Mengs, Anton Raphael; Nibiano, José Nicolás de Azara de [Hrsg.]; Mengs, Anton Raphael [Mitarb.]: The works of Anthony Raphael Mengs: first painter to His Catholic Majesty Charles III. (Band 1) (London: Faulder, 1796)

RAPHAEL MENGS. 197
fer the Clare Obscure of Titian to that of Cor-
reggio; but as I ought to underhand these
things they could not persuade me in the same
way.

CH A P. V.
OF THE IDEAL OF TITIAN.
Titian had very little Ideal in design. In
clare obscure he had sufficient to underhand na-
ture ; not however as much as Correggio, be-
cause his clare obscure is not so abundant and
general. In colouring he was much more Ideal,
by having well known the characters and de-
grees of each colour, as also the proper place in
which to apply them. The science of placing
a red cloth in preference to a blue one, &c. is
not so easy as is imagined ; and this is what Ti-
tian underhood in the highest perfection. He
likewise very well knew the harmony of co-
lours, which is in part Ideal, and which one
sees not in nature if it be not first comprehended
in the imagination. I say the same of clare ob-
scure ; because the degradation of light has not
in painting the same force as in Nature: the same
happens to harmony and colours, where pure
imitation serves as nothing.