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diff --git a/2176.txt b/2176.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c28b64e --- /dev/null +++ b/2176.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4245 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Seven Discourses on Art, by Joshua Reynolds, +Edited by Henry Morley + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Seven Discourses on Art + + +Author: Joshua Reynolds + +Release Date: May 8, 2005 [eBook #2176] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SEVEN DISCOURSES ON ART*** + + + + + +Transcribed from the 1901 Cassell and Company edition by David Price, +email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk. Proofing by David, Dawn Smith, Uzma, Jane +Foster, Juliana Rew, Marie Rhoden and Jo Osment. + + + + + +SEVEN DISCOURSES ON ART +by Joshua Reyonds + + +INTRODUCTION + + +It is a happy memory that associates the foundation of our Royal Academy +with the delivery of these inaugural discourses by Sir Joshua Reynolds, +on the opening of the schools, and at the first annual meetings for the +distribution of its prizes. They laid down principles of art from the +point of view of a man of genius who had made his power felt, and with +the clear good sense which is the foundation of all work that looks +upward and may hope to live. The truths here expressed concerning Art +may, with slight adjustment of the way of thought, be applied to +Literature or to any exercise of the best powers of mind for shaping the +delights that raise us to the larger sense of life. In his separation of +the utterance of whole truths from insistance upon accidents of detail, +Reynolds was right, because he guarded the expression of his view with +careful definitions of its limits. In the same way Boileau was right, as +a critic of Literature, in demanding everywhere good sense, in condemning +the paste brilliants of a style then in decay, and fixing attention upon +the masterly simplicity of Roman poets in the time of Augustus. Critics +by rule of thumb reduced the principles clearly defined by Boileau to a +dull convention, against which there came in course of time a strong +reaction. In like manner the teaching of Reynolds was applied by dull +men to much vague and conventional generalisation in the name of dignity. +Nevertheless, Reynolds taught essential truths of Art. The principles +laid down by him will never fail to give strength to the right artist, or +true guidance towards the appreciation of good art, though here and there +we may not wholly assent to some passing application of them, where the +difference may be great between a fashion of thought in his time and in +ours. A righteous enforcement of exact truth in our day has led many +into a readiness to appreciate more really the minute imitation of a +satin dress, or a red herring, than the noblest figure in the best of +Raffaelle's cartoons. Much good should come of the diffusion of this +wise little book. + +Joshua Reynolds was born on the 15th of July, 1723, the son of a +clergyman and schoolmaster, at Plympton in Devonshire. His bent for Art +was clear and strong from his childhood. In 1741 at the age of nineteen, +he began study, and studied for two yours in London under Thomas Hudson, +a successful portrait painter. Then he went back to Devonshire and +painted portraits, aided for some time in his education by attention to +the work of William Gandy of Exeter. When twenty-six years old, in May, +1749, Reynolds was taken away by Captain Keppel to the Mediterranean, and +brought into contact with the works of the great painters of Italy. He +stayed two years in Rome, and in accordance with the principles +afterwards laid down in these lectures, he refused, when in Rome, +commissions for copying, and gave his mind to minute observation of the +art of the great masters by whose works he was surrounded. He spent two +months in Florence, six weeks in Venice, a few days in Bologna and Parma. +"If," he said, "I had never seen any of the fine works of Correggio, I +should never, perhaps, have remarked in Nature the expression which I +find in one of his pieces; or if I had remarked it, I might have thought +it too difficult, or perhaps impossible to execute." + +In 1753 Reynolds came back to England, and stayed three months in +Devonshire before setting up a studio in London, in St. Martin's Lane, +which was then an artists' quarter. His success was rapid. In 1755 he +had one hundred and twenty-five sitters. Samuel Johnson found in him his +most congenial friend. He moved to Newport Street, and he built himself +a studio--where there is now an auction room--at 47, Lincoln's Inn +Fields. There he remained for life. + +In 1760 the artists opened, in a room lent by the Society of Arts, a free +Exhibition for the sale of their works. This was continued the next year +at Spring Gardens, with a charge of a shilling for admission. In 1765 +they obtained a charter of incorporation, and in 1768 the King gave his +support to the foundation of a Royal Academy of Arts by seceders from the +preceding "Incorporated Society of Artists," into which personal feelings +had brought much division. It was to consist, like the French Academy, +of forty members, and was to maintain Schools open to all students of +good character who could give evidence that they had fully learnt the +rudiments of Art. The foundation by the King dates from the 10th of +December, 1768. The Schools were opened on the 2nd of January next +following, and on that occasion Joshua Reynolds, who had been elected +President--his age was then between forty-five and forty-six--gave the +Inaugural Address which formed the first of these Seven Discourses. The +other six were given by him, as President, at the next six annual +meetings: and they were all shaped to form, when collected into a volume, +a coherent body of good counsel upon the foundations of the painter's +art. + +H. M. + + + + +TO THE KING + + +The regular progress of cultivated life is from necessaries to +accommodations, from accommodations to ornaments. By your