I must inform you, however, that old pictures, deservedly celebrated for their colouring, are often so changed by dirt and varnish, that we ought not to wonder if they do not appear equal to their reputation in the eyes of unexperienced painters, or young Students. An artist whose judgment is matured by long observation, considers rather what the picture once was, than what it is at present. He has by habit acquired a power of seeing the brilliancy of tints through the cloud by which it is obscured. An exact imitation, therefore, of those pictures, is likely to fill the student's mind with false opinions; and to send him back a colourist of his own formation, with ideas equally remote from Nature and from Art, from the genuine practice of the masters, and the real appearances of things.*

Following these rules, and using these precautions, when you have clearly and distinctly learned, in what good colouring consists, you cannot do better than have recourse to Nature herself, who is always at hand, and in comparison of whose true splendour the best coloured pictures are but faint and feeble."

This passage has given sanction to a long course of destruction, carried on with the most impudent assurance. A numerous class of men have risen up in this country, and indeed in all countries where the pictures by old masters are in demand, who, though unable to either draw or paint, assume a knowledge superior to the artists whose province it is to produce tints, and tones of colour of a corresponding quality. It is in vain to tell these men, that "deeptoned brightness is produced only by repeated glazings, and that these glazings are composed of little more than varnish and transparent colour." Many deny that such a thing as glazing existed, and consequently in removing what they consider "dirt and varnish," they remove every particle of richness of tint. What spirits will not reach, they follow into every crevice with the point of a lancet: until the picture becomes not fresh and bright as it is termed, but raw and crude in the highest degree; as a judgment on Sir Joshua, no works have suffered more in this respect than his own, many of which are cleaned down to the preparation for glazing, and when pointed out as examples of this destructive course, it is impudently asserted that his colours have fled.

5 But in referring to nature we in vain look for those combinations which, in the works of

However, as the practice of copying is not entirely to be excluded, since the mechanical practice of painting is learned in some measure by it, let those choice parts only be selected which have recommended the work to notice. If its excellence consists in its general effect, it would be proper to make slight sketches of the machinery and general management of the picture. Those sketches should be kept always by you for the regulation of your style. Instead of copying the touches of those great masters, copy only their conceptions. Instead of treading in their footsteps, endeavour only to keep the same road. Labour to invent on their general principles and way of thinking. Possess yourself with their spirit. Consider with yourself how a Michael Angelo or a Raffaelle would have treated this subject: and work yourself into a belief that your picture

Titian and other great colourists, produce such wonderful effects; this charm is produced not so much by the richness of their tones as by the masses of hot and cold colour, and the judicious interlacing of those small portions of fresh tints, which by their contrast give the whole the vigour and brilliancy of nature; the union of light and shade also to this scientific arrangement increases the superiority of effect observable in the pictures of the great colourists. "If the poet and painter," remarks a writer in the Mirror, No. 24," are capable of yielding superior pleasure in their exhibitions to what we receive from the works of their great original, it is in the manner of grouping their objects, and by their skill in arrangement. In particular, they give uncommon delight, by attending not merely to unity of design, but to unity, if I may be allowed the expression, in the feelings they would excite; whereas in the works of nature, objects that are gay, melancholy, solemn, tranquil, impetuous, and fantastic, are thrown together without any regard to the influence of arrangement, or to the consistency of their effects on the mind."

6

Among the many modes that exist of bringing our own compositions in contact with those of the great masters, one of the most palpable is by tracing several of their most celebrated figures, which may be done from prints, and comparing them with those taken from the subject in hand: the general forms will be found not only to indicate a larger and richer style of drawing, but the individual parts will appear to possess a more beautiful choice, and greater proportions compared with the entire mass; while those of inferior Artists appear large, heavy, and mean, from the secondary portions being feeble and trifling. Taking the general contour, the one will appear like a map exhibiting deep indentations; the other will seem devoid of either indentations or projections: and this it is that gives their most colossal figures the greatest appearance of action, and lightness of effect. The limbs of the antique, and of the figures of Michael Angelo,

E

is to be seen and criticised by them when completed. Even an attempt of this kind will rouse your powers.7

But as mere enthusiasm will carry you but a little way, let me recommend a practice that may be equivalent to, and will perhaps more efficaciously contribute to your advancement, than even the verbal corrections of those masters themselves, could they be obtained. What I would propose is, that you should enter into a kind of competition, by painting a similar subject, and making a companion to any picture that you consider as a model. After you have finished your work, place it near the model, and compare them carefully together. You will then not only see, but feel, your own deficiencies more sensibly than by precepts, or any other means of instruction. The true principles of painting will mingle with your thoughts. Ideas thus fixed by sensible objects, will be certain and definite; and, sinking deep into the mind, will not only be more just, but more lasting, than those presented to you by precepts only; which will always be fleeting, variable, and undetermined.

