects in the
most prominent places. Unless our attention be directed to such arrange-
ment in the first instance, we shall often be obliged to put an emphasis on
an insignificant object, or throw into repose an interesting point of the
action, when we come to consider their relation to a good effect of light
and shade.
Anan

2 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

To secure a good general form in composition, it is necessary that it
should be as simple as possible. A confused complicated form may hide
the art, but can never invite the attention. Horace, in his Art of Poetry,
inculcates the same doctrine, “ Denique sit quod vis, simplex duntaxat et
unum.” Whether this is to be produced by a breadth of light and shade,
which is often the case with Rembrandt, even on a most complicated out-
line, or by the simple arrangement of colour, as we often find in Titian, or
by the construction of the group in the first instance, evident in many of
Raffaelle’s works, must depend upon the taste of the artist: it is sufficient
to direct the younger students to this particular, their minds being gene-
rally carried away by notions of variety and contrast.

In giving a few examples of composition, I have confined myself to the
four simple and principal forms; not only from their being most palpable,
but also from their possessing a decided character, which is at all times
desirable. To those who imagine that such rules tend to fetter genius,
I shall merely quote Sir Joshua Reynolds, whose works, if properly
understood, render all other writings on the subject of painting super-
fluous. “It must, of necessity, be, that even works of genius, like every
other effect, as they must have their cause, must likewise have their rules;
it cannot be by chance, that excellencies are produced with any constancy or
any certainty, for this is not the nature of chance; but the rules, by which
men of extraordinary parts and such as are called men of genius work, are
either such as they discover by their own peculiar observations, or of such
a nice texture as not easily to admit being expressed in words; especially
as artists are not very frequently skilful in that mode of communicating
ideas. Unsubstantial, however, as these rules may seem, and difficult as
it may be to convey them in writing, they are still seen and felt in the mind
of the artist ; and he works from them with as much certainty as if they were
embodied, as T may say, upon paper. It is true, these refined principles
cannot be always made palpable, like the more gross rules of art; yet it
does not follow, but that the mind may be put in such a train that it shall
perceive, by a kind of scientific se1se, that propriety which words, par-

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COMPOSITION IN PAINTING. 3

‘ticularly words of unpractised writers such as we are, can but very feebly
suggest.” Siath Discourse. :

To assist in putting the mind in such a train is all that these examples
aim at; and to render apparent to the young artist what he will find
wrapped up in theoretical disquisition.

The specimens here given, merely happened to be in my possession: there
are many others that will serve the student, perhaps better, for illustration,
which he ought by all means to procure, or make sketches of, as it is only
by rendering himself master of the subject, that he can hope to avoid the
commonplace effects which swim upon the surface, and, being palpable,
are adopted by every one whose judgment cannot carry him into the intri-
cacies of the art. .

Concealing the art is one of its greatest beauties; and he best can accom-
plish that who can discover it under all its disguises. I ought, however,
to caution the young artist on this head, not to be too fastidious in trying
to conceal what can be obvious only to a small number; for, in endeavour-
ing to render his design more intricate, he may destroy character, sim-
plicity, and breadth; qualities which affect and are appreciated by every
one.

ANGULAR COMPOSITION.
Explanation of Plate I.

Fig. 1. IN commencing a composition, it is customary to mark the
middle of the space, for the purpose of arranging those points we consider
of most importance to the subject; dividing the picture for the regulation
of the masses of light and shade, of ascertaining and fixing the horizontal
line, &c. This mode of constructing the composition is often suggested
from the perspective effect requiring a length of line, thereby obliging us
to place the point of sight at one side of the picture: sometimes from the
4 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

group requiring a large space; which a diagonal line secures, as in the
elevation of the Cross by Rubens, or from the conduct of the light, as in his
picture of the Descent from the Cross, &c.

Cuyp, in adopting this mode of composition in most of his pictures
(which are generally Sunset or Sunrise), places the focus of light at the
bottom of the sky, thereby enabling the distant part of the landscape to
melt.into it by the most natural means; while the strongest part of his sky,
being at the opposite angle, produces the greatest expanse, and mixes and
harmonizes with the dark side of the picture. Thus the eye is carried
round the composition, until the two extremes are brought in contact, the
most prominent with the most retiring.

In compositions constructed on this principle (particularly where the
landscape occupies a large portion), many artists carry the lines of the
clouds in a contrary direction, to counteract the appearance of all the lines
running to one point. Thus using the darks of the clouds, &c. to an-
tagonize, as it is termed, may apparently produce a better equipoise, but
sacrifices many advantages; for we observe in many of the pictures of
Cuyp, Rubens, and Teniers, where the figures, landscape, and sky are all
on the same side of the composition, that a rich and soft effect is pro-
duced ; the strong light and dark touches of the figures telling with great
force against a back ground of houses, trees, &c., which are prevented
from being harsh and cutting, by mixing their edges with the clouds, or
dark blue of the sky. This doubling of the lines (if I may so express it)
gives a picture that rich fulness which we often perceive in a first sketch,
from its possessing several outlines. Those who imagine, that, by thus
throwing the whole composition on one side, a want of union will be pro-
duced, will be convinced of their error by perceiving how small an object
restores the balance; since, by its being detached and opposed to the most
distant part, it receives a tenfold consequence.

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sky as a. background, by which mode the high lights of his group have
more value, and it is rendered less harsh and cutting; which is the case
with his famous picture of the Bull, the figures in which are brought up
against the light side of the sky. If deception and strong relief were all
he aimed at, he has gained them both, though at the expense of some of
the higher qualities of the art, “a melting and union,” as Reynolds terms it,
of the figures with the background. The art is now too far advanced to
allow us to be gratified with violent contrast; and a small portion of the
group coming firm off the ground, is found to be sufficient to give the ap-
pearance of natural solidity to the whole.

Fig. 5. The original of this sketch, a small etching by Ostade, ought to
be in the possession of every artist, for its beautiful arrangement of light
and shade, and the skilful way in which they are woven together. As I
ought to have noticed above, that the principal mass of light in out of door
scenes (both in nature and the best masters) is generally placed in the
sky, or upper part of the picture, I may here remark, that in interiors
(especially such as are constructed upon this plan) it is generally reversed,
the roof and background being reserved for a mass of shadow and repose.
Ostade, in his compositions, displays such an ingenuity in their construc-
tion as to render his pictures an endless source of gratification and study
to the artist. In some of his works, the art is so completely hid as to
make it difficult to say, whether his background or figures were the first
composed. We have not only objects intercepting each other in the most
natural and picturesque manner, but the figures carried up against them;
thus coming in contact with various forms different in size, distance, and
colour. This, when done with judgment, gives a rich and inartificial
effect. On the contrary, in the pictures of Teniers, we often find a number
of objects cast down in one corner, evidently for the mere purpose of being
painted ; which, however, from their siti:ation, their picturesque arrange-
ment, and the mechanical skill of the execution, acquire a force, natural
sharpness, and beauty, that amply compensate for the ostentatious display
of such excellencies. Tenier’s backgrounds are also totally different from
6 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

Ostade’s principle; his figures being generally surrounded with blank
spaces of shadow or half tint. When a story is to be told, that requires
the spectator to be directed to the heads and hands for expression and
action, this breadth is more allowable ; but breadth, as Mr. Fuseli
justly observes, ought never to have the appearance of “flatness or in-
sipidity.” It is observable that, in an exhibition whére there are a number
of objects to distract the attention, those pictures please us most on which
the eye is allowed to rest, from their possessing a vacant space; but those
very pictures uniformly look blank and unfurnished when hung up singly
in a room.

Plate I. fig. 6. Plate 11. fig. 1. Claude, in many of his compositions,
displays very little address in bringing up bis strong dark against the light.
In him, it often looks like unaffected primitive simplicity; but it might
not be so considered in an artist of the present day. When Claude intro-
duces a figure for such purpose, or in order to give a retiring delicacy to his
distance, we often find it of a strong dark blue, which serves also to bring
down the same colour from the opposite angle of the sky, thereby pro-
ducing a union between both sides of the picture. I may notice here the
length of line produced by the figures in fig. 1, as it assists the perspective,
effect, in carrying the eye into the picture, serving also as a base line for
the landscape to rest upon. When the sun is placed near the point of
sight, we sometimes see shadows made use of for the same purpose. A
straight line is often necessary also for the sake of variety; and when archi-
tecture is not present, we must get it how and where we can.

Plate II. fig. 2. Rubens in this landscape has carried the lines of the
clouds, trees, and ground all in the same direction; and, from his placing
the sun near the point of sight, even his shadows take the same course.
When the most prominent or strong dark of the foreground is detached
from the side of the picture, it has.not only a less formal appearance, but
acquires a force from its being cut out on both sides by light ; as we shall find
when we come to treat of Chiaroscuro. The lights also acquire a force
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and brilliancy from their being surrounded with dark, and the extent of
the distance and continuity of the line are not altogether interrupted.

Plate Il. fig. 3. In this subject, “ Huntsman going out in the
Morning,” we have the principal group of a complete form in itself, yet
forming a part of a whole, in consequence of its being carried round by
the two dogs in the foreground, and connected by the principal dog in the
other group turning round to the noise. As itis a doubt in the minds of
some artists, how far it is agreeable to the rules of composition to admit
a figure complete in itself as a portion of a group, I shail only observe
here, that, as far as form is concerned, their objection cannot apply: and,
as to individual parts, we see not only heads and hands complete as to
form and light and shade; but we find that even an eye is capable of pos-
sessing all the characteristic beauties of the art. In fact, this application
of it in the abstract, as well as in the aggregate, pervades every thing.

An object must not only appear to possess those properties adapted by
nature for its purpose and protection, but also those qualities which have
been found by the experience of the best masters productive of beauty :
this renders it a source of gratification; and it is then said to be true to
nature and art. For example, if we examine an eye turned from the light,
we perceive a breadth of chiaroscuro; the white, or cornea, producing a
mass of light, the iris and pupil a mass of shade. We find each of these
focused, and a small portion of the strong dark and strong light brought in
contact; and the light passing through the iris gives it its transparency, and
serves instead of reflected light to clear up the shadow: the watery fluid,
in the bottom of the eye and on the under eyelid, gives us that portion
of minute finish necessary in all works. of art, to which even the protecting
hairs contribute. We have here a picture complete in itself; but if we
carry our examination to the surrounding lines in the orbit, we perceive a
harmonious communication and extension of its form, lights, and darks, by
which its harshness is softened and diffused, and it becomes a part of the
composition of the whole countenance.
8 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

Plate 11. fig. 4. 1 have given a gradual advaneement of the most pro-
minent and dark part of a composition, until, in this example, we have the
strongest point brought into the centre. In the original, “ The Embarka-
tion of the Prince of Orange,” the two principal figures are dressed in
strong red, and strong black, and are the most cutting part of the group;
and, from their being brought into the centre and against the most retiring
part, and surrounded by light, Cuyp has rendered them of the greatest
importance, though occupying only a very small portion of the picture.

ANGULAR COMPOSITION.

Plate I11. fig. 1. Tae plan of composition I have here taken up is in
the form of a diamond; which we find often adopted, either as a complete
group, or as forming part of a more complicated arrangement. In com-
mencing a composition, I have mentioned, “that it is of importance to
mark in those points most necessary to our purpose.” For example, when
a story is to be told, the heads and hands, the seats of action and expres-
sion are often referred to each other for the completion of form or ex-
tension of light; as by such means the eye of the spectator is led to the
commencement and operation of the incident. After arranging the prin-
cipal points, what are called the secondary” require the greatest con-
sideration; whether for the repetition of the lines, extension of the form,
or conduct of the light and shade. Sometimes we are actuated by our
requiring a second or third group for the better illustration of the story,
which naturally leads us in the direction that affords us the greatest space;
sometimes by the principal group demanding a considerable portion of the
ground for a mass of shadow, beyond which a strong point is required, as
a link of communication between the figures and the background. By
making this point the strongest of a secondary group of objects, either
from its size, lights, or darks, the eye is carried into the most remote cir-
cumstances, which become a part of the whole, from the principal group
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COMPOSITION IN PAINTING. 9

Fig. 2. In designs constructed upon this plan (especially of the Dutch
School), we generally find the lower part of the form strongly pronounced,
either by colour, or by light upon a dark ground, or vice versa: this gives
the group a firm foundation, and also enables the artist to keep the other
objects in their proper situations as to distance from the eye. I wish
particularly to direct the student’s attention to this particular, as a doc-
trine, founded upon the rays of vision, has been attempted to be esta-
blished, viz. that objects as they recede from the centre of the picture,
either to the sides or bottom, ought to be deprived of part of their force of
light and shade and colour. This is neither nature nor art. If the subject
requires those objects to be kept subordinate, true art does not deprive
them of their natural force, by robbing them of their lights, darks, or
colours: it renders them less obtrusive by the ground which surrounds

them, or substitutes other objects of a less attractive quality.

Plate 111. fig. 3. By making the circumstance from which the story
springs a strong point (either from situation, force, or colour), and sur-
rounding it with those objects more immediately connected and most

illustrative of its effects, the picture explains itself at a glance; which is

one of the strong distinctions of painting from poetry,—the one proceeding
in a circuitous route to hide the denouement and keep hold of the attention,
the other proclaiming instantaneously the beginning and end of the story.
I do not mean that the circumstance ought always to occupy the centre,
any more than that the hero should always occupy the centre; but, as it is

of use to explain the cause of his action and expression, it has, in my mind,
a prior claim to consideration.

Plate 111. fig. 4 and 6. Plate 1V. fig. 5. We have the strongest light
coming in contact with the strong dark in the most cutting manner, in the
knee and leg of the falling figure, the arm of the man writing, and in the
head of the infant Christ. When this can be done without interfering with
the breadth of light, it is of the greatest consequence, both on account of

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10 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

its giving a thickness or rotundity to the group, and also because it enables
us to keep the most projecting points and the most retiring in their proper
places by analogy to one another. I am aware that the management of
light and shade often requires a sacrifice, of this principle; where we can
accomplish our object without such a sacrifice it has always the most
natural appearance. Many accidental combinations and beautiful effects
of nature arise, not merely from their possessing a good general form and
a pictorial arrangement of light and shade, but also from the most project-
ing points being often assisted by a combination of a harsh cutting line,
strong dark and light, or opposition of local colour, and hence they strike
the artist as being applicable to painting; these being the means he finds
frequently adopted by the best masters. It is only under such favourable
circumstances, that the artist can enter the lists with nature; and, having
but a flat surface to work upon, he is warranted in availing himself of
every assistance science can afford. In arranging objects scientifically, to
give them at the same time the appearance of natural accident is one of
the perfections of the art.

As the best practical hints are derived from accidental combinations in
nature, whose sudden changes prevent the possibility of sketching, the
mind ought to be trained to the most regular and even mechanical mode of
arranging the ideas; that in an instant we may be able to determine whe-
ther the effects, which we perceive, depend upon a particular form, upon
particular arrangement of the light and shade, or upon the manner in
which the hot and cold colours are brought in contact. By thus tracing
effects to their proper causes, we secure the principal points as a sort of
short hand notes to guide and assist the memory. This practice will also
open a road of communication between the eye and the operations of the
mind, which neither a hasty sketch nor the most learned dissertation can,
separately, produce. At first it may seem more difficult than it really is;
but a few trials will convince the student of its practicability, especially
as the effects that strike him to be the most pictorial are generally the
most simple.

 
COMPOSITION IN PAINTING. 11

Fig. 4. The cards lying on the ground, in this subject, indicate the
cause of the quarrel; and the figure entering from an adjoining apartment
gives us a hint of the noise generally attending such brawls. As a moral
is here introduced, I shall make a few remarks (otherwise irrelevant to the
purpose) in this place. When a picture possesses a moral, it is certainly a
great advantage, provided we are not disgusted by its vulgarity, as is the
case in the representations of drunkenness, &c. in some of the Dutch
school, or by affected sentiment, as in many of the present works of all
the schools. The moral must also never injure the picture in its higher
requisites. In the early ages, representations of vice were necessary as
strong lessons of morality; but as mankind grew more enlightened, they
were referred to books, not pictures, for improvement. Besides, an. artist
ought always to recollect, that he paints for the higher, not for the lower
classes of men; and as his business is to convey pleasure, not pain, a little
intercourse with society will convince him, that men in all ranks haye
often enough to vex them, or to produce a variance with their fellow crea-
tures, without hanging up on their walls representations tending to increase
either the one or the other feeling. The absence of these considerations
in an artist (of which we see daily proofs) dooms his works to that neglect
which he ascribes to the want of encouragement to the arts generally.
Representations of tragical events also (though possessing a fine moral
or sentiment) have received but little patronage in this country; whether it
is that they are not suited to the character of the nation, who, though not
averse to the representation of a tragedy on the stage, are unwilling to
choose a constant companion from such a class, or that there are few of .
those connoisseurs whose feelings are completely absorbed in the contem-
plation of high art, is a question which this is not the proper place to
discuss: the fact is, however, indisputable.

Plate I11. fig. 6. As this composition consists of a single figure, I shall
notice here the method Metzu has taken to render it a part of the whole,
especially as we shall have to refer to other plates, when we come to treat
of light and shade, and colour. The figure is dressed in black and white
12 : PRACTICAL HINTS ON

coming in contact, and contrast in the strongest manner; the black is
repeated by the hat, and diffused by the black marble in the floor, the
white is referred to the white marble in the floor and collected into a mass
by the white wall; the carpet which is of red and warm colours, focused
at the light by a stick of wax, is repeated by the back of the chair, and
carried up by the outside of the window on the edge of the picture, which
is painted of a pale red; the forms are echoed and repeated with the same
simplicity, and the picture frame on the wall, from being smaller than the
frame of the window, serves at the same time to assist the perspective
effect: even the fastening of the casement is not without its use in the
composition. In thus obliging a desigu to depend on its ground for sup-
port, consists the principle of union and harmony; but, as I have at
present only. to draw the student's attention to the arrangement of form
and that portion of composition that arises from the repetition and con-
nection of lines, I shall notice one good plan amongst many others, which
is, to mark in strongly those points in the ground which of necessity must
be introduced from natural circumstances, at the same time contriving the
group so that those points become of the greatest consequence to the com-
position. This often gives a characteristic stamp of nature to the whole.

Fig. 7. We have here the strong dark point coming in contact with the
light ground in the most cutting manner; which is more naturally ac-
counted for by its being the most projecting; as it is the inside of an
empty drinking cup, it perhaps indicates the commencement of the story
as well as any other means.

Plate IV. fig. 1. As an outline can give us little idea of this arrange-
ment, I may be allowed to observe, that the four points of light, are the
upper halves of both the figures (being of a pale yellow), the white dog
and a light wall above the fireplace brought in eontact with a black powder
horn.

Fig. 2. Ostade’s pictures have the peculiarly valuable property of look-
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ing well at a distance, thereby attracting the attention of the spectator
towards them. When we come nigh to examine, we find that this is pro-
duced by their possessing a decided mass of light, obtained by means of a
light wall, sky, &c. His heads and hands form a number of luminous
spots in a mass of half tint, and are rendered of more value by the introduc-
tion of blue and dark draperies; this requires imnuch consideration, in order
that those spots may take agreeable and decided forms to prevent confu-
sion. In Ostade’s works it is rendered the more easy, as he has seldom
any particular story to interfere with the arrangement. His pictures call
to my mind a passage in Hervey, which appears like the language of a
painter, so completely consonant is it to the principles on which he con-
structs his work. Speaking of the stars, Flervey says, “on a careless
inspection, you perceive no accuracy or uniformity in the position of the
heavenly bodies, they appear like an illustrious chaos, a promiscuous heap
of shining globes, neither ranked in order nor moving by line ; but what
seems confusion is all regularity; what carries a show of negligence is
really the result of the most masterly contrivance.”

Fig. 3. P. De Laer, from his long residence amongst the Italian painters,
has constructed most of his pictures, though generally in the low walks of
art, on the most regular and severe principles of their grandest composi-
tions. As this regularity is considered by some to be incompatible with
the negligence of arrangement which they suppose necessary to the pictu-
resque, 1 shall here make a few observations on that doctrine. I con-
sider it to be false, and not tenable, when referred to the operations of
nature; for we find her conducting and exhibiting the most beautiful
appearances and effects in the humblest and most trifling of her works, by
the same laws that regulate her in the formation of the most sublime.
Abernethy says, « that work is beheld with admiration and delight, as the
result of deep counsel, which is complicated in its parts, yet simple in its
operations, where a variety of effects are seen to arise from one principle
operating uniformly.” When we refer to the great masters in poetry, we
find that the Idyls of Theocritus are not less regular than the Iliad of
14 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

Homer; or the Georgics and Eclogues of Virgil than the Eneid. The
English pastorals have failed in giving pleasure, not by the regularity of
their construction, but in consequence of their not being founded on truth;
the language and scenery not being that of nature in such situations.

Let me here caution the student against supposing that I mean grossness
and vulgarity as proper accompaniments in his representations of common
nature; he must convey such scenes to us-with the appearance of their
having passed through a susceptible and amiable mind, anxious to render

nature agreeable, not to make her disgusting.

In the works of the best painters in the lower walks of the art, there
are numberless examples of this regularity. Even Wouvermans, whose
soft and delicate touch seems ill suited to severe regularity of form, or
light and shade, has received an advantage by its adoption: his best pic-
tures being founded on the simple construction of his rival. A regular
form can always be rendered sufficiently irregular by the means of light
and shade; and if P. De Laer’s pictures possess this property of light and
shade too decidedly for such a purpose, we must recollect that from his
painting upon a dark red ground (as was used at the time by many of the
Italians) his works often look harsh; the lights, from being thickly painted,
having resisted the influence of the ground, while his half tints are ab-
sorbed and indented in the shadow. = |

As the student will have occasion to refer to the prints after the different
designs here given, I beg leave to remark, that, in most of the Italian
prints which I compared with the original pictures, I found the charac-
teristic points often not attended to. The strong lights wanted their
value, either from the shadows being deficient in their proper strength and
quietness, or from the introduction of aerial perspective (a circumstance
seldom influencing the conduct of the great masters either of the Italian or
Venetian schools), or from the manner in which the strong darks and
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COMPOSITION IN PAINTING. 15

written on engraving, nor am I against its being considered a liberal trans-
lation ; the beauty of lines is, perhaps, the only substitute engravers can
give for the absence of colours; but surely it is not too much to request,
that a strong red, or a strong blue (however ornamented by lines), be re-
ferred to its proper scale, either as the extension of light, or the produc-
tion of shadow. These errors seem to have arisen from contemplating the
. picture in the twilight, for the more easy detection of the light and shade;
a most fallacious method; for, in such case, the most projecting and the
most retiring colours are rendered similar.

Fig. 5. As in figure 2, we may observe this form influencing the arrange-
ment of the whole group; we have here the heads composed on the same
principle, and repeating each other with a simplicity which is safe only in
the hands of the best painters. I have mentioned regularity as a quality
to be found in the most sublime subjects in painting; but to infer from
that, that regularity constituted sublimity, were as absurd as to say, irre-
gularity constituted the picturesque.

CIRCULAR COMPOSITION.

We come now to speak of the circular form of composition, which is
applicable to the highest walks of art from its simplicity and extensive
sweep; and to the lowest, from its being finely adapted for the purposes of
light and shade.

Plate V. fig. 1. In this Cartoon we have a fine specimen of this form of
composition. In the design, a strict adherence to the plan laid down has
secured a decided character to the picture. With Raffaelle this seems to
have been invariably of the first importance; his worst compositions have
always a strong feature to recommend them. In this design we have the
figures gradually declining from the sides to the centre of the circle on the
foreground, which enables the spectator to view the whole of the persons
employed: to assist which arrangement, Raffaelle has placed the Apostles
16 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

on an elevated plane; and, by placing the principal in the centre, has
enabled them to acquire that consequence their diminution would other-
wise have deprived them of. The regularity of the composition is also
increased by the division of the group into seven figures on each side, and
no one, except Ananias and Sapphira, performs an action that is not
repeated. Thus simply has Raffaelle contrived not only to tell his story,
but also those circumstances which preceded and followed it. This regu-
larity will strike the student as being particularly suited to religious
subjects; but a few attempts, to make such uniformity appear a natural
emanation, will compel him to exclaim with the poet,

«« Within that circle none durst walk but he.”

As 1 shall have occasion to speak of the repetition of form, as being no
less essential towards the production of harmony than the repetition of
colour, I may call the student's attention to it in this place. In compo-
sitions embracing many figures, a repetition of form and action is often
found to be indispensable; a single figure, in such case, being found too
small to give importance to any action, is referred to the next for assist-
ance; as, in colouring, one colour is often made to depend upon the
adjoining for its shadow or enlargement. But, independently of its ac-
quiring a consequence by such extension, harmony requires, that a strong
action should be as it were broken down and diffused through the group.
In writing, this is generally the case, and the reader is prepared for one
sentence by what has preceded it. This simplicity and harmonious com-
munication is to be found in nature, in the antique, in the best Italian
masters, and in many of the Dutch, particularly Ostade. It is seldom to
be met with in the French school, which is fond of sudden contrast,
and insulated action, light, and colour.