illustrious +predecessors were established marts for manufactures, and colleges for +science; but for the arts of elegance, those arts by which manufactures +are embellished and science is refined, to found an academy was reserved +for your Majesty. + +Had such patronage been without effect, there had been reason to believe +that nature had, by some insurmountable impediment, obstructed our +proficiency; but the annual improvement of the exhibitions which your +Majesty has been pleased to encourage shows that only encouragement had +been wanting. + +To give advice to those who are contending for royal liberality has been +for some years the duty of my station in the Academy; and these +Discourses hope for your Majesty's acceptance as well-intended endeavours +to incite that emulation which your notice has kindled, and direct those +studies which your bounty has rewarded. + +May it please your Majesty, +Your Majesty's +Most dutiful servant, +And most faithful subject, +JOSHUA REYNOLDS. + + + + +TO THE MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY. + + +Gentlemen,--That you have ordered the publication of this Discourse is +not only very flattering to me, as it implies your approbation of the +method of study which I have recommended; but likewise, as this method +receives from that act such an additional weight and authority as demands +from the students that deference and respect, which can be due only to +the united sense of so considerable a body of artists. + +I am, +With the greatest esteem and respect, +GENTLEMEN, +Your most humble +And obedient servant, +JOSHUA REYNOLDS + + + + +SEVEN DISCOURSES ON ART + + +A DISCOURSE +Delivered at the Opening of the Royal Academy, January 2nd, 1769, by the +President. + + +Gentlemen,--An academy in which the polite arts may be regularly +cultivated is at last opened among us by royal munificence. This must +appear an event in the highest degree interesting, not only to the +artists, but to the whole nation. + +It is indeed difficult to give any other reason why an Empire like that +of Britain should so long have wanted an ornament so suitable to its +greatness than that slow progression of things which naturally makes +elegance and refinement the last effect of opulence and power. + +An institution like this has often been recommended upon considerations +merely mercantile. But an academy founded upon such principles can never +effect even its own narrow purposes. If it has an origin no higher, no +taste can ever be formed in it which can be useful even in manufactures; +but if the higher arts of design flourish, these inferior ends will be +answered of course. + +We are happy in having a prince who has conceived the design of such an +institution, according to its true dignity, and promotes the arts, as the +head of a great, a learned, a polite, and a commercial nation; and I can +now congratulate you, gentlemen, on the accomplishment of your long and +ardent wishes. + +The numberless and ineffectual consultations that I have had with many in +this assembly, to form plans and concert schemes for an academy, afford a +sufficient proof of the impossibility of succeeding but by the influence +of Majesty. But there have, perhaps, been times when even the influence +of Majesty would have been ineffectual, and it is pleasing to reflect +that we are thus embodied, when every circumstance seems to concur from +which honour and prosperity can probably arise. + +There are at this time a greater number of excellent artists than were +ever known before at one period in this nation; there is a general desire +among our nobility to be distinguished as lovers and judges of the arts; +there is a greater superfluity of wealth among the people to reward the +professors; and, above all, we are patronised by a monarch, who, knowing +the value of science and of elegance, thinks every art worthy of his +notice that tends to soften and humanise the mind. + +After so much has been done by his Majesty, it will be wholly our fault +if our progress is not in some degree correspondent to the wisdom and, +generosity of the institution; let us show our gratitude in our +diligence, that, though our merit may not answer his expectations, yet, +at least, our industry may deserve his protection. + +But whatever may be our proportion of success, of this we may be sure, +that the present institution will at least contribute to advance our +knowledge of the arts, and bring us nearer to that ideal excellence which +it is the lot of genius always to contemplate and never to attain. + +The principal advantage of an academy is, that, besides furnishing able +men to direct the student, it will be a repository for the great examples +of the art. These are the materials on which genius is to work, and +without which the strongest intellect may be fruitlessly or deviously +employed. By studying these authentic models, that idea of excellence +which is the result of the accumulated experience of past ages may be at +once acquired, and the tardy and obstructed progress of our predecessors +may teach us a shorter and easier way. The student receives at one +glance the principles which many artists have spent their whole lives in +ascertaining; and, satisfied with their effect, is spared the painful +investigation by which they come to be known and fixed. How many men of +great natural abilities have been lost to this nation for want of these +advantages? They never had an opportunity of seeing those masterly +efforts of genius which at once kindle the whole soul, and force it into +sudden and irresistible approbation. + +Raffaelle, it is true, had not the advantage of studying in an academy; +but all Rome, and the works of Michael Angelo in particular, were to him +an academy. On the site of the Capel la Sistina he immediately from a +dry, Gothic, and even insipid manner, which attends to the minute +accidental discriminations of particular and individual objects, assumed +that grand style of painting, which improves partial representation by +the general and invariable ideas of nature. + +Every seminary of