PAIN 
of Vandyke is more pure and chafte. The modeft ten- 
dernefs of his tints gently, but irrefiftibly, perfuade; and 
his numerous portraits, by their delicacy and truth of 
expreflion, ftill captivate and intereft the beholder, even 
where the perfonages theyreprefent have been long for¬ 
gotten. 
Rembrandt is, as Mr. Fufeli obferves, a genius of the 
firft clafs in every thing which relates not to form; but, 
though as a colourift he certainly holds a pre-eminent 
rank, the effe£l of his pi&ures is perhaps, as we have 
faid of Guercino, more the confequence of his altonilh- 
ing chiaro-fcuro than of the freflmefs and vigour of his 
tints. His works prefent not the gorgeous combinations 
of colour found in thofe of Rubens, or that humid mel- 
lownefs of tint in the flefh fo much admired in the pic¬ 
tures of Titian and Giorgione; neverthelefs, they evince 
a mod powerful conception of harmony, a beautiful gra¬ 
dation of tint, and great folemnity of tone. His lights 
have a brilliancy peculiarly his own ; fcarcely more ow¬ 
ing to the powerful oppofition of his chiaro-fcuro, than 
to the extraordinary method which he ufed of painting 
the luminous parts of his pictures with a very great body 
of colour in almoft a dry date ; whilft his broad malfes of 
fhadow poflefs a magic tranfparency, making, as it were, 
darknefs vifible. 
It would be endlefs to enumerate the many admirable 
colourifts of Flanders and Holland, who fucceflively trod 
the footileps of the great artifts above-mentioned ; indeed, 
there are few painters of thofe fchools whofe works may 
not be ftudied with advantage as to this part of the art; 
the richnefs and harmony of their tints, the beauty and 
ftrength of their chiaro-fcuro, and the delicacy of their 
pencilling, comprifing their chief excellence. Sirjofhua 
Reynolds, the great colourift of the laft century, fully 
appreciated their merits; and, by combining fomewhat 
of their principle with the different ftyles of Titian and 
Corregio, has fucceeded in producing, in not a few in- 
flances, a richnefs and brilliancy of colour, inferior per¬ 
haps to neither, and at the fame time different from all. 
Happy for his reputation, if, from an infatiable defire of 
furpafling, he had not, in fo many of his pictures, in¬ 
dulged himfelf in the ufe of colours and varnifhes, which, 
like the more delicate bloffoms of nature, are the earlieft 
fubjecl to decay. 
It has already been obferved, that chiaro-fcuro may exift 
in the greateft perfeftion, independently of colours; but 
colouring, without the aid of lights and fliadows, would 
prefent us nothing more than the geographical chart, or 
the harlequin’s coat ; and the ftudy of it muff therefore 
neceffarily imply fome previous knowledge of chiaro-fcuro. 
That f'pecies or divifion of colouring which We have 
termed the expedient, or ornamental, is of a very extended 
range, and may be compared to rhetoric, which gives ad¬ 
ditional luftre to truth, and enables the orator, even 
where proof is wanting, to'fupport his argument upon 
fpecious, though fallacious, grounds. By a judicious op¬ 
pofition of one colour to another, the fkilful painter is 
enabled to give to each an increafed delicacy or an addi¬ 
tional fplendour; and by the fame means a colour may be 
made to appear different from that w hich it really is; and 
thus a femblance of truth in the local tint may be fre¬ 
quently attained, even where that truth is in reality very 
far from exifting. If the tint of the flefh be of too warm 
a hue, a yellow drapery placed next it reftores it to har¬ 
mony ; if too red, a crimfon or a fcarlet mantle takes 
away, or ditninifhes, the imperfedlion ; if it appear cold, 
blue or purple oppoled to it, gives it a proportionable de¬ 
gree of warmth ; and thus, by contrafting one colour 
with another, the painter is enabled to give to each the 
degree of value he defires, according as his fubjeft and 
the general effeft of his work requires. It was the cuftom 
of Rubens, when he wifhed to give brilliancy to the 
principal figures in his pifture, to oppofe to the flefh a 
map of fcarlet drapery, and another of pure white; by 
thefe means the tints of the naked parts acquired a won- 
Vol. XVIII. No. 1238. 
