STYLE. 



dias, though with a chaftened impulfe, as may be feen in 

 the Elgin marbles. Indeed it appears to have been fo per- 

 fcftly underftood among the artifts of ancient Greece, that 

 it fpread generally in a greater or lefs degree through all 

 their produftions, at leaft in thofe of fculpture ; and from 

 the few remains of painting left to us, it appears not im- 

 probable that the profeffors of tliat art were no lefs mafters 

 of its principles. In latter times, among the moderns, the 

 Florentine fchool made it their principal objcft of attention ; 

 and in the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Fra. Bartolomeo, 

 and more particularly of Michael Angelo, it reached in qua- 

 lity nearly to a level with the tafte of thofe from whom it 

 was adopted. Raphael attempted it in imitation of M. An- 

 gelo, and fometimes fucceeded, but it evidently was not 

 congenial to his feeling, which inclined to the beautiful and 

 graceful, more than to the fublime ; and hence it is that his 

 pifturesof the Godhead rarely imprefs us with fentiments of 

 an exalted nature. 



The beautiful ftyle differs from the grand, in that it 

 requires lefs force of contraft in form and aftion, and greater 

 foftnefs of colour and eflFeft. Whatever is graceful and 

 animated, void of fuperfluous parts, and yet elTentially cha- 

 rafteriftic and pleafuig in arrangement, combines to form 

 the beautiful. Flowing lines, graceful contrails, both in 

 form and colour, foftened lights and fhades, and rich and 

 harmonious colouring, are its principles : on them it de- 

 pends, and every departure from them neceffarily diminilhes 

 its quality. It is the fit medium for every fubjecl whofe 

 character is adapted to afford pleafure. 



As the grand ftyle confifts in an elevated view of nature, 

 a conception of perfection almoft fuper-human, built upon 

 the poffibilities of creative power, a£ling upon known 

 and natural forms ; fo the beautiful alfo muft be fought in 

 the regions of imagination, guided by the knowledge of 

 exifting objefts, and fupportedby feleftion from the varieties 

 of nature. Therefore, in order to comprehend the charadler 

 of beauty as applied to art, we muft confider the perfection 

 of that art, not as confifting in mere imitation of vifible 

 objefts, but as requiring a feparation and choice of parts, an 

 ideal perfeclion, which, though it belongs to the works of 

 nature in all claffes of beings, yet is not to be found entire 

 in any given object. » Raphael, when he vfas paintmg his 

 Galatea, faid in a letter to his patron count Baldaffare Caf- 

 tiliglione, " that not being able to find perfeft beauty upon 

 earth, he was obliged to have recourfe to ideal excellence 

 framed in his own mind." But Zeuxis took another method 

 to produce the conftellation of perfeftions recognifed in his 

 Helen ; -viz, by feleftingand combining the various beauties 

 of the moft beauteous among the virgins of Agrigentum : 

 thus furpaffmg the works of nature, with materials furnilhed 

 by herfelf. 



Beauty, it will be eafily conceived, is not confined to one 

 given line, or fet of lines or colours, in unifon or in contafl: 

 with each other. There is neceffarily one general form of 

 the male among m.en and animals, and one of the female ; 

 diftinft in their charadler, and yet each having its appro- 

 priate degree of beauty : fo there is alfo a diftindlion of 

 form among different creatures of the fame fpecies. Apollo, 

 Hercules, and a Gladiator, have each diftinCl qualities which 

 muft be maintained in their reprefentativcs, whilft grace and 

 beauty are given to their forms and actions : and it would be 

 as great an abfurdity to foften each to the merely beautiful, 

 and thus render them fimilar in form and charadler ; as it is 

 ignorant and grofs to truft to that which is chai-adleriftic 

 ;done for a graceful and agreeable effedl. 



