DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62818#0024
xviii
INTRODUCTION.
submitted for the reader’s consideration, and, perhaps,
will not be deemed misplaced.
In general, an artist has several manners of painting,
which, in terms of the art, are usually confined to three.
The first partakes of the school in which the Painter
received his early instruction ; his style at this period is
commonly neat and careful, finished with a servile imi-
tation of the manner of his master, and an observance of
the minutiae of objects; a gradual advance leads to a
second manner, which, being the result of more expe-
rienced study, is considered the best period ; the third
proceeds from long practice, by which great facility of
handling and execution are acquired, and this is often
attended by negligence in drawing, and a dependence
upon the memory for a recollection of objects, instead
of consulting nature ; and the artist not unfrequently
degenerates into what is termed mannerism.
Painters not only have what is called their best time,
but they have also successful moments, in which they
surpass their general productions, either in subject,
composition, expression, colour, or effect; so that some-
times a felicitous union of all these grand desiderata is
attained, as will be exemplified in the copious Catalogue
of Original Pictures, which is the main object of this
work. Pictures of this kind are rarely found in the
market, and when they do appear for sale, are readily
purchased by the real connoisseur, at very liberal prices.
Some painters, whose works in general are but little
esteemed, and whose names even are almost unknown
in commerce, have occasionally produced pictures equal
to those of acknowledged first-rate masters; such
INTRODUCTION.
submitted for the reader’s consideration, and, perhaps,
will not be deemed misplaced.
In general, an artist has several manners of painting,
which, in terms of the art, are usually confined to three.
The first partakes of the school in which the Painter
received his early instruction ; his style at this period is
commonly neat and careful, finished with a servile imi-
tation of the manner of his master, and an observance of
the minutiae of objects; a gradual advance leads to a
second manner, which, being the result of more expe-
rienced study, is considered the best period ; the third
proceeds from long practice, by which great facility of
handling and execution are acquired, and this is often
attended by negligence in drawing, and a dependence
upon the memory for a recollection of objects, instead
of consulting nature ; and the artist not unfrequently
degenerates into what is termed mannerism.
Painters not only have what is called their best time,
but they have also successful moments, in which they
surpass their general productions, either in subject,
composition, expression, colour, or effect; so that some-
times a felicitous union of all these grand desiderata is
attained, as will be exemplified in the copious Catalogue
of Original Pictures, which is the main object of this
work. Pictures of this kind are rarely found in the
market, and when they do appear for sale, are readily
purchased by the real connoisseur, at very liberal prices.
Some painters, whose works in general are but little
esteemed, and whose names even are almost unknown
in commerce, have occasionally produced pictures equal
to those of acknowledged first-rate masters; such