Smith, Thomas [Hrsg.]: The Art Of Drawing In Its Various Branches: Exemplified In A Course Of Twenty-Eight progressive Lessons, Calculated To Afford Those Who Are Unacquainted With The Art, The Means Of Acquiring A Competent Knowledge Without The Aid Of A Master ; Being The Only Work Of The Kind In Which The Principles Of Effect Are Explained In A Clear, Methodical, And At The Same Time Familiar Style. Illustrated With Coloured Designs And Numerous Wood Engravings (London, 1827)

99

ON THE

THEORY OF EFFECT.

LESSON XXV.

On the Theory of Effect.

The generally received meaning of the word Effect is
that scientific arrangement of form, of light and shade,
and of colour, by which an artist skilled in its rules
renders his representations of nature more striking, at-
tractive, and beautiful, than he, who equally clever in
the mere imitation of objects, is at the same time totally
ignorant of the principles of Effect; for the student must
not suppose that a perfect representation of an object in
nature is sufficient; no—he must also learn to know
whether that object be in a good state of light and shade,
colour, &c., before he makes a drawing of it; and should
he never be able to see it in that state, he must supply
the deficiency from his own imagination according to
those rules which every artist of merit possesses, I might
say intuitively, as there are many who, at the same time
that they are capable of producing a very good effect, are
also unable to say by what rules it is produced.

Effect consists in the proper admixture and skilful
union of the two opposite qualities of which it is com-