of those who have ftudied the ancients. He was in fhort a great painter and nothing more. But although he deferves not to be placed among the the most diftinguifhed artists in point of judgment, yet he is by no means deftitute of great and noble conceptions. There is often to be found among his male figures a confiderable degree of grandeur. The beauties of his works confift in the happy difpofitions of colours both proper and local, and he carries this to the highest point of perfection.

The artifts in the Florentine and Roman fchools painted moft commonly in water colours or in frefco; and they finished their works from their firft fketches. Titian painted in oil, and finifhed from the objects in nature; and this practice, joined to his exquifite talents, gave the greatest truth to his colours. His being a portrait-painter was alfo of advantage to him as a colourift. In this department he was accustomed to the colours of nature in carnations and draperies. He was a landscape-painter; and here also he took the colours from nature.

TITIAN has in general little expreffion in his pictures, and he fometimes introduces figures which augment the coldness of the piece. But the colours of his paintings are fo mingled together as to give no idea of the colours on his pallet; which diftinguishes him from Rubens, who placed his colours one at the fide of another. It is impoffible to say, on the narroweft inspection, with what colours he produced his tints. This practice, which enabled him to imitate fo exactly the colours of nature, gives a marked diftinction to his manner of painting. He is one of the few hiftorical painters who have fucceeded in landscape. His fituations are well chofen; his trees are varied in their forms, and their foliage well conceived. He often reprefented fome remarkable appearance in his landscapes to render them more striking.

The diftinguishing characteristics of the LOMBARD school are, grace, an agreeable tafte for defign, without great correction, a mellownefs of pencil, and a beautiful mixture of colours. ANTONY ALLEGRI, or CORREGIO, was the father and greateft ornament of this fchool. He began to imitate nature alone; but, as he was chiefly delighted with the graceful, he was careful to purify his defign from all thort turnings and unneceffary angles. He perceived that largenefs contributed to grace; and therefore not only rejected all fmall figures, but enlarged as much as poffible the outlines, avoided acute angles and ftraight lines, and by these means gave an eafy grandeur to his defign. He made his figures elegant and large; he varied the outlines by frequent undulations; but he was not always pure and correct.

CORREGIO painted in oil, a kind of painting fufceptible of the greateft delicacy and fweetnefs; and as his character led him to cultivate the agree. able, he gave a pleafing captivating tone to all his pictures. He fought tranfparent colours to reprefent fhades conformable to nature, and adopted a manner of glazing which actually rendered his fhadows more obfcure. But it is chiefly in the colour of his fhades that he deferves to be imitated. He excelled alfo in harmony. As the delicacy of

his tafte fuffered him not to employ ftrong oppo fitions, he became a great mafter in this part, which chiefly consists of easy gradations from one extreme to another. He was harmonious in his defign, by making the lines which formed the angles of the contour arched and undulated. The delicacy of his organs made him perceive what relief was neceffary to the eye after a violent exertion; and he was careful to follow a bold and prevailing colour with a demi-tint, and to conduct the eye of the fpectator, by an invifible gradation, to its ordinary state of tention. A delicate tafte in colours, a perfect knowledge of the claro-obscuro, the art of uniting light to light, and fhade to fhade, together with that of detaching the objects from the ground, inimitable, grave, and perfect harmony, were the qualities which diftinguished Corregio from all the painters, and placed him near the head of his profeffion.

The CARACCI, Lewis, Auguftin, and Hannibal, formed what is called the fecond Lombard school, which is frequently distinguished by the name of the fchool of Bologna, LEWIS was the mafter of the other two; he had ftudied the works of Titian and Paul Veronefe at Venice, those of Andrew Del Sarte at Florence, thofe of Corregio at Parma, and thofe of Julius Romano at Mantua ; but he chiefly endeavoured to imitate the manner of Corregio. Hannibal fluctuated between Corregio and Titian. Auguftin had his mind cultivated by learning, and devoted part of his time to poetry, mufic, &c., Thefe three painters often employed their talents on the fame piece; and feemed to be animated with the fame fpirit.

