YALE
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

A N
I N a U I R Y
INTO THE
BEAUTIES of PAINTING;
AND INTO THE
M E R I T S
OF THE MOST
CELEBRATED PAINTERS,
Ancient and Modern.
 L I ' ¦ -J— r  rni  j
By D A N I E L WEBB, Efq.
Ofi; fin ao-Tra^arai T&w £uy%u<puu, ahxu liw aknfiaar,
ct.hx.et Sinai atfiati o'ttoav t( otowtoss inm, Qofa. yag ian aft'
Philoftratus in exord. Iconum."

LONDON,
Printed For R. and J. Dodsley, in Pall-mall,
MDCCLX.

«• YAjLE ¦:

JdLbn 766

TO THE
Reverend Mr. . S p e n c e.
Si r,
THE moft accurate obferver
of the beauties of nature,
miift be the beft judge of their imi
tations ; and the iame elegance of
imagination which forms the paint
er, muft enlighten the critic. It
was natural for me, under this per-
fuafiois, to addrefs my obferva-
tions on Painting to the author of
Crito. "¦*'
How ingenious are men in co
louring their paffions ! thus have I
heightened felf-love into a love of
juftice : - For, what could be more
A 2 ad-

iv DEDICATION.
advantageous to me, than to have.
it known, that Mr. Spence ap
proves me as a writer, and ac
knowledges me as a friend? What
fuccefs I may have in the former
character, muft depend on futurity ;
but I am in poffeflion of all the
credit of the latter, while you per
mit me to declare, in this publick
manner, That I am, Reverend Sir,
with the truefi refpe&,
your moji obliged^
mojl obedient^
and moft humble feruant^
Dan is l Webb.

["]

P REFACE.
IF we confider the ambition moft
men have to be thought judges
of Painting, and the eafe with which
they might really become fo, it will
appear ftrange, that fo few mould be
found, who have any clear or deter
mined ideas of this art. To account
for this, and to point out thofe errors,
which have been the caufes of it, is
the defign of this Preface ; after which,
I propofe, by the following work,
to free this fubjedt from its fuppofed
A 3 difficulties,

VI

PREFACE.

difficulties; and to throw fuch lights
on the beauties and advantages of this
amiable art, as may both recommend
the ftudy, and facilitate the knowledge
of it.
I am fenfible, that, among my rea
ders, there will be fome, whofe ex
cellent tafte and clear judgment muft
place them much above my inftruc-
tions ; from thefe I hope for indulgence.
The perfons for whom I write, are our
young travellers, who fet out with
much eagernefs, and little preparation ;
and who, for want of fome governing
objects to determine their courfe, muft
continually wander, milled by ignorant
guides, or bewildered by a multiplicity
of directions. The firft error, I have
taken

PREFACE. vii
taken notice of, is, the extreme eager-
nefs, with which they run through tha
galleries and churches ; nimium videnf,
nee tamen totum. A few good pictures,
well considered, at fuch intervals, as to
give full time to range and determine
the ideas which they excite, would
in the end turn to a much better ac
count. The fecond error, is, the habit of
eftimating pictures by the general re
putation of the painters ; a rule, of all
others, the moft productive of igno
rance and confufion. For example;
Dominichino may, at times, be rank
ed with Raphael ; at times, he is little
fuperior to Giotto. And we often find,
that the beft works of the middling ar-
fifts, excell the middling works, of the
A 4 beft.

viif PREF ACE.
beft. If then," we are guided wholly
by the prejudice of nanies, we no long
er truft to our Own fenfes ; Ve muft
acknowledge merit which we do not
fee, and undervalue that which we
do ; diftreffed between authority and
conviction, we are difgufted with the
difficulties' of an art, which is, per
haps, of all others the mod eafily un-
derftood. For, that compofition muft
be defective, which cannot, to a care
ful obferver, point out its own ten
dency; and thofe expreffions muft be
either weak or falfe, which do not,
in fome degree, mark the intereft of
each actor in the drama. In nature,
we readily conceive the variety and
force of characters ; why mould we
not do fo in Painting? What diffi
culty

P R E F A C E. ix
culty can there be - in dulinguifhingj
whether the airs of the heads be mean
or noble; the ftyie of defign, Confin
ed, charged, or elegant ; : whether the
proportions be juft or ^ unequal ; the
carnations, cold or animated? If the
colours r in a^picture be happily dif-
pofedj the general effect will be pleaf-
ing; and in proportion to the force
of the clear obfcure, the figures and
objects will be -flat or projecting, or,
in other words, more or lefs like na
ture. If we confider thefe points with
out prejudice, it will, I think, appear,
that, of all the arts, Painting is the
moft natural both in its means and ef
fects. It is the moft direct and im
mediate addrefs to* the fenfes: and this
muft be the reafon, that the beft wri ters

x PREFACE.
ters of antiquity, in treating of Other
arts, fo frequently borrow their exam
ples and illuftrations from this. When
I thus make light of the difficulties of
Painting, I muft be underftood to fpeak
of its effects, not of the practice ; and
yet, even as to this, there are ten paint
ers who have excelled in the mecha-
nick part, for one who has excelled in
the ideal. So that the fcarcity of good
pictures, arifes not from a difficulty of
execution, but from a poverty of in
vention. Hence it is, that painters of
an inferior clafs, have, in their hap
pier hours, ftruck out fome excellent
pictures; and fome again are feldonj
fuccefsful, except when they work on
the ideas of others : Andrea Sacchi
is an example of the firft, and Dotni-
nichino

PREFACE. xi
nichino Of the fecond. But I am ftray-
ing from the defign of this Preface,
which was, to point out to the younger
part of my readers thofe errors, which
tend moft to defeat their knowledge
of Painting. I have already named
two, the third is, the hafty ambition
of diftinguifhing the feveral mafters.
With many, this precedes and often
holds the place of all other know
ledge; and yet, I will venture to af
firm, that where this does not fpring
from a nice difcernment of the beau
ties or imperfections of the picture
before us, and thofe too turning chief
ly on the compofition and expref-*
fions, it is an idle art, more ufefui
to a pi&ure-merchant, than becoming
a man of tafte. " It cannot be de-?
nied, that a famenefs of manner in

treating

a

xii PREFACE.
treating various fubjects, is a weaknefs;
it is a want of variety, both in the me-
chanick, and ideal : Yet it is by this very
weaknefs, or, fome infignificant particu
larities^ in the colouring, Shading, atti
tudes, or draperies, that we fo readily
diftinguifh the feveral hands. It may be
a check on this affectation, to obferve,
that among the infinity of painters,
there are not, perhaps, a dozen, who
are worth Studying : It is not by lit
tle circumftances, that we know a
Raphael or Correggio : Their fupe-
rior talents are their diftin&ions. Wo
men of ordinary forms, are marked
by the jewels on their necks, or the
colours of their clothes ; but a D  fs
of G  n is Singled out by a pre
eminence in beauty. There is a fourth
error which I would fain difcredit, and

PREFACE. xiii
and then I Shall. have done. with this
unpleafing talk : I have obferved ma
ny to look at pictures, with no other
view, than to Show their acutenefs,
in detecting little errors in drawing,
or lapfes of the pencil; thefe do not
ftudy Painting to become knowing,
but to appear fo. But let them re
flect, that there is more true tafte, in
drawing forth one latent beauty, than
in obferving a hundred obvious im
perfections : The firft proves, that our
fpirit co-operates with that of the ar-
tift; the fecond Shews nothing more,
than, that we have eyes, and that we
ufe them to very little purpofe. If
thefe errors appear in the fame light
to my reader, that they do to me,
he will fee the neceffity there was,
for fome better plan than that which
we

xiv P R E F A C E.
we have hitherto followed in the ftu-
dy of Painting. This is what I pro-
pofe by the ESTay which I here offer
to the publick. I Shall ufe no art,
however cuftomary it may be on thefe
occasions, to prepare the judgment, or
conciliate the good opinion of my rea
ders : One thing only it may be ne-
ceffary to excufe ; I have been for
ced, in fome meafure, to take cer
tain liberties of ftyle, which, though
common in other languages, have not
yet been received into ours. Thus
I have ufed the Mechanic k, and
Ideal of an art, inftead of the
mechanick, or ideal part of an art;
as likewife Clears and Obscures,
for clear and obfcure colours. I have
borrowed the word N u'd from the
French ; Sbozzo from the Italian ;
and

PREFACE. xt
and have translated the Chiaroscuro
of the latter into the clear obfcure.
Thefe are little licences, unavoidable,
in treating of an art, which has not
as yet been thoroughly naturalized;
and I even wifh, that they may not
be overlooked, in the number of lefs
excufable defers.

CON-

C xvi ]

CONTENTS
Dial. I. General Plan of the Work.
Dial. II. Our Capacity to judge of
Painti n g.
Dial. III. The Antiquity and Vfefulnefs
of Painting.
Dial. IV. O/Design.
Dial. V. O/Colouring.
Dial. VI. Of the Clear obscure.
Dial. VII. Of Composition.

DIALOGUE

[¦« 3

DIALOGUE L
General Plan of the Work.
jS.TTTHEN you advanced the other
VY day, hi a circle of virtuofo's, that
the ancients were, in painting, as in all the
other polite arts, equal, if not fuperior, to
the moderns ; your afiertion was received
with an univerfal diflike. However dif
ferent my fentiments were from yours 'at
the time, I was yet perfuaded, that you
would not have given into fo fingular an -
opinion, without having good reafons to
fupport it. I mentioned to you then mf .
doubts, and you was fo good as to promife
me you would remove them.-
B A. I

r General Plan of the Work. Dial. I.
A. I was not at all furprifed at the dif-
fatisfa&ion you remarked in thofe, gentle
men ; it is unpleafing to have an opinion
brought into doubt, which we have looked
upon all Our lives as iridifputable. You
fhall now be a judge of the grounds I had
for my affertion. Had we rid other object
in view, but merely to determine the dif
ferent merits of the artiSts, it would hardly
be worth the labour ; but, by examining
the testimonies which we Shall draw from
the writings of the ancients, and comparing
their ideas with the paintings of" the mo
derns, we Shall enlarge Our conceptions, arid
improve Our knowledge of the art itfelf.
B. This profpect which you have opened
upon dies gives me a fingular pleafure ; for,
after having read, with the Utmoft atten->
tron^ the Several authors on this Subject, I
cannot fay, that I havt received ftom them
the instruction I expected.
A. This

Dial. I. General Plan of the Work. 3
A. This does not proceed from a want
of capacity in them, but from a defect in
their plans : they are, as you know, bio
graphers ; and, as the perfons whole lives
they write, are all of one profeffion, the
continued fepetitioii of the fame thoughts,
and of the fame technical terms* tire and'
diftract the reader. There is another ob
jection to their manner of writing -, their
ideas, however juft, are fb Scattered through
the different parts of their works, that they
are not eafily reducible to any fyftem. In
the exposition of an art, as in the distribu
tion of a picture, a loofe difperfion of the
objects, confounds both the eye and the
understanding. But, thefe writers are fub-
ject to a Still greater difadvantage ; for, as
the painters whole talents they defcribe, if
we except a very few, excelled much more
in the mechanick, than in the ideal part
of painting, it throws the force of theft
observations on that point, with which,
B z we,

4 General Plan of the Work. Dial. .1
we, who are but obfervers of the art, have
the leaft to do.
B. Though I understand very well the
terms mechanick and ideal, in their ge
neral acceptation, yet, 1 wifh you would
explain them, in their particular relation
to the fubject before us.
A. We may confider the imitative arts
in two points of view ; ifl, As imitations of
fuch objects as are actually before the eye ;
2dly, As reprefentations of thofe images-
which are formed by the fancy. The firft ,
is the mechanick or executive part of the
art ; the fecond, the ideal or inventive.
[a] Tully has juftly distinguished thofe
[«] Nee verd ille artifex, quum faceret Jovis form-
am aut Minervae, contemplabatur aliquem e quo firni-
litudinem duceret ; fed ipfius in mente infidebat fpe-
cies pulchritudinis eximia quxdam, quam intuens, in
caque defixus, ad illius fimilitudinem artem et manum
dirigebat. In Br u to. parts,

Dial. I. General Plan of the I Fork. 5
parts, when he obferves, that the Jupiter
of Phidias was not drawn from any pattern
in nature, but from that idea of unexam- '
pled beauty, which the artift had fom:ed
in his mind. The great difference, ob-
ferved among painters of any name, arifes
from their different excellencies in thefe two
parts : thofe, whofe chief merit is in the
mechanick, will, like the Dutch painters, be
fervile copiers of the works of nature -, but
thofe, who give wholly into the ideal,
without perfecting themfelves in the me
chanick, will produce \b~\ fbozzo's, not
pictures : it is evident then, that the per
fection of the art confifls in an union of
thefe two parts. Of all the moderns, Ra
phael feems to have come the neareft to
this point. The next to him is, perhaps,
Qorreggio. I have faid perhaps, becaufe,
though there is no great variety in his
[i] The rough draught of a pi&ure.
B 3 ideas,

6 Genreal Plan of the Work. Dial, I.
ideas, yet are they fometimes fo happy, at
tended with fuch grace, and executed with
fuch truth, that, as there is no one artift,
whofe paintings we fee with more pleafure,
fo is there no one, whofe impreffions we re
ceive more warmly, or remember longer ;
and this kit is the teft of perfect painting.
But before I enter further into our fubject, it
may not be improper, to lay before you the.
method I propofe to obferve. Firft then,
we will examine our capacity to judge of
the imitative arts •, to determine which, we
muft previously fix the limits between tafte
and fcience. In the next place, we may
confider the true value of thefe arts,, which
muft be estimated, by their antiquity, their
degree of credit with every polite nation,
and, above all, by their ufefujnefs to focie-
ty. I Shall then divide paiating, which is
our principal object, into its four leading
branches, namely, defign, colouring, clear
obfcure, and compoficion. Concerning each of

Dial. I. General Plan of the Work. y
of thefe, I Shall endeavour to point out its
different begyiies and ends ; how far the an
cients feem to have attained thofe ends ;
and of courfe, what light they muft Stand
in, on a comparison with the moderns:
One Satisfaction you will have in this pro-
grefs, that, almoft every Step we take,
will be on claffick ground j and, as ail the
testimonies I ufe, or lights I borrow, are
from the heft writers of antiquity, the vi
vacity and good fenfe in their remarks, will
at once entertain, and guide us in our pur-
fuir. As the day is now too far Spent to
enter upon our fubject, to-morrow, if you
pleafe, we will begin ; and dedicate a morn
ing to each of the divisions, in the order
I juft now Seated them.

B 4 DIA-

DIALOGUE II.
Of our Capacity to judge of Painting.
[f] rr^HE learned, fays Quintilian, know
JL the principles of an art, the illi
terate its effects. He has, in thefe words,
fixed the boundaries between tafte and fci-
ence. Were I to define the former, I Should
fay, [J] that tafte was a facility in the mind
[c] Dodli rationem artis intelligunt, indodti volupta- 1
tern. Lib. ix. 4.
[d] Many writers have oppofed judgment to tafte,
as if they were diftinft faculties of the mind ; but
this muft be a miftake : The fource of tafte is feeling,
fo is it of judgment, whick is nothing more than this
fame fenfibility, improved by the ftudy of its proper
objefts, and brought to a juft point of certainty and
correctnefs. Thus it is clear, that thefe are but diffe
rent degrees of the fame faculty, and that they are
exercifed wholly on our own ideas ; but, fcience is
the remembrance or affemb!age of the ideas of others r
to

Dial. II. Our Capacity to judge, &c. 9
to be moved by what is excellent in an /
art-, it is a feeling of the truth. Bur,
fcience is to be informed of that truth, and
of the means by which its effects are pro
duced. It is eafy to conceive, that, dif
ferent as thefe principles may be in their
fetting out, they muft often unite in their
decifions : This agreement will occafion
their being mistaken one for the other,
which is the cafe, when it is affirmed, that
no one but an artift can form a right
judgment of fculpture or painting. This
maxim may hold indeed with refpect to
the mechanick of an art, but not at all
as to its effects ; the evidence and force
of which, are what determine both the va
lue of £he art, and merit of the artift.
What [e] Tully obferves of an excellent
and hence it fometimes happens, that men the moft
remarkable for this kind of knowledge, are not equally
fo, for their fenfibility.
[/?] Id enim ipfum eft fummi oratoris, fummum
oratorem populo videri. In Bruto. orator,

»o Our Capacity lo~ judge BfAt.L IE
orator, may as-juftly brfaidof an excel-*
lent painter; his Superiority will be evi
dent even to the leaft intelligent judges!
But netther authority nor argument give1
a weight to our opiaidfl»,; touching any
art we treat of, equal to the illustrations
and examples which they lend each other.
Happily, £/] the near affinity that is'
obferved between the polite arts, they be
ing indeed all but different means of ad
dressing the fame paffions, makes this, at
once, the; moft effectual and ready me
thod of conveying our ideas. I find in
Dionyfius HalicarnafTeus ah observation on
rnufick much to my purpofe. [g\ «« I
[/] Oauies artes, quas ad hjimanitatem perti
nent, habent qDoddam commune wn,CHjlu^, et quafi
cognationc inter fe continentur. Cic. pro Archia
poeta. have

$iau II. of Pa in ting. n
have learned," fays he, " in theatres fill-
" ed with a promifcuous and illiterace
'"., crowd, what a kind of natural corre-
" fpondence we all have with melody,
" aqd the agreement of founds : Having
" known the moft admired and able mu-
" ficjan to be hiffed by the whole muki-
" tucje, when he has Struck a fingje firing
" out of turje, to the difturbance of nar-
" mony ; yet, put this fame instrument
" into the hands of one of thofe fimple-
" tons, with orders to exprefs that note,
" which he would exact from the artift,
" he cannot do it. Whence is this ? The
*' one is the effect: of fcience, the lot but
" of a few; the other of feeling, which
3m BofvMiiia viro ts n-Xufls?, on //.lav jgofjsu ao-jp(pw.-
mv «S«S3?> «V *<Pfo& l" f*»*o«" W>rai situ Kftfvcrtxe tcv
•JVwtsjv tstbv ti uv iviy.aihn tpis TE^tTusi; at .£g>atgrnfntpr,
awrot Troiwai KctGavroL ra o^yata, ax. as Smairo, t> Sv
VOTi ; on TSTo jus nrirupvc trw, ij; s itairtq (MTBi^ytpa.-
(*!»" izmo h T,a9s{, S ircttnt avi^ugst » tp.vms. Pion.
Halicarn. De ftrucTr. orat, fed. {i. " nature

12 ' Our Capacity to judge Dial. II,
" nature has beftowed On all." This ap
plies itfelf to our prefent fubject : The
eye has its principle of correspondence with
¦what is juft, beautiful, and elegant: It
acquires, like the ear, an [ h ] habitual
delicacy ; and anfwers, with the fame
fidelity and precifion, to the fineft im-
preffions : Verfed in the works of the beft
painters, it foon learns to distinguish true
expreffions from falfe, and grace ;from
affectation ; quickened by exercife, and
confirmed by comparifon, it outstrips rea-
foning ; and feels in an inftant that truth,
which' the other developes by degrees.
B. Yotr have been defcribing, what
Tully calls a learned, and we, I think,
may term a chafte eye. But, do you not,
in this procefs, make the growth of taSte
[£] Confuetudo oculorum. Cic. lib. vr. Acad.
quaeft. to

Dial. II. of Painting. 13
to be little more than a fenfitive vegeta
tion, withdrawing it wholly from its de
pendency on fcience ?
A. Let us obferve its advances in
poetry, as we have before in mufick :
This too, will be the more decifive, as
poetry is an union of the two powers of
mufick and picture. In this, the imagina
tion, on its firft fetting out, ever prefers
extravagance to juflnefs, or falfe beauties
to true ; it kindles at the flafhes of Clau-
dian; and flutters at the points of Sta-
tius; this is its childhood. As it grows
in vigour, it refines in feeling; till, fu_
perior to its firft attractions, it refts on
the tender pathetick of Virgil; or the
manly fpirit of Lucretius. Exactly par
allel to this, is the progrefs of the eye
in painting ; its firft affections are always
ill placed : it is enamoured with the fplen- did

j 4. Our Capacity to judge Dial. ft.
did impofitidns of Rubens, or the [f] the
atrical grace of Guido ; this lafts not long ;
it grows chafte in its purfuit •, and flight
ing thofe falfe beauties, dwells on the native
and mellow tints of Titian ; on the un
forced attitudes, and elegant Simplicity of
Raphael. Was this change, in both cafes,..
the refult of reafoning, or produced by a
[0 The grace of Guido is rather technical that*
ideal; by the firft is meant a certain flow of Contour,
invariably applied to every character, and on every
occafiori. Thus the daughter of Herodias r'eceive's
the head of St. John, with the ftudied dignity of an
attrefs ; and the victorious St. Michael, treads on the
body of his antagonift, with all the precifion of a
dancing mafter. By an ideal grace, I underftand that
particular image, which in the inftant ftrikes a polite
imagination, as peculiar to the action and character
before it.  Of this the Sanda Cecilia of Raphael,
and the Magdalen in the St. Jerome of Cdreggid, are"
the happieft examples: The gracefalnefs in thefe
figures is not only proper to their characters-, but gives
a fingular force and beauty to the expreffion. It was
from this happinefs, that the venuftas of Apelles
bec.-.me proverbial ,- as, among u?, any action that is
Angularly graceful, is termed Coreggiefque* growing

Dial. II. c/"Painting. i£
growing knowledge of the rules of each >
art, we Should mark its advances ; the
contrary of which is almoft ever the cafe ;
fo that we are often furpifed at this altera
tion in Ourfelves, afid Wonder, that the
ideas and objects which affected us fo
warmly at firftj Should, in a Short courfe of
time, art fo coldly upon us : Nay, fome
men there are* and thofe too very capable
of judging in other matters, who never
rife to this change j but continue, to the
laft, Under the influence of the fame boyiSh
and wanton imagination.
B. The greatest difficulty in your fy-
ftemj would be* to deduce the different
degrees, as well as diverfity of our taftes*
from this fame univerfal principle of feeling.
A. The firft, I Should think, may be
accounted for, from the different propor*
tions of that fenfibility, as beftowed on us
by

16 Our Capacity to judge Dial; ILV
by nature, or improved by ourfelves : The
fecond, from the diverfity in our imagina
tions, in the direction given to them by
education, and the constitutional or tem
porary flow of the animal fpirits. But,
as this is an inquiry quite beyond my
reach, I Shall leave it to thofe, who can
trace the progrefs of our ideas ; and can
determine, and account for the various in
fluences of outward objects on our fenfes.
Inftead of lofing our time in fuch endlefs
difquifitions, let us found our knowledge
on facts ; and pafs from them to natural
and ufcful conclusions. " The [k\ Lace-
" demonians," fays Atheneus, " are no
" where reprefented as being themfelves
" muficians ; yet, the purity of their tafte
" in this art, is univerfally acknowledged t
" they having, at three different times,
[&} Auxtoa.tjA.iHot, h f*EV ejiat^avov Tt!> [Ano-txw, sJev fa-
ytsrw' oti h xpimt $vmv\a.t xtzhaq rm ri%>w, Sfto^oyetTai.
*7otp* ctvruv ya.^ (pact t§is ijjbi cEcraxsiai Aaip9f(pa)(X£»»v au-
tw. Athenseus, lib, xiii. Deipnofoph. c. 6.
when

.Dial. II. ©/.Painting. 17
" when it was corrupted and loft, reftored
" and preferved it." The following ob
servation by Tully, at the fame time that
it illustrates, receives authority from this
:fa<5t — " All [/] men, by a kind of tacit
" feeling, without art or fcience, diftin-
" guifh, in both cafes, what is right from.
" what is wrong ; and, as they evidently do
" fo in painting and fculpture, fo, &c. &c.
And again : " It is wonderful, fays he, that,
" feeing the difference is fo great between
" the knowing and the ignorant, in the
" practice of an art, that the difference
" Should be fo far from great, in their
" judgments concerning it."
[/] Omnes enim tacito quodam fenfu, fine ulla
arte aut ratione, qua; lint in artibus ac rationibus rec
ta ac prava dijudicant j idque cum faciunt in picturis
et in fignis, &c. &c.
Mirabile eft, ciim plurimum in faciendo interfit in
ter doctum et rudem, quam non multiim differat in
judicando. De Oratore, lib. iii.
C B. You

1 8 Our Capacity to judge Dial. II.
B. You have, I think, fully establish
ed the principle you contend for ; name
ly, that we have all within us the feeds
of tafte, and are capable, if we exercife
our powers, of improving them into a
fufficient knowledge of the polite arts. I
am perfuaded, that nothing is a greater
hinderance to our advances in any art, than
the high opinion we form of the judg
ment of its profeffors, and the propor
tionable diffidence of our own. I have
rarely met with an artift, who was not an
implicit admirer of fome particular fchool,
or a Slave to fome favourite manner.
They feldom, like gentlemen and fcho-
lars, rife to an unprejudiced and liberal
contemplation of true beauty. The dif
ficulties they find in the practice of their
art, tie them down to the mechanick;
at the fame time, that Self-love and va
nity lead them into an admiration of
thofe
4

Dial. II. «/Painting. i<j
thofe ftrokes of the pencil, which come
the nsareit to their own. I knew a paint
er at Rome, a man of fenfe too, who
talked much more of Jacinto Brandi,
than he did either of Correggio or Ra
phael.

