4 



falls as short of the boundless variety of 

 the mistress of all art. 



The use, therefore, of studying pictures, 

 is not merely to make us acquainted with 

 the combinations and effects that are con- 

 tained in them, but to guide us, by means 

 of those general heads (as they may be 

 called) of composition, in our search of 

 the numberless and untouched varieties 

 and beauties of nature; for as he who 

 studies art only will have a confined taste , 

 so he who looks at nature only, will have 

 a vague and unsettled one; and in this 

 more extended sense I shall interpret 

 the Italian proverb, " Chi s'imegna 9 ha un 

 pazzo per maestro: He is a fool who does 

 not profit by the experience of others." 



We are therefore to profit by the expe- 

 rience contained in pictures, but not to 

 content ourselves with that experience 

 only; nor are we to consider even those of 

 the highest class as absolute and infallible 

 standards, but as the best and the only stand- 

 ards we have; as compositions, which, like 

 those of the great classical authors, have 



