96 



but the first early masters ; hence, their dry, cold, and stiff man- 

 ner. This manner is the result of their not studying the pain- 

 ters of the middle period of art, and their looking with contempt 

 upon all that has been done by Michael Angelo, .Raphael, 

 Claude, Poussin, and the whole list of painters of their times, 

 and going back to the early Greek and Italian painters (such 

 as we see in the gallery of this Institution), which are valuable 

 only as illustrations of the History of Art ; while in England 

 our artists use all these masters, studying them carefully — not 

 by copying, but examining and trying them by the test of 

 nature — and with the information thus~gained they constantly 

 resort to the purest source of information, and the conclusions 

 so obtained have given to English Art its originality and 

 poetical character. 



The Erench and Germans draw correctly, but are wanting 

 in colour and effect. 



I cannot speak of our own painters without alluding to the 

 great men of former times ; thus, Claude and Turner may be 

 compared as men possessing minds of no ordinary cast, and 

 such as the page of history but seldom records. 



In the pictures of Claude Loraine we perceive that calmness 

 and repose have been his ruling sentiment. We trace this 

 feeling through almost all his productions ; and his success in 

 this particular has been most complete. He seldom availed 

 himself of the sudden and transient effects of nature ; but his 

 glowing and glorious sunsets cannot be surpassed; his fine 

 extensive distances, and the general harmony of his landscapes 

 must ever remain the theme of admiration ; lus pictures, how- 

 ever, mostly convey the idea that they are not the representa- 

 tion of any real scene, and create in the spectator's mind the 

 feeling that they are composed from various parts in nature, 

 wanting the identity of real life. 



In Turner's pictures we see that he has studied the works 

 both of Claude and Gaspar Poussin, and derived from them 

 just the same advantage which the poets of modern days have 