Fig. 2. In compositions of out-of-door scenes, this circular form of ar-
rangement is often the only opportunity we have of procuring a mass of
shade so necessary to the group in a pictorial point of view. I am aware
 
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COMPOSITION IN PAINTING. 17

that some sculptors consider the arrangement of their figures degraded by
any attention to the picturesque effect of light and shade, which to painters
seems more extraordinary, as sculptors have not the means of local colour
to produce it. With sculpture, however, it is not our province to interfere;
I shall only observe that such reasoning never seems to have influenced
Coreggio. The most picturesque arrangements in form, and in light and
shade, are to be found in his grandest compositions. We have here six
heads placed in the most unequal manner, numerically speaking; the
shadow is increased by the dark blue dress of the Virgin, and the two
most projecting points by the light drapery of the Magdalen and the
strong red of St. Jerome; yet this picture is not less sublime than that of
“ the Doctors of the Church” (Fig. 3), where the six heads are placed in
the most regular manner; four round the altar, and one at each side, for
the purpose of connecting the lower and upper half of the picture; the con-
sultation of the doctors, and the vision expressive of the subject of their
research. The prominent points in this work are the same as in fig. 2,
the figure with the book being in a strong red, and the other in white.

Plate VI fig. 1. In this subject Rubens displays all the easy fluency of
a great master, who would consider such a design only as an amusement.
The manner in which the figures are interwoven with each other, the mode
resorted to, to assist the projecting and retiring points, and the velocity
with which the whole appears to move, are all worthy of the artist’s
attention.

Fig. 2. The student may compare this admirable design of Wests,
“The Death of General Wolfe,” with figure 4, “The Death of St. Je-
rome :” as Dominichino has adopted the same means to produce his mass
of shadow in the middle of the group, and to bring it in contact with the
light gn the principal figure.

Fig. 3. As 1 shall have occasion to refer to the examples of this great
master of light and shade in their proper place, it would be unfair to make
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18 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

any observations on him here, where he appears, as Milton would express
it, ¢ shorn of his beams.” I may, however, remark, that, from his making
use of mean materials, he often destroys the beauty of that structure which
the splendour of his light is so well calculated to adorn.

Fig. 5. As the merits of this composition have been descanted on by
every critic,—being a subject well suited for a display of the powers of
eloquence,—I shall merely offer one or two practical remarks. Raffaelle
has made the principal figure of the lower group (an interesting young
female) detach itself from the ground by a strong warm light cutting
against the shadow, and by a dark blue mantle coming in contact with the
light; by her addressing the Apostles and pointing to the demoriac, the
two sides are united, and the figures are so linked together that the eye is
carried round until we arrive at the most projecting points, the hands and
feet of the Apostle with the book. The Disciples express their inability to
perform the cure, and, by two of them pointing to the mount, refer the
people to Christ, who has retired thither to pray. This is the arrangement,
but it was not alone by the expression or arrangement of his figures that
Raffaelle holds his rank in the art; it was also by the bold and original con-
ception of his subject. He has here displayed the vision of the Transfigu-
ration in the most sublime manner, and by raising his figures from the
ground (one of those movements of the mind which are above restraint)
has stamped them ‘with the strong feature of immortal beings. Mr. Fuseli
luminously describes them rising like “ a flame :” (if not too metaphorical)
he might have said, “like a bright flame issuing as if from a sacrifice, and

ascending unto God.”

Plate VII. It is not only necessary that a group should have
hollows for the reception of shadow, but also projections for the light to
rest upon; it not only ought to possess a good general form in the outline
which defines it, but the figures must also be linked together in such a
way as to lead the spectator in amongst them. They must appear to have
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COMPOSITION IN PAINTING. 19

distance from the eye: hence a form composed of a concave and convex
line has been often adopted as the simplest and best, and possessing the
greatest variety of advantages. That it is so generally used will cease to
surprize us, when we find it applicable both to the regularity of Raffaelle
and the irregularity of Rembrandt.

Plate VIII. fig. 1. In this design, “The Landing of Charles 11”
West has placed the principal figure in the middle of the picture. Com-
mencing his composition at the nighest point, he carries on his group until
it ends in the distance. Neither in the situation of the hero, nor in the
form of the group, does he seem solicitous to hide the science. He has
brought the nigh point in contact with the shadow, and strengthened it by
the female whom the boy accompanies, being dressed in strong dark: when
this is brought sharp off the ground, as is the case also in fig. 2, it enables
us to keep the other figures in their places better than by diminishing the
firmness of their shadows or colours.

Fig. 2. « Cattle returning home in a shower.” In this composition the
principal light falls on the convex part of the group, and the depth of the
shadow is assisted by the local colour of the objects placed in it. The
goat in the foreground is connected to the rest by some white flowers of an
elder bush, which cannot be expressed in an outline. As this is from a
design of my late brother’s, I cannot allow this opportunity to pass without
expressing the great loss I feel in not having his assistance, not only in
these notes, but in every thing connected with the art: though practising
painting but for a short time of a short life, his strength of mind, his fine
eye for colour, and a taste for the beauties of pastoral painting, convince
me the English School has lost one that would have been an ornament to
that department of the science.

Fig. 3. Is a repetition of the same form.

Plate IX. This plate consists of Wilkie’s admirable composition of
20 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

the Blind Fiddler, the Salutation of the Virgin by Rembrandt, and a Dance
by Ostade. I shall leave it to the student’s own judgment to investigate
the various forms on which these compositions depend.

By making the principal heads depend upon one mode of arrangement,
the general appearance of the group on a different mode, the background
on a third, and so on with the minor points (provided they all tend to the
assistance of one another), his composition will not only have intricacy
without confusion, but that variety which is so characteristic in nature.
A beautiful combination in nature will often appear to evade every rule,
by her being perfect in every mode of examination. All her varieties ema-
nate from a strait line and a curve. A judicious arrangement of objects
possessing these various forms, gives the strongest natural appearance to a
picture; nor ought the artist to leave out rashly what he may conceive to
be void of beauty. In colouring, harsh tints are admitted to produce har-
mony in the other colours; and the most picturesque arrangements often
depend on the presence of what might be otherwise considered ugly forms.

As I have made use of the terms “beautiful and agreeable arrange-
ments,” it is proper to give an explanation of the sense in which they are
applied. By a beautiful arrangement, I mean a proper adaptation of those
principles that arrest a common observer, and give a pleasurable sensation,
which to a cultivated mind increases (not diminishes) by the investigation
of the cause which produces it. For example, a beautiful appearance in
nature affects the savage and the philosopher from their sensations merely
as men; but a painter, whose life is spent in a constant competition with
nature in producing the same effects, receives a tenfold gratification in fol-
lowing her through those assemblages which to the world beside are, as it
were, ¢ a fountain sealed and a book shut up.” Hence, in art, a beautiful
arrangement must be a selection of those forms, lights, and colours that
produce a similar result; and the taste of an artist is shown, in heightening
their effect by the absence of those circumstances which are found by
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COMPOSITION IN PAINTING. 21

pursued by the great masters tend to abridge an artist’s pleasurable sen-
sations, instead of being the most favoured, he would be rendered the most
miserable of beings; but the opposite is the case, as by such means he is
taught an alphabet that enables him to understand the language of nature.
It may be supposed, that in my search after so desirable an object, I have
perused all the works written to define Beauty and Taste, and which
endeavour to circumscribe ‘with a line that endless variety and omnipre-
sence which make nature a source of gratification to all nations under
every alteration of the mind; but as I wish to avoid all controversy on the
subject, which we often find merely renders the most sublime truths more
obscure, I shall only remark, that, as far as painting is coucerned, the
authors of many of these works have done an irreparable injury. Artists
generally prefer the opinions of untutored children to the remarks of the
most learned philosophers, whose advancement in other sciences really
seems to increase their ignorance of this. If I have explained my defini-
tion of the terms sufficiently for the artist's comprehension, I am satisfied.
To explain them to others would be equally impossible as that those
others should be able to define them to us. The mind must have received
its education through the medium of the eye, not of the ear, to enjoy the
faculty of conceiving such ideas, or the power of tracing them to their ori-
ginal source in nature, or in art, asa test of their truth.

Before I conclude, I have to apologize for the paucity and brevity of
these observations, and beg the reader’s constant reference to the plates, as
the only method of making myself correctly understood. Painting is a
practical branch of philosophy, and can only be rendered clear by satisfy-
ing the observations of the eye, as well as the reflections of the mind; this,
perhaps, is one reason why so much has been written on the subject
without those truths being made sufficiently obvious, which the writers
wished to demonstrate.

I have also been anxious to avoid tautology, as it will be necessary to go
over, in a great measure, the same ground, when I come to treat of light
22 PRACTICAL HINTS ON COMPOSITION IN PAINTING.

and shade, and colour; when many observations which appear to be
omitted here will present themselves, from belonging more properly to
those divisions of the work.

I must also caution the young artist against supposing that these modes
of arrangement are given for his imitation; I merely wish him to be
acquainted with the advantages any particular composition possesses, that
in adopting any invention of his own, he may engraft upon it those or
similar advantages. A design that has nothing but novelty to recommend
it, is a conceit, not a composition. The student in painting can hope to
derive advantage from theory only, when rendered obvious by ocular
demonstration. One great cause of the obscurity which envelopes the
art, is the criticism of those whose ideas on the subject are obscure ;—
to free ¢he world from their influence is perhaps impossible; but the artist

must free Aimself.

FINIS.

PHOTO-GRAVURE CO. N.Y.

BE El iii
 
 
PRACTICAL HINTS

ON

LIGHT AND SHADE IN PAINTING.

LIGHT AND SHADE.

Berore proceeding to investigate light and shade in their various intricate
situations, it may be proper to notice a few of the more palpable and self-
evident combinations, and for the better comprehending of which, I shall
divide them into five parts: viz. light, half light, middle tint, half dark,
and dark. When a picture is chiefly composed of light and half light,
the darks will have more force and point; but, without the help of strong
colour to give it solidity, it will be apt to look feeble: and when a picture
is composed mainly of dark and half dark, the lights will be more brilliant ;
but they will be apt to look spotty for want of half light to spread and
connect them; and the piece be in danger of becoming black and heavy :

B
2 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

and when a picture is composed chiefly of middle tint, the dark and light
portions have a more equal chance of coming into notice ; but the general

effect is in danger of being common and insipid.

Light and shade are capable of producing many results; but, the three
principal are relief, harmony, and breadth. By the first the Artist is
enabled to give his works the distinctness and solidity of nature. The
second is the result of a union and consent of one part with another; and
the third, a general breadth, is the necessary attendant on extent and
magnitude. A judicious management of these three properties is to be
found in the best pictures of the Italian, Venetian, and Flemish Schools,
and ought to employ the most attentive examination of the student; for
by giving too much relief, he will produce a dry hard effect; by too much
softness and blending of the parts, woolliness and insipidity; and in a
desire to preserve a breadth of effect, he may produce flatness.

Relief is most necessary in large works; as their being seen from a
greater distance than easel pictures prevents their looking harsh or
cutting, and gives them that sharpness and clearness of effect so necessary
to counteract heaviness. Not only the works of Raphael and those of the
Italian school possess this quality, but we find it in the greatest perfection
in the pictures of Paul Veronese and Tintoret; and even the larger works
of Titian and Corregio have a flatness and precision which we look for in
vain in the succeeding school of Caracci and their disciples; Guido
excepted.

Harmony or a union of the different parts of a composition depends

upon the intermediate parts serving as a link or chain, either by conveying
LIGHT AND SHADE IN PAINTING. 3

a sensation of the same colours with those in immediate contact, or by
neutralizing and breaking down the harsh asperities of the two extremes, -

and thus producing a connexion or agreement.

Breadth of effect is only to be produced by a great extent of light or
shade pervading the picture. If an open daylight appearance is intended,
such as we see in Cuyp, &ec. it will be best produced by leaving out part
of the middle tint, and allowing a greater spread of light and half light;
this will also give the darks the relative force which they possess in
nature. If a breadth of shadow is required, such as we find in Rem-
brandt, &c. the picture ought to be made up of middle tint and half dark.
In the one treatment the darks ought to tell sharp and cutting, which is
the characteristic of strong daylight; in the other the lights ought to

appear powerful and brilliant, enveloped in masses of obscurity.

The influence of shadow upon any composition, when carried beyond
the necessary depth for the relief or distinct marking of the several parts,
is breadth, from its absorbing many of the half tints and rendering the
darks less cutting; and repose, from there being fewer of the outlines
visible; hence arises a certain grandeur attendant upon space, and an
agreeable sensation, from the spectator being allowed to exercise his own
fancy in embodying indistinct forms. Thus the gloomy solitude of a wood
is increased by the absence of the twittering light through the trees, the
absence of their harsh colour, and the distinct form and crisp marking of
the leaves. Rembrandt has carried this property of shadow beyond the
hope of any improvement, and by this means has clothed the most trifling
subject with a portion of sublimity. If we allow ourselves to be influenced

by the association of ideas, it is capable of imparting a greater degree of
4 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

horror to any subject of terror; as imaginary dangers appear greater
than real, being augmented by the operations of the mind. Milton has

made use of this quality in describing the situation of the fallen Angels: -

“ From those flames
No light, but rather darkness visible
Served only to discover sights of woe.”

And Titian, in his picture of the Martyrdom of St. Laurence, which

otherwise is disagreeable from its being cold and black.

Having thus defined some of the characteristic features of shadow, the
effects of light in a great measure explain themselves, being in most
stances of an opposite nature. Its cheerful influence operates on the
mind of the spectator, either when viewing the festivities of a village
holiday or when he beholds it diffused over the general face of nature:
it may be termed the Allegro in Painting.

ExpranaTtioN oF Prate I. Fie. 1.

If light, collected into a focus by means of a lens, be thrown obliquely
upon a wall, it will explain to us one of its principal properties, upon
which many Artists have founded their principles of light and shade.
Where the bundles of rays are collected, the light is increased in bright-
ness; and when they become more diffused and spread out, it naturally
becomes more feeble, losing itself in half tint. In this example we have
some of the most essential qualities of light as applicable to the purposes

of painting. We have a principal light, which, being produced by the
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LIGHT AND SHADE IN PAINTING. 5

collecting of the rays, leaves that portion of the ground the darkest
which comes in contact with it, thereby assisting its brightness. We
have an innumerable variety of gradations, until the light is dissipated
and lost. Some artists maintain, and justly, that every light, however
small, ought to have a focus, or one part brighter than another; and as
we find this to be a general law in nature, it is surely safe ground to go
upon. For the same reason we ought to have one portion of a dark more
decided than the rest. If these two extremes are brought in contact,
we make them assist each other, one becoming brighter, and the other
darker, from the effect of contrast. If they are placed at the opposite
sides of the picture, we have greater breadth and a more equal balance.
Let us now examine how these properties have been made use of in the
management of the light and shade of a picture. If] for example, we take
a head by Rembrandt, we find the principal light or focus in the upper
part of the face (which he often, to render more luminous, surrounds with
a black bonnet or hat, and even this he keeps of a cold tone, to give more
value to the flesh); the light is then allowed to fall down on the figure,
producing thereby a uniou and an appearance of his light giving out rays
of the same hue as itself. If we follow him in the conduct of some of his
larger compositions, we find the same principle adopted, whether they
consist of many figures, such as the hundred Guilder print, or of few, as
in the small Nativity in the National Gallery; thus rendering the most
complicated compositions subservient to the simplest principles of light
and shade. A few experiments on a ground of a middle tint, with a
pencil filled with white, and another dipped in black, will give the
student an insight into all the changes capable of being produced upon

this principle.
6 > PRACTICAL HINTS ON

Plate 1. Fig. 2.

If a diagonal line be drawn through the picture, and the extreme dark
and extreme light be placed at opposite sides, we must of necessity have
the greatest breadth of effect. If a balance or union between the two sides
be wished, there is no other way but by borrowing a portion of the one
and exchanging it for a portion of the opposite; and not only may this
practice be made use of for the harmony of the whole, but the light and
the shade will be thus rendered more intense by the force of opposition.
Now, whether the dark which is carried to the light side be very small, or
very large, and, vice versa, we have the groundwork of some of the most
powerful and most natural effects in painting. If the light is placed near
the horizon, as in evening skies, for example, such as it frequently is in
Cuyp, we see it rising upwards until lost in middle tint in the upper part
of the picture, and the middle tint descending into shadow by means of
trees, figures, &c. thus making a sweep round the picture, and thereby
affording the greatest opportunity for breadth of effect. If the two extreme
points are connected by intermediate figures, so as to form but one group,
we have the greatest firmness, as the light part of the group will be
relieved by a dark ground, and the dark part of the group by a light
groand : if we pursue the contrary practice, and place the dark part of
the group on the dark ground, and the light part of the group on the light
ground, we have more breadth and softness of effect. There is no want
of examples, either in nature or in pictures, to warrant our following

either mode.
LIGHT AND SHADE IN PAINTING. 7

Plate 1. Fig. 3.

Sometimes we find the principal light in the centre of the picture
gradating to the extremities with a border of dark binding in the whole.
By this mode the light has great brilliancy, especially if a small portion of
dark is brought in contact with it. This melting of the light into shadow
has been carried to great perfection by Corregio and Rembrandt, who
most frequently relieved the dark side of their figures by a still darker
background, which Reynolds (who has adopted this mode in so many of

his works) mentions as giving a rich effect.

If this method is pursued in the management of the light on a hand, or
a single head, it is equally applicable, as in a more extensive work. In
the landscapes of Claude, who has often placed the sun near the centre
of his compositions, we find the light managed upon the same broad
principle, gradating to the sides of his canvass by means of buildings,
ships, &c. with often a clump of dark trees jutting into the mass of light,
thereby giving it its brilliant character, and serving at the same time to
convey the dark sides into the picture. If he reminds us occasionally of
Rembrandt, it arises from his great breadth of effect; if of Corregio, it is
the soft union of his lights with the shadow. A few walks in the evening
in the twilight, and at night in scenery where nature has an opportunity
of showing her various effects, will put the student in possession of a
power to unravel all her mysteries. We do not know whether Claude,
Corregio, and Rembrandt, were acquainted with the works of one another,

but we have the most evident proofs that they were well acquainted with
8 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

the principle by which nature produces her most striking effects ; and a
breadth of light and shade, soft and subdued tones of colour, and every
requisite for forming the mind of an artist, is still to be found in the same

school in which they studied.

Plate 1. Fig. 4.

If the lights are to predominate in a picture from the ground being low
in tone, it is of the utmost consequence that they should not only be
varied in form and magnitude, but that they should produce an agreeable
arrangement in the picture, seeing that they will attract greater notice

than when the ground is lighter.

I shall here take the liberty of introducing a passage from Reynolds’s
works, as nothing can exceed it in utility and justness of observation. In
his notes upon Fresnoy, speaking of light and shade, he says, “ The same
rules, which have been given in regard to the regulation of groups of
figures, must be observed in regard to the grouping of lights; that there
shall be a superiority of one over the rest, that they shall be separated
and varied in their shapes, and that there should be at least three lights:
the secondary lights ought, for the sake of harmony and union, to be
of nearly equal brightness, though not of equal magnitude with the
principal.”

The Dutch painters particularly excelled in the management of light
and shade, and have shown, in this department, that consummate skill

which entirely conceals the appearance of art.
LIGHT AND SHADE IN PAINTING. 9

« Jan Steen, Teniers, Ostade, Du Sart, and many others of that school
may be produced as instances, and recommended to the young artist’s

careful study and attention.

“The means by which the painter works, and on which the effect of his
picture depends, are light and shade, and warm and cold colours. That
there is an art in the management and disposition of those means will be
easily granted, and it is equally certain, that this art is to be acquired by

a careful examination of the works of those who have excelled in it.

«1 shall here set down the result of the observations which I have made
on the works of those artists who appear to have best understood the
management of light and shade, and who may be considered as examples

for imitation in this branch of art.

“ Titian, Paul Veronese, and Tintoret were among the first painters
who reduced to a system what was before practised without any fixed
principle, and consequently neglected occasionally. From the Venetian
painters Rubens extracted his scheme of composition, which was soon
understood and adopted by his countrymen, and extended even to the

minor painters of familiar life in the Dutch school.

“When I was at Venice, the method I took to avail myself of their
principles was this: when I observed an extraordinary effect of light and
shade in any picture, I took a leaf of my pocket-book, and darkened every
part of it in the same gradation of light and shade as the picture, leaving
the white paper untouched to represent light, and this without any
attention to the subject or to the drawing of the figures. A few trials of

C
J PRACTICAL HINTS ON

this kind will be sufficient to give the method of their conduct in the
management of their lights. After a few experiments I found the paper
blotted nearly alike: their general practice appeared to be, to allow not
above a quarter of the picture for the light, including in this portion both
the principal and secondary lights; another quarter to be as dark as

possible ; and the remaining half kept in mezzotint or half shadow.

“ Rubens appears to have admitted rather more light than a quarter,
and Bembrandt much less, scarce an eighth; by this conduct Rembrandt’s
light is extremely brilliant, but it costs too much; the rest of the picture
is sacrificed to this one object. That light will certainly appear the
brightest which is surrounded with the greatest quantity of shade,
supposing equal skill in the artist. :

“ By this means you may likewise remark the various forms and shapes
of those lights, as well as the objects on which they are flung; whether a
figure, or the sky, a white napkin, animals, or utensils, often introduced
for this purpose only. It may be observed, likewise, what portion is
strongly relieved, and how much is united with its ground ; for it is
necessary that some part (though a small one is sufficient) should be sharp
and cutting against its ground, whether it be light on a dark or dark on a
light greund, in order to give firmness and distinctness to the work ; if]
on the other hand, it is relieved on every side, it will appear as if inlaid
on its ground. Such a blotted paper, held at a distance from the eye,
will strike the spectator as something excellent for the disposition of light
and shadow, though he does not distinguish whether it is a history, a
portrait, a landscape, dead game, or any thing else; for the same

principles extend to every branch of the art.
-

LIGHT AND SHADE. IN PAINTING. 11

« Whether I have given an exact account, or made a just division of the
quantity of light admitted into the works of those painters, is of no very
great consequence; let every person examine and judge for himself: it
will be sufficient if I have suggested a mode of examining pictures this
way, and one means at least of acquiring the principles on which they

wrought.”

This is so admirable as to need no comment, and ought never to be
lost sight” of, as upon the management of light and shade depends the

general look of the picture.

Plate 1. Fig. 5.

As a wall or flat surface recedes from the light, it necessarily becomes
darker, and as the outline is more or less defined, it has the property of
advancing or receding. These may seem to be properties too evident to
every one to need any explanation; but, when we see a foreground, in
place of coming flat up to the edge of the frame, appear to slope down
like a declivity, we must either suppose that the painter knew not the
principle of assisting the perspective by means of light and shade, or had
not the faculty of seeing nature. When we consider that nature spreads
out her landscape upon a horizontal plane, and that we have to compete
with her upon an upright surface, we shall find we have not only to call
into our aid strong light, coming in contact with sharp dark, warm
colours, and such as have the property of advancing, but to subdue the

more distant part of the ground by soft shadow and retiring cool tints.
12 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

Plate 1. Ig. 6.

When the composition is kept dark, forming a mass of shadow in the
centre of the canvass, the light is often conducted round it by means of
the sky, water, or light foreground; and as the dark becomes in a
manner isolated, it receives great vigour and importance. As this is the
reverse of Fig. 3, we find the same simple broad principle predominant,
and whether it be composed of a clump of trees, or the dark dress of a
whole-length figure, we find the management guided by the same rules;
only if a portrait, the circumstance of the face coming light off the back-
ground requires the feet or base of the figure to tell dark on the ground,
for the sake of firmness; and if any part is more lost in the background
than another, it perhaps ought to be the middle portion of the figure.
If a clump of trees such as we often find in Claude is to be represented,
their stems shoot out from a ground of the same darkness, thereby
producing a union of the trees with the shadow which they cast on the
ground. As a light in the centre of dark tints must thereby acquire an
increased consequence, so a dark in the middle of light tints receives the

same importance.

 
LIGHT AND SHADE IN PAINTING. 13

Plate 1. Fig. 1.

I have noticed in another place the union of one part of the picture
with another, by means of a repetition of the light: it will therefore be
unnecessary to say any thing further upon such management. I may
however observe that it is not only of service to repeat the light, but,
also, that it should be of the same colour; accordingly we observe in
Cuyp, whose principal light is often yellow, that it is carried into the
dark part of the picture by means of yellow drapery, a cow, sheep, or
a few touches of golden colour, according as he wishes such extension
of his light large or small. If the principal light is cold, such as blue
and white, we find it repeated either by a reflection in water, or a figure
dressed in the same cool tint. Portrait painters generally make use of
the light in the sky to repeat the lights of their head and hands, by

making it of the same colour,
14 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

Purate 11.

