222 



of beauty, with Cupids of the same dusky 

 complexion. 



From the whole of the Note, it appears 

 clearly to have been the opinion of Sir 

 Joshua, at a time too when his judgment was 

 perfectly matured, that Guido's colouring, 

 the style of which he characterizes by the 

 expression of silver tint, as opposed to the 

 golden hue of Titian, is a standard for the 

 colouring of flesh, where beauty is the ob- 

 ject. That silver tint, represents the colour 

 of the most delicate European skins, in 

 which white predominates ; and the golden 

 hue, those on which a richer, but a browner 

 tint has been impressed. Every gradation 

 downwards from that golden, to a deeper, 

 and more dusky hue, is, according to this 

 doctrine, a departure from beauty ; and 

 consequently, the complexion of the negro, 

 is at the extremity of the scale, as being the 

 direct opposite to a clear and silvery tint,* 



* White, in its greatest purity, being the union of all 

 other colours, ranks as high, and in some instances higher, 