C 2 DIA-

[ 2° 3
DIALOGUE IIL
Of the Antiquity and XJfefulnefs of
Painting.
THough the antiquity of an art is not
that which Should determine its value,
yet, it creates a refpe<5t, and increafes, if
I may be allowed the exprefiion, its confe-
quence with us, when we know it to have
been the ftudy and purfuit of the earlieft
ages. The connection that prevails between
the polite arts, extends not only to a Simi
litude in their operations and effects, it
marks likewife a kind of fifter-hood in
their origin : For, as the different branches
of the fame art are ever obferved to flou
rish together ; fo, the power of drawing
men to our ends by flattering their ima
ginations, or interesting their paffions be ing

Dial. III. The Antiquity and, &c. 21
ing exerted in any one mode, we may rea
sonably promife ourfelves the invention of
the reft. Hence we muft always expect
to fee painting, eloquence, and fculpture
advancing like the Graces, hand in hand, to
perfection : They Should, like the glories
of the rainbow, Shine forth at once in
a friendly fplendor ; and, to continue
the image, they Should too, like thofe,
fade and go out in an immediate fuccef-
fion : — Accordingly this has been in all
times the cafe. " [m] For who, fays an
" ancient writer, can fufficiently wonder,
M that the moft eminent geniufes in every
" profeflion, Should appear in the fame
** degrees of excellence, and at the fame
" critical point of time ? " It had been
fo in the ages of Alexander the Great, and
[»] Quis enim abunde mirari poteft, quod emi-
fientiflima cujufque profeffionis ingenia, in eandem
formam, et in idem ardtati temporis.congruant Ipa-
tium ? Veil. Pat. Hift. lib. i. c. 1 6.
C 3 Augustus-,

2 % The Antiquity and D i a i . III.
Auguftus ; and was fo afterwards, in thofe
©f Leo X, and Lewis XIV. If, therefore,
that which has been invariable in the histo
rical ages, may, by a juft analogy* be ex
tended to thofe which preceded them, I
Ihould have no more dfficulty in pronoun
cing, that there were painters before the
time of Homer, than Tully had in affirm
ing, that there were poets. Though the
reafon of things may be fufficient to eSta-
blifh this opinion ; yet, we have Still furef
grounds to reft on : Sculpture and paint
ing muff, from their nature, be infepar-
able, as defign is the parent of both. That
the firft of thefe exifted before Horner,
We can have no doubt, when we read his
defcription of the Shield of Achilles j the
cOmpofition of which would do honour
to a Fiammingo, or Algardi. He fays,
in one pkce, that the eatth grew dark
"under the plow. This Shows, that they then
knew

Dial. III. Ufefulnefs of Painting. 23
knew the [»] art of colouring metals by
fire, or by their mixtures ; this is an evi
dent imitation of painting : it is, befide,
a refinement ; and fpeaks the aft, not in its
infancy, but at full growth. If we allow
then, in this cafe, the fame fpace of time,
to bring it from its birth to its perfection,
which every other art, though of lefs com-
pafs than this, has taken, we Shall find it
in being at the time of the [0] Trojan war.
I JShould not be fo particular in tracing
the origin of fculpture, and confequently of
painting, to this era, were it not, that
[*] This art vras toft in the time of Pliny. Quon
dam ass confufum auro argentoque mifcebatur, et ta-
men ars pretiofior erat : Nunc incertum eft, pejor haec
fit, an materia ; nriramque, cum ad infinitum operam
pretia creverint, ars extincta eft. Lib. xxxiv. c. z.
[0] Servius, ad ver. 392, 393. JEneid. ii. has the
following note : Scutis Gueconun, Neptunus ; Tto-
janorum, fuit Minerva depitSa. And again, ad ver.
7.84. iEneid. x. Lino tegebantur fcuta, ut patient in-
hsrere picturas.
C 4 Pliny

24 The Antiquity and Dial. III.
Pliny confidently aSfirms, that the latter
did not exift in thofe times ; for which,
however, he gives no reafon, any more,
than he does, for treating as ridiculous the.
affertion of the Egyptians, that they prac-
tifed painting, many thoufand years be
fore it was known in Greece. Whoever
confults [p] Tacitus, will find, that the
Egyptians knew defign, and fculptured
marble, Jong before they had the know
ledge of letters; which, Cadmus, a de
pendent of theirs, many ages after, intro
duced into Greece.
B. What you have offered concern
ing the Egyptians, is confirmed by a la
ter and undoubted example. When the
Spaniards firft arrived in America, the
[p] Primi per liguras animalium -<Egyptii fenfus
mentis effingebant, et antiquiffima monumenta me
moriae humans impreffa faxis cernuntur. Annal.
lib. xi. cap. 14. news

Dial. III. Ufefulnefs of Painting. 25
news was fent to the Emperor in paint
ed expreffes, they not having at that time
the ufe of letters.
A. As it is evident that paint bears
the immediate Stamp, and very image of
our conceptions, [q~\ fo it was natural, that.
men Should fooner hit on this method
of reprefenting their thoughts, than by let
ters, which have no connection with, or
refemblance to the ideas they Stand for:
From whence, no lefs than from the au
thority of hiftory, it has been juftly con
cluded, that writing is of a much later
invention than painting. But that which
brought the antiquity of the latter fo much
[g] It is to be obferved, that, in the Greek
tongue, the fame word (ypatp&i) fignifies to paint,
or to write; which is eafily accounted for, if we
fuppofe that, like the Egyptians, they firft explain
ed their thoughts by paint : So that, afterwards,
when letters were difcovered, though they changed
the manner, they continued the term. into

26 The Antiquity and Dial. TIL
into doubt, was the vanity of the Greeks.
Piqued that any other nation Should have
the honour of its invention, they dated
its origin from its firft appearance among
themfelves ; they tell us Of a certain maid,
who to have fome prefent image of her
lover, who was about to leave her, [r]
drew the out-lines of his Shadow on a
wall. B. It was prettily imagined however,
to make the moft amiable of all our paf-
fions give birth to the moft pleafing of
all arts.
A. Pliny who mentions this, objects to
the Greeks their inconfiftency, and want
of accuracy. The firft painter they name,
lived in the nintieth olympiad ; upon which
[r] Hence the art itfelf was by the Greeks termed
Tx my pantos' and in the Latin, Adumbrate and Pin'
gere are fynonymous. he

Dial. HI. Vfefalnefs cf Painting. 27
he obferves* that Candaules, " a king
" of Lydia, who died in the eighteenth,
"gave an immenfe price for a picture
" by Bularchus ; to which he adds, \s\
" it is roanifeft, that the art was even
" then in its full beauty and perfection;
" which, if we are forced to allow, it
" neceffarily follows, that its beginnings
" muft have been much more ancient."
The Picturae Ardeas, fo much praif-
ed by Pliny, were, as he tells us, paint
ed before the foundation of Rome ; as
were the Atalanta and Helena at Lanu-
yium, by the fame hand; each of excel
lent beauty. This is a fecond proof, that
painting was at a high point of perfection
before the institution of the olympiads.
Haying thus established the reputation of
[/] Manifefta jam turn claritate artis atque abfo-
iutione; quod ft recipi necefie eft, ftmui apparet
muko vetuftiora principia eSb. Lib. xxxv. our

28 The Antiquity and Dial. III.
our art, fo far as depends on its antiquity ;
I fhall come to confider it in a light much
more to its advantage, I mean its ufeful-
hefs to fociety. I Shall enlarge the more
on this, as we do not feem to be Suffi
ciently acquainted with it in this charac
ter. When Plato banifhed poetry from his
republick, it is to be wondered he did
not extend his feverity to painting and fculp
ture : It is probable, he did not fo well
know the powers of thefe arts, or how
far their merit entitled them to his per
secution. It Should feem that legislators,
for the moft part, divide men into two
extremes ; to thofe of the finer temper,
they propofe the good of fociety, and
beauty of virtue, as fufficient motives to
action : But the vulgar and fordid natures
are, by their leading paffions, as pride^ fear

Dial. III. Ufefulnefs of Painting. 29
fear and hope, to be compelled into vir
tue. Such fyftems.as thefe may produce
a Spartan feverity, or Roman patriotifm,
but never an Athenian politenefs. To ef
fect this, the fofter paffions, and even ele
gant habitudes are to be employed : Thefe
only can humanize the mind, and temper
it into a fenfibility of the Slightest impref-
fions, and moft exquifite feelings. Hence
fpring attention, [•/] civility, the fine dif-
guifes of our own paSIions, and insinuating
addrefs to thofe of others ; thefe faihion
themfelves into a fyftem of politenefs ; fo
ciety becomes amiable, as well as good,
and we have at lait, the belt incitements to
[t\ In the ancient mythology, the Xapifo or Graces,
were made to prefide over courtefy, and outward
charms : The afligning them this double province,
was happily imagined j for civility, or the deftre to
pleafe, naturally produces a gracefulnefs of action ;
and fpreads over our perfons that venuftas, which
is the completion of exterior beauty. the

%o The Antiquity and Dial. III.
the practice of virtue, in the [a] agree-
•ablenefs of its objects.
B. Thus, the firft motives may be faid
to act like the prelfure of the heart or
current of the blood ; their operations are
evident : But the latter, of a more refined
nature, like the animal fpirits, though they
work unperceived, give life and movement
to well ordered focieties.
A. Ovid takes notice of the utility, as
well as the pleafure we receive from an
encouragement of the polite arts [x].
Each ^leafing art lends foftnefs to the mind,
And) with our Jtudies, are our lives refin'd,
[a] This was well underftood by Confucius, the
Chinefe legiflator ; who ranks civility with gratitude,
in the clafs of cardinal virtues.
{x} Scilicet ingenium placida mollitur ab arte,
ILt Audio mores coavejiienter eunt.
Lib. ili. de Arte.
And

Dial. III. Ufefulnefs of Painting. 31
And Petronius views their effects in a moral
light, obferving, [y} that violent paffions
dwell in the rude, but take no hold of a
cultivated rrind  Were we then to con
fider the arts merely as objects of elegant
Speculation, or as the means of polifhing
and foftening our manners, we could not
prize them too highly ; but their effects
are much more extenfive. The powers of
eloquence and mufick are univerfally ae-
knowledged ; fo would be thofe of paint
were they as univerfally exercifed. The
Athenians paSTed a law, that none who were
not of a liberal birth, Should practife in
this art : They could not better Show the
fenfe they had of its power than in the care
they took of its direction. They knew
the dominion it had over our paffions, and
hence were careful to lodge it in the fafeft
hands. Agreeable to this idea,, the Greek
[y] Similiter in pectoribus ira confidit, feras qui-
dem mentes obfidet, eruditas praelabitur. In Satyrico. writers

32 The Antiquity and Dial. III.
writers often fpeak of the drama of a paint-
,er, of the moral of painting; expreffions
which mark, that they considered this art,
as on a level, and co-operating with poet
ry. One of the graveft and moft judicious
of the Romans viewed it in the fame light.
[z] Picture, fays Quintilian, a filent and
uniform addrefs, yet penetrates fo deeply
into our in moft affections, that it feems
.often to exceed even the powers of elo
quence. We cannot doubt the fincerity of
, this decision, if we confider the character
of the perfon from whom it comes. Ci
cero was equally fenfible of the powers of
the pencil, and often fets them in com
petition with thofe of his favourite art.
Their effects are fometimes wonderful. It
is faid, that Alexander trembled and grew
pale, on feeing a picture of Palamedes be-
[ss] Piclura, tacens opus et habitus femper ejuf-
dem, fie in intimos penetrat affeftus, ut ipfam vim
dicendi nonnunquam fuperare videatur. trayed

Dial. III. Ufefahtefs of Painting. 33
trayed to death by his friends ; it bringing
to his mind a Stinging remembrance of hi?
treatment of Ariftonicus. Portia could
bear w|th an unfhaken conftancy her laft
Reparation from Brutus ; but when She faw,
.fome. hours after, a picture of the parting
of Hector and Andromache, She burft in
to a flood of tears : Full as feemed her Sor
row, the painter fiiggefted new ideas of
grief, or imprefs'd more .Strongly her own.
I have fpmewhere met with a pretty Story
of an Athenian courtesan, who, in the mkjft
of a riotous banquet with her lovers, acci
dentally caft her eye on the portrait of a
philoSbpher, that hung opppfite to her Seat;
the happy character of temperance and vir
tue, ftruck her with fo lively an image of
her own unworthinefs, that She inftantly
quitted her room ; and retiring home* be
came ever after an example of temperance,
as She had been before of debauchery.
You might tax me with doing injuries to
D the

34 ?ht Antiquity and Dial. lit.
the prefent times, were I to draw all my
proofs from the ancient ; I appeal, there
fore, to yourfelf, who have had an oppor*-
tunity to prove it, whether you could look
on the death of Germanicus, as painted by
Poufin, without feeling a generous indig
nation at the cruelty of his oppreffor, and
an equal compafiion for unhappy virtue.
The reprefentation of a plague, by the
iame author, melts the Soul into a tender
participation of human miSeries : Thefe
imprefiions end not here ; they give a turn
to the mind advantageous to fociety ; every
argument of forrow, every object of dif-
trefs, renews the fame foft vibrations, and
quickens us to acts of humanity and be
nevolence. B. By what fatality has it been, that
a nation, eminent for its productions in
poetry and eloquence, capable of the great
est efforts of genius, and bleft with the

Dial. III. Vfefulnefs of Painting. 35
hap'pieft fenfibility, Should, for fo many
ages, with a kind of wilful and Gothic
rudenefs, have withftood the allurements
of this divine art?
A. The extraordinary paffion which the
English have for portraits, muft ever pre
vent the rife of hiftory painting among us :
The liberal, like the mechanick arts, de
pend wholly on the encouragement they
meet with.
B. It Should feem, that we inherit our
tafte in painting from our Britifh ancestors;
Propertius has given a picture of them,
which, with the fmalleft allowance, might
pafs for our own. [a]
Like the daub'd Briton now youjlrike the eye,
And look more trifling in a borrow' d die.
jf«] Nunc etiam infeflos demens imitare Britannos,
Ludis et externo tinfta nitore caput.
Lib. ii. Eleg. 1 6.
D 2 It

36 The Antiquity and Dial. III.
It is, you fee, the fame fpirir, a little Varied
in its operations.
A. Your countrymen will not thank
you for having revived this branch of their
inheritance. But, to refume pur fubject ;
it is certain, that the love of this art has
been confidered in every civilized nation,
not only as a proof of their polkenels, but
even as the teft of their humanity. Vir
gil, who Seldom hazards his reflections,
has given us a fingular inftance of his judg
ment on this point. iEneas, on his land
ing in Africk, has many fears touching the
temper and manners of the Africans ; but
he no fooner fees the walls of their temple
covered with paintings, than feoure of 3
reception, he cries out in a transport to his
friend [¥] :
[£] Suntlacrynue rerun), et mentem rnortalia tangunt.
Solve metum. ^Jneid. i.
Here

Dial. III. Vfefulnefs of Painting. 37
Here others ills are felt,- the wretched here
Are Jure to meet the tribute of a tear.
Vain were our fears.  -
B. What then muft iEneas have
thought, had he heard, that, in that
country, painting was taxed by the foot,
or feen his helplefs Penates hurried away to
the cuftom-houfe ?
A. You may expect, that, before I
quit the. effects of paint", I Should fay
fomething of the pleafure we receive from
it : But, as this is itfelf a paffion, found
ed on the love of what is beautiful, and
the delight we feel in having our paf
fions moved, it is eafier to affirm its
existence, than to explain its nature  It
is enough therefore to obferve, that this
pleafure has prevailed in every age, and
takes in all characters of men, from the
D 3 elegant,

38 The Antiquity and, &c Dial. III.
elegant obferver of beauty, down to the
illiterate ruftic, who, as Horace humour
ously expreSTes it, flares, contento poplite,
at the daubings of the art, and is tran£
ported with the magick of a charcoal
pencil.

PI A-

I 39 1
DIALOGUE IV.
Of D E S I G N.
\KJ ^ are toIc* ^y Fhny5 that all the
V V Statues before the time of Das-
dalus, were reprefented Stiff and motionlefs ;
with winking eyes, clofed feet, and arms
hanging in right lines to their fides \c~\ :
Thefe were the rude effays of defign,
, \c\ Conniventibns oculis, pedibus junftis, brachiis in
latera demiffis, ftatu rigido.  The Egyptians con
tinued to the laft, even when they were matters of a
perfect deiign, to reprefent their deities in' the man
ner above defcribed : We cannot fuppofe that this
was owing to an ignorance of the advantages of a
graceful a&ion, but rather to their bigotted attachment
to certain theological ideas.  The motion theyaf-
cribed to their divinities, was neither that of walk
ing nor flying; Milton, who has adopted their idea,
defcribes it precifely in the following lines,——
So faying, ly, the hand he took me, raitd,
And over fields and. waters, as in air
Smooth sliding without step, la/1 led me. up
A woody mountain. ¦
D 4 Dasdalus

40 Of D e s i g n. Dial. IV.
Dsdalus, and his immediate followers, un
folded thefe embaraS&d figures ; they thttw
motion into the limbs, and life into the
countenance. In the progrefe of the art,
and in abler hands* motion was faShioned
into grace, and life was heightened into
character. Now* too, it was, that beauty-
of form was no longer confined to mere
imitation* which always falls Short of the
object imitated ; to make the copy equal in
its effect, it was neceffary to give it. fome
advantage over its model. The artift,
therefore, obferving, that nature was fpar-
ing of her perfections, and that her efforts
were limited to parts, availed himfelf of
The Greeks who borrowed their religion, as they did
their arts, from the Egyptians, followed for fome time
this mode of reprefentation 5 till at length, (which
was, perhaps, the era Pliny mentions) their averfioa
to every thing that was ungraceful, overcame their
prejudices; aid this might have been a principal rea,
fon, that in the end they fo far excelled their maf-
tissrs.— — - her

Dtal. IV. Of De sTe n. 41,.
her inequality, [d] and drawing thefe fcaf-~
tered beauties into a more happy and com-"
pleat union, rofe from an imperfect imi
tative, to a perfect ideal beauty. We are
informed, that the painters of Greece pref-
fed in crowds to defign the bofom and
breafts of Thais : Nor wererhe elegant pro
portions of Phryne lefs the object of their
Study* By this conftant contemplation of
the beautiful, they enriched their imagina
tion and confirmed their tafte; from this
fund they drew their fyftems of beauty ;
and though we Should confider them
but as imitators as to the parts, we muft
allow them to have been inventors in the
[d] 'Qnrtg •tqyitav, xut toi? ra aya.hy.ala. tsJoij Suatftdk
tbctif, St icca to *r«{ ixufo xatot avtayayofii;, xcct Holds
tx> ttx"" lK $iutyo%*>i capuSuv afyoiiravlit Et; iitjMi&ui
/Mat, xa\\o{ it vytis xcct afiov xat ^fjoT^vot avlo av\a
tt;npya?cttlo' Kai ux av tvgotf trafha axgtGi; Mulct aXv&etui
m.ya>-ptt\t fytoion* Opjyotlctt ya% ui Tfyw is xuXKtm.
Max. Tyr. Differ, xxiii. ed. Lond.
compositions:

4<t Of Dn s re n. Dial. IV.
compositions. And 'indeed, when we re-
Sect or* -the" tafte and judgment requifite
to- form thefe various ideas into fuch a won
derful agreement, we cannot fet too high :
a value on their productions. The poets
arret writers of antiquity acknowledge this
feperiorky of invented to real beauty.—
Ovio thus defcribes Cylfarus the Cen
taur*, [ej > 
A j.ujl proportion, and a manly grace, >
Spread thro' his limbs, and kindled in his fate.
Nature for once affum'd the fcu/ptor's part,
And in a faulflefs beauty rivall'd art. 
And Philoftratus, Speaking of the beauty of
Neoptolemus, remarks,, that it was as much
inferior to that of his father Achilles, as the
handfomeft men are to the fineft Statues.
[e\ Grattts in ore vigor: cervix, humerique, manufque,
Peftoraque artificum laudatis proxima fignis,
px qua parte vir eft. Metam. lib. xii.
Should

Dial. IV. O/.Design. 43
Should we Still doubt of the truth or juft-
nefs of the defcriptions, let us obferve the
works which gave occafion to them. Let
us contemplate the fine proportions, the
Style of drawing in the Laocoon and Gla
diator. Let us mark the fublime of the
art, in the expreffive energy, the divine
character of the Apollo. Let us dwell on
the elegant beauties of the. Venus of Me-
dicis. Thefe are the utmoft efforts of de
fign: It can reach no farther than a full
exertion of. grace, character, and beauty.
We have, thus traced the genius of defign
from its firft efiays to its full flight. But
there is an [/] enthufiafm in every. art.
The Greek Statuaries felt themfelves ftrait-
tened within the out-lines of nature ; they
invented new proportions, they conceived
[/"] EiBas-taff/nov T«; TE%ni; ¦ utu kui <!>« has E»9a-
trtufla Jnf/Ha^yeii'. Suidas.
new

44. Of D e s i g n. Dial. IV.
new characters. The \g\ Jupiter and Mi
nerva of Phidias were fubjects of aftoniSh-
ment in the moft enlightened ages. It
Ihould feem, that the Wonderful effect of
thefe ftatues, proceeded from an union of
the beautiful, with the great and uncom
mon ; thus combining the whole influence
of vifible objects on the imagination. If
we are aftoniShed at the firft fight of the
Coloffal ftatues on the monte Cavallo at
Rome, a fecret and growing pleafure
fucceeds this amazement : For, though the
immenfity of their fdrm feems, at firft, to
fet them above the fcale of our ideas, yet,
fo happy is the fymmetry of their parts,
fuch a freedom of defiga, fuch an aptnefs
for action prevail throughout, that the eye
foon becomes familiar with their propor
tions, and capable of their beauties.
[g] Non vidit Phidias Jovem, fecit tamen, velut
tonantem ; nee ftetit ante oculos ejus Minerva, dignus
tamen ilia arte animus, et concepit Deos et exhibuit.
Senec. Rhet. lib. x.
B. It

