250 
PAINTING. 
diftance ; but that, at every' flep in the progrefs of his por¬ 
trait, he fhouid approach nearer and nearer to his model, 
<o that all the details may in the firfl inftance efcape his 
attention, and afterward attraCt it in the order of their 
confpicuoufnefs. This rule, of which fo many Dutch 
painters avail themfelves, and which is the grand caufe 
of their portraits uniting the merit of diifant and that of 
contiguous effeCt, has elcaped moil, of our modern por¬ 
trait-painters, becaufe their attention is principally occu¬ 
pied with the drawing of the figure. 
Sig. Rnbejs juftlv remarks, that improbable lights, de¬ 
adens de lumierc, Ihould always be avoided : they excite, 
by alfociation, the idea that fomething extraordinary is 
about to be undertaken or undergone by the perfonage ; 
an idea which excites the mind to conjecture, and which 
banilhes the funpofition of repofe, fo elfential to a form 
of which the expreilion is tranquil. Catching lights, as 
our artifts call them, are too common in Engliih portraits. 
M. Rubejs is particularly averfe to lights from above, 
which excite the idea of imprifonment in a dungeon, and 
darken the exprefiive concavity of the orbit of the eye. 
He prefers a level, or gently-ilanting, light; a front or 
gentle fide-light; a full to a faint, a diffufe to a concen¬ 
trated, light. In this opinion he has Titian’s fanCtion, 
who had no objection to paint in the open air, and who 
imitated without caricature the fhadovvings of nature. 
Rembrandt carried to excels the oppoiite method of re¬ 
prefen tation. 
Models commonly aflume, during the flow procefs of de¬ 
lineation, an expreflion of ennui which painters rightly 
endeavour to avoid in the drawing; yet the attempt at a 
counter-expreflion, as of intenfe thought if the model be 
grave, or of hilarity if the model be gay, may not always 
be hazarded without the introduction of fomeappropriate 
and emblematic objeCt. The fcholar may be painted with 
his book, the foldier with his weapon, the voluptuary 
with his wine, or with the portrait of his milt refs; but 
repofe is the natural, and ought ulually to be the pre¬ 
vailing, character of the portrait; and accidental expreflion, 
whenever it does not indicate the leading feature of the 
character, Ihould be avoided. Great portrait-painters, 
fuch as Raphael and Titian, have occalionaily bellowed 
much labour on the drefs and the accompaniments : but 
thefe minutiae ought never to indicate a period of time, 
or a line of rank, in udiich the drefs and appendages 
could not occur. In general, the method of Vandyke, 
who Angles out for attention the piiyliognomy, and 
throws into oblcurity the diltracting but explanatory lan¬ 
guage of the paraphernalia, is moll advifable. The 
French painter Rigaud erred in the oppoiite direction, 
and lludioufly rendered his draperies and appendages pic- 
turefquely but ollentatioufly, attractively but glaringly, 
confpicuous. 
The portrait-painter ought alfo to accommodate his 
pallet to the complexion of his model. A fair perfon 
requires, in thelketch as w’ell as in the flnifliing, colours 
different from a dark-haired one ; and, if the young artifl 
does not at once mix a tint which ought to be the key¬ 
note of the whole performance, he is lure to wander in 
perplexing mazes, and w ill never produce any thing plea- 
ling to himfelf or to others. Some painters have taken a 
different way to come to the fame point: the author of 
thefe familiar obfervations remembers to have feen a fo¬ 
reigner of great note in the art of painting, cover the 
outlines of a face with patches of colours according to 
the tint which they were to produce in appearing through 
the colours ufed afterwards. The forehead w'as painted 
wdiite, the temple blue, the cheeks and mouth with pure 
vermilion, the lhadow of the neck brown, and the bread: 
was divided into feveral pieces, according to its polition 
and fliape. He was aftonilhed at this proceeding, but 
could not help admiringthe refult. The artifl pretended 
to have inherited this manner of colouring from the firfl 
mailers in Italy, Corregio, Guido, Guercino, and molt of 
thofe whofe talents have immortalized the name of the 
fchool of Bologna. Another painter of great merit 
ufed to lay a coat of Naples-yellow on the canvas where 
he intended to paint the face of ,a young woman, and 
obtained from this procefs a general tint in his dead-co¬ 
louring, which tended confiderably to produce harmony. 