This method of comparing your own efforts with those of some great master, is indeed a severe and mortifying task, to which none will submit, but such as have great views, with fortitude sufficient to forego the gratifications of present vanity for future honour. When the Student has

and the arms of many of those of Raffaelle, seem larger than the trunk would appear to warrant. In the compositions of a Student, or an inferior Artist, we find few entire figures, and even these neither of a graceful or characteristic shape, nor do they combine so as to give energy to action, or breadth to chiaroscuro; but each part seems anxious to engage the attention of the spectator at the expense of the whole.

7 Longinus recommends the same method. "If ever," he says, we are engaged in a work which requires a grandeur of style and exalted sentiments, would it not then be of use to raise in ourselves such reflections as these:-How, in this case, would Homer, or Plato, or Demosthenes have raised their thoughts anew." It will be yet of greater use, if to the preceding reflections we add these "What would Homer or Demosthenes have thought of this piece? or, what judgment would they have passed upon it?"-Longinus on the Sublime. Sec. xiv.

succeeded in some measure to his own satisfaction, and has felicitated himself on his success, to go voluntarily to a tribunal where he knows his vanity must be humbled, and all self-approbation must vanish, requires not only great resolution, but great humility. To him, however, who has the ambition to be a real master, the solid satisfaction which proceeds from a consciousness of his advancement, (of which seeing his own faults is the first step,) will very abundantly compensate for the mortification of present disappointment. There is, besides, this alleviating circumstance. Every discovery he makes, every acquisition of knowledge he attains, seems to proceed from his own sagacity; and thus he acquires a confidence in himself sufficient to keep up the resolution of perseverance.

We all must have experienced how lazily, and consequently how ineffectually, instruction is received when forced upon the mind by others.R Few have been taught to any purpose, who have not been their own teachers. We prefer those instructions which we have given ourselves, from our affection to the instructor; and they are more effectual, from

8 Johnson says, "Advice is offensive, not because it lays us open to unexpected regret, or convicts us of any fault which had escaped our notice, but because it shows us that we are known to others as well as ourselves; and the officious monitor is persecuted with hatred, not because his accusation is false, but because he assumes that superiority which we are not willing to grant him, and has dared to detect what we desired to conceal. If we make the praise or blame of others the rule of our conduct, we shall be distracted by a boundless variety of irreconcilable judgments. I know not whether," he adds, " for the same reason, it is not necessary for an author to place some confidence in his own skill, and to satisfy himself in the knowledge that he has not deviated from the established laws of composition, without submitting his works to frequent examinations before he gives them to the public, or endeavouring to secure success by a solicitous conformity to advice and criticism;" and concludes, by remarking, what many Artists must have found applicable to their own profession, "that it is indeed quickly discoverable, that consultation and compliance can conduce little to the perfection of any literary performance; for whoever is so doubtful of his own abilities as to encourage the remarks of others, will find himself every day embarrassed with new difficulties, and will harass his mind in vain with the hopeless labour of uniting heterogeneous ideas, digesting independent hints, and collecting into one point the several rays of borrowed light, emitted often with contrary directions."

being received into the mind at the very time when it is most open and eager to receive them.

With respect to the pictures that you are to choose for your models, I could wish that you would take the world's opinion rather than your own. In other words, I would have you choose those of established reputation, rather than follow your own fancy. If you should not admire them at first, you will, by endeavouring to imitate them, find that the world has not been mistaken.

It is not an easy task to point out those various excellences for your imitation, which lie distributed amongst the various schools. An endeavour to do this may, perhaps, be the subject of some future discourse. I will, therefore, at present only recommend a model for style in Painting, which is a branch of the art more immediately necessary to the young Student. Style in painting is the same as in writing, a power over materials, whether words or colours, by which conceptions or sentiments are conveyed. And in this Ludovico Caracci (I mean in his best works) appears to me to approach the nearest to perfection. His unaffected breadth of life and shadow, the simplicity of colouring, which, holding its proper rank, does not draw aside the least part of the attention from the subject, and the solemn effect of that twilight which seems diffused over his pictures, appear to me to correspond with grave and dignified subjects, better than the more artificial brilliancy of sunshine which enlightens the pictures of Titian: though Tintoret thought that Titian's colouring was the model of perfection, and would correspond even with the sublime of Michael Angelo; and that if Angelo had coloured like Titian, or Titian designed like Angelo, the world would once have had a perfect painter.9

9 The higher branches of the Art comprehend sentiment, expression, and a grand style of design, nor do these depend upon a union with the inferior departments of chiaroscuro and colouring in their greatest perfection: light and shade, and colour demand too great a sacrifice for the purposes of breadth and harmony, and gratify the eye too much at the expense of men