Dial. IV. Of D e s i g n. 45
B. It is probable, that a great part of
the pleafure which we receive in the con
templation of fuch Coloffal figures, arifes
from a comparifon of their proportions
with our own. The mind, in thefe mo-
Inents, grows ambitious ; and feels itfelf
afpiring to greater powers, and fuperior
functions : Thefe noble and exalted feel
ings diffufe a kind of rapture through the
foul ; and raife in it conceptions and aims
above the limits of humanity. The fineft,
and, at the fame time, moft pleafing fen-
fations in nature, are thofe, which, (if I may
be allowed the expreffion) carry us out of
ourfelves, and bring us neareft to that di
vine original from which we Spring.
' A. To this power of humanizing, if 1 1
may fo call it, thefe Coloffal proportions, \
fucceeds that of annexing the fublime to the
moft minute. When two fuch extremes
4 correfpond

46 Of D e s i g n. Dial. TVV
correspond in their effects, we may be affur-
ed, that the merit in both fprings from the
Same caufe, a [h] greatnefs of manner. The
moft celebrated inftance in this kind, was
the Hercules of Lyfippus ; which, though
not more thani a foot in height, filled the
imagination equal to the Hercules Farnefe.
 As this Statue is loft, we muft con
tent ourfelves with the defcription of it by
Statius [/].
At the chajle board the god himfelf appears,
Infpires the artijl, and the banquet chears j
He, only he, could teach thee to confine
A great idea to minute defign ;
[&] M^yaXoIs^irov.
[z] Hsec inter caftaj genius tutelaque menfe
Amphitryoniades, &c.
•  Deus ille, Deus : Sefeque videndura
Indtilfit, Lyfippe, tibi, parvufque videri
Sentirique ingens ; et cum mirabilis intra
Stet menfura pedem, tamen exclamare libebit,
(Si vifus per membra feras) hoc peftora preffus
Vaftator Nemees,  &'c. Lib. iv. Sylv.
From

DlA-t. IV. Of D E S I C Hi 4^
From part to part our beaUd fancy JTt-es,
And gives to char a tier, what J pace denies y
Prefs'd by that arm, the lion f ants for brtath\
And Cacus trembles at th' impending Jeal'L
B. The Jupiter of Phidias, and Her
cules of Lyfippus are equal examples of
the fuperior genius of the Greeks ; and it
muft be confeffed, that if they have im
proved on nature, it was not fo much by
quitting her proportions, as -excelling her
ideas. WhenI reflect on this evident fupe-
riority of the Greek artifts over the ancient
and modern Roman, I am at a lots to ac
count for it : I cannot attribute it wholly
|o a pre-eminence of genius ; being un-
. willing to believe, that nature could confine
|rue tafte to fuch narrow boundaries: Aod
:yet, if She is partial to particular ages,
why may not She be fo to particular di-
aaates ?
^Tms

48 Of D e s I c v. Dial. IV,
A. This reflection is humbling; let us
look, for a fecond caufe. [k] Seneca ob
ferves, " That naked bodies, as they be-
" tray their imperfections, fo they give a
" full exhibition of their beauties : " Each
of thefe effects tends to the improvement
of defign. Clothing on the contrary, dif-
guifes beauty, and gives a protection to
faults. The [/ ] Greeks, it is known, al-
moft ever reprefented their figures naked.
But the Romans, whofe character was mi
litary, dreffed theirs in armour. That art
which challenges criticifm, muft always be
fuperior to that which Shuns it. We are
told by Pliny, \m\ " That Praxiteles had
[k~] Nuda corpora, vitia fi qua fint, non celant, nee
laudes parum oftentant. Lib. iii. Ep. 6.
[/] Grajca res eft nihil velare ; at contra, Romana ac
militaris, thoracas adhere. Plin. lib. xxxiv. c. 5.
[02] Duas fecerat Veneres Praxiteles, fimulque, ven-
debat; alteram velata fpecie, quamob id quidem
made

Dial, IV. 0/ Desig.n, 49
" made two ftatues of Venus, which he
" fold at the fame time ; the one clothed ;
" which for that reafon, was preferred by
"the people of Cos : Thofe Of Gnidus
" piirchafed that which was rejected. The
" reputation of thefe ftatues was widely
" different ; for by this laft Praxiteles en-
" nobled Gnidqs." We may conceive then,
that the Greeks had the fame advantage
over th'e Romans, that the naked Venus had
over the clothed : This advantage holds
Still more Strongly againft the moderns;
who, borrowing their characters and fub-
jects from a chafte religion, are not only
forced in decency to clothe their figures ;
but often, by propriety, to make that cloth
ing of the coarfeft materials. Hence it is,
that, we often fee a .Saint bending under a
load of drapery, and the elegant form of a
prxtulerunt Coi ; rejeftam Gfiidii emerunt : Immen-
$ differentia famfe 5 illo enim,figno Praxiteles nobi-
litayit Qnidum. Lib- xxxvi, c. 5.
E nun

50 Of D e s i g n. Dial. IV.
nun overwhelmed in the blanketting of her
order. If paint fometimes reprefents to us
the naked body of a Chrift, it is either
Stretched on a crofs, or disfigured by fuf-
ferings; whilft the virgin-mother is hooded
to the eyes, and the beauties of the Mag
dalen are abforbed in velvet. The refult
of this habit is evident, when our firft ar
tifts come to defign the nud ; a comparison
of Raphael's figures, in the incendio diBor-
go, with the Laocoon or Gladiator, would
have much the fame effect, as that of a
Flemifh coach-horfe with an Arabian cour
ier, B. It may be offered in this place, that
as our fubjedts feldom admit the nud, we
are not fuch great fufferers by a neglect of
it. A. But this negligence has the worft
effects, even where it feems protected ; for we

Dial. IV. Of D e s i g n. $t
we find, that our painters are much more
happy in the difpbfition and caft of their
draperies, than in the correctnefs of their
defign ; and Raphael would not be fo
much praifed, for giving us, in his clothed
figures, a fair expreffion of form and pro
portion, were not the contrary of this the
general character of our painters. Thefe
reflections have carried me fomewhat wide
of my fubject ; I muft return to it.
The defign of the ancients is distinguish
ed by an union in the proportions, a Sim
plicity of Contour, and excellence of cha
racter. Of the firft I have faid as much as
I might do, without venturing too far in
to the mechanic of the art : But, as I have
only hinted at the others, fome more par
ticular remarks may not be improper.
There is no one excellence of defign, frorn
which we receive fuch immediate pleafure,
as from a gracefulnefs of action : If we
E 2 obferve

52 Of Design. Dial. IV.
obferve the attitudes and movements of the
Grepk Statues, we Shall mark that carelefs
decency, and unaffected grace, which ever;
attend, the motions and gestures of men un-
confoious of obfervation. There \n~\ is a
prodigious difference, between thofe move
ments which fiow'from nature, and . thofe
which are directed by art.
The ancients knew this well; and hence
followed that fingular Simplicity which cha-
racterifes their works : For, though at
times, as in the Venus of Medicis, and
daughters of Niobe, they rife to an affumed
gracefulnefs ; and even profefs a defire to
pleafe ; yet this is confin'd to fo fimple a
contour ; it is fo little above the meafure
of ordinary action, that it appears lefs the
effect of Study, than the natural refult of
[»] Paulum interefle cenfes, ex animo omnia,
Ut fert natura, facias, an de induftria ?
Terent, And. aft. iv. fcene 5.
'i a fuperior

Dial. IV. O/Desicn. 53
a fuperior character, or an habitual polite
nefs. ^.Raphael has, in this particular, been
wonderfully happy in his imitation of the
antique. The moft courtly imagination
cannot reprefent to itfelf an image of a
more winning grace, than is to be feen in
in his Sta. Cascilia : Indeed, an elegant
Simplicity is the characteristic of his defign ;
we no where meet in him the affected con
trasts of Mic Angelp, or the Studied atti
tudes of Guido ; the true difference be
tween thofe, may be belt conceived, in a
fnppofed comparifon of the real characters
-of the Drama, with the actors whoperfon-
ate them ; in Raphael, and the antique, we
fee Alexander and Hamlet, in Mic. Angelo
and Guido  -And, 
A- Though in treating of grace and
beauty, character, So far as it is determin-
E 3 ed

54 Of D e s i g n\ Dial. IV.
ed by them, has been naturally included ;
yet there remains Still a more effential part ;
'¦ I mean, that expreffion of a mind, con
veyed in the air of the head, and intelli
gence of the countenance. If, in the other
branches of defign, the ancients are to be
admired ; in this they are wonderfuj.
However enlightened we may be by the
moft elegant obfervance of nature, or
warmed by the moft poetic defcriptions,
the Belvedere Apollo, and daughter of Ni-
obe ftill give us new ideas of noblenefs,
energy, and beauty. The ftatuaries of
i Greece, were not mere mechanicks ; men
of education and literature, they were more
the companions than fervants of their em
ployers : Their tafte was refined by the
converfation of courts, and enlarged by the
lecture of their poets: Accordingly, the
fpirit of their Studies breathes through their
works. We fee no fuch influence in the
productions of the moderns ; their greatest merit

Dial. IV. Of D e s i g n. ^
merit is a fervile. imitation of the antique;
the moment they lofe fight of them they
are loft. In the elegant, they are little ;
in the great, charged ; character they have
none ; their beauty is the refult of mea-
fure, not idea : And if, mistaking extra
vagance for fpirit, they aim at the fublime,
it ends in the blufterings of Bernini, or
caricatures of Michael Angelo.
B. From all that you have offered on the
defign of the ancients, we may define
grace to be the moft pleafing conceivable
action, expreSfed with the utmoft fimpli-
city each occafion will admit of.
A. So far as a definition of Grace can
go, yours gives a juft idea of it ; for, it
implies the higheft degree of elegance in
the choice ; of propriety in the application ;
and of eafe in the execution : You rightly
term it an action, for therff is no grace
E 4 , without

g6 Of D e s i g n. Dial. IV.
without motion. Thus, Milton diftin-
guifhes it ftom beauty,
Grace was in all herjlepst heav'n in her eye.
Venus was blit gueffed at by her beauty,
She was known by her motions  '¦ —
Vera inceffu patiiit Dea: '• But, the per
fection of Grace is, when it becorhes;[0]
characterick ; and marks fome amiable
emotion in the mind. Such, we may pre-
furne, w&s the excellence of Aperies • [p] ;
[o] Let us unite to thefe amiable exprefiions, a
becomihg air of the head, flexure of the body, and
an elegant difpofition of the limbs, we fhall then have
a clear conception of that correggiefque Grace, which
it has fo much puzzled our writers to explain. I have
in my pflffeffion an excellent copy of the St. Jerome of
Correggio, where one may fee in the Angel, the Ma
donna," the Chrift, and the Magdalen, fo many dfflintt
examples of this idea.
Xp] Prsecipua Apellis in arte venuftas fait, cum
eadem itate maxiiMi piQores effent ; quorum opera
cum admiraretur, collaudatis omnibus, deefle iis unam
who,

Dial. IV. Of D e s i g n: 57
*' who, living at the fame time with fome
" of the greateft painters ; after he had
" feen and admired their Several works,
" declared, that the only thing wanting in
" them was Grace ; that they poffcffed
" every other excellence ; but in this, he
" faw no one equal to himl'elf."
B. The testimonies which you produce
from their writings ; but above all, the
Greek ftatues, which we may look upon as
living witneffes, Sufficiently prove the me
rit of the ancients. Let us now, if you
pleafe, confider that of the moderns : Thus,
eftablifhing a general idea of comparifon
between the two, we Shall have a more per
fect one of both. I do not mean to lead
you into a detail of the perfections or im
perfections of our different artifts ;. it will
illam Venerem dicebat, quam Graci Xa«V vocant ;
cxtera omnia contigiffe, fed hac foli ftbi neminem pa-
rem. Plin. lib. xxxv. c. 10. be

58 Of D e s i g n. Dial. IV.
be fufficient to throw the merit of the
caufe upon fome one, who is generally al
lowed to be the moft excellent.
A. There is no difficulty in our choice:
I Shall lay before you the reflections I have
made on the defign of Raphael ; with this
latitude, that you may admit or reject them
as they happen to fquare with your own ;
for, this Should always be the cafe, where
we profefs to have no other guide but feel
ing ; and to form our judgment merely
from effects. 
The defign of Raphael was, in its be
ginnings, dry, but correct ; he enlarged it
much on feeing the drawings of Michael
Angelo : Of too juft an eye to give intire-
ly into the exceffes of his model, he ftruck
out a middle ftyle ; which, however, was
not fo happily blended, nor to perfectly
original, as quite to throw off the influence of

Dial. IV. Of. D e s i g n. 59
of the two extremes : Hence, in the great,
he is too apt to fwell into the. charged;
in the delicate, to drop into the little  .
His defign, notwithstanding, is beautiful ;
but never arrived to that perfection, which
we difcover in the Greek ftatues. He is
excellent in the characters of Philofophers,
Apoftles, and the like; but the figures
of his women have not that elegance, which
is distinguished in the Venus of Medicis,
or the daughter of Niobe; in thefe, his
convex Contours have a certain heavinefs,
which, when he feeks to avoid, he falls
into a drynefs Still lefs pardonable.
B. Yet his proportions are efteemed
excellent ; and their fymmetry fuch, as to
give to his figures an effect beyond the pro
mife of their Stature.
A. It

&> Of D e s i g nt. Dial. IV.
A. It is true, but yet, not having form
ed his manner on the moft beautiful an
tique, we do not fee in him that elegance
in the proportions, that freedom in the
joints, which lend all their motion to the
Laocooh and Gladiator. Iriftead of thefe,
the figures of Michael Angelo were his mo
dels in the great ftyle ; whence, in his Con
vex Contour, having quitted the lines of
nature, and not having fubftituted thofe of
ideal beauty, he became too like his ori-
crinal ; as maybe feen in his Iricertdio di
Borco. Would you therefore place Ra
phael in his true point of view, you muft
obferve him in the middle age ; in old
men; or, in the nervous nature: In his
Madonna's, he knew very well how to
choofe, as likewife'how to vary the moft
beautiful parts in nature : But, he kndw
not, like the Greek ftatuaries, how to ex
prefs a beauty fuperior to the natural. Thus, in

Dial. IV. Of D e s i g n. 6t
in his Galatea, at the palace Chigi, where
he has [q~] profeffedly attempted ¦ a cha
racter of perfect beauty, he has fallen
Short of the beauty of his Madonna's : The
caufe Of which feems to me to b'e this, that,
in the former, he drew after his own ideas,
which were imperfect; in the latter, he
copied beautiful nature, which was almoft
perfect. lam confirmed in this opinion by
a fecond obfervation : Of all the objects of
paint, Angels call moft for ideal beauty ;
thofe of Raphael, are by no means distin
guished in this particular ; for, he had no
examples for them in nature, but was
[q'] In a letter to the count Baldaffar Caftiglione,
he fpeaks of his Galatea in the following words : " Delia
" Galatea, mi terrei un gran maeftro, fe vi foflero la
" meta delle tante cofe, che V. S. mi ferive : £ le
'* dico, che per dipingere una bella, mi bifognaria
" veder piu belle : Ma eflendo careftia di belle donne,
" io mi fervo di certa idea, che mi viene alia mente.
" Se quefta ha in fe alcuna eccellenza d'arte, io non
'! fo : Ben mi affatico di avcrla." obliged

62 Of D t S I G N. DlAL.'IV.
obliged to draw them from his own ima*-
gination. B. Accordingly, he has given them a
motion, fpirit, and expreffion, for which
he could have no example.
A. True ; but thefe do not constitute
beauty, which is our prefent object : On
the contrary, in Raphael they often coun
teract it: Thus, in the heads of his Ma
donna's, the nofe is generally too large ;
he thought, no doubt, that this gave more
meaning and fenfibility to the face. In the
fame manner, his men, of the middle and
advanced age, have their features too Strong
ly marked ; the mufcles, particularly thofe
of the lips and eye-brows, are charged :
It is plain, that he preferred this form, be-
caufe, by it, he could more eafily exprefs
the feveral emotions of the mind. But,
the perfection of an art, is, to unite the
jufteSt

Dial. IV. 0/ D e s i c n. 63
jufteft expreffions to the fineft forms. The
Belvedere Apollo, and the daughter of Ni
obe, are the ftandards of beauty ; what
energy, what a divine expreffion is there
in the one ? what diftrefs, what an affecting
fenfibility in the other ? There are few ex
preffions (if we except thofe, which excite
in the;beholders either hatred or contempt)
which may not be more happily marked
in a fine countenance, than in fuch as are
ill-favoured ; where the features are chare.
ed, the Slightest movements throw them
into forcible expreffions ; the confequences
of which are, that the finer fymptoms of
paffion are in a great meafure loft ; and
the Stronger ones lofe much of their force,
by the facility with which they are expref-
. fed : But, in a face naturally beautiful and
compofed, not only the degrees of paffion are
traced with delicacy ; but, the violent agi
tations of the foul, affect us more fenfibly,
by the total difturbanccand alteration which they

$4 Of D e s i g N. Dial. IV,
they produce in the countenance. This
idea will always have a great effect on the
intelligent obferver ; and, in proportion
as the execution is more difficult,, it wjll
do more honour to the artift. I muft add
to thefe remarks, that, exclufive of the.
force which beauty gives to expreffions in-
general, there are fome, which cannot well
exift without it : Thus, if dignity, courage,
love, or joy be thrown into a charged or
ill-favoured countenance, they grow into an
extremity, by which they lofe their very
efience ¦, and are transformed into pride,
fiercenefs, luft and grimace. You are not
to fuppofe, that in the cafes above- mention-
tioned, I always fpeak of either abfolute
beauty, or abfolute deformity ; there are
degrees in both ; and the judgment of the
artift confifts, in proportioning thofe de
grees to the feveral occafions.

B. This,

Dial. IV. Of D e s i g n* 65
B. This is, to turn a pleafing art into art
ufeful fcience ; and to make every picture
a fchool of virtue. But yet, I cannot for
give you, the having reduced the defign of
Raphael, fo much below the ftandard, at
which it is generally placed;
A. The judicious Pouffin has gone much
farther than I have done, or even than he
had a right to go ; when he affirmed,
that Raphael among the moderns was an
angel, but, that compared with the ancients,
he was an afs. This is too much ; how
ever, it ferves to Show how fenfibly this
painter felt the difference that was between
them. But, fetting aflde thefe comparifons,
Our purpofe is to come at a fettled idea of
the moft perfect defign : What is it to us,
whether the examples were produced two
thoufand, or two hundred years ago ? A
man of tafte, like the philofopher, Should
F be

66 Of D e s i o n. Dial. IV.
be a citizen of the the world, acknowledge
merit wherever he meets it, indifferent whe
ther it Shines forth in a Raphael or Apellesy
in a Michael Angelb or Glycon.
B. You have advanced, that the greatest
excellence of defign was grace ; whence is
it then, that Correggio, who, in this is in
imitable, is, by many, placed fo low in
the clafs of Designers ?
A. This arifes from a want of attention
to the character and purfuits of this amiable
painter. His conftant aim was grace : And
a happy effect of clear obfcure : A wav
ing and varied Contour was neceffary tO'
this end : Hence, he gave wholly into the
ferpentine, Studioufty avoiding right lines,
and acute angles, as too fimple in their
effects, [r] Thus the habit, and even ne-
[>] Nullum fine venia placuit ingenium : Da mihi
gueracumque vis magni nomkis virum, dicam illi quid
ceffity

Dial, IV. O/Disign. 67
cefty of continiaally varying his out line*
threw him into little errors in drawing,
whiGh Spring not, as fome think, from an
ignorance of this branch of his art, but
from a predilection for another ; and, there
are "few, I believe, who would wifh thofe
inadvertencies away, accompanied with the
charms which gave occafion to them.
B. It is a difpute among the critics,
whether he ever faw or imitated the an
tique; A. This difpute is his greatest praife;
for, rf&ey who fuppofe he did, cannot
otherwife account for the general beauty,
atas fua ignoverit, quid in illo fciens diffimulaverit :
Multos dabo, quibus vitia non nocuerint ; quofdam,
quibus profuerint ; quos, ft quis eorrigit, delet : Sit
enim vitia virtutibus immifta funt, ut illas fecum trac-
tura fint. Sen. Ep. cxiv.
F 2 and

6$ Of D e s i g n7 Dial. IV.:
and elegance of his defign : While thofe,
who are of a contrary opinion, ground
ed on imperfect relations of his life, or
the lapfes and unfteadinefs of his pencil,
are forced to impute that beauty and
elegance to a pure ftrength of genius.
Certainly, his manner feems to have in
it all the warmth of invention, as it has
a certain boldnefs, fuperior to imita
tion, and productive of uncommon graces.
Upon the whole, I think, we may af
firm of his defign, where it is not facri-
ficed to his more favourite aims, that it
is often mafterly, and always pleafing ;
a quality, rarely met with in thofe fer-
vile and unideal painters, who think
they have attained every perfection, if
they keep within the rules of drawing ;
" [ s ] with thefe, leannefs paffes for
[j] Macies illis pro fanitate, et judicii loco in'-
firmitas eft ; et dum fatis putant vitio carere, in
" health,,

Dial. IV. Of D e s i g n. 69
" health, and weaknefs for judgment ;
" and, while they think it fufficient
" to be free from faults, they fall in-
" to that capital fault, the want of
«* beauties."
id ipfum incidunt vitium, quod virtutibus ca-
rent.' Quint, xi. 4.

F 3 D I A-

[7°r
DIALOGUE W
Of Colouring.
iOHOULDthe moft able mailer in.
O defign, attempt to reprefent, by
that alone, a rofe or grape, we Should
have but a faint and imperfect image ; let
him add to each its proper colours, we no
longer doubt ; we fmell the rofe, we touch
the grape ; hence the poet [/] :
So glow'd the grape, fo perfecl the deceit,
My hand reached forward, ere I found the cheat.
It feems then, that the firft gives a general
idea ; the fecond a particular existence. It
was this, no doubt, that induced Plutarch
[/] MlXgS XulifX0' Toy (3o1gU» T3I{ JteislllXoif,
'TjregaTraliiGffs tji 8e« t«ii x%vpMlai.
to

Dial. V. Of Colouring. yi
to affirm, " [a] that in painting, we are
" more ftruck by colouring than drawing,
" by reafon of its Similitude and decep-
" tion :" And another obferves, " [x] That
" the painter may defign the outlines and
" proportions of a man, but it is by co-
*' louring, that he brings it to reprefent a
" Socrates or Plato." The ancients were
not contented with attribudng to colours
the power of realizing objects ; they make
them to be their chief ornament, the very
• foul of beauty : [y] Thus Tully, " There
*' is in the body a certain harmony of pro-
" portions, united to the charm of colour-
" ing, and this is called beauty. An au-
[»] Ef yguQut; xt^Muls^av tali J^g^f** yg«/si|KD?, o\* to
ai/^iKtXov xut u%d\nKm. De Poetis aud.
\x\ O Pojypatpos <zjotBi tvspu[ov xitvav utb^UTrov ev ffxtuypu-
Ctu, etlu %pti)u.&t3pyav uyi\ ei? to <wotiiffut Y it)x.^a\y,i> , ft n^flt-
tuiu. Ammonius in x. Gateg. Ariftot.
[j] Corporis eft quaedam apta figura membrorum,
cum coloris quadam fuavitate, eaque dicitur pulchri-
tudo. F 4 " thor,

J2 0/ Colouring. Dial. V.-'
" thor, of no lefs authority, obferves ; [z]
" that fuch a body may be deemed truly
" beautiful, in which a temperate and
" pure blood fills the limbs, and fwelfs
*' the mufcles, fpreading through the whole
-" a ruddy tinge and glow of beauty."
Hence it was, that a Grecian lady of ad
mired tafte, being afked, which was the
fineft colour in nature, anfwered, the blulh
of an ingenuous and beautiful youth.
B. You need not draw all your examples
from antiquity : Whatever rank our paint
ers may hold, we have Titians in our poets.
— Obferve how Shakefpear pencils :
"Tts beauty truly blent, whofe red and white
Natures own fweet and cunning hand laid on.
[z] In quo temperatus ac bonus fanguis implet
membra, et exfurgit toris ; ipfos quoque nervos ru-
bore tegit, ac decore commendat. De cauf. corrupt.
eloq. c. 21.
And

Dial. V. 0/ Colouring. 73
And Fletcher, who excels in the defcription
of beauty and its effects ;

 Have I not receiv'd
A lady to my bed, that in her eye
Keeps mounting fire, and on her tender cheeks
Inevitable colour f Maid's Tragedy,
Thus too our divine Milton :
To whom the angel, with afmile that glowed
Celeftial rofy red, Love's proper hue.
Such as thefe may be truly called colours
dipped in heaven ; and, a fine complexion,
in the language of a poet, is the die of
Love : Certainly it gives a wonderful effect
to beauty ; it is a hint of foniething more
than human ; it comes forth as the emana
tion of an intrinfic purity and lovelinefs,
aqd diffufes through the human form a tinge

of the angelic nature.

