DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.75271#0035
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the set, and have made those figures appear less considerable; there
would have been too much boat, and too little figure. It is amiss as
it is, but would have been worse any other way, as it frequently hap-
pens in other cases. Rafaelle, therefore, wisely chose this lesser in-
convenience, this seeming error, which he knew the judicious would
know was none; and for the rest he was above being selicitous for his
reputation with them. So that upon the whole, this is so far srom
being a fault, that it is an instance of the great judgment of that in-
comparable man, which he learned in his great school the Antique,
where this liberty is commonly taken.
He has departed from historical truth in the pillars that are at the
beautiful gate of the temple; the imagery is by no means agreeable
to the superstition of the Jews at that time, and all along after the
captivity, Nor were those kind of pillars known even in antique
architecture in any nation; but they are so nobly invented by
Rafaelle, and so prodigiously magnificent, that it would have been a
pity if he had not indulged himself in this piece of licentiousness,
which undoubtedly he knew to be such.
But these liberties must be taken with great caution and judgment;
for in the main, historical, and natural truth musf be observed, the
story may be embellished, or something of it pared away, but Rill so
as it may be immediately known; nor musf any thing be contrary to
nature, but upon great necessity, and apparent reason. History must
not be corrupted, and turned into fable, or romance : every person,
and thing must be made to sustain its proper character; and not only
the story, but the circumstances must be observed, the seene of ac-
tion, the country, or place, the habits, arms, manners, proportions,
and the like, must correspond. This is called the observing the
Coslume. The story of the woman taken in adultery must not be re-
presented in the open air, but in the temple. If that of Alexander
coming to Diogenes, and the cynick desiring him not to deprive him
of what he could not give, the light of the sun; I say, if this be paint-
ed,
the set, and have made those figures appear less considerable; there
would have been too much boat, and too little figure. It is amiss as
it is, but would have been worse any other way, as it frequently hap-
pens in other cases. Rafaelle, therefore, wisely chose this lesser in-
convenience, this seeming error, which he knew the judicious would
know was none; and for the rest he was above being selicitous for his
reputation with them. So that upon the whole, this is so far srom
being a fault, that it is an instance of the great judgment of that in-
comparable man, which he learned in his great school the Antique,
where this liberty is commonly taken.
He has departed from historical truth in the pillars that are at the
beautiful gate of the temple; the imagery is by no means agreeable
to the superstition of the Jews at that time, and all along after the
captivity, Nor were those kind of pillars known even in antique
architecture in any nation; but they are so nobly invented by
Rafaelle, and so prodigiously magnificent, that it would have been a
pity if he had not indulged himself in this piece of licentiousness,
which undoubtedly he knew to be such.
But these liberties must be taken with great caution and judgment;
for in the main, historical, and natural truth musf be observed, the
story may be embellished, or something of it pared away, but Rill so
as it may be immediately known; nor musf any thing be contrary to
nature, but upon great necessity, and apparent reason. History must
not be corrupted, and turned into fable, or romance : every person,
and thing must be made to sustain its proper character; and not only
the story, but the circumstances must be observed, the seene of ac-
tion, the country, or place, the habits, arms, manners, proportions,
and the like, must correspond. This is called the observing the
Coslume. The story of the woman taken in adultery must not be re-
presented in the open air, but in the temple. If that of Alexander
coming to Diogenes, and the cynick desiring him not to deprive him
of what he could not give, the light of the sun; I say, if this be paint-
ed,