DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0141
SCHOOLS OF PAINTING. 127
Cotemporary with Le Brun was his rival Eustache le Sueur, who added some degree of cele-
brity to the French school. He approached nearer to Raphael than any other artist, not only
in the art of drapery, in placing his folds in the most easy and graceful manner, but also in ex-
pressing the affections of the mind, in varying the air of the head according to the condition age
and character of his personages, and in making the different parts of every figure contribute to
the general effect. His design also, like that of Raphael, was formed on the model of the an-
cients, but was in general more slender than the designs of Raphael. Contrary to the general
practice of the French artists, he did not endeavour to astonish the spectator by striking con-
trasts, beautiful groups of figures, or the deceitful pomp of theatrical scenes. The tones of his
colours are delicate, and his tints harmonious; and though not so attracting as those of the Ve-
netians and Florentines, are yet engaging. The}T delight the observer, without diverting his at-
tention from the more material parts.
The French school have reason to deplore the early loss of this artist, who might otherwise
have obtained influence sufficient to found a new manner among that sect: the noble beauty of
his heads, the simple majesty of his draperies, the correctness and airiness of his design, the pro-
priety and justness of his expression and attitudes, and the simplicity of bis general disposition,
would, no doubt, have soon become the objects of imitation ; and Paris might have attempted
to rival Rome in the geniuses and productions to which such a manner must have necessarily
given birth. The justness of these remarks appears in some of the best pieces of Le Sueur,
namely the twenty-two pictures he painted for the Carthusian monastery at Paris, his preaching
of St. Paul, and the picture Which he painted at St. Gervais ; the latter has, by many able cri-
tics, been allowed to be equal to the best productions of the Roman school.
But fortunately for the improvement of the art in France, the Count de Caylus, pupil to Bou-
chardon, who, by his rank and fortune, possessed the means of encouraging and rewarding men
of true genius, assisted by the talents of that expert artist M. Vien, marked out a new tract for
the pupils of that, school, and restored a pure taste in the arts.
The German school is nothing more than a succession of single artists, who derived their man-
ner from different sources of originality and imitation. The most early German painters were
wholly unacquainted with the works of the ancients, and had scarcely access to those of their con-
temporaries in Italy: they therefore copied nature alone, somewhat divested of that stiffness ob-
served in the Gothic manner. But the German artists of succeeding times were educated some
in Flanders and others in Italy: their manner has consequently nothing peculiar by which
their works may be known. It is to the more ancient of this sect that we must advert for
a decided character. The manner of these, as before observed, displays more of the Gothic
style than appears in the works of any other school. Albert Durer, and Hans or John Holbein
were the two principal painters of that nation. The former was the first who corrected the viti-
ated taste of his countrymen ; he was a good engraver as well as an excellent painter ; and fin-
ished his numerous works with great exactness. He possessed a fertile invention, a lively ge-
nius, an inexhaustible fund of thought, and a brilliancy of colouring. He is nevertheless
charged with stiffness in his outline, want of taste and grandeur in his expression, a neglect of
gradation in his colours, and an ignorance of the costume and of aerial perspective, though it must
be acknowledged that he had closely applied himself to lineal perspective, architecture and for-
tification. Holbein; contemporary with Durer, painted both in oil and water colours,, He ap»
plk-4
Cotemporary with Le Brun was his rival Eustache le Sueur, who added some degree of cele-
brity to the French school. He approached nearer to Raphael than any other artist, not only
in the art of drapery, in placing his folds in the most easy and graceful manner, but also in ex-
pressing the affections of the mind, in varying the air of the head according to the condition age
and character of his personages, and in making the different parts of every figure contribute to
the general effect. His design also, like that of Raphael, was formed on the model of the an-
cients, but was in general more slender than the designs of Raphael. Contrary to the general
practice of the French artists, he did not endeavour to astonish the spectator by striking con-
trasts, beautiful groups of figures, or the deceitful pomp of theatrical scenes. The tones of his
colours are delicate, and his tints harmonious; and though not so attracting as those of the Ve-
netians and Florentines, are yet engaging. The}T delight the observer, without diverting his at-
tention from the more material parts.
The French school have reason to deplore the early loss of this artist, who might otherwise
have obtained influence sufficient to found a new manner among that sect: the noble beauty of
his heads, the simple majesty of his draperies, the correctness and airiness of his design, the pro-
priety and justness of his expression and attitudes, and the simplicity of bis general disposition,
would, no doubt, have soon become the objects of imitation ; and Paris might have attempted
to rival Rome in the geniuses and productions to which such a manner must have necessarily
given birth. The justness of these remarks appears in some of the best pieces of Le Sueur,
namely the twenty-two pictures he painted for the Carthusian monastery at Paris, his preaching
of St. Paul, and the picture Which he painted at St. Gervais ; the latter has, by many able cri-
tics, been allowed to be equal to the best productions of the Roman school.
But fortunately for the improvement of the art in France, the Count de Caylus, pupil to Bou-
chardon, who, by his rank and fortune, possessed the means of encouraging and rewarding men
of true genius, assisted by the talents of that expert artist M. Vien, marked out a new tract for
the pupils of that, school, and restored a pure taste in the arts.
The German school is nothing more than a succession of single artists, who derived their man-
ner from different sources of originality and imitation. The most early German painters were
wholly unacquainted with the works of the ancients, and had scarcely access to those of their con-
temporaries in Italy: they therefore copied nature alone, somewhat divested of that stiffness ob-
served in the Gothic manner. But the German artists of succeeding times were educated some
in Flanders and others in Italy: their manner has consequently nothing peculiar by which
their works may be known. It is to the more ancient of this sect that we must advert for
a decided character. The manner of these, as before observed, displays more of the Gothic
style than appears in the works of any other school. Albert Durer, and Hans or John Holbein
were the two principal painters of that nation. The former was the first who corrected the viti-
ated taste of his countrymen ; he was a good engraver as well as an excellent painter ; and fin-
ished his numerous works with great exactness. He possessed a fertile invention, a lively ge-
nius, an inexhaustible fund of thought, and a brilliancy of colouring. He is nevertheless
charged with stiffness in his outline, want of taste and grandeur in his expression, a neglect of
gradation in his colours, and an ignorance of the costume and of aerial perspective, though it must
be acknowledged that he had closely applied himself to lineal perspective, architecture and for-
tification. Holbein; contemporary with Durer, painted both in oil and water colours,, He ap»
plk-4