DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0159
IMITATION.
145
The artist should always consider the distance at which his piece is to be viewed ; for whatever
produces no effect in the situation where the picture is to be placed is labour lost. Those paintings
therefore which are to be placed in high situations; and also very large pieces, which must con-
sequently be viewed at a considerable distance, should have no very minute work ; which would
not only be lost upon the observer, but perhaps by being viewed at a distance, and losing its in-
tended effect, have an awkward and unpleasant appearance.
Landscape painters generally begin their work about the centre of the piece ; they paint the
sky first, and gradually advance from the distant objects to the fore-ground : the back-grounds
of all objects being treated first before the object itself; whereby a great deal of trouble is saved,
which would be occasioned by painting round the objects.
The following cautions and observations should be carefully attended to by the student:—If a
tint be required, while he is at work on a picture, different from any on his pallet, it is better to
mingle the colours which compose it on the pallet with the knife than with a pencil, as the pencil
always retains more of one colour than another, when it is used to incorporate them together,
and thereby the colour with a little working assumes a different hue. One pencil should always
be kept to one colour, otherwise the colours will never appear fresh. Colours should never be
teazed, that is mixed too much, or when, instead of being laid on the canvas at once, they are
too much worked about w ith the pencil. This always injures them, particularly the lighter ones, and.
makes them lose their brilliancy and just effect. A proper allowance must always be made for
that gloss and brilliancy oil colours possess while wet. The decay of colours is, in a great mea-
sure, the consequence of too great a quantity of oil, particularly of the grosser kind : the parts
of a picture which first begin to fade are the darker colours, the glazing, and where the colour
is thin; but the lights stand much longer. It is always proper to permit a first coat of colour
to be sufficiently dry, before a second is applied. To ascertain when an oil picture is dry, it must
be breathed upon pretty strongly, and if it take the breath it is dry. The pallet and pencils, when
laid bv, should be constantly cleaned with spirits or oil of turpentine.
SECTION L
OF IMITATION.
IMITATION is the first step and leading principle of the art of painting. It is a very ne-
cessary enquiry therefore for the young student, whom or what he should imitate, and how far
the imitation should be pursued.
The grand object of the painter's imitation is that inexhaustible and ever varying source of
beaut}-—Nature : she should engross the greatest share of his attention ; and he must take her
for his model, in her most singular effects, in her best tempers, and in her best attire. u Nature,"
says a German artist, " is not to be understood to be more perfect than art which imitates it. It
is confessed she offers some views, of which the imitation must for ever remain imperfect; as in
the instance of a claro obscuro : but on the other hand, in every thing relative to beauty of form
imitation may surpass nature. Nature in her productions, is subject to many accidents. Art,
labouring on passive and obedient materials, renders perfect the objects of its creation ; chooses
every thing in nature the most excellent; and collects the different parts and the different beau-
CZ p ties
145
The artist should always consider the distance at which his piece is to be viewed ; for whatever
produces no effect in the situation where the picture is to be placed is labour lost. Those paintings
therefore which are to be placed in high situations; and also very large pieces, which must con-
sequently be viewed at a considerable distance, should have no very minute work ; which would
not only be lost upon the observer, but perhaps by being viewed at a distance, and losing its in-
tended effect, have an awkward and unpleasant appearance.
Landscape painters generally begin their work about the centre of the piece ; they paint the
sky first, and gradually advance from the distant objects to the fore-ground : the back-grounds
of all objects being treated first before the object itself; whereby a great deal of trouble is saved,
which would be occasioned by painting round the objects.
The following cautions and observations should be carefully attended to by the student:—If a
tint be required, while he is at work on a picture, different from any on his pallet, it is better to
mingle the colours which compose it on the pallet with the knife than with a pencil, as the pencil
always retains more of one colour than another, when it is used to incorporate them together,
and thereby the colour with a little working assumes a different hue. One pencil should always
be kept to one colour, otherwise the colours will never appear fresh. Colours should never be
teazed, that is mixed too much, or when, instead of being laid on the canvas at once, they are
too much worked about w ith the pencil. This always injures them, particularly the lighter ones, and.
makes them lose their brilliancy and just effect. A proper allowance must always be made for
that gloss and brilliancy oil colours possess while wet. The decay of colours is, in a great mea-
sure, the consequence of too great a quantity of oil, particularly of the grosser kind : the parts
of a picture which first begin to fade are the darker colours, the glazing, and where the colour
is thin; but the lights stand much longer. It is always proper to permit a first coat of colour
to be sufficiently dry, before a second is applied. To ascertain when an oil picture is dry, it must
be breathed upon pretty strongly, and if it take the breath it is dry. The pallet and pencils, when
laid bv, should be constantly cleaned with spirits or oil of turpentine.
SECTION L
OF IMITATION.
IMITATION is the first step and leading principle of the art of painting. It is a very ne-
cessary enquiry therefore for the young student, whom or what he should imitate, and how far
the imitation should be pursued.
The grand object of the painter's imitation is that inexhaustible and ever varying source of
beaut}-—Nature : she should engross the greatest share of his attention ; and he must take her
for his model, in her most singular effects, in her best tempers, and in her best attire. u Nature,"
says a German artist, " is not to be understood to be more perfect than art which imitates it. It
is confessed she offers some views, of which the imitation must for ever remain imperfect; as in
the instance of a claro obscuro : but on the other hand, in every thing relative to beauty of form
imitation may surpass nature. Nature in her productions, is subject to many accidents. Art,
labouring on passive and obedient materials, renders perfect the objects of its creation ; chooses
every thing in nature the most excellent; and collects the different parts and the different beau-
CZ p ties