DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0238
224
PORTRAIT PAINTING.
The third and last Painting.
Here it is sometimes requisite to apply an oiling; but it ought to be done with the smallest
possible quantity, using a pencil or stump-tool, adapted to the spot to be oiled, that no other may
be in the least touched; after which the oiled place must be wiped with a piece of a silk
handkerchief, that no more oil may remain on the work than is necessary.
An infinite variety of tints are requisite in finishing objects of all sorts, especially in trees, by
which a rich harmonious colouring is produced. As green colours are apt to fade and lose their
brightness, sometimes turning very dark, it is proper to improve and strengthen them by even
exaggerating the lights: and for the same reason great care ought to be used not to overcharge
and destroy the beauty of the glazing, lest it become dull and heavy, and consequently dark.
In painting trees near the eye, it is usual to lay on the first colour approaching to that of
nature, but not so dark, and more in the mode of a middle tint; following it up with improving
the middle tints, and strengthening the shadows. Last of all, the high lights and finishing
colours are to be applied. All this however is not to be properlj* executed at one painting; the
best way therefore is to do no more than just the first lay with the fainter shadows; when this is
dry, then the middle tints and shadows should be touched and improved ; and suffering the piece
to stand till these last parts are likewise dry, the third and last operation begins,which consists in
adding all the lights and the finishing colours, in the most masterly manner the painter possesses.
By thus leaving the first and second parts each to dry, the whole work becomes much easier, and
more agreeable in the performance, and the colours appear to the greatest advantage ; as great
part of the work may be done with glazing and scumbling ; and in some places no oiling will be
necessary. The lights also may be applied with a better body of colour, without any danger of
their being mixed and injured by the ground-colouring while wet. What is here observed,
regarding the manner of painting trees, is easily applicable to all sorts of shrubs, bushes, &c.
The figures in a landscape are the last executed parts of the work : beginning with those in the
foreground, and then proceeding to those at the greatest distance: by which means a standard
will be obtained for proportioning such figures as may occur in the intermediate spaces, according
to their respective situations with respect to the spectator and to each other, and the trees,
buildings, or other objects in their vicinity. It is hardly necessary to remark that the shadows
of the figures ought to be of the same colour with those of the connecting group or place where
these figures appear.
SECTION II.
OF PORTRAIT PAINTING, WITH AIR, ATTITUDE, &C.
IF the excellence of all painting consist in an imitation of nature, this imitation is peculiarly
requisite in a portrait, as not only resembling the human species in general, but some individual
person, and therefore possessing those particular features and other circumstances by which this
individual is distinguished from all others. To produce this personal resemblance a judicious
selection of these circumstances is necessary; and the painter is expected to chuse the most
favourable position of the head or attitude of the whole body, as well as the peculiar moments of
outward indications of the predominant, or at least the most desirable emotions of the mind;
that his production may be a correct representation of the whole person he is employed to paint.
Every
PORTRAIT PAINTING.
The third and last Painting.
Here it is sometimes requisite to apply an oiling; but it ought to be done with the smallest
possible quantity, using a pencil or stump-tool, adapted to the spot to be oiled, that no other may
be in the least touched; after which the oiled place must be wiped with a piece of a silk
handkerchief, that no more oil may remain on the work than is necessary.
An infinite variety of tints are requisite in finishing objects of all sorts, especially in trees, by
which a rich harmonious colouring is produced. As green colours are apt to fade and lose their
brightness, sometimes turning very dark, it is proper to improve and strengthen them by even
exaggerating the lights: and for the same reason great care ought to be used not to overcharge
and destroy the beauty of the glazing, lest it become dull and heavy, and consequently dark.
In painting trees near the eye, it is usual to lay on the first colour approaching to that of
nature, but not so dark, and more in the mode of a middle tint; following it up with improving
the middle tints, and strengthening the shadows. Last of all, the high lights and finishing
colours are to be applied. All this however is not to be properlj* executed at one painting; the
best way therefore is to do no more than just the first lay with the fainter shadows; when this is
dry, then the middle tints and shadows should be touched and improved ; and suffering the piece
to stand till these last parts are likewise dry, the third and last operation begins,which consists in
adding all the lights and the finishing colours, in the most masterly manner the painter possesses.
By thus leaving the first and second parts each to dry, the whole work becomes much easier, and
more agreeable in the performance, and the colours appear to the greatest advantage ; as great
part of the work may be done with glazing and scumbling ; and in some places no oiling will be
necessary. The lights also may be applied with a better body of colour, without any danger of
their being mixed and injured by the ground-colouring while wet. What is here observed,
regarding the manner of painting trees, is easily applicable to all sorts of shrubs, bushes, &c.
The figures in a landscape are the last executed parts of the work : beginning with those in the
foreground, and then proceeding to those at the greatest distance: by which means a standard
will be obtained for proportioning such figures as may occur in the intermediate spaces, according
to their respective situations with respect to the spectator and to each other, and the trees,
buildings, or other objects in their vicinity. It is hardly necessary to remark that the shadows
of the figures ought to be of the same colour with those of the connecting group or place where
these figures appear.
SECTION II.
OF PORTRAIT PAINTING, WITH AIR, ATTITUDE, &C.
IF the excellence of all painting consist in an imitation of nature, this imitation is peculiarly
requisite in a portrait, as not only resembling the human species in general, but some individual
person, and therefore possessing those particular features and other circumstances by which this
individual is distinguished from all others. To produce this personal resemblance a judicious
selection of these circumstances is necessary; and the painter is expected to chuse the most
favourable position of the head or attitude of the whole body, as well as the peculiar moments of
outward indications of the predominant, or at least the most desirable emotions of the mind;
that his production may be a correct representation of the whole person he is employed to paint.
Every