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P A I N 
mental and ornamental purpofes, or nearly fo. Thus 
circumftanced, the refult was precifely the reverfe of what 
occurred in Greece. Sculpture, except in a few inftances, 
made a progrefs only to mediocrity; whilft painting rofe, 
and expanded its beauties to the utmoft perfedlion ; and 
fo on followed that period, when, as we have before ob- 
ferved, notwithftanding the high-flown panegyrics of an¬ 
cient authors upon Grecian art, the doubt is juftified, 
whether its painters were not furpafl'ed by thofe of Italy 
and Flanders, who fiourifhed in this latter age of the world. 
The word antique, when applied to the art of which we 
are treating, is generally taken to defignate fuch Works 
as were produced before the deftru&ion of the Roman 
empire. To this period we are now arrived ; and it will 
be thought extraordinary, that there fhould remain any 
degree of uncertainty with us refpedting the degree of 
excellence to which the ancient painters carried their art. 
The following obfervations are by fir Jofliua Reynolds. 
“ From the various ancient paintings which have 
come down to us, we may form a judgment with tole¬ 
rable accuracy of the excellencies and defedls of art among 
the ancients, There can be no doubt, but that the fame 
corredlnefs of defign was required from the painter as the 
fculptor 5 and, if the fame good fortune had happened to 
us in regard to their paintings, to poflefs what the an¬ 
cients themfelves efteemed their mailer-pieces, which is 
the cafe in fculpture, I have no doubt but we fhould find 
their figures as correftly drawn as the Laocoon, and pro¬ 
bably coloured like Titian. What difpofes me to think 
higher of their colouring than any remains of ancient 
pointing will warrant, is the account which Pliny gives 
of the mode of operation ufed by Apelles, that over his 
finiflied pidlure he fpread a tranfparer.t liquid like ink, of 
which the effect was to give brilliancy, and at the fame 
time to lower the too-great glare of the colour: Quodab- 
foluta opera atramento illinebat ita tenui, vt id ipfam reper- 
cujl'a elaritnt.es coLorum excitaret. Et tmnratione magnet ne 
•vulofum clarinets oculorum aciem cjfenderet. This’ paffage, 
though it may poflibly perplex the' critics, is a true and 
artift-like defeription'of the eftedt of glazing or feumb- 
ling, fuch as was pradlifed by Titian and the reft of the 
Venetian painters : this cuflom, or mode of operation, 
implies at lead a tafte of v/hat the excellence of colouring 
confifts, which does not proceed from fine colours, but 
true colours; from breaking-down thofe fine colours 
which would appear too raw, to a deep-toned brightnefs. 
Perhaps the manner in which Corregio pradlifed the art 
of glazing was ftill more like that of Apelles, which was 
only perceptible to thofe who looked clofe to the picture, 
ad manum intuenti demiim appareret; whereas, in Titian, 
and ftill more in Baflano and his imitators, it was appa¬ 
rent on the flighted: infpedlion : artifts who may not ap¬ 
prove of glazing, muft ftill acknowledge that this prac¬ 
tice is not thatofignoran.ee. Another circumftance that 
tends to prejudice me in favour of their colouring, is the 
account we have of fome of their principal painters ufing 
but four colours only. I am convinced that, the fewer 
the colours are ufed, the cleaner will be the effedl of 
thofe colours, and that four is fufficient to make every 
combination required; two colours mixed together will 
not preferve the brightnefs of either of them lingle, nor 
will three be as bright as two: of this obfervation, Ample 
as it is, an artift, who vvifhes to colour bright, will know 
the value. 
“ In regard to their power of giving peculiar expreflion, 
no correct judgment can be formed ; but we cannot well 
fuppole that men, who were capable of giving that gene¬ 
ral grandeur of cliaradler which fo eminently diftinguiihes 
their works in fculpture, were incapable of exprefling 
peculiar paftions. As to the enthufiaftic commendations 
bellowed upon them by contemporaries, Iconfider them as 
of no weight. The bell words are always employed to 
praife the bell works : admiration often proceeds from 
ignorance of higher excellence. What they appear to 
iaave moll failed in is compofition } both in regard to the 
T I N G. - 
grouping of their figures, and the art ofdifpofingof the light 
and lhadow in maffes. It is apparent that this, which 
makes fo confiderable a part of modern art, was to them 
totally unknown.” 
