On the Principles of Beauty in Colouring. 265 



periment would have furnished him with a practical refutation of 

 his opinion. 



If we suppose a piece of canvass to be covered with unmeaning 

 masses of light and shade, richly and harmoniously coloured, 

 and the light and shade distributed by the tasteful hand of a 

 superior artist ; there cannot be a doubt respecting the beauty 

 of such a composition : and it is evident that its beautv proceeds 

 from two causes ; the one arising from association, the other 

 from sensation. The pleasing effect produced on the eye would 

 lead us to admire the skill and knowledge displayed by the artist; 

 and the effect would not be diminished, at least in the eye of a 

 trained judge, when he found that it was not an imitation of 

 any particular object. 



What is it that constitutes the beauty of minerals ? There we 

 have no artist's skill nor power to associate; neither is there any 

 pleasing indication of spring or summer, as in flowers ; — is it not 

 to the pleasures of sensation alone that they owe their beauty? 

 It is true, as Mr. Knight has justly observed, that " the scale of 

 pleasing and displeasing impressions cannot be graduated ac- 

 cording to any abstract general rule, but must be adapted to 

 the different degrees of sensibility of different organs ; which 

 vary, not only constitutionallv, but habitually ; the eye, as well 

 as the palate, being li:;ble to be vitiated, and consequently to 

 require such stimulants to give it pleasure, as give pain to those 

 of more refined sensibility*.'^ 



The Russian, who has acquired a taste for tiain-oil, and the 

 Dutchman, who paints his house ivith all the gaudy colours 

 which he finds in his rulip bedf , no doubt, were born with tastes 

 and faculties similar to those of other men. 



The power of perceiving the beautiful, like every other natural 

 power, may be improved and extended by education and a ha- 

 bitual attention to the beautiful in Nature ; and, like our other 

 faculties, it may be impaired or lost through neglect. 



In the composition of colours, it is not necessary that they 

 should be in perfect harmony. A judicious contrast frequently 

 adds much to tlie beauty of colouring; and the taste of the artist 

 cannot be displayed to a greater advantage than in the skilful 

 management of this mode of heightening the beauty of his com- 

 positions. 



Mr. Alison, hpeaking of form, says " that it ought to be the 

 unceasing study of the artist, to disengage his mind from the ac- 

 cidental associations of his age, as well as the common preju- 



* Ansilytical Iiiciuiry i;ito tlic Principles of Taste, p. 65. 

 t Article Beaulij, Supp. Eiicy. Urit. 



dices 