They established an academy at Bologna, which their zeal for the advancement of their art made them call l'Academia degli Defiderof; but it was afterwards called the Academy of the Caracci, from their high reputation. In this fchool were taught the art of conftructing models, perfpective, and anatomy; leffons were given on the beantiful proportions of nature, on the best manner of ufing colours, and on the principles of light and fhade. They held frequent conferences, in which not only artifts, but men of general knowledge, were permitted to elucidate points relative to the art of painting: but they were feparated upon Hannibal's going to Rome to adorn the gallery of the cardinal Farnefe.

The works of the CARACCI are often, from the refemblance of their manner, confounded together. But each of them has a decided character diftin&t from the other two. Lewis had lefs fire, but more of gracefulness and grandeur: Auguftin had more spirit in his conception, and more pleasantnefs in his execution: Hannibal is characterized by boldness, by a defign more profound, by an expreffion more lucky, and by an execution more folid. Sir Joshua Reynolds confiders Lewis the beft model for what is called Ayle in painting; which is the faculty of difpofing colours in fuch a manner as to express our fentiments and ideas.

HANNIBAL is efteemed by the beft judges as a model for beauty and defign.

The French fchool has been fo different under different masters, that it is difficult to characterize

it. It appears indeed to have no peculiar character; it can only be distinguished by its aptitude to imitate eafily any impreffion.

It is equally difficult to determine the progrefs of painting in FRANCE. Miniature painting and painting on glafs were early cultivated in that country, and in thefe two kinds the Italians had often recourfe to the French artifts. When Francis I. encouraged Roffo, a Florentine, and Primatice, a Bolognian, the painters in France were not remarkable for any fuperior talent. COUSIN, a painter on glafs and portrait painter, was the first who established any kind of reputation in France. He was correct, but poffeffed very little elegance of defign.

Painting, for fome time encouraged by Francis I. fell into a ftate of languor, from which it was not recovered till the reign of Lewis XIII. James Blanchard, formed at the Venetian school, and called the French Titian, flourished about this period; but he died young, and without educating any pupils to perpetuate his manner.

POUSSIN, one of the greateft French painters, and whom they call the Raphael of France, educated no pupils, nor formed any fchool. His ftyle and character of painting are described by Sir Joshua Reynolds as fimple, careful, pure, and correct.

SIMON VOUET had a kind of grandeur and facility; but his defign was falfe with regard to colours, and without expreffion. He laid the foundation of the French school, and LE BRUN finished the edifice.

LE BRUN had a noble conception and a fruitful imagination. He chiefly excelled in rigorous coftume and exact likeneffes. Few painters have united fo great a number of effential qualities and acceffories of the art. He was a good drawer. In drapery he followed the Roman school. He had ftudied the expreffion of the affections, as is evident from his Treatife on the character of the paffions; but, after obferving the general characters, and eftablishing the principal ftrokes of expreffion, he thought he had reached the whole extent of this fubject, which is fo infinitely extended. He neglected to study the prodigious variety of gradations by which the interior affections are manifefted in the exterior appearance. He poffeffed in a high degree the grand machine of the art, but he wanted the vigour and infpiration of Raphael.

The fweet attractions, and ftrong and folid colours, of the schools of Rome and Lombardy feem to have been the objects of Le Brun's imitation; and from them alfo he learned an eafy, agreeable, and bold management of the pencil. As Le Brun poffeffed a great fhare of lively imagination, he delighted in allegory, which gives the greateft fcope for ingenious invention..

EUSTACE LE SUEUR was the cotemporary and rival of Le Brun; and no painter approached nearer to Raphael in the art of drapery, and in difpofing the folds in the most artful and the nobleft manner. Like Raphael, he reprefented with art and precifion the affections of the foul; like him, he varied the air of the head, according to the condition, the age, and the character of his perfonages; and, like him, he made the different parts of every figure contribute to the general VOL. XVI. PART H.

effect. His tones are delicate, his tints harmonious, and his colours engaging.

