RUB 



KUB 



prehenfion of his own character, he waited not a moment 

 for the acquifition ot what he perhaps deemed incompatible 

 excellence : his theory once formed, lie leldom looked 

 abroad for aflitlance ; there 13 confequetitly in his works 

 very little that appears to be taken from other matters, and 

 if he has occafionally llolen any thing, he has fo well digeded 

 and adapted it to the red of his competition, that the 

 theft is not difcoverable. But though it mult be allowed 

 tliat he poffeifed, in many refpefts, the true art of imitation, 

 though he looked at nature with a painter's eye, and faw 

 at once the characteriltic feature by which every object is 

 diitinguifhed, and rendered it on canvas with a vivacity of 

 touch truly attonilhing ; though his powers of grouping and 

 combining his objects into a whole, and forming his maflea 

 of light and fhadow and colour have never been equalled ; 

 and though the general animation and energy of his at- 

 titudes, and the flowing liberty of his outline, all contri- 

 bute to aired the attention, and infpire a portion of that 

 cnthufiafm by which the painter was abforbed and carried 

 away ; yet the fpectator will at lad awake from his trance, 

 his ey-s will ceafe to be dazzled, and then he will not fail 

 to lament, that fuch extraordinary powers were fo often 

 mifapplied, if not entirely call away : he will enquire, why 

 Rubens was content to waite fo many requifites to the 

 perfection of the art ? why he paid no greater attention to 

 elegance and corre£tnefs of form, to grace, to beauty, dig- 

 nity, and propriety of character? Why every fubjedt, of 

 whatever clafs, is equally adorned with the gay colours of 

 fpring, and every figure in his compoiitions indiscriminately 

 fed on rofes. Nor will he be Satisfied with the ingenious, 

 but furely unfounded apology, that thefe faults harmonize 

 with his dyle, and were neceilary to its complete uniformity, 

 that his taite in defign appears to correfpond better with 

 his colouring and compofition, than if he had adopted a 

 more correct a. -.d refined (lyle of drawing ; and that per- 

 haps, in painting, as in perfonal attractions, there is a 

 certain agreement and correfpondcncc of parts in the whole 

 together, which is often more captivating than more regular 

 beauty. 



The redemption of what he wanted, is found in the uni- 

 verfality of his power as an executive painter. In tiic 

 fmallelt (ketch, the lightnefs and tranfparency of his touch 

 and colour, are no lefs remarkable than the fweeping rapidity 

 and force of his brufli in his largeft works : and in all kinds 

 of fubjeifts, he equally keeps up his wonted fuperiority. 

 His animals, particularly Ins lions and horfes, are fo ad- 

 mirable, that it may be laid they were never properly) at 

 lead poetically, painted, but by him ; hi • portraits rank with 

 the belt works of thofe painters who have made that branch 

 of art their fole iludy ; and his landfcapea remind us ol thq 

 lullrc of Claude Lorraine and the grandeur of Titian. In 

 the latter clafs of his works, the ] lii tun fqu< Forma of his 

 rocks and trees, the deep tones in his (hady glades and glooms, 

 the watery funlhme, the dewy verdure, tin- airinefa and 

 facility of his touch, exhibit a charm, and (hew a variety of 

 invention, which fafeinate theobferver, and leave him no in- 

 clination to dwell on the defedts, though they are often 1 ei- 

 ther few nor fmall. 



As a colourill, Rubens, in comparifon with Titian, tin- 

 great mader of the Venetian fchool, will rife or fall, ac- 

 cording to the tadc of the amateur. It lie is lefs ehade than 

 the Venetian, he is more brilliant ; and if not by the truth 

 of his colours, yet he claims our applaufe by the lullre and 

 fplcndour of his tints. The latter, in Ins execution, min- 

 gled his hues as they are found in nature, in fuch a manner 

 as to make it impoffible to fay where they begin or termi- 

 nate ; Rubens, on the other baud, laid his colours in their 



places, one by the fide of the other, and then very (lightly 

 mixed them by a touch of a foft pencil ; not unfrequently 

 leaving his prepared ground vilible through parts of the 

 colours, to produce an narmonizing tone. ()i thefe different 

 tlyles, the only correct mode of judging is by reference to 

 the fpecific object of art, tie imitation of nature, and then Ti- 

 tian's will be regarded as the molt correct, though Rubens 

 mav be more alluring. 



