240 
PAINTING. 
He finisfied the people, who murmured at the expenfe he 
indulged-in in the public works, that, by advancing the 
interefts'of the arts, he was promoting their own glory. 
The love of fame was the fird objeft of the Greeks, and 
their leaders therefore very wifely employed every means 
to maintain fo ufeful a fpirit. In compliance with this, 
Panaenus and Polygnotus were employed by Pericles to 
adorn the public buildings with paintings, the fubjedfs of 
which were the heroic actions of the molt renowned 
among their countrymen ; thus perpetuating a record of 
thole deeds which excited to emulation, which, appealing 
to the natural and inftindlive pride of man in a becom¬ 
ing manner, necefiarily leads, wherever it is drongly felt, 
to great and ufeful condudl. There is no denying that 
painting is peculiarly adapted to this fpecies of excite¬ 
ment, its effedl being full and inftantaneous; as the im- 
prellion made upon tjjie mind by witneffingthe exhibition 
of a fcene of heroifm, of diflrels, or of delight, is greater 
than any which can arile from a detail of it in defcription. 
The intered in the relation is the weaker, as imprelTion 
fucceds to imprelTion ; whereas in the fadt, or the repre- 
fentation of it, the whole rulhes upon the light at once. 
It is fcarcely credible that, in diredl oppolition to this 
fentiment of the Greeks, any one fhould affert, in this 
enlightened period, that no inculcation of moral or reli¬ 
gious truth can be effedfed by painting; the more fo, 
when the works of Hogarth, the molt inftrudfive of 
painters, are in our hands, and no one who ever thinks 
of art at all can plead ignorance of them. An alfertion 
to that effedt has, however, been made by a very learned 
and ingenious author, in a critique on the Life and 
Works of J. Barry, Efq. (fee Edinb. Review', Aug. 1810.) 
and he has gone the length of faying, “ that, as to con¬ 
veying moral, religious, or political, indru&ion in pic¬ 
tures, it is the mod abfurd of all abfurd notions.” If 
the ingenious gentleman means, by the w'ord iujlruflion , 
that kind only which properly belongs to painting, and 
to which, w’hen fpeaking of the art, he ought to confine 
hirnfelf, viz. that fudden and unavoidable imprelTion of 
truth, which mod men, not utterly deditute of fenfe, re¬ 
ceive upon the fird fight of a well-regulated moral or 
poetical compofition ; more particularly fuch as, being 
drawn from common nature, applies common objedls to 
its purpofe; furely every day’s experience is againd him. 
We would appeal to hirnfelf, if he has never received the 
imprelTion of difgud at pride; abhorrence of avarice and 
of lenluality ; difdain of vanity and idle wade of time, a 
prudential hint of the folly of extravagance, and of trud- 
ing to gay difiipation for the enjoyment of happinefs ; 
from the leries of pictures called The Marriage-a-la-Mode 
by Hogarth. What moral leftures in rhetoric would, or 
could, more completely illudrate, in a more univerfally- 
intelligible manner, the fatal effe&s of vice, or the bene¬ 
ficial ones attendant upon virtue, than that ingenious 
painter has done in this and others of his productions ; 
as the Indudrious and Idle Apprentices, the Rake’s and 
the Harlot’s Progrefs, &c. and yet, with thefe defigns in his 
hand, has he rilked fo unjud and ungenerous a fentiment 
as his aflertion conveys. Ungenerous, becaufe, if true, it 
can be productive of no good to extend fuch an opinion, 
arid it tends to diminilh the regard which painting has de- 
fervedly received from the world, wherever its highed 
powers have been engaged; and unjud, becaufe it is con¬ 
trary to the acknowledgment of ages, and is upheld by 
no reafoning at all applicable to the cafe. 
