406 Fine Arts, 



masters, Michael Angelo, Raphael, and other 

 contemporary artists, seem not to have fallen upon 

 any of their successors. At the commencement of 

 the century Kneller, Dahl, Richardson, Jer- 

 VAS, and Thornhill, of Great-Britain, were con- 

 spicuous in their respective departments of paint- 

 ing; as were also Cignani, Giordano, Maratti, 

 Jauvenet, and many others on the continent of 

 Europe. But these artists, though unquestionably 

 of the first class then known, were inferior, parti- 

 cularly the former group, to many who had gone 

 before them, and by no means equal to some of 

 their successors. 



Though the eighteenth century produced fewer 

 painters of great and original genius than several 

 preceding ages; yet it is remarkable for having 

 produced an unprecedented number, who, with a 

 moderate portion of genius, and with great indus- 

 try, have risen to high respectability in this art. 

 There was, no doubt, more painting performed by 

 artists of this period, than during any former one of 

 similar extent since the art was cultivated. The 

 most numerous, and the most excellent painters, dur- 

 ing the century in question, have been produced in 

 Italy, Great-Britain, France, and the United States. 



The painters of Great-Britain, about the year 

 1750, with the view of promoting their art, asso- 

 ciated together, and formed a kind of academy, 

 which was supported by annual subscription. This 

 association was continued, with various changes 

 in the degree of its respectability and success, until 

 1768, when the Royal Academy of Painting, Sculp- 

 ture, and Architecture was established, under the 

 auspices of the British King, and composed of the 

 ablest artists residing in that country. In the 

 establishment of this institution no individual was 

 more active, or exerted a more useful influence, 

 than Sir Joshua Reynolds, who held the highest 