Rembrandt, from his first commencement in the art, seems to have
been always solicitous to represent the brightness of light at the sacrifice
of every other quality; and in his first works it often forms a circum-
scribed spot, for, as Reynolds justly observes, “ that light must appear
the brightest which is surrounded by the greatest quantity of shade ;” but
though this conduct enables the artist to give light one of its strong
characteristics, whether it be the sun, a candle, fire, &c. yet there are
other properties quite as essential, and more easy to contend awith, which
are its effects on the different objects it illuminates. Rembrandt’s close
attention to nature soon led him to expand his principle ; for example, he
perceived the flame of a candle exceeded in brightness every thing round
it in a tenfold ratio, which could be expressed only by darkening the
whole, and leaving the light in a spot, and thereby extinguishing its
influential effect: but if the candle itself was hid, the appearance of every
object under its influence was not only more easily given, but the effect
of the whole became more deceptive and natural. His extending of the
light through the picture gradually became more enlarged; and even his
deepest shadows are illuminated by streaks of red or rich brown
running into them, which (from his principal light being of a warm tone)

keep up a connection without destroying the breadth of light and shade.

In Fig. 1 of this Plate, « Christ restoring he Daughter of Jairus,” we
have a principle upon which many of his pictures are constructed, vez. a

ray .of light falling into an apartment, and received upon a light object
LUIGI anal.

 
 
LIGHT AND SHADE IN PAINTING 15

which, as in nature; reflects back the rays, and illuminates the surrounding
objects, giving thus his principal light the properties of light itself. The
~ shadows of all objects receiving such direct rays, we sometimes see
strongly defined, as is the case in nature, and indeed we often find
Rembrandt placing objects for the express purpose of producing such
shadows, which gives an appearance of truth to the whole effect; at other
times we find the shadows swallowed up in the splendour of the light, as
if afraid of disturbing its breadth. Sometimes we find his strong light,
his strong dark, and his hot and cold colours, all focused at one point;
and at other times his darks employed to clear up the middle tint, and
his strongest colours made the means of uniting his light with the shade.
In short, whatever was his practice, he seems always to have had some
end to accomplish, and when we find him departing from what would be
the effect in nature under such circumstances, we may rest assured that
such departure did not arise from ignorance. We often see the attempts
of de Hooge and others at representing light confined to its effect in the
sky or on the objects out of doors, while it is but sparingly admitted on
the figures seen within the apartment; on the contrary, Rembrant’s figures
are lighted up with a splendour which extinguishes every other subordi-

nate light, and which we often cannot account for upon the common

principles of nature.

The subject below in Plate H. is from a picture in the Louvre, and
shows how small a portion of light sometimes engaged Rembrandt's
solicitude. He has employed the edge of the frame work, the dark under
the cradle, and the dark dress of the figure to give it its value. The
curtain is a dull red, and is carried into the picture by the dress of the

child being of the same colour.
16 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

Puate HI. Fic. 1, anp 2.

Fig. 1 and 2 represent the « Taking down from the cross” and the
“ Presentation in the temple.” Daulby, in his catalogue, mentions two states
of the original etchings more worked upon; but I find, on examination,
they are merely the plates left without being enuch wiped, thereby casting
a stain over the whole, except a high light on the cap of the figure holding
the crosier, and a light at the torch in the “ Taking down from the cross,”
the copper being made clean at those places. In many of the varieties
of Rembrandt’s etchings he has got credit for effects supposed to be
produced by much labour, which were the result of the printing aloe.
In the descent from the cross he has kept the principal light in the upper
part of the picture in contact with the strong dark ; in the other it is kept
below, and is carried upwards by a chain of communication to the head of
the crosier. Where the light is at one side, or low down in the picture,
such as in the “ Wise Men's offering,” in the king’s collection, there is
greater space for a breadth of shadow, than when the light is kept in the
centre, as was the principle of most of his first works. In some of his
designs he seems to have allowed the entire half of his canvass for repose,
and to have confined his composition with all its lights, and darks, and

colours, to the other half. Very little often serves to connect the two
 

 

 

 
 
LIGHT AND SHADE IN PAINTING. 17

The dark manner of Rembrandt has advantages over every other, if kept
within due bounds, as it enables the painter to give a rich tone fo his
colours without their appearing heavy, which more feeble backgrounds
would not admit of, unless the colours are to stand as darks instead of
lights; accordingly we find Titian, Tintoret, Giorgione, Rembrandt, and

our own Reynolds, all swayed by the same opinion.

Plate 111. Fig. 3.

When the light part of the composition is placed upon the dark side of
the background, and the dark part upon the light side, greater firmness
and solidity are produced, and a more equal balance is kept up. The
contrary method has more breadth and softness of effect, but unless the
light part is of a different hue from the light ground upon which it may
be placed, and the dark part is of a warmer or colder tone than the
shadow which surrounds it, there is a danger of their losing their
substance and becoming flat. Vandyke, in this composition, has made
the colours of his figures assist his arrangement of light and shade; the
white dress of the child and the yellow dress of the queen make the
principal light; the white is repeated by the cap, ruff, &c. of the other
figures; the yellow is carried across by the embroidery upon the king’s
dress, and spread out upon the under part of the sky; the darks are

D
18 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

made up of the dark dress of the king and the child’s dress, which is a
dull green; the latter tint is carried across the picture by part of the
curtain turned up, of the same colour; the curtain itself is a dull yellow
and brown, serving as a ground to the queen’s dress; the red cloth of the
table is repeated by the two chairs; the floor being a dark neutral tint
gives a firmness to the bottom of both the figures. If the student, in
examining the light and shade of a picture, remarks what colours are
resorted to for such purpose, in a few trials he will find that which at
first appears complicated and difficult to unravel will become easy and
beneficial, serving to strengthen his powers of reflection in the highest

degree.
LIGHT AND SHADE IN PAINTING. 19

Plate III. Fig. 4.

The dark forming the greatest mass of shadow of the picture is often,
before being brought in contact with the extreme light, increased and
collected to a point by some object whose local colour conduces to such
purpose, as in the example here given; where the black dress of the
female is brought, at its darkest portion, in contact with the lightest
portion of the white dress. This serves to give air to the deepest shades
of the background, and greater firmness to the object so relieved. The
collecting to one head of all the light, and all the dark of a piece, gives the
artist the greatest force of the palette. To enable the other side of the
picture to keep up with so much vigour, Metzu has thrown his strong
colour into the scale, and brought his red and blue in contact, by a glove
lying upon the chair, at the point nearest the eye. The warm colour is
taken to the other side by a dog, &c. and the white of the female repeated
by a handkerchief the man holds in his hand, his neckcloth, &e.
20 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

Prate TV. Fic. 1.

In a single head we often have but one light; it is therefore necessary
to get it to harmonize with the shadow, either in the background or upon
the dress. Rembrandt, accordingly, frequently painted the light of the
dress of the same colour as the shadow side of the face, thereby keeping
up a union and simplicity. In Fig. 2 we have the hands making a second
light ; and in Fig. 3 we have three spots of light, the shirt and ruffles of
both hands: this is the Titian Reynolds thus mentions in the description
of the Dusseldorf gallery, and which is now in Munich: “A portrait of a
gentleman, by Titian, a kitcat; one hand a-kimbo, the hand itself not
seen, only a bit of the ruffle; the other, the left, rests on what appears to
be his sword; he is looking off. This portrait has a .very pleasing
countenance, hut is not painted with much facility, nor is it at all
mannered ; the shadows are of no colour; the arapery being black, and
the ground being very near as dark as it, prevents the arm a-kimbo from
having a bad effect. It is no small part of our art to know what to bring

forward in the light, and what to throw into shade.”

The linen in this picture, and most others of Titian, is light and cutting,
the flesh forming the half light. Reynolds, talking of the Descent from
the Cross, by Rubens, says, “ he well knew what effect white linen,
opposed to flesh, must have, with his powers of colouring; and the truth
is, that none but great colourists can venture to paint pure white linen near
flesh; but such know the advantage of it.” In Rembrandt we generally

find the same treatment, although I have often observed the linen kept
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cool when near the face. To give the flesh a luminous character, he often
introduces cool tints coming near it, and when he can find nothing else,
uses the shadows of linen for such purpose. In Vandyke’s early Italian
manner we find the linen much brighter than in his later works, where it

became more of a leaden cast.

Plate IV. Fig. 4, and 5.

We sometimes find the light of the sky introduced for the purpose of
repeating the lights of the heads and hands, as in Fig. 3; sometimes to
spread and enlarge the lights of the head, and give it more consequence,
as in Fig. 4. To assist the hand in keeping its situation in this picture,
he has defined it by the hat and shadow on the chair. As it is of the
utmost consequence that every object should keep its relative distance
with regard to the eye of the spectator, it is a good method to define
those parts we wish to advance by a dark shadow coming in contact with
them, and to surround the retiring portions with a ground of a less
opposing character; as we know lines strongly and sharply defined will
approach, and those of a softer nature will retire. Such blots are
afterwards to be accounted for by the contrivance of the artist: in this
consists the application of the background to the figures, one of the most

difficult and essential portions of the art.

As light and shade determine the concavities or convexities of all

objects, without them the most intelligent outline would be but as a map
212 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

or flat surface. If, for example, we take a cup and examine the influence
of light and shade upon it, we find in nature those principles which artists
have applied to many purposes in painting. We perceive the near edge
strongly defined by the light side coming in contact with the shadow,
which becomes darker as it descends into the cup; we have the dark side
brought firmly off the light, thus giving it the simplest and most effective
means of a true representation of its character. This may appear too
evident to notice in a work of this nature, which does not profess to give
the mere rudiments of the art; but I am convinced that the most intricate
principles of painting emanate from very few sources, and that these
sources are of a very simple nature. Every thing within our view is filled
with examples, and the mind of the student requires only to be directed
to an examination, and investigation of the subject, before commencing
any work, or while in the progress. He must not only know what is his
intention, but must be in possession of the best method of expressing

such intention.

Prate V. Fie. 1.

When a shadow is carried through the middle of the picture, we have
not only an opportunity of giving a breadth of effect; but, the receding
portion of the sky, and perspective of the ground, are assisted by their

sharpnesses being swallowed up in repose: see this principle noticed at
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Plate V. Fig. 2, and 3.

When the principal light is kept at one side, we have an opportunity
of introducing a larger portion of shadow, than when the light is in the
centre, which is often of the first consequence, especially if repose is

required in the work.

When, as in Fig. 2, a multitude of small objects are introduced into a
picture, or when the general arrangement consists of many figures, it is
impossible to get a breadth of light and shade, unless many of them are
united together of the same strength, so as to form a mass of light, or of
dark ; but which to do with skill is one of the greatest difficulties; for
unless the science is in some measure concealed, it is no longer science.
In the confusion of a battle, for example, it is unlikely that two or three
white horses should be collected, so as to form a mass of light; and yet
we see in Salvator Rosa, and Wouvermans this method adopted; or in a
representation of dead game it is equally improbable that we should
always find a swan for the same purpose, as in Weeninx. To obviate
such apparent artifice of the painter, we find P. Veronese, Tintoret, and -
others, making use of the sky, or light buildings, for a principal mass in
their large works, consisting of many figures. In the small works of the
Dutch school we find the light upon a wall, or on the ground, or in a
window, in indoor subjects, and the sky, &c. in open daylight, made use

of for this purpose.
24 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

Gerard Douw, notwithstanding his extreme finish, contrived to preserve
that breadth of light and shade, which his instruction in the school of
Rembrandt had “empowered him to do; and in small works this breadth of
effect is the more difficult to retain, seeing, that there is so little space for
the middle tints, darks, lights, and reflected lights, to be observed in
nature, and withal, for a certain bluntness in the outline, to prevent the
several objects from looking like small models. Reynolds, in his notes to
Fresnoy, to illustrate this quality, says, “ we may have recourse to Titian’s
bunch of grapes, which we will suppose placed so as to receive a broad
light and shadow; here, though each individual grape on the light side of
the bunch has its light, and shadow, and reflection, yet altogether they
make but one broad mass of light; the slightest sketch, therefore, where
this breadth is preserved, will have a better effect, will have more the
appearance of coming from a master hand, that is, in other words, will
have more the characteristic and generale of nature, than the most
laborious finishing where this breadth is lost or neglected.” One method
amongst many which we sometimes find Gerard Douw adopting, so as to
convey an appearance of high finishing, and yet preserve the breadth of
nature, is to give the texture, or surface of an object without altering the
tints. For example, in painting a piece of carpet or tapestry, he seems
to have laid in his broad lights and shadows, and, while wet, applied a
* piece of fine cloth, so as to leave an impression of the threads over the
whole, then in the high lights to have touched each thread with light, and
in the shadow with dark touching, which, did the lines accord with the
undulation of the folds, would have given a true appearance of the
breadth and detail of nature.
LIGHT AND SHADE IN PAINTING. 25

The art of giving a finished look to a picture is one of the most difficult
departments of painting, for under it is implied the exact strengthening of
the different shades and colours, which defines their relative situations in :
the picture, the introduction of and detailing the minute parts, without
disturbing the great breadth of the whole, and the giving to different
substances their several and proper characters. The term finish, when
‘applied to colouring, implies giving to the representations of objects that
exact tone which the objects themselves possess in nature under the same
circumstances, either by repeated glazings with transparent washes, or by

a careful mixture of the colours on the palette in the first instance.

As the principle of placing the light at the side of the picture has
already been noticed at Plate III, I shall, in adverting to Fig. 3 of the

present plate, merely mention the colour.

The principal light is composed of the white and blue garments of
Christ, and repeated in the sky, it being of the same cool tint; the warm
light of the angel makes the principal for the head and hands of Christ,
and is repeated by a torch carried by figures in the distance. So much
cold colour being admitted on the lights, requires the shadows to be
kept warm, to prevent the picture from looking heavy; accordingly we
find Coreggio has kept the darks of a rich brown: Rembrandt, who was
master of this department of art, when his light is cool, makes his
shadows the hotter the darker they become; Rubens, who formed his
style of colouring upon the Venetian, seems to have been guided by the
same opinion. In one of his maxims he says, “ Begin by painting in your
shadows lightly, taking care that no white is suffered to glide into them;

it is the poison of a picture except in the lights; if ever your shadows are
E
26 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

corrupted by the introduction of this baneful colour, your tones will no,
longer be warm and transparent, but heavy and leady. It is not the
same in the lights, they may be loaded with colour as much as you think
proper.” Whoever examines the works of the great colourists, will
find this impasting of the lights, and keeping the shadows rich, juicy,
and transparent, was their universal practice. The original of this
subject, which is in the possession of the duke of Wellington, has this
character, as indeed have all the works from Coreggio’s own hand. Opie
in his lectures gives a clear definition of Coreggio’s management of chiar-
oscuro, as follows:

“ By classing his colours, and judiciously dividing them into few and
large masses of bright and obscure, gently rounding off his light, and
passing, by almost imperceptible degress, through pellucid demi-tints and
warm reflexions, into broad, deep, and transparent shade; he artfully
connected the fiercest extremes of light and shadow, harmonized the most

intense opposition of colours, and combined the greatest posts effect

with the sweetest and softest repose imaginable.”

Pate VI. Fic. 1.

I have noticed in another place, that when the darks of the group are
brought off the light side of the background, greater firmness is obtained,
and more vivacity, which latter is the peculiar character of daylight.
Cuyp, by placing his figures in such a position as to throw long shadows

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darks are placed on the delicate half light, instead of on the strong light,
they have greater force, as the ground has a more retiring quality: the
strong colours have also a more natural appearance, as in the event of

colours being opposed to the glare of light, their brilliancy is destroyed.

A few small touches of light are sufficient to convey the light into the
dark side of the picture, and to take off the heaviness of the shadows.
In compositions, when the background is very dark, we find shining
substances, such as mirrors, metal, armour, &c. employed, as they take _
on a sharp light, and thereby connect the shade with the light without
destroying its breadth; on the contrary, they add to its depth.

Plate V1. Fig. 2.

When the light part of the group is placed upon the light side of the
ground, provided there can be sufficient firmness given, we must of
necessity have a greater breadth of effect. Vandyke has in this picture
kept the principal light upon the sleeve of the jacket (which makes the
most prominent point), and has diffused it upon the sky. The cool tints
of the shadows of the jacket, and part of a blue ribbon detach it from the
under part of the sky, which is warm. The warm colouring of the boy,
and the cloak which he carries, and the king’s breeches being of a dull
28 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

red, assist the arrangement. The warm colours are carried into the
shadow side of the picture by the dun colour of the horse, the stump of
the tree, and the saddle cloth. The cool blue of the sky mixes with the
foliage of the trees, and prevents it from interfering with the hat, which
has greater point in consequence, and balances the shadow side of the
picture, besides drawing the attention of the spectator to the head. The
warm colour of the flesh necessarily detaches itself from the cool ground ;
but in such situations we often find Rubens and all his pupils bring
strong blue in contact with the head, which gives it a great value, and
a luminous effect. We thas perceive a light figure may be strongly
relieved even by a light background, provided the colours are opposed to
each other; thereby preserving the greatest breadth of light.

 
LIGHT AND SHADE IN PAINTING. 29

Plate V1. Fig. 3.

We have in this subject the dark of the group brought off the light
part of the ground with great firmness, and a very large portion of the
outline sharp and cutting, which, though it may give the strong feature of
natural objects, has a harsh appearance at first sight. Whether it be
that in real objects their actual existence enables them to harmonize with
the harshest effects of light and shade; or that the real separation of one
part from another, admits of a strength of colour incompatible with a
flat surface, such as an outline on canvass, is worthy of the student's
examination; as in nature he will often find the most distant parts of an
object more sharp and cutting than the nearest outlines, and yet keep
their situation. To represent this on canvass requires the most scientific
management; as a work may have the strength and eshness of nature,
without being a just representation, when the situation of one part with

regard to another is taken into the account.

Potter in this picture (in which the objects are of the natural size) has
made use of the simplest and firmest principles, as regards light and
shade. We have the group strongly defined by part of it coming light
off a dark ground, and dark off a light one; we have the composition
30 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

taking a decided form in one direction, and the light running across it in
another; we have therefore the strong look of nature, which consists of
simplicity, decision, and strength. :

In the early masters we have these qualities often in a high degree;
and had they less of an inlaid flat appearance, would be more valuable
than the more harmonious softenings of modern light and shade; but we
must never forget that objects in nature are more or less round, that they
are delicate as well as forcible, and that the harshest colours are under
the influence of light and shade.

 
LIGHT AND SHADE IN PAINTING. 31

Plate V1. Fig. 4.

The light part of the group is here brought in contact with the light
part of the background, and the shadow assisted in its strength by the
local colour of the objects placed within it. The yellow cow, which
makes the light, is surrounded by others of a dull red and brown, which
are relieved by a still darker ground. This gives a great breadth to the
group. The cool colour of the upper part of the sky is carried across
the picture by the grass and leaves being of a cool green ; the dark sharp
marking of the horas, eyes, &c. gives a lightness and finish to the whole,
as it allows the broad lights and shadows to have more union. In Cuyp
the local colour of his objects, whether hot or cold, is kept up undisturbed
by the light and shade; this gives great breadth and the distinctness of

nature in open daylight.

Plate V1. Fig. b.

In this subject we have the light figure upon the dark ground, and vice
versa. In nature we often perceive strong effects arising out of simple
and decided principles, which, if sketched at the time, will be of the
utmost value to the student, by giving him an insight into the science of
light and shade; and will often serve as a key to commence with in

forming larger combinations. Reynolds mentions a mode of composing
32 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

by taking a figure from some celebrated master, and designing others to
correspond with it; thereby imparting a grandeur of style to the whole.
So, by commencing with something sketched from nature, we give a
decided look of truth to the other parts of the picture.

Many painters model their groups for the purpose of obtaining a true
‘representation of the light and shade. Small figures, however rude in

form, will serve this purpose, and give the artist many invaluable hints.

Tintoret and Coreggio, both great masters of chiaroscuro, are known
to have availed themselves of this method; and the student must have a
most erroneous idea of his art, who imagines excellence can be obtained
without the assistance of every auxiliary. The most learned arrange-
ments of light and shade may astonish; but there is a charm in the

chiaroscuro of nature which carries irresistible sway.

Plate V1. Fig. 6.

In this subject we have the dark group brought off the light side of the
background in the simplest and most decided manner ; and the principles
of light and shade made applicable to giving the strong look of nature,
viz. breadth and solidity to the ground, and light and extent to the sky.
Rembrandt has often been accused of being artificial in his effects, but he
never misses his aim, either in representing the splendid emanations of
light, or the quiet depths of shadow; the peculiar character of an object,

 
LIGHT AND SHADE IN PAINTING. 33

either in texture or in colour, and that appearance, familiar to the
recollection of every one; but t¢ convey which, either in poetry or in

painting, is only in the power of a few.

Rembrandt seems always to have taken up a leading feature in his
works, and never to have lost sight of it. The varieties in his prints
are but corroborations of this: as in his anxiety for its preservation
we trace him destroying every impediment, either by covering down or
burying whole groups in shadow, or by leaving in an unfinished state
other groups, with a mere outline to define them. For example, if we
take the first state of the print of the great Ecce Homo, we perceive he
has made Christ in the centre of a.group, in a quiet broad mass of light,
with the strong darks gradating from him, right and left, and surrounded
by masses of half tint. He has then etched in the principal group,
commencing with the figure addressing the multitude, and terminating
with the right hand of Pilate. This portion being in strong light,
interspersed with a variety of strong darks, acquires by this means great
brilliancy and agitation. We have therefore the quiet character of Christ
preserved, and his superiority maintained, by his forming the centre of
one group, and the apex of the other, rising, as Fuseli describes it, “ like

a pyramid from the tumultuous waves below.”

If we take his print of the Angels appearing to the Shepherds, in the
first state we find a broad mass of shadow running through the centre in
a diagonal line, thus giving it its greatest magnitude. In the upper part
is preserved the principal light, radiating from a centre, with.a multitude
of children sporting in its beams, and out of which the angel addresses

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31 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

the shepherds across this gulf of shadow. The second light, which is
in the lower portion of the print, he has in the next state, cut up bya
number of darks and lights, irregularly dispersed, thus conveying the
appearance of confusion and terror to the shepherds, their herds, and
flocks, which are represented flying in all directions. These two examples
out of many, which the student will discover by his own examination,
will suffice to show that light and shade may be made to contribute to the
character and fitness of the subject; and that of this adaptation of it,

Rembrandt holds unrivalled possession.

PLate VII.

When a picture is chiefly composed of light and half tint, the darks of
the figures must necessarily tell with great force, from there being so little
of half shade to rob them of their value; the mid-day sun filling with
intense light, every particle of the atmosphere, gives that luminous
appearance, which is so strongly characteristic of an out of door effect,
the dark local colours of the figures, from the absorption of the rays,
retain undiminished power, and give that firmness and vivacity to the
scene which prevents it from looking feeble. In nature, figures from their

upright position, have a greater consequence from the flat shadows being
 

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LIGHT AND SHADE IN PAINTING. 35

weakened by the light of the sky falling into them; for, seeing that the
whole heavens are filled with light, it is showered down and reflected in
all directions. Also, from their being in motion, they attract the eye; a
circumstance to be noticed by the artist, who has to give them their
relative value on canvass, as they possess in reality. The consideration
of all these circumstances influences many painters, in giving the darks the
full force of the palette. As a general character and the leading features
of strong daylight are to be purchased at any sacrifice, critics who do
not sufficiently investigate these matters, may complain of want of air,
but the student, by a close attention to the subject, will not easily be

scared by the cry of “ sans vapeur.”

Birds in the air, boats on the water, figures on the sands, cornfields,
or light roads, have all this characteristic feature in a high degree, from

the middle tint being on so light a key.

Cuyp often accomplishes this by the general tone of the picture being
warm, and his shadows brownish, thereby allowing his blue draperies and
cool blacks to have greater point. P. Veronese and, Rubens have many

pictures on the same principle.

Opposition of colour is of great importance in the treatment of pictures
on a light key, as it gives great relief and distinctness without cutting up
the breadth of light; such as blue upon a warm ground, or red upon a
cool one, bright yellow upon a cool gray, &c. In No. 3, Claude has
made great use of such opposition. The general appearance of the
picture is warm, the dark blue of the water is carried across the piece
by the dark blue draperies of some of the figures, and is suffused upon
36 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

the upper part of the sky. The red is interspersed upon the boats and
the draperies of the other figures; and, warming the near part of the
buildings, is repeated at the top by a figure looking over the balcony
and two red flags upon the blue of the sky. He has placed two blue
flags upon the warm part of the sky to repeat the cool colour.

