1000 



I'RACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 



art, and to find in such a book, after the publication of the works of Wheatley, the two 

 Masons, De Lille, Price, and Knight, such a passage as the following : " If any general 

 principles could be established in this art, I think they might be deduced from the joint 

 considerations of relative fitness or utility, and comparative proportion or scale ; the 

 former may be referred to the mind, the latter to the eye." (Obs. on L. Gardening by H. 

 Repton, Esq. Introduction, ~p. 2.) While we disapprove of this disingenuous mode of 

 writing, the frequency of which we must regret in this artist's works, we willingly pay 

 tribute to his practical good taste, and more especially in architecture. 



7180. As an illustration of the theory of landscajK-gardening, which we have adopted, we 

 subjoin a slight analysis of the principles of a composition, expressive of picturesque and 

 natural beauty. For this purpose, it is a matter of indifference, as far as respects pic- 

 turesque beauty, whether we choose a real or painted landscape ; but, as we mean also to 

 investigate its poetic or general beauty, we shall prefer a reality. We choose then a per- 

 fect flat, varied by wood, say elms, with a piece of water, and a high wall, forming the 

 angle of a ruined building ; it is animated by cows and sheep ; its expression is that of 

 melancholy grandeur ; and, independently of this beauty, it is picturesque in expression j 

 that is, if painted it would form a tolerable picture. 



7181. Uniti/ is the first obvious principle which pervades this picture. No ideas of gaiety or prettiness 

 are excited by such a scene. All the parts unite in forming a whole, which the eye can comprehend at 

 once, and examine without distraction. " La vue," says Girardin, " le plus vagabond de tous les sens, a 

 besoin d'etre fixiJe pour jouir avcc plaisir et sans lassitude." Were this principle not prevalent, the groups 

 of trees, the lake, and the building, would only please when considered separately, and the result would be 

 as poor a production as a machine, the wheels of which are accurately finished and nicely polished, but 

 which do not act in concert so as to effect the intended movement. 



7182. It is true to nature j that is, the objects or materials are what they appear to be. The trees, which 

 are neitlier very old nor very young, though in the distance diminished by their remote situation, we dis- 

 cover by their trunks and contour, to be still trees. They are not shrubs placed near the eye, with a view 

 to produce a false perspective ; nor is the fragment of building merely a disguised wall, because it has open- 

 ings which have once been windows, and is crowned in one part by battlements. The water is natural, its 

 surface being below the level of the adjoining ground, not raised above it, as is often the case in artificial 

 waters. This completes the truth or reality of the scene. The necessity of adhering to truth is still greater 

 in painting, in which all objects must appear to be natural, not only in forms and color, but also relatively 

 to the forms and colors around them. Objects, especially those whose forms and dimensions are familiar to 

 us, as men or horses, painted of different heights in the same plane; as, for example, in the distance, of 

 the same magnitude as that in which they appear in the foreground, would, from the acquired habit of 

 measuring unknown by known objects, give a falsehood to the scene, and appear as animals of a different 

 .species, or as monsters. It seems to be from the same principles of being true to nature, that a gradation 

 of scene, or what is called distance, is required," or at least is so satisfactory in landscape. The mind, after 

 being impressed "with the effect of a whole, delights in examining its parts in succession ; the more simple 

 and obvious the arrangement of these parts, therefore, the more readily does the mind acquiesce in their 

 effect. The eye of the artist, seiziiig on the nearest and most remote parts of a scene, readily marks an in- 

 termediate or middle distance ; no given extent seems necessary for this purpose : 



" To make the landscape grateful to the si(?ht. 

 Three points of distance always should unite; 

 And howsoe'er the view may be confined, 



Three marked divisions we shall always find." The Landscape, by Knight. 



7183. T/ie disposition of the parts is the next object of analysis, and the enquiry is how in this respect 

 they concur in forming a whole. 1. As to forms, we find that their disposition is in groups or masses. 

 The largest group, for example, is placed towards one side of the picture in the foreground, another to- 

 wards the opposite side of the middle distance, including the building and adjoining lake ; and the remote, 

 or third distance, consists of a low line of wood, with projecting groups or masses. 2. As to colors, we 

 find only different shades of- yellow and green on the trees and ground. 3. As to the light, we find one 

 large and principal light near the middle of the view, diverging into shade as it approaches the sides ; the 

 clearest part is the water, and the next clearest the building, and the third light spreads over a broad space 

 of ground, near the water. The groups in the foreground are all in a deep shadow. One of these, near 

 the water, partakes of the principal light, and those in the third distance are distinguished by a sort of 

 neutralisation of light, color, and shade. Such is the disposition of the groups or parts, in order, in a com- 

 plex view of the whole, to fix the eye, and prevent it from being distracted by scattered lights, confusion 

 of forms, and inharmonious color. 



7184. The connection which subsists between these different pa?-ts is a subordinate but important con- 

 sideration. 1. They are connected in each distance by a real nearness of situation ; and, 2. In the view 

 as a whole, from the one group coming in part before the other, so as to produce connection by apparent 

 proximity. Suppose the reverse to be the case, and that the groups were unconnected either by real or 

 apparent distance of situation, the consequence would be, that each group being surrounded by light, 

 would become a distinct object. The eye would have no resting place, and the assemblage would not com- 

 pose a whole. 



7185. The relation which subsists between the parts, composing each individual group, is next to be ex- 

 amined. 1. In regard to the form of the parts of each group, as they are all groups of the same sort of 

 tree, we find one elementary form prevalent, but differing in magnitude, and in combination, by their con- 

 trasted disposition, to such a degree, that each group differs in form from the others, without at the same 

 time being of opposite forms. 



7186. In regard to color, the same kind of color prevails in each and in all of the groups, but is varied in 

 degree by the same contrasted disposition. In some parts a yellowish-green prevails, in others a greenish- 

 yellow, in others a russet or red-green, and occasionally a bright-green, as on that part of the turf where 

 the light strikes with the greatest force. 



7187. In regard to liglit and shade, those parts of the groups which rise above the horizon, and are 

 backed by the sky, are dark, and generally darker than such as are backed by the ground, or by other 

 adjoining groups. The prominent parts of each group are lighter than the retiring parts or recesses 

 among the spray and leaves. These prominent and retiring parts, in the near groups, are very numerous ; 

 in the distance they are lost in the general aerial shade of the group. It may be observed, as a general 

 principle, that trees, from their rough surface, and consequent imperfect reflection of light, are always 

 comparatively darker than water, buildings, or ground. In creating real landscape, they serve in some 

 measure as shades, as the other materials mentioned serve as lights. 



7188. The sky, the cows, and the sheep, must be noticed in order to complete the sketch. Suppose, 

 then, that the sky is merely grey and cloudy, and the cattle and sheop grouped in the middle distance. 



