402 DRAWING LANDSCAPES. 



to the taste of the student ; avoiding colours till 

 he has made considerable progress. 



When colours are employed, they should be 

 used with great caution and judgment. Nothing 

 is so disgusting as to see coloured drawings wdiere 

 the reds, greens, and blues, are laid on in the most 

 violent manner, without any regard to harmony. 

 Those who execute such vile daubings will say, in 

 their defence, that nothing can be greener than 

 grass, nor bluer than the sky ; but they should 

 consider, that nature employs such a multitude of 

 little shadows, and such a variety of different tints 

 intermixed with her colours, that the harshness of 

 the original colour is corrected, and the effect of 

 the whole is very different from a raw and distinct 

 colour laid upon white paper. Though we should 

 have recourse to the study of nature, in preference 

 to any master, for the study of colouring, yet it 

 requires some judgment to know what part of 

 nature is to be studied, and what is to be avoided ; 

 for in nature herself, there are many parts which 

 are bad ; and to copy them, would do more harm 

 than good. The student in colouring may exa- 

 mine, w^ith every possible attention, the colouring 

 of old walls, broken and stained by time and the 

 weatlier, old thatch, old tiles, rotten wood ; in 

 short, all objects which are covered with moss, 

 stains, and tints of various kinds ; there he v/ill find 

 all that is most perfect and harmonious in colour- 

 ing. Let him copy these with every possible care, 

 and avoid as bad all new buildings, new railing, 

 and objects which are of a uniform decided colour. 

 This has been the practice of all the great masters 

 who have excelled in this captivating part of the 

 art. In short, after learning the first principles of 