Though thefe, which we have fpecificd, be the diftindl 

 reparations between the grand and the beautiful ftyles in art, 



Vol. XXXIX. 



yet either may be rendered more perfedl by the addition of the 

 other ; and when expreffion is fuperadded, then is exhibited 

 the moft perfedl difplay of the power of art : and it is this 

 union of the beautiful and charadleriftic with the grand, 

 which conftitutes that mental and energetic application of 

 the art of painting which elevates it above the mechanical 

 arts, and entitles it to the higheft pretenfions, as it is addreffed 

 to the nobleft faculties. This is that beau-ideal fo much 

 the theme of praife and exultation among the connoiffeurs ; 

 fo univerfally felt when exhibited, fo little underftood, and 

 fo often the foundation of the groffcft follies and deceptions 

 among both artifts and amateurs. The former, purfuing 

 the pradlice of it in theory, often become the dupes of their 

 own imaginary fyftems ; the latter more often impofe them- 

 felves upon the world as men of worth by the mere cant of its 

 didlion, and are fcreened from difcovery by the general want 

 of information concerning the principles and proper objedls 

 of art. 



In this happy combination of beauty and grandeur the 

 Greeks ftill remain unrivalled, as far as relates to fculpture, 

 and perhaps fingle figures in pidlures, but vre have very 

 little ground for conjedlure how far they were able to con- 

 dudl the principle in extended compoiitions in painting. 

 Among the moderns, perhaps Parmeggiano in his latter and 

 more perfedl works, as hisltlofes andhis Vifion of St.. Jerome, 

 has effected more than any other painter this defirable 

 union ; and molt likely had he lived much longer the world 

 would have feen the pcrfedtion of the art from his hands ; 

 more particularly if he had cultivated expreflion in the 

 fchool of Raphael, as fuccefsfully as he had the other branches 

 of the art in thofe of Corregio and M. Angelo. " The 

 name of Corregio," fays Mr. Fufeli, " is the fvnonime of 

 whatever is graceful and agreeable in painting ;" to him we 

 are principally indebted for chiaro-ofcuro, and that luminous 

 and harmonious tone of colour, which fafcinates and delights 

 the eye by its unity, blended with richnefs and variety. 

 He may be regarded as the father of the beautiful in modern 

 art, as M. Angelo is of the grand and fublime. 



That kind of ftyle which is termed natural is, as its name 

 imports, a mere imitation of the common forms of nature, 

 without that feledtion which we have pointed out as neceffary 

 to the higher ftyles of art. Of this we have many capital 

 inftances among the fmallcr antique bronzes of Fauns, 

 Nymphs, &c. and in many of the works of Titian in his 

 fecond manner. Moft of the principal portrait painters have 

 almoft neceffarily adopted it, though that branch of the art 

 admits, when highly pradtifed, of that feledtion of parts 

 which conftitutes the beautiful, and of being treated with 

 dignity and even fublimity, as many of the works of fir Jofhua 

 Reynolds, of Titian, and of Vandyke, fufficiently prove. In 

 a lower degree, the Dutch and Flcmifli mafters have moft 

 fuccefsfully wrought in this ftyle, as Jan. Steen, Oftade, 

 Teniers, Rembrandt, Metzu, Terburg, &c. and compenfated 

 for the want of higher qualities, by the perfedtion of their 

 arrangements and execution, and the exadtnefs of their 

 imitations. 



Of what is mean in ftyle, it is hardly neceffary to fpeak : 

 examples of it may be found in all early effays ; but in none 

 more abundantly than among the works of the artifts of 

 the German and Flemiflt fchools of the l6th century. 

 Even in thofe of Albert Durer, mcannefs is a never-failing 

 alloy, amidft aU the brilliancy of imagination, and adlivity 

 of mind, they difplay ; deforming adlions and expreffions 

 oiherwife well worthy of efteeni, and extending through 

 every part of the compofitions, be it of figures, drapery, or 

 back-ground. 



Of the four fpecies of ftyle above enumerated, all others 

 4 O an 



