OF THE FINE ARTS. 



XV11 



which we ought to apply to that superiority. It 

 neither comprises exclusive sublimity of inven- 

 tion, the most acute discrimination of character, 

 the widest sphere of comprehension, the most 

 judicious and best balanced composition, nor the 

 deepest pathos of expression. His great prero- 

 gative consisted more in the unison than the 

 extent of his powers ; he knew better what he 

 could do, what ought to be done, at what point 

 he could arrive, and what lay beyond his reach, 

 than any other artist. Grace of conception and 

 refinement of taste were his elements, and went 

 Land in hand with grace of execution and taste 

 in finish ; powerful, and seldom possessed, singly 

 irresistible when united." Fuseli was an artist 

 of daring conception ; he delighted in the tre- 

 mendous and the extravagant, and affected the 

 grand and the sublime. But who will measure 

 his merits by the dignity of the subjects which he 

 selected ? There is more of moral grandeur in 

 the Mouse of Burns than in the Creation of 

 Blackmore. A humble, a simple theme is lifted 

 to heaven by a true genius ; and I see nothing 

 in the names of the pictures attributed to Apelles 

 to justify the depreciating estimate of Fuseli : 

 besides, those who called him prince of painters 

 saw the wonders of his hand ; he who sought to 

 lessen him never beheld a line which he drew, 

 or saw him otherwise than through the stained 

 glass of his own disordered fancy. If the people 

 of old were right in naming Homer prince of 

 poets ; who can question their judgment in their 

 praise of Apelles ? 



There was true greatness of soul in this illus- 

 trious painter. Men said he was surpassed by 

 Amphion in disposition, by Asclepiodorus in 

 proportion, and by Protogenes in happiness of 

 handling ; and though others supposed that in 

 character and combination he excelled all, he 

 seems neither to have been stung by censure nor 

 uplifted by applause. He heard that Proto- 

 genes, his most gifted rival, had become poor ; 

 he sailed to Rhodes to see him, and purchasing 

 several of his pictures, told the people of that 

 isle that he would carry them to Greece, and 

 sell them for the work of his own hands. They 

 perceived the worth they had overlooked at once, 

 and raised Protogenes to rank and fortune. 

 There is something romantic in this. Nor is this 

 all. The story of their friendly contest with the 

 pencil is no fiction. When Apelles entered the 

 studio of the Rhodian, the latter was absent ; the 

 visitor asked for a pencil, to show, as Prior 

 rhymed it, 



14 How painters write their names at Cos ;" 



and at one stroke described a true and harmo- 

 nious circle. When Protogenes saw this, he 

 confessed the presence of a master ; but taking 

 his colours, shaded it so delicately and naturally, 

 " that it seemed at once the egg of Leda," says 

 the bard, " or the apple of Paris, or the breast 

 of Chloe." The tablet found its way to Rome, 

 and was there examined by Pliny ; it seemed a 

 large blank surface, till on close inspection the 

 delicate lines grew visible. The drawings were 

 of different colours, and were imagined to con- 

 tain some mysterious principle of beauty, like 

 that which Hogarth discovered in the winding or 

 serpentine line, such as may be seen in the 

 bloom of a tulip, or in the wreathings of a shell. 



The achievements of Alexander became the 

 theme of many of his pictures ; for the painter 

 was the friend rather than subject of the hero ; 

 and received many proofs of his attach- 

 ment. He was visited by him, enriched by him , 

 and when Apelles was observed gazing with 

 more than an artist's admiration on the charms 

 of Campaspe, he bestowed her upon him a gift 

 of the worth of which both were sensible. " Of 

 Alexander the Great and his father Philip," it is 

 observed, " the portraits which he painted were 

 very numerous, some single, and some accom- 

 panied by other figures. One in the temple of 

 Diana at Ephesus, of Alexander launching thun- 

 der, is highly extolled for its effect and the 

 boldness of its relief, ' the hand which was 

 raised appearing to come forward, and the light- 

 ning to be out of the picture.' In another of the 

 same king, he was represented in a triumphal 

 chariot ; near him the figure of War, with his 

 hands tied behind his back. This and another 

 Alexander, accompanied by Castor, and Pollux, 

 and Victory, were preserved by Augustus in the 

 Forum." Other works are mentioned, historical 

 and half historical, as Lawrence called his pic- 

 tures half fancy, half portrait. Of these, Clitus 

 on horseback, armed and bareheaded, in the act 

 of receiving his helmet, Archelaus with his wife 

 and daughter, Megabysus, priest to Diana at 

 Ephesus, sacrificing in his pontifical robes, An- 

 tigonus king of Syria, and Antigonus the father 

 of Demetrius Poliorcetes, are the most remark- 

 able, as works reflecting living life ; while Diana 

 and her nymphs at sacrifice Neoptolemus on 

 horseback discomfiting the Persians Hercules, 

 with his back turned to ward the observer a Horse 

 so lively and so real that it caused living horses 

 to neigh and last, and most celebrated, Venus 

 rising from the sea, are remembered amongst his 

 works of imagination. 



Painting rose to its epic height under Apelles. 

 He seems to have combined all that could 

 c 