In GERMANY there can hardly be said to be a fchool, as it is a continuation of fingle artifts, who derived their manner from different fources of originality and imitation. There were fome German painters of eminence, when the art, emerging from its barbarous ftate, firft began to be cultivated with fuccefs in Europe. As they were totally unacquainted with the ancients, and had fcarcely access to the works of their cotemporaries in Italy, they copied nature alone, with the exception of fomewhat of that stiffness which forms the Gothic manner. It is this manner, if we fpeak of the early German painters, which characterises their school. But this is by no means the cafe with their fucceffors, part of whom were educated in Flanders, and part in Italy; for if MENGS or Dietrich were comprehended in this fchool, there would be nothing peculiar to its manner difcovered in their works.

ALBERT DURER was the first German who corrected the bad tafte of his countrymen. He excelled in engraving as well as painting. His genius was fertile, his compofitions varied, his thoughts ingenious, and his colours brilliant. He is blamed for stiffness and aridity in his outlines, and other defects; but he had carefully studied lineal perspective, architecture, and fortification.

JORN HOLBEIN, nearly contemporary with Albert Durer, painted in oil and water colours. He excelled chiefly in hiftory and in portrait painting. His colours are fresh and brilliant, and his works are highly finished; but in his hiftorical fubjects, his draperies are not in so good a taste as thofe of Albert.

The Flemifh fchool is recommended to the lovers of the art by the discovery, or at least the first practice of OIL PAINTING. JOHN VAN EYCK is faid to have been the fortunate difcoverer; but it is proved by the MSS. of Theophilus Prefbyter, and by fome old oil paintings in England, that this method of painting was difcovered long before his time.

JOHN DE BRUGES was the founder of painting as a profeffion in Flanders; PETER PAUL RUBENS was the founder of the art. This extraordinary perfon produced an immenfe number of works. He excelled equally in hiftorical, portrait, and landscape painting; in fruits, flowers, and in animals. He both invented and executed with the greatest facility; and to fhow the extent of his powers, he often made a great number of fketches of the fame fubject altogether different, without allowing any time to elapfe between them. The works of Rubens were deftitute of that foft infpiration, fo confpicuous in the works of Rapi:ael, but he poffeffed that sprightliness of genius and ftrength of mind which is ever ready to burft forth in aftonishing effects. On every occafion his defign is noble and eafy. He had great knowledge of anatomy, but he was hurried away by the impetuofity of his imagination and the ardour for execution; he preferred fplendor to the beauty of forms, and facrificed correctness of defign too often to the magic of colours. In thort, his qualities fuppofe a mind full of fire and

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vigour,

the French le beau ideal, and the English the great Ryle.

facility, by means of which a man advances the quicker, in proportion as he is fure of not taking a wrong ftep: whilft thofe who are not grounded in the fcience labour on in perpetual doubt.

As practice, therefore, ought in every thing to be built upon principle, the study of OPTICS, as far as it is requifite to determine the degree in which objects are to be illuminated or fhaded, fhould proceed hand in hand with that of perfpective; in order that the fhades, caft by figures upon the planes on which they ftand, may fall properly, and be neither too ftrong nor too light: in a word, that those most beautiful effects of the chiaro-fcuro may run no rifk of ever receiving the lie from truth, which fooner or later difcovers itfelf to every eye.

SECT. III. Of SYMMETRY.

THE study of symmetry, it is obvious, fhould immediately follow that of anatomy; for it would avail us little to be acquainted with the different parts of the human body, and their feveral offices, were we at the fame time ignorant of the order and proportion of those parts in regard to the whole in general, and to each other in particular. The Greek ftatuaries diftinguithed themfelves above all others, as much by the juft fymmetry of their members, as by their skill in anatomy.

