On Palnllng. lol 



tlie horizontal line fimplicitj, and the true Roman method, 

 expecting to fee a range of heads of an equal height running 

 through the greateft part of the work. 



He^who widies to ailed with forrow or melancholy can 

 onlv expe<St to fucceed by the removal of whatever may be 

 Hkely to pleafe, either from variety and contrail of form?, 

 brilliancy of colour, or Itriking effect of lighr and fliade; and 

 one great aid will refult from telling the ftory with few figures, 

 which greatly adds to fimplicity. 



Tlie great reafon why Raphael is preferred for compofition 

 is his poffcffing a ftylp moie fimple and expreffivc than any 

 otlier. Simplicity appears to have marked the charaders of 

 the Roman and Florentine fchools, as alfo that of the Ca- 

 racci ; after whom we mull place Pouffin, Le Sueur, Bour- 

 don, and fuch others as have afl'efted the fame fimple and 

 expreflive manner. 



Le Bran, though an artift of great merit, has, in many 

 inllances, fo crowded his compofition with incidents, that 

 the attenticm is entirely taken from what ought to con^ftitute 

 the principal feature, and the mind becomes diftraiflcd amidfl 

 a njultiiudc of events : witnefs his Crucifixion, and Slaughter 

 of the Innocents. Expreffiou derives much of its force from 

 iiniplicity. Sterne, in his Sentimental Journey, was obliged 

 to take a fingle captive to give force to his defcription. What 

 pan more ftiongly affeil our feelings than his Maria? A 

 multitude of objects rufliing on the fight deitroy intereft, and, 

 in fingle objects, too many parts produce the fame effeift : 

 hence ihe neceflity of not over-crowding with ornaments. 



It appears pretty certain that the fhape of the group muft 

 depend greatly on the nature of the fubje6t. A triunijih mull 

 jicceffariiy allume a different figure to a fpectacle like a de- 

 fcent from the crofs, becaufe it would be fo in nature. 



Divertity does not carry with it fo much art, or the appear- 

 ance of an, 33 is generally fuppofed ; for, if wc diligentiv at-^ 

 tend to nature, we fliall find an infinite variety of formed 

 groups rcfulling from the difpofition of fome men to fit, 

 ethers to Hand, the contrail of children with adults, men on 

 Jiorfeback, the irregularities of ground, and a variety of other 

 circunifiancc:, — all tending to produce a divcrfified and irre- 

 gular niafa, probably affuming, more fiequently than any 

 tilhcr, a: general figure approaching to the pyraniid. 



If we examine the moil approved compofitions of the Ro- 

 n>an, Venetian, or other iclu)ols, we (hall find not only the 

 general dilpolition tending to the |)yraniidal iif^uxi:, but each 

 group taken I'cparatcly, — with this diflerencc, that iti the V'e- 

 Jictiau and Flenii/h it is rendered more exceHivc. ilcnce, 

 Ci 3 IVi-'m 



