164 LANDSCAPE PAINTING. 



as representing passages in rural life. But it is obvious 

 that, in a country highly cultivated, a scene very ac- 

 curately delineated represents the materials only, and 

 not the composition of nature, strictly so called. 



" On the other hand, the landscape painter should aim 

 much higher ; he should get all his materials from the 

 most striking and characteristic specimens in nature, 

 and study such forms and combinations as may make an 

 interesting impression on the mind. Trees, rocks, 

 water, mountains, — all his materials he should arrange 

 upon the same principle that an historical painter ob- 

 serves in composing from living models. He should 

 address the imagination rather than the eye, and en- 

 deavour to convey to his work some prevailing character, 

 which may awaken a corresponding sympathy and in- 

 terest in the contemplative beholder. 



" As to colour and effect, every tinge of light that is 

 beautiful and striking, every varied appearance that the 

 change of the hour and the seasons may bring forth, 

 should be marked down and coloured on the spot. This 

 should be the unremitting practice of the artist, that 

 his works may bear the impress and truth of nature. 



" Taking care to lay his emphasis upon those domi- 

 nant objects that give beauty, character, or sublimity 

 to the landscape, he should keep all the rest subordinate, 

 though intelligible; always bearing in mind that the 

 eye sees those objects only in detail upon which it is 

 immediately fixed. If, on the other hand, he copies 

 from nature every individual thing before him exactly 

 as he sees it, when his eye rests upon that individual 

 object alone, he does not represent the scene such as he 



