J 24 On Vatnting. 



than would be neceOary to take a pinch ftf fnuflf or raife 1 

 Itraw; nav, they will not let them even deep in peace. Such 

 bonihadic ftufl" may amul'e the weak, as fafhion in art will 

 pleaie tor a time even at the expenfe of truth ; but the tri- 

 umph will be tranlitory as a lun-beani on a winter's day. 



Beautiful Sljle 



Iiequires that the objecls be elegant, void of fuperfluitv, 

 aiid foft in the execution. Perhaps the truly beautiful ftyle 

 Dmft be fought in the works of the autients. The Apollo 

 Belvidere approaches the fublime, and forms, of its kind, a 

 point of perfection : fome of the Niobes exhibit exqiiifite 

 female beauty, but in the Venus de Medicis and Apollo we 

 fee it united with grace. It is certain that in the antique 

 Itatues we mud leek the beauty of fvnimetrv, and that wc 

 cannot ftudy them too often to fix the impreflion of their ex- 

 cellencies on our minds; for it is next to impoflible but that 

 every reconiideralion mull unfold new beauties. The true 

 mode of ftudy is to imprefs their beauties fo fironcrlv on the 

 imagination as never to be forgotten, and not to ftand in need 

 of their prefencc as a pattern. Bovs arc too often put to draw 

 after the living model before they have imbibed a proper no- 

 tion of, or relifh for, beautiful proportion. There is no danger 

 of fach ftudies injuring, as we are furrounded by fine exam- 

 ples in ch'iaro- fairo and colour; and of the two, decifion is 

 more commendable than that flovenly manner which pre- 

 fents the mere idea of a thing like a dream : the former dil- 

 plays knowledge, the latter ignorance. There is creat 4Jf- 

 ference in paintinsj, between taking the ideas of natural 

 things without giving them form, and that determined me- 

 thod arifing from a pofitive knowledge. Guido's heads are 

 beautiful; but his choice was often injudicious, many of his 

 objecls requiring (trong expreffion, which he loft for fear of 

 deftroying beauty. Albano's females are delicatclv beautiful ; 

 and we arc furrounded by beauty in the portraits of Reynolds 

 and others. 



Graceful Style. 



To form this ftyle the motions of the figures ftjould be 

 moderate, eafy, agreeable, and unaccompanied bv violence*. 

 The antique ftatues will afturedly aflbrd the moft ptrfcft ex- 

 amples, bccaule. on a comparifon with the antients, the mo- 

 derns appear to have become a little affcCled, and too often 

 to have fought grace in difiicult attitudes, with forced and 

 conceited turns in their figures. There are few of the Greek 



• Sec the Effays on G/ace anj Beauty. 



ftatues 



