On Vainthig. IT9 



ricty demand?, and thev would appear Infipid from the too 

 frequent return of the fame ideas. But, unlefs all this be ac- 

 companied bv a good judotnent, the imagination will riot at 

 the expenfe of reafon, and we (hall never poflefs a found and 

 accurate ftvle. Hence it is tliat we often confound genius 

 with an aftive imagination, not recoliedling that excefs is 

 not its charadier, and that the more we crowd with incidents 

 the more we weaken ; and that, like great talkers, wc may 

 be bad orators. 



We {liall now proceed to dcfcribe, in the beft way we can, 

 thecharaclers of the various fty'es. Tafte and (lyle differ from 

 each other; the former applying to our choice of objefts, 

 whil-e the latter appears to arife trom our mode of treating 

 them, or the augmenting certain parts and deprefling other.-, 

 as in the figures of INI. Angelo, in which we fee the convex 

 lines raifed fo much as to give them a mufcnlar and gigantic 

 air; by attempting which many of his imitators have often 

 loft the efl'ential character of the objeft . We fay " the great 

 Ityle of Raphael's drapery," not merely on account of the 

 cafting of the folds, which {Jiows ttille, but from his drop- 

 pmg the minute parts, and taking only thofe effential to the 

 great character in painting. 'Ihe artilts who have fought the 

 great ftyle have purfued the above condu£l; that is, have at- 

 tended to the great and elfential character, while thofe who 

 have forced the trifling parts on the eye have formed a mean 

 or little one. The creat ftyle requires the human face, the 

 other includes the wrinkles and other marks of the infimii- 

 ties of nature. 



Sublime Stjls. 



The fublime ftyle is by- many connected with a certain 

 degree of intemperance and excefs. The attempts of fucli 

 inav juftly t)e termed the hobgoblin ftyle; for with them 

 nothing is fublime but what will fcare a man out of his 

 lenfes. But fcenes terrible or (hocking, however admifHble 

 in poetrv, or where an orator may have occafion to work on 

 the feelings of his audience, do not affociate happily with 

 painting; and, when attempted without the jreateft care 

 and circumfpcCtif)n, become either ridiculous or dilenftinc;. 

 Brueghel (called hcllifh), as alio Callot, in their wliimfical 

 fcenes intended to affeft us ferioufly. And Rubens, out of 

 the number of reprefentations he has left of the fall of the 

 danujed, has rather (liown a warmth of imagination than 

 judgment in their treatment: it is true, the machinery he 

 had to ufe was human ligurcs; but inftead of making the 

 moU of them by exhibiting their fuflerings, and thereby api)ly^ 

 J 4 " ' "'5 



