582 On the Art of Fainting 



alfo exprefsly mentioned of Ludiiis, that he 

 painted upon walls (parietum pi£furam) and that 

 he ornamented them at a flight expence (mini- 

 moque impendio). It is not thus that a modern 

 connoiffeur would mention the performances, of 

 Salvator Rofa, Claude, Pouflin, Wilfon or Lou- 

 therberg. 



> Nor do the remaining performances of ancient 

 artifts, that can in any wife rank under the 

 denomination of landfcapes, convey a fuperior 

 idea of their (kill. The paltry grotefque paint- 

 ings of this kind that are to be found among the 

 remains of Herculaneum, and copied in the 

 collection of Herculafiean antiquities are un- 

 worthy the loweft clafs of modern painters ; nor 

 do the Nymphaea, or the paintings in the fepul- 

 chre of the Nafonii (fo far as we can decide from 

 the copies of Lucas HollVenius and Bellori*), 

 much advance the reputation of the ancient 

 artifts. The evident want of fkill in the group- 

 ing of the objects, in the proportion and dif- 

 pofition of the light and Ihade, in the perfpeftive, 

 in the drawing, and in every other part of thefc 

 performances is below criticifm. 



The antique paintings yet remaining, are cer- 

 tainly the works of inferior artifts ;f but the 

 fpirit, eafe and correftnefs of the drawing, the 



• Graev. Tom. XII. 

 f Winckleman Hift de I'Art. vol. II. p. 103, &c. 



force 



