DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0149
PAINTER'S STUDIES. m
We see so little observance of its laws, that we cannot dwell on the comparison. But a knowledge
t>f this essential rule, and no doubt, a perfect mathematical skill in its precepts, cannot be denied
them. They were good mathematicians, they were excellent architects, and some of them are ce-
lebrated tor their skill in scene painting. Geminus the Rhodian, contemporary with Cicero, was
the author of an express treatise on perspective ; and Euclid, Heliodorus Larisseus, Agathar-
chus, wrote also on the same subject. It is well known, besides, that the ancients practised the
art of painting in perspective on walls, in the same way that it is now done by the moderns ; and
Pliny, in his Natural Histoiy says, that one of the walls of the theatre of Claudius Pulcher, re-
presenting a roof covered with tiles, was finished in so masterly a manner that the rooks, birds of
no small sagacity, taking it for a real roof, attempted to alight upon it,. We are likewise told,
that a clog was deceived to such a degree, by certain steps in a perspective of Daulos, that expect-
ing to find a free passage, he made up to them in full speed, and dashed out his brains. But what
is still more, Vitruvius tells us in express terms, by whom and in what time this art was invented.
It was first practised by Agatharchus, a contemporary of iEschylus, in the theatre of Athens; and
afterwards reduced to certain principles, and treated as a science by Anaxagoras and Democritus;
thus faring like other arts which existed in practice before they appeared in theory.
Thus it appears that the ancients were not inferior to the moderns in all the principal parts of
the art; in the drawing and colouring of single figures they must be allowed to be equal, if not
superior to the moderns, their statues and paintings remaining evince the spirit, animation, ease,
and dignity of their manner; as they possessed all the requisites of portrait painting, it is no
wonder that they excelled in that branch. The purity of their design, and beauty and expres-
sion of their forms, laid the foundation of excellence in modern artists. Those parts of the art
in which they are excelled by the moderns are the inferior qualities; the allurement of colour-
ing, the ingenuity of the claro obscuro, the splendour of composition, the art of grouping figures,,
and the nice handling of the pencil.
chap. nr.
OF THE PRELIMINARY STUDIES AND BOOKS NECESSARY FOR AN ARTIST.
he who imagines that all the qualifications necessary to form a good painter are circum-
scribed within the mechanical management of colours, and a knowledge of the claro obscuro,
does very little justice to the art of painting, and will in the end find himself greatly deceived..
The success of some eminent men who were, in a great measure, unacquainted with every other
subject but that of painting, by no means warrants the hasty, crude, and unqualified attempts of
others ; on the contrary, their frequent failures should serve as beacons to guard us from the like
mistakes, and caution us from pursuing this subject with minds unfurnished with the requisite
materials, and thereby incurring contempt and ridicule.
Though the artist do not require that extensive knowledge which Cicero says the orator should
possess; yet there are many subjects his acquaintance with which is indispensable, in our age at
least,.to insure his success. The principal of these are anatomy, perspective, a general knowledge
of sacred, civil, and fabulous history, and an attentive observance of nature. The principles of
anatomy, as far as an artist requires, have been already given. To insist upon the necessity of
this branch of the student's attainments would be perfectly superfluous : the authorities and ex-
amples of the greatest masters and most celebrated schools are sufficient to enfore the prosecution
of
We see so little observance of its laws, that we cannot dwell on the comparison. But a knowledge
t>f this essential rule, and no doubt, a perfect mathematical skill in its precepts, cannot be denied
them. They were good mathematicians, they were excellent architects, and some of them are ce-
lebrated tor their skill in scene painting. Geminus the Rhodian, contemporary with Cicero, was
the author of an express treatise on perspective ; and Euclid, Heliodorus Larisseus, Agathar-
chus, wrote also on the same subject. It is well known, besides, that the ancients practised the
art of painting in perspective on walls, in the same way that it is now done by the moderns ; and
Pliny, in his Natural Histoiy says, that one of the walls of the theatre of Claudius Pulcher, re-
presenting a roof covered with tiles, was finished in so masterly a manner that the rooks, birds of
no small sagacity, taking it for a real roof, attempted to alight upon it,. We are likewise told,
that a clog was deceived to such a degree, by certain steps in a perspective of Daulos, that expect-
ing to find a free passage, he made up to them in full speed, and dashed out his brains. But what
is still more, Vitruvius tells us in express terms, by whom and in what time this art was invented.
It was first practised by Agatharchus, a contemporary of iEschylus, in the theatre of Athens; and
afterwards reduced to certain principles, and treated as a science by Anaxagoras and Democritus;
thus faring like other arts which existed in practice before they appeared in theory.
Thus it appears that the ancients were not inferior to the moderns in all the principal parts of
the art; in the drawing and colouring of single figures they must be allowed to be equal, if not
superior to the moderns, their statues and paintings remaining evince the spirit, animation, ease,
and dignity of their manner; as they possessed all the requisites of portrait painting, it is no
wonder that they excelled in that branch. The purity of their design, and beauty and expres-
sion of their forms, laid the foundation of excellence in modern artists. Those parts of the art
in which they are excelled by the moderns are the inferior qualities; the allurement of colour-
ing, the ingenuity of the claro obscuro, the splendour of composition, the art of grouping figures,,
and the nice handling of the pencil.
chap. nr.
OF THE PRELIMINARY STUDIES AND BOOKS NECESSARY FOR AN ARTIST.
he who imagines that all the qualifications necessary to form a good painter are circum-
scribed within the mechanical management of colours, and a knowledge of the claro obscuro,
does very little justice to the art of painting, and will in the end find himself greatly deceived..
The success of some eminent men who were, in a great measure, unacquainted with every other
subject but that of painting, by no means warrants the hasty, crude, and unqualified attempts of
others ; on the contrary, their frequent failures should serve as beacons to guard us from the like
mistakes, and caution us from pursuing this subject with minds unfurnished with the requisite
materials, and thereby incurring contempt and ridicule.
Though the artist do not require that extensive knowledge which Cicero says the orator should
possess; yet there are many subjects his acquaintance with which is indispensable, in our age at
least,.to insure his success. The principal of these are anatomy, perspective, a general knowledge
of sacred, civil, and fabulous history, and an attentive observance of nature. The principles of
anatomy, as far as an artist requires, have been already given. To insist upon the necessity of
this branch of the student's attainments would be perfectly superfluous : the authorities and ex-
amples of the greatest masters and most celebrated schools are sufficient to enfore the prosecution
of