Dlffertation on Pahitlng in Oil. ti^ 



ing the cloth with bonc-aflies, mixed with a fmall quantity 

 of fize or pafte, and afterwards brulhing it over with the 

 above calcincd-red. 



The method of working up the pifture in a fta'c of black 

 and white was certainly praiiifcd at times by fome of the 

 Venetians ; but in that cafe the ground was no objeft, as 

 the whole effeft of colour was afterwards acquired by glaz- 

 ing : this is pbfeiTable in the piftures of Tintoret, and fuffi- 

 ciently accounts for the periflied ftate they appear under. 

 On the contraiy, where the red ground was ufed, the light 

 and extreme dark are the only part where the colour lays in a 

 body. Mr. Sheldrake obfcrves, hedoes " not pretend to degrade 

 painting to the rank of a mechanical art, that may be infal- 

 libly praftifed by a receipt." If the Venetians had pofletTed 

 no higher recommendation to notice than mere colouring, 

 they would not have fo ftrongiy arrelletl our attention > on 

 the contrary, the compofitions of Titian, Paul Veronefe, &c. 

 will ever rank among the firft.. The prefent rage for colour 

 is like preferring pcrfon to mind, and had it prevailed in tlie 

 time of Swift, wovdd certainly have procured feme of our 

 profefliM's a fituation at Lagoda. 



The author of the Diflertation muft certainly have mii- 

 takcn the words of Sir .Tofliua, ar not underftood them. Sir 

 Jolhua could never have fciid that harmony was to be pro- 

 duced by " an unity of li^ht and an imity of fliadow per- 

 vading the whole ;" or, in other words, (as I underfiand it,) 

 by reducing the w^hole of the lights to one colour, as is im- 

 plied by the word uniij. Such a praftice would dcftroy the 

 brilliancy which the author wifl;es to obtain from glazing. 

 Tlic fip.iilc afterwards introduced, contradicts entirely fuch 

 .1.1 inference. " A picture, to po(fefs harmony of colouring, 

 liiould look as if it was painted with one colour; and, when 

 the chiaro-ofairo was complete, the colour of each objc6t 

 fliould be glazed over it." Sir Jofliua was in the finiile de- 

 fcribing his own praoiicc, and which will, for a fliort time, 

 produce a greater brilhancy in the light. Inftcad of an 



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