^ Dissertation on the Paintings of the middle Age. 349 



his time constituted the difference between the ancients 

 and the moderns ; and it is also beyond a doubt, that the 

 same man who exposed the drawings of Albert Durcr in his 

 workshop, col'ected all tho^e which the paintings since his 

 time coidd iurnish, and which he frequently imuafed. \Vc 

 know besides, that this great painter maintained draftsmen, 

 even in Greece, in order lo profit bv all the models whicli 

 he thouojht could be useful. vSuch tliercfore was the su- 

 perioniv of this man : he was nourished by those very 

 t'ruiis which we would reject, and lound infinite resources 

 in pictures which we can neither appreciate nor bring into 

 use. 



I have only cited Raphael, as yet, for the sake of a more 

 striking comparison : nevertheless, every body knows how 

 infinite was the nu'nber of the painters of the sixteenth 

 century who were easier to drink at the same fountain. 

 How crand is the r^fitclion thus presented to the mind ! 

 It is clear that the art had degenerated, when we no lono-er 

 follow the excellent moiicls ot the nnddle age, or those of 

 antiquity, and when artists have recourse only to the mo- 

 dern works of the most famous masters of their own cen- 

 turv. Indolent ariists found it more easy and convenient 

 to march in the steps of the latter, than to go back to more 

 ancient models, which have now perhaps vanii.hed. 



Painters previous to the time of Raphael had therefore 

 studied the art bv referring to ancient models; but after 

 this great man, thev consulted only recent productions ; so 

 that, in this art, the order of the elements has bee-n per- 

 verted, and there appeared on the earth a new and uiinatiiral 

 style of painting, of which no nation was acquainted ; for, 

 it Apellcs or Zeuxis were to visit our modern temples 

 and palaces covered with all the works of the art from the 

 Primatici to Sulmene and Coiica*, in spite of all the 

 talent of the painters who filled up this iu'erval, these two 

 Grecian artists would have understood nothing of the stvle 

 of painlnig of the three last ceiuuries. T am of opinion 

 that we might here indulge in a crowd of new specula- 

 tions, by endeavouring to demonstrate the influence of a 

 degraded stvle of panning over the Christimi rel gum and 

 worship.— an influence recognised by ail the tolloAcrsof 

 paganism ; and which Christian priests have not aiwavs 



• When i' ii considered that these most famous artists of the Neapniitan 

 •chool ciercised iheir arc in the finest climate of the world, just over tlie 

 ruins of Porlici and Hcrcuianeum, aiid tliose of several monu^ncnts which 

 they could examine il;iily i we CHiuiot help l)CTnj:^ keenly aflirtcd wilh thit 

 influence of the schoula over the dictate* of nature and good sense. 



taken 



