1803.] 
taining many works that ave well worthy 
of their fludious obftrvation. That 
among fuch a number of ‘piétures there 
fhould be fome of an inferior cat, mutt 
be naturally expeéted ; but many which 
are deficient in one branch of the ait, 
have great merit in another ; and though, 
in fome inftances, the {fubjeéts do not 
feem to deferve the labour and high- 
finifhing which has been beftowed upon 
them, yet almoft every artift feems to have 
painted as well as hecould ; to have fol- 
lowed his proféffion as a fcience, rather 
than a trade; to have confidered himfelf 
as painting pictures for the infpection of 
pofterity, and been careful to ufe fuch co- 
Jouis as would endure. To attain thés 
knowledge, moft of the ancient painters 
ftudied chemiftry, a fcience which was 
then confiidered as a very important and 
Jeading branch of the arts, and in which 
many painters of great and deferved cele- 
brity were very deeply read. Though 
this may not be quite fo neceffary now as 
it was then, yet an acquaintance with the 
general principles, and fome knowledge 
of recent experiments on colours, would 
be very uleful to the ftudents of the pre- 
fent day. 
Vitruvius afferts, that it is neceflary for 
an architect to be converfant in all human 
learning ; he even intimates, that he mult 
be familiar with the laws of the country 
in which he erects.an edifice—or it may be 
built upon land to which there is not a good 
titlei—This is carrying it too far; yet, 
for attaining a high rank in what is pro- 
perly denominated a polite art, fomething 
more than mere mechanical fkill wall be 
found ufeful and advantageous. Rubens 
was highly accomplifhed in every branch 
of claffica] literature, which qualified him 
fo eminently to excel in his allegorical and 
emblematical compofitions, particularly 
in that grand feries in the Luxembourg 
Gallery which defcribe the lite of Mary 
De Medicis, By his learning, politene/s, 
and various acquirements, he obtained the 
confidence and protection of monarchs. — 
By the King of Spain he was employed 
in a minifterial -capacity ; and by the 
King and Nobility of England, liberally 
_ patronized, and treated with the higheft 
refpect. On the whole, his works, 
which are ftill the mof diftinguifhed or- 
naments of many convents, churches, 
and palaces, throughout Europe, evince a 
mind fraught with information, while 
they have given additional importance to 
the arts, his amiable manners and literary 
4 
The Truchjefs Gallery. 
471 
accomplifhments have exalted the charac- 
ter of an artift to a higher rank than it 
had hitherto attained. 
Sir Jofhua Reynolds, who is in the re. 
colleStion of maft of us, united to his 
profeffional talents an elegance of digtion, 
which evabled him, in his le&tures, to 
defcribe thole arts he fojwell underfood, in 
terms that would havedone honour to the 
man who devoted his whole life to litera- 
rature ; and he added to all, a fuavity 
which endeared him to all his friends.— 
The following obfervations, which he 
made in one of his leétures, are well wor- 
thy of confideration and imitation : 
«¢ My fuccefs and continual improvement 
in my art, (if I may be allowed the expref- 
fion,) may he afcribed to a principle which 
J will boldly recommend to imitation; I 
mean a principle of honefty ; which in this, 
as in ali other inftances, is, according to the 
vulgar proyerb, certainly the beft policy. 
‘¢ J always endeavoured to do my beft.— 
Great, or vulgar—goud fubjects, or bad— 
all had nature: by the exaét reprefentation 
of which, or even by the endeavour to give 
fuch a reprefentation, the painter cannot but 
improve in hisart. 
*¢ My principal labour was employed on 
the whole together, and I was never weary 
of changing and tryiag different modes and 
different eftcéts, I had always fome fcheme 
in my mind, and a perpetual delire to ade 
vance. By conftantly endeavouring to do 
my beft, I acquired a power of doing that 
with fpontaneous facility, which at firft was 
the effort of my waole mind5 and my re- 
ward was threefold—the fatisfaétion refult. 
ing from ating on this juft principle, im- 
provement in my art, and the pleafure de- 
rived from a,conftant purfuit after excel- 
lence.” 
On our Jaft vifit to the Gallery, we 
were pleafed to find that an improvement 
has been made in the manner of lighting 
the pi€tures, by which they are now feen 
to much more advantage than they were 
at the time the exhibition commenced. 
The name cf the following painter will 
be recollected by many of our readers 
who have vilited Windfor Caftle, 
QUINTIN MESSIS, (or METSYS.) 
By this artift there are fix pictures on 
religious fubjects, and they have confi- 
derable merit. The painter is very well 
known on the Continent by a Defcent 
from the Crofs, which is in the Cathe- 
dral at Antwerp, and many other pic- 
tures. In this country he has long beeg 
eminently diftinguifhed by the picture of 
the Two Miters, in the Royal Collection 
g.P 2 at 
