410 Fine Arts, 



genius in very strong and lively colours, and de- 

 serve to be mentioned among the signal pecu- 

 liarities of the age. Bunbury is the only success- 

 ful imitator of Hogarth, and is among the very 

 few imitators who rise, in their respective kinds of 

 excellence, to full equality with their original. 

 Like his great predecessor, he displays more hu- 

 mour when he invents than when he illustrates. 



It is probable that Portrait Painting w^as never 

 before so much practised as in the eighteenth cen- 

 tury ."^ In this branch of the art Sir Joshua Rey- 

 nolds Vv^as the great and unrivalled master. '^ This 

 celebrated painter,'' says an eloquent writer, " was 

 the first Englishman who added the praise* of the 

 elegant arts to the other glories of his country. In 

 taste, in grace, in facility, in happy invention, and 

 in the richness and harmony of colouring, he was 

 equal to the great masters of the most renowned 

 ages. In Portrait he went beyond them, for he 

 communicated to that description of the art, in 

 which English artists are the most engaged, a va- 

 riety, a iancy, and a dignity, derived from the 

 higher branches, which even those who professed 

 them in a superior manner did not always pre- 

 serve w^hen they delineated individual nature. 

 His portraits remind the spectator of the inven- 

 tion of history, and the amenity of landscape/" 



But Sir Joshua Reynolds was not alone in this 

 department of painting. Many others, though 

 not all equally deserving, are entitled to a place 

 among those distinguished artists who do honour 



d A taste for Portrait Pahithig has perhaps been more prevalent in Great- 

 Britain, especially during the last age, than in any other country on earth ; 

 insomuch that some foreigners have brought the charge of vanity against 

 the English on this account. But a more serious consideration is, that this 

 taste, by limiting the cultivation of historical subjects, has had a disadvan- 

 tageous influence on the higher branches of the art. 



e Character by Burke, in the life of Sir Joshua Reynolds by Ma- 

 lone, 8vo. p. ii(). 