We occafionally meet in authors who fpeak of ancient 
art, with deferiptions of pidlures containing many figures, 
but, in general, its efforts were confined to fubjedts in 
which two or three only were required ; and it is worthy 
of remark, that in none of them is there any obfervation 
on the contrails employed in lines, in light and ftiade, or 
in colour ; nor is there any mention of what is now un- 
derftood by the term bach-ground. To guefs from thefe 
attempts at criticifm, we fltould, at lead we might, con¬ 
clude, that all pictures painted by the Greeks were fimilar 
in principle to thofe found at Herculaneum, of which 
the bed have entirely plain grounds, and others very 
little variety ; which evidently fhows that the writers 
were unacquainted with the art. Their remarks are too 
vague, too undetermined, appear not to flow from any 
feeling or knowledge of what art is, but only from com¬ 
mon perceptions, alike felt by all of equal underftanding. 
Yet every painter knows, that, without fome ingenious 
management of the ground, quite fufficient to form an 
objedt of particular remark, the hand of Alexander 
would have ftill adhered to the canvas; and not, as Pliny 
remarks, have appeared to project before it, or “ out of 
it.” 
That they difeovered to a certain extent the effedl of 
contrafling lights and ftiades, is evident from Plutarch’s 
obfervation, that “ painters increafe the brilliancy of 
light colours, by oppofing 1 them to dark ones, or to 
fhades ;” and Pliny has this remarkable general expref- 
fion, when, having fpoken of the painters in the mono¬ 
chromatic ftyle, he adds, “ in procefs of time the art af- 
fumed new powers, and difeovered (or invented) light 
and fliadow ; by gradating which, the colours are alter¬ 
nately heightened or kept down. Afterwards fplendour 
was added, which was different from light, and which, 
becaufe it was a mean between light and fliade, they call 
lemon; and the union of the colours, and the tranfition 
from one to another, they called -harmogen:" lib. xxxv. 
c. 5. Although we fee, in thefe paflages, that the three 
grand requifites for the fcience of colouring and of chia- 
ro-feuro, viz. contrail, tone, and harmony, were felt by 
the Greeks 5 that the degrees of light and lhade in their 
own force, and in their approach towards each other, 
were fully underftood ; with the value of middle teint, 
the mod difficult and important objedl of the painter’s 
attention ; and that one general hue in the whole work 
was confidered and effedled; yet we cannot agree with 
M. du Bos and others, that we ought hence to conclude, 
that chiaro-fcuro was fcientifically underftood and prac- 
tifed by them to any extent at all approaching that to 
which it has fubfequently been carried by Rembrandt and 
the Flemifli fchool, or the bell among the Italians. Un¬ 
happily, very few of their pidlures have remained to us ; 
and thofe we have, we muft luppofe are the works of 
inferior artifts. Among the twelve pidlures, the bell 
of thofe found at Herculaneum, and all poflefled of 
infinite beauties in tafte, in grace, and feeling, there is 
exhibited in one of them a more compound management 
of chiaro-fcuro, in the redudlion of tone on parts of the 
flefti and drapery, than is to be found in any other monu¬ 
ment of ancient art; but it is not fufficient to prove that 
it proceeded from any thing like principle. Y^e have, 
therefore, no fatisfadlory proof upon this fubjedl; and it 
is mod rational to conclude, with fir Jolhua Reynolds, 
that this, which makes fo material a part of modern art, 
was unknown to the Greeks (as a fcience.) “ If,” he 
obferves, and juilly, “ the great painters had poflefled 
tliis excellence, fome portion of it would infallibly have 
been diffufed, and have been difeovered in the works of 
inferior artifts handed down to us, and which may be 
confidered as on the fame rank with the paintings that 
ornament our public gardens. Suppofing our modern 
3 pictures 
