9 4 NOTE S. 



'mains of antient Painting will warrant, is the account which 

 Pliny gives of the mode of operation ufed by Apelles, that 

 -over his rimmed picture he fpread a tranfparent liquid like 

 ink, of which the effect was to give brilliancy, and at the fame 

 time to lower the too great glare of the colour: Quod abfoluta 

 operaa tramento illinebat it a tenui, ut id ipfum repercuffu claritates 



colorum excitaret. Ef turn ration* magna ne colorum daritas 



oculorum aciem off indent. This pafTage, tho' it may poffibly 

 perplex the critics, is a true and an artift-like defcription of 

 the effect of Glazing or Scumbling, fuch as was practifed by 

 Titian and the reft of the Venetian Painters ; this cuftom, or 

 mode of operation, implies at leaft a true tafte of what the 

 excellence of colouring confifts, which does not proceed from 

 fine colours, but true.colours; from breaking down thefe fine 

 colours which would Appear .too. raw, to a deep-toned bright- 

 nefs. ^Perhaps .the manner in which Corregio practifed the 

 art of Glazing was flill more like that of Apelles, which was 

 -only perceptible to thofe who looked clofe to the picture, ad 

 manum intuenti .demum appareret^ whereas in Titian, and ftill 

 -more in Baflan and others his -imitators, it was apparent on 

 the flighteft infpedion : Artifls who may not approve of Gla- 

 zing, muft ftill acknowledge, that this practice is not that of 

 ignorance. 



Another. circumftance, that tends to prejudice me in favour 

 .of their colouring, is the account we have of fome of their 

 principal painters ufmg but four colours only. I am convinced 

 the fewer the colours the cleaner will be the efFect of thofe 

 colours, and that four is fufficient to make every combination 

 required. Two colours mixed together will not preferve the 

 brightnefs of either of them fmgle, nor will three be as. bright 

 as two : of this obfervation, fimple as it is, an Artift, who 

 jvifhes to colour bright, will know the value. 



la 