TING. 237 
derful air of truth, at the fame time that a fplendid and 
harmonious effeft was produced. 
The balance of cold and warm colours in a pi&ure 
feems to bear aftrong affinity to the gradation or contrail 
of the chiaro-fcuro, and demands equal attention. “ A 
certain quantity of cold colours,” fays fir Jofliua Rey¬ 
nolds, “ is neceflary to give value and luftre to the warm 
colours he adds, “ that the mafles of light in a piflure 
be always of a warm mellow colour, yellow, red, or a 
yellowifh-white ; and that the blue, the grey, or the green, 
colours, be kept almoft entirely out of thefe mafles, and 
be ufed only to fupport and let off thefe warm Colours ; 
and for this purpofe a final 1 proportion of cold colours 
will be fufficient.” “ Let this conduct be reverfed,” con¬ 
tinues this excellent writer; “ let the light be cold, and 
the furrounding colours warm, as we often fee in the 
w'orks of the Roman and Florentine painters, and it will 
be out of the power of art, even in the hands of Rubens 
or Titian, to make a pifture fplendid and harmonious. 
The illuminated parts of objects are in nature of a warmer 
tint than thofe that are in the fliade; what I have recom¬ 
mended therefore is no more than that the fame conduct 
be obferved in the whole, which is acknowledged to be 
neceflary in every individual part. It is prefenting to the 
eye the fame effeft as that which it has been accullomed 
to feel, which in this cafe, as in every other, will always 
produce beauty ; no principle therefore in our art can be 
more certain, or is derived from a higher fource.” 
It is proper, in this place, to obferve, that the body 
which receives a reflected light, receives, together with 
that light, fomewhat of the colour of the objeSl which 
gives the refleftion ; and this in proportion to the ftrength 
of light on the body reflecting, and the vicinity of fuch 
body to that receiving the reflection. The fkilful ma¬ 
nagement of refledlions is fo indifpenfable a part of colour¬ 
ing, that it cannot employ too great a fliare of the flu- 
dent’s attention: an excellent infight into the principles 
of it will be afforded him by the w'orks of Rubens and 
Jordaens; not perhaps the lefs fo from thefe mailers hav¬ 
ing marked the reflections in their pictures with a preci- 
fion and diftinCtnefs, perhaps even beyond what is war¬ 
ranted by the appearances of Nature herfelf. 
With refpeCl to the application of colouring, it fhould 
always be remembered, that, like the other parts of the 
art, it is of a nature powerfully to contribute to the fen- 
timent and expreflion of a picture ; when the flyle adopted 
is in ftriCl conformity with the character of the fubjeCl 
reprefented. This conformity is therefore the firft thing 
to be confidered. If the fubjeCt is awful or melancholy, 
a grave fombre tone of colour will be appropriate ; if gay 
or magnificent, the moft brilliant and gorgeous tints may 
be freely ufed. The dark hue given by Michael Angelo 
to his celebrated group in the boat, in the Lafl Judgment, 
with the cold light behind it, renders it perhaps not lefs 
a mafterpiece of colour, than the Venus and Adonis of 
Titian, or the Sleeping Nymphs of Rubens. 
There are more reafons than one why our colouring 
cannot equal that of the ancients. 
The ancients (fays Longerue) were not in pofleflion of 
the art of painting in oil, invented by John of Bruges ; 
yet their colours were more glowing and durable than 
ours. Our colours are confiderably diminifhed, even 
fince the laft age : compare the colouring of Le Brun and 
Mignard, with that of their predeceflors. This is faid to 
proceed from the avarice of the Dutch, and others, who 
corrupt the drugs ufed in painting; perhaps, too, they 
have induced the natives themfelves to corrupt them. 
The colouring of the two great painters above mentioned 
fades every day. It is the fame in Italy ; and this great 
evil has become general. Thofe who have infpeCled the 
paintings on vellum, or illuminated manufcripts, of 
which many fine fpecimens are preferved in the Britifli 
Mufeum, will confefs, that not only the artifts of thofe 
times excelled us in the elaborate finilhings of their pieces; 
or, in the language of Pope, “ The patient touches of 
3 P " unwearied 
