DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.73712#0083
ANTHONY RAPHAEL MENGS.
65
had never seen a painting which spoke so strong-
ly to the passions as that does. " That though
" amorigst other capital performances one stops
" and feels that Rubens has touched the pafr
" sions with something more than a painter's,
" with a poet's hand. Contemplating this pic-
“ ture, I could not help calling to mind the
" bitterness of Mengs' criticism when he is
" comparing Rubens' copy of Titian to a
" Dutch translation of an elegant author; and
" in this train of thinking I could not avoid
" drawing a comparison in my mind between
" the piece before me, and that which Mengs
" himself has composed on the dike subje&.
“ The scene is the same, the a&ors the same,
" and the catastrophe not to be diversified: But
" with Mengs all is lifeless, cold and flat; me-
" thodized by art and measured by rule; the
" group of an Academy, sitters for attitudes,
" and hirelings for sorrow; the dead body of
" the Chrisi is laid out, and in like manner ex-
" posed to view in the one case as in the other,
“ but what a contrast! Mengs has indeed la-
“ boured hard to make a beautiful corpse; he
" has rounded the muscles and polished the skin,
" and given it such a hue that it ceases to be
" slesh and is a shining waxen figure with no
" trace of pain or susferings past; look upon the
" other and you contemplate, as it should seem
“ the very person, who himself bore our
" SORROWS ON THE TREE BY WHOSE STRIPES
“ we are HEALED. Yet Mengs is the Au-
" thor whom courtly prejudice has put above
vol. I. K
65
had never seen a painting which spoke so strong-
ly to the passions as that does. " That though
" amorigst other capital performances one stops
" and feels that Rubens has touched the pafr
" sions with something more than a painter's,
" with a poet's hand. Contemplating this pic-
“ ture, I could not help calling to mind the
" bitterness of Mengs' criticism when he is
" comparing Rubens' copy of Titian to a
" Dutch translation of an elegant author; and
" in this train of thinking I could not avoid
" drawing a comparison in my mind between
" the piece before me, and that which Mengs
" himself has composed on the dike subje&.
“ The scene is the same, the a&ors the same,
" and the catastrophe not to be diversified: But
" with Mengs all is lifeless, cold and flat; me-
" thodized by art and measured by rule; the
" group of an Academy, sitters for attitudes,
" and hirelings for sorrow; the dead body of
" the Chrisi is laid out, and in like manner ex-
" posed to view in the one case as in the other,
“ but what a contrast! Mengs has indeed la-
“ boured hard to make a beautiful corpse; he
" has rounded the muscles and polished the skin,
" and given it such a hue that it ceases to be
" slesh and is a shining waxen figure with no
" trace of pain or susferings past; look upon the
" other and you contemplate, as it should seem
“ the very person, who himself bore our
" SORROWS ON THE TREE BY WHOSE STRIPES
“ we are HEALED. Yet Mengs is the Au-
" thor whom courtly prejudice has put above
vol. I. K