244 
PAIN 
the ufe of it. This medium is utterly out of the ordinary 
way of human culture; and, whatever may be the aids 
derived from the advantages we now poffefs, in having 
the experience of our predecefl'ors as our guide, there 
mud have been infinite difficulty in bringing it fo near 
to perfection as the great mailers have done; and it has 
.been only effected by an extremely gradual progrefs, and 
the union of fucceffive exertions operating in one conti¬ 
nued line of aCtion. Even now, with the works of pre¬ 
ceding painters in our hands, the language of the art 
(the value and ufe of its materials) is neceffiarily, in a 
very great degree, new to every profeffior who attains any 
tolerable degree of eminence. And though it mult, no 
■doubt, appear very extraordinary to thofe who have never 
made the praflice of painting their ftudy, that, when fuch 
exemplars of art remain to us, men polfefled of good 
fenfe fliould heiitate in producing the like ; or that, when 
they are become capable of making copies, perfeCt almoll 
to deception, they ffiould not be alfo capable of employ¬ 
ing the means they have acquired, in a fyftetnatic mode, 
in works of original invention ;—yet the reverfe, in many 
inftances, is a faCt of univerfal notoriety; and proves in- 
contellibly, that the art of painting, particularly when 
employed upon original matter, is more dependant upon 
mental exertion than manual dexterity in its execution, 
as well as in its object and effeft; and well worthy of the 
rank affigned it by the Greeks among thofe arts which 
they denominated liberal. 
Notwithftanding the high degree of perfection to which 
this art has been carried, no fcientific or complete fyfte- 
matic arrangement has yet been adopted for the perfeCt 
guidance of the painter; nor does it appear probable that 
any one ever can be formed, that will effectually apply to 
the practice of an art which is capable of fuch an infinite 
diveriity of character and effect. A man of enlarged 
■mind, carefully confulting the pictures of preceding ar- 
tifts, cannot avoid acquiring information which may affift 
him in his labour; and it is by this means, more than by 
regular fyftematic inftruCtion, that painters have arrived 
at eminence. Thus, then, as in other arts and fciences, 
fomething is ready done to the hands of the painter: he 
builds upon a foundation laid by his predecefl'ors; but 
the benefit is derived principally from feeing what may 
be done, rather than in being informed how to do it. He 
has yet to dil'cover what colours or materials will mod ef¬ 
fectively combine to attain his end, even in copying pic¬ 
tures ; and, when he ventures to attempt the imitation of 
nature, to trace her varieties and intricacies through the 
numberlefs paths of light and lhade, and colour, and in 
all the diverfities of view in which objeCts prefent them- 
felves, then the whole value of the information obtained 
by the ltudy of the works of former malters in the prac¬ 
tical part of the art, falls Hill lower in the fcale of utility, 
from the extreme difficulty of applying it. Perhaps there 
cannot be a greater proof of the originality of thought re¬ 
quired in the practice of this art, than the great diverfity 
of the works produced in competition with old pictures, 
by thofe who have at different periods admired and ftudied 
them enthufiaftically. No man of genius, or good fenfe, 
vfill, however, flight the advantages which the ftudy of 
them may afford him. He may not, at firft, obtain the 
full and aCtual information he feeks ; but the attempt will 
lead him in a right way to the difcovery of the true prin¬ 
ciples of art; and time may be faved for their application, 
which, without fuch helps, mult have been loll in experi¬ 
ment. 
No vulgar or uninformed man, no one who has not 
taken pains to cultivate and improve his mental faculties, 
.can be a painter, in the exalted fenfe in which we view it. 
