55^ On Tainting. 



That beautiful undulating line of grace will alfo be found 

 in the molt agreeable fitting figures. 



NoUrith (landing what may have been faid about " fmoolh- 

 nefs, deftfeacy/' Sec., yet we fhall find on inquiry much of 

 the grace and beauty of the painter and fculptor arifes from 

 what Hogarth has termed the " line of beauty," and which 

 was not only practifed but recommended by M. Angelo, as 

 may be feen in the book on pointing, by Jo. Paul Lomatius, 

 tranflated by Richard Haydocke in 1598 : iQ fo that his 

 meaning is (M. Angelo), that it mould refcmble the form of 

 the letter S placed right, or elfe turned the wrong way, as en; 

 becaufe then it hath his beauty." 



The graceful parts of the antique ftatues poffefs that fweep- 

 ing line of grace : it may be feen too in the figures of Raphael, 

 Parmegiano, &c; and among the more modern artifts, as 

 Reynolds, Mortimer, Cipriani, &c. 



Three things contribute to the beauty of the Venus de 

 Medieis ; its line of grace running unbroken through the 

 whole figure, its form, and the variety and contraft of the 

 parts, as the head with the cheft, and the arms and legs with 

 each other. 



Thofe who fuppofe this character of line affects the general 

 attitude only, are wrong; it will be found to conftitute the 

 general form of the mufcle, if taken detached, and viewed from 

 its rlediy belly to the tendinous part: this, with its interfer- 

 ing angle, gives much of that variety of character obfervable. 

 in human nature. We fometimes fee in overcharged figures 

 the convex lines raifed fo much beyond the limits of nature, 

 that the power of re-entering them again is loft, and the 

 whole form appears heavy and incumbered. This fault 

 fometimes attaches to M. Angelo, but by no means in the 

 extreme aflferted by Mengs, who, fpeaking of that artift, 

 fays, " who feeking to be always great, was always vulgar.'* 

 Such language argues great want of either fenfe or fincerity : 

 by the way, his favourite Raphael is not entirely free from 

 the charge of heavinefs, in his women in particular. 



The Hercules Farnefe of Glicon is a fine example of the 

 well-ordered railing and interfering of the mufcles in a figure 

 pofiefimg the appearance of great paflive ftrength : but feW 

 fimilar examples will occur to the artift in the courfe of his 

 practice. : 



That figure forms the extreme point one way, 'and the 

 Apollo Beividere (or Pytheus), the other, for beauty ; beyond 

 which it is impoflible to travel without being abfurd : the 

 xpean between thole two is the fighting Gladiator (as it is 



called). 