Pictures painted on a dark key have already been noticed as possessing
many advantages, which have led our greatest colourists to its adoption.
But as low toned pictures are apt to look heavy and black, unless richness
of shadows, or sharpness of lights be preserved; so pictures painted on a
light key are apt to look flat and unfinished, unless the greatest circum-
spection be used. In nature, the intense light of the sky, and the
atmosphere, which 1s filled with its innumerable refractions, spread a
luminous character over the whole scene; to represent which the artist
can employ only a greater degree of whiteness, a very inadequate quality,
and hence the great difficulty of imitating the splendid brightness of
mid-day, or the briliiant effects of an evening sky. In treating the one,
unless the delicate varieties of the half lights are attended to with the
greatest care, the picture will look crude and unfinished ; for the tints
being so nearly allied to each other, the exact sharpness to define them,
and their exact tone, either by repeated scumbling, or, mixing them to the
proper tint in the first instance, require an attention and study of the
most refined quality ; without which the shadows will be powdery instead
of pearly, or the lights white instead of luminous. In the other arrange
ment the yellow tones may become solid and foxy, if deprived of the
delicate cool tints so necessary to prevent their appearing too hot, and to
give the whole, that tremulous unsteady appearance which light possesses

1n nature.

 
LIGHT AND SHADE IN PAINTING. 37

Light pictures, from the tenderness of their light and shade, require
the colours opposed to each other, whether blue opposed to red, or yellow
to cool gray, to be managed with the greatest delicacy; otherwise their
strength will destroy all appearance of light and air. In light pictures
strong colours can stand only as middle tint, or for leading the light into
the shade, but can appear as lights only by being relieved by strong
shadow. We often find them, as in P. Veronese, &c. standing as darks,
or made use of to give objects an appearance of solidity, without breaking

up the general mass of light in the picture.
38 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

Prate VIIL

I shall here recur to the subject of middle tint, for the purpose of taking
a general view of the various modes of arranging this important branch
of light and shade ; as upon the strength of the middle tint depends, ina
great measure, the general look of the picture. By the middle tint is
meant the medium between the extreme dark and extreme light; but as
such a scale is too gross to take in all the gradations lying between so
opposite qualities, I have, for the sake of clearness, made use of inter-
mediate links, viz. half dark and half light. If we take a ground of a
shade composed chiefly of half dark and middle tint, and introduce the
strongest lights, we shall find it necessary to introduce a portion of half
light to spread and break down their harshness. If the extreme dark is
placed upon the middle tint, it will by contrast render it more in union
with the half light ; if it be placed on the half dark, a breadth of shadow
and softness will be the result. Harshness of effect in treating pictures
upon a dark scale arises, most commonly from the want of sufficient
quantities of middle tint and half light, thereby causing the principal light
to be too much defined; as we frequently observe in the works of Michael

Angelo Carravagio.

Rembrandt and Coreggio excelled all others in the introduction of demi

tints, which illuminate their deepest shadows. In their works and in
 
 
LIGHT AND SHADE IN PAINTING. 39

nature we perceive the lowest tones of middle tint are removed from
blackness, either by their warmth, or the introduction of some positive
black or blue, to produce an appearance of air floating within them.

The exact quantity of middle tint must depend upon the arrangement
of the subject and the taste of the painter; but it is absolutely necessary,
to prevent it from always interposing betwixt the extreme light and

extreme dark.

This invariably gradual declination of the light into the shadow, is one
cause of the insipid look of most of Vanderwerf’s works, nor is it, as Sir
Joshua Reynolds justly observes, consonant with the effects in nature.
Variety demands some portion of the composition to be sharp and cutting;
and richness is to be obtained only, by a continual changing of portions
coming sometimes dark and sometimes light off the ground; this endless
variety in nature can be imitated only, by this intricate weaving of the
outline with the background: so that the same sound principles which
guide the conduct in the treatment of the whole, may be traced in the

management of the detail.

Middle tint, in pictures painted on a light key, ought to be in some
measure robbed of its consequence, either by the introduction of reflected
lights, or positive half lights; for if it occupies too large a portion of the
canvass, the work must of necessity lose its characteristic feature. We
must therefore depend upon some other agent to prevent the picture
being flimsy, and void of that solidity which is so inherent in the most
delicate of nature’s works. Accordingly we find small sharp darks

introduced, the value of which has been noticed in another place; and
40 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

(what is of the utmost importance) a sharp edge to the lights and half ;
shadows throughout the whole.

The light pictures of Teniers and Cuyp are full of this precision in the
touch, a flatness in the shades, a sharpness in the handling, and a
distinctness in the most approximate colours; by this alone a general
breadth can be preserved, and the most splendid light (even of a sky,)
filled with a multitude of forms.

In this notice of middle tint or ground of the picture, I may appear to
have recapitulated what has already been said in other parts of the
work ; but my anxiety to put the student in possession of every informa-
tion in my power urges me to place it before his eyes in every point of |

view.

The management of light and shade, as relates to a whole, ought to be
always present in the student’s mind, as it is from inattention to this
alone that a work is often destroyed in its progress. In the commence-
ment of a picture those parts only are strongly defined, or marked in,
which are of the greatest importance; and the other portions are left in a
broader and less obtrusive state. But in the progress of the work the

proper subordination of the latter is often injuriously diminished.

The general character of an object is its most important feature, and
this is to be preserved at the price of every other quality, if it cannot be
retained upon other terms; as it is this which is imprinted on the mind of
every one, and which is therefore paramount to all its other properties.

If the object does not possess this feature upon the canvass, it cannot

 
LIGHT AND SHADE IN PAINTING. 41

attract or interest the spectator, as in all probability its other properties
are unveiled except to the artist alone, who has examined it attentively.
For example, in a portrait, when we see the head alone finished, it often
pleases more than when the work is complete; our attention is led
involuntarily to the countenance, which would be the case were we intro-
duced to the original; and this preponderance, which exists in nature,
must of necessity become less when in the finished work the other
portions of the picture have received a greater consequence. The
importance of the countenance, the general character of the flesh, viz. its
transparency, breadth of local colour, luminous appearance, &c. may be
all lost from the injudicious introduction, in the other parts of the picture,
of lights, darks, and middle tints, in the artist’s anxiety for richness of
effect, or in his wish to give splendour and harmony by the strength or

variety of his colours.

In sketching a landscape from nature, when we have time only to put
down the leading features, detailing such objects alone as are striking or
interesting, we find the spectator often more satisfied from feeling a
corresponding sensation from the truth of the representation imprinted on
his mind, than when, in a more finished work, the painter has destroyed
the great breadth and luminous character of the sky for the purpose of
mixing the shadows of the clouds with the trees, &c. to counteract
flatness, or when he has subdued the strength of his colours for the sake
of taking off their harshness. When he begins to define the different
parts for the sake of finish, unless he has the treatment of the picture as
a whole constantly before his eye, the expansive look of the sky, the fresh
and decided appearance of nature in the colours, the gray tones and soft

G
42 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

markings of the aerial perspective may all disappear, and give place to

requisites of an inferior kind.

In all objects in nature there is something predominant, and which
alone has struck the observation of every one. If the artist gives that, he
brings his object at once home “to men’s bosoms,” and without which
his greatest labour is but industrious trifiing. The character of an
object depends upon a particular colour, a particular touch, a particular
concentration or diffusion of light, according to its form or substance; to
obtain which ought to be the constant study of the student, as it is the

language of his art, and the only language universally understood.

I have in these brief notices of the art of light and shade, endeavoured
to point out the various modes of establishing a scientific arrangement of
its powers, and applying them to any subject the student may have in
hand. The changes are infinite ; but, by an attentive examination of the
effects in nature or in art, he will find the sources from which they arise
few and simple. Opie in his lectures, speaking of chiaroscuro, strongly
recommends the study of the several masters who have excelled in this
department of the art, “ By studying the works of the great masters of
chiaroscuro, he will by degrees become acquainted with all the artifices of
contrasting light to shade, colour to colour, to produce relievo, of joining
light objects together, and dark objects together, in masses, in order to
give splendour and breadth of effect; of gradually sinking some objects
wholly or partly in shadow, and losing their outlines in the ground, to
produce softness and harmony; and of making, in other places, abrupt

breaks and sharp transitions, to produce vivacity and spirit. He will
LIGHT AND SHADE IN PAINTING. 43

also learn their rules for shaping their masses, and of adapting them in
regard to force or softness to the nature of the subject, whether grave or
gay, sublime or terrible. By this he must be directed when to give his
light the form of a globe, or when to send it in a stream across his
canvass; when to make a dark mass on a light ground, or a light mass on
a dark ground; when he may let his light die away by imperceptible
gradations, when diffuse it in greater breadth and abundance, and when
it may more properly be concentrated into one vivid flash.” This is so
excellent, and embraces so many of the best modes of the management
of light and shade, that the student, who can comprehend them and put
them in practice, requires no farther instruction in this part of the art.
He will be in possession of a key to unlock the richest stores of nature ;
he will be in possession of a sort of short hand to note down her most
fleeting effects; and by understanding the cause which gives them exist-
ence, rivet them in his memory. Without having accustomed himself to
this mode of arranging his observations, his life will be spent in an

endless search after that which is continually passing before his eyes.

Light and shade, considered as a means of producing a deception, by
making parts of the picture advance, and other parts retire, so that every
thing may keep its relative situation, as regards the distance from the
spectator, is a necessary attendant upon perspective. It is, however,
often violated in the best works, for the purpose of giving a general
breadth, or of preserving the light in a good shape ; but, when compatible
with both these, it is of the utmost consequence; and the painter can
enter into a competition with nature only by a perfect knowledge of the
best modes of adapting it to such purpose.
44 PRACTICAL HINTS ON

Richness of effect, either by a mixture of the light and shade, so as to
give an appearance of doubling to the outline, or by relieving the outline
by a ground possessed of a variety of strengths. And distinctness of form,
surrounded by flatness, when we wish any part to attract notice, or to
preserve the expression undisturbed, are both under the dominion of
chiaroscuro, to whose controul the whole array of colours yields implicit

obedience.

The application of light and shade, in a poetical pomt of view, is
capable of creating an association of ideas, without which the imagination
of the spectator would experience nothing but disappointment. For
example, if we represent a scene remarkable for disasters or shipwrecks,
the mind is excited, and an expectation raised, which none but an artist
imbued with the poetry of the art can gratify, by clothing the scene in all
the ominous effects of elemental strife: whether the shadow

Strangles the travelling lamp:

That darkness does the face of earth entomb,
When living light should kiss it?

 

or

“ The sky seems to pour down stinking pitch
But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek,
Dashes the fire out.”

Shakspeare, who was possessed of all the poetry of the art, clothes his
scenery with those circumstances which awaken a thousand pleasing or
awful sensations as the subject may require; whether

“ The gray ey’d morn smiles on the frowning night,
Checkering the eastern clouds with streaks of light.”
LIGHT AND SHADE IN PAINTING. 45

Whether
“ The glorious sun
Stays in his course and plays the alchemist ;
Turning with splendour of his precious eye
The meagre cloddy earth to glittering gold.”
or when

¢¢ Light thickens; and the crow
Makes wing to the rooky wood.”

or when he bids

¢¢ Thick night
Pall herself in the dunnest smoke of hell!”

We have him adopting the softness and breadth of Coreggio, the
splendour and gorgeous effects of Veronese, Rubens, or Cuyp, or the
ominous twilight and midnight darkness of Rembrandt or Michael Angelo
Carravagio. His light and shade is the chiaroscuro of nature passing
through a mind susceptible of its finest impressions, and capable of
placing such effects before the eye of the spectator,  unshorn of their

beams,” or unimpaired in their sublimity.

FINIS.

 

PHOTO-GRAVURE CO. N.Y.
 
AN ESSAY

ON

THE EDUCATION OF THE EYE

WITH

REFERENCE TO PAINTING.

Iva country so largely connected with manufactures as this is, we cannot
but wonder why the education of the eye has not been more generally
cultivated ; observing, as is also the case with the ear, that its education
in after life rarely gives the possessor those advantages which result from
a proper direction having been given in youth: nor do I see why drawing
should not accompany the elements of reading and writing, the complicated
forms of the letters in many languages presenting a more serious obstacle
than what is required in the rudiments of drawing; and I have no doubt
but that a very short time would be sufficient to enable a scholar to draw
objects with tolerable correctness. Without this education, not only are
the most valuable advantages often lost’, but the mind is deprived of one

! Locke, whose attention was turned tc this branch of education, says, ¢ when he can write
well and quick, I think it may be convenient not only to continue the exercise of his hand in
writing, but also to improve the use of it further in drawing, a thing very useful to gentlemen on

B
2 AN ESSAY ‘ON THE

of its chief sources of correct information, and the hand remains in a
manner paralyzed and unable to record what the eye takes cognizance of;
whereas when they advance in mutual contact through a course of early
instruction this difficulty is overcome. This ready execution of the hand
is to be acquired only by constant practice; for however readily the eye
may perceive the form of an object, the power of delineating it on the
paper or canvass is where the apparent difficulty lies, it is here where its
correctness is put to the test; how much constant practice perfects this
chain of communication between the eye and the hand, may be proved by
the facility with which a person acquires the power of writing in the dark,
or with his eyes shut. This quick communication, however, is not to be
purchased at the expense of correctness, which ought to be the greatest
consideration ; for if the eye, or ear, falls into a loose, imperfect method
of study, the student finds the greatest difficulty in getting rid of such
unprofitable groundwork. In advocating the advantages of this branch
of education, it is not my province to raise up chimeras, or what might
be cqnsidered sufficient reasons for- deferring it. Those who have the

several occasions, but especially if he travel, as that which helps a man often to express in a few
lines well put together what a whole sheet of paper in writing would not be able to represent and
make intelligible. How many buildings may a man see, how many machines and habits meet
with, the ideas whereof would be easily retained and communicated by a little skill in drawing.
which being committed to words are in danger of being lost, or at best but ill retained in the most
exact descriptions? I do not mean that I would have your son a perfect painter; to be that to
any tolerable degree will require more time than a young gentleman can spare from his other
improvements of greater moment; but so much insight into perspective and skill in drawing as
will enable him to represent tolerably on paper any thing he sees, may, I think, be got in a little
time.”—ZLocke’s Thoughts concerning Education.

« With regard to the practice of drawing, it will be proper to incite the scholars to industry
by showing in other books the use of the art, and informing them how much it assists the
apprehension and relieves the memory, and if they are obliged sometimes to write descriptions of
engines, utensils, or any complex pieces of workmanship, they will more fully apprehend the
necessity of an expedient which so happily supplies the defects of language, and enables the eye to
receive what cannot be conveyed to the mind any other way.”— Preface to the Preceptor.
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. : 3

instruction of youth entrusted to them, I am confident would find it rather
an assistance, as it might be given either as an amusement or as a reward
of merit; and, in order to put it in the power of any master to instruct, I
shall endeavour to proceed in the simplest manner, and with as few
diagrams as the subject renders necessary. >

MEASUREMENT.

To teach the eye to measure the distance between one object and another
ought to be the first proceeding ; the forms of the lines which bound these
spaces, the shapes contained or excluded by such lines ought to follow,
for as the eye must have something tangible to work upon, it ought to be
simple and evident. I should therefore commence by a series of dots or
points, first two, then three, four, and five; also the angles made by
drawing lines from each several point. A pair of compasses will enable
any one to compare their correctness with the original, for until a pupil
can accomplish pretty correctly these preliminaries, it is useless to hasten
to more complicated matters.

 

FORM.

Aru forms containing more or less portions of a triangle, square, or
circle, the eye must be taught to comprehend and imitate such objects in
their simple forms, in order to fit it for the purpose of seeing such
qualities when mixed and combined with more complicated figures.
4 AN ESSAY ON THE

 

Fig. 2. Fig. 8. ; Fig. 4.

0

I would now recommend these forms to be cut out in paper, and
viewed in various situations, being set upright, and also viewed in a
horizontal position, that the eye may become thoroughly acquainted with
the figures in all their variety of shapes, and with the causes of their

alterations in form.

Fig. 5. Fig. 6. Fig.7.

I would also recommend the pupil to draw from a cube and a ball,
that the eye may become early accustomed to draw from the real objects,
in place of flat surfaces, which will give him a power in drawing from
nature unattainable by any other method.

PERSPECTIVE.

Many have been deterred from attempting to learn Drawing from the
dread of encountering so formidable a department of the art as Perspec-
tive ; whereas, if it is stripped of its geometrical and mathematical
intricacies, it will be found a very simple matter, and easy of compre-
hension®. Perspective, as the word denotes (being a compound of the

2 « Long calculations or complex diagrams affright the timorous and unexperienced from a
second view, but if we have skill sufficient to analyse them into simple principles, it will be
discovered that our fear was groundless. Divide and conquer is a principle equally just in
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. . 5

Latin words per, through, and specto, to view), is the art of drawing the
several objects as they appear when traced upon a glass, or transparent
medium; the art of drawing in perspective, therefore, is nothing more
than representing the various objects subject to those laws which regulate
their appearance in nature’.

science as in policy. Complication is a species of confederacy which, while it continues united,
bids defiance to the most active and vigorous intellect, but of which every member is separately
weak, and which may therefore be quickly subdued if it can be broken. The chief art of learning,
as Locke has observed, is to attempt but little at a time; the widest excursions of fhe mind are
made by short flights frequently repeated.”—D:-. Johnson.

3 « It was in the sixteenth century that Perspective, a new branch of optics, was revived, or
rather invented ; this is more a business of geometry than optics, and is indeed more an art than
a science ; but since it is derived from optical principles, and as the use of it is to give pleasure to
the eye by a just representation of natural objects, I would do wrong not to give a short account
of its rise and progress. The art of perspective owes its birth to painting, and particularly to that
branch of it which was employed in the decorations of the theatre, where landscapes were
principally introduced, and which would have looked unnatural and horrid if the size of the
objects had not been pretty nearly proportioned to their distance from the eye. We learn from
Vitruvius that Agatharchus, instructed by Eschylus, was the first who wrote upon the subject, and
that afterwards the principles of this art were more distinctly taught by Democritus and
Anaxagoras, the disciples of Agatharchus. Of the theory of this art, as described by them, we
know nothing, since none of their writings have escaped the general wreck that was made of
ancient literature in the dark ages of Europe. However, the revival of painting in Italy was
accompanied with a revival of this art. The first person who attempted to lay down the rules of
perspective was Pietro del Borgo, an Italian. He supposed objects to be placed beyond a
transparent tablet, and endeavoured to trace the images which rays of light emitted from them
would make upon it; but we do not know what success he had in this attempt, because the book
which he wrote upon the subject is not now extant. It is, however, very much commended by
the famous Egnazio Dante; and upon the principles of Borgo, Albert Durer constructed a
machine, by which he could trace the perspective appearance of objects. Balthazar Perussi
studied the writings of Borgo, and endeavoured to make them more intelligible ; to him we owe
the discovery of points of distance, to which all lines that make an angle of forty-five degrees with
the ground line are drawn. A little time after, Guido Ubaldi, another Italian, found that all lines
that are parallel to one another, if they be inclined to the ground line, converge to some point in
the horizontal line, and that through this point also a line drawn from the eye, parallel to them,
will pass. These principles put together enabled him to make out a pretty complete theory of
perspective.”— Priestley’s Optics. :

Since then the Jesuits’ Perspective, Brook Taylor's, Malton's, and others, have rendered the
most difficult and intricate diagrams clear and comprehensible.
6 : AN ESSAY ON THE

"LINES.

Aww lines are subject to an alteration in their appearance, except two, a
perpendicular line and a horizontal one; and lines are more or less
diminished in length according as they depart from the parallel of the
base line ; for example, if a person holds a pen or a stick parallel with the
eyes, and gradually turns it round, he will see it gradually become
shorter, until it assumes a mere spot when it is placed with the point
directly towards the eve, as it then covers what is termed the point of
sieht, being a point immediately opposite the observer’s eye, and upon the
horizontal line, which is always of the height of the eyes of the spectator;
and as it is turned round it will describe innumerable points along the
whole line ; these are termed accidental points, and vary according as the
lines run more or less at right angles from the base line. Lines also vary
according as they are situated above or below the observers eye; for
instance, if a book is held up horizontally before the eye, the under cover
will be seen when held above, and the lines of its sides appear to run

Fig. 8.

Horizontal ~m-m-{&

 

down to a point on the. horizontal line. When underneath the eye, the

upper cover will be seen, and the lines describing the sides appear to rise
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 7

ap to the horizontal line’. Before proceeding farther, for the better
understanding the several lines already mentioned, and showing how they
are affected, I shall give an explanatory figure.

Fig. 9.

Horizontal line.

 

 

 

 

The above represents a cupboard with folding doors: being placed imme-
diately before the eye, the sides appear to rise and descend to the point of
sight, A; also the door, B, from its being opened at right angles with the
base line, while the lines of the door, c, appear to run to the accidental
point, p; this point will vary its situation according as the door is more
or fo opened, which explains what are termed accidental points.

DIMINUTION.

Avr objects diminish in size as the spectator departs from them, hence two
parallel lines seem to approach each other as they recede from the eye ;
and this diminution will appear more or less sudden, according as they
commence from a near point, or one more removed: for example, if the

4 The truth of this may be also clearly proved if a person holds up a picce of glass on which a
series of lines are drawn, radiating from the centre; for by looking through it either up a
street, avenue, or long room, he will perceive those lines of the pavement, buildings, &c. which are
at right angles with the base line, fall in with and cover many of the lines so drawn on the glass,
for as they all run to the point of sight, they will of necessity converge, since the spaces between
them diminish as they recede from the spectator.
8 AN ESSAY ON THE

hand is held near the eye, it will intercept a larger space than when held

out at arm’s length.

Objects diminish in an increased ratio until removed to a certain
distance, when the diminution appears less violent; this may be made
apparent by the following diagram.

Fig. 10.

 

 

B

 

Let the line a represent the spectator, and the line B represent a line of
pavement, the circular line ¢, which cuts through the visual rays® as they
approach the eye, will show the diminished ratio as the squares become
more distant. And as they have to be represented upon a plain sarface,
their proportions will be as the divisions on p, they will therefore present

the following appearance to the eye.
Fig, 11.

 

 

 

 

 

When, therefore, objects are commenced too near, they appear out of

¢ Imaginary lines reaching from various objects to the eye.
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 9

proportion with the other objects in the work, and though true according
to rule, appear false, with regard to their effect upon the eye of the
spectator. This is termed violent or sudden perspective, to avoid which
a point of distance is chosen that will look agreeable. The breadth of the
squares being determined by the diagonal line running to the point of
distance where it cuts through the lines of the pavement, which run to the
point of sight, the farther this point is removed the more level the ground
will appear; as represented in Fig. 12.

Point of sight. Fig. 12.

Point of
distance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANGLES.

Waar we have hitherto said more immediately applies to parallel perspec-
tive ; so named from all the lines which intersect those running to the point
of sight, being parallel with the base line. When, however, a square, or
any cubical form, is viewed at the angle, the two sides will not appear to
vanish in the point of sight, but run to two points on the horizontal line,
called vanishing points; and this mode of treating the subject is called
angular perspective. Now these two points are always at an equal distance
from each other, which is one-fourth of a circle, therefore if one is deter-
mined upon, the other is easily found ; for as one departs from the point
of sight, the other appears to approach it, as any one may perceive by
turning round a sheet of paper, or a book, from a situation where one side
is parallel with the base line, until it is viewed upon the angle; the
c
10 AN ESSAY ON THE

cause of this perhaps may be more clearly explained by the following

figure.

Fig. 13.

 

 

Suppose the circle to represent the line of the horizon, which is the
true representation of it when viewed out at sea, or where no obstruction
intercepts it, for then the water coming in contact with the sky, presents a
circular horizontal line. If a person, therefore, was placed at », and
looking to the point a, the line ¢ would be parallel with the base, being at
right angles with a, and consequently occupying one fourth of a circle;
but if he turned in the direction of 8, then A and ¢ would become vanishing
points, though still at equal distances upon the horizontal line, and would
appear thus,

Fig, 14.

In a panorama, which is a circular canvass, viewed from the centre,
this mode of measuring the various points is found to agree perfectly
with the natural representation of objects.

de
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 11

CIRCLES.

Ir any one takes a drinking glass or cup in his hand, with the mouth of it

towards him, and gradually turn it from him, carefully watching it passing
through all the elliptical forms, until the brim becomes a straight line in
appearance, he will have a correct idea how it is that columns, or other
circular objects, assume an oval shape at the top or bottom, according as
they are below or above the eye. Or if he holds the cup with the side
downwards, aud turns the mouth gradually round towards him, he will per-
ceive the cause why arches, or circular gateways, appear elliptical in a side
view. It arises from parts of the circle being more foreshortened than
other parts ; that is to say, those parts which come more in the line of the
visual rays. For example, let a circle be divided into equal parts, and

Fig. 15.

== my,

= Bi

 

suppose the eye of the spectator placed at a, those parts which lie in the
12 : AN ESSAY ON THE

direction of the rays of vision, B, occupy less space on the line, ¢, which
cuts through them, and when drawn upon a flat surface would present an
appearance like p, Fig. 16. Or imagine a line drawn through the centre,
parallel with the base line, and which accordingly retains its exact length,
those portions of the circular line which lie in the same direction are
less diminished ; while the other parts, lying in an opposite direction,
naturally become subject to the greatest degree of foreshortening, as in
Fig. 17.