Portrait-painting, when juftiy confidered and executed, 
is not, as may be imagined, a tame buflnefs of imitation, 
a mere laborious exaCtnefs in copying the precife form 
which is placed before the artifl. Mere likenefs is a 
matter produced, as we fee every day, by the dulielt of 
the dull; or by men who will copy to deception the turn 
of a hair, or the folds of drapery. But, while fuch artifts 
make the features of exaCt form, they leave them void of 
animation, of juft colour, or of any degree of fenfe or 
fentiment; in ihort, it is merely a picture lluckagainft a 
wall. Unlefs the mind and charadler can be infilled into 
the likenefs, you certainly have not a man before you, 
but a picture. If the firfl Iketch could be taken while 
the party was engaged in fome interefting a&ioa or con- 
verflttion, and unconfcious of what was doing, then we 
might expeCt to have fomething fit to remain upon record. 
Hogarth lketched many (indeed moll) of his portraits in 
this manner ; and, in other cafes, he was well acquainted 
with the character of thofe he had to delineate. But it 
is not always, perhaps not often, that a portrait-painter 
enjoys the opportunity of knowing enough of his llib- 
jeft, or fees enough of him, to avail himfelf decidedly of 
his natural propenlities. In many cafes, on the very lint 
introduction, a fitting takes place ; and then the only 
means of fludying the character is by making unnoticed 
obfervations on the general manner of carriage, or of 
expreflion, by prolonging difeourfe before the fitting, by 
making occalional interruptions, and by throwing objeCts 
of attention in the way, which may in fome meafure 
elicit an unconfined freedom of aCtion. But it is only 
by doing this utwhfervedly , that aCtual character can be 
difcovered. The inftant a perfon is aware that he is no¬ 
ticed, farewell to nature: rellraint immediately ufurps 
dominion, and baffles the moll quick and intuitive per¬ 
ception. It will happen, however, very frequently in 
this portrait-painting age and country, that thofe who, 
by the calls of affeCtion or of vanity, become fubjeCls for 
the painter, have “ no character at all” to diltinguilh them 
from their fellow-mortals ; and, in thefe cafes, the painter 
is entirely at liberty to choofe his own aClion, and indulge 
his fancy, according to the fex, the age, and quality, of 
his employer. 
Then naturally arifes the queftion, “ Whether it is pro¬ 
per, in portraiture, to co'rreCt the defecls of nature?” 
Likenefs being the eflence of portraiture, it would feem 
that we ought to imitate defeCts as well as beauties, fince, 
by this means, the imitation will be the more complete. 
It would be even hard to prove the contrary, to one who 
would undertake the defence or this pofition. But la¬ 
dies and gentlemen do not much approve of thofe paint¬ 
ers who entertain fuch fentiments,and put them in praClice. 
It is certain that fome complaifance in this refpeCl is due 
to them ; and there is little doubt but their pictures may 
be made to refemble, without difplealing, them ; for the 
effectual likenefs is a jult agreement of the parts that are 
painted with thofe of nature ; fo that we may be at no 
lofs to know the air of the face, and the temper of the 
perfon, whofe picture is before us. All deformities, there¬ 
fore, when the air and temper may be difcovered without 
them, ought to be either corrected or omitted in women’s 
and young men’s portraits. A nofe fomewhat awry may 
be helped, or a Ihrivelled neck or high flioulders adapted 
to a good air, without going from one extreme to ano¬ 
ther. But this mull be done with great diferetion : for, 
by endeavouring to correCt nature too much, weinfenfi- 
bly fall into a method of giving a general air to all our 
portraits ; juft as, by confiningourfelves too much to the 
defeCts and littlenefs of nature, we are in danger of falling 
into the low and taftelels manner. 
But, in the faces ofheroes and men of rank, diftinguilhed 
3 either 
