580 On the Art of Fainting 



public ufe of portrait painting, which fully proves 

 this branch of the art to have been very fafliion- 

 able at that period.* 



In the drawing and colouring of fingle figures 

 the ancients (as appears fronn the preceding 

 pages) muft be allowed equal nnerit with the 

 moderns, and the pafiages jull quoted will fur- 

 nifh no improbable ground of conj.e6ture that 

 they were equally fuccefsful in exprefling the 

 refemblances of perfons. Spirit and animation, 

 cafe and dignity, the ancient ftatues and paintings 

 ftill remaining molt evidently evince were common 

 to the performances of ancient artifts; and as they 

 poffeffed therefore all the requifftes to excel in 

 portrait painting, a branch of the art at all times 

 much in requeft among them, there is good reafon 

 to infer in favour of the ancients, at leaft an equa- 

 lity with the moderns in this refped.f 



• Et noftrse aetatis infaniam in piftura non omittam. Nero 

 princepsjufferat CoLofleum fe pingi CXX. pedum in Linteo, 

 incognitum ad hoc tempos. Ea piftura cum perafta eflet 

 in maianis hortis, accenfa fulmine cum optima hortorum 

 parte conflagravit. Libertus ejus cum daret Antii munus 

 gladiatoriura publicas porticus inveftivit pidtura ut conftat 

 gladiatorum miniftrorumque omnium veris imaginibus red- 

 ditis. Plin. XXXV. 33. 



f Pliny makes diftinft mention of thofe who were cele- 

 brated for f&inung /mall pi^ures i many of whom appear 

 to have been portrait painters. Whether thefe fmall pic- 

 tures (tabula parvee ^ tabulee minores) were of a fize to be 

 regarded as of the fame clafs with the modern miniatures, 

 I can find, no ground of conjefture. Vide XXXV. 37. 



The 



