DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0096
82
BEAUTY.
terity; and the artist, as well as the historian, is to deliver his subjects as he finds them, uncor-
rnpted by misrepresentation, and undisguised by his own inventions. Every one must be sensible
of the absurdity of representing a Minerva sailing through the air in the dress of a modern lady ;
and equally improper is it for the latter to appear under the garb of a gipsy, an eastern princess, or
a Turkish lady. In the other sex we have also some striking incongruities: what rule can the artist
plead who clothes an alderman of the city of London with the robes of a Roman consul? or cha-
racterises a poet merely by robbing him of his proper dress ? As the chief merit of a picture is re-
semblance, imitation, both in the works of nature and art, cannot be too strictly attended to: and
every deviation from it is a failure in the art, displays a vitiated taste, and imposes upon posterity.
Having finished our analysis of beauty, we may just again stop to observe the various opinions
entertained by mankind on this subject, from whence we may infertile impossibility of reducing
this amiable quality to any standard. This is not, however, the case with mental qualifications;
the attainments of the mind, and endowments of the heart, are universally admired. " Favour
is deceitful, and beauty is vain ;" but " The price of wisdom is above rubies."
Symmetry should form the next branch of the student's studies. Though the knowledge of
anatomy be the foundation of the portrait painter's skill, yet for the superstructure he is beholden
to symmetry and proportion. It will little avail him to be acquainted with the form of the dif-
ferent parts of the human body and the offices of the different members, if he be at the same
time ignorant of the order and proportion of those parts, both with regard to the whole in gene-
ral, and to each other in particular.
The greatest masters were so sensible of the necessity of this qualification, that many of them
have condescended to leave directions professedly upon the subject. The Grecian sculptures are
undoubtedly the most perfect in this particular, as also for their skill in anatomy : the student
should, therefore, study these statues incessantly and attentively; and though he contemplate
them ever so often, he will always discover new beauties. It is impossible he can copy them
too often while he is perfecting himself in symmetry and proportion, till he have them by heart.
Ivlaratti placed a motto to this purpose on his famous piece called The School: and Rubens was
so sensible of the importance of the knowledge of the ancient statues, that lie wrote a treatise on
their excellency, and on the duty of a painter to study and imitate them. The most excellent of
all those statuaries was Polycletes, who executed an admirable figure, as Pliny informs us, called
The Rule; from which, as the most accurate pattern, artists might take proportions for every
part of the human body. The same purpose may now be answered by the other celebrated sta-
tues, viz. by The Apollo of Belvedere, the Venus of Medicis, the Laocoon, the Faunus, and the
Antinous, from which last the celebrated Poussin took his measures. The other statues, which
possess a certain symmetry of feature, are, the Two Niobes (mother and daughter), Ariadne, the
Alexander, the young Nero, the Silenus, the .Nile, and the Gladiator. The beauties and exact
proportions of these figures the student should have treasured up in his memory, before he at-
tempts drawing after the life ; after which he may attempt something of his own without a model;
for it must be observed, that Nature, in her works, is more varying and less mechanically exact
than art, which is a principal cause of the beauty in her productions. It is necessary also to be
versed in theory, as that is the shortest and surest road to practice. A person initiated into the
principles of an art travels through it with the greater facility and more confidence, as he is sure
of not taking a wrong step: whereas those unacquainted with the theoretical part labour on in
perpetual
BEAUTY.
terity; and the artist, as well as the historian, is to deliver his subjects as he finds them, uncor-
rnpted by misrepresentation, and undisguised by his own inventions. Every one must be sensible
of the absurdity of representing a Minerva sailing through the air in the dress of a modern lady ;
and equally improper is it for the latter to appear under the garb of a gipsy, an eastern princess, or
a Turkish lady. In the other sex we have also some striking incongruities: what rule can the artist
plead who clothes an alderman of the city of London with the robes of a Roman consul? or cha-
racterises a poet merely by robbing him of his proper dress ? As the chief merit of a picture is re-
semblance, imitation, both in the works of nature and art, cannot be too strictly attended to: and
every deviation from it is a failure in the art, displays a vitiated taste, and imposes upon posterity.
Having finished our analysis of beauty, we may just again stop to observe the various opinions
entertained by mankind on this subject, from whence we may infertile impossibility of reducing
this amiable quality to any standard. This is not, however, the case with mental qualifications;
the attainments of the mind, and endowments of the heart, are universally admired. " Favour
is deceitful, and beauty is vain ;" but " The price of wisdom is above rubies."
Symmetry should form the next branch of the student's studies. Though the knowledge of
anatomy be the foundation of the portrait painter's skill, yet for the superstructure he is beholden
to symmetry and proportion. It will little avail him to be acquainted with the form of the dif-
ferent parts of the human body and the offices of the different members, if he be at the same
time ignorant of the order and proportion of those parts, both with regard to the whole in gene-
ral, and to each other in particular.
The greatest masters were so sensible of the necessity of this qualification, that many of them
have condescended to leave directions professedly upon the subject. The Grecian sculptures are
undoubtedly the most perfect in this particular, as also for their skill in anatomy : the student
should, therefore, study these statues incessantly and attentively; and though he contemplate
them ever so often, he will always discover new beauties. It is impossible he can copy them
too often while he is perfecting himself in symmetry and proportion, till he have them by heart.
Ivlaratti placed a motto to this purpose on his famous piece called The School: and Rubens was
so sensible of the importance of the knowledge of the ancient statues, that lie wrote a treatise on
their excellency, and on the duty of a painter to study and imitate them. The most excellent of
all those statuaries was Polycletes, who executed an admirable figure, as Pliny informs us, called
The Rule; from which, as the most accurate pattern, artists might take proportions for every
part of the human body. The same purpose may now be answered by the other celebrated sta-
tues, viz. by The Apollo of Belvedere, the Venus of Medicis, the Laocoon, the Faunus, and the
Antinous, from which last the celebrated Poussin took his measures. The other statues, which
possess a certain symmetry of feature, are, the Two Niobes (mother and daughter), Ariadne, the
Alexander, the young Nero, the Silenus, the .Nile, and the Gladiator. The beauties and exact
proportions of these figures the student should have treasured up in his memory, before he at-
tempts drawing after the life ; after which he may attempt something of his own without a model;
for it must be observed, that Nature, in her works, is more varying and less mechanically exact
than art, which is a principal cause of the beauty in her productions. It is necessary also to be
versed in theory, as that is the shortest and surest road to practice. A person initiated into the
principles of an art travels through it with the greater facility and more confidence, as he is sure
of not taking a wrong step: whereas those unacquainted with the theoretical part labour on in
perpetual