Whatever is requilite for the poet or the hiltorian, in cul¬ 
tivation and information, ought not to be difregarded by 
the painter, whofe defire is to exercife his art in an ho¬ 
nourable or ufeful manner, as the great malters among 
the ancient Greeks, and in the more modern Italian 
fchools, have done. If it be not required of him to be- 
T I N G. 
come as learned in natural philofophy as Newton, he 
ought not to be unacquainted with its principles; his 
bulinefs is not merely with the furface of things, if he 
wilhes to reprefent their appearances in a feniible and cha- 
raCteriltic manner. Aknowlegein the fciences, fufficient 
to inform him of the principles which direCt and govern 
the aCtions of animals, and caufe the various appearances 
of natural unanimated objeCts, cannot or ought not to be 
unintereliing to him whole whole life is employed in con¬ 
templating and reprefenting their forms or their elfeCts. 
If he knows the natural ItruCture of an animal, its modes 
and habits of life and aCtion, he at once, and without he- 
litation, direCts his attention to the parts moll materially 
neceflary to its delineation; and does not lofe his time, 
as an ignorant perfon would do, in reprefenting thole 
parts which, though they may, from accidental caufes, 
ftrike the eye, yet are, in effeCt, prejudicial to true cha¬ 
racter; and, if marked tooftrongly, even with the hand of 
ability, counteract the effeCt of thofe more efficient in ge¬ 
neral reprefentation, which always ought to be the foie 
object of him who wilhes to be a great painter. In the 
reprefentation of objeCts ofunanimated nature, a juft com- 
preheniion of their caufes and effeCls will in great mea- 
fure operate in the fame way. We do not mean to fay, 
that if a man happens, for example, to know the caufe of 
a rainbow, or can form a pleafing theory upon it, he 
will therefore be able to feleCt and blend, in a proper 
manner, the colouring fubftances neceflary to paint one 
with truth and tafte: we have already faid that this is a 
matter utterly unconnected with all other fpecies of in¬ 
formation ; but, if he add to his technical and practical 
acquirements the fcientific one alluded to, he will molt 
undoubtedly fet about the talk with lefs confufion of 
mind than the molt ingenious among thofe who are igno¬ 
rant of it. 
To this knowledge of the principles of nature, an un¬ 
remitting attention to her productions is abfolutely re¬ 
quired of the painter. To him whofe mind is devoted to 
the art, no fcene can be vacant or uninterefting; every 
place affords him matter of obfervation and inveftigation. 
All appearances of natural objeCts, from the fimpleft to 
the molt awful ; all the aCtions of rnan, the varied ex- 
preffions of his countenance when under the influence of 
his paffions ; the characters of health, of age, of beauty, 
and even deformity, are entitled to his regard, indeed de¬ 
mand his clofeft enquiry into their molt charaCteriftic 
lines and effeCls. All the varieties of country, the pecu¬ 
liar forms of animals, trees, rocks, &c. ought neceffarily 
to be known to him ; in faCt, there is no objeCl the obfer¬ 
vation of which may not, either immediately or collate¬ 
rally, be ufeful to him. The trouble which attends this 
conftant application of the mind, is in the end moll 
highly rewarded. His fphere of viflon is enlarged, almoll 
to the creation of another fenle, unknown to thofe who 
are uninitiated in the art, which finds continual nourilh- 
ment in fcenes even of apparent dulnefs and infipidity : 
imagination is ftrengthened by it, as the power of creating 
new images increafes in proportion to the ftore of ideas 
he acquires ; and the power of invention or combination, 
with whatfoever degree nature may have blefl’ed him, is 
rendered fo much the more effective, as he is careful and 
aCtive in obfervation ; whereas it would be utterly ufelefs, 
or worfe, if not thus fupplied by a well-digelted mafs of 
materials, railed by continual ftudy of nature; particu¬ 
larly of the beautiful, the grand, the interefting, and the 
charaCteriftic. 
This union of general knowledge with practical ability, 
may be regarded as the material, or the body, of the art, 
the fervant of its more exalted and fpiritual effence, the 
power of invention and expreffion, by which alone tire 
charm of the art is acquired and imparted. In vain may 
the molt Ikilful operator combine his colours, and arrange 
his lines; or the molt fcientific compofer determine his 
groups, and perfeCt his forms, in exaCt imitation of na¬ 
ture ; if a vivid and correCt invention, amply fupplied 
with 