Rubens, Albert, fon of Peter Paul, was born at 

 Antwerp in 1614, and fucceeded iiis father in Ilia pod as 

 Secretary to the council, devoting his leilure to literary pur- 

 fuits. He died in 1657, leaving behind him many works, 

 as monuments of his great learning and found judgment, of 

 which the following may be mentioned. " Regum et Im- 

 pcratorum Romanorum Numifmata," which is a commen- 

 tary on the medals of the duke of Arfchot : " De Re 

 Vetliaria Vcterum :" " Diflertatio de Gemma Tiberiana 

 et Augudea — de Urbibus Neocoria — de natali Die Caefaris 

 Augufti," which were publilhed by Gr^vius in the The- 

 faurus Antiq. Roman. 



RUBENTIA, in Botany, fo called by Commerfon, 

 from the vernacular name of the tree in the Mauritius, Bob 

 Rouge; fee ELJEODJENDRUM. See alto R.HAMKUS penta- 

 phyllus, where we ought to have obferved that the plant of 

 Desfontaines and Boccone is very different from EUodendrum 

 Argcm, to which the fynonyms of Lintneus and Jacquin 

 molt probably belong, as cited in our vol. 12th. 



RUBEOLA, the diminutive of Rubia ; Tourn. Ind. 

 130. t. co. See Aspekula and Ckicianki.i.a. 



RUB ETA, or Toad, in Zoology, a fpecies of Rana ; 

 which fee. 



RUBETRA, in Ornithology, a fpecies of Motacilla ; 

 which fee. It is alto a name by which Gefner and lome 

 Others have called that fpecies of the cenaiithc, commonly 

 known by the names of lheJIonc-chatttr,fione-fmict, or moor- 

 titling. (See Motacilla Rubicola.) Other fpecies of M 

 cilia are alfo called by the tame name. See alto MusCICAPA 

 and PlPKA. 



RUBIA, in Botany, derived from ruber, red, on account 

 of the tine fcarlet colour afforded by its root ; which is well 

 known to dyers and tanners under the name of Madder. — 

 Linn. Gen/52. Schrcb. 69. Willd. Sp. PI. v. \.6o%. 



Mart. Mill. DicL v. 4. Sm. PI. Brit. 181. Prodr. PI. 

 Grasc. Sibth. v. 1. 97. An. Hort. Kew. v. 1. 242. 

 Juff. Gen. 197. TouYnef. t. 38. Michaux Dmcal-Amer. 

 v. 1. 81. Purfh v. 1. ic2. Lamarck lllullr. t. 00. — 

 Clafa and order, Telrandria Monogynia. Nat. Ord. Stellattt, 

 Linn. Rul/iaceu; .lull. 



Gm. Ch. Cal. Perianth fuperior, of one leaf, four- 

 toothed, very fmall, or none. Cor. ol one petal, bell- 

 ihaped, four-toothed, or more fn qucntly five-cleft, without 

 a tube. Stan. Filaments lour, awl-fhapcd, (horter than 

 the corolla; anthers finiple. P'lfi. Germe: interior, twin ; 

 dyle thread-lhaped, 1 loven at t! e top | Itigmaa two, capi- 

 tate. Perk. Two fmooth berries united into one. Seeds 

 fohtary, roundilh, umbilicated. 



E(T. Ch. Corolla of one petal, bell-fhaped, fuperior. 

 Berries two, combined, each with 1 fingle feed. 



1. R,. ttnSonm. Dyer's Madder. Linn. Sp. PI. 158. 

 Sm. PI. Grsec. Sibth, t. 141. Woodv. Med. Bot. t. 68. 

 — Leavei elliptic-lanceolate, annual, about fix in a whorl, 

 rough at the keel. .Stem prickly. — Native of the fouthof 

 Europe, downing in June. Root perennial, widely fprcad- 

 ing, much divided and branched at the top, fucculent, it* 

 bark principally affording a (c.irlct dye. Stcnu herbaceous, 

 annual, decumbent, widely Ipreading, branched, leafy, ob- 

 tufely quadrangular, prickly, with little hooks at the an- 

 gles. 



