42 Dhserlatton on the Paintings of the middle Age. 



may nevertheless be traced. It is true that we are ignorant 

 oF the causes which prolonged the intervals of sleep, or 

 lethargy, ot all the fine arts, and there will perhaps be a per- 

 petual oblivion both of the names of the principal artists 

 who continued to cultivate the arts at certain periods, and 

 of the jeras at which ihese artists flourished. But as the art 

 of painting coniprthends only a determinate number of 

 constituent parts, it is not impossible to ascertain the 

 various influences which invited to the study of these va- 

 rious parts artists of every age and country ; and the ana- 

 lysis alone of these same parts ought to be suflBcient with 

 us for fixing the degree of interest, or of esteem, which we 

 ought to bestow on these diflVrent productions: thus we 

 shall be able to distinguish the various schools from which 

 they emanated. 



Before entering upon this analysis, it is proper to refer 

 to the opinion of Winckelman, Mcngs, Webbs, Milizia, and 

 son)e other modern writers, who have recognised the merit 

 of the productions of the old schools. The period at which 

 these authors wrote did not permit them to publish, with- 

 out restriction, all the new ideas, the strength and truth of 

 which should gradually lessen the veneration improperly 

 paid by certain didactic writers to the idols of former cen- 

 turies : but the same thoughts animated better artists ; our 

 pictures, statues, and in short all our arts have felt the 

 happy tfiects, and we n)ay explain ourselves without con- 

 straint now that persons are disposed to receive the truth. 



'I'he art of painting as practised by the ancients, al- 

 though depressed, despised, and persecuted, nevertheless 

 preserved Us essential character. If the- paintings executed 

 at Rome under the emperors were not to be compared to 

 the ckfifs-d'oeavre of Parrhasius and Zeuxis, they did not 

 exhibit a corrupted taste, or encourage pernicious doctrines. 

 The most humble productions of these times are not beyond 

 the rules of art; n(>r do they present those fantasies since 

 authorised by irresolute minds, or those wild ideas which 

 ignorance may at all times regard as an intrepid and novel 

 species of enthusiasm. It was when painting was almost 

 entirely neglected, and hniuuished without notice, that the 

 Tviscans, wishing to become more civilized, laid the arts 

 under contribution : but from what point did those artists 

 set out, who wished to unite their celebrity to that of their 

 country? and what were the rules and n>axims of those 

 painters, who from that asra filled all Italy with their names 

 and their new n)a,\ner ? Did they confine themselves to 

 taking up the art where the ancients had left it ? Did they 



end devour 