The appeal of the pencil is not fo much to the under- 
ftandingas to rhe heart and mind ; by that the fird excite¬ 
ment is produced, and thence necefiarily follow reflec¬ 
tions, attached to the nature of the images prefented to 
the eye. Do we not fearfully acknowledge its power to 
corrupt young minds, and take condantcare to keep im¬ 
proper drawings from their view ? What mode of infor¬ 
mation does it purfue in this cafe, but that of prefenting 
images of agreeable vices in an engaging manner? And 
is it allowed to be fo fufficiently potent for the produc¬ 
tion of evil, that all our care is requifite to counteract or 
prevent its influence in that refpeCt; and fliall it be denied 
any influence in the promotion of good ! Forbid it reafon, 
fenfe, and juflice! If the objection to its utility be juft, 
how fliall we eflimate the wifdom of thofe whom the 
learned author alluded to fufficiently honburs on other 
occafions; of thofe who employed fculpture and painting 
as political and religious agents, to Aimulate the ardent 
minds of the Greeks to heroifm or devotion. The opi¬ 
nions of almofl all ancient authors who have noticed it, 
are mod decidedly in favour of the utility of the pencil; 
and thofe of the wifed politicians among the moderns 
have been amply ill udrated by the ufe they have made of 
its powers. 
The Student in his Painting Room. 
We do not intend to give a minute defcription of the 
inflruments and tools generally ufed by painters ; but will 
jud obferve, that oil-painting may be executed on primed 
canvas, prepared pannel, copper, or any other fmooth 
fubdance. The canvas is fold at the oil and colourfliops 
in London, many of which keep canvas and colours, with 
tools, ready prepared for artids. The canvas is either 
fold at fo much a-yard, or drained on a frame of deal 
wood of a certain fize. The common fizes are 9 inches by 
10, 10 by 12, and 17 by sti. Then three-quarters, kit- 
cat, half-length, and whole-length, for portraits. 
Pannels of all forts of wood may be ufed in oil-paint-., 
ing ; but mahogany, wainfcot, beech, and deal, ffiould 
never be made ufe of unlefs they are well feafoned and 
dry. Old coach-pannels are preferable to any, and prove 
mod ufeful, cheap, and pleafant to the brufli of the young 
artifl. They are eafily procured at the coach-makers. 
The old painters, chiefly in Flanders and Holland, 
where the high-finiffiing ftyle was fo much in vogue, 
made ufe of plates of copper. The metal, by its fmooth- 
nefs and fteadinefs, meets pleafingly the point of the 
bruffi; and, if you think proper to fmooth down the 
ridges of your painting, you may more eafily do it on 
this fubdance than upon any other. We are told that 
rotten-done, cuttle-fiih, and pumice-done, were often 
ufed for this purpofe; and that it is to this fimple procefs 
that we owe the adoniffiing fmoothnefs of the works of 
Vanderwerf, Mieris, Gerard Dow, &c. 
Having chofen the fubdance you intend to paint upon, 
you mud fet it fteady and fafe on an eafel. This machine 
you will be provided with it at the colour-ffiops. 
The next part of the indifpenfable apparatus, is the 
pallet, which is a flat piece of wood, with a hole to receive 
the thumb that holds it, on the fore-arm. The refling- 
ftick, which is held in the left hand, is a proper fulcrum 
for the right, when employed. The brufhes are what is 
generally called fmall or fine tools, and made of bridles; 
the camel’s-hair and fable pencils are ufed for the mi¬ 
nuted parts of the piece. 
Now that the young artid is armed, and ready to pro¬ 
ceed to bufinefs, we mud advife him to delineate care¬ 
fully on the canvas, pannel, &c. what he intends to 
paint, with a colour that contrads with the ground of the 
pannel or canvas. 
The mod celebrated of ancient painters, chiefly thofe 
vvhofe landfcapes are dill admired for their clearnefs and 
glow, did always paint their ground of a reddilh colour, 
compofed of red ochre and a little umber. 
Dfipofition of the Colours on the Pallet. —To begin from 
the thumb of the hand that holds the pallet: flake white ; 
Naples-yellow; yellow och.re; unburnt terra di Sienna ; 
burnt ditto; vermilion; light-red; Indian-red; lake; 
Antwerp blue ; Pruffian blue ; Vandyke-brown ; Bolonian 
earth ; blue-black ; ivory-black. You may alfo make 
ufe of many other colours, but they will he only required 
on particular occafions ; of which the young artid ought 
to judge for hirnfelf, and ufe his own diferetion. 
Compofition of Tints to colour a Face. —The bed tint 
to Iketch-out is made of a little ivory-black and Indian- 
red ^ 
