DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0208
I
194 COSTUME.
brings Benedictine Monks to the Marriage at Cana: when in a picture of the Crucifixion he
dresses Roman soldiers in the jerkins of his own time, and adorns their heads with turbans : when.
Guido, in a painting of our Saviour appearing to Mary after his resurrection, places St. Charles
Borromeo in a desk in the back-ground, as a witness of the interview : when Tintoret represent-
ing the miraculous fall of manna, arms the Israelites with muskets : when Correggio appoints St,
Jerome as the instructor of the infant Jesus ; when these things are done our common sense
revolts at the impropriety.
As tiie errors of the most eminent men are always the most dangerous, particularly to begin-
ners, the following strictures on much-admired productions of the late excellent President of the
Royal Academy, by the pen of a very ingenious writer, cannot fail to be of service to the young
artist :—" Mrs. Siddons is represented by Sir Joshua in the character (it is said) of the Tragic
Muse: she is placed in an old-fashioned -arm-chair: this arm-chair is supported by clouds sus-
pended in the air. On each side of her head is a figure, not unapt to suggest the idea of the at-
tendant imps of mi enchantress. Of these figures one is supposed to represent Comed.v and the
other Trasjedy. Mrs. Siddons herself is decentlv attired in the fashionable habiliments of twenty
" or thirty years ago.
" If this be a picture of the Tragic M use she ought not to appear in a modern dress, nor
ought she to be seated in an old arm-chair. If it be a portraiture of Mrs. S. she has no business
in the clouds, nor has she any thing to do with aerial attendants. If this be Mrs. S. in the cha-
racter of the Tragic Muse the first set of objections will apply; for she is placed in a situation
where Mrs. S. could never be.
" Again, in the picture of the Death of Dido her sister is introduced, lamenting over the corpse
of the unfortunate queen. This is possible; but the artist has also introduced Jtropus cutting-
Dido's hair with her scissars ; a being equally real and apparent in the painting with Dido oi-
lier sister. This appears to be an offence against mythological probability : but it is not the only
offence against the truth of costume with which the picture may be charged."
There is still one other breach of the costume, however common among painters, more offen-
sive and inexcusable than any thing hitherto noticed; that is, the perpetual and unnecessary dis-
play of the naked figure. This is not the place to enquire whether more skill be displayed in
painting the human body clothed or unclothed ; but if the persons introduced in any picture are
exhibited more naked than can be justified, by the probability of the times, persons, places, or
other circumstances, this manner of treating the subject is abroach of the costume proportion-
ate to the deviation. This fault however is so common, and authorised by the example of so
many of the most eminent artists,, that it is hardly noticed, when compared with the more violent
. offences against science itself,as well as against morality, which have been the opprobrium of the
*art of painting, in every stage of its progress.
Before we quit this part of the subject it may be proper to say a few words of what has been
called the balance of painters. This balance, or as it ought more properly to be named, this
scale, was first published by Depilts, a celebrated French critic who by his writings has thrown
much light upon painting in general. His object was to assist young artists in forming a right
judgement of those masters who hold the highest rank in their profession, and to reduce such
judgement to the greatest precision, by comparing their several merits in the most accurate
manner. m
Merit Dcpiles divides into four classes,—Composition, Design, Colouring, and Expression :
ami
194 COSTUME.
brings Benedictine Monks to the Marriage at Cana: when in a picture of the Crucifixion he
dresses Roman soldiers in the jerkins of his own time, and adorns their heads with turbans : when.
Guido, in a painting of our Saviour appearing to Mary after his resurrection, places St. Charles
Borromeo in a desk in the back-ground, as a witness of the interview : when Tintoret represent-
ing the miraculous fall of manna, arms the Israelites with muskets : when Correggio appoints St,
Jerome as the instructor of the infant Jesus ; when these things are done our common sense
revolts at the impropriety.
As tiie errors of the most eminent men are always the most dangerous, particularly to begin-
ners, the following strictures on much-admired productions of the late excellent President of the
Royal Academy, by the pen of a very ingenious writer, cannot fail to be of service to the young
artist :—" Mrs. Siddons is represented by Sir Joshua in the character (it is said) of the Tragic
Muse: she is placed in an old-fashioned -arm-chair: this arm-chair is supported by clouds sus-
pended in the air. On each side of her head is a figure, not unapt to suggest the idea of the at-
tendant imps of mi enchantress. Of these figures one is supposed to represent Comed.v and the
other Trasjedy. Mrs. Siddons herself is decentlv attired in the fashionable habiliments of twenty
" or thirty years ago.
" If this be a picture of the Tragic M use she ought not to appear in a modern dress, nor
ought she to be seated in an old arm-chair. If it be a portraiture of Mrs. S. she has no business
in the clouds, nor has she any thing to do with aerial attendants. If this be Mrs. S. in the cha-
racter of the Tragic Muse the first set of objections will apply; for she is placed in a situation
where Mrs. S. could never be.
" Again, in the picture of the Death of Dido her sister is introduced, lamenting over the corpse
of the unfortunate queen. This is possible; but the artist has also introduced Jtropus cutting-
Dido's hair with her scissars ; a being equally real and apparent in the painting with Dido oi-
lier sister. This appears to be an offence against mythological probability : but it is not the only
offence against the truth of costume with which the picture may be charged."
There is still one other breach of the costume, however common among painters, more offen-
sive and inexcusable than any thing hitherto noticed; that is, the perpetual and unnecessary dis-
play of the naked figure. This is not the place to enquire whether more skill be displayed in
painting the human body clothed or unclothed ; but if the persons introduced in any picture are
exhibited more naked than can be justified, by the probability of the times, persons, places, or
other circumstances, this manner of treating the subject is abroach of the costume proportion-
ate to the deviation. This fault however is so common, and authorised by the example of so
many of the most eminent artists,, that it is hardly noticed, when compared with the more violent
. offences against science itself,as well as against morality, which have been the opprobrium of the
*art of painting, in every stage of its progress.
Before we quit this part of the subject it may be proper to say a few words of what has been
called the balance of painters. This balance, or as it ought more properly to be named, this
scale, was first published by Depilts, a celebrated French critic who by his writings has thrown
much light upon painting in general. His object was to assist young artists in forming a right
judgement of those masters who hold the highest rank in their profession, and to reduce such
judgement to the greatest precision, by comparing their several merits in the most accurate
manner. m
Merit Dcpiles divides into four classes,—Composition, Design, Colouring, and Expression :
ami