A. You

74 Of Colouring. Dial. V.
A. You paint it like one who had felt
its power. The influence, indeed, of this
Species of beauty, which is the refult of co
lours, feems to be univerfal ; and to extend
to all beings capable of love. But (if we
may credit the nice obfervers of nature)
it is in none more remarkable than in
birds [a~\ ;
Thro' the bright flocks the cautious wooer flics,
Dwells on each fpot, and notes their various dies :
Foe to a fir anger love, he yields alone
To kindred tints, and ieauties Hie his own.
B. I Shall wifh hence forward to under
stand the language of a goldfinch ; what
a pleafure would it be, to hear the male
warbling forth,
[a]  Agmina late
Fasminea explorat cautus, matnlafque requirit
Cognatas, paribufque interlita corpora guttis.
Speft. N°. 412. Urit

Dial. IV. O/Colourikg. y$
Urit me Glycera nitor,
Et vultus nimium lubricus afpici.
A. The open was palpable, and your
raillery is perfectly fair. But, to return to
our fubject ; whatever may be the influence
of colours on other beings, we can have no
doubt of it in ourfelves ; infomuch, that
irregular, and even ordinary features, Shall
often, by the mere luftre of red and white,
overbear the power of the moft perfect
fymmetry. We are not to wonder therefore, that
the poets, hurrying over the other circum
stances of beauty, dwell with fo much
pleafure upon this. Thus the elegant
Tibullus \h\,
[£] Candor erat, qualem praefert Latonia Luna,
Et color in niveo corpore purpureus.
Ut Juveni primum virgo deduQa marito,
Inficitur teneras ore rubente genas ; Such

y6 O/Colouring. Dial. V.
Such a mix' d whitenefs fpreads the doubtful moon,
So thro' his fnowy fkin the fcarlet fhone;
Thus, tinged in blujhes, moves the confcious maid
Withjlepfufpended to the nuptial bed;
Thus intermix' d with lilies breathes the rofe,
And ripening apple with Vermillion glows.
Statius on a fimilar occafion is more warm,
and kindles almoft to extravagance [c] ;
Stripped of his garments, with afudden bound
Hejlarts to view, and dials a brightnefs round ;
His polijh'd limbs, and glowing breajl difplay
Beauties, that gladden like the fpring of day;
Thro' his whole frame diffus'd, our eyes may trace
The kindred blujh and fplendor of his face.
Et cum contexunt amaranthis alba puella?
Lilia, et autumno Candida mala rubent.
Lib. iii. Eleg. 4.
[c] Emicat, et torto chlamydem diffibulat auro.
Effulfere artus, membrorumque omnis aperta eft
Latitia, infignefque humeri, nee pedlora nudis
Deteriora genis, latuitque in corpore vultus.
Theb. lib. vi. If

Dial. V. Of Colouring. 77
If the poets confidered colouring as the
chief beauty in nature ; it is no wonder,
that painters, whofe art is an imitation of
nature, Should make it the great object of
their ftudy. Accordingly, Parrhafius,Zeuxis,
and Apelles, the moft celebrated painters,
were at the fame time, the moft excellent
colourilts. If we examine the praifes be
ftowed on the laft of them, we Shall find,
that they turn chiefly on that truth and
beauty, which are the gift of colours: The
mafter-piece of this painter, and confe
quently of the art itfelf, was his Venus
anadyomene. Tully thus marks its perfec
tions, [ii] " In the Coan Venus, that is
" not real body, but the refemblance of a
" body : Nor is that ruddinefs, fo diffufed
" and blended with white, real blood, but
[d] In Venere Cda, corpus illud non eft, fed fimile
corpori ; nee ille fufus et candore mixtus rubor, fan-
guis eft, fed qusdam fanguinis fimilitudo. De Nat.
Deor. lib. i. " a certain

78 Of Colouring. Dial. V.
»'* a certain refemblance of blood." Ovid
alludes to this fame tendernefs and warmth
of pencil [d\.
In graceful a£i her fea-wet locks eomprefs'd,
Send the quick drops which trickle down her breafl,
O'er her bright fkin the melting bubbles fpread,
And clothe her beauties in a f after jhade.
{/] Apelles a little before his death attempt
ed a fecond Venus, which was to have ex-
[/} Sic madidos ficcat digitis Venus uda capillos,
Et modo maternis tefta videtur aquis. Lib xi. Triftv
To the fame purpofe the epigrammatift Aufonius,
Ut complexa manu madidos falis aequore crines,
Humidulis fpumas ftringit utraque comis.
[e] Apelles Veneris caput, et fumma pectoris politif-
fima arte perfecit : Reliquam pratem corporis inchoa
tam reliquit. Lib. i. Ep. 9.
Nemo picTsor eft inventus, qui Veneris earn partem,
quam Apelles inchoatam reliquiflet, abfolveret ; oris
enim pulchritude, reliqui corporis imitandi fpem au-
ferebat. De OfEciis> lib. iii.
ceeded

DrAL.V. 0/ Colouring, 79
ceeded the firft ; but died, juft as he had
finished the head and breafts. We are told,
that no painter could be prevailed on to
complete this figure ; the idea, the cha
racter, the Style of defign were determined ;
it Should feem then, that what they dread
ed, was, a comparifon of their tints with
his. It is certain, the reputation of this
painter was not owing to great compofi-
tions ; many of his moft celebrated works
were [/] fingle figures, and, fome of
them, painted from the life -, a practice,
which naturally produces, as is proved in
Titian, an excellency in colouring ; as this
is only to be learnt, by an accurate and
diligent obfervance of the mixed and fubtile
tints in nature. Accordingly, Pliny tells
[_/"] Fecit Apelles Amtigonum thoracatum, cum
equo incedentem : Pentiores artis preferum omnibus
ejus operibus eundem regem fedentem equo. Alercan-
drum et Philippum quotjes pinitcrit, enumerare fuper-
vacuum eft. Plin. xxxv. 10. us,

8o Of Co lou ring. Dial. V,
us, that he [g] " painted a hero naked, in
" which he1 challenged nature herfelf.'
Butj above all, Propertius pays him the
prettieft compliment, and, at the fame time,
gives us the jufteft notion of his merit,
when, diffuading his miftrefs from the ufe
of paint, he recommends to her to truft,
to her real complexion ; which he com
pares to the [i>] native carnation of Apel
les. — - —
[g] Pi'nxit et heroa nudum ; eaque piflura naturarn
ipfam provQcavit,, Lib. xxxv. 10.
\V\ The- common objection to the colouring of
Apelles^ is, that he ufed but four colours : For this
we have the authority of Pliny, who, at the fame
time', -names' the colours, viz. black, white, red and
yellow. Now, as it does not feem poffible to form a
perfedl carnation from thefe, we muft either fuppofe
that'Pliny was miftaken, or, that the praifes beftowed
on the colouring of Apelles, by all the beft judges of
antiquity, and by Pliny himfelf among the reft, were
not juft. There- is a paffage in Cicero, which, I think,
clears this difficulty, and proves ' that Pliny was mi£
raken ; it is as follows : Similis in pittura ratio eft, in
£)ualis'

Dial. V. Of C o t o v r i n q. 2\
Quails Jpelleis ejl color in tabulis.
Thus making it a merit in nature, to rife
to a competition with art. By attempting
to prove that colouring was the great ex
cellence of Apelles, it muft not be inferred
frpm hence, that he was wanting in the
other parts : The age in which he lived,
was distinguished above all thofe before and
after, by a perfection jn defign ; a weakneft
therefore in this, would not have paSTed
uncenfured in fo capital a painter. The
refemblance, likewife, in the praifes be
ftowed on him, with thofe, which, in later
times have been attributed to Correggio,
qua Zeuxim, et Polygnotutn, et Timentem, et eorunv
qui non fust ufi plus qnatuor coloribus,/cr»Kw et linea-
menta laudamus. At in Aetione, Nicomacho, Protp-
gene et Apejle, jjMts perfefla funt omnia. Thus, thofe
who ufed but four colours, are praifed for their pre
portions and char ail ers only; but, Apelles is diftin-
guiftied from them, and declared to be perfect in every
branch of his art. The inference is obvious.
G the

8?' 6/ Colouring;. Dial. VV
the great mafter'in the clear obfcure, gives
• ¦ ; - • ¦ ' . ¦
juft reafon to fuppofe, that he was in this
particular, equal, if not fuperior to any
of his time. I would recommend this to
the obfervation of thofe, who, on a compa
rifon of modern with ancient painting, are
fo ready to fuppofe the advantage on the
fide of the forfner ; as I do likewife all
that I have offered on the character of
Apelles, to thofe fanguine admirers of the
Roman School, who confider colouring as
a kind • of fupeffiuity in paint. Having
thus far Shewn the merit of colouring, fo
far as it is productive of truth and beauty ;
you may expect I Should fay foniething of
a branch much cultivated and admired by
the moderns ; I mean that harmony and
tone, which fpring from a happy difpofi-
tiOn of variegated draperies : A perfect
knowledge of the union and opposition of
colours, together with the effects of their
different Shades and reflections, requires, no

Dial.V. 0/ Colouring. 83
ho doubt, great Study and practice ; but I
apprehend, that too great an attention to
this flattery of the eye, has often made our
moderns neglectful of. the more effential
parts. That this was the cafe in the inferior
aera of ancient painting, we have the autho
rity of Diohyfius Halicarnaffeus : " [/] The
" paintings of the ancients, (fays-he) were
" fimple and unvaried in their colouring;
" but correct in their drawing ; and diftin-
" guifhed by their elegance : Thofe which
" fucceeded, lefs correct: in drawing, were
" more finifhed, more varied in their lights
" and Shades ; trufting their effects to the
" multitude of their colours." You will
obferve, that this boafted fcience of the
moderns, was, to the ancients, a fymptom
[z] Ap^aioo ypu<put %£u\ut<rti cteyua\lxva.t ait'hw$j xat
ovhjMUii it TSi; iMy/tacrtv i%pvau\ "oroixiXtaj, axgi£(i; h Tut;
yeafiifAMti;, xut oto?id to xa?tlv e* Taulai; ejgotiow" Ai ac //ut'
ixttvus, 6uyg»f*ftoi f*s« nlTor, e| sigyawysuiiflsi Sc putAov, atuu.
tc y.ai (pwlt wotxM\OfA.ciut, xu\ iv ru tu-j fuypuiw arAaOfi
iv> tvypv cypuaut. Dion. Hal. in Ifaeo, p. 167. ed. Oxon.
G 2 of

::.;.

84 Of Co l o v .*¦ l N e- ^^h ^'
pf the decay of paint : And indeed, can die,
happieft effect in this kind, that ever flaw*
«d from the pencil of Titiai?, make ys,
amends for his frequent errors in drawing*
or poverty of character ? Can $ie, beft
piloted drapery of a Carrache* or Guido*
balance the want of grace and beauty in ths
one, of warmth and expreffion in the other?
Apelles feeing a Helen, that had been paint
ed by one of his fcholars, loaded with, orna
ments: Cried out, [£] " So young man I not
** able to paint her beautiful, thou haft
**• made her fine." When I reflect on the
authority of the writers, and the agreement
of their notions on the fubject of colouring :
I am inclined to believe, that the ancients
were equal, if not Superior to the moderns
in the moft effential parts : I Should lay
little ftrefs on general praifes, or the extra-
[ij Q futetzxtov, fui) ivyafittos ypa^at xarfw, «rtoW»tw
trtxottixat. 4 vagance

Dial. V. 0/ Coi,ourino. ^5
vagance of admiration ; becaufe, it is natii^
ral to us to praife the beft we know ; But,
when I meet with distinctions, which mark
the degrees of perfection, and with effects,
which can proceed but from the Higheft, I
Can no longer doubt. I Shall offer you an
inftance in each kind, which Strike me as
decisive. Parrhafius and Euphranor had
each painted a Thefeus ; " £/} Euphra-
" nor objected to his rival, that his Thefeus
" looked as if he had fed on rofes, his own
«' as if he had fed on fleSh." What more
could we fay of Titian and Barocci ? Yet,
this flight and flcSrid ftyle, was not the con
ftant manner of Parrhafius ; Pliny tells us,
that he painted two warriors, one of which
rulhing to the battle feemed to fweat ; the
other, ftripped of his armour was feen to
[l] iv/p^aiu^ Ton Qijjia Toy tavlov, ra tlu^petamv craaE-
QuXi' hiyut, to» fee* ixtKov §o5a fiiGgaxivat, lot h tuvlw
»pt» 0aitu. Plutarch. Bellone an pace clariores faerint
Athenienfes.
G 3 pant.

86 Of C o l o u r i n g. Dial. V,
pant. What a warmth, what a. tendernefs
of pencil ? Can paint exprefs that melting
diffusion, that deWy moifture, which Spring's
from a quickening perforation ? The mel-
loweft tints of the Venetian fchool furnifh
no fuch ideas. Our notions of excellence
are too much limited by our experience ;
had we never feen better colouring than that
of the Galatea of Raphael, a defcription of
the Venus of Titian would pafs for extra
vagant. Why might not the Greek fchool
have been as far fuperior to the Venetian, as
this is to the Roman ? We will now pur-
fue the fame method we propofed before,
and confider the colouring of the moderns
in their greateft mafter Titian,
B. Thouch I confefs this was the rule
propofed, yet, I muft take the liberty to
break in upon it, and to beg, that you
would firft give your opinion of the colour
ing of Raphael.
The

Dial. V. Of Col o u r i n g. 87
The advances of fuch a painter in every
branch of his art, are worthy our obferva-
tiorj ; particularly too, as I find the critics
much divided on this point, fome holding
him to be an excellent, others an indifferent
colourift. A. Raphael, at his fetting out, had no
other guide than his own genius ; as, the
painters his predeceffors, could furnifh him
with no examples to imitate. After fome
time, he learnt from Fra. Bartholomeo a bet
ter ftyle ; his touch became more vigor
ous, his colouring grew warmer, and he
finifhed lefs; yet, he ftill preferved too
great a famenefs ; and all his perfonages had
the fame brown and dufky complexion. He
perfifted a long" time in this tafte ; and,
one may venture to affirm, that he never
wholly abandoned it. In his picture of the
difpute of the Sacrament, which is the beft
G 4 coloured

85 Of Co io tr r_ t tf c Dial* v.
coloured of *ll his works in frefco, one dif-
covers a difference between the carnation of
his angds and men ;— fuch a circumstance
would not be remarked in our beft colaur-
jfts ; who preferve this distinction, not only
in different beings, but likewjfe in the dif
ferent fexes and ages, In the St. Jerome
of Correggio, the complexion of the feint,
the angel, the child, the mother, and the
Magdalen, are all varied, agreeable to their
different ages, natures,, and characters. ; In
his fehool of Athens* Raphael was more
bold, and lefs finished ; and, changing Still
his manner in the Heliodorus,. he painted
in a Style more free and varied ; though yet,
in the delicate, he was Short of perfection.
At length, his paffion for defign, made him
negligent of colourings as we fee in the
Incendio di Borgo. About this time, he be
gan to paint with lefs diligence ; and hav
ing established his character, left much to
his fcholars ; till at length, finding his re
putation

Dial. V. Of C o £ ckj-r i k g.- %
putatfon diminished, "he determined tote*
eftabliSh it, by exerting his whoferfkill and
knowledge in his transfiguration. : The co
louring of this is efteemed gbod, yet,trOrri
that qualify or fameriefs," which. I noticed
before, his flefh is (till hard and dry. His
demitints were compOfed merely of lights
and Shades, whence, they retained always
a greyifh and duSky caft ; and, whereas, a
fine and delicate Skin, -has a greater variety
of tints, "than the grofs ; Raphael, hot pof-
feltingthis variety, his carnations are ge
nerally coarfe and denfe. We muft obferve
.'in this place, that the paintings of Raphael
in frefco, are better coloured than thofe in
oil : As the firft was his favourite practice,
he left the fecond moftly to his Scholars,
particularly to Julio Romano ; contenting
himfelf with retouching and finishing: For
this reafon, we cannot fo well judge of his
paintings in oil : In which, fuch as we fee
them, he is much inferior, with refpect to
¦ 'ttXi ' colouring,

go 0/ Colouring. Dial. V.
colouring, to Correggio and Titian ; but,
in frefco, he is fuperior to all.— — <
B. Your obfervations on the failings of
Raphael, will be as Shades to the merit and
beauty of Titian.— r—
A. Portrait painting has all along been
the favourite practice of the Venetian fchool.
This conftant imitation of nature, has led
them into the knowledge of thofe various
tints, by which She at once distinguishes,
and expreSTes the different carnations. To
defcribe, what colours, or mixtures of them,
produce thofe various appearances, is the
mechanic part of the art ; our fubject is the
ideal. We may compare, or determine the
degrees of merit in the beft painters, with
out following minutely their mechanic pro-
cefs ; I can affirm, for inftance, without
danger of being contradicted, that Correg
gio has not the tendernefs or delicacy of
Titian :

Dial. V. 0/ Co louring. 91
Titian:, His flefh is too firm ; the Skin too
much Stretched ; the humid of our compo-
fition is not fufficiently marked. An artift
might tell us, that thefe defects proceed
from a colouring too yellow or red ; from
demitints too much verging on the green ;
whereas, nature, and the paintings of Titian,
prove, that, in clear and transparent Skins,
the humid ever produces a bluifh caft.
But, to leave this matter to thofe whofe
province it. is. I Shall content myfelf, in
this place, with obferving, that in colour
ing, [02] Titian, of all the moderns, comes
the neareft to nature, and of courfe to per
fection. To enlarge more particularly on
his merit, would be but a repetition of the
[«] Might I prefume to cenfure the colouring of
Titian in any particular, it would be in this, that his
male and female tints (if I may fo call them), are not
fufficiently diftinguifhed : They are both extremely
tender and animated, but, the colouring in his women
is too vigorous and mafculine. remarks,

gz Of Colouring. Dial. V.
remarks which I have already offered on the
colouring of the ancients : Let us apply
thofe remarks to his works, they will reci
procally illuftrate each other.
B. I Aid fenfible, from the nature of the*
fubject, as like wife from what y6u have al
ready touched' on, that" a more minute exa
mination of this matter would embarrafs us
in the mechanic. You have fatisfied me,
how far colouring is an aid to beauty, and
neceffary to truth : You have Shewn, hovfr
highly it was efteeriied by the critics, how
induftrioufly cultivated by the artifts of an
tiquity. Sy^ marking the failings of Ra
phael, and proportioning the merit Of Cor-
regio, you have led me into a feeling of the
mellow and tender tints of Titian* It would
be unreafonable to exact more from you Ort
this point ; but there is another, on which
I muft beg you to be more explicit ; I mean
the general tone or harmony of colours; hi
which,

Dial. V. Of Co l o u rin g. 93
which, you juft now fuppofed the moderns
to bg much fuperior to the ancients.
A. My fuppofition was grounded on the
Qbfcurity of their writers, and the difference
qf th,eir practice. The ancients verfed irj
the, mid, derived from this, as I have hefore
pjbferved, their elegance and correcftnefs jrj
defign. . They were no lefs indebted to it,
for. their truth and beauty of colouring.
The moderns, on the other hand, particu
larly the Venetians, accuftamed to clothe
their figures, in velvet, filks, woollen, linen
and the like, were naturally led into an ob-
feryanee of the different [a] effects of theic
[»] We may form a general idea of the variotil
cffefts of reflections from the following examples : If
a blue be reflected on a yellow, the latter becomes
greenifh ; if on a red, the red becomes purple ; and
fo on through a variety of combinations : And as the
vitim is of a nature to ve&m all $e cftJoirrSj and to
be tinged with that of each reflection, the painter
muft be careful bow his carnations may be affefted by
the feveral reflection*. reflections ;

94 Of C o l o u R i n g. Dial. V.'
reflections ; as, of the accord or difagree
ment in their appofition. In order to be
convinced, that this accord or difagreement
is not fantaftical, we need but obferve the
rainbow in its full difplay of colours; at
which time, their union is perfect : Let the
red, the blue, or yellow difappear, it is en
tirely disturbed. In the fame manner, place
green and yellow, or yellow and red toge
ther in a picture, they are evidently at va
riance ; let the blue interpofe, their corre-
fpondence is reftored. Rubens has painted
in imitation of the rainbow ; all the colours
co-operate ; the effect is good but accident
al ; but, in Titian and Correggio, this ar
rangement is the refult of fcience, it is a
harmony, which fprings from a judicious
and happy union of confenting colours.
B. It Should feem that the Mexicans
were great matters of this harmony or cor-
refpondence of colours, of which, Antonio , de

Dial. V. Of Colouring. g^
' de Solis, the elegant authpr of the Cpnqueft
of Mexico, gives the following remarkable
inftance. " Among the prefents fent to
" Cortez from the emperor, was a quanti-
" ty of plumes and other curiofities, made
" of feathers ; whofe beauty and natural
*' variety of colours found on rare birds
" that country produces, they fo placed and
te mixed with wonderful art, distributing:
" the feveral colours, and Shadowing the
" light with the dark fo exactly, that, with-
" out making ufe of artificial colours, or
" of the pencil, they could draw pictures,
*' and would undertake to imitate nature.
" In another place, Montezuma is de-
" fcribed feated on a chair of burnished
" gold, which glittered through the vari-
" ous works of feathers, placed in hand-
" fome proportion about, the nice diftri-
" bution of which, in fome meafure, feem-
" ed to outvie the coft of the metal."
A. The

g6 0/ CotooaiKG. Dial, V.
A. The example you have produced in
the practice of the Mexicans, is an extra
ordinary inftance of the happy effect from
an union of colours ; and it is probable that
their artifts were, in this particular, nothing
inferior to the Italians* Their Skill, in wav
ing t}iofe various colours into a kind^pf fea
thered tapeftry, or Mofaick, and forming
in them regular pictures, and lively imita
tions of nature, far exceeds the defcriptions
we meet with, of the Babylonian tiffues :
As, in their painted language, they evi
dently refemble, and feem to have excelled
the hieroglyphicks of the Egyptians.
B. When we meet with fuch ftrokes of
refemblance in the efforts of human wit,
among nations cut off from all intercourfe
with each other, we are moved with a kind
of pleafing furprife; fome treat them as
the inventions of hiftorians j others account for

DlAtil" V. Of Co L O U R I n c. 97
fpr them by fuppofed, though undifcover-
ed, communications ; and yet, to confider
things juftly, nothing can be more natural ;
the feeds of ingenuity, like thofe of good
fenfe, are fown in all foils; and it is no
more extraordinary, that their productions
Should be alike, than, that the oranges of
New-Spain Should refemble thofe of Old.

