174 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SALMON FISHING 



sublimity to the landscape, he should keep all the 

 rest subordinate, though intelligible ; always bear- 

 ing 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 indi- 

 vidual 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 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. 



" Infelix 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 eminent 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 



