among the Ancients. ^2^ 



at large, and which requires the leafl: portion of 

 technical fkill to decide upon. 



Indeed, the ftare of iculpture alone among the 

 ancients would aloioft furnlfh a conclufive proof 

 that the fifter art of painting could not be 

 deficient in a qualification which the former fo 

 eminently pofleffed; more efpecially, as they both 

 attained a high degree of perfe6lion about the 

 fame period, and the mod famous artift in each, 

 flourilhed nearly at the fame time. Among the 

 ancient ftatues alfo that yet remain, expreffion is 

 carried to a wonderful height -, not merely the 

 features of the face, but almoft every mufcle of 

 the body, combining to enforce the idea intended 

 to be conveyed. This may be remarked of the 

 Laocoon, the flave liftening to the Confpirators, 

 the dying Gladiator, the Venus, Apollo, Hercules, 

 Antinous, &c. wherein every portion of the per- 

 formance is charatSteriftic. 



Mr. Webb* very properly obferves that " the 

 " ancients thought characters and manners fo 

 " effential to painting that they exprefsly term 

 " pifture, an art defcriptive of the manners, f 

 " Ariftotle in his Poetics J fays of Polygnotus 

 " that he was a painter of the manners, and 

 <« objeds to Zeuxis, his weaknefs in this part. 



• On Painting and Poetry, 149. 

 t H997ro(>fl(^ rexvK' Callifth. in Defcrip. Stat. JECcahp. 

 X HS5yfap(2>-. 



«Wc 