H DIA-

l98 ]
DIALOGUE VI.
Of the Clear obscure.
A, [«] T am perfuaded, that, notwithftand-
X ing all the pains you have taken,
to form a juft idea of the Clear obfcure,
from the writings of Vafari, Felibian, and
the reft, you will agree with me, that you
have more Satisfaction in this matter, from
a fingle glance at a picture of Correggio,
than from all you have ever read on that
fubject. Whether this proceeds from a want
of knowledge in thofe writers, or our ignor
ance of the mechanic of the art, which
they are fo apt to confound with the ideal,
[b] Tandem fefe ars ipfa diftinxit, et invenit lumen
atque umbras, differentia colorum alterna vice fefe
exckante. Pirn. lib. xxxv. c. 5. I Shall

Dial. VI. Of the Clear obscure, gJ
I Shall not take upon me to determine : But,
Certain it is, had we not before our eyes the
examples to which they refer us, we Should
be often at a lofs for their meaning. Now, in
treating of the Clear obfcure of the ancients*
we have neither the works [p] nor writings
of their painters to guide us. Happily, their
claflic authors, men of parts and erudition,
were univerfally admirers of this art. Hence
their frequent allufions to it ; their meta
phors borrowed from it ; with the defcrip
tions of particular paintings, and their ef-
fectSi In thefe laft we cannot be deceived ;
like effects,, in picture, as in nature, muft
proceed from uniform caufes : And when
[/] I do not mention in this jjlace the paintings
found at Herculaneum, becaufe I cannot look on then!
as of -a clafs to reft on them the merits of the ancient
artifts. There are beauties, it is true, fcattered through
out them ; bur, they are the beauties rmrientis artis,
of an art in its decline ; fdch as Pliny defcribes it to
have been in lifetime j when, as he feelingly lamentfs,
there was nulla nobilit piSuta.
Ha we

ioo Of the Clear obscure. Dial. Vf.
we find thefe to correfpond exactly with our
own obfervations on the works of the mo
derns, this analogy leads us into a certainty,
as to the fimilitude of the means by which
they, were produced.
B. Such inferences as thefe, when they
are natural and unforced, are more condu-
five than pofitive affertions ; for we are more
apt to be, deceived by authority, than by the
reafon of thingsi
A. \jf\ " Longinus obfervesj that, if we
" place in parallel lines, on the fame plane,
" a bright and an obfcure colour, the for-
'i " mer fprings forward, and appears much-
" nearer to the eye." Hence we may re
mark, that when painters would give a pro-
[q] Ewi tou avlov xitftam nwrt&oo •Btaqu.XKrfrw i» xg&~
pua i t»is cxtui ti xat tpwlof, oftu; mr^uviratia it to (put, vutf
0-^.tai, xat ov fiotov cifl%oi, uKKu xat tyyvliqu <aupu co^u
(puttCixt. Longinus, feci, xviii. jection*

Dial. VI. Of the Clear obscure, ioi
jection to any part of a figure, as the breafts
of a virgin, and the like* they throw its ex
tremities into Shade ; that thefe retiring
from the eye, the intermediate parts may
have their juft relief. From this fimple
law of nature, fprings all the magic of the
Clear obfcure ; not only parts are distin
guished, but intire figures are detached
from their fond ; feem furrounded by air;
and meet the imagination with all the ener
gy of life. Thus Philoftratus prettily de-
fcribes the picture of a Venus, " [r] The
" goddefs will not feem to be painted, but
*' fprings from the canvafs as if She would
" be purfued." The fame writer tells us,
that Zeuxis,. Polygnotus, and Euphranor,
were, above all things, \s\ attentive, to
Shade happily, and animate their figures ;
[r] Ovfiavkclat ycyoaf^ut Joxsiv si Geo;, zxxiilat Js oix *as-
Gchut. De pi&ura Veneris, lib. ii. p. 810 .
{/] To tvo-xtov ¦nairua-w'lo, xat cvmovv, xat to it7c^pt ts
xat cfyxpj. In vita Apollonii, lib. ii. p. 72.
H3 by

102 0//&CXEAR OBSCURE. DlAL. VI,
by which he insinuates, that animation, or
the foul of painting, owes its being to a
juft conduct of lights and Shades : And
hence it was, no doubt, that the paintings
of Parrhafius were termed * realities j they
being poffeffed of. fuch a force of Clear ob
fcure, as to be no longer the imitations of
things, but the things themfelves : Agree
able to this, is the obfervation of an ancient
writer, " That in painting, [t~\ the contour
*« of the illumined part, Should be blended
*' with and loft in the Shade ; for qn this,
«* joined to the advantage of colouring, de?
fi pend animation, tendernefs, and the fimi-
« litude to truth."
* Al|/£t/Js*{.
[/] An ray extat xat rut ygapiAuv isagyuQutmefoat cm
titi y%u(pi)0s, To yag tpfyvxp* *«• to aicuhov, xat to p,Ejuiy.»-
ftfiov T«» aX-Scta-i, cov ry XPVtrjoylt tut ¦xguyx&uv, fca.
*io-1a ytv&at Sta mvlwy, Theagis Pythagoricus apud
Stobaeum,
B. Ovid

Dial. VI. Of the Clear obscure. I03
B. Ovid thus marks this tranfition
of colours in his defcription of the rain
bow [«].
A thoufand colours gild the face of day,
With fever' d beauties, and diftinguiflfd ray,
Whilfl in their contacl they elude the fight,
And lofe dijlintlion in each others light.
A. A remark made by Petronias Ar
biter, on certain paintings of Apelles, points
out the happy effects of this delicacy of

[u] In quo diverfi niteant cum mule colores,
Tranfitus ipfe tamen fpeftantia Iumina falKt,
Ufque adeo quod tangit idem eft, tamen ultima
diftant; Metam. lib. vi.
Videmus in Iride aliquid flammei, aliquid lutei, ali-
quid casrulei, et alia in Piilune nudum fubtilibus lineis \
dufta, ut ait Poeta ; ut an dilfimiles colores fint, fcire
non poffis, nifi earn primis extrema contuleris ; ufque
adeo mira arte naturae, quod a fimillimis ceepit in
diffimilia defmit. Seneca Nat. quail, lib. i. c. 3.
H 4 pencil

104 Of the Clear obscure. Dial. VI,
pencil. " [x] With fuch fubtilty, fuch a
** likenefs to nature, were the extremities
" of the figures blended with their Shades,
** that you muft have taken what was be-
" fore you for real life." Nicias the Athe
nian is praifed by Pliny, for his knowledge
in the Clear obfcure ; " [jy] He preferved
" the lights and fhades, and was particu-
«' larly careful, that his paintings Should
" project from the canvafs." But, the great-
[#] Tanta enim fubtilitate extremitates imaginum
erant ad jimilitudinem prgecifae, ut crederes etiam ani-
morum efle piduiras. In Satyrico.
Men of a refined tafte, have a feeling of thofe de
licacies, which efcape the notice of common obfervers ;
thus Pliny, ambire enim debet fe extremitas ipfa et fie
definere,.ut promittat alia poft fe, oftendatque etiam
qua; occultat.
This artifice of withdrawing the outline impercep
tibly from the eye, is that which gives to bodies their
roundnefs or projection : It was much ftudied by the
ancients, and too much neglected by Raphael; whofe
contours are fometimes fo marked, that his figures ap
pear too evidently to be of a piece with the canvafs.
[y] Lumen et umbras cuftodivit, atque ut eminererit
e tabulis pidurce, maxime curavit. Lib. xxxv. — 1 1.
eft

Dial, VI. Of the Clear obscure. 105
eft effect in this kind, is by the fame attri
buted to the Alexander of Apelles, in the
character of Jupiter the thunderer : " [z]
" The fingers (fays he) feem to .Shoot for-
" ward, and the thunder to be out of the
"picture." This paffage is too Striking to
need a comment- Let us compare the idea
we receive from this, with the happieft pro
ductions of the modern artifts ; what could
we expect more from the magic pencil of
Correggio ? I mean as to the effect of
clear obfcure; for, lam at a lofs, from
whom to expect, the beauty and grace of
an Alexander, united to the majefty and
fplendor of a Jove. If it appears from
what I have offered, that the painter can
by a. nice conduct of light and Shade, give
to the characters he -brings on the fcene a
kind of real existence : So can he, by a par
k's] Pinxit et., fulmen tene'ntem ; digiti eminere vi-
dentur, et fulmen. extra tabulam effe. Lib. xx<v.— 10.
tiai

io«5 Of the Clear obscure. Dial. VI.
tial diftribution of this advantage, give
them an evident preference one to the other ;
and by adding a degree of fpkndor to each
character, proportioned to its importance in
the drama, he becomes mafter of a beautiful
gradation, no lefs Satisfactory to the under
standing, than pleafing to the eye.
Since I cannot offer you an example of
this in any of the ancient paintings now to
be feen, I Shall remind you of a piece of
poetic painting, in which you will find eve
ry circumftance of dignity and beauty, fet
off with the fineft effect of Clear obfcure,
that, perhaps, ever entered into the ima
gination of either poet or painter. It is,
where Virgil introduces iEneas into the
prefence of Dido [a],
[a] Vix ea fatus erat, cum circumfufa repente
Scindit fe nubes, et in sthera purgat apertum ;
Reftitit iEneas, claraque in luce refulfit, Scarce

Dial. VI. Of the Clear obscure. 107
Scarce had he fpoke, when lo ! the bur/ling cloud}
Melts into air : Confefs'd the hero flood, >
Mark'd by the form and fplendor of a god; j
The rays maternal round his temples play,
And gild his beauties milk a brighter day;
Thefe the fond mother Jiudious to improve,
Breath' d on his per fan all the powers of love;
Thro' his long winding locks the magic flows,
Beams from his eyes, and in each feature glows.
There is fomething in this defcription fo
truly picturefque, it breaks upon the ima
gination with fuch a hidden energy of Clear
obfcure, that I am perfuaded, the poet muft
have had in his eye, fome celebrated picture
in this ftyle. It is eafy to distinguish, when
the arts borrow their ideas one from ano
ther, and the lights which they fo commu-
Os, humerofqueDeofimilis: Namque ipfadecorarn
Casfariern nato Genetrix, lumenque Juventae
Purpureum, et lsetos oculis amarat honores.
Mneid. i. ver. 590.
nicate

108 Of the Clear obscure. Dial. VI.
nicate and receive, reverberate, and prove
reciprocally their beauties.
B. I could never read the paffage you
have juft quoted, without being ftruck with
the beauty of this image; but you have
fupplied me with an adventitious pleafure :
The correspondence of thefe filter arts, acts,
in fome degree, like the harmony of con-
fenting voices ; the idea, which they ex
prefs, is the fame, but the effect is doubled
in theif agreement. When warmed by the
defcription of Virgil's Laocoon, we gaze
on that at the Vatican, his cries are more
piercing, his pains more exquifite, and the
ideas of the poet are as unifons to thofe of
the Statuary.
A. Thus far I have touched on the two
leading objects of the Clear obfcure ; firft,
That roundnefs or projection, by which
figures are difengaged from their fond, and
Spring,

Dial. VI. Of the Clear obscure, ick?
fpring, as it were, from canvafs into life.—
Secondly, The distinctive or picturefque
diftribution of light to the feveral characters
introduced on the fcene.
I say, I have only touched on thefe fub-
jects, it being my defign, rather to trace
the outlines, than to give the full image of
painting. To be equal to this laft, I muft
have, not only an informed judgment, but
a creative hand ; for, without a knowledge
and practice in the mechanic, there is no
venturing into the depths of this art. How
ever, I flatter myfelf, that this Sketch, rude
as it is, will carry with it more of the true
features of the original, than any you could
collect from the writings of our painters, or
the authority of our Cicerones ; and though
it Should not give us a perfect knowledge,
•it will give us a pleafing and, claffieal view
of our fubject. The third care of the paint
er, in the Clear obfcure, if not So obvious,
i is

no Of the Clear obscure* Dial. VI,
is no way lefs effential than the former.
When feveral objects prefent tbemfelves in
one view to the eye, we may obfervej that
they all differ in the force of their appear
ance, each receiving and reflecting the rays
of light variously* according to its peculiar
form, texture, or pofition : This variety in
nature, exerted in its imitation, gives to
painting a wonderful air of truth ; the eye
meeting the fame effects in the copy, which
it has been ufed to in the original, lofes fight
of art, and receives the new creation as from
the hand of nature. To this, no doubt,
Philoftratus alludes, when having propofed
fj>] hills, woods, and rivers, as the objects
[h] AZ.o-ri, xat oen, xat arvyut, xat to» «t9fg<* ty u raula.
^1r exod. Icon. p. 763. Ed. Lip.
That the ancients excelled in Landfcape painting,
we have the teftimorry of Pliny j Ludius, Divi Augufti,
setate primus inftituit amceniffimam parietem pKluram,
villas, et porticus, ac topiarca opera lacos, nemoray
colles, pifcinas, euripos, amnes, litora qualia quis op-
taret : Varias ibi obambulantium fpecies, aut navi-
gantium. Lib. xxxv. 10.
of

Dial. VI. Of the Clear obscure, m
of paint, he adds, and the air in which they
are : Now, there is no reprefenting the air
otherwife than by its effects •, the which,
can be fenfible only, in the relative appear
ances of fuch objects, as are contained in it.
But, of all thefe circumstances of diverfity,
the difference arifing from their refpective
distances, is the moft obvious and exten-i
five; this is to be distinguished two ways,
t>y the diminution of forms ; and the de
greeing of colours. Thefe vary, accord
ing to the denfity, or depth of the medium,
through which they are feen. The firft,
being the meafurement of proportions, is
regulated by the laws of perfpective : But,
the fecond, though it muft co-operate with
And Pliny the younger, defcribing one of his Villas,
in a letter to a friend, endeavours to give him the
higheft idea of it, by comparing it with a well paint
ed landfcape. Lib. v Ep. 6.
Let thofe, who affirm fo confidently, that the ancients
were unacquainted with the Clear obfcure and per-
fpedtive, explain, how thefe things are to be reprefent-
ed without them.
i the

Ji& Of the Clear obscure. Dial. VL
the former, can be governed only by the
eye, and comes within the province of the
Clear obfcure; which, by fetting its objects
in full or diminished lights* can mark mi
nutely their withdrawing from the eye, and
determine their feveral distances, by the re
lative force of their appearances. What
knowledge the ancients had of thefe laws,
and what ufe they made of them, may be
collected from many paffages in their writ
ings ; it will be fufficient to quote an exam
ple of each ; touching the meafurement of
forms. " [c]How pleafing, fays Philoftratusj
" is the artifice of the painter ; for, hav-
" ing manned the walls with armed fol-
" diers, he prefents fome intire, fome half
" figures ; of fome we fee the breafts, now
\c J Hsb to ac^icrfj.a. Ton £wy£u(pov' «^£gl?a^^«ll yag Toi^
raXftrti atSeu; un\to-[ievovc, rovf ft.cn agliou? isaeixct opur,
¦tov; Sc r;[Aio-ca<t mi ificpva tvtov, xut XEpaAa; ftora;, xat
xoqvQai; (*o»«;, ctla aix^aq. Ava\oyta tuv\u, a tesat, Set
yu^ x^EB•^EoS«» tgu; o<p8a*[iovs Tot; ewiWtwis *t/x7ioi{ av-
vxmovlus. Philoftratus, lib. i. p. 768. Ed. Lipf. " the

Dial. VI. Of the Clear obscure: 113
**" the helmets, and laft of all their fpears :
** This is proportion, young man ; for,
" the objects mult thus Steal from the eye,
" as it follows the feveral groupes through
" their proper gradations." The fame
author, is equally explicit, concerning the
gradation of colours ; for, defcribing in a
picture, the effects of vifion through water,
he obferves, " [d] That the fifh near the
" top feemed black ; the next to them, lefs
" fo ; the next to thofe begin to elude the
" eye; now they are Shadowy, now wa-
" tery, and now mere fancy ; for, the eye,
" as it deepens in the water, finds its powers
" to grow dull and confufed."
B. You have advanced, that, to give
depth to a perpendicular plane, and of
[d] MsXatif f«i/ of atu Soxovo-m, Jt1o» Sc oi £ps|u?. of
Sc (in' cxcttovc, ySn wupu^cvSoilat tv> oi|/m. ui* cXtuStts,
c!]a vSuqoi, it\a inonr,aut. K-ulaGattoviTu ya§ e<; to vsuo n
kJ/is apJaKviitlut Siulz&ov/ Tu a uv\tj. Phil. Icon. lib. 1.
c. Pifcatores, p. 784.. I courfe,

114 Of the Clear obscure, Dial. VJ.
courfe, the degreeing and distancing of ob
jects, is the province of the Clear obfcure. :
It Should feem, that the modern fculptors '
have not thought fo, when, without any
fuch aids, they have attempted in their baf-
fo Relievo's to produce the fame effects.
A. Their ill fuccefs justifies my obfer
vation ; their firft line of figures, only, has
a plain to reft on ; the others are fufpended,
and, contrary to the laws of nature, as they
retire from the eye, and diminish in propor
tion, they rife in height ; infomuch, that
the feet of the hindmoft are often on a par
allel with the knees of the foremoft. The
ancients were too wife to give into fuch an
abfurdity ; their purfuit, in all their works,
was a good effect ; and nothing could have
a worfe than this. We therefore find, that
in fculpture, they attempted not to mark
their distances, otherwife, than by a Simple
diminution of the Relievo; but, left to
painting,

Dial. VI. Of the Clear obscure. 115
painting, what fculpture could not affume,
the deception of the Clear Obfcure.—
B. Yet, from this, which was an inftance
of their good fenfe, has been drawn an ar
gument of their ignorance ; and, becaufe
they did not force the laws of the Clear ob
fcure into fculpture, to which they are
aliens ; it has been inferred, that they knew
not their connection with painting, out of
which they naturally grow.— .
A. I have, I think, both from reafon
and authority, proved the weaknefs of this
fuppofition ; but, Should you ftill have the
leaft doubt, the teftimony of Virtruvius
muft intirely remove it. By this, it will
appear, that the Greek painters, not only
knew the rules and ftudied the effects of
perfpective ; but that their greateft philo-
fophers, ahd mathematicians, thought it
worthy their attention, to reduce thefe ef-
I 2 fects

Hf5 Of the Clear obscure. Dial.VI.
fects to fure and determined laws. " {VJAga-
" tharcuS was the firft who painted a fcene,
" at the time when JEfchylus exhibited his
" tragedies at Athens : He has left a com-
" mentary on this fubject. From this hint,
" Democritus and Anaxagoras wrote on
" perfpective ; explaining, in what manner
" we Should, agreeable to the appearances
" in nature, from a central point, make the
" lines to correfpond with the eye, and the
" direction of the vifual rays : So that, from
" a feeming confufion, may refult a natural
«( effect; and the fcene become a true re-
" prefentation of buildings : And, that
[e] Agatharcus primum, Athenis ^Efchylo docente
tragoediam, fcenam fecit ; et de ea re commentarium
reliquit : Ex eo moniti Democritus et Anaxagoras, de
eadem re fcripferunt, quemadmodum oporteat ad aci-
em oculorum, radiorumque extenfionem, certo loco
teutro conftituto, ad lineas naturali ratione refpon-
dere ; uti de incerta re, certs imagines asdificiorum
in fcenarutn pifturis redderent fpeciem ; et quae in di
rects planifque frontibus fint figuratas, alia abfcedentia,
alia prominentia effe videantur. In Prasf. lib. vii.
" thofe

Dial. VI. Of the Clear obscure. 117,
" thofe objects which are drawn on a per-
" pendicular plain, may appear, fome re-
«' tiring from the eye, others advancing to-
*' wards it." You will obferve on this paf-
fage, that the painter was before-hand with
the philofopher ; and by imitating the va
rious effects of vifion, had worked himfelf
into the myftery of its laws. So that in
this, as in many other cafes, practice, in-
ftead of being the child, was the parent of
fcience. B. You have fully vindicated the fcience
of the ancients in the particular before us,
and diSSipated that cloud, with which the
vanity of the moderns had obfcured it ; I
am afraid, the more we examine any pre
tended advantage over them, the lefs reafon
we Shall find to triumph.—
A, Having thus given a Sketch of the
three principal objects of the Clear obfcure;
1 3 i£

118 Of the. Clear obscure. Dial. VI.
it will be fufficient to mention the fourth,
as it feems tofpring of itfelf from a juft exer
tion of the former ; I mean the union of
the Clear obfcure. This is, when the par
ticular accidents of lights and Shades fo co
operate, as to produce, in the general, a fine
effect ; and that the picture fends forth fuch
a proportion of light, as is molt pleafing to
the eye, and advantageous to its feveral ob
jects. Of this, if I underftand him right,
Pliny fpeaks in the following paffage.
" [/] Now fplendor was added, this is a
" different thing from light ; bur, being
" the refult of light and Shade, it was there-
" fore called the tone." And Plutarch,
Speaking of the painting of Dianyfius [#},
ufes force and the tone as Synonymous ; and
[y] Adjeftus eft fplendor, alius hie quam lumen :
quem, quia inter hoc et umbram eflet, appellaverunt
Tonqn. Lib. xxxv. 5.
[g] T* AiowO'iot) £wygx$iti[Aula, i(7^o» c%oilu xat To»oy.
Plutarch in Timoleonte. with

Dial. VI. Of the Clear 03sgure. 119
with reafon, as it is this accord or harmony
of the Clear obfcure, that gives to painting
its firft and Striking effect. ' This it is that
enchants us, in the Nativity, and other pieces
of Correggio ; and to reprefent its power
in the Strongest light, I need but obferve,
that where this is, we are charmed by a Ca-
ravaggio ; where it is wanting, we look cold
ly on a Raphael.
B. I have often thought, when I have
had before me a painting of the Roman
fchool, that it was like looking at a profpect
in a gloomy day : The beauties of nature
are there ; but they want that, which Should
illumine and embellish them. The union
of the Clear obfcure, fuch as you have de
scribed it, is the fun of picture.
A. You have expreffed it juftly; for it is
not only pleafing in its general effect, but
gives vigour and warmth to each particular
I 4 object;

120 Of the Clear obscure. Dial. VI.
object ; and beftows on them, like the breath
of Venus, the latos honores, thofe gladfome
beauties, which raife them above the condi
tion of an ordinary appearance.
B. When I confidered how little fatis-
faction I had received on this fubject, from
the writings of the moderns, I did not ima
gine that you could ever clear this obfcuri-
ty, by lights borrowed from thofe of the
ancients; efpecially, as I have been accuf-
tomed to believe, [h] that their painters
were but fuperficially, if at all, verfed in
this branch of their art. You have explain
ed fo fully the different powers and merits
[h] Some have alTerted roundly, that the ancients
were unacquainted with the Clear obfcure; others
(who confider, that a certain degree of it is infeparable
from the very nature of painting) fuppofe, that, what
they knew of it, was nothing more than the mere ef-
feft of imitation.; without principles or fcience. Had
this been the cafe, is it to be imagined, that fo judir
cious a critic as Cicero, would have fpoken of the Of

Dial. VI. Of the Clear oescure. 121
of the Clear obfcure, that I think, in order
to have a reafonable degree of knowledge
in this matter, we need do no more, than
apply thofe obfervations to the paintings of
the Venetian and Lombard Schools. But
yet, as in treating of this fubject, you have
mentioned Raphael and Correggio-, and
feemed to fet them in contraft one to the
other ; it would be a further fatisfaction,
Should you mark more particularly, in what
that difference confifts.
A. It Should feem, that in the Clear ob
fcure, Raphael knew no part but the imi
tative ; we find the cait of his lights and
Shades, to be no other, than the cafual ef-
lights and fhades of eloquence ; or propofed the con
duct of painters in the Clear obfcure, as worthy the
imitation of orators ? The paffage is as follows, and
merits a particular attention : Sed ha beat tamen ilia
in dicendo admiratio, ac fumma laus umbram aliquam,
et recefTum, quo magis id, quod erit illuminatum, ex-
ftare, atque eminere videatur. De Oratore, lib. iii.
feet

122 Of the Clear obscure. Dial. VI.
feet of the difpofition of his figures. Cor
reggio, on the other hand, is intirely ideal ;
and confiders the difpofition of his figures,
merely as it tends to produce a better effect
of Clear obfcure. It is no wonder there
fore, that fcience Should be fuperior to ac
cident. Raphael's fyftem, in the compofuion of
his hiftory, was fimple and uniform ; it con-
Sifted wholly in placing his ftrongeft lights
foremoft, and giving them a gradual dimi
nution into the fond.— Hence, moft fre
quently, his figures in the firft plain are
dreffed in white ; a practice, which he learn
ed from the Florentine fchool : But Cor
reggio, and the Lombard fchool, put for
ward the pure and unmixed colours; fuch
as red, yellow, and blue ; obferving that
the white has an effect [/] too tranfparent
[«'] For this reafon Titian brought forward his ob-
fcures, and threw his clears into the back ground.
This may appear to counteract the principle I at firft
i and