A young painter fhould therefore copy the Greek ftatues often. It is indeed impoflible he should copy them too often. Great care, however, is neceffary, left, by too flavish an attention to ftatues, the young painter may contract a hard and dry manner; and by ftudying anatomies too fervilely, a habit of reprefenting living bodies as tripped of their fkin: for nothing but what is natural, that, befides a certain peculiar grace and livelinefs, poffeffes that fimplicity, eafe, and foftnefs, which is not to be expected in the works of art, or even in thofe of nature deprived of life, can give fatisfaction in painting.

SECT. IV. Of IMITATION. IMITATION is the first part of the art of painting, though not the most excellent. Whatever a young painter's natural difpofition may be, whether to paint boldly and freely like Tintoret and Rubens, or to labour his works like Titian or Da Vinci, let him follow it. This kind of imitation is very commendable.

Nothing fhould hinder an able mafter from making ufe now and then of any antique, or even modern figure, which he may find his account in employing,

A painter fhould have his eye conftantly fixed on nature, that inexhauftible and varied fource of every kind of beauty; and fhould ftudy to imitate her in her most fingular effects. He thould never be without his little book and crayon, to make drawings of every beautiful or uncommon object that may happen to prefent itself. He may afterwards employ thefe fketches as occafions offer; and in the mean time will have, the advantage of acquiring a grand tafte.

It is by carefully studying the best mafters, and Imitating nature, that a painter arrives at the ftyle of perfection which the Italians call guflo grando,

"It is a neceffary warrantable pride, (fays Sir J. Reynolds,) to difdain to walk fervilely behind any individual, however elevated his rank. The true and liberal ground of imitation is an open field, where, though he who precedes has had the advantage of ftarting before you, yet it is enough to purfue his courfe: you need not tread in his footsteps; and you certainly have a right to outftrip him if you can."

SECT. V. Of COLOURING.

COLOURING, though a fubject greatly inferior to many others which the painter must study, is yet that which ought to be particularly enlarged on here. To excel in it, he must be well acquainted with that part of OPTICS, which has the nature of light and colours for its object. Light, however fimple and uncompounded it may appear, is nevertheless made up, as it were, of feveral diftinct fubftances; and the number, and even dose, of thefe ingredients, has been happily discovered by the moderns. Every undivided ray, let it be ever fo fine, is a little bundle of red, orange, yellow, green, azure, indigo, and violet rays, which, while combined, are not to be diftinguished one from another, and form that kind of light called white; fo that white is not a colour per fe, as DA VINCI affirms, but an affemblage of colours. Now, thefe colours, which compofe light, although immutable in themfelves, and endued with various qualities, are continually, however, feparating from each other in their reflection from and paffage through other substances, and thus become manifeft to the eye. Grafs, for example, reflects only green rays, or rather reflects green rays in greater number, than it does thofe of any other colour; one kind of wine tranfmits red rays, and another yellowish rays: and from this kind of feparation arifes that variety of colours with which nature has diverfified her various productions. Man, too, has contrived to separate the rays of light, by making a portion of the fun's beams pafs through a glafs prifm; for after paffing through it, they appear divided into 7 pure and primitive colours, placed in fucceffion one by the other, like fo many colours on a painter's pallet, See CHROMATICS, and OPTICS.

Now, though TITIAN, CORREGIO, and VANDYKE, have been excellent colourists, without knowing any thing of these physical phenomena, yet now that they are difcovered and ascertained, every painter ought to be well acquainted with them, as with these colours he is to give life and perfection to his defigns. From a due tempering of the tints in a picture; from making colours partake of each other, according to the reflection of light from one object to another; there arifes, in fome measure, that fublime harmony which gives pleasure to the lovers of the art. And this harmony has its foundation in the genuine principles of optics. For though colours are in their own nature immutable one into another, and every body reflects, more or lefs, every fort of coloured rays, but thofe rays in the greatest number which are of the colour it cxhibits, there muft arife, in

colours