Having now gone through the several forms of a triangle, square, and
circle, I shall here recapitulate the influence of Perspective upon their
several lines. We have seen that lines are shortened according as they
fall in the direction of the visual rays, and retain their original length
only when they cut them at right angles; now this takes place wherever
the objects are placed, whether near the foreground or in the distance ;
the eye of the spectator being a point from which imaginary lines radiate
in any direction, and which are termed rays of vision, and along which
imaginary lines all objects are received upon the retina’; and though in
painting we are obliged to delineate every thing upon a flat surface, yet
properly speaking, the line which cuts through these rays at equal
distance from the eye is circular. We have seen also, that all objects
diminish in size according to their distance from the spectator: and
that this diminution is more or less sudden according to the closeness

Kepler, who in 1600 was the discoverer of the seat of vision on the retina, says, as to the
images of objects being inverted in the eye, it is the business of the mind to trace the progress of
them through the pupil, and refer them to those places of the objects themselves from which they
seem to have proceeded.
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 13

of the spectator to the object; upon this matter the taste and judgement
of the artist is shown, because though true according to nature, yet it
may be represented with a very bad effect, and one figure of a group, or
one column of a row, may be rendered preposterously large, so as to
offend the eye, which, though at all times pleased with the truth, yet will
be more delighted when that truth is rendered agreeable’. When this
distortion takes place in rlity, we naturally change our position, until
the eye is satisfied; but in painting, the whole being a flat surface, we

change our position in vain.

We have also seen that all horizontal surfaces of objects diminish in
breadth as they approach the horizontal line, and regain their true width
when they depart from it, either by being immediately above the eye, or
directly under it, as may be perceived by the following diagram.

Fig. 18.

Horizontal line.

 

 

 

? Reynolds, in a note upon Fresnoy’s Art of Painting, says, ¢ the rules of perspective, as well
as all other rules, may be injudiciously applied, and it must be acknowledged that a misapplication
of them is but too frequently found even in the works of the most considerable artists. It is not
uncommon to see a figure on the foreground represented near twice the size of another which is
14 AN ESSAY ON THE

Now this rule applies to all flat surfaces, whether approaching the
horizontal line, in consequence of their distance from the spectator, or
from being placed at different degrees of height; for if they reach the eye
in the direction of an angle of forty-five degrees, which is equidistant
between a perpendicular -and a horizontal line, they will be diminished
in apparent width exactly one half; if they are viewed at a greater or
smaller angle, they will increase or diminish inthe same degree. This is
also the cause why surfaces of objects whose lines are at right angles with
their base line increase in length as they depart from the point of sight,
either to the left hand or to the right, as may be seen by turning the
diagram round, and making the line on which the eye of the spectator is
placed a horizontal line in place of a perpendicular. This may appear
too much a repetition of what has already been said respecting the cause
of objects becoming foreshortened ; but as it is the base on which all rules
for true drawing are founded, it must be viewed in every position, that the
student may thoroughly comprehend it.

When the mind of the student is informed of the various causes
operating upon lines so as to change their appearance to the eye, let him
look abroad upon natural objects, and contemplate the various changes
produced in their forms by their situation, so that his eye may become
familiar with those alterations in form, and his mind enriched by a variety
of examples; thus making nature furnish him with a thousand diagrams,

supposed to be removed but a few feet behind it; this, though true according to rule, will appear
monstrous. This error proceeds from placing the point of distance too near the point of sight, by
which means the diminution of objects is so sudden as to appear unnatural, unless you stand so
near the picture as the point of distance requires, which would be too near for the eye to
comprehend the whole picture; whereas if the point of distance is removed so far as the spectator
may be supposed to stand in order to see commodiously, and take within his view the whole, the
figures behind would then suffer under no such violent diminution.”
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 15

which he ought to draw and write down his remarks upon; he will by this
method not only educate his eye, but improve his mind at the same time:
the study of drawing being intimately connected with observation and
reflection. :

Having now endeavoured to explain the leading principles of perspec-
tive, I shall proceed to put them into practical application; but I must
premise, that it is an essential requisite before proceeding to delineate
any object, that we make ourselves thoroughly acquainted with its general
character, otherwise the eye cannot convey to us its image distinctly ;
neither can the hand render it with energy or precision. Let us take, for
example, the human face, the component parts of which every one is
acquainted with, yet the niceties of distinction in the several features few
eyes can perceive, or render with perfect accuracy. This oftener arises
from a want of due examination, so as to be able to guide the eye, than
from any deficiency in the eye itself; hence we perceive in the drawings
of children and rude nations, a profile with the eye represented as if
viewed in front, or a full view of the face with the nose as if seen in
profile. To avoid such incongruities, therefore, the eye must be taught
to see the changes which take place, and the mind be made acquainted
with the causes of such change®. In illustration of which, if we take a
plaster cast, or mask of the face, such as is represented in Fig. 19, and

° Mengs, speaking of design, which he defines as comprehending the outline, or the circum-
ference of things, including the proportion of their length, breadth, and form, says, ¢ this part is
composed of two principal divisions, the knowledge of the proper form of a thing, and the manner
of seeing it; the one depending upon geometry, the other upon optics: the first implies a
knowledge of their optical appearance from the view presented to the sight; this pictorial geometry
1s necessary to enable the student to delineate with correctness and feeling, and which can only be
acquired by careful habit of seeing and drawing with attention. This is the fundamental basis of
design, without which it will be impossible to render theoretic knowledge available: for, as in
painting, we must express the forms which we see in nature as they present themselves to our
sight, and as their beauty depends upon that little more or less which decides their charagter, so a
knowledge of that variation enables us to give a true representation.”
16 AN ESSAY ON THE

draw a line down the centre, from the forehead to the chin, we perceive,
when viewed directly in front, that it presents a straight perpendicular
line, as in No. 1, though actually full of undulations from passing over the

Fig. 19. .
No. 2. 3 No. 3.

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entire profile, but as these projections and recedings of the line are
immediately under each other, they reach the eye in the same manner as
if a string was held up before the mask in a perpendicular direction; if,
however, the mask is viewed when turned round half way between a
profile and front face, as in No. 2, those parts of the line which recede or
project will assume exactly one half of their true character and projection ;
while in the profile, No. 3, the line acquires its exact similitude, from its
being undisturbed by those laws which regulate perspective. If we were
to proceed and examine every feature in the same manner, we should find
that the same laws lead us into a correct view of the alterations which take
place upon every alteration in position. To explain this more clearly, if
we take the mask and hold it with the chin towards us, so as to observe
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 17

the curve on which the mouth is placed, as in Fig. 20, we can easily
perceive that a person viewing it in the direction of the lines a B, which

Fig. 20.

  

  
 

ZR - TIN
NS x f

would give him a view of the face between a front and profile (or what
is termed by artists a three quarter), would see one side of the lip of its
entire length, while the other side, lying in the direction of the visual
rays, would be reduced to a very small space, as may be perceived by its
breadth on the ideal line, ¢, which cuts such rays at right angles. Such,
also, is the case with the nose, in the same view of the face; one side
remains undiminished, while the other side forms a mere outline, being

seen entirely under the influence of perspective.

In finishing this part of the Essay, I cannot conclude without reminding
the pupil of the extreme importance of the very first preliminaries of the
work, teaching the eye the power of measuring the distances between
several points, as it is the basis of correct drawing. In drawing a head,
if the points where the eyes, nose, and mouth ought to be placed can be
correctly put down, one of the greatest difficulties will be conquered, and

D
18 AN ESSAY ON THE

the detail of which each feature is composed rendered easy and effective’,
and the same remark applies to the power of combining the several parts
of the largest assemblage of objects. The eye marks the distance of one
or two leading points, which serve as a station to start from, and by a
careful combination of exact dimensions moves over the whole space with
a species of ideal trigonometry. Being also educated to observe the
variations of the several lines according as they are more or less under the
influence of perspective acting upon their form or size, a clear defined
outline will be the result; not only unattainable by any other method,
but even if attained, unaccompanied by the power of judging of its
correctness.

The power of seeing objects correctly is gained by a careful exami-
nation of their general appearance, and of the component parts which
produce such general appearance; it is necessary, therefore, before
proceeding to delineate any object, to observe it attentively in the first
instance, to examine it as a whole, so as to be convinced of its great
leading features, the various shapes the principal lights take, also the
forms of the darks, what occasions them, and why they are darker at one
place than at another; the size and shape of the smaller component parts,
where they are congregated most, and where the greatest vacuum is
situated, where portions are seen entire, and where they are intercepted.
Without the eye taking cognizance of all these befdre proceeding, it will

® Reynolds, speaking of Frank Hals, says, “in his works the portrait painter may observe
the composition of a face, the features well put together, as the painters express it, from whence
that strong marked character of individual nature, which is so remarkable in his portraits, and is
not found in an equal degree in any other painter. If he had joined to this most difficult part of
the art a patience in finishing what he had so correctly planned, he might justly have claimed the
place which Vandyck, all things considered, so justly holds as the first of portrait painters.” In
another place he says, «the likeness of a portrait consists more in the preserving the general
effect of the countenance than in the most minute finishing of the features, or any of the particular
parts.” —Sixth and Fourteenth Discourses.
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 19

be impossible to give a just representation, either in the detail or in the
general effect; it will, moreover, have a prejudicial influence, in as much

Fig, 21.

 

ra TT pe A Lt mere

rE Ts er

SEES eee eeemm ari,

a ce

as it will lead to a style of drawing without feeling, character, or decision.
One reason why the drawings of eminent artists are superior to all others
is the great intelligence every line indicates, the smallest touch being
expressive of the character; another advantage this previous contem-
plation of the subject has, is the storing of the mind with materials for future
occasions, when it is necessary to have recourse to the memory. Knowledge
in drawing, as well as in other sciences, is having ready a mass of materials,

10 To illustrate this, we may have recourse to Titian’s bunch of grapes, which we will suppose
placed so as to receive a broad light and shadow. Here, though each individual grape on the
light side has its light, and shadow, and reflection, yet altogether they make but one broad mass
of light : the slightest sketch, therefore, where this breadth is preserved, will have a better effect,
will have more the appearance of coming from a master hand, that is, in other words, will have
more the characteristic and generale of nature, than the most laborious finishing, where this

breadth is lost or neglected.— Reynolds on Fresnoy, note 40.
20 AN ESSAY ON THE

which we can apply to the subject in hand. Drawing much improves us
as little as reading much, unless we contemplate and understand as we
proceed: those who have acquired a readiness of hand without correctness
and study, have but the shadow instead of the substance; and though to
the unlearned their works have the appearance of excellence, yet to
educated eyes they seem in the light of forgeries, or like the language of
him who talks speciously of a subject he does not understand. After the
hand has once acquired this delusive dexterity, the student becomes con-
tented, and unable to execute any thing correctly in future. Sir Joshua
Reynolds remarks, that ¢ young men have not only this frivolous ambition
of being thought masters of execution inciting them on one hand, but also
their natural sloth tempting them on the other. They are terrified at
the prospect before them of the toil required to attain exactness. The
impetuosity of youth is disgusted at the slow approaches of a regular
siege, and desires, from mere impatience of labour, to take the citadel
by storm. They wish to find some shorter path to excellence, and hope
to obtain the reward of eminence by other means than those which the
indispensable rules of art have prescribed. They mast, therefore, be told
again and again, that labour is the only price of solid fame, and that
whatever their force of genius may be, there is no easy method of
becoming a good painter.” In another place he justly observes, that
“the first business of the student is to be able to give a true represen-
tation of whatever object presents itself, just as it appears to the eye, so
as to amount to a deception; and the geometric rules of perspective are
included in this study. This is the language of the art; which appears
the more necessary to be taught early, from the natural repugnance which
the mind has to such mechanical labour, after it has acquired a relish for
its higher departments.” Also in his first Discourse he says, “a lively
and what is called a masterly handling of the chalk or pencil, are, it must
be confessed, captivating qualities to young minds, and become of course
the objects of their ambition. They endeavour to imitate these dazzling
excellencies, which they will find no great labour in attaining. After
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 21

much time spent in these frivolous pursuits, the difficulty will be to
retreat, but it will be then too late; and there is scarce an instance of
return to scrupulous labor, after the mind has been debauched and
deceived by this fallacious mastery.” We find in many of the drawings
of Michael Angelo, Raffaelle, and even Rubens, some portions carefully
studied and finished with the greatest correctness from the model, some
difficult passage which required labour and finish to overcome, or some
portion of great beauty, which nothing but fidelity could represent.
From the contemplation of the works of the great painters, we perceive a
comparative dryness and stiffness in their earlier productions, compared
with their later pictures, we therefore are naturally led to conclude that
we can accomplish by a shorter method what they have shown us to have
been their aim; breadth, grandeur, and freedom of execution: it will be
found, however, that though a few strokes by the hand of a master often
express in his later works as much as the most careful finishing of his
early pictures, yet that arises entirely from his having acquired, by long
practice, a mastery over his materials, and, by long contemplation, a

11 Freedom of execution, or masterly handling, as it is termed, is often taught to pupils that
they may appear to be making great strides in the art. The master frequently finds his pupil too
dull, or too inattentive, to acquire a correct knowledge of his subject, therefore gives him the
power of displaying an appearance of dexterity. To an uneducated eye, a sketch of a tree, for
example, may be hit off by the pupil with sufficient resemblance to satisfy all parties ; the parents
see nothing in the original different from the copy, for that which appears to them but a scribbled
appearance, in the original indicates to the eye of an artist foliage, branches, and shadows ;
thus their education seems finished before it is in reality begun, and they leave school without the
power of drawing a line. In after life, when they wish to delineate objects correctly, they find this
dexterity rather an incumbrance; the eye, previously debauched, is incapable of receiving a true
impression ; while the hand, necessarily confined to the several spaces allotted to the different
forms, feels cramped and awkward, and obliges them to throw down the pencil in despair. In other
branches of science we find this dexterity checked in its infancy. What would be thought of a
child who had been taught to run over the keys of a pianoforte without any definite meaning? or
of a master who encouraged the scribbling of a boy to imitate a free hand? I remember an
artist who always tock an opportunity of disconcerting the pretensions of such precocious geniuses
in drawing, by laying down a key or a pair of snuffers for them to delineate.
292 AN ESSAY ON THE

perfect knowledge of what are the leading features and peculiar character

of every object.

Notwithstanding the foregoing remarks, careful drawing and minute
finishing are to be regulated in a great measure by the nature of the work
in hand, otherwise these qualities, excellent in themselves, are liable to be
caught at, as an excuse for doing something which requires the least
exertion of the mind. Though it is absolutely necessary to be able to draw
correctly whatever may be placed before you, yet it does not follow that
the same labour is to be carried into the subordinate parts, otherwise a
long portion of life might be spent in delineating the intricate ramifications
of trees and plants, or in mapping out with painful fidelity the hedges and
ditches of a whole county. The correctness of which it is necessary
to be possessed is to be employed in rendering with accuracy the vital
portions of all works, frequently leaving the minor passages to be filled up
from our general knowledge and practice. How vexatious is it to see
young men attending Academies and Museums, month after month,
drawing from antique statues, in place of bestowing their whole care in
giving the outline and form correctly, waste their youth in industrious
idleness, in representing the flaws and excoriations of the mutilated
marble, or in smoothly stippling in a surrounding mass of background!

AERIAL PERSPECTIVE.

Linear Perspective being that part of drawing which is produced by the
means of lines only, Aérial Perspective is made use of to designate those
changes which take place in the appearance of objects, either as to their
receding or advancing, from the interposition of the atmosphere; there-
fore to the application of this quality the artist is mainly indebted for the
power of giving his work the space and retiring character of nature: but
though the eye is at all times pleased and gratified with the power of
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 23

viewing distant prospects, yet objects require a certain definition to lead
the imagination, without perplexing and troubling the mind. Neither are
we pleased by sudden jumps from the foreground to the extreme distance.
The eye is more delighted, therefore, in being carried over a gradual
diminution of many intervening objects, or in searching for outlets
through screens of intervening trees or clumps of buildings; such perfo-
rations assisting by their framework the distant tone of colour with which
the most remote objects are nevertheless sufficiently embodied out. Now
though the interposition of the atmosphere gives us the means of producing
the effect of distance in a picture, yet the mind requires a certain variety
to hold it in amusement, and a certain appearance of substance to give a
reality to the scene; on the other hand, when the atmosphere is deprived
of the means of refraction, by reason of its clearness, a false representation
is produced, and objects appear nearer than they are in point of truth (as
may be perceived in many scenes in Switzerland), and the eye is deprived
of the gratification of viewing the outlines of objects through a variety of
strengths. When we reflect that the art of painting is an attempt to
deceive the eye, in representing upon a perpendicular surface the variety
of planes upon which the several objects in nature are placed ; when we
reflect that the painter is deprived of many collateral means of assisting
the deception, it requires his whole knowledge to be employed in working
out the result, lines possessing distinctness of form, bulk, and minutize,
light and dark to give them their full force upon the eye, colours unasso-
ciated with atmospheric influence, with the reverses of all these assisting
by contrast. ‘We must admit that a knowledge of aérial perspective

2 De la Hire enumerates five circumstances which assist us in judging of the distance of
objects, namely, their apparent magnitude, the strength of the colouring, the direction of the two
eyes, the parallax of the objects, and the distinctness of their small parts. Painters, he says, can
take advantage only of the two first mentioned circumstances, and therefore pictures can never
perfectly deceive the eye; but in the decorations of theatres, they in some measure make use of
them all, different planes being made use of, and different degrees of distinctness.—Accidens de
la Vue, p. 358.
24 AN ESSAY ON THE

embraces in its effects nearly the whole art of pourtraying the retiring and
advancing of objects. In the works of Albert Cuyp and Claude Lorraine
we have many examples of this quality in perfection, where the interpo-
sition of the air, whether of a yellow or blue colour, imbues every object
with its just proportion according to its relative distance from the fore-
ground, and the near objects are strengthened by black or red or other
colours less in unison with the general tone of the picture; also in the
foreground of many of the works of Cuyp and others, the student may
* perceive the shadows under the leaves and stones in the foreground
broad, black, and of large decided forms. Now, though this is the
general characteristic of this department, we see in many works of the
best artists objects very much diminished in size according to their true
perspective distance, yet possessing a force of colour little removed from
the tints of the objects in the foreground, neither does such harshness
prevent them keeping their situations; this arises from the very small
space they occupy upon the retina, forming so diminished a picture in the
eye, even when painted of the size of nature”. In historical compositions,
the most distant objects form often a portion of the story; they are,
therefore, to be pronounced with that strength which will enable them to
assist the painter in producing the desired effect on the mind of the
spectator, nor does truth appear at all violated, provided they are not

1 Speaking of the retina, Dr. Roget says, few spectacles are more calculated to raise our
admiration than this delicate picture, which nature has with such exquisite art, and with the finest
touches of her pencil, spread over the smooth canvass of this subtle nerve; a picture which,
though scarcely occupying a space of half an inch in diameter, contains the delineation of a
boundless scene of earth and sky, full of all kinds of objects, some at rest and others in motion,
yet all accurately represented as to their forms, colours, and positions, and followed in all their
changes without the least interference, irregularity, or confusion. Every one of those countless
and stupendous orbs of fire, whose light, after traversing immeasurable regions of space, at length
reaches our eye, is collected on its narrow curtain into a luminous focus of inconceivable minute-
ness, and yet this almost infinitismal point shall be sufficient to convey to the mind, through the
medium of the optic nerve and brain, a knowledge of the existence and position of the far distant
luminary from which that light has emanated.—Dr. Roget's Bridgewater Treatise.
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 25

made out with too great precision : in history and the higher walks of the
art, where the greatest liberties are allowed, it may be less necessary to
notice the conduct of the best artists in this particular, but we often find
it even in landscapes and common representations of natural effects : how
often have we observed wood scenes and others prevented from being
heavy by the introduction of a few dark touches, and breadth of colour
and space produced by the small dark of a figure. When, however, the
effect of hazy sunshine (such as we see in the works of Cuyp) is to be
represented, the most distant objects ought to be rendered with the greatest
delicacy ; for the whole atmosphere being then filled with the refraction of
light, the middle ground objects appear to be made out with a uniform
tone of half-tint. Agrial perspective, therefore, though understood to be
subject to rules, is more completely under the control of the painter than
lineal perspective.

I have noticed elsewhere" how much in reality objects in motion
attract the eye of the spectator, with what intelligence the peculiar walk
of those we know is communicated even at great distances: this is one
reason out of many why we are allowed to pronounce parts of a picture
with more strength than other parts; as the mind of the spectator must
be arrested with the same force it feels itself acted upon under natural

effects.

The application of aerial perspective, therefore, enables the artist to
keep the several objects in their respective situations, and give a natural
reality to the most complicated scene. A row of columns will diminish
according as they are drawn true to lineal perspective, but it is to this
quality of light and shade that they are indebted for their effect upon the

4 In Practical Hints upon Light and Shade.
26 AN ESSAY ON THE

eye. Also two angles may occupy the same space on the retina, but by

Fig. 22.

 

this power one is made to approach and the other to recede, so that one
is diminished to the size of a tent, the other increased to a pyramid.

Fig. 23.

 

In Prate I. Fig. 1, the Canal of Dort, by Cuyp, in the Bridgewater
collection, we not only find an excellent example of aerial perspective,
but also of that assemblage of lines produced by the repetition of forms,
which assists the receding of objects from their diminution, the doubling
of the lines in producing richness of effect, and that harmony which arises
from one line counteracting another in its direction, giving thereby a
general balance to the whole. The effect of aerial perspective upon the
eye being mainly attributable to the application of shadow to the several
outlines, thereby giving them their approaching or receding character, such
arrangement is to be chosen which will give them this quality, and which
Plate 2,

Fig. 1.

 

 

       

  

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So
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—_———

   

   

   

   

mae

ee eee i

 

      

   

= ———
==" 7" =

  

              
     

= =
= = — |
; = =a

    

 

 

A. Cuyp.

 

2 2

 

 

 

L Burne.

Litched by

 
 
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 7

is to be afterwards repeated in smaller portions through the piece. In
accidental combinations in nature, we often perceive this arrangement, (as
in Fig. 2, Pr. I.) which ought to be sketched and reflected upon as one of
the great means we have of enabling us to cope with her under the
disadvantage of working upon a flat surface. We also find aerial
perspective indebted in its effect to the collection of many parts, whose
shadows form a mass of half tint, their distance bringing them in apparent
contact, owing to their diminutions; while their softness gives them
apparent distance, owing to their want of minute parts, as in Fig. 3,
be. 1

To go through on every occasion with a variety of examples, would, I
feel persuaded, only perplex the student; if he comprehends any rule, it
is easy to extend it; to those who understand slowly, reflection on one
or two diagrams will be of more service than educating the eye without
impressing the mind. The real trouble in life, in all professions, is the
trouble of thinking ; to escape which, the most laborious trifling is caught
at, but if fairly grappled with in the outset, every thing becomes clear,
and, in after life, that which is a continual annoyance to many becomes
one of the greatest gratifications. Why is it, that to the eye of an artist
the drawing of a complicated plan is rendered clear at a glance, while to
others it requires a multitude of figures of reference and a long explana-
tion? It is, that his mind has been educated in continual intercourse with
the eye, and the constant habit of reflecting on cause and effect has
rendered a numerous assemblage of lines intelligible to him, which to
others uneducated appear like a species of hieroglyphic.
28 AN ESSAY ON THE

CHIARO OSCURGO.

CBIARO 0SCURO, OF light and shade, when applied to the management of a
picture, takes a range too wide to be explained without the assistance of a
multitude of examples. and even then it would be very imperfect ; so endless
and multifarious are the changes it assumes, being entirely at the caprice
of the painter. Paul Veronese, when questioned about the propriety of
accounting for a shadow, answered, “ a cloud is passing ;” and Reynolds
says, “ the proprieties of a painter are superior to all other considerations,”
and “ he whose aim is to touch the passions must not be too fastidious in
pandering to an uneducated eye. The effect is to be produced at any
sacrifice; but the painter who accomplishes his purpose with the least
violation of truth shows the greatest command of his materials.” This it
is which places the works of the great painters beyond the comprehension
of the ignorant; they only can judge of external matters, and are pleased
when the eye alone is gratified; whereas the aim is the homage of the
educated mind. “ Leonardo da Vinci,” Reynolds remarks, “ recommends
the light side of a group to be brought off a dark ground, and the dark
side opposed to a light ground ; this, no doubt, was the practice when the
arts were in their infancy, but had he lived to see what has been produced
by the contrary method, he would have altered his opinion.” If relief or
distinctness is-the aim of the artist, it is certainly the best; but if breadth
of effect, he will best accomplish it by combining light with light, and
losing the darks of the group in a still darker background.