Dial. VI. Of the Clear obscure. 123
and weak. This method of Raphael, fuch
as I have defcribed it, anfwers fully in giv
ing a roundnefs to his foremoft figures •,
but i; is weak in its general effect : He
knew not the powers of the different colours,
ftill lefs, the beauties which they communi
cate and receive from each other. Correg
gio was a mafter of both ; he not only
knew their, juft balance and reciprocal in
fluence, but extends this knowledge even
to their Shades. Thus, you may diftinguifl*
in a painting of his, the Shade of a rofe co
loured drapery, from that of a red ; as you
may, the Shade of a clear white, from that
of one more obfcure, It is eafy to conceive,
what advantages, an uncommon genius, and
elegant imagination, muft draw from fuch
refources as thefe ; hence fprings that
laid down ; butj as the clears and obfcures fly from
each other, they mutually ferve, according as they
are placed, to throw each other forward, or at a
diftanpe. warmth,

124 Of the Clear obscure. Dial. Vf.
warmth, that variety, that magic, which
enchants the eye, and prepoffeffes the un
derstanding : For, certainly we do not judge
of Correggio as of other painters ; preju
diced by the- charms of his Clear obfcure,
grimace fometimes paffes for beauty, affec
tation for grace ; it is by this that he always
gains his end, which is to pleafe ; and we
view his works with a predilection^which
doubles his beauties, and blinds us to his
errors.—. B. From this reprefentation of the merit
of Correggio, are we not to look upon it
rather as fantaftical than real ? Does it not
operate more, by feducing the eye, than fa-
tisfying the judgment ?
* ''
A. This feduction is no fmall merit in
a painter ; it is an union of the mechanic
and ideal ; it is the power of realizing his
conceptions ; from which, however, we
Should

Dial, VI. Q//& Clear obscure. 125
tfhould receive little pleafure, were not thofe
conceptions in themfelVes pleafing; for the
Flemifh artifts, are in this equal, if not fu
perior to any; but their aims are vulgar:
But Correggio is, in general, amiable in his
ideas, and happy in his expreffions ; he was
more conftant in his purfuit of grace than
of beauty ; hence he as often out-runs the
one, as he falls Short of the other; but the
fplendor of his Clear obfcure overbears our
cenfure ; and he is to us, what Apelles
was to the ancients, the ftandard of the ami
able and the graceful,
B. Might we not, by blending the Clear
obfcure of Correggio, with the compofition
of Raphael, form to ourfelves an image of
perfect painting ?
A. It cannot be denied, that, had the
latter been more knowing in this branch of
his art, his paintings would have had a much
better

126 Of the Clear obscure. Dial. Vf»
better effect ; arid yet, nothing is more na
tural, than that the event Should be fuch as
We find h\ The ideas of Correggio, tend
ing ever to pleafe, led him, of courfe, to
the difcovery of the means productive of
his aim ; Raphael, On the other hand, while
he was bufied in tracing the paffions, and
intent on determining their movements,
was naturally led by the feverity of his pur
fuit into a fimplicity, or perhaps, a neglect
of colouring. The reafonablenefs of this
cbnclufion, is confirmed by an example from
antiquity ; Ariftides, who was probably the
moft ethic of all their painters, was, as we
are told by Pliny, rather hard in his co
louring. B. However general the cafe may be,
it does not prove that the things are in
themfelves difcordant ; on the contrary,
you have fatisfied me in the characters of
Apelles and Parrhafius, that they may very
well

Dial. VI. Of the Clear obscure. 127
well exift in one and the fame artift. Can
a painter be excufable ; who is weak in the
moft effential part of his art, namely, that
which gives reality to his, imitations ? His
aim, in general, may not be to flatter the
eye ; but, it Should be always to fatisfy our
feeling. He may think juftly, and convey
his thoughts clearly ; yet, his work is but a
fbozzo, till, by colouring and the Clear ob
fcure, it puts' on the femblance of truth.
But, exclufive of the good effect of this fci
ence in the general, there are particular
cafes, in which it is indifpenfable ; as, in
the reprefentations of heavenly and aerial
beings: When thefe, inftead of being fu-
fpended in a bright and diaphanous glory,
are nailed to a muddy fond, or wade through
the obstructions of a heavy dawbing, we
are offended at the impropriety of their ap
pearance ; and the firft thought we have,
is, to wonder how they came there.
A. The

128 Of the Clear obscure. Dial. Vf.
A. The imagination enlightened by the
warm and glowing images which it receives
from the poets, bears with impatience thofe.
gloomy and ponderous bodies, with which
our painters people their heavens. The de
fect of education in our artifts, is no where
fo fenfible, as on thefe occafions-, what fire
might a painter catch from the following
defcription ?
 Nor delay' d the winged faint

After his charge receiv'd; but from among
Thovfand celeflial ardors, where he flood
Veil' d with his gorgeous wings, up fpringing light
Flew thro' the midfil of Heaven 
Par. Loft, book v. ver. 247.
What an effect of Clear obfcure is hinted
in thefe lines ?
Hafile hither, Eve, and worth thy fight behold,
Eajlward among thofe trees, what glorious fhdpe
Comes

Dial. VI. Of the Clear obscure. 129
Comes this way moving j ferns another tnofn
Ris'n on midnoon.—* Far. Loft, book V. ver. 308.
The Italian painters have no excufe. — Ari-
ofto and Taffo abound with beautiful and
picturefque ideas. There is not, perhaps,
a finer image in poetry, than the following
one by Taffo. —
" Cofi dicendo, fiammeggio di zelo
" Per gli occhi fuor del mortal ufo accenfi ;
" Pot nel profondo de fuoi rat ft chiufe,
" Efparve,  — Canto xii. Stanza 93.
What a fubject for a fine colourift, to deline
ate the form of an angel, retiring and melt
ing into the fplendor which furrounds it ?
B. The painting of Correggio alone
verges on thefe poetic ideas : We acknow
ledge in his angels the" inhabitants of hea
ven; crayoned in fplendor, pellucid in
K glory,

130 Of the Clear obscure. Dial.VL
glory, their clear and animated tints breathe
a divinity ; they flit in air, like the Skirtings
of a palfing cloud, they drop from heaven,
like rain through an April fun.
A. One would imagine that Pope had
been animated with the fpirit of Correggio,
and had taken poffeffion of his pencil, when
he thus pictured his fylphs r
Some in the fields of pur eft ather play,
And bafk and whiten in the blaze of day
Men of a fuperior genius, view nature
through the fame medium, a fine imagina
tion j fo that, however different their arts
may be in the mechanic part, they will often
approach each other in the ideal. Of all the
arts, poetry and painting are the moft con
genial ; and we may obferve, that as the
former never appears more lovely, than
when. She dreffes herfelf in the beauties of
painting ; fo,. the latter is never fo tranf-
porting*

Dial. VI. Of the Clear Obscure. I31
porting, as when She emulates the flights,
and catches the images of poetry.
B< What you have faid in this place of
Correggio, is much to his advantage ; but,
you juft now treated him rather Slightly on
the -article of Beauty', a merit, applied to
him by others as peculiar and distinctive :
I am at a lofs to account for this opposition
of fentiments. A Greek phibfopher being
afked, what was Beauty ? Anfwered, This
was the [k~\ queftion of a blind man ; yet I
am tempted to fubject myfelf to the fame
rebuke; for without fome explanation of
this matter, we muft ever, in our judg
ments on painters, contradict, or talk unin
telligibly to one another.
A. I should think fuch beauty abfolute,
in which we Should find, a purity of co
lours, an elegance in the proportions, har-
[l] TvpAov to f{o»I«ifia.
K 2 mony

jt:j2 Of the Clear obscure. Diajl. VI.
mony of features, and happinefs of cha
racter— B. Excuse me a minute 5 what do you
mean in this place by character ?
A. I mean that emanation of the mind,
which marks its peculiar complexion ; which
infpires the features, graces the action, and
gives to the whole perfon a particular aim
and fignificance. Hence the poet,
 Thus doth beauty dwell
There mofl confpicuous, e'en in outward Jhapet
Where dawns the high expreffion of a mind.
PI. of the Im.
Now the reafon why we differ fo much in
our judgments on beauty, is, that in the ufe
of this word, we annex to it, fome more,
fome fewer of the forementioned ideas ; as
each man differst from another, in the caft
of his imagination, or the juftnefs of his eye.
Thus

Dia l.VI. Of the Clear obscure. 133
Thus one, much delighted with the pure
and vivid tints of Titian, Shall with difficul
ty acknowledge beauty in the grofs com
plexions of Raphael, however elegant the
proportions, or happy the character. A
fecond, to whom harmony of features fills
his conception of beauty, Shall admire Car-
lo-Maratte ; to the furprife of thofe, who
feel no effect from an union of features un
enlivened by expreffion. Oppofed to this
perfbn Shall be one, with whom character
alone Stands for beauty ; thus, when a Ma
donna of Correggio gazes on her child, with
a fondnefs truly maternal ; or fmiles delight
ed with his playful action; he calls that
beauty, which a more correct eye (obferving
that the proportions are not perfectly juft,
and the caft of features, perhaps, even vul
gar) Shall admit to be nothing more than
a pleafing. expreffion. But, exclufive of
thefe particular acceptations, we ufe this
word in a fenfe ftill more vague and gene-'
K3 ral;

134 Of the Clear obscure. Dial. VI. t
ral ; for, as it is the nature of beauty, to
excite in the beholders certain pleafing
fenfations, we apply indifcriminately the
fame title, to every thing which produces
a like effect ; and this is evidently the cafe,
when we are flattered by the union of co
lours, or the charms of the Clear obfcure.
Thus, an ancient writer obferves, " [/] That
" the moft oppofite colours co-operate in
" the formation of beauty :" A testimony,
which not only ferves my prefent purpofe,
but likewife, brings the paintings of the
ancients into the fame point of view with
thofe of Correggio ; Shewing, that this laft
fpecies of beauty was equally known and
cultivated by both.
B. Though, what you have offered, be
applied only to painting, may we not extend
it to common life ; and account, from hence,
[/] Ta tuaftutlula rm xZvpulvt e; t»» tow KaKtavs ervt-
8w>i» OftoXayu. i for

Dial. VI. Of the Clear obscure. 135
for the difference of our opinions, concern
ing the beauty of women ; each man esteem
ing her moft beautiful, who moft readily
excites in him thofe fenfations, which are
the end of beauty ?
A. Our Britifh Lucretius, it Should feem,
thought fo, when he tells us, that virtue —
AJfumes a various feature, to at trail
With charms refponfive to each gazers eye
The hearts of men. PI. of the Im,

K 4 D I A-

[ n$ 1
DIALOGUE VII.
Of Composition.

A. TJISTORY Painting is the repre-
JLjL fentation of a momentary dra
ma : We may therefore, in treating of com
position, borrow our ideas from the Stage ;
and divide it into two parts, the fcenery,
and the drama. The excellence of the firft,
conSifts in a pleafing difpofition of the fi
gures which compofe the action : However
trifling the pleafure we receive from this
may appear to fome, it is certain, that it is
founded on nature, and of courfe muft me
rit our attention : If we look in a clear night
on a ftarry Sky, our eyes prefently fix on
thofe parts, where the ftars are (if 1 may fo
term

Dial. VII. Of Co m p os it ion. 137
term it) grouped into conftellations. The
mind, indifferent to a loofe unideal difper-
fion, leeks for fomething of fyftem and
ceconomy ; and catches at every image of
contrivance and defign. Perhaps too, there
may be fomething of harmony in a particu
lar arrangement of objects ; fimilar to that,
which Strikes us, in the correspondence of
founds, or flatters us, in the union of
colours. B. Whatever the principle may be, we
cannot doubt of the effect. The eye charm
ed with the elegant diftribution of a Lan-
franc, or Pietro diCortona, looks with cold-
nefs on the fcattered compositions of a Do-
menichino; and often wifhes for fomething
more flattering in thofe of the great Ra
phael. A. Your obfervation, fo far as it touches
Raphael, Shews the neceffity of a diftindion in

13& Of Composition. Dial. VII.
in this place. The difpofition, of which
we have been Speaking hitherto, is purely
picturefque : But there is a fecond kind,
which we may call the expreSfive. When
many perfons are prefent at an action, in
which they are interested, it naturally fets
them in motion ; their movements will de
pend on their characters and feeling ; an
ger, love, or aftoniShment, Shall with pro
priety be expreffed by fingle figures ; whilft
others Shall be collected into parties, or
groupes, to communicate their fears, doubts,
belief* and the like. Thus, in that inimi
table picture by Leonardo da Vinci, when
Chrift, at fupper with his difciples, declares,
that one of them Shalt betray him ; they
all inftantly take the alarm ; One of the
youngeft, rifing from his feat, his bands
crofted on his bread, looks on Chrift with
an action full of love and attachment to bis
perfon -, the zealous and impatient St. Pe
ter, throws himfelf a-crofs two or three
others,

Dial. VII. O/Cqm posit i on. 139
others, and whifpers the beloved difciple,
who is next to Chrift ; no doubt, to aSk his
mafter who it Should be. The reft are di
vided into parties, reafoning and difputinc
on their different fentiments. It is eafy to
perceive, that the artift, intent on giving a
full expreffion to the fentiments and paffions
becoming the occafion, confidered the .dif
pofition of his picture, merely, as it tended
to explain or add force to his principal ac
tion. This will ever be the cafe with the
greateft painters : They may fet a juft va
lue on the fcenery of their piece, but never
facrifice to that the expreffion of their fub
ject. When Chrift gives the keys to Peter,
nothing is more natural, than that the dif-
ciples Should all crowd together, to be wit-
neffes of an action which fo much concern
ed them. This difpofition is true and ex-
preffive, but by no means picturefque:
Raphael was too wife, to flatter the eye, at
the expence of the understanding ; yet,
where

14© Of Com position. Dial. VII.
wlbare they could both be indulged with
propriety, his eompofition was no lefs pic-
tmireJqiue than expreffive. In his St. Paul
preaching at Athens, the difpofition in ge
neral is not only pleafing, but the groupes
are well imaged, and happily connected. In
Jbrartt, the true difference between thefe ar
tifts, is this, with Raphael and Leonardo
da Vinci,, difpofition is an acceflbry ; with
Lauafranc and Pietro di Cortona, it is not
only a principal, but comprehends too often
the whole merit of the picture.
B. Having fettled our ideas of this part,
which you call the fcenery of painting ; let
os, if you pleafe, examine the merit of the
ancients in this article : It is the received
opinion, I think, that their compositions.
in painting, like thofe of their baffo Re
lievo's, were extremely fimple ; if fo, I
cannot expect much from you on this
head.
A. This

Dial. VII. O/Compositiok. 141
A. Th 1 s opinion, is a neceffary comfe-
quence of that, which I have already men
tioned, namely, that they were unacquairat-
ed with the laws of perfpective, and the ef
fects of the clear obfcure. If the contrasy
of this be true, which, it feems to me, I have
proved ; we may very well conclude, that,
poffeffed of the fame means with the mo
derns, and at leaft equal to them in getamis,
they Should employ them to the fameemis.
Was their composition fo fimple as it is
thought, there could be, in this pjitkular,
no variety in the art, and, of courfe, no de
grees of merit in the artifts. Yet, we are
told by Pliny, " [7] That Apelles confefed
" Amphion to be his fuperior in the dif-
** pofition : It was then an object of atten
tion ; it muft have been too, in the opinion
of the ancients, of confequence ; for, the
[/] Cedebat Amphioni de Difpofitione. historian

142 0/ Composition. Dial. VfL
historian gives it as an extraordinary in
stance pf [w] candor in the painter. It is
probable then, that, as Apelles was the Ra
phael, fo Amphion was the Lanfranc of
Greece. B. I am inclined to believe from hence,
that the firft painters among the ancients^
like thofe among the moderns, were, as it is
natural they Should be, more ftudious of the
expreffive than the picturefque ; and this
may be the reafon why the claffic writers,
who borrowed their ideas of painting from
their capital works, have not dwelt on the
article of difpofition ; looking on it as a
circumstance infeparable from the general
expreffion of the fubject.
A. And yet they are not altogether filent
on this head : And we may find, even in
[*»] Fuit Apelles non minoris fimplicitatis quam ar
tis ; nam cedebat, &c. Lib. xxxv. c. 10.
them,

Dial. VII. Ojt"Composition. 143
them, fufficient lights to fatisfy thofe, who
fet out with a good opinion of the tafte and
genius of the ancients. Plutarch tells us, that
Euphranor painted the engagement of the
cavalry at the battle of Mantinea, [»] as if
he had been infpired. The painter had ne
ver merited fuch fingular praife, had he not
wrought his fubject to the neareftfemblance
to truth ; and that this could not have been,
without a particular attention to the difpofi
tion, the fame writer proves in another in-
ftance ; when, fpeaking of the battle fought
by Araftus againft the Etolians, he adds,
that Timanthes the painter, brought this
action, as it were, before the eyes of the
beholders, by the [0] evidence of his difpofi
tion. Thus, it is plain, that the infpiration
of Euphranor, and the evidence of Timan
thes, flowed from the fame excellence, aa
[»] Ovx amiovo-turuf. De Gloria Athen. p. 346. Ed. Paris.
fa] Eft^aHtxat r? StxQecrtt. In Arato, p. 1042. union

144 O/Com position. Dial. VII.
union of the two kinds of difpofition, the
expreffive, and the picturefque.
B. Having thus raifed the curtain and
examined the fcenery, let us proceed to
. what you call the drama of painting.
A. It was with great propriety So termed
by the ancients ; becaufe, like a dramatic
poem, it contains, firft, a fubject, or fable :
fecondly, its order, or contrivance ; thirdly,
¦characters, or the manners : Fourthly, the
various paffions which fpring from thofe
characters, Philoftratus, fpeaking of the
compofition of a picture, calls it in exprefs
terms the \f\ drama of the painter : Pliny
has [q] the fame idea, in his commendation
of Nichophanes. But, we Shall be better fa
tisfied of the juflnefs of this application,
f^J To Seujia Tow Quiy)>a<pov.
[y] Cothurnus ei, et gravitas artis. by

Dial. VII. Of Composition. 145
by examples, than by authorities, [r] It
was the opinion of Nicias, one of the great
est of the Greek painters, that the fubject
was of no lefs confequence in painting, than
the fable in poetry -, and, of courfe, that
great and noble actions tended to elevate
and enlarge, as the contrary muft humble
and contract the genius of the painter. The
ancients had great advantages in this parti
cular ; they had, not only their profane hif-
tory, rich in the moft glorious and interest
ing events ; but their facred, whilft it fur
nished them with new ideas of the Sublime,
gave no check to the pathetic. Their gods,
fuperior in grace, majefty and beauty, were
yet fubject to all the feelings and paffions
of humanity. How unequal is the lot of
the modern artifts ? employed by priefts, or
princes who thought like priefts, their fub-
[r] ililo yaj£ xat itii VTToQco-tv av\n» \*.ipa% etvat tijj
§wyga<Bix>!5 TD^«!f, uvircg tod? ftuQou; tuv wof&oii.
Dem. Phal. de eloc. § j6.
L jects

146 Of Composition. Dial. VII.
jedts are, for the moft part, taken from a re
ligion, which profeffes to banifh, or fubdue
the paffions : Their characters are borrowed
from the loweft fpheres of life : Men, in
whom, meahnefs of birth, and Simplicity of
manners, were the beft titles to their election.
Even their divine maSter, is nowhere, in#
painting, attended with a great idea ; his
long Strait hair, jewifh beard, and poor ap
parel, would undignify die moft exalted na
ture, humility and refignation, his charac
teristics, are qualities extremely edifying,
but by no means picturefque. Let us, for
example, compare (I muft be understood to
mean only as fubjects for painting) a Chrift
armed with a Scourge, driving the money*
changers out of the temple, to an Alexan
der, the thunder in his hand, ready to dart
it on the rebellious nations. It is not in the
fublime alone, that their fubjects are defi
cient ; they are equally So in the pathetic :
The Sufferings, which they moftly reprefent, are

Dial. VII. (^Composition. 147
are in obedience to prophecies and the will
of beaven ; they are often the choice of the
fufferers; and a ten-fold premium is at
hand. When St. Andrew falls down to wor
ship the crofs, On which he is foon after to
be nailed ; we maybe improved by fuch
an example of piety and zeal ; but we can
not feel for one, who is not concerned for
himfelf. We are not fo calm at the facri-
fice of Iphigehia ; beautiful, innocent, and
unhappy.; we look upon her as the victim
of an unjuft decree ; She might live the ob
ject of univerfal love ; She dies the .object of
univerfal pity. This defect in the fubject,
and of habitude in the painters, accounts
for the coldnefs, with which, we look in ge
neral on their works in the galleries and
churches ; the genius of painting wafting
its powers on crucifixions, holy families,
laft Slippers, and the like, wants nerves, if
at any time the fubject calls for the pathe
tic or fublime : Of this we have an inftance
L 2 in

148 Of Compos iti on. Dial. VII.
in the transfiguration by Raphael ; a Chrift
uplifted by a divine energy, dilating in glo
ry, and growing into divinity, was a fubject
truly fublime ; it is eafy to fee, on this oc
cafion, that the painter had not that enthu-
fiaftic fpirit, or thofe ideas of majefty, which
the fubject required : Accordingly, his pen
cil is timid and unequal : It is not fo, when
he drops to the bottom of the mount, to ex
prefs the various feelings and fentiments of
the difciples, diftreffed at their inability to
work a miracle in their mafters abfence.
The truth was, his calm, though fertile ge
nius, could better delineate the fine and de
licate movements of the mind, which have
in them more of fentiment than paffion.
This was his true fphere, and it is here,
that we muft ftudy, and admire Raphael.
B. Your obfervations on the character of
Raphael, Show, how effential to painting is
that, which you call the third part of the
drama,

Dial. VII. 0/ Composition. 149
drama, namely, the characters or man
ners.  1
A. The ancients thought them fo much
fo, that they exprefsly term picture [s] an
art defcriptive of the manners. Ariftotle
in his poetics, fays of Polygnotus, that he
was a [/] painter of the manners ; and ob
jects to Zeuxis his weaknefs in this part.
We have in Philoftratus the following de-
' fcription of a picture ; " [a] We may in-
" ftantly (fays he) distinguish Ulyffes, by
" his feverity and vigilance ; Menelaus, by
[*] hSowoidIo? t-=x»i- Calliftratus in Defcrip. ftat.igfcul.
[f] HOoypaCSo?.
Ariftides Thebanus animum pinxit, et fenfus omnes
expreffit, quos vocant Grzeci n9« ; id eft, perturbationes.
Piin. lib. xxxv. 10.
[it] EwiStiXos a JI.CV lOaJWioc, an Toy revtyyov xat cypr,-
yopfloi, 0 St AyafA.cji.yay, unto tov cvQsov, Toy Se roy TvScut
sAEfOsgia ypatpii, yi/agigoij Say xat Tot 'Yth.aft.'Mtoy, ano Too
Qhoavipov, xat toy Aokjou aico toh Iroifcov. Philoftrat. in
in Antilocho.
L % is

