DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0015
THE
CABINET OF THE ART
BOOK I—OF DRAWING,
CHAP. I.
OF THE MATERIALS NECESSARY FOR DRAWING; AND THE METHOD OF USING THEM.
o 11 the arts, those distinguished by the appellation offine, possess a decided superiority in
the estimation of mankind, both on account of the pleasure received in their contemplation, and
the utility derived from their improvement.
Imitation is natural to the mind of man, and inseparable from it, when in an improved state.
The pleasure and astonishment received on surveying an artificial resemblance of objects, have
prompted all nations and ages to the cultivation of drawing and painting. The most ancient
people with whose manners we are acquainted, and the most illiterate nations of whom we have
any account, betray a partiality for the imitative arts ; but the connoisseur and artist of an
enlightened age and nation, feel a higher gratification, and derive and bestow an infinitely superior
benefit in the pursuit of those objects : by them those arts are not rendered subservient to the
delineations of local situations, and historical transactions only; but they serve to pourtray
the various ruling and contending passions of the human mind: by them different emotions are
excited as well as expressed : our fear, terror, apprehension, surprise, indignation, scorn, &c. are
produced by a beautiful drawing or painting, as well as by the powers of rhetoric. And in some
cases the artist has had the advantage of the poet: a keener satire has been conveyed through the
lines of the pencil, than from the pen of the latter, though assisted by the advantages of language
and the charms of numbers.
The utility of the fine arts renders them not less an object worthy of attention. A knowledge
of the most remarkable occurrences in civil history is conveyed to posterity by these means, with
more force, clearness and precision, than could possibly be performed by the pen of the historian.
'The most critical situations recorded in domestic history, are more clearly expressed by the pencil,
than by any other method : natural history is principally indebted to the arts for its extensive
diffusion : a view of a foreign country could be transmitted to its antipodes no other way, but by
a deliniation on a plain surface, which the art teaches us to perform ; and all the mechanical,
mathematical, and physical arts and sciences, receive an indispensable assistance from this essential
branch of knowledge.
From the pleasure and utility received in the cultivation of the imitative arts, it is no wonder
that they are held in such high estimation, and have arrived to their present state of perfection.
B
Eveiy
CABINET OF THE ART
BOOK I—OF DRAWING,
CHAP. I.
OF THE MATERIALS NECESSARY FOR DRAWING; AND THE METHOD OF USING THEM.
o 11 the arts, those distinguished by the appellation offine, possess a decided superiority in
the estimation of mankind, both on account of the pleasure received in their contemplation, and
the utility derived from their improvement.
Imitation is natural to the mind of man, and inseparable from it, when in an improved state.
The pleasure and astonishment received on surveying an artificial resemblance of objects, have
prompted all nations and ages to the cultivation of drawing and painting. The most ancient
people with whose manners we are acquainted, and the most illiterate nations of whom we have
any account, betray a partiality for the imitative arts ; but the connoisseur and artist of an
enlightened age and nation, feel a higher gratification, and derive and bestow an infinitely superior
benefit in the pursuit of those objects : by them those arts are not rendered subservient to the
delineations of local situations, and historical transactions only; but they serve to pourtray
the various ruling and contending passions of the human mind: by them different emotions are
excited as well as expressed : our fear, terror, apprehension, surprise, indignation, scorn, &c. are
produced by a beautiful drawing or painting, as well as by the powers of rhetoric. And in some
cases the artist has had the advantage of the poet: a keener satire has been conveyed through the
lines of the pencil, than from the pen of the latter, though assisted by the advantages of language
and the charms of numbers.
The utility of the fine arts renders them not less an object worthy of attention. A knowledge
of the most remarkable occurrences in civil history is conveyed to posterity by these means, with
more force, clearness and precision, than could possibly be performed by the pen of the historian.
'The most critical situations recorded in domestic history, are more clearly expressed by the pencil,
than by any other method : natural history is principally indebted to the arts for its extensive
diffusion : a view of a foreign country could be transmitted to its antipodes no other way, but by
a deliniation on a plain surface, which the art teaches us to perform ; and all the mechanical,
mathematical, and physical arts and sciences, receive an indispensable assistance from this essential
branch of knowledge.
From the pleasure and utility received in the cultivation of the imitative arts, it is no wonder
that they are held in such high estimation, and have arrived to their present state of perfection.
B
Eveiy