Light and shade, therefore, independent of its effects in rendering
objects more distinct and intelligible, has other properties, and those of a
higher quality, when painting has to take a station in the ranks along
with music and poetry, these properties are the means of giving breadth
and grandeur of form, the effects of bustle or repose, and that peculiar
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 1 © 90)

emphasis which particular portions of a composition require. Now in
many situations, where such qualities are requisite, nature offers often
little more than a suggestion, and upon such hint the artist is obliged to
lay the foundation of his whole scheme, and work it out according to the
command he has of his materials, or the quantity he is in possession of.
Some compositions being entirely addressed to the mind, while others are
confined to a mere gratification of the eye, a greater or less liberty is
allowed to be taken with the arrangement of the light and shade,
according to the nature of the work in hand. Light and shade, or the
conduct of the chiaro oscuro of any work, is therefore entirely given up to
the control of the artist, to be used for the express purpose of rendering
his design complete; where he departs too much from the arrangements
observable in nature, it becomes capricious, and loses its effect upon the
eye of the spectator; when, on the other hand, the every day occurrences
are adopted, his work becomes common and feeble. Reynolds says
justly, when we are required to paint broad, it is not understood that we
should paint broader than nature; but objects are to be so placed, that
there is scarcely any limit to their breadth of light and shade. In the
earlier stages of painting, relief and distinctness were the only requisites
sought after”. If a round object could be represented upon a flat surface,

15 In the early stages of the art, we find the outlines of the Egyptian and Grecian figures and
ornaments upon the walls marked with a broad, deep, sharp cut indentation, which, receiving a
strong shadow, gave great distinctness. In the next stage, we find that the figures were a little
raised, so as to form what is termed basso relievo; and that they were not rounded gradually
from the ground, but cut perpendicularly to the surface. In the more advanced state of the art,
when the figures assumed a greater projection, and became what is termed alto relievo, where
some portions are entirely cut through from the surface, as may be seen in the Elgin marbles, the
outlines of those figures less advanced were rounded off, so as to receive less shadow, and thereby
give greater value to those in high relief: we also find an attention to the effects of light and shade
influence their management of single statues, in the construction of their buildings, and even in
the forms of the most trifling utensils. We thus see that the gratification of the eye is one of the
chief sources from which the taste of a country emanates, and its perpetuity is in proportion as it is
founded upon the great truths observed in the general character of nature, and its influence on
30 AN ESSAY ON THE

or any substance so expressed as to induce the spectator to put forth his
hand to touch it, as a test of the deception, the height of the artist’s
ambition was attained ; but as the art advanced, it was found that painting
could achieve more honourable results, the mind was to be acted upon,
without stopping to gratify the eye at the threshold of entrance. Coreggio
seems to have been one of the first who employed chiaro oscuro in its
greatest extent, to give to his compositions that dreamy character which
removes them from the “ignorant present,” and which is the result of
breadth, and melting of the outline in the tint which surrounds it. If we
examine, for example, a room filled with several objects, in open day, the
distinctness with which they all present themselves to the eye not only
perplexes it in finding a resting place, from each claiming attention, but
the quickness with which we are carried from one object to another (from
a single glance being sufficient to satisfy our curiosity) destroys that
pleasure the mind receives from contemplation; whereas the same scene
viewed in the evening, by the light of a fire or candle, exhibits effects
more pleasing to the eye and gratifying to the mind, which are entirely
owing to the breadth of light and shade; fewer objects present themselves
to the eye, and these few acquiring novelty in their forms, from the
shadows floating about; others entirely buried in obscurity, amuse the
imagination in tracing them into form; while the large blank spaces
present vacuums for the eye to rest and repose upon. Independent of
these results, we also know that objects acquire grandeur from their

succeeding ages, by its adoption by men of science capable of appreciating its value. Even in the
dark ages, when truth and simplicity were overlaid and hid by a mass of ornament and an
assemblage of minute parts, a combination of beautiful arrangement has arisen out of such
Gothic absurdities, which has given to painting, sculpture, and architecture a fulness of effect
unattainable by any other method. The endless and fatiguing portions of minutiz, which lay
scattered over the surface, have been collected, and arranged in masses of richness and repose;
the spottiness of strong, harsh colours have been softened and subdued by harmony and opposition ;
while the dry and cold outline of individual form has been adapted to the gratification of the
educated eye, founded upon the great principles of truth and simplicity.

 
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 31

breadth and simplicity of parts, the shadows being more of one strength,
and the lights more of one colour ; two concomitants of greatness.

In entering upon this branch of the art, it will, however, be necessary
to confine our remarks, in the first instance, to the effects of light and
shade upon the forms of objects, in altering their appearance to the eye of
the spectator, without reference to their acting upon the imagination.

All outlines, without the application of this quality, are deficient in
giving a true representation to the eye; for example, two circular outlines
without shadow have no distinct meaning, but by the application of this
property they either become convex or concave bodies.

  

We also find that objects either project or recede according to the
strength of their shadows, and become either solids or vacuums from their
shadows falling within or without the spaces marked by their outlines.

  

16 « We judge of the figure and shape of bodies chiefly by the variations of light and shade,
and our associations taken thence are so strong, as we are easily imposed upon by a just imitation
of the light and shade belonging to each shape and figure in their several situations with respect
to the quarter from which the illumination proceeds. It is from the associations considered under
32 . AN ESSAY ON THE

: We also find that it often indicates the peculiar character of objects,
when the outline is hid in consequence of the situation of the spectator, as
in Fig. 28.

Fig. 28.

 

In drawings of machinery this is often of the utmost importance, as
information is the only point aimed at. We likewise often find shadow

A ih lly pl

TOUR

 

this proposition, and particularly in the last paragraph, that painting conveys such exact ideas of
shapes, figures, magnitudes, and distances, and the camera obscura of motion also, by means of
impressions that proceed from a plane surface.”—Haréley on Man, on the Sense of Sight.
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 33

made use of for the enriching of the subject, by making the shadows of

complicated objects fall upon a background of an uneven surface, as in
Fig. 29. p :

Any work treating of the Education of the Eye, however short, must
necessarily touch upon points spreading over a large range of study, and
of course occupying a long space of time to become master of. It will,
therefore, be difficult to separate those parts which require a power in the
mind, from that portion which depends more upon the cultivation of the
eye, accompanied’ with very little effort of thinking. Nothing but early
practice can enable the.eye to see, and the hand to put on paper, the
various objects necessary to painting with readiness and fidelity; as has
been remarked by Reynolds, who says, ‘“ a degree of mechanical practice
must precede theory; the reason is, that if we wait till we are able to
comprehend the theory of the art, too much of life will be passed to
permit us to acquire facility and power; something, therefore, must be
done on trust, by mere imitation of given patterns, before the theory of
the art can be felt ;” yet, nevertheless, the attention should be gradually
awakened to observation, otherwise the power of the mind will lie too
long dormant to be easily called into action when judgement is acquired,
for, as he further observes, an artist ought to see clearly enough to
enable him to point out to others the principle upon which he works,
otherwise he will be confined, and, what is worse, he will be uncertain.”
In the portion of this Essay, therefore, which is passed over, I have
endeavoured to confine myself merely to that extent of knowledge which
every one ought to possess to enable him in after life to enjoy the beauties
of nature and art, and give him the power of communicating his ideas
usefully to others. I shall now endeavour to trace through the higher
departments of art those principles of design upon which painting depends

for its operation on the mind, and which places it in the same rank with
poetry and music.
34 AN ESSAY ON THE

INVENTION.

~

Invention is the great soul of painting, without which the being in
possession of an accumulation of studies is of little avail ; we may collect
the materials, but we cannot build without a plan, nor can we construct
that plan without a perfect knowledge on what to raise the superstructure.
When Raffaelle was commissioned to paint the apartments of the Vatican
with representations of Theology, Philosophy, Poetry, &ec. it was necessary,
in the first place, that he should know not only the origin and foundation
of each of them, but also the character and history of those personages
who ranked preeminent in the several departments of science, that by the
combination of such figures he might be enabled to illustrate the subjects
in hand; for it is by this method that the artist shows his imaginative
powers; for though this part of the work may belong to the poet and
historian in an equal degree, yet the mind of an artist, from his habits of
thinking and from a knowledge of what is within the power of his art,
gives the illustration of the subject a more graphic turn than either”;

“7 It is the descriptions of poets and historians possessing this character which renders them
more striking to the imagination; such as the description of the Last Judgement by Peter Aretin,
which made Michael Angelo regret that he had composed the subject previous to receiving his
letter: “ Who would not tremble,” he writes, ¢ at taking up his pencil to trace so tremendous a
subject? I see, in the midst of innumerable beings, Antichrist, with features which you alone
could imagine; I see terror imprinted upon the face of the living; I see the faint traces of the
sun, the moon, and the stars, whose fires are perceptibly diminishing. The elements appear
dissolving. I see all Nature horror-struck, barren, and gathered up in its decrepitude; I see Time
emaciated and trembling, who, arrived at his last stage, is reposing on the dried-up trunk of a
tree ; and while the trumpets of the angels resound through all hearts, I see Life and Death
overwhelmed with extraordinary confusion, the one is wearied with lifting up the dead, while the
other strikes down the living ; behind, I see Hope and Despair conducting troops of the good and
the bad. The sky is suffused with the brightest rays. Christ, seated on clouds, is environed with
splendour, and with the terrors inspired by the heavenly hosts, his face is resplendent with light,
and his eyes, shining with a soft yet terrible fire, fill the virtuous with lively joy, and the wicked
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 35

therefore, though the education of an artist’s mind is in many things
similar to the education of that of others, yet, in addition, he requires a
knowledge of the various methods the great painters have employed to
explain and exemplify their ideas; for it is only by knowing the
inventions of others, we learn to invent, as it is by knowing the
thoughts of others we learn to think.” Mengs observes, that it is
invention which makes noble the art of painting, and discovers the force
of the artist’s understanding, and that Raffaclle obtained a rank with great
poets and orators from this source. Invention being the work of the mind
addressed to the mind, composition that of the eye addressed to the sight;
yet though in many things the mind of the poet or historian is similar to
the painter’s, the power of the latter is much more limited; the historian
may have a hundred pages to convey his story, the painter has but one;
this circumstance has led mankind in all ages to allow him a greater
latitude and license in embodying any representation; his invention,
therefore, takes a wide range through the whole features of the event,
whatever it may be, and enables him to combine in one focus every means
of rendering the story attractive, clear, and effective; he invents, there-
fore, those arrangements which awaken the mind, from their giving rise
to an association of ideas; he selects also those points which bear the
strongest upon the character of the subject to be represented, and which
from their nature are most palpable to the eye, to heighten their effect by
the judicious introduction of images operating by means of contrast, and
endeavours to combine the whole by the most natural and unaffected
method. The power of invention, therefore, in a painter, must depend

with mortal fear. I see the ministers of hell, with horrible countenances, who, surrounded by the
glory of saints and martyrs, mock the Ceesars and Alexanders of the world, and yet not knowing
how to get the better of themselves. I see Renown, with her crowns and palms trodden under
foot, thrown down under the wheels of her own triumphal chariots. I hear the Son of God
pronouncing the last judgement ; at his voice the good and the bad are separated; the world
crumbles to pieces at the peals of thunder. Darkness divides Paradise from the furnaces of hell.
In retracing these terrible images, I said to myself, one would tremble as much at seeing the work
of Buonarotti as at the day of judgement itself.”— Peter Aretin’s Letters from Venice.
36 AN ESSAY ON THE

upon his extent of information, his command of the materials applicable to
his art, and a felicitous choice of the particular incidents most striking to
the eye. If he invents from history, it will be necessary to take the most
current version of the story for his guide, and engraft upon it those
embellishments derived from costume, manners of the people, and local
scenery ; painting every thing from nature, which gives a wonderful
appearance of truth and force to the representation. From poetry or
allegory a greater liberty of enriching the design will be allowed, as
the whole range of ancient and modern fable lies open for his purpose
of illustration. At the head of this department of the art, by universal
consent, and especially by those who have most carefully examined
his works, stands Raffaclle; not only do his inventions embrace the
most leading and most striking parts of the story, but he carries the
spectator back to its commencement by a chain of the most natural
circumstances, and shows also by the same felicitous extension of his
design, those results which followed its taking place; thus exhibiting in
one page the contents of a volume, such as we see in his Death of
Anpanias, his Transfiguration, the School of Athens, the Sacrifice at
Lystra, and many others. Lanzi, speaking of this quality of Raffaelle,
says, ©“ Various writers have mentioned the St. Paul at Lystra, one of the
Cartoons, as an example, (Prate 11.) The artist has there represented the
sacrifice prepared for him and St. Barnabas as to two gods, for having
restored a lame man to the use of his limbs. The altar, the attendants,
the victims, the musicians, and the axe, sufficiently indicate the intentions
of the Lystrians; St. Paul, who is in the act of tearing his robe, shows
that he rejects and abhors the sacrilegious honours, and is endeavouring
to dissuade the populace from persisting in them ; but all this were vain,
if it had not indicated the miracle which had just happened, and which
had given rise to the event. Raflaelle therefore added to the group the
lame man restored to the use of his limbs, now easily recognised by the
spectators: he stands before the apostles rejoicing in his restoration, and
raises his hands in transport towards his benefactors, while at his feet lie
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 37

the crutches, now cast away as useless; this had been sufficient for any
other artist, but Raffaelle, who wished to give a greater appearance of
reality, has added several people, who, in their eager curiosity, remove
the garment of the man to behold his limbs restored to their natural state.”
As the people called St. Paul, Mercury, from his being chief speaker,
Raffaelle has alluded to this by a statue of Mercury in the distance, and a
figure in the foreground with a chaplet of ivy, bringing in a ram, both
indicative of the sacrifices to that god. By the uplifted hands of the
restored cripple, and the youth who stretches out his hand to arrest the
arm of the sacrificers, we perceive the effect of St. Paul’s persuasions, in
the same way as he indicates the conversion to Christianity of the woman
of Damaris and Dionysius in the Cartoon of Paul preaching at Athens,
In the inventions of Raffaclle we find the representation of any event
extending its effects on the several spectators in a variety of ways,
producing the most natural action and expression, and all conducive to
the illustration of the subject: his rich store of materials from the Greek
and Roman antique, with the inventions of those artists who preceded
him in the restoration of painting in Italy, enabled him to embellish his
design with an endless accumulation of incident, giving chasteness, sim-
plicity, and the power of carrying the mind back to times long gone by ;
no one has possessed so great a command over his materials, or greater
address in adapting them to his own purpose; the Greek gems and
statues, the Roman basso relievos, the primitive character of the works of
Giotto and Masaccio, the grand outline and foreshortening of the figures
of Michael Angelo and Leonardo da Vinci, may be all traced through his
works, but the inventive genius which has called them into new existence
with a more natural and a more powerful effect on the spectator, is
peculiarly his own.

Invention being more properly a combination of those qualities which
affect the mind and awaken sensations in the imagination of the spectator,
the inventions of Raflaelle affect different spectators according to their
38 AN ESSAY ON THE

different degrees of taste or cultivation ; whereas the inventions of Paul
Veronese, Tintoret, and others. of the Venetian school, being more
addressed to the eye, please and captivate all beholders, from their
harmony of light and shade, and their beautiful and gorgeous arrangement
of splendid colour. With Raffaelle, the leading point of the story is boldly
and nobly expressed, while its effects are diffused and spread over the
countenances and actions of the adjoining figures, and revived and
embellished by episodes and representations of the preceding and follow-
ing events, acting upon the more subordinate or more extended portions
of the composition, such as we see in the Ananias, the Heliodorus, the
Sacrifice at Lystra, the Attila, and the Transfiguration. Thus what is
effected in the one case by the diffusion of light and colour, is produced by
Raffaelle through the medium of the expression and action of his figures;
this it is that has gained for him the appellation of the painter of mind ; and
his making use of those materials from which the taste and cultivation of
the mind is derived, gives to his works that charm which increases by
contemplation, since they revive within us ideas of all the great and
beautiful works we have ever beheld.

Invention being more properly the province of the mind than the eye,
perhaps it is unnecessary to dwell longer upon it in this place; but we
must always bear in recollection that the mind of an artist is formed from
a contemplation of those circumstances which it will be in his power to
make use of, and that is one reason, amongst others, why I dwell more
particularly upon the inventions of Raffaelle than upon those of Michael
Angelo™; they are more practical, and can be adopted by those whose

8 Reynolds, drawing a comparison between Michael Angelo and Raffaelle, says, “ Raffaelle
had more taste and fancy, Michael Angelo more genius and imagination. The one excelled in
beauty, the other in energy. Michael Angelo has more of the poetical inspiration; his ideas are
vast and sublime ; his people are a superior order of beings, there is nothing about them, nothing in
the air of their actions or their attitudes, or the style and cast of their limbs or features, that reminds
us of their belonging to our own species. Raffaelle’s imagination is not so elevated; his figures
 

EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 39

works are addressed to the feelings of all classes, or, as Lord Bacon says,
“ come home to the business and bosoms of most men.” The inventions
of Michael Angelo, on the other hand, elevate the feelings only of the
learned, while they appear extravagant and overcharged to the generality
of mankind; notwithstanding which, this is the spirit which ought to
influence the taste and genius of other artists, and which made Raffaelle
exclaim, that “ he thanked God that he was born in the same age with
that great man!” We need not go further than refer to his great work

are not so much disjoined from our own diminutive race of beings, though his ideas are chaste,
noble, and of great conformity to their subjects. Michael Angelo’s works have a strong, peculiar,
and marked character; they seem to proceed from his own mind entirely, and that mind so rich
and abundant, that he never needed, or seemed to disdain to look about for foreign help. Raffaelle’s
materials are generally borrowed, though the noble structure is his own. The excellency of this
extraordinary man lay in the propriety, beauty, and majesty of his characters, the judicious
contrivance of his composition, his correctness of drawing, purity of taste, and skilful accommo-
dation of other men’s conceptions to his own purpose. Nobody excelled him in that judgement
with which he united to his own observations on nature the energy of Michael Angelo, and the
beauty and simplicity of the antique. To the question, therefore, ¢ Which ought to hold the first
rank, Raffaelle or Michael Angelo?’ it must be answered, that if it is to be given to him who
possessed a greater combination of the higher qualities of the art than any other man, there is no
doubt but Raffaelle is the first. But if, as Longinus thinks, the sublime, being the highest
excellence that human composition can attain to, abundantly compensates the absence of every
other beauty, and atones for all other deficiencies, then Michael Angelo demands the preference.”
— Fifth Discourse.

19 « From time to time there arise upon the earth men who seem formed to become the centre
of an intellectual system of their own; they are invested, like the prophet of old, with a heavenly
mantle, and speak with the voice of inspiration. Those that appear after them are but attendants
in their train, seem born only to revolve about them, warmed by their heat and shining by their
reflected glory. Their works derive not their strength from momentary passions or local associa
tions, but speak to feelings common to mankind, and reach the innermost movements of the soul,
and hence it is that they have an immortal spirit, which carries them safe through the wreck of
empires and the changes of opinion. Works like these are formed by no rule, but become a
model and rule to other men. Few, however, among us are permitted to show this high excellence.
Ordinary minds must be content to learn by rule, and every good system must have reference to
the many and not to the few.’—Professor Sedgwick’s Discourse on the Studies of the
University.
40 : AN ESSAY ON THE

of the Last Judgement, where he introduces Charon ferrying over the
souls of the damned, and other allusions to the heathen mythology, which
give to the Christian creed the adventitious character of learned fable.
On the other hand, Raffaelle grasps his subject with the power of one who
relies upon truth and nature for the effect; and, leaving the regions of
poetry and fiction, gives an identity to the scene, founded upon the
principle of simple facts being ennobled by the great powers of elevated
art. Besides, we must never forget that the public taste is already formed
from a contemplation of the many great works now in existence, and
which have stood the test of ages, and that it is only by being in
some manner conformable to these we can ever hope for a favourable
reception.

COMPOSITION.

By Composition is generally meant the form and arrangement of the
several parts considered as a whole; consequently, the form or plan of
any composition is the first process the painter practically commences
with. The nature of the subject having been settled, he weighs in his
mind the effect to be produced upon the spectator ; he therefore arranges
his figures and objects accordingly, and endeavours to distribute his
materials in that form which will best accord with his intention. The
illustration of his story, the distribution of his light and shade and colour,
the localities of the scene, all present their individual interests to his
notice ; while his imagination embodies them into that congregated form
which seems best calculated for his purpose. Here it is, that the memory
is called into action ; without precedents he cannot judge, without materials
he cannot compose. Having now laid down his plan of operations, he
applies to nature to furnish him with the means of giving variety and
originality to his work; but to bind her to his purpose, he must have a
settled knowledge of what he is seeking, he must have a quickness
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 41

of eye, to take advantage of accidental arrangements, and a plan of
methodizing his ideas, so as to be able to secure what he acquires,
without which it will be impossible to produce a composition upon which
he can calculate with any degree of certainty as to its effects or its
stability, and what he paints one day he may obliterate the next. Com-
position not being an inherent quality of the mind, but the result of long
acquaintance with the nature and arrangement of the compositions of
others, it generally follows, that all wayward and capricious compositions,
established neither upon natural grounds, nor upon the scientific arrange-
ments of those who have preceded us, seldom outlive their inventors, for
pleasing only by reason of their novelty, they gradually lose their interest
as that novelty vanishes; or, as Dr. Johnson expresses it, « the irregular
combination of fanciful invention may delight awhile by that novelty, of
which the common satiety of life sends us all in quest; the pleasures of
sudden wonder are soon exhausted, and the mind can only repose upon the
stability of truth.”

Geometric forms in composition are found to give order and regularity
to an assemblage of figures, for, in fact, we can have no idea of form
without a portion of distinct shape, which being arranged so as to make
one part of the composition dependent on another for its completion or
extension, produces an harmonious assemblage of lines, independent of
the aid of light and shade or colour. Groups of figures without some
appearance of geometrical form apparent to the eye, would produce a
confused effect upon the spectator, in whose mind their appearance would
indicate one subject as strongly as another, and look picturesque, when
such character might be destructive of the impression intended to be
produced. We have an excellent example of the influence of lines, or
arrangement of parts, in the composition of Attila, by Raffaelle; we see
on one side the rude irregular descent into the Campania of Rome of the
congregated tribe of the Goths and Vandals, leaving fire and desolation
in their rear, and hurrying forward with savage wildness; opposed to

¢
42 AN ESSAY ON THE

which, enters the head of the Christian church, with the ministers of the
cross, calm, meek, dignified, and upright, secure in the protection of
Heaven, whose messengers are seen descending; those noble warriors,
St. Peter and St. Paul, spreading by their appearance terror and dismay
mto the hearts of Attila and his followers: and thus it is that the painter
is enabled, by the assemblage of lines and forms, to produce upon the
mind those sensations which the poet effects by a combination of words,
or the composer of music by an arrangement of expressive sounds.

To simplicity and regularity of form we are indebted for the foundation
of what is great and sublime, for, as Johnson expresses it, ““ sublimity is
produced by aggregation, and littleness by dispersion.” In architecture
we find this a main cause of grandeur: Burke says, vastness in any
object, infinity, succession, and uniformity of parts in building, or any
object in nature, are all sources of the sublime, succession of uniform
parts creating a kind of artificial infinite, and this may be the cause
why a rotund has such a noble effect in building ®.” Having observed
before that the architecture introduced into the works of Raffaelle
is of a simple and uniform character, it often seems to have been his
design to carry out and extend the perspective and general form of his
plan by the arrangement and position of his figures, such as we see in
his School of Athens; and De Piles says, “ he found in some of his

sketches, plans and scales of proportion.” One or two memorandums

2 Addison, noticing how much simplicity of parts and greatness of manner in architecture
affect the mind, quotes a passage of M. Feart’s Parallel of the Ancient and Modern Architecture.
«I am observing,” says he, «a thing which in my opinion is very curious whence it proceeds,
that in the same quantity of superficies the one manner seems great and magnificent, and the
other poor and trifling; the reason is fine and uncommon. I say, then, that to introduce into
architecture this grandeur of manner, we ought so to proceed, that the division of the principal
members of the order may consist but of few parts, that they be all great, and of a bold and ample
relievo and swelling ; and that the eye beholding nothing little and mean, the imagination may be
more vigorously touched and affected with the work that stands before it.”
\ EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 43

which I found amongst the collections of drawings left to Christ Church,
Oxford, by General Guise, seem to confirm this observation. The
~ memorandums are written upon the side of sketches illustrative of the
remarks, one of which I have given in Prat 111. containing the ground
plan, also the figures seen under the influence of perspective; the other,
showing a circular arrangement of figures, such as we see in the lower
part of the Transfiguration, and in the Death of Ananias; viz.

Fig. 1.

Em Aen + ———— a a, st ————————

   

 

To Dr. Barnes, of Christ Church, I am indebted for the very great
interest he took in enabling me to procure copies of any of the drawings.
For the translation of the memorandums, and remarks upon the designs, 1
44 AN ESSAY ON THE

am indebted to the kindness of C. L. Eastlake, Esq. R. A., whose intimate
knowledge of the compositions of Raffaelle must give his observations
additional weight *.

