among th6 Ancients. j|4j 



Maximus Tyrius * obferves that bright and 

 vivid colours are always pleafant to the eye, but 

 this pleafure is always lelTened if you omit to 

 accompany them with fomewhat dark and gloo- 

 my. Thefe paffages feem to imply a knowledge 

 of the ufe of cold and dark tints even where a 

 brilliancy of tone was required. The beft among 

 the ancient painters, however, feem to have pre- 

 ferred a chafte and fober ftile of colouring to the 

 gaudinefs and flutter of the later artifts. And it 

 is worth notice, that in this refpeft the progrefs 

 of the art has been exaftly fimilar among the 

 ancients as among the moderns. The older 

 artifts of both periods, and thofe who have efta- 

 blifhed the higheft reputation for excellence in 

 the fublimer walks of the art, feem in a great 

 degree to have negledled colouring, and conftantly 

 beftowed an inferior Ihare of attention upon it. 

 The lower clafs of painters, and the later fchools, 

 thofe who paint to the eye rather than to the 

 mind, have principally excelled in that which 

 their fuperiors negleded. Among the ancients, 

 Zeuxis, Apelles and the earlieft and beft of the 

 artifts appear (at leaft frequently) to have trufted 

 to four colours only. Apelles went fo far as to 

 cover his paintings with a brown varnifh to give 

 them the defired mellownefs and fobriety of tone : 

 Unum-\ imitari nemopotuit quod abjolutdoferaatramenti 



• Diflert. 35. o^Sa^^oij fi^ov, &c. f Plin. XXXV. 35. 



illinebat 



