128 



hh'dll endeavour to strengthen the posi- 

 tions which I have ventured to advance, by 

 their examples and authority. 



The genius of Rubens was strongly 

 turned to the picturesque disposition of his 

 figures, so as often to sacrifice every other 

 consideration to the intricac} r , contrast, 

 and striking variations of their forms and 

 groups. Such a disposition of objects, 

 seems to call for something similar in the 

 management of the light and shade; and 

 accordingly we owe some of the most 

 striking examples of both, to his fertile in- 

 vention. In point of brilliancy, of ex- 

 treme splendour of light* no pictures can 

 stand in competition with those of Ru- 

 bens: sometimes those lights are almost 

 unmixed with shade; at other times they 

 burst from dark shadows, they glance on 



* I speak of those pictures (and they are very nume- 

 rous) in which he aimed at great brilliancy. As no 

 painter possessed more entirely all the principles ot his 

 art, the solemn breadth of his light and shade is, on some 

 occasions, no less striking than its force and splendour or 

 others. 



