1 (jO Cursory Strictures on Modern Art. 



which it has neilhcir connection or harmony, and in 'Jvhich 

 it appears eqnally disgusting and deformed ! The first mo- 

 numents he raised of this kind were two in the Chigi chapel 

 in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, in Rome : this 

 novelty soon found its way into every country in Europe ; 

 our Westminster abbey is an unfortunate instance of its 

 prevalence. Rysbrack and Roubiliac spread the popularity 

 of this taste in England ; bat as the first of these sculptors 

 was a mere workman, too insipid to give pleasure, and too 

 dull to offend greatly, we shall dismiss him without further 

 notice. The other deserves more attention. Roubiliac was 

 an enthusiast in his art, possessed of considerable talents : 

 he copied vulgar nature with zeal, and some of his figures 

 seem alive ; but their characters are mean, their expressions 

 grimace, and their forms frequently bad ; his draperies are 

 worked with great diligence and labour, from the most dis- 

 agreeable examples in nature, the folds being either heavy 

 or meagre, frequently without a determined general form, 

 and hung on his figures with little meaning. He grouped 

 two figures together (for he never attempted more) better 

 than most of his contemporaries ; but his thoughts are con- 

 ceits, and his compositions episframs. This artist went to 

 Italy, in company with Mr. Pond, an Knslish painter: he was 

 absent from home three months, going and returning, stayed 

 three days in Rome, and laughed at the sublime remains of 

 antient sculpture ! The other sculptors of this time were or- 

 dinary men; their faults were connnon, and their works 

 have no bcautv to rescue them from oblivion. 



Thus we have seen the nobler elTorts of painting and 

 sculpture driven out of the country by reforming violence 

 and puritanical fury ; scidpture reduced to the narrow limits 

 of monument-making, and by these means degraded to a 

 sort of trade ; and this department supplied from the corrupt 

 source of Bernini's school, and not unfrequently throit^h 

 the worst mediums. . In this state the art continued until 

 the establishment of the Royal Academy settled a course of 

 study, both at home and abroad, which developed the powers 

 of English genius, till then unknown to the natives, and 

 denied by foreigners. 



XXII. Oh- 