Independent of forms in composition most suitable to the subject, and
arranged in the most natural manner, it is of the first consequence that the

9 Translation of the memorandum on the side of the sketch representing circular compo-
sition :—

« Jt is to be observed, that the first thing to be considered in an historical composition is
where the point (id est, the spectator or spectator’s eye) is to be placed, whether in the middle of
the work or on one side, and so to determine its situation that the important figures be distinctly
visible, and not concealed by others, and then begin the design. It is my opinion, confirmed by
the practice of the most skilful men, that the mode explained by a drawing in the margin (is
generally fittest), viz. by contriving that those figures which are nearest to the point should present
their backs, those further removed their sides, and so on in perspective, as if a circle were drawn
and figures ranged round it, so should an historical composition be designed.”

In illustration of the above, supposing an action to be represented in a circle, which would be
quite natural if the object of attention were in the centre, the spectator might either view it so as
to be himself without the circle, or be supposed within it. In the latter case, the nearest figures
would have their sides towards him, in the former their backs. Thus, when the spectator sees a
semicircle, he completes the circle by his formmg a part. This arrangement was adopted by the
early Italian painters in their sacred subjects, and from its fitness was never abandoned by
Raffaelle. The Madonna di Foligno and the Dresden Madonna are remarkable examples, as in
these pictures the St. Francis in the first, and the Pope Sixtus in the other, turn to the spectator
who contemplates the work, and intercedes for them. The object, in short, by this semicircular
arrangement was to mix up the spectator with the divine or sainted personages represented, and to
make him feel in their presence. :

But in more dramatic representations, in which the spectator might be interested but not a
party concerned, Raffaclle adopted the more picturesque arrangement, and after him this was
unfortunately applied to devotional subjects. The drawing by Raffaelle and the note recommend
the picturesque arrangement, but as the whole works of the master are the best commentaries on
his note, it may safely be affirmed, that he could not have intended this principle to apply to votive
pictures ; at present, indeed, in this country, when altar pieces, and especially mere assemblages
of sacred personages, are rarely painted, the directions contained in Raffaelle’s note may be
considered of universal application ; it is only in the critical history of the art that they might lead
to false conclusions.—C. L. E.
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 45

spectator ought to have such a view of the representation as will be most
effective and uninterrupted : this obliges the artist to design those figures
in the near part of the composition either in kneeling or stooping
positions, that they may not intercept the figures behind, or to elevate
those background figures by a higher plane, such as we see in the School
of Athens, the Ananias, the Incendio del Borgo, Elymas the Sorcerer,
and others: or he may compose his piece upon the principle of the
Heliodorus, which, leaving the space vacant in the middle, allows the eye
of the spectator to range from the foreground to the distance without
interruption : but in whatever form his composition developes itself, it is
not more necessary to preserve such form in the strongest character than
it is to give the spectator the most pictorial and comprehensive view of
the subject; to enable him to judge of this quality, it will be necessary
not only to lay down a ground plan, but to model the groups and
individual figures, as we know to have been the practice of the best
artists, from Michael Angelo and Raffaelle down to the present, which
will also, even though roughly executed, suggest the most natural effects
of the light and shade. i

2 Translation of the memorandum at the side of the drawing given in PLATE 111. Fig. 1:—

« This is the mode the painter should observe in composing his histories, so that the disposition
of the masses should be unconstrained, as if the composition followed the advancing sight in order
that the history or picture may be satisfactory to the spectator, and particularly to the experienced
spectator. For if arranged without this rule, the said history will be put together defectively, this
(viz. the mode alluded to) being the true practice adopted by the most skilled and intelligent in
the art. This will appear by consulting the works of those painters who are most famous ; it is
from their adherence to this rule that their works have been so much praised, and with the best
reason, for this is the true principle.”

The rule here alluded to, and which is sufficiently explained by the drawing which accompanies
it, relates to depth of composition, as opposed to superficial or basso relievo composition ; the
mere surface is capable in variety, in height, and in width; but these varieties may exist while
there is no variety whatever in the plan ; the figures should therefore occupy the extent of the
~ ground plan as completely as when brought to the surface they appear to occupy the height and
46 AN ESSAY ON THE

Having decided upon his general form of composition, the several
portions of the design next claim his attention; those portions of most
consequence to the illustration of the story are to be brought into notice,
while other parts are made subservient, by being thrown into shade or
more intercepted by their situations; action and repose, masses convex
and concave, lines regular or picturesque, spaces diminishing or increas-
ing, are all to be combined in producing an harmonious result upon the
eye and mind of the spectator.

We have noticed the peculiar properties of objects under the influence
of perspective ; viz. circular forms becoming elliptical, spaces diminishing
as they recede, objects intercepting those behind, while those on the
foreground possess more detail and minutize ; these qualities are therefore
to be engrafted upon the several portions of the composition, that it may
have the appearance of truth, and enable the artist to give his work the
firmness of nature. In selecting examples illustrative of these remarks, it
will be sufficient to give one or two of the most palpable, that the student
may be made aware of their character ; after which, the whole range of
composition, from the revival of painting down to our own time, will be
rendered subservient to his investigation. As it is the character of spaces

breadth of the surface or face of the picture. Thus the three possible dimensions are occupied,
the art being generally concealed by avoiding too regular a variety, and by doubling the masses
somewhere. It only remains to be observed, that of the three applications of varied arrangement,
that of the depth is the most strictly picturesque, because it most effectually gets rid of the flat
surface, and suggests foreshortened limbs and figures, which are most to be met with in the latest
works of Titian, Raffaelle, and Michael Angelo; but Corregio, who was from the beginning
devoted to gradation in forms (perspective) as well as chiaroscuro, was also an early lover of
depth in composition, and often of foreshortening.—C. L. E.

Fig. 2 is part of a Roman basso relievo, from which Raffaelle took the ceremony of the
Sacrifice at Lystra.

Fig. 3 shows his adaptation of the ideas of others to his own purpose, being a figure of
Masaccio’s, which is converted into his St. Paul preaching. Vide Reynolds's Twelfth Discourse.
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 47

to diminish as they recede from the eye, we often find in the works of
Raffaelle and others this featare engrafted upon portions of their groups,
as in Fig. 2, part of the Cartoon of Ananias.

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As it is the character of objects to intercept others more or less, as
they recede from the foreground, and as it is their character also to diminish
and possess less of detail by their receding, we perceive this principle
carried into the works of the great founders of the art in a variety of
ways; we can trace it in the Greek and Roman basso relievos, in the
figures and heads of Michael Angelo and Raffaelle, and in the works of
those who have collected from the great stores of nature and art. © The
example, Lig. 3, is from Titian, part of a subject formerly in the church
of St. Nicola de Fiari at Venice, now in Rome.

This regularity of diminution imparts to a work a character of sim-
48 AN ESSAY ON THE

plicity, and at the same time assists the artist in giving depth to his
composition, one figure acting as a background to the other. ~

Fig. 3.

 

This regularity of diminution not only assists in giving regularity and
simplicity to a work, but enables the artist to carry the eye of the
spectator into the depths of his composition. We also find it often
employed in giving solidity and firmness to those heads or objects nearest
the eye; one portion acting as a background to the other, giving to the
whole that advantage which arises from the size, detail, and firmness of
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 49

foreground objects in nature. Fig. 4 is a further illustration of the same
principle, being part of a design of Rubens, the picture of the Woman
‘taken in Adultery, in the collection of Mr. Miles.

Fig. 4.

 

In following up the examination of Composition into its component
parts, we find it necessary that they should all combine to produce one
result upon the spectator. Raffaelle, in extending his composition into
the surrounding parts, employs his whole power in illustrating his story,
either by episodes, which embellish and enrich it, or by figures expressive
of the circumstances which have preceded it, or by conveying its effects
after completion: some we perceive engaged in relating the event to
those entering, or unable to view it from their situation in the picture;
others of various ages and of different sexes, while they give variety to
the work, enable him to develope its effect by a variety of expression,
and action, by extending the lines productive of such sensations, or
lines by a union of several parts leading the eye by their direction

H
50 AN ESSAY ON THE

to the principal point of the story, or giving bulk and strength to. the
foreground figures. Add to these, figures repeating by their form the
principal points, so as to give those richness by extending their shape,
or productive of harmony by their action and expression, emanating from
those of the principal actors. These remarks more immediately apply to
the mental portion of the work, and of works of the highest department
in the art; but many of them also may be made applicable to other
branches, such as the combining of several heads for the purpose of
preserving a mass of flesh colour, and to prevent spottiness in the effect;
or giving pleasure to the eye, by the forms taking pleasing shapes; or
assisting deception, by lines combining to give strength and magnitude to
the foreground objects, or diminished delicacy to the more distant: in
short, a knowledge of the higher requisites of painting is of the greatest
importance in all the departments, whether in giving dignity to portraiture,
such as Titian’s, or to landscapes, such as his also, and those of Annibale
Carrache, Salvator Rosa, or Nicolo Poussin. Towards gaining perfection
in poetry, we find writers recommending this course of investigation.
Addison says, “a poet should be very well versed in every thing that is
noble and stately in the productions of art, whether it appears in painting
or statuary; in the great works of architecture, which are in their present
glory, or in the ruins of those which flourished in former ages. Such
advantages as these help to open a man’s thoughts, and to enlarge his
imagination, and will therefore have their influence on all kinds of writing,
if the author knows how to make right use of them®.” Reynolds recom-

22 The same remarks which Dr. Johnson applies to poetry may be here made use of to
indicate the sources of instruction for those who aspire to the higher walks of painting: “ By the
general consent of critics, the first praise of genius is due to the writer of an epic poem, as it
requires an assemblage of all the powers which are singly sufficient for other compositions.
Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth, by calling imagination to the help of reason.
Epic poetry undertakes to teach the most important truths by the most pleasing precepts, and
therefore relates some great event in the most affecting manner. History must supply the writer
with the rudiments of narration, which he must improve and exalt by a nobler art, must animate
 

Plate 2.

Ziched by J Burnet.

 

 

 

Raifiaelle, pone’

 

SACRIFICE AT LYSTRA.
 
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 51

mends, “ that all the inventions and thoughts of the ancients, whether
conveyed to us in statues, bas reliefs, intaglios, cameos, or coins, are to
be sought after and carefully studied; the genius that hovers over these
venerable relics may be called the father of modern art. The collection
of the thoughts of the ancients which Raffaelle made with so much trouble,
is a proof of his opinion on this subject; such collections may be now
made with much more ease, by means of an art scarce known in his time,
I mean that of engraving; by which, at an easy rate, every man may now
avail himself of the inventions of antiquity.” He also recommends taking
another view of the same figure, either by modelling it or setting a person
in the same attitude; this will give the student a quick knowledge,
wherein consists the beauty and character of the different great masters;
or by altering it to suit his subject, such as the figure of St. Paul, by
Masaccio, introduced in Paul preaching by Raffaelle, or the Sacrifice at
Lystra, Pruate 11. To conclude, I can only repeat the words of Sir
Joshua Reynolds, “ study, therefore, the great works of the great masters
for ever, study as nearly as you can in the order, in the manner, and on the
principles on which they studied. Study nature attentively, but always
with those masters in your company; consider them as models which you
are to imitate, and at the same time as rivals, with whom you are to
contend.”

by dramatic energy, and diversify by retrospection and anticipation ; morality must teach him the
exact bounds and different shades of vice and virtue; from policy, and the practice of life, he has
to learn the discrimination of character, and the tendency of the passions, either single or
combined ; and physiology must supply him with illustrations and images. To put these materials
to poetical use, is required an imagination capable of painting nature and realizing fiction. Nor is
he yet a poet till he has attained the whole extension of his language, distinguished all the
delicacies of phrase, and all the colours of words, and learned to adjust their different sounds to all
the varieties of metrical modulation.” —Johnson’s Life of Milton. .
b2 AN ESSAY ON THE

ARRANGEMENT.

ARRANGEMENT, though not partaking of that high quality which distin-
guishes composition, yet nevertheless embraces a knowledge of those
characteristic features to be found pervading the general appearances of
nature, and to be employed in giving a truth and vigour to assemblages of
lines, shades, and colours. All objects whose images enter the eye are
subject to certain laws, which regulate their form, and assign to them situa-
tions in the picture which such forms indicate, and which having been often
observed, have obtained a general consent as to their truth and natural
character. To know, therefore, these arrangements observable in nature is
absolutely necessary, that we may employ such knowledge in producing
the same results in painting, especially as we find the works of those
artists who have thus combined their skill in arrangement give the greatest
pleasure to the eye of the spectator: this gratification arises from the
several images being depicted in their most characteristic features. In
looking abroad upon the face of nature, for example, in a wide extent of
country, where the eye can take a comprehensive observation, we notice
towards the horizon a multitude of parallel lines stretching across the
landscape, the lines crossing them being foreshortened lose their breadth,
while the perpendicular lines of objects lose their consequence owing to
their diminution from distance ; but as these approach towards the fore-
ground, we perceive that they gain their ascendancy, and become more

rugged in the outline, and stronger in effect from their shadowed portions !
being larger and darker, owing to their nearness to the eye. Being
acquainted with these facts, we can produce such an arrangement as shall
have the appearance of truth, and become enabled to heighten in effect
the arrangements of natural representation, and by the addition of colours,
whose properties belong to near objects, by the addition of light and
dark coming in contact, which gives distinctness and firmness, by the
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 53

introduction of figures and other objects, we can assist the perspective,
by their assuming forms more or less under its influence, according to
their situation.

We know that quietness and regularity give dignity to part of a
composition while their lines contrast with others expressive of bustle, or
picturesque assemblage of forms; we have noticed this exemplified in the
Attila, &ec., we see it also in Fig. 5, part of the Heliodorus, where the
heads of the figares who bear the chair of the Pope surround him with

Fig. 5.

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studied regularity, giving calmness by the arrangement, and firmness by
the perspective appearance of a column upon whose base he is elevated ®.

** Lanzi, speaking of this work, says, “in the course of this year, 1512, Raffaelle was
employed in the second chamber on the subject of Heliodorus driven from the temple by the
prayers of Onias the high priest, one of the most celebrated pictures of the place. In this painting
54 AN ESSAY ON THE

-

This regularity of diminution and perspective effect has been noticed
principally in the arrangement of the heads; it is also to be observed in
the base lines of the several compositions of the figures, such as we
observe upon this side of the Heliodorus, where the Pope enters, marking
the line from the foreground to the distance, assisting the perspective by
such means as to lead the eye into the depths of the composition, while it
gives the appearance of truth and simplicity of natural diminution. See
Purate iv. I have given an additional Prate 1v¥, part of the Dispute of
the Sacrament, where this disposition is more evident. Independent of
this mode of arrangement being of use in giving uniformity to irregular
portions of a composition, it is of great advantage in directing the eye to
the principal parts of the picture by means of the perspective appearance
of the line ; also by producing such arrangement either by the base of the
group or the introduction of accidental objects to assist such deceptive
diminution, we counteract the effects of false perspective, which the base
line of the group sometimes produces ; for in conducting the design, the
heads and upper portions only of the composition are attended to in the

the armed vision that appears to Heliodorus scatters lightning from his hand, while the neighing
steed is heard amidst the attendant thunder. In the numerous bands, some of which are
plundering the riches of the temple, and in others ignorant of the surprise and terror exhibited in
Heliodorus, consternation, amazement, joy, and abasement, and a host of passions are expressed.
In this work, and in others of these chambers, Raffaelle (says Mengs) gave to painting all the
augmentation it could receive after Michael Angelo. In this picture he introduced the portrait of
Julius the Second, whose zeal and authority is represented in Onias. He appears in a litter,
borne by his grooms, in the manner in which he was accustomed to repair to the Vatican to view
this work.” In these heads Raffaelle has given the portraits of his pupils M. Antonio and Julio
Romano, with the Pope’s secretary, &c. For this anachronism Raffaelle has been blamed by the
critics, without considering that it was the only way the painter had of connecting the Jewish with
the Christian church, and exemplifying the temples of both as the sacred depositories for those
funds which were to be given out to the widow and the orphan poor. Without detracting from the
great merit of Raffaelle, we may rest assured that these works were of too much importance not to
be watched with the greatest vigilance, and assisted in their moral efficacy by all the learning
within the walls of the Vatican. Those who wish to see how close Raffaelle often kept to the
history, may examine the whole story in 2 Maccabees, chap. iii.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
     
 
 
 
  
  
     
     

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EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 55

first instance, without reflecting how the parts which come in contact
with the ground will appear when terminated according to their true
position in the picture.

A knowledge of arrangement enables us yet further to heighten
the gratification of the spectator, by engrafting upon the work those
forms found in the compositions of the most celebrated artists. This
knowledge it is which enables the poet to give so pleasing and vivid
descriptions of scenery, often gratifying the imagination more than an
actual survey of the scene he describes; as Addison remarks, “ he takes
indeed the landscape after her, but gives it more vigorous touches,
heightens its beauty, and enlivens the whole piece, that the images which
flow from the objects themselves appear weak and faint, in comparison of
those that come from the expressions.” A knowledge of arrangement
enables the artist to follow up and extend lines and forms often only
hinted at in nature; those parts which possess a strong local character,
he preserves as leading points to an harmonious assemblage of lines; while
portions possessing beauty, he enshrines in masses of repose, or surrounds
them with forms and colours, which add to their effect upon the spectator.
Even in the wild, rugged scenes of savage grandeur, where rocks, trees,
and clouds combine in awful magnificence, a knowledge of arrangement is
necessary to preserve this earthquake-like appearance. In the works of
Salvator Rosa, the student will find many examples of this mode of
arrangement, every part of the work uniting “in dreadful harmony.” To
acquire a knowledge of beautiful scenery, founded upon aerial perspective,
or an agreeable assemblage of lines and forms, he ought to study the
arrangements of Claude, Cuyp, and those of Turner, whose works are
filled with the various qualities which constitute the true poetry of painting,
and the power of giving extent and maguificence in the highest degree.
56 AN ESSAY ON THE

HARMONY.

Harmony in painting is the connexion and agreement of one part with
another, either as regards form, light and shade, or colour : this agreement
proceeds either from a succession of the same forms in different degrees
of distinctness, such as arise when we cast a stone into water, producing
a succession of undulating circles, or by one form depending upon its
adjoining for its completion and unity, as is the case in poetry *; or the
harshness of isolated forms may be broken down, and harmonised with the
whole, by their being hinted at, or faintly repeated in various portions of
the picture. :

FORM.

Burke, speaking of beautiful forms, says, “as perfectly beautiful bodies.
are not composed of angular parts, so those parts never continue long in
the same right line, they vary their direction every moment, and they
change under the eye, by a deviation continually carrying on, but for
whose beginning or end you will find it difficult to ascertain a point.” All
authors from Aristotle to De Quincy having treated of the affections of the
mind as if the avenues to each sensation were the same, it will perhaps
lead us to a more clear definition of the properties which belong to vision
exclusively, by confining the observations on form, shade, or colour to

# Dr. Johnson says, * As harmony is the end of poetical measures, no part of the verse ought
to be so separated from the rest as not to remain still more harmonious than prose, or to show, by
the disposition of the tones, that it is part of a verse.” Further on he remarks, ¢ when a single
syllable is cut off from the rest, it must either be united to the line with which the sense connects
it, or be found alone. If it be united to the other line, it corrupts its harmony; if disjoined, it
must stand alone, and with regard to music be superfluous; for there is no harmony in a single
sound, because it has no proportion to another.”—ZRambler, No. 90.
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 57

their effects upon the eye. As the forms of all objects enter the eye
through a circular aperture, those objects containing a similar continuity
of form fall most agreeably upon the organ of vision, and are seen as it
were at a single glance; while objects possessing sharp angles seem less
in harmony with the flow of light which accompanies their entrance, and
require repeated examinations to gain a knowledge of their exact form;
for example, if a circle be presented to the eye, we are incontinently
carried round the whole circumference, whereas when we look upon a
square or cubical form, it requires four separate examinations, each
producing a separate effort. Now as the images of all objects are not
only viewed through a circular aperture, but are also received upon a
circular surface, and as the rays by which such images are conveyed fade
imperceptibly as they depart from the centre of vision, these may be
some of the causes why circular or undulating forms fall most agreeably
upon the eye; especially if we consider that the organ itself moves as it
were in a circular motion, by means of its muscles, or as it is commonly
termed, the ball and socket®. There are other reasons why circular forms

% ¢« One of the many points of superiority which the eye possesses over the ordinary camera
obscura is derived from its spherical shape adapting the retina to receive every portion of the
images produced by refraction, which are themselves curved: whereas, had they been received on
a plane surface, as they usually are in the camera obscura, a considerable portion of the image
would have been indistinct. This spherical form is preserved by means of the firm membranes
which protect the eye, and which are termed its coafs; and the transparent media which they
enclose, and which effect the convergence of the rays, are termed the humours of the eye. There
are in this organ three principal coats and three humours, composing altogether what is called the
globe of the eye. The outermost coat, which is termed the sclerotica, is exceedingly firm and
dense, and gives to the globe of the eye the mechanical support it requires for the performance of
its delicate functions; it is perforated behind by the optic nerve, which passes onward to be
expanded into the retina. The sclerotica does not extend farther than about four-fifths of the
globe of the eye, its place in front being supplied by a transparent convex membrane, called the
cornea, which is more prominent than the rest of the eyeball; a line passing through the centre
of the cornea and the centre of the globe of the eye is called the awis of the eye. The sclerotica is
lined internally by the choroid coat, which is chiefly made up of a tissue of blood vessels for
supplying nourishment to the eye. It has on its inner surface a layer of a dark coloured viscid

I
h8 AN ESSAY ON THE

are most agreeable to the eye, arising from an association of ideas, such as
the soft circular forms of children and youth, compared with the rigid and
angular forms of age: or flowing undulating lines conveying a greater
idea of motion than lines crossing each other in abrupt opposite directions.
Harmony consisting of a certain proportion of one part with another, no
figure or shape can be harmonious or agreeable unless this arrangement is
complete, so as to produce a unity to the eye, or a balance of one portion
with another, such as the preponderance of perpendicular lines being
counteracted by those running in a horizontal direction, or-oblique lines
antagonized by opposite obliquities, convex by the presence of concave,

secretion, known by the name of the pigmentum nigrum, or black pigment. Its use is to absorb
all the light which may happen to be irregularly scattered through the eye, in consequence of
reflection from different quarters; and it serves, therefore, the same purpose as the black paint
with which the inside of optical instruments, such as telescopes, microscopes, and camera obscura,
are darkened. Within the pigmentum nigrum, and almost in immediate contact with it, the retina
is expanded, forming an exceedingly thin and delicate layer of nervous matter, supported by a fine
membrane. More than three-fourths of the globe of the eye are filled with the vitreous humour,
which has the appearance of a pellucid and elastic jelly, contained in an exceedingly delicate
texture of cellular substance. The crystalline humour, which has the shape of a double convex
lens, is formed of a denser material than any of the other humours, and occupies the fore part of
the globe of the eye, immediately in front of the vitreous humour, which is there hollowed to
receive it. The space which intervenes between the lens and the cornea is filled with a watery
secretion, called the aqueous humour. This space is- divided into an anterior and posterior
chamber by a flat circular partition, termed the ¢rés. The iris has a central perforation, called the
pupil, and it is fixed to the edge of the choroid coat by a white elastic ring, called the ciliury
ligament. The posterior surface of the iris is called the wuzea, and is lined with a dark brown
pigment. The structure of the iris is very peculiar, being composed of two layers of contractile
fibres; the one forming concentric circles, the other disposed like radii, between the outer and
inner margin. When the former act, the pupil is contracted; when the latter act, the breadth of
the iris is diminished, and the pupil of course is dilated. By varying the size of the pupil, the
quantity of light admitted into the interior of the eye is regulated and accommodated to the
sensibility of the refine. When the intensity of the light would be injurious to that highly
delicate organ, the pupil is instantly contracted, so as to exclude the greater portion; and on the
contrary, when the light is too feeble it is dilated, in order to admit as large a quantity as possible

The iris also serves to intercept such rays as would have fallen on parts of the crystalline lens less
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EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 59

all mingling together in regular adjustment: as in music we find harmony
produced by a combination of sounds different in themselves, yet affecting
the mind, through the medium of the ear, with one result. Aristotle, in
his Treatise on Poetry, says, beauty consists in magnitude and order;
but no animal, or other thing, can be beautiful that is either too small or
too large for the eye to take cognizance of its several component parts at
once, as in that case the whole, or unity, is lost to the spectator.” That
extension of form so conducive to harmony, and productive of an agree-
able effect upon, the eye, is often taken advantage of in regulating the
boundary line to a composition ; thus we often see a single head of a
child, or a group consisting of an assemblage of curved lines, reach the
eye more agreeably through a circular frame, as in that case the sensations
which arise from such a combination are not disturbed or interrupted; so,
likewise, the sight may be conveyed with greater pleasure, and with an
increased perspective effect, through a square or oblong aperture, by
having the horizontal and perpendicular lines of the frame repeated as
they depart from the eye, in diminished lengths, and strengths, and
magnitude, as in PraTe v, also in the curved and horizontal lines of the
architecture of the School of Athens, the Heliodorus, &c. This mixing
up the frame o1 opening with the work is often of the utmost importance,
even when extended to the effect of light and shade, and colour, as it
breaks down that harshness which otherwise attracts the eye, while

examining the work contained within it,

% This harmonious combination of the picture with its frame induces many artists to finish
their works after being framed, thereby assisting them in giving a greater force and deceptive
appearance to the whole; for though this deceptive appearance is argued against by some, as belong-
ing only to the infancy of the art, and not applicable to the higher walks of painting, yet the mind
cannot be reached through the medium of the eye unless this deception is carried out to a consider-
able extent; neither, as others reason more subtly, is it to be regarded as a diminution of our
gratification. Dioramas and panoramas are both pleasing illusions, on this principle alone.
De Quincy says, “ When the painter includes within a narrow compass a vast extent of space,
when on a flat surface he bears me through the far off regions of the infinite, and makes the air
563 : AN ESSAY ON THE

CHIARO OSCURO.

