DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.870#0014
connoisseurs who are accustomed to regulate their opinions of art by the gusto of some favourite
master, are, at their first introduction to this admirable collection, puzzled in no small degree
whether to admire or condemn. Truth, however, ultimately prevails. Each repeated inspection
unfolds new beauties, confirms the superiority of these transcendent master-pieces of art, and
justifies their being held up as the standard of excellence and the touchstone of taste.
It is a curious coincidence that Sir Joshua Reynolds seems to have manifested the same doubt
and insensibility, on his first viewing the works of the immortal Raffaelle in the Vatican. He
expresses himself upon that occasion in the following words, " Though disappointed, in justice to
myself I did not for a moment suppose that the works of Raffaelle, and those admirable paintings in
particular, owed their reputation to the ignorance and prejudice of mankind; on the contrary, my not
relishing them was one of the most humiliating circumstances that ever happened to me. I found
myself in the midst of works executed upon principles with which I was unacquainted; I felt
my ignorance, and stood abashed. All the indigested notions of painting which I had brought
with me from England, where the art was at its lowest ebb, were to be totally done away and
eradicated from my mind. It was necessary, as is expressed on a more solemn occasion, that I
should become as a little child. Notwithstanding my disappointment, I proceeded to copy some of
those admirable works. I viewed them again and again. I even affected to feel their merit more
than I really did. In a short time a new taste and new perceptions began to dawn upon me, and I
was convinced that I had originally formed a false opinion of the perfection of art, and that
this great painter was well entitled to the high rank which he holds in the estimation of the world.
master, are, at their first introduction to this admirable collection, puzzled in no small degree
whether to admire or condemn. Truth, however, ultimately prevails. Each repeated inspection
unfolds new beauties, confirms the superiority of these transcendent master-pieces of art, and
justifies their being held up as the standard of excellence and the touchstone of taste.
It is a curious coincidence that Sir Joshua Reynolds seems to have manifested the same doubt
and insensibility, on his first viewing the works of the immortal Raffaelle in the Vatican. He
expresses himself upon that occasion in the following words, " Though disappointed, in justice to
myself I did not for a moment suppose that the works of Raffaelle, and those admirable paintings in
particular, owed their reputation to the ignorance and prejudice of mankind; on the contrary, my not
relishing them was one of the most humiliating circumstances that ever happened to me. I found
myself in the midst of works executed upon principles with which I was unacquainted; I felt
my ignorance, and stood abashed. All the indigested notions of painting which I had brought
with me from England, where the art was at its lowest ebb, were to be totally done away and
eradicated from my mind. It was necessary, as is expressed on a more solemn occasion, that I
should become as a little child. Notwithstanding my disappointment, I proceeded to copy some of
those admirable works. I viewed them again and again. I even affected to feel their merit more
than I really did. In a short time a new taste and new perceptions began to dawn upon me, and I
was convinced that I had originally formed a false opinion of the perfection of art, and that
this great painter was well entitled to the high rank which he holds in the estimation of the world.