A LECTURE ON LANDSCAPE 175 



dominant objects that give beauty, character, or 

 sublimity to the landscape, he should keep all the 

 rest subordinate, though intelligible ; always bear- 

 ing in mind that the eye sees those objects only in 

 detail upon which it is immediately fixed. If, on 

 the other hand, he copies from nature every indi- 

 vidual thing before him exactly as he sees it, when 

 his eye rests upon that individual object alone, he 

 does not represent the scene such as he saw it in 

 nature at one general and comprehensive view, but 

 as it appeared to him by examining separate parts 

 one after the other, each part having a distinct 

 focus. If then he adopts this method of proceed- 

 ing, he will paint upon a false, though a very pre- 

 valent principle, and his picture cannot fail to have 

 an unpleasant and irritating effect. 



" Infelix operis summa, quia ponere totum 

 Nestie^" 



He paused a little to take breath, as well indeed 

 he might ; so I took the opportunity to lay down 

 the law also, and to remark that he must have 

 arrived at his conclusions from a study of the 

 paintings of those eminent masters whose works 

 are sealed with perfection, and sanctified by time, — 

 productions that elevate us above the level of 

 common thought, and carry us into the regions of 

 poetry and romance. 



" In the pictures of Claude, by a happy treat- 

 ment of his subject you see more than the bare 

 materials of common nature. There the glow 

 of Italy lies radiant before you : the eye passes 

 from the flowery foreground, with its tall trees just 



