CLAUDE, AND SALVATOR ROSA. 165 



saw it in nature at one general and comprehensive view, 

 but as it appeared to him by examining separate parts 

 one after the other, each part having a distinct focus. 

 If then he adopts this method of proceeding, he will 

 paint upon a false, though a very prevalent principle, 

 and his picture cannot fail to have an unpleasant and 

 irritating effect. 



" Infellx operis summa, quia ponere totum 



Nesciet." 



He paused a little to take breath, as well indeed he 

 might ; so I took the opportunity to lay down the law 

 also, and to remark that he must have arrived at his 

 conclusions from a study of the paintings of those emi- 

 nent masters whose works are sealed with perfection, 

 and sanctified by time, — productions that elevate us 

 above the level of common thought, and carry us into 

 the regions of poetry and romance. 



" In the pictures of Claude, by a happy treatment of 

 his subject you see more than the bare materials of 

 common nature. There the glow of Italy lies radiant 

 before you : the eye passes from the flowery fore-ground, 

 with its tall trees just moved by the zephyr, and wanders 

 from distance to distance over clustering groves, and 

 classical ruins, amidst the quiet lapse of waters, and all 

 the pastoral beauty that poets have delighted to feign. 



" Directly opposite to the blandishments of this great 

 master, but true to itself, is the genius of Salvator Rosa. 

 Little recked he of Arcadian scenes. Mysterious and 

 elevated in thought, he delighted to stalk over the wilds 

 of Calabria ; and there, in regions desolate and do- 



M 3 



