228 
PAINTING. 
myfteries, its furface was extravagantly imitated by 
Goltzius, by Spranger, and a hoft of ambitious contem¬ 
poraries ; but the folly of this mifapplication foon adted 
to its deftrudtion ; and in its decay bore down with it 
the character of the German fchool of painting. 
Flemish School. —This fchool is recommended to the 
lovers of the art by the difcovery, or at leaf!; the firft prac¬ 
tice, of oil-painting. John Van Eyck, of whom we have 
already fpoken as the inventor of oil-painting, was a 
Fleming; and, from his having fettled at Bruges, was 
commonly called John of Bruges. He may be confidered 
as the founder of painting as a profelfion in Flanders ; 
but Peter Paul Rubens was the founder of the art. This 
extraordinary perfon produced an immenfe number of 
works. He excelled equally in hiltorical, portrait, and 
landfcape, painting ; in fruits, in flowers, and in ani¬ 
mals. He both invented and executed with the greateft 
facility; and, to Ihow the extent of his powers, he fre¬ 
quently made a great number of lketches on the fame fub- 
jedt, altogether different, without allowing any time to 
elapfe between them. The works of Rubens were def- 
titute of that foft inlpiration fo confpicuous in the works 
of Raphael; but he polfelfed that fprightlinefs of genius 
and ftrengthof mind which is ever ready to burft forth in 
wonderful and aftonilhing effedts. His figures appear to 
be the exadt counterpart of his conceptions, and their 
creation nothing more than a limple adt of the will. 
His talent for defign has been unjuftly cenfured ; for 
on every occafion his defign is noble and eafy. He had 
great knowledge of anatomy, but he was hurried away 
by the impetuofity of his imagination and his ardour for 
execution : he preferred fplendour to the beauty of forms, 
and facrificed corredtnefs of defign too often to the magic 
of colours. In Ihort, his qualities fuppofe a mind full of 
fire and vigour, rather than accuracy or profound 
thought. His chief merit confifts in colouring ; though 
in this branch of the art he has not equalled Titian. He 
is the firft among painters eminent for pomp and majelty; 
the firft among thofe who fpeak to the eye, and the power 
of the art is often carried by him almoft to enchantment. 
It is evident, from the works of Rubens, that his method 
of painting was to lay the colours in their place, one at 
the fide of another, and mix them afterwards by a flight 
touch of the pencil. Titian mingled his tints as they are 
in nature, in fuch a manner as to make it impoflible to 
difcover where they began or terminated ; the effedt is 
evident, the labour is concealed. Thus Rubens is more 
dazzling, and Titian more harmonious. In this part, 
the firft excites the attention, the fecond fixes it. The 
carnations of Titian referable the blulh of nature ; thofe 
of Rubens are brilliant and polifhed like 1 'atin, and fome- 
times his' tints are fo ftrong and feparated as to appear 
like fpots. “ Rubens (fays firjofhua Reynolds) is a re¬ 
markable inftance of the fame mind being feen in all the 
various parts of the art. The whole is fo much of a piece, 
that one can fcarce be brought to believe but that, if 
any one of them had been more corredt and perfedt, his 
works would not be fo complete as they appear. If we 
Ihould allow a greater purity and corredtnefs of drawing, 
his want of fimplicity in compofition, colouring, and dra¬ 
pery, would appear more grofs.” In his compofition his 
art is too apparent. His figures have expreflion, and 
adt with energy, but without fimplicity or dignity. His 
colouring, in which he is eminently Ikilled, is, notwith- 
ftanding, too much of what we call tinted. Throughout 
the whole of his works there is a proportionable want of 
that nicety of diftindtion and elegance of mind, which is 
required in the higher walks of painting; and to this 
want it may be in lome degree afcribed, that thofe quali¬ 
ties which make the excellency of this fubordinate llyle 
appear in him with their greateft luftre. Indeed, the faci¬ 
lity with which he invented, the richnefsof his compofi¬ 
tion, the luxuriant harmony and brilliancy of his colour¬ 
ing, fo dazzle the eye, that, whilft his w’orks continue 
before us, we cannot help thinking that all his deficiencies 
are fully fupplied. 
