DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0151
PAINTER'S STUDIES. 137
practice should always be observed in the earlier parts of his progress: for by illuminating his
anatomical figures, in the same manner as maps are coloured, he will greatly ease his memory
and facilitate his knowledge of the subject.
It will be of great advantage to the student if he frequently compare the anatomical casts with
a living body, and also with the Greek statues still in being, on account of the peculiar excel-
lence of those remains of that ancient nation, who excelled particularly in this part of the art.
It is also necessary that he exercise himself on anatomical subjects, by completing figures already
begun, For example, having the thighs of a figure as a Laocoon, let him add to them legs suit*
able to that state in which the muscles of the thighs are represented ; that is, the muscles which
serve to bend and extend the legs are to effect in them such a precise position and no other. To
the simple contour or outline of a figure he should add the parts it is to include, and give it a
system of muscles agreeable to the situation of the members and the quality of that particular
contour: for every contour denotes some one certain attitude, motion, exertion, and no other.
These exercises will soon establish the student in the fundamental principles of painting with
truth and justice ; particularly if he have an opportunity of comparing his work with the statue
or cast from which it is taken.
Perspective claims the student's attention equally with anatomy. The latter enables him to
express the human body and its various parts, in every situation and circumstance : the former
teaches him to give objects their respective contours, according to their distances from the ob-
server, and their relative situations. For the contour of any object, drawn upon a plain surface,
is nothing more than such an intersection of the visual ra}'s, sent from the extremities of the ob-
ject to the eye, as would appear on a glass, put in the place of the canvas or paper, upon which
the object is drawn : the surface therefore of the picture may justly be considered as no other
than a glass through which we perceive the object on the other side of it. Consequently the
situation of an object on the one side of a glass being given, the delineation of it on the glass
itself depends entirely on the situation of the eye of the observer on the other side of the glass;
that is to say, on the rules of perspective. How necessary the knowledge of this art is to a pain-
ter a very little reflection will determine. That great master Leonardo Da Vinci considered
perspective as the reins and rudder of painting. It teaches in what proportion the parts of an
object lessen from the eye, according to their distances ; and how figures are to be marshalled
and foreshortened upon a plain surface; in a word, it contains the whole principles of design.
Notwithstanding the utility of this art, it has been much neglected by many modern painters,
who have considered it as extending no farther than to the painting of scenes, floors, &c. it has
even been called a fallacious art, and an insidious guide : but those best acquainted with it can
demonstrate the incontrovertible truth of its principles, which are founded on the most evident laws
of geometry; and the greatest painters are sensible that, without its assistance, it is impossible
to describe with justice a simple outline.
But as perspective is founded upon geometry, and depends for its demonstration on the doc-
trine of proportions, on the properties of similar triangles, and on the intersection of planes, the
student should possess a general knowledge of geometry. He should peruse some small system
of plane geometry, or an abridgement of Euclid ; if he read this author, it will be of great service
to him to have those propositions pointed out which deserve his attention, by which means he
will acquire all that is necessary for him to know on this subject, in the course of a few months.
£ n He
practice should always be observed in the earlier parts of his progress: for by illuminating his
anatomical figures, in the same manner as maps are coloured, he will greatly ease his memory
and facilitate his knowledge of the subject.
It will be of great advantage to the student if he frequently compare the anatomical casts with
a living body, and also with the Greek statues still in being, on account of the peculiar excel-
lence of those remains of that ancient nation, who excelled particularly in this part of the art.
It is also necessary that he exercise himself on anatomical subjects, by completing figures already
begun, For example, having the thighs of a figure as a Laocoon, let him add to them legs suit*
able to that state in which the muscles of the thighs are represented ; that is, the muscles which
serve to bend and extend the legs are to effect in them such a precise position and no other. To
the simple contour or outline of a figure he should add the parts it is to include, and give it a
system of muscles agreeable to the situation of the members and the quality of that particular
contour: for every contour denotes some one certain attitude, motion, exertion, and no other.
These exercises will soon establish the student in the fundamental principles of painting with
truth and justice ; particularly if he have an opportunity of comparing his work with the statue
or cast from which it is taken.
Perspective claims the student's attention equally with anatomy. The latter enables him to
express the human body and its various parts, in every situation and circumstance : the former
teaches him to give objects their respective contours, according to their distances from the ob-
server, and their relative situations. For the contour of any object, drawn upon a plain surface,
is nothing more than such an intersection of the visual ra}'s, sent from the extremities of the ob-
ject to the eye, as would appear on a glass, put in the place of the canvas or paper, upon which
the object is drawn : the surface therefore of the picture may justly be considered as no other
than a glass through which we perceive the object on the other side of it. Consequently the
situation of an object on the one side of a glass being given, the delineation of it on the glass
itself depends entirely on the situation of the eye of the observer on the other side of the glass;
that is to say, on the rules of perspective. How necessary the knowledge of this art is to a pain-
ter a very little reflection will determine. That great master Leonardo Da Vinci considered
perspective as the reins and rudder of painting. It teaches in what proportion the parts of an
object lessen from the eye, according to their distances ; and how figures are to be marshalled
and foreshortened upon a plain surface; in a word, it contains the whole principles of design.
Notwithstanding the utility of this art, it has been much neglected by many modern painters,
who have considered it as extending no farther than to the painting of scenes, floors, &c. it has
even been called a fallacious art, and an insidious guide : but those best acquainted with it can
demonstrate the incontrovertible truth of its principles, which are founded on the most evident laws
of geometry; and the greatest painters are sensible that, without its assistance, it is impossible
to describe with justice a simple outline.
But as perspective is founded upon geometry, and depends for its demonstration on the doc-
trine of proportions, on the properties of similar triangles, and on the intersection of planes, the
student should possess a general knowledge of geometry. He should peruse some small system
of plane geometry, or an abridgement of Euclid ; if he read this author, it will be of great service
to him to have those propositions pointed out which deserve his attention, by which means he
will acquire all that is necessary for him to know on this subject, in the course of a few months.
£ n He