DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0191
DISPOSITION.
177
n On examining a Gothic building we soon discover how admirably the parts, are constructed,
for the eye to embrace the whole. The column is generally an assemblage of vertical mould-
ings, or a bundle of rods, which act as conductors to the eye. The capitals present little or no-
interruption to the sight which glides along the pointed arch, and comprehends the whole upper
portion of the edifice. One of these vertical rods forming the column pierces through the capi-
tal and ascends to the roof, and from it spring the ribs of the vaulting.
" The exterior of a Gothic edifice produces similar effects to the interior : the vertical rods
of the columns run up to the top of the pediment and the terminating pinnacle ; and the pyrami-
tlical buttresses on the outer sides produce similar effects on the eye of the beholder."
The study of architecture is of great use to the student in many respects. By this he will be*
come acquainted with the forms of the temples, baths, basilics, theatres, and other buildings of an-
tiquity. Besides, from an examination of the bas-reliefs which generally adorn these buildings,
he may collect, with equal pleasure and advantage, information respecting the sacrifices of the
ancients, their arms, their dress, and many other particulars, hardly to be known from any other
source.
The study of landscape will on the other hand naturally lead the young artist to cultivate an
acquaintance with, and to know the peculiar forms and colours of the various vegetables be-
longing to each soil and climate, and of all other things which serve to particularize the several
regions of the earth. Thus by degrees he will learn what, in the language of art, is called
Costume, one of the principal requisites for a painter; as by it he is. enabled to express with
precision the time and place in which occurred the scene he has adopted for the display of his
imitative powers.
SECTION V.
OF DISPOSITION.
WHEN the painter has chosen the subject of his intended work, his peculiar skill appears
by the manner in which he narrates, if we may so speak, the circumstances of the story. The
poet and the historian have in some respects great advantages over the painter, in being able to
prepare the mind of their reader, by a gradual and natural display of such events and accidents
as lead him to a full comprehension of the subject handled. The painter on the other hand is
restricted to one particular action of his story, to absolute unity of time and place.
It is therefore incumbent on him to fix on that particular point of his subject which affords
the most natural opportunity, not only of expressing his main scope itself, but of conveying to
the spectator an idea of the circumstances which preceded and followed it.
Invention must therefore be a most important point in the science of painting; and without
an excellence in this part of the art no man can ever rise to the reputation of a great painter.
By invention it is not meant to express the discovery and representation on canvas of the
truth of all circumstances as they actually took place, in the scene presented to the eye, but only
all such as are probable.
By this probability may be introduced whatever is intimately connected with the subject, and
likewise whatever, by its sublimity or beauty, may be most capable of exciting the desired feel-
2 z inga
177
n On examining a Gothic building we soon discover how admirably the parts, are constructed,
for the eye to embrace the whole. The column is generally an assemblage of vertical mould-
ings, or a bundle of rods, which act as conductors to the eye. The capitals present little or no-
interruption to the sight which glides along the pointed arch, and comprehends the whole upper
portion of the edifice. One of these vertical rods forming the column pierces through the capi-
tal and ascends to the roof, and from it spring the ribs of the vaulting.
" The exterior of a Gothic edifice produces similar effects to the interior : the vertical rods
of the columns run up to the top of the pediment and the terminating pinnacle ; and the pyrami-
tlical buttresses on the outer sides produce similar effects on the eye of the beholder."
The study of architecture is of great use to the student in many respects. By this he will be*
come acquainted with the forms of the temples, baths, basilics, theatres, and other buildings of an-
tiquity. Besides, from an examination of the bas-reliefs which generally adorn these buildings,
he may collect, with equal pleasure and advantage, information respecting the sacrifices of the
ancients, their arms, their dress, and many other particulars, hardly to be known from any other
source.
The study of landscape will on the other hand naturally lead the young artist to cultivate an
acquaintance with, and to know the peculiar forms and colours of the various vegetables be-
longing to each soil and climate, and of all other things which serve to particularize the several
regions of the earth. Thus by degrees he will learn what, in the language of art, is called
Costume, one of the principal requisites for a painter; as by it he is. enabled to express with
precision the time and place in which occurred the scene he has adopted for the display of his
imitative powers.
SECTION V.
OF DISPOSITION.
WHEN the painter has chosen the subject of his intended work, his peculiar skill appears
by the manner in which he narrates, if we may so speak, the circumstances of the story. The
poet and the historian have in some respects great advantages over the painter, in being able to
prepare the mind of their reader, by a gradual and natural display of such events and accidents
as lead him to a full comprehension of the subject handled. The painter on the other hand is
restricted to one particular action of his story, to absolute unity of time and place.
It is therefore incumbent on him to fix on that particular point of his subject which affords
the most natural opportunity, not only of expressing his main scope itself, but of conveying to
the spectator an idea of the circumstances which preceded and followed it.
Invention must therefore be a most important point in the science of painting; and without
an excellence in this part of the art no man can ever rise to the reputation of a great painter.
By invention it is not meant to express the discovery and representation on canvas of the
truth of all circumstances as they actually took place, in the scene presented to the eye, but only
all such as are probable.
By this probability may be introduced whatever is intimately connected with the subject, and
likewise whatever, by its sublimity or beauty, may be most capable of exciting the desired feel-
2 z inga