309 



that branch of the art, enlarge his concep- 

 tions from the works of his great inspirer 

 M. Angelo : but as no one ever so rapidly 

 distinguished and appropriated what was 

 most excellent in other artists, we may be 

 sure from what he has done in some of his 

 back-grounds, of the progress he would have 

 made had his life been protracted, and had 

 he seen a style in landscape not less eleva- 

 ted, than his own and M. Angelo's in figures. 

 That branch of the art, in which the mo- 

 derns have the best claim to superiority 

 over the ancients, was brought to its high- 

 est perfection in point of grandeur of style, 

 and richness of colouring, by the artists of 

 the Venetian school, and more particularly 

 by their chief boast, the divine Titian ; upon 

 whose works all the great landscape painters 

 may be said to have formed themselves. 

 As far as I can recollect, Titian has seldom, 

 if ever, introduced any finished pieces of ar- 

 chitecture into the near parts of his land- 

 scapes ; nor indeed any buildings as princi- 

 pal objects occupying a large part of the 

 picture, such as we see in the landscapes of - 