I5° 0/ C o mp os iti on. Dial. VII.
" his mildnefs ; and Agamemnon, by a
" kind of divine majefty ; in the fon of
" Tydeus, is expreffed an air of freedom ;
" Ajax is known by his fallen fiercenefs ;
" and Antilochus by his alertnefs." To
give to thefe fuch fentiments and actions, as
are confequential from their peculiar charac
ters, is [x~\ the ethic of painting. We may
judge from hence, how ad vantagious it muft
be to painters in general, to be verfed in
claffical fubjects ; for, they find themfelves
under a neceffity of expreffing the manners
as they flow naturally from characters pre
determined. The [y~] Greek painters caught
their ideas from hiftorians and poets, and
translated the beauties of eloquence into
paint. 5. H o w wonderful muft have been that
genius, which, without thefe advantages,
[x] H(W trapta. -Callift. in Defcrip. fiat. Narciffi.
ly] Apelles pinxit Dianam facrificantitrm virginum
choro miftam ; quibus viciffe Homeri vwfas videtur,
id ipfum, defcribentis. Plin. lib. xxxv. c. 10. has

Dial. VII. Of Com p Os i t i on. 151
has all their effects ? Such was our divine
Raphael : He treats new fubjects ; he in
vents new characters : The moft unpictu-
refque action, compofed by him, Seems to
have been deftined for paint : Chrift gives
the keys to Peter ; how barren the incident !
yet his pencil, like the rod of Mofes, Strikes
a fpring out of this rock.
A. You have defcribed that facility, which
is the gift of genius, and the image of truth :
This does not confift wholly, as may be
imagined, in the ready execution of a con
ceived idea ; but in the immediate percep
tion of the juftnefs of that idea ; in a con-
fummate knowledge of the human heart,
its various affections, and the juft meafure
of their influence on our looks and geftures ;
eafy in promife, but difficult of execution;
unknown, unattainable by the herd of paint
ers, it drops from the pencil of a Raphael,
Correggio, or Leonardo da Vinci. This
l 4 iuality

152 Of Composition. Dial. VII.
quality was confidered by the ancients as the
fureft teft of genius ; thus Plutarch praifes
the paintings of {zj Nicomachus, compar
ing them, in happinefs and facility, to the
poetry of Homer. Apelles affirmed him
felf inferior in fome points to other painters j
but in this unrivalled. If we except the,
three, I juft now mentioned, we Should in
vain look for this knowledge, in the crowd
of modern painters. Contented with tole
rable drawing, fome air of beauty, and a
good caft of drapery, they abandon charac
ter to the accident of features ; their dra
matis perfonee, if we can call them fuch, are
like the followers of iEneas, many actors
with one face, fortemque Gyam, fortemque
Cloanthum; the different echoes of one poor
idea : Such characters are fo far from grow-
[ss] T«i? Sc Ntxoftaxfiv yputputt xat Toi? °0//,))§«y
rix°'f» f**J<* T»5 ***»? Svyapius xat ajagilo?, •srfousri to
Soxctv ivx'&H xat guSta; umtpyuStut, la, Tim. QJe-
onte, p. 253. Ed. Paris. ing

DiAl.VII. 0/ Composition. 153
ing out of the fubject, that they have always
the air of Exotics, and feem fitter for any
fpot than that in which they are. Inftead
of placing the Bacchus and Ariadne of Car-
rache, in a triumphal car ; we might put the
miftrefs into a cart, and fet her lover to
drive it.
B. The profeffors of the art, who praife
fo warmly the paintings in the palace Far-
nefe, Should distinguish better the mechanic
part from the ideal. I have never feen them
without regretting, that fuch a hand to exe
cute Should haye been fo ill prompted. A
composition of this kind, though it be rich
in all the other powers of paint, if it has
neither beauty nor characters becoming the
fubjects, will be confidered by a judicious
obferver, rather as the furniture than orna
ment of a gallery,
A. To

154 Qf Composition. Dial. VII.
A. To reprefent a Juno without majefty,
or a Venus without beauty, is an infult
on our underftandings ; the peacock and
dove, are not the means of diftinction we
look for : The [a] Juno of Polycletus is
defcribed by Maximus Tyrius, with fnow
white arms, ivory Shoulders, beautiful eyes,
in royal robes, of a majeftic mien, and feat-
ed on a throne of gold.
B. The modern ftatuaries are fo wholly
void of character, that they are not to be
[a] Hga», oi'av Tlo^vxheflo; Apyetoti; cShJ-c, \ivxu>£yoy,
i%i§ui[<i<a%')(yy , cvuirty, tvetf/.oiia, (Suethtxny, iSpvpcyw mi
%pvo~ov 9go*ov. Differt. xiv.
The fame ftalue is celebrated by Martial in the follow
ing epigram: Juno, labor, Polyclete, tuus, et gloria felix,
Phidiacs cuperent quam meruiffe manus ;
Ore nitet tanto, quanto fuperaflet in Ida
Judice conviftas non dubitante Deas.
Junonem, Polyclete, fuam nifi frater amaret,
Junonem poterat frater amare tuam.
Lib. x. Epig. 89.
mentioned

Dial. VII. 0/ Composition. 155
mentioned on this fubject ; even our beft
painters are not fo accurate as we could wifh:
Domenichino, who excels in painting chil
dren, often gives them expreffions which
no ways become their age.
A. The truth was, he had but one ex
preffion to give them, which was that of
fear ; fo that, right or wrong, they muft
be frightened ; h'e might have learned from
Parrhafius, that an innocent fecurity was of
ten their trueft chara&eriftic ; pinxit pueros
duos, in quibus fpetlatur fecuritas, et atatis
fimplicitas, Plin  The Greek artifts, not
only excelled the moderns in the propriety
of their characters, they were fometimes fu
perior even to their own poets ; let us com
pare the Vulcan of Homer, with that of Al-
camenes ; the firft, at a banquet of the
gods, limps along, the buffoon of the com
pany ; " the fecond is praifed by Cicero,
« {*] for

156" Of Composition. Dial. VII.
" [b~\ for that his lamenefs was marked fo
" mildly, that it did. not difgrace him."
It muft be confeffed, that the ftatuary is by
far more decent than the poet.
We have thus far confidered character in
its calm expreffion of the manners ; let us
now trace it in its more turbulent effects,
the paffions : It is obferved by Tully, " [c~]
*' That every motion of the mind, has from
nature its peculiar countenance, [d] Do
' not you fee, fays Seneca, what vigor is
given to the eye by fortitude ? what
fteadinefs by wifdom ? what modefty,

<i

\b~\ Atheni6 laudamus Vulcanum eum quem fecit
Alcamenes, in quo ftante atque veftito, leniter apparet
claudicatio non deformis. De Nat. Deor. lib. i.
[r] Omnis enim motus animi fuum quendam a na-
tura habet vultum. De Oratore, lib. iii.
[d] An non vides quantum oculis det vigorem
fortitudo ? quantam intentionem prudentia ? quan-
tam rnodeftiam et quietem- revererrtia ? quantam fere.-
pitatem laetitia ? quantum rigorem feveritas? quan
tam remiffionem hilaritas ? Ep. cvi. " what

Dial. VII. 0/ Composition. 157
" what Stillnefs it puts on in the expreffion
" of an awful refpect ? how it is bright-
" ened by joy? how fixed by Severity,
*' how. relaxed by mirth ? " If fo much of
the ^nward habit of our minds is to be col
lected from this intelligence of the eyes, how
much more may be traced in the general
tenor of the countenance, in its agreement
with the agitations of the body, the; move
ments of the limbs, and all the various in
dications of action ? To catch thefe fymp
toms of our inward feelings, to give them
their juft meafure of expreffion, and render,
if I may fo exprefs myfelf, the foul vifible,
is the great end of dramatic painting.
B. I have often thought, on examining
the Laocoon by parts, that, had the foot
only been difcovered, the fwelled veins, the
Strained finews, and the irregular motion of
the mufcles, might have led us into a con
ception of thofe tortures, which are fo di
vinely

158 Of Composition. Dial. VII.
vinely expreffed in the face, fo wonderfully
marked throughout the whole body.
A. The ancients are no lefs remarkable
for their fpirit in conceiving the primary
idea, than for their patience in purfuing it
in all its confequences : The [e~] expreffion
in this Statue, is worked up to fuch a juft
extremity, there reigns through it fuch an
air of truth, that, as the leaft addition would
be extravagance, fo every diminution would
be a defect : We trace in it the labour of
years, we feel from it the impreffion of a
minute. The ftatuaries of Greece had no
other advantage over its painters, than that
they ufed more durable materials, bleffed
with equal genius, formed by the fame edu
cation, their arts went hand in hand to per
fection. If Praxiteles be celebrated by Di-
[e] Opus omnibus ct pi&ur« et Satuarice arris prss-
ferendum. Plin. odorus

Dial. VII. Of Com position. 159
odorus Siculus, [/] for having transfufed
into marble all the paffions of the foul ; the
fame power is attributed by Pliny to the
pencil of Ariftides ; it is not probable, that
men of tafte and letters, whilft they were
eye-witneffes of the divine character in the
Apollo ; of the beauty and tendernefs of the
Venus ; and the wonderful expreffion of the
Laocoon ; Should celebrate thofe very quali
ties in the works of their painters, were they
not eminently poffefled of them. Pliny, [g-]
[_/"] 'O xu[a.p.t%u$ axgus Toi{ At9mo»s tf yoij v« tijc >J/u«
XHi iaa9ti.
[g] Timanthi vel plurimum aiFait ingenii: Ejus
enim eft Iphigenia oratorum laudibus celebrata ; qua
ftante ad aras peritura, cum mceftos pinxiflet omnes,
prsecipue patruum, cum triftitiac omnem imaginem
confumfiffet, Patris ipfius vultum velavit, quem. digne
non poterat oftendere. Lib. xxxv. c. 10.
It has been imagined that Timanthes borrowed this
thought from the following paflage in Sophocles.
' '" Ji? S' icetotv AyafJt.cy.yay ayai,
Etti etyayas r&xovcray «s aAffo; xoprn,
Aycrtyu^c' xa'fvua'Kty f^n^as xapa,
Aaxpvu vrcwycy, oj/.j/.dlay tXiTrtot ro^ofl«f. in

160 Of Composition. Dial. VII.
in his defcription of that famous picture of
the Sacrifice of Iphigenia, by Timanthes,,
obferves, " that the painter having exhauft-
" ed every image of grief in the by-ftanders,
*' and above all in the uncle ; threw a veil
" over the face of the father, whofe forrow
«* he was unable to exprefs." If the ingeni
ous Timanthes has left us to conceive an
idea, which he could not execute, Ariftides,
on the other hand, has executed that which
is almoft above conception ; by him was
painted " [¥] a town taken by ftorm, in
*< which was feen an infant creeping to the
" breaft of its mother, who, though ex-
" piring from her wounds, yet expreffes an
" apprehenfion and fear leaft the courfe of
" her milk being ftopt, the child Should
* fuck her blood.'* What a perfect know-
[£] Hujus pi&ura eft, oppido capto, ad matris mo-
jientis e vulnere mammam adrepens infans : Intelligi-
turque fentire mater, et timere, ne emortuo lacle fan-
guinem infans-lambat. Plin. lib. xxxv. c. 10.
a ledge

Dial. Vlf. Of Co m p osit ion; i6r
ledge of the human foul muft this painter
have had, to enter thus feelingly into her
inmoft workings ! What a power, next to
creative, to make fuch tender movements
fenfible in the midft of tortures % and the
mother's fondnefs distinguishable through
the agonies of death ? This picture, it is
probable, gave occafion to the following
epigram [*']. 
Suck, little wretch, whilfl yet thy mother lives±
: .- Suck the laft drop her fainting bofom gives.
She dies ; her' tendernefs outlafils her breath,
And her fond love is provident in death.
The Philoctetes of Parrhafius is a fine image!
of hopelefs wretchednefs, of confuming grief.
The picture itfelf is happily defcribed by the
[»'] "EtoM, rukuy, nsapa fmlgoj %y ovx sit puSpt «f«?ifft?»
'ihxv <Jos vrattoy tafia xo)a(59iftsn;?.
*>?ito« xat eiv aiSui GtatSoKofAtty cpaQor.
Anthol. lib. iii.
M epigram-

i6z Of Com p osition. Dial. VII.
epigrammatift, and the compliment to the
painter, has the elegance and fimplicity pe
culiar to the Greeks [k].
Drawn by Parrhafius, as in per f on view'd,
Sad Phihtletes feels his pains renew' d.
In his parch' d eyes the deep-funk tears exprefs >
His endlefs mifery, his dire dijlrefs.
We blame thee, painter, tho' thy art commend ;
*Twas time his fufferings with himfelf Jhottld end.
We cannot well conceive an image more
tender, or more affecting than this. Let
terror be united with pity, the mufe of
painting has completed her drama. Of this*.
the Ajax and Medea of Timomachus are
\ky Kutl to» atto Tfuppws $„, wofciwoW „*{»
TovJe GiWMijir eypalps Tlaftwio;.
. E» Te yx( 9p6a\ftoit icxTtwvxn xutpw tiWoisn
&u*pv, xat i tpv%u alof mrt <sro»a{.
Zaoy^utpm, a tyn, <ro pet <rapof, at>/\' aya71a.vaa.tt
AxSe* luotwy nSr, to, «tityw;g9«, tSu.
Authol. lib. ir.
beautiful

Dial. VII. Of Comp osItio n. 163
beautiful examples ; they are but juft men
tioned by Ovid in the following lines [/J :
Here Aj ax fits with fullen rage opprefs'd;
And in Medea's eyes her crime's confefd.
Philoftratus is more particular as to the for
mer : [*»] We cantiot (fays he) do juftice to
the Ajax of Timomachus, whom he repre-
fents diftracted, unleSs we previously form
in our minds the image of his condition y
and how natural it was, after the follies he.
had committed, that he fhould fit down,
overwhelmed with Shame, entering on the
refolution to deftroy himfelf. This obfer-
[/] Utque fedet vultu faflus Telamonius iram ;
Inque oculis facinus Barbara rriater fiabet.
Lib. ii. Trift.
[»] OwJ* ay To» Atayla Ti{ to» Tiftofiupffxi uyua^ctc,
i< Sri ayaytygawlat avla f*s/»ij»w,-, si ft.it atahaZat Ti; e;
rot youy Ataylof ttSahoy, xat at fixo; av%y amxlovola t<* it
T)j Tpata, ffovxollfu, xa6r)o-9at altupviKola, @ov\i)y tsotouuiitot
xat Jewju Klmui. Lib. ii. de vha Apollonii, c. 10.
M 2 vatior*

164. Of Composition. Dial. VlL
vation of the historian, will ferve .us as a
comment on the epigrammatift [»].
Here art with nature holds a doubtful Jlrife,
And fummons Ay ax to a fecond Ufe ;
We fee thee raging, and in every line
The painter's fury rifes ftill with thine :
Thy looks the anguifh of thy foul difclofe,
And the mix'd tear is charged with all thy woes.
The Medea was a fubject of emulation to
the wits of Greece ; each contending to do
juftice to thofe inimitable expreffions, which
they thus defcribe [o\ t
Medea, painter', now provokes thyfkill,
Hop'fii thou to piclure a divided will?
f»] Away Ttptopax'0 ***E°» 1 tad\goi' i^iraffc nx*x
T«r (pvatv. . "O ypa^/a( etSc at fi.aty%ff.cyoy,
Kai avKr\vacr$i\ yj-tp aycpt' Kat fa xspura
Aaxpva Tou; /\vmt •crailaf tfu |e roonou?. Anthol. lib. iv.
[o] Tan lt\oay MnSttat or cyoajpc Ti(*ofu»^oy xui*
Z«?i«, xat tw»oi; aflifM&EtaofMMw"

•Di-al.VIL Of Compos it i on. 165
'Tts done : Behold, united by his art
The lovers frenzy, and the mother's heart ;
Mark how the ftrugglings of her foul appear ;
Here fury flajhesi and there melts a tear.
'Twas well, her purpofe only you exprefs 'd,
' Who but Medea could fupport the reft ?
The fame is touch'd again with great fpirit
in the following epigram \_p~\ :
What ventrous hand the curs' d Medea drew ?
And brought the parricide once more in view t
MfgioJ ajalo fto^ftoii IV i$cu Staau %ǣǣ )),
flu To fkcy ei; opyuv ycos, To S ei; c7\ioy.
Afityao citTttipaatt, op* tuttoh" ct yap airct/\a,
Aaxpvov, eii S' eXeu, Stifioi ayar^cfUat.
Agxtt S d.y fAETiTiq^"!;, ctpa aoCpo;. aifia Sc rcxytit
'Eirpciri Mrihtri, x ov %cet Tiftofta%oo. Anthol. lib. iv.
\f\ Ti; (rov, KoX^jk a6si7ftE, avtiypatyct tiaoni &ap.oy ;
Ti; xat ti stSaTvj QapZuppy ttpyuau\o ; .
AlEI yap Svfyus (igilpcay (pom' n T»; lt)a»»
AeuIejo;, d T/\uvxti T15 iaat\t ant inpptyaat% ;
"S.PPC, xat ct xqpa matSoxloyi' erat ya£ uftclgat
Zrthm, ei; a SeAej;, xai ygapi; atobuvtlat.
Anthol. lib. iv. ¦¦
M 3 Art

i6£ Of Composition. Dial. VIL
Art thou by flighted love provoi'd again
In thy child's blood thy impious hands tojlain?
Off murdrefs I ev'n in paint thy crimes we fear ;
And all the horrors of thy foul are here.
B. It muft be confeffed, that if thefe ar
tifts were happy in their power to pleafe,
they were no lefs f6, in having fuch feeling
critics, fo capable of tranfmitting their me
rit to posterity. We too have our Share in
thishappinefsj thefe defcriptions are fo juft,.
fo lively, fo distinguishing, that we may look
upon them as copies of thofe divine ori
ginals. The moderns have not this advan
tage ; all ideas of their works will vanifh
with their colours. When Arioftp cele
brates Michael Angelo in the following
line, *' E Michael, piu che mortal, Angel divino.'*
this praife is exceffive, not decisive ; it car-
lies no idea,
A. The

DrAL.VII. Of Composition. 167
A. The reafon is obvious, the artift did
not furnifh the poet with any. Had the
painters of Italy produced fuch expreffions
as thofe of the Ajax and Medea, the wits
of that country, would not have been want
ing in doing them juftice. I may, perhaps,
appear too general, when I include even
Raphael in this obfervation ; but if you re
flect, you will find, that his expreffions are
more addreffed to the understanding than
the paffions : They are more to be admir
ed for their variety than force ; they have
little, either of the pathetic or fublime ; and
the images which they leave in the mind,
Slip from it, almoft as haftily, as the picture
from the eye. It is not fo with the paint
ings of Timomachus and Ariftides; the
impreffionswe receive from them Strike full
upon the foul ; they dilate it, like the burfts
in the mufick of Boranello ; they agitate,
they rouze-it, like the fymphonies of Yeo-
M 4 fflelli

1 68 0/ C o m p o s i t i o n. Dial. VII?
melli ; Such expreffions, (as was obferved
of the eloquence of Pericles) leave Stings
behind them. The fuperiority which I
have here attributed to the ancients, in the*
comparifon of their excellencies with thofe
of Raphael, is no way injurious to the lat
ter ; it is but placing his merit in a juft
point of view. The epithets of great and
divine, fo constantly beftowed upon him,
carry with them every circumstance of per
fection : We may be, and are often led by
thefe into wrong judgments : Let us, if
you pleafe, examine his principal works :
we have already taken notice of his conduct
in the transfiguration, and of his preference
of the humbler to the more exalted fubject ;
in this he did but obey the true biafs of his
genius : The difciples, in the abfence of their
mafter, had attempted to difpoffefs a de
moniac -, they failed in their attempt : The
painter feizes this moment to exprefs their
i furprife

Dial.VIL. Of C o m p o s i t i o n. 1&9
furprize and concern at their difappoint-
ment: Their fentiments on the occafion,
are finely varied: and happily adapted to
their different characters. The beauties of'
this picture are to be felt, not defcribed ; but
yet they are beauties of an inferior order [q].
They fatisfy the understanding, but they do
not touch the heart.
B. As to your criticifm on the transfigu
ration of Chrift, you muft confider, that to
Have given it its full effect, the fplendors of
the Clear obfcure, muft have co-operated
with the fublime in the idea : For this rea
fon, it is probable, Raphael did not care to
engage himfelf too far in fuch a fubject.
Had he conceived, that he was unequal tq.
the fublime, he never would have attempt
ed the hiftory of the creation.
[a] In affeftibus fere plus calor, quam diligentia,
valet. Quint.
A. A

iyo Of Compos iti on. Dial. VII.
A. A subject great in conception,.
may become little in the execution. God
the Creator, prefiding in the center of the
»niverfe4 and ordering by his mighty fiat,
the fun and moon to break into existence,
is a fubject truly fublime : But, when this
is reprefented, [r] by the figure of a man,
fufpended in the air, with one hand on the
fun, and the other on the moon, that, which
was noble to the imagination, js trifling to
the eye. The immenfity of our idea Shrinks
{r} The littlenefs of this idea will beft appear, by
comparing it with fuch as are truly great,
— — Ride forth, and bid the deep,
Within appointed bounds be biaven and earth.
And in immediate confequence,
Firfl in his eafi the glorious lamp nvasfcen,
Regent of day. Par. Loft.
Such a fubjedT: as thb will not admit of a mechanick
image ; we have a proof of this, when the fame poet
anhappily puts a compafs into the hands of theAK
jaighty Agent. to

Dial. VII. 0/ Com posit ion. 17*
to nothing, reduced to a world of a few
inches. The fubject, therefore, was inju
diciously chofen, and poorly treated. In the
fame manner, when we reflect on that act,
when God commanded the animals of the
earth, to fpring from duft into life, we are
filled with the higheft conception of his
power ; but, when we fee, in the midft of
numberlefs beafts, an old man, with eyes of
diminished luftre, a wrinkled forehead, a long
beard, and his" robe hanging to the ground,
we niay acknowledge the venerable Merlin,
but we have no lines of our Creator. Such
fymptoms of caducity do not fuit with the
divine nature ; if he is to be reprefented, it
muft be, by a fublime idea, a character of
majefty more than human; fuch as was
imagined by Hotner, and executed " by
Phidias.
2. Plutarch

jyi Of Composition. Dial. VIX-
B. [s] Plutarch fuppofes fuch an idea
in the Alexander of Apelles, perfonating
Jupiter the Thunderer ; which, according
to this writer, was painted with fuch energy
and truth, that it " gave occafion to a
" faying, that there were two Alexanders,
** the one of Philip, invineible ; the other
" of Apelles, inimitable." We learn from
the fame author, that Lyfippus was no lefs
ingenious than fublime, when he drew from
a flight inclination of the neck, which was
natural to Alexander, the hint of a great,
expreffion ; reprefenting him looking up
to heaven, with that manly boldnefs, that
commanding majefty, which are thus hap,
pily marked by the epigrammatist [/].
pj Eyfatl* Ton' xipuvyopogiy oo'tu; E»agya; xai xcx'pu-
fcEvw;, art Jayitv, 0T1 Svoty AtKc^aySpay, o ficy QtCKifrffov
ycyostt attxvlo;, i Sc AitctWov uftifA,*\oc,. De Fort, vel
Virt. M.Alex, p. 335. Ed. Paris.
¦ ¦, W AvSaaovylt ^' eoikeii 0 x^xcof ei; Ata Ttevaaay'
ray uir tft.ot TiQfftaij Ztv, av S' titWfWiw sjje.
Let

Di al. VIL Of Composition, 173
Let us divide, O Jove ! the conqueror cries ;
I lord of earth, thou, tyrant of thefkies.
A. We muft not expect fuch expreffions
as thefe from the pencil of Raphael ; would
you fee him in his true character, obferve
where the angel turns our firft parents out
of paradife ; it is plain, that he acts in obe
dience to a command ; he lays his finger
gently on the Shoulder of Adam, and marks,
by a certain tendernefs of action, a compaf-
fion of their paft weaknefs, and prefent mi-
fery. It is in tracing thefe flight and lefs
obvious movements of the mihd, that this
amiable painter Shows the true beauty of
his genius ; more excellent, perhaps, in ex-
preffing fuch feelings, in that he was not
transported by the more violent. I have
now brought you into the gallery of die
Vatican ; we muft enter the apartments ;
though 'we have little to do there ; for, of
all

