^54 



]ar effects in ruins ; but if I ma}^ be allowed 

 to conjecture why he did not represent, 

 what seems so congenial to his own cha- 

 racter, and that of the scenes he painted, 

 I should say, that it was precisely that very 

 passion, and strong predilection for similar 

 effects in natural objects, which prevented 

 liim. Examine his pictures and prints with 

 that idea: observe his elegant, but unbroken 

 and unornamented buildings, and see how 

 happily and unaffectedly they are contrasted 

 with his broken ground and wild thickets, 

 and all the pla}' of his foliage. 



One great use of buildings in landscape, 

 which he seems to have felt very strongly, 

 is that of a resting place to the eye, on 

 which it may fix and dwell, and find relief 

 from the intricacy, the indistinctness, and 

 the monotony of mere earth and vegetation. 

 On that account, where there is much in- 

 tricacy in the forms and dispositions of 

 trees, foliage, and ground, should it be con- 

 tinued in the buildings also, the e^'C would 

 want a necessary relief. In Claude, there 

 is little abruptness in the parts, and a ge* 



