DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0182
168
LANDSCAPE AND ARCHITECTURE.
is in poetry, the father and founder of his art. His pieces preserve a continual bloom, from the
richness of his colouring, and his just management of light and shadow. They are perfect
models of nature, and consequently display nothing but what is directly conformable to truth ;
and they contain such a happy variety that the casual beholder can hardly refrain from wishing
them to be realized that he might take an excursion into them. His back ground in the Mar-
tyrdom of St. Paul has decidedly been ranked the finest piece of landscape ever produced. In
this picture it is easy to discover the different kinds of trees, by the difference between the bodies
and the leaves of the trees, and the disposition of the branches. In a word there is no part of
landscape in which this great master did not excel; and so near does he come to nature that the
student can copy no better model, except the original herself.
Claude, though an excellent landscape painter, devoted himself mostly to the expression of
light and its effects ; particularly of the natural light in the heavens ; and even ihe glowing
meridian sun which, like the deity, can be represented only by its effects, did not escape his da-
ring but successful pencil. He has left us in his pictures the brightest skies, and the richest and
most glorious cloud-tipt horizon that can well be conceived. The morning dawn, the noon-day
blaze, the setting-sun, and gilded horizon, were equally the successful subjects of his attempts,
The painter therefore who wishes to attain ajust expression of the power of light, must dili-
gently copy his works; for he surpasses all others in his surprising manner of illuminating the
canvas.
When the student has attained to a tolerable proficiency in copying the above works, he should
then take his draughts from nature only. He now puts in practice the result of those reflections
and views of nature which he was above directed to make, before copying those masters. But
as the painter of landscape has a more extended view, and a greater number of objects to exhibit,
^it is absolutely necessary that he follow some certain order, without which he may be at a loss
whereto begin his work, and may find himself much perplexed in his progress; and after a cessa-
tion he might be puzzled, on resuming his task, to recollect the particular order he had adopted
in his own mind, and to which many parts of his picture were to be subservient.
But before he attempt to make a finished draught it is necessary that he take many partial
sketches, to obtain the true .and diversified effects of nature. In this some order is also neces-
sary ; for example, in taking views of trees he should take the different effects of the same kind
of trees in general, and the different effects of each kind in particular, with their trunks leaves and
foliage. These should be done on different papers, with their names situations and whatever re-
marks the student chuse to add, fixed to each. The same method must be pursued in delineating
several sorts of plants, their numbers and different effects are so great; and it is always expected
that the painter of landscape should be individually acquainted with their forms, as they are often
very useful ornaments in terraces, &c. The various effects of the sky also demand a considerable
portion of his attention : these should be noticed at the different times of the day, and the several
seasons of the year; with the tone of colour disposition and ever varying form of the clouds, as
well in stormy as in serene weather, in the uninterrupted sunshine, and in a gloomy sky.
With regard to composing a landscape and arranging its different parts, so as to form one grand
zcliolc, the best and only rule that can be laid down is attentively to study the works of the great
masters; to observe how they singled out their objects and how, while they corrected nature ac-
cording to the rules of their art, they preserved her character. It is however implied that the
painter
LANDSCAPE AND ARCHITECTURE.
is in poetry, the father and founder of his art. His pieces preserve a continual bloom, from the
richness of his colouring, and his just management of light and shadow. They are perfect
models of nature, and consequently display nothing but what is directly conformable to truth ;
and they contain such a happy variety that the casual beholder can hardly refrain from wishing
them to be realized that he might take an excursion into them. His back ground in the Mar-
tyrdom of St. Paul has decidedly been ranked the finest piece of landscape ever produced. In
this picture it is easy to discover the different kinds of trees, by the difference between the bodies
and the leaves of the trees, and the disposition of the branches. In a word there is no part of
landscape in which this great master did not excel; and so near does he come to nature that the
student can copy no better model, except the original herself.
Claude, though an excellent landscape painter, devoted himself mostly to the expression of
light and its effects ; particularly of the natural light in the heavens ; and even ihe glowing
meridian sun which, like the deity, can be represented only by its effects, did not escape his da-
ring but successful pencil. He has left us in his pictures the brightest skies, and the richest and
most glorious cloud-tipt horizon that can well be conceived. The morning dawn, the noon-day
blaze, the setting-sun, and gilded horizon, were equally the successful subjects of his attempts,
The painter therefore who wishes to attain ajust expression of the power of light, must dili-
gently copy his works; for he surpasses all others in his surprising manner of illuminating the
canvas.
When the student has attained to a tolerable proficiency in copying the above works, he should
then take his draughts from nature only. He now puts in practice the result of those reflections
and views of nature which he was above directed to make, before copying those masters. But
as the painter of landscape has a more extended view, and a greater number of objects to exhibit,
^it is absolutely necessary that he follow some certain order, without which he may be at a loss
whereto begin his work, and may find himself much perplexed in his progress; and after a cessa-
tion he might be puzzled, on resuming his task, to recollect the particular order he had adopted
in his own mind, and to which many parts of his picture were to be subservient.
But before he attempt to make a finished draught it is necessary that he take many partial
sketches, to obtain the true .and diversified effects of nature. In this some order is also neces-
sary ; for example, in taking views of trees he should take the different effects of the same kind
of trees in general, and the different effects of each kind in particular, with their trunks leaves and
foliage. These should be done on different papers, with their names situations and whatever re-
marks the student chuse to add, fixed to each. The same method must be pursued in delineating
several sorts of plants, their numbers and different effects are so great; and it is always expected
that the painter of landscape should be individually acquainted with their forms, as they are often
very useful ornaments in terraces, &c. The various effects of the sky also demand a considerable
portion of his attention : these should be noticed at the different times of the day, and the several
seasons of the year; with the tone of colour disposition and ever varying form of the clouds, as
well in stormy as in serene weather, in the uninterrupted sunshine, and in a gloomy sky.
With regard to composing a landscape and arranging its different parts, so as to form one grand
zcliolc, the best and only rule that can be laid down is attentively to study the works of the great
masters; to observe how they singled out their objects and how, while they corrected nature ac-
cording to the rules of their art, they preserved her character. It is however implied that the
painter