174 Of Composition. Dial. Vlf.
all the works of Raphael, thefe the moft ce
lebrated for the painting, are the leaft to be
noted for expreffion. An affembly of Chri-
ftian doctors, or of Heathen philofophers,
are fubjects of no motion. Heliodorus.
driven by angels out of the temple, pro
mises expreffion; but his terror is a grimace.
When the angel vifits St. Peter in prifon,
we might reafonably expect, in the counte
nance and action of the faint, fome kind of
emotion ; how do we find him ? faft afleep ;
could Giotto have done lefs ? In the action
of Attila, indeed, there is fomewhat of dig
nity and fpirit ; but it would diftrefs the
moft Sanguine admirers of Raphael, to pro-
duce,from this feries of painting, fuch exam
ples of the pathetic or fublime, as might
entitle him to be ranked with the firft painty
ers of antiquity. B. I SHALL

Dial. VII. Of Composition. 175
B. I shaei. excufe your entering on a
particular examination of the hiftory of
Pfyche, or the banquet of the gods ; per
fuaded, that you would find the paintings
at the palace Chigi, as destitute of the ex-:
preffions you look for, as you have already
found thofe of the Vatican. Yet we muft
acknowledge an uncommon energy and fpi
rit in the flight of Mercury ; and it has
been obferved, that the painter has, with
wonderful art, given to Pluto, Neptune, and
Jupiter, diftindt characters, yet preferved in
all a brotherly likenef$.
A. It would have done more honour t<i
his art, had he expreffed in any one of them
a great idea ; the conceptions of Euphranor
were very different on a like occafion ; \u\
[a] Qui cum Athenis duodecim Deos pingeret,
Neptuni imaginem quam potcrat exct-Hentiffimis ma-
ieftatis coloribus tomplexus eft, perinde ac Jovis ali-
1 who,

iy6 Of Composition. Dial. Vlf.
" who, being employed at Athens, to paint
" the twelve gods ; expreffed in Neptune
" the higheft idea of majefty, with a defigii
" to make the Jupiter ftill more noble ;
" but having exhausted, the force of his
" imagination in the former character, he
" could not rife in the latter to the point
" which he ambitioned." It will be eafily
allowed, that the failure of Euphranor, was
more glorious, than the fuccefs of Raphael a
The firft, hurried away by the impetuofity
of his genius, aims at a flight beyond the
reach of humanity : The fecond, fecure in
the mildnefs of his fpirit, hovers within the
circle of his calm conceptions. [#] We
may, according to Plutarch, be pleafed by.
quanto auguftiorem reprafentaturus ; fed omni im-
petu cogitationis in fuperiore opere abfumpto, pofte-
riores ejus conatus aflurgere quo tendebant, nequi-
verant. Val. Max. lib. viii. c. 1 1 .
[x] To jj.it yag aepaXtf aratyctlat pemij to Sc iotxii-
Sviot xat 6av<t,x (flat. • Plut. de educat , liberorum. the

Dial. Vll. Of Co mp o s i tio n. 177
the one, but the other excites our wonder
and admiration,—
B. Since we have had fo little fatis-
faction, in the point of expreffion, from the
paintings at the Vatican, and the palace
Chigi, let us examine the defigns, or, as they
commonly are called, the cartons of Ra
phael. — For, whatever Share his fcholars
may have had in the execution, we can
have no doubt, but that the compofitio'ns
were taken wholly from his drawings.
A. If the errors in drawing, and inequa
lities in the feveral parts, mark, beyond a
doubtj the pencil of the fcholars ; the vari
ety and truth of the expreffions, prove, with
equal force, both the hand and genius of the
mafter. Let us trace the latter in Christ's
charge to Peter ; the keys are. no fooner
delivered, or. the preference given,, than we
N perceive

178 Of Composition. Dial. VII.
perceive the different effects manifeft in the
countenance and geftures of the feveral dif-
ciples : The two foremoft approve the ac
tion ; the one, with the calmnefs of age and
judgment^ the other, with the eagernefs of
youth and paffion. Of the two, which fol
low, the one has his eyes fixed earneftly
on the face of Chrift : The fecond, feems
fufpended between felf-love and the juftice
of the choice. The remaining fix are di
vided into two groupes ; in the former of
which, the foremoft figure, of a bilious
and meager temperament, looks haftily for
the agreement of the next to him ; who, of
a quite different complexion, feems loft in
a Simple and implicit admiration : Whilft
the third, piqued at their approbation,
marks by an impatience in his looks, and
a reftlefsnefs of action, how ill fatisfied he
is with the preference given to Peter. The
laft groupe confifts, like the former, of three
figures ;

Dial. VII. 0/ Composition. 179
figures ; the hindmoft is, by a concealment
of his countenance and action, withdrawn,
as it were, from thefcene. This gives a kind
of repofe to the imagination, and adds a fpi
rit to the expreffions in the other two ; of
whom, one, under a knit brow and forc
ed compofure, fwells with a fullen difcon-
tent; but the other, of a more active and
fiery nature, breaks out into an open and un-
governed expreffion of envy. Upon the
whole, if we confider the fimplicity of the
fubject, the variety and judicious contrasts
in the characters, the juftnefs and delicacy
in the expeSfions, we muft confefs, that,
however unequal Raphael may be to the en-
thufiafm and pathetic of the antique, he is
an abfolute mafter of the fubordinate affec
tions ; and admirable, in tracing through
middle life, the various and fubtile workings
of character. It would take up too much
of our time, to go through the feveral in-
N 2 Stances

1 80 Of C o m p o s i T i o n. Dial. VII, <
Stances of the fagacity and conduct of this
painter; yet one is fo fingular in its kind,
that I cannot pafs it in filence. When the
inhabitants of Lyftra are about to Offer fa-
crifice to Paul and Barnabas,, it was necef-
fary to let us into the caufe of all the motion
and hurry before us ; accordingly, the crip
ple, whom they had miraculoufly healed,
appears in the crowd : Obferve the means
which the painter has ufed, to distinguish
this object, and, of courfe, to open the fub
ject of his piece. --His crutches, now ufe-
lefs, are thrown to the ground ; his attitude
is that of one accuftomed to fuch a fupport,
and ftill doubtful of his limbs ; the eager
nefs, the impetuofity with which he folicits
his benefactors, to accept the honours def-
tined for them, point out his gratitude, and
the occafion of it : During the time that he
is thus bufied, an elderly citizen, of fome
confequence by his appearance, draws near, and

Dial. VII. 0/ Co mpo sit ion. 181
and lifting up the corner of his veft, Surveys
with aftoniShment the limb newly reftored -,
whilft a man of middle age, and a youth,
looking over the Shoulder of the cripple, are
intent on the fame object. The wit of
man could not devife means more certain of
. the end propofed ; fuch a chain of circum
stances is equal to a narration : And, I can
not but think, that the whole would have
been an example of invention and conduct,
even in the happieft age of antiquity.
B. You have at length done juftice to our
great modern ; and, it Should feem to me,
from the light you have thrown on this fub
ject, that the true difference between the an
cients and him, cOnfifts in this, that the
former drew the paffions to a point, collect
ing the powers of painting to one Single and
forcible expreffion ; whilft the genius of
Raphael, more placid and diffufed, illu-
N 3 mines

182 Of Composition. Dial. VII.
mines and is reflected _by numberlefs ob
jects. A. We may add to your obfervation ano
ther reafon why the paintings of the ancients
had greater effect than thofe of the moderns ;
they poffeffed more parts : Let me explain
myfelf. In order to have a juft idea of the
different parts of painting, we are obliged
to ftudy different mafiers ; for colouring,
Titian ; for the clear obfcure, Correggio ;
for defign and compofition, Raphael : It
will not be denied, that, had the laft of
thefe, united to his own the excellencies of
the other two, his works, would have had
mote the air- of truth ; and (which is the end
of all imitative arts) ftood more naturally
in the place of the things which they repre-
fent : It is this nearnefs to truth, or excel
lency in the. mechanic, which impofes on
our fenfes, and gives its powers to the ideal :
Now,

Dial. VII. O/Composition. 183
Now, I am inclined to believe, that the
firft painters of Greece were no lefs perfect
in the one than in the other. I think we
have proved this in Apelles and Parrhafius :
Let- us therefore fuppofe the merits of Ti
tian, Correggio, and Raphael, united to the
grace, beauty, and fublime of the antique,
we Shall then have an idea of confummate
painting ; and our imagination may bring
before us, the Helen of Zeuxis, the Alex
ander of Apelles, and the Medea of Timo-
machus. B. I have heard it maintained by profef-
fors in the art, that it was impoffible that any
one perfon Should excel in all the feveral
branches of painting: affirming, that it was
above the condition of humanity ; and, that
the time and labour beftowed on fome, muft
always be at the ex pence and to the diminu
tion of the others.
N4 A. This

1 84 Of Com p os iti on. Dial. VIL
A. This recalls to my mind an image,
I have fomewhere met with, of a man,
whb, lying under a covering that is too .
Short, no fooner fecures his bread, but he
muft bare his feet ; and this will be the event
in both cafes, where the genius or covering
is fcanty . But it will not be fo, in men of
quick and great abilities. I think we may
prove this from the progrefs of Raphael.
He no fooner faw the cartons of Michael
Atigelo, and Leonardo da Vinci, than he
dropped, in a great meafure, the drynefs of
his mafter Perrugino; and blending the
boldnefs of the firft, with his own delicacy,
ftruck out a ftyle of defign more perfect than
his model : In the fame manner, and at the
fame time, his colouring was much improv
ed by his imitation of Fran. Bartolomeo ;
his compofition, by the ideas he caught
from Maffaccio ; and the clear obfcure of
the

Dial. VII. Of C o m p ositi o n. 185
the Florentine fchool, fuch as it was, he
made his own. The misfortune of Rapha
el was, nor. that his genius was weak, but,
that his examples were imperfect : The eafe
with which he furpaffed thefe, Shews, that
he was equal to greater : Had he feen the
tender carnation in the Venus of Titian ;
the enchantment of clear obfcure in the na
tivity of Correggio ; his ready and compre
hend* ve fpirit would foon have united them
to his own defign and composition : Of the
laft, he was in a great meafure the inventor;
it is no wonder then, as he died very young,
that the beft part of his life was employed
in the improvement of them. But this was
not the cafe with the greateft painters of an
tiquity : Apelles had all the advantages,
which Raphael wanted ; inftead of Per-
rugino, he had a Pamphilus to his ma
fter ; he had excellent examples in
each part of painting. In defign, Phidias and

iS6 Qf the Clear obscure. Dial. -VI.
and Polycletus ; in colouring and the
clear obfcure, Zeuxis and Parrhafius ;
in compofition, [z] the happy ideas of
the laft, joined to the ingenuity of Timan
thes : And, as incitements to his ambition,
the friendship of Alexander, the emulation
of Protogenes, the examples and counfels of
Praxiteles and Lyfippus.
B. Whatever might have been the re
fult of thefe advantages ; how excellent fo
ever Apelles and his cotemporaries, in giv
ing the utmoft beauty and energy to a fingle
idea ; you will allow, that, in mixed and
varied compofitions, Raphael is much their
fuperior ; a merit, which in the eyes of ma
ny critics, will counterbalance the fublime
and pathetic of the ancients.
A. I have admitted, that it was much
the tafte of the Greek painters, to reft the
merit of their compofitions on a fingle cha-
[z] Ta Ylappaata aotptafiaxa. racter

Dial. -VII. 0/ Composition,, 187
racter or expreffion. That they judged well
in this, the agreement of all the writers of
antiquity, in giving the preference to thefe
works, fufficiently proves. No doubt, the
nobleft end of painting, is, by a fudden and
powerful impreffion, to ftrike home on the
paffions : This will never be effected, in
painting, by drawing the imagination
through links of fucceffive ideas. The chil
dren of Medea, we are told, were represent
ed fmiling at the dagger in their mother's
hand ; her fury, mixed with a pity of their
innocence, has been fully defcribed : Would
you extend compofition beyond this, you
rather weaken than improve it; Is it to be
imagined, that a painter, capable of fuch
expreffions as thefe, could not have marked
the fubordinate emotions in a number of af-
fiftants ? We have already taken notice,
in the Iphigenia of Timanthes, of the Cli
max in the expreffions ; and of his lingu lar

i88 Qf Composition. Dial. VII.
lar ingenuity, in diftinguifhing his principal
character; can we fuppofe this artift un
equal to trace the gradations of envy in
Chrift's charge to Peter, or the different ef
fects of Paul's fermon at Athens ?
B. I must interrupt you a moment ; you
have affirmed, that in the pathetic, painting
has little advantage from a climax in the
ideas ; yet, poetry and mufick move the
paffions, by a quick and growing fucceffion
of impreffions ; the images of the one,
and vibrations of the other, gentle at firft,
accumulate, and prefs upon us, with fuch
an impetuous re-iteration, as bears all be
fore it.
A. This progrefs is juft inverted in paint
ing ; the whole production is at once before
us ; our attention is immediately fixed on
the moft interesting expreffion ; when we
have

Dial. VII. Of Co m pos iti on. 189
have ftudied, and felt the powers- of this,
we then, and not till then, defcend to the
examination of the inferior movements:
Thus, when we enter into an affembly of
women, Should there be one amongft them
of distinguished beauty, the eye dwells with
conftancy on her ; and having taken in all
her advantages, paffes to a carelefs obferva
tion of the reft. It is evident, in both thefe
cafes, that the fuperior character acts with 1
an intrinfick, and not a relative force.
B. But we may fuppofe a fubject, in
which there may be many capital expref
fions ; for example, the Slaughter of the
innocents. A. In this cafe, Some one more happy
would overbear the reft ; or, Should they be
more juftly dealt with, the equality of their
pretenfions, would weaken their feveral ef
fects:

190 Of Co m p os iti on. Dial. VII.
fects : At belt, the time neceffary to com
bine all the ideas and feelings peculiar to
each, would deftroy any effect, which might
be hoped for, from the fucceffion of their
impreffions; fo that, each could act but as
a feparate picture ; and this is the reafon,
why painting can never tranfport the ima
gination, or Stimulate the fenfe, fo power
fully as poetry or mufick : [a] For, though
f«] When Venus appears to her fon on the coaft of
Africk, beauty of perfon, grace of aclion, tendernefs of
expreffion, with all the aids of drefs, attributes, and
diflinftion of clear obfcure, are by the painter urged
in the fame inftant on the imagination. In poetry,
thefe ideas are fucceffive, and (which proves the ad
vantage of painting) the more quickly they fucceed,
the more perfeft is the defcription; I may add to this,
that grace and beauty, ftrike more warmly on the
fenfe, in their actual appearance, than by any images
formed of them by words ; fo that, by as much as the
real appearance would be fuperior to paint, by fo
much is paint in this particular fuperior to poetry.
But the poet has ample amends ; he can renew and
vary thofe impreffions at will j he can lengthen out it

Dial. VII. O/Composition. 191
it has greatly the advantage of either in the
impreffion.of the inftant, as.it unites more
circumstances in that one point of time ; yet
it falls Short of both, in the quicknefs and
power of repeating its ideas.
his action by a chain of the moft interefting circum-
ftances : He can do more ; he can call all the fenfes
to his aid, and improve his pictures of beauty, by a
voice tuned to a heavenly fweetnefs, or air breathing
a divine fragrance. Dryden has marked the advan-
vantage of this coalition of the fenfes.—
The hearing gave new pleafure to the fight,
And both to thought. 
Milton has infinuated the fame in the following words,
addreffed by Adam to the angel, and, in the fweetnefs
of his numbers, ftill breathes on our ears the angelic
accents. 
For, 'while I fit with tbee, 1 feem in beaifn,
Andfweeter thy difcourfe is to my ear
Than fruits of palm-tree, pleafanteji to thirft
And hunger both.
As to the fecond advantage I mentioned, every reader
feels, how much the following idea adds to the beauty,.
and afcertains the divinity of Venus.
' B. But

192 Of Composition. Dial. Vll»
B. But, does not the very inftance you
have given, in the Iphigenia of Timanthes,
Shew the advantage of a gradation in the
expreffions ; and of courfe, contradict ail
that you have pppofed to it ?—
A. Had the paffion of grief been actually
expreffed in the countenance of Agamem
non, the cafe would have been precifely as
I Stated it juft now : But his face being hid,
and his feelings left wholly to our imagina^
tion, our attention fixes firft on thofe ex
preffions, which are the objects of fenfe, and
rifes from the real to a conception of the
: 1
" Ambrofitsqtte comts divinum 'vertice odorem
" Spira'vere.
The fame effeft is fenfible in Milton's defcription of
the angel Raphael, alighting on the earth.
* ¦¦ •Like Maid's fon he flood ;
Andjhook his plumes, that heavenly fragrance filled
The circuit wide,
<2 ima-

Dial. VII. Of Com p os-it i on. 193
imaginary. Now this, you fee, is not a
matter of expreffion, but a Stroke of inge
nuity ; which, as well sis all the deli
cate, and lefs obfervable motions of the-
mind, are often found to owe their evidence
afnd force to their affociate ideas. Thiis, tho*
in addreffes to the' paffions, the ancients, in*
tfent on giving the utrrioft force to the pri
mary idea, made ufe of but few aceeffories ;
they obferved a quite different method, when
the addrefs was to the imagination. What
fpirit ? what variety ? what a fund of in
vention, irt the marriage of Alexander and
ROxana, as painted by Aetiori, and defcrib
ed by Lucian ? The playful and wanton
compofitions of Albani, are but rofes pulled
ftdnv this tree. We find in the farfie au
thor, the defcriptk>a of the Centaur of
Zeuxis : How excellent in the mechanic ?
what novelty, what boldnefs in the ideal ?
Let fuch traits of genius be the character-
O iftic

194 (^.Composition. Dial. Vlfc
iftic of the antique ; I Shall not difpute with
thofe, who admire the picturefque difpofU-
tion, the- multiplied characters, and labour
ed compofitions of the moderns.
B. I find, thefe laft have in you but a
falfe friend ; you joined their party juft now,;
in the praife you gave to Raphael, only to
t;urn upon them with more violence, when
the occafion offered—
A. I am a fincere admirer of the fagaci-
ty and refpurces of Raphael ; but lam more
moved by one great expreffion, than by fe-v
vera! minute ones. There is generally, in,
thefe laft, fomething equivocal and unde
cisive j they are often made out more, by,
the imagination of the beholders, than by
the pencil of che painter : To fome, they.
convey imperfect ideas-, to pthers, diffe
rent. I hardly have known any two agree in

"Dial. VII. 'Of C o m*p b s i t i o n. 1-^5
in the fentiments which they imputed to the:
feveral auditors Of St. Paul, I attempted
juft now a hiftory of the feelings of the dif-
ciples, on the preference given to Peter ;
fome are obvious ; but it is poffible you
hiay differ from nie in many others. At
beft, they muft be ftudied to be underftood ;
this weakens and fubdivides the effect : It
is not fo in the pathetic, or fublime. In
the dying mother of Arid ides, the Medea
of Timomachus, the Alexander of Apelles,
the ideas are manifest'; the.expretlibns de-
cifive; and, we can no more confound,
than we can forget, the effects which they
produce ¦ ¦ - v
B. But, granting that the chief merit of
the arts Should, as you fay, corifift in great :
or forcible expreffions, are not instances of j
thefe to be found in modern painting ?
O 2 A. Had

icjo" Of C 6 m p o $ i t row. Dial. VH.
A- Hah I known of; any comparable to
thofe, which I have quoted from the an
tique, they. Should certainly ha^e had the
preference ; for whatever, might have given
occafion to thefe difcourfes, my defign waSy
much more, to fettle our ideas of the art,
than the pretenfions of the artifts.
B. Ma? it not be objected, that thefe ad
vantages, which you have fuppofed on the
fide of the ancients, might have exifted
more in the defcriptions, than in the works
themfelves ?
A. When any work can be produced of
modern art, equal, in the fublime, to the
Apollo; in expreffion, to the Laocoon;
in grace and beauty, to thp daughter of Ni- ..
obe ; I Shall allow 'the force of this objec
tion. With regard to thefe, as I have al-
2 ready

Dl'ftL. VII. 0/"COMPOS1TION. I97
ready obferved, the caufe of painting and
ftatuary is the fame.1 As to compofition,
the grand point is expreffion $ colouring
and the clear obfcure are proper to .paint j
how far the ancients excelled in thefe, ex
clusive of all «ther proofs, might be pre-
fumed from their fuperior genius, and inde
fatigable application. And now, I hope
you have received, from this inquiry, the
fatisfaction I promifed you at our firft fet
ting out. Our purfuit has not beein altoge
ther technical ; a fine idea, Whether it be
Conveyed in colours or words, tends equally
to improve and enlighten the imagination -,
and, you cannot but have obferved all
along, a conftant and pleafing refemblance^
in the conceptions of the Greek artifts, to
thofe Of their poets. The fame ftyle of great
nefs, the fame ftrokes of tendernefs, the
Same vein of elegance and Simplicity Shine
through and beautify their works.
B. This

ig8 Of C OM PO.S-1 T ION. Dial. ¥H.
B. This may well be expected from the
known analogy in the operations and. powers
of the two arts : Hence it is, that we can
with juftnefs transfer, from one to the other
the terms proper to each ; and, as poetry
is often but the colouring of words^ So
painting may be ftyled the eloquence of
colours.. A. The lively and natural effects of paint
ing, are in nothing more, fenfible, than in
the delight the poets take, in. borrowing
their images and .metaphors from her.
Hence they learn to, groupe and arrange
their objects ¦, to Shade and illumine their
figures; to draw the outlines of grace; to
lay on the tints of beauty ; and all the car
louring of words brigjitens as from the'
touches of the pencil. This correfpoa-
-dence prevails, not only in what relates, to
defcription,

DfAL.VII. Of Composition.'^ 199
defcription, but even in the very effentials
pf each art. Was I to obferve, that there
wete grace and beauty in the perfons ; juft-i
nefs in the Sentiments; warmth and fpirit
in the paffions ; I at once defcribe a good
poem, or a good picture. As it is the-
character of fine writing, fo it is of excel
lent painting, that the thoughts Should
be natural, not obvious ; elegant, not re
mote. \h\ A Greek artift, having painted
a naval engagement on the river Nile, it
was heceffary to mark the fcene of action ;
to this end, he represented an afs feeding
on its bank, beneath which was couched ;
a crocodile, ready to fpring upon his prey.
A modern would have planted at one end
a river god, with water iffuing from feven
urns ; and this1, with no fmall conceit of his
erudition. The fameTfimplicity and happi-
nefs Pf invention are attributed in gene-
\h\ Nealces, ingeniofus et folers in arte. - Plin. lib.
xxxv. c. 1 z. raj

200 Of Com position. Dial. VII.
ral to the paintings of Timanthes ; in one
of which, he reprt-efented, in a little picture,
a cyclops Sleeping, and, to give an extra
ordinary idea of his fi2«V near him were
drawn fome fatyrs, meafuriiig his finger
with a thyrfus. On which occafion, Plinjr
makes this remark, *' \c\ In all his works'
" there is more understood than expreffed ;
•* and though his execution be mafterly,
'* yet his ideas exceed it." This is, in So-
many wordSfc a defcription of the poetry of
Virgil. A circumftance, extretoely favour
able to the Greek artifts, that the praifes
due Eft that divine poet, Should be no lefs
applicable to this excellent painter.
[c] In omnibus ejus operibus intelligitur plus femper
quam pingittir j et cum ars famma fit,' ingenium tamen;
ultra artem eft. Lib. xxxv. c. 10.
F IN I S.
 ;.•>-..' . ft ¦ i'1 —  i , ¦  ,.
ERRATA.
Pigs 46. In note [1] for hoe peftoray rtatf hoc psaore,
Page 56. tele i.far charafterlck, read charaQerifli^k.
Page 14 j. line 13, fir Araftus, nad Arawi.

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