Tuar harmony which is produced by chiaro oscuro, or by the means of
black and white, independent of colour, depends upon the quantities of
light and dark employed, and the disposition of them ; sometimes meeting
in extremes of opposition, in other portions gliding away with imper-
ceptible softness into undefined spaces, the light sometimes falling on
combined objects, giving out a faint halo round the group; in some
instances darting out through the dark masses of shadow in sharp defined
shapes, creating by their whole arrangement that mixture of harsh and
tender gradations observable in nature. The power of producing a variety
of pleasing sensations upon the eye mainly rests on the conduct of the
chiaro oscuro; objects are rendered either strong or delicate, according
as they advance or retire on the perspective plane of the picture; parts
are forced upon the spectator’s attention, by their clear defined character,
and assisted from contrast by groups of indistinct images imbued with the
properties of middle tint. The quantities of dark that are to be allowed
to interrupt or pass within the boundaries of the massés of light, or the
size of those portions of light which are found within the dominion of
shade, either giving depth to it by contrast, or destroying its preponder-
ance by producing a union with the light, are entirely at the guidance
of the artist, whose skill is shown in the management of this difficult
department, it being entirely under the influence of an educated eye:
neither am I aware that its beauty is felt, unless by those whose tastes
are refined by long contemplation of the finest works of those who have

-

and light appear to circulate around forms devoid of relief, I find delight in abandoning myself to
his illusions. But, nevertheless, I would not have the frame absent; Z would wish to know that
what I see is in fact but a piece of canvass on a perfectly plane surface.” —Essay on Imitation
in the Fine Arts, chap. xiv.
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. ol

excelled in the different branches of painting. We know, as is the case
in music, though the ear is capable of acquiring a knowledge of twenty
thousand: simple sounds, all differing in tone and strength”, yet this
power of distinction is not entirely in the construction of the organ, but
arises from long observation. Sir Charles Bell says, that this variety of
sensation does not entirely depend upon the structure, but is the operation
of the seuse and intellect conjointly, appears from the long experience
which is requisite to give this perfection. Nature is bountiful in providing
the means of simple and acquired perception, but the latter is the result of
long experience and continued effort, though we have lost the feeling of
its being a voluntary effort.” We have already noticed some of the most
evident properties belonging to the application of shadow, by which we
can easily perceive, that a mere outline of a group of figures, or a variety
of objects, lies like a map under the eye; but by the judicious application
of shadow passing amongst the several forms, they rise up, and assume
their various situations according to their relative distances from the eye
of the spectator. We can easily carry our imagination further, and assign
a reason why some portions are to be subdued, and others brought into
notice; but the art of combining the whole, in an harmonious mass of
chiaro oscuro, can be acquired only by long investigation into the princi-
ples of those who have excelled in this captivating and imaginative art.
Before entering into an examination of this quality, so productive of
pleasure, viewing its effects in painting, it will be necessary to examine
its cause, and where it exists in natural imagery, the ouly sure source on
which we can build with certainty. When we direct our eyes to any
particular object, we observe it distinctly defined, while the surrounding
objects produce a fainter impression on the retina; we also perceive, on
examination, that we often have been attending to the impression made
upon one eye only, either from its more favourable position, or from a
superior goodness in the organ itself; nevertheless, a number of lateral

¥ Reid's Inquiry into the Human Mind, p. 98.
62 AN ESSAY ON THE

images are indistinctly hinted at upon the retina of the other, which, by
their softness, give a precision to the object of our attention, from contrast,
and amuse and assist the imagination from a variety of circumstances; we
know, also, that there are two representations, one painted in each eye,
and though they form but one in the mind, yet we cannot shut out entirely
those hints which may be conveyed to the fancy from the faintest impres-
sions unconsciously attended to; add to which, the eye, from fatigue in
looking at any object attentively, naturally turns for repose to soft masses
of shadow and indistinctness. Without following up this subject too
minutely, these may be some of the reasons why particular arrangements
of chiaro oscuro please the eye more than others®. We also find, that
along with indistinctness, a repetition of form, and a completeness or
unity of shape, are very much under its influence, as may be observed by
trying an experiment as noticed in note 29%, which will suggest others to
the imagination. But whatever way the student takes to get an insight
into this great charm of painting, either in arranging his composition so as
to suit any particular effect of light and shade, or in trying various means of

® This indistinctness also pleases the eye of the spectator, in the same way in which an
unfinished sketch gratifies his imagination ; for as every one has different notions of beauty of
form, he is left to fill up the images, and shape them to his own taste: it also pleases the mind, as
it gives a sort of creative power, such as is felt when looking upon a discoloured wall, or into the
dying embers of a fire. Burke even considers it conducive to sublimity ; he says, “ even in
painting, a judicious obscurity in some things contributes to the effect of the picture, because the
images in painting are exactly similar to those in nature; and in nature, dark, confused, uncertain
images have a greater power on the fancy to form the grander passions than those have which are
more clear and determinate.”— Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful.

2 If we take a pen and sketch in a row of buildings, trees, &e. running from one side to a
point of sight in the centre, blotting in shadows broad and dark on the near objects, and while the
ink is wet fold the paper across the point of sight, so as to take off an impression on the opposite
side, the eye is not only gratified by a greater mixture of sharp and soft portions, but by a greater
unity, and balance of parts, one side with another, and a repetition of the sky line with the lines
of the ground ; or if we draw in a group of trees and fold the paper across at the base of their
stems, so as take off a faint impression, as if reflected in water, the same agreeable sensation will
be produced.
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EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 63

distributing light and shade over his design, let him carefully watch, both
in nature and in art, its various combinations, and endeavour to find out
the latent cause of its beauty. As the etchings of Rembrandt embrace
this quality in the highest degree, from a mere outline to the most extensive
depth of shadow, they ought to be constantly before him when he has it in
his power ; they ought to be viewed in every direction, to enable the eye to
get acquainted with the proportions of light, dark, and half tint: he ought
also to engraft the scheme of chiaro oscuro on designs of his own, that the
harmony which exists in these wonderful productions may be transferred,
if possible, into new inventions, as in PLATE VI.

HARMONY OF COLOUR.

Tue power of combining sounds whose united influence shall call into
existence, through the medium of the ear, those latent seeds by which the
violent or tender passions are excited, is too well understood to require
explanation. That there exists the same sources of enjoyment in the
human mind, which are capable of being awakened through the medium of
the eye, is equally certain; otherwise, the painter could not produce, by
a combination of colour, those effects which surprise or delight the
spectator. Locke describes colours as only ideas of the mind appre-
hended by the imagination, and not qualities that have any existence in
matter. Newton says, colours have their origin in the different refrangi-
bility of the rays of light, and are not received from reflections or
refractions from natural bodies. Without, however, entering too minutely
into the philosophy of colours, it will be necessary to inquire what are the
colours which affect the eye most, or from what arrangement harmony
arises. We observe that children and rude nations™ are most attracted

% «It is evident that gay colours of all kinds are a principal source of pleasure to young
children, and they seem to strike them more particularly when mixed together in various ways.
Whether there be any thing in colours which corresponds to the harmony of sound may be doubted ;
64 : AN ESSAY ON THE

by strong colours, from the excitement which they produce. De la Hire
says, ¢ the different degrees of excitement produced by colours may be
observed by keeping the eye shut, after looking at the sun or any luminous
object, for the image left upon the retina will be first red, then yellow, then
green, and last of all blue.” We also perceive that the effect produced
by strong colours may be increased or diminished, by bringing them in
contact with others of an opposite hue; large portions of strong blue
coming in contact with red or white (for we find the ground colour often a
oreat cause of opposition) affect the eye in a different manner from what
the same colours produce when in smaller quantities; or on a ground of
a neutral tint, such as we see in the specimens found in the Egyptian
tombs, contrasted with the same colours distributed over a Persian shawl:
in the latter case, the rays coming to the eye from every separate colour,
cross each other, so as to produce an agreeable harmony®. In the former
case, one colour makes too strong an impression on the eye to be
obliterated easily; impressions remaining of long or short duration,

if there be, it must however admit of much greater latitudc than the harmony between sounds,
since all mixtures and degrees of colour, unless when the quantity of light overpowers the eye, are
pleasant : however one colour may be more so originally than another. Black appears to be
originally disagreeable to the eyes of children; it becomes disagreeable also very early from
associated influences. In adults, the pleasures of mere colours are very languid, in comparison of
their present aggregates of pleasure formed by association. However, the original pleasures of
mere colours remain in a small degree to the last, and those transfused upon them by association
with other pleasures (for the influence is reciprocal without limits) is a considerable one,—so that
our intellectual pleasures are not only at first generated, but afterwards supported and resuscitated
in part from the pleasures affecting the eye, which holds particularly in respect of the pleasures
afforded by the beauties of nature, and by the imitation of these which the arts of painting and
poetry furnish us with."— Hartley on Man, Sense of Sight.

3 Sir Isaac Newton remarks, that when the refrangibility of any particular ray produced a
certain colour, he found it impossible to change that colour, if sufficiently large; he could subdue
its intensity, by intercepting its rays by coloured mediums, but could not change it in specie.
(We find this, which is a kind of glazing, was even practised by the ancients.) He found a
transmutation of colours might be made by a mixture of different kinds of rays, but in such
mixtures the component colours themselves do not appear, but by their mutually allaying each
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 65

according to the intensity of light or brightness of the object producing
them. Reynolds mentions three modes of harmony existing in the arrange-
ment of colours; one where the colours are of a full and strong body, such
as we find in the works of Raffaelle, apd which he denominates the
Roman manner ; another the Bologna style, which mixes several colours
together, so as to produce a general union in the whole, without reminding
you of the original colours of which they are composed, and which is
carried to the greatest perfection in the small works of the Dutch school;
the third is the Venetian, where the brightest colours are admitted, with
the two extremes of warm and cold hues, and the whole reconciled and
harmonised by being dispersed over the picture, presenting to the eye
that sensation arising from a bunch of flowers. Each method seems to
have its peculiar province allotted to it, corresponding to the subject or
style of composition, in the design, and chiaro oscuro, according as they
depart more or less from common representations of nature, or retain an
entireness or severity of outline: harmony arising from a corresponding
agreement of the several parts, we can easily imagine a suitableness
in the colouring to preserve such unity. In the early stages of painting,
when the figures possessed a dry continuous outline, we find the colours
laid in strong and bright, so as to give relief unconnected with the effect
of aérial perspective. As the art advanced, we find colours made use of
in the character of chiaro oscuro ; and when foreshortening and perspective
effect occupied a large share in the conduct of the work, we perceive that
colour became more subordinate, and the outline, light and shade, and
colour, assimilated with each other in producing an effect upon the
spectator, arising from neither having a preponderance in claiming his

other, constitute a middle colour; and therefore if, by refraction, the different rays be separated,
colours will emerge different from that of the composition. Thus blue and yellow powders finely
mixed appear green to the naked eye, and yet the colours of the component particles are not thereby
really changed, but only blended; for when they are viewed with a microscope, they still appear
blue and yellow.—Priestley’s Remarks on Newton's Optics.

K
66 AN ESSAY ON THE

attention. In entering upon a diffuse examination of the foregoing
remarks, each separate division would require a lengthened essay to
particularise the way in which the eye receives delight from the various
modifications of colour: a work of this brief description can do little
more than point out where the various examples are to be met with, and
how they are modified and arranged to harmonise with those sensations
which exist in the mind, and cannot be altered or diverted into other
channels by the caprice or false taste of any one. I would fain hope 1
have gone further: I have endeavoured to prove, that those sources of
enjoyment which lie dormant in the human mind, and which through the
sense of sight are vivified and called into operation, can only, by the
cultivation of that sense, be productive of pleasure ®. I have also endea-
voured to prove the great utility of the education of the eye, as a means
of general instruction, giving employment to thousands, while it opens
those avenues to science, which even to the -great power of language
remain as “ books sealed and fountains shut up.”

STUDYING FROM NATURE.

Opsects drawn from nature possess a very characteristic difference from
those drawn from the combinations of fancy, or from those images
presented to the imagination. We find in sketches from nature many
minute circumstances, a truth and precision, a variety and beauty, that

2 Addison remarks, that a man of polite imagination is let into a great many pleasures that
the vulgar are not capable of receiving. He can converse with a picture, and find an agreeable
companion in a statue. He meets with a secret refreshment in a description, and often feels a
greater satisfaction in the prospect of fields and meadows than another does in the possession. It
gives him, indeed, a kind of property in every thing he sees, and makes the most rude uncultivated
parts of nature administer to his pleasures: so that he looks upon the world as it were in another
light, and discovers in it a multitude of charms that conceal themselves from the generality of
mankind.— Spectator, No. 411.
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 67

objects drawn from memory, or those images under the guidance of the
mind only, have no pretension to ; the latter possess the general appearance
merely like the confused character of nature presented to indistinct vision ;
or if made out with detail, the minutize contain a select set of touches or
forms, become agreeable from habit, which constitutes mannerism; such
imperfections can be avoided only by having accustomed the eye in the
first instance to a scrupulous exactness in delineating objects from nature,
as one or two parts left out may destroy the richness and variety of lines,
and an unequal proportion of the forms may deprive the copy of the truth
and beauty of the original. These peculiarities are also to be examined and
contemplated upon, that this character may be engrafted upon works of
imagination. Reynolds says, “I very much doubt whether a habit of
drawing correctly what we see will not give a proportionable power of
drawing what we imagine.”

To educate the eye to accomplish this, it is necessary, in the first
instance, to select such objects as are simple in their forms, that the eye
may perceive them distinctly, and make them gradually give place to others
more complicated, to fit the eye and the hand to a variety of lines. It is
also of the first importance that the drawings be made sufficiently large,
that an opportunity may be given for filling up the various spaces with
the minute parts, and also to prevent the hand acquiring a cramped, or
little manner of drawing: it is also of equal importance, that the object
chosen for representation be such as can be compared with the criginal,
to test the exactness of the copy; much injury and fallacy has arisen
from not attending early to a proper mode of study; how often, for
example, do we perceive in those who draw landscapes the incapability
of drawing the human figure with any degree of correctness; this arises
entirely from careless drawing in the first instance. A tree may be
imperfectly drawn, yet look sufficiently true to please most spectators ;
but the human figure possesses proportions, the want of which can be
easily detected; but had we an opportunity of comparing the tree with
08 AN ESSAY ON THE

the original in nature, we should discover the resemblance to be equally
imperfect; for an eye capable of drawing correctly, can draw any
object presented to it, whether simple or complicated. Educating the
eye in the first instance in the elements of lineal and aérial perspective,
gives it a clearer insight into the causes of the changes of form and
shadow, obseryable in all objects; while drawing from the objects them-
selves in place of copies, gives it a power of perception ®, and a knowledge
of embodying forms in composition, quite unattainable by any other
method. When we consider that the images of objects dwell upon the
retina only while the eye is directed to them, and, like the pictures on the
table of the camera obscura, instantaneously vanish when we turn to
something else, we may perceive the necessity of keeping each several
part sufficiently long under examination before delineating it, that the mind
may be put in possession of its form and colour, so as to retain it in

the memory not only while copying it, but with such an impression as’

will improve and enrich the imagination with a multiplicity of imagery.
Those who advocate the study of nature, without educating the eye in the
first instance, are not aware that it is the superficies of things only which
present themselves to the outward vision, and without a monitor to direct,
the art would always be in its infancy®. A: tree drawn by a beginner

% Dr. Jurin observes, that the eye, as well as other parts of the frame, acquires strength and
perfection from frequent use of the muscles, as is noticed in the eyes of sportsmen, travellers,
sailors, &c., who see better at long distances; while those whose professions lead them to close
examination, see better at small distances: but drawing from nature, especially distant prospects,
~ perfects the eye in both these extremes, as we have to carry the vision to examine objects far off,
and immediately transfer it to a near examination on the paper close to the eye, for this organ
is wonderfully provided with the means of changing the crystalline lens, both for pushing it forward
from the retina, and rendering it more convex when viewing near objects; and also for drawing
it more within the vitreous humour and rendering it flatter when examining distant objects.—See
Dr. Jurin on Distinct Vision, and Potterfield on the Eye.

# « Cicero remarks, that not to know what has been transacted in former times, is to continue
always a child. If no use is made of the labours of past ages, the world must remain always in the
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 69

represents a flat image, like a plant or a piece of sea weed dried between
the leaves of a book; a figure represents but the section of one, for even
if the foreshortened portions were perceived, he is incapable of giving
them the perspective appearance, or lifting it from the ground by means
of the application of light and shade. The first restorers of the art in
Italy advanced but little beyond the flat brasses that supplied them with
the means of design: even in the hands of Giotto and Massaccio fore-
shortening was but little attended to, and then from a want of light and
shade to give the parts their relative situations, looked cramped and
feeble ; it was not till the master minds of Leonardo da Vinci and Michael
Angelo grappled with the subject that difficulties disappeared; those
portions of the figure were no longer represented in profile views, but
advanced or receded from the spectator, and whole groups, in place of
looking like a continuous frieze, were turned round, and sunk in the
depths of the composition by means of lineal and aérial perspective.
Raffaelle, by taking advantage of the works of those who had preceded
him, carried the art to a state of perfection, which the study of nature,
notwithstanding bis constant application to her, never could have enabled
him to achieve; the contemplation of the fine works of antiquity created
elevated visions of ideal composition, while his constant application to
nature for the details enabled him to give a reality and identity to the
creations of his imagination. Without the eye being made acquainted with
the beauties of those who have advanced the art to its present state, either
progressively, by studying the best works, or by commencing a course
of drawing from antique sculpture, it will be impossible to select what is
beautiful in nature, or be able to choose one point of view more interesting
than another. It will also be impossible to combine a variety of objects,

infancy of knowledge. The discoveries of every man must terminate in his own advantage, and
the studies of every age be employed on questions which the past generation had discussed and
determined. We may with as little reproach borrow science as manufactures from our ancestors ;
and it as rational to live in caves till our own hands have erected a palace, as to reject all know-
ledge of architecture, which our understandings will not supply.” —Dr. Johnson.
70 AN ESSAY ON THE

unless we have a knowledge of those principles upon which the various
works are constructed that have given satisfaction; for though, as is the
case with music, the varieties are endless, yet the science is simple, and
to be perceived by those who investigate the arrangements of harmony.
He who attempts to study from nature unassisted by education in the first
instance, will find himself often mistaken in his results; neither will he
arrive at so certain, or so expeditious a method of delineating objects
with truth and feeling, as he will be continually in dread of falling into
error. Leonardo da Vinci says, “ theory is the great director of experi-
ment, the only interpreter of the works of nature which is never wrong;
it is our judgement which is sometimes deceived, because we are expecting
results which experiment refuses to give; we must consult experiment,
and vary the circumstances till we have deduced general rules, for it alone
can furnish us with them ; and general rules direct us in our inquiries into
nature, and thc operations of art; they keep us from deceiving ourselves
and others, by promising ourselves results which we can never obtain.”

This is the experience which enables the artist to select and combine,
to leave out or add to the various appearances presented to his eye.
Why is it, for example, that the portrait painter, when his sitter is placed
before him, turns the head, first to one side, then to the other, and
contemplates it also under a variety of effects of light and shade? It is to
observe the best arrangement of the features, to select that view of the
head, which developes the greatest character, and the most beautiful
points. To enable the eye to make these selections, it is necessary to
combine with the study of nature the study of the works of those eminent
men who have preceded us. The works of Titian will convince the student
how much quiet grandeur is to he produced by simplicity and breadth ;
the works of Vandyke exemplify the art of arrangement, and a beautiful
distribution of the features, also the art of uniting the several parts by
means of light and shade, or disposition of the hair, or subordinate
accessories. This power of planning out or adjusting the several parts to
EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 71

the best advantage may be acquired by long contemplation of the various
combinations observed in nature; but a reference to the etchings by
Vandyke, and the prints after him, will facilitate the student in his
inquiries. We know that Rubens advised Vandyke and Velasquez to
study the works of Titian as the best means of arriving at perfection in
portrait painting ; and so uniform has been this mode of acquiring correct
knowledge, that the works of Reynolds or of Lawrence may be studied as
the best means of shortening labour, these artists having adopted the
principles existing in the works of their great predecessors, so as to suit
the fashion and taste of their own times, but along with such study
bringing their own genius to the incessant contemplation of nature: for,
as Bacon observes, “ to spend too much time in studies, is sloth; to use
them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgement wholly
by their rules is the humour of a scholar, they perfect nature, and are
perfected by experience ; for natural abilities are like natural plants, that
need pruning by study, and studies themselves do give forth directions
too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience.”

The art of studying from nature may be therefore considered as
implying that which we perceive through the medium of our own eyes,
and those things made apparent through the spectacles of other men; for
seeing nature does not merely mean seeing the exact length and breadth
of any object, but means the power of discerning her beauties and defects,
those portions which are to be preserved, and the mode of heightening their
effect upon the eye of the spectator, and the several parts which operate
detrimentally to the general arrangement of the whole, which are to be
intercepted by other objects, or left out entirely®. For, as the accidental

% Nothing can be so unphilosophical as a supposition that we can form any idea of beauty or
excellence out of or beyond nature, which is and must be the fountain-head from whence all our
ideas must be derived. This being acknowledged, it must follow of course, that all the rules which
this theory, or any other teaches, can be no more than teaching the art of seeing nature. The
73 AN ESSAY ON THE

combinations of nature are thrown together uncontrolled by the likings or
dislikings of any one, the greatest study is necessary, so as to form a
complete work, which shall possess all the appearance of chance combined
with the most skilful adjustment: for example, what a variety of appear-
ances do not the effects of light and shade produce upon the same scene,
viewed at various times of the day, or seen under the advantages or
disadvantages of accidental arrangements of objects; this power of
discernment is therefore to be acquired by the study of the works of those
who have excelled in the different departments of the art, and afterwards
perfected in searching out and contemplating the beautiful combinations
which lie scattered in the endless varieties of nature: this mode of study
alone can enable one artist to surpass another in the power of selection;
and the same scene, bald and ineffective in the hands of one, may be
rendered full and of rich effect by another, who has watched a more
favourable arrangement, and who has followed up and completed the
various hints derived from accidental combinations, as in Prats vii. Fig. 1
and 2.

Thus the study of nature is conducive to perfect the education of the

rules of art are formed on the various works of those who have studied nature most successfully ;
by this advantage, of observing the various manners in which various minds have contemplated her
works, the artist enlarges his own views, and is taught to look for and see what otherwise would
have escaped his observation. It is to be remarked, that there are two modes of imitating nature;
one of which refers for its truth to the sensations of the mind, and the other to the eye. Some
schools, such as the Roman and Florentine, appear to have addressed themselves principally to the
mind ; others solely to the eye, such as the Venetian, in the instances of Paul Veronese and
Tintoret ; others, again, have endeavoured to unite both, by joining the elegance and grace of
ornament with the strength and vigour of design; such are the schools of Bologna and Parma.
All these schools are equally to be considered as followers of nature. He who produces a work
analogous to the mind or imagination of man is as natural a painter as he whose works are calcu-
lated to delight the eye; the works of Michael Angelo or Julio Romano, in this sense, may be said
to be as natural as those of the Dutch painters.— Reynolds's Notes upon Fresnoy's Art of
Painting.
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EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 73

eye, by careful investigation of her works ourselves, and by being able to
comprehend and appreciate the works of those who have most successfully
studied her; and this not in a lukewarm or superficial manner, bat with
that noble enthusiasm which stimulated the genius of Michael Angelo
through a long life, and even, when deprived of the power of vision from
old age, made him order his attendants to convey him to the gardens of the
Medici, that he might feel and pass over with his hands the glorious remains
of Grecian art, on whose statues he had founded his own education.

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