PREFACE. 



XV 



study which I have so earnestly recom- 

 mended, we may greatly diminish the im- 

 mense distance that exists between the eye 

 of a first rate painter, and that of a man 

 who has never thought on the subject., 

 Were it, indeed, possible that, a painter 

 of great and general excellence could 

 at once bestow on such a man, — not his 

 power of imitating, but of distinguish- 

 ing and feeling the effects and combina- 

 tions of form, colour, and light and sha- 

 dow, — it would hardly be too much to as- 

 sert that a new appearance of things, a 

 new world would suddenly be opened to 

 him ; and the bestower might preface the 

 miraculous gift, with the words in which 



jects, than to the imitation of them. Salvator Rosa, es- 

 sendogli mostrata una singotar pittura da un dilettante, 

 die insiememente in estremo la lodava; egli, con un di 

 quei suoi soliti gesti spiritosi esclamd; O pensa quel che 

 tu diresti, se tu la vedessi congli occhi di Salvator Rom! 



