142 Uoyal Academy. 



l)rincij)les upon which the ancients worked. Tl)eir ruling prin- 

 ciple was correctness. Tlie name of Apelles, in Phny, is the 

 synonym of unrivalled excellence ; but the enumeration of his 

 works neither comprises exclusive sublimity of invention, the 

 most acute discrimination of character, the widest sphere of 

 comprehension, nor the best I)alanced composition;— correctness 

 was his ruling principle. That his excellence was built upon this 

 firm basis is well known, from his famous and well-authenti- 

 cated contest with Protogenes ; from which we may deduce that 

 the schools of Greece recognised colour, grace and taste, as 

 ornaments, not substitutes of form, expression, and character ; 

 and that when they usurp that title, they degenerate into sjjlendid 

 faults. 



The Professor spoke of imitation under two heads : the first an 

 imitation of nature as it is ; this class particularly applied to por- 

 traits, and to history, whose excellence was truth : — the second, 

 an imitation of nature in a more extensive view; not distorted 

 by passion, nor modilied by disease; imitation of a superior idea 

 of beauty culled from nature ; for we are no more able to form 

 an idea beyond nature than we can create a sixth sense. 



Mr. Fust'li lamented the frequency of the unsuccessful use of 

 the opportunities afforded by the Academy ; and disapproved of 

 the opinion largely entertained and countenanced by high autho- 

 lity, that the students when they entered theLife Academy shouW 

 copy servilely from the model. 



The Professor conceived it was then, that the students were to 

 apply their taste and judgement, acipiired in the Antique Aca- 

 demy; lie particularly enforced the study of the skeleton, and 

 the science of physiognomy. With respect to the latter, some 

 had ridiculously admitted its application in the parts, but not in« 

 the whole: take, added he, one quarter of an inch from beneath 

 the nose of the Apollo, and the god is degraded into a common 

 man ! 



Mr, Fuseli then entered upon the groat error of design — mrnim 

 iicrisv]. To follow him in the subdivision of this subject, 

 would be too long for our space. Those mannerists who never 

 consult nature but at second hand, and the paltry epitomists of 

 nature's immense volume, were acutely reprobated ; — but the 

 least pardonable of all mannerists were said to be those who 

 stoop to meanness for the attainment of grandeur. The wretched 

 taste of Albert Durer, in this respect, was inferior to the infamous 

 caricatures of the great style by Goltzius and Spranger: Ra- 

 phael himself, in his former days, was under the influence of this 

 base mannerism. The lecture concluded with advice to the 

 students; during which theProfessor observed, that the Arts were 

 not children of necessity, nor the nurselings of fashion; but that 



they 