The filvertint, which has fo much grace and enticing 
beauty in the works of fome of the Italians, as Carlo 
Dolce and Paul Veronefe, is a charadteriftic merit of the 
Fiemifti fchool; but, as w^e have remarked above, corredt¬ 
nefs of defign, faithfulnefs and elegance of outline, and 
fublimity of compofition, belong exclufively to that city 
which has been fucceflively, for many centuries, the queen 
of the world, and has kept up her fuperiority to this very 
moment. Rome, through the fuccefs of her arms, by 
the influence of religion, and by the great fame of her 
artifts, feems to have been deftined to be for ever the mif- 
trefs of the civilized world. 
Dutch School. — To fpeak in general terms, and 
without regarding a great number of exceptions, the 
Dutch fchool carries none of the above qualities to great 
perfedtion, except that of colouring. Far from excelling 
in the beauty of heads and forms, they feem chiefly to 
delight in the exadt imitation of the lowell and moft ig¬ 
noble. Their fubjedts are derived from the tavern, the 
fmith’s Ihop, and from the vulgar amufements of the ru- 
deft peafants. The expreflions are fufficiently marked ; 
but it is the expreflion of paflions which debafe inftead of 
ennoble human nature. One would think that they 
pradiifed the art of degrading the bodies and fouls of men 
It muft be acknowledged, at the lame time, that the 
Datch painters have fucceeded in feveral branches of the 
art. If they have cholen low objedts of imitation, they 
have reprefented them with great exadtnefs ; and truth 
muft always pleafe. If they have not fucceeded in the 
moft difficult parts of the chiaro-fcuro, they at lead excel 
in the moft ftriking, fuch as in light confined in a narrow 
fpace, night illuminated by the moon or by torches, and 
the light of a fmith’s forge. The Dutch underftand the 
gradations of colours ; and, by their knowledge of con¬ 
trail, they have arrived at the art of painting life itfelf. 
They have no rivals in landlcape-painting, confidered as 
the faithful reprefentation or pidture of a particular fcene ; 
but they are far from equalling Titian, Pouflin, Claude 
Lorraine, &c. who have carried to the greateft perfection 
the ideal landfcape, and whofe pidtures, inftead of being 
the topographical reprefentation of certain places, are 
the combined refult of every thing beautiful in their ima¬ 
gination or in nature. The Dutch, however, diftinguilh 
themfelves by their perfpedtive, by their clouds, lea-fcenes, 
animals, fruits, flowers, and infedts ; and they excel in 
miniature-painting. In Ihort, every thing which requires 
a faithful imitation, colour, and a nice pencil, is well ex¬ 
ecuted by the Dutch painters. 
Holland has alio produced hiftory-painters, as Odta- 
vius Van Been, and Vander Hilft, the rival of Vandyke, 
and perhaps his fuperior: but it is not in the works of 
thofe artifts that we find the charadlerof the Dutch fchool. 
Neither is the origin of their llyle to be derived from the 
works of Lucas of Leyden, though, from the time he 
flourished, viz. about the end of the 15th century, he may 
be confidered as the patriarch of the Dutch fchool. Lu¬ 
cas painted in oil, in water-colours, and on glafs ; and 
the kinds of his painting were hillory, landfcape, and 
portrait. His pidiure of the Laft Judgment is preserved 
in the hotel-de-ville of Leyden ; it polfeffes vail merit in 
point of compofition, and a great variety of figures. 
If miniature-painting be confidered as a charadteriftic 
of the Dutch fchool, Cornelius Polembourg may be re¬ 
garded as the father of it. He polfelfed the colour, deli¬ 
cacy of touch, and difpofition of the chiaro-fcuro 
which chiefly diftinguilh this fchool; and, if any thing is 
to be added, it is want of corredtnefs in his defign. But, 
if the choice of low figures is its charadteriftic, this is to 
be found in the greateft perfedtion in the works of the 
celebrated Rembrandt. And it is the more offenfive in 
this artift, as his compofitions frequently required an op- 
pofite choice of figures. As his father was a miller near 
1 Leyden, 
