DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0154
140 PAINTING m OIL.
servance of which nothing but a well-directed course of reading will qualify him. The books
most proper for him on this occasion are the Bible, both on account of the authenticity of the
nai ration, and the veneration the subjects possess,from their connection with the principles of
our religion ; the Greek and Roman histories, which contain a greater variety of civil events,
personal anecdotes, and diversity of characters thnn any other histories,; the works of Homer
and Virgil ; Ovid's Metamorphoses ; the Fabulous Pantheon ; Shakespeare, Miiton, and a few
others of the best English poets ; Pausanias' Description of Greece ; and two or three of the best
authors on painting. The perusal of good poets and historians has a wonderful power of ex-
panding the mind of the reader, and enlarging the faculties of invention, by familiarizing himself
with their ideas and flights of invention. While he admires he imperceptibly learns to imitate
their example; and endeavours like them tp cloath beautify and exalt every subject he takes in
hand. Bouchardon, after reading Homer, says " He conceived that men were three times taller
than before, and that the world was enlarged in every respect." The beautiful thought of cover-
ing Agamemnon's face with the skirt of his mantle, at the sacrifice of Iphigenia, was very probably
suggested to Timantes by the Tragedy of Euripides ; and the divine Raphael, in his piece of the
Creation, where he represents the Deity in the immense space, extending one hand to the sun,
and the other to the moon, no doubt borrowed the idea from the words of David, " The heavens
-declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy work."
Another and a very great advantage which the painter may derive from the perusal of well-
•chosen authors, is the great variety of subjects they afford for the exercise of his pencil. Every
subject is not equally proper for representation : every proper one is not equally interesting ; nei-
ther is it every one that is proper and capable of exciting attention that will suit the artist's ta-
lents. But in the inexhaustible treasure of history he will meet with numbers of subjects, let his
cast of mind be what it may, on which he may display his talents to the greatest advantage.
One caution is here however necessary: he can never be too nice and discriminating in the
choice of his subjects; for on the beauty of them that of his piece will greatly depend. Who
can help, in this place, deploring the disadvantages the ancient artists experienced from their
paucity of materials? Their subjects were few, simple, and not always interesting in themselves;
and even these they received through the contaminating hands of the vulgar and illiterate. But
with the modern painter the case is quite the reverse: he has before him the public and private
histories of mankind, during the principal ages of the world, exclusive of the beautiful fictions
of poetry, many of which are as freely admitted into every species of exhibition as the most au-
thentic records of histoiy. All these are the painter's own property : he may without presump-
tion consider them, with regard to the purposes of his art, as invented for his peculiar use ; and
avail himself of all their beauty and advantages, not with impunity, but with justly merited ap-
plause.
CHAP. IV,
OF PAINTING IN OIL: THE NECESSARY MATERIALS, AND METHOD OF USING THEM.
OX7 every part of the fine arts Painting in Oil undoubtedly claims the pre-eminence: it exceeds
every other species of painting in its greater accuracy of colours, and in its wonderful force and
expression. It also surpasses miniature and crayon painting in its extended dimensions, whereby
most objects of animated nature may be represented as large as the life, by which means the imi-
tation
servance of which nothing but a well-directed course of reading will qualify him. The books
most proper for him on this occasion are the Bible, both on account of the authenticity of the
nai ration, and the veneration the subjects possess,from their connection with the principles of
our religion ; the Greek and Roman histories, which contain a greater variety of civil events,
personal anecdotes, and diversity of characters thnn any other histories,; the works of Homer
and Virgil ; Ovid's Metamorphoses ; the Fabulous Pantheon ; Shakespeare, Miiton, and a few
others of the best English poets ; Pausanias' Description of Greece ; and two or three of the best
authors on painting. The perusal of good poets and historians has a wonderful power of ex-
panding the mind of the reader, and enlarging the faculties of invention, by familiarizing himself
with their ideas and flights of invention. While he admires he imperceptibly learns to imitate
their example; and endeavours like them tp cloath beautify and exalt every subject he takes in
hand. Bouchardon, after reading Homer, says " He conceived that men were three times taller
than before, and that the world was enlarged in every respect." The beautiful thought of cover-
ing Agamemnon's face with the skirt of his mantle, at the sacrifice of Iphigenia, was very probably
suggested to Timantes by the Tragedy of Euripides ; and the divine Raphael, in his piece of the
Creation, where he represents the Deity in the immense space, extending one hand to the sun,
and the other to the moon, no doubt borrowed the idea from the words of David, " The heavens
-declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy work."
Another and a very great advantage which the painter may derive from the perusal of well-
•chosen authors, is the great variety of subjects they afford for the exercise of his pencil. Every
subject is not equally proper for representation : every proper one is not equally interesting ; nei-
ther is it every one that is proper and capable of exciting attention that will suit the artist's ta-
lents. But in the inexhaustible treasure of history he will meet with numbers of subjects, let his
cast of mind be what it may, on which he may display his talents to the greatest advantage.
One caution is here however necessary: he can never be too nice and discriminating in the
choice of his subjects; for on the beauty of them that of his piece will greatly depend. Who
can help, in this place, deploring the disadvantages the ancient artists experienced from their
paucity of materials? Their subjects were few, simple, and not always interesting in themselves;
and even these they received through the contaminating hands of the vulgar and illiterate. But
with the modern painter the case is quite the reverse: he has before him the public and private
histories of mankind, during the principal ages of the world, exclusive of the beautiful fictions
of poetry, many of which are as freely admitted into every species of exhibition as the most au-
thentic records of histoiy. All these are the painter's own property : he may without presump-
tion consider them, with regard to the purposes of his art, as invented for his peculiar use ; and
avail himself of all their beauty and advantages, not with impunity, but with justly merited ap-
plause.
CHAP. IV,
OF PAINTING IN OIL: THE NECESSARY MATERIALS, AND METHOD OF USING THEM.
OX7 every part of the fine arts Painting in Oil undoubtedly claims the pre-eminence: it exceeds
every other species of painting in its greater accuracy of colours, and in its wonderful force and
expression. It also surpasses miniature and crayon painting in its extended dimensions, whereby
most objects of animated nature may be represented as large as the life, by which means the imi-
tation