18 



ance, which might possibly be communi- 

 cated to the nearer buildings also. Few mo- 

 dern houses or ornamental buildings are so 

 placed among trees, and partially hidden by 

 them, as to conceal much of the skill of the 

 architect, or the expence of the possessor; 

 but in Claude, not only ruins, but temples 

 and palaces, are often so mixed with trees, 

 that the tops overhang their balustrades, 

 and the luxuriant branches shoot between 

 the openings of their magnificent columns 

 and porticos: as he would not suffer his 

 own buildings to be so masked, neither 

 would he those of Claude; and these lux- 

 uriant boughs, with all that obstructed a 

 full view of them, the painter would be 

 told to expunge, and carefully to restore 

 the ornaments they had concealed. 



The last finishing both to places and pic- 

 tures is water. In Claude, it partakes of the 

 general softness and dressed appearance of 

 his scenes, and the accompaniments have, 

 perhaps, less of rudeness than in any other 

 master* ; yet, compared with those of a 



* One of my countrymen at Rome was observing, that 

 the water in the Colonna Claude had rather too dresged 