learning may be said to be surrounded with an +atmosphere of floating knowledge, where every mind may imbibe somewhat +congenial to its own original conceptions. Knowledge, thus obtained, has +always something more popular and useful than that which is forced upon +the mind by private precepts or solitary meditation. Besides, it is +generally found that a youth more easily receives instruction from the +companions of his studies, whose minds are nearly on a level with his +own, than from those who are much his superiors; and it is from his +equals only that he catches the fire of emulation. + +One advantage, I will venture to affirm, we shall have in our academy, +which no other nation can boast. We shall have nothing to unlearn. To +this praise the present race of artists have a just claim. As far as +they have yet proceeded they are right. With us the exertions of genius +will henceforward be directed to their proper objects. It will not be as +it has been in other schools, where he that travelled fastest only +wandered farthest from the right way. + +Impressed as I am, therefore, with such a favourable opinion of my +associates in this undertaking, it would ill become me to dictate to any +of them. But as these institutions have so often failed in other +nations, and as it is natural to think with regret how much might have +been done, and how little has been done, I must take leave to offer a few +hints, by which those errors may be rectified, and those defects +supplied. These the professors and visitors may reject or adopt as they +shall think proper. + +I would chiefly recommend that an implicit obedience to the rules of art, +as established by the great masters, should be exacted from the _young_ +students. That those models, which have passed through the approbation +of ages, should be considered by them as perfect and infallible guides as +subjects for their imitation, not their criticism. + +I am confident that this is the only efficacious method of making a +progress in the arts; and that he who sets out with doubting will find +life finished before he becomes master of the rudiments. For it may be +laid down as a maxim, that he who begins by presuming on his own sense +has ended his studies as soon as he has commenced them. Every +opportunity, therefore, should be taken to discountenance that false and +vulgar opinion that rules are the fetters of genius. They are fetters +only to men of no genius; as that armour, which upon the strong becomes +an ornament and a defence, upon the weak and misshapen turns into a load, +and cripples the body which it was made to protect. + +How much liberty may be taken to break through those rules, and, as the +poet expresses it, + + "To snatch a grace beyond the reach of art," + +may be an after consideration, when the pupils become masters themselves. +It is then, when their genius has received its utmost improvement, that +rules may possibly be dispensed with. But let us not destroy the +scaffold until we have raised the building. + +The directors ought more particularly to watch over the genius of those +students who, being more advanced, are arrived at that critical period of +study, on the nice management of which their future turn of taste +depends. At that age it is natural for them to be more captivated with +what is brilliant than with what is solid, and to prefer splendid +negligence to painful and humiliating exactness. + +A facility in composing, a lively, and what is called a masterly handling +the chalk or pencil, are, it must be confessed, captivating qualities to +young minds, and become of course the objects of their ambition. They +endeavour to imitate those dazzling excellences, which they will find no +great labour in attaining. After much time spent in these frivolous +pursuits, the difficulty will be to retreat; but it will be then too +late; and there is scarce an instance of return to scrupulous labour +after the mind has been debauched and deceived by this fallacious +mastery. + +By this useless industry they are excluded from all power of advancing in +real excellence. Whilst boys, they are arrived at their utmost +perfection; they have taken the shadow for the substance; and make that +mechanical facility the chief excellence of the art, which is only an +ornament, and of the merit of which few but painters themselves are +judges. + +This seems to me to be one of the most dangerous sources of corruption; +and I speak of it from experience, not as an error which may possibly +happen, but which has actually infected all foreign academies. The +directors were probably pleased with this premature dexterity in their +pupils, and praised their despatch at the expense of their correctness. + +But young men have not only this frivolous ambition of being thought +masterly inciting them on one hand, but also their natural sloth tempting +them on the other. They are terrified at the prospect before them, of +the toil required to attain exactness. The impetuosity of youth is +distrusted at the slow approaches of a regular siege, and desires, from +mere impatience of labour, to take the citadel by storm. They wish to +find some shorter path to excellence, and hope to obtain the reward of +eminence by other means than those which the indispensable rules of art +have prescribed. They must, therefore, be told again and again that +labour is the only price of solid fame, and that whatever their force of +genius may be, there is no easy method of becoming a good painter. + +When we read the lives of the most eminent painters, every page informs +us that no part of their time was spent in dissipation. Even an increase +of fame served only to augment their industry. To be convinced with what +persevering assiduity they pursued their studies, we need only reflect on +their method of proceeding in their most celebrated works. When they +conceived a subject, they first made a variety of sketches; then a +finished drawing of the whole; after that a more correct drawing of every +separate part, heads, hands, feet, and pieces of drapery; they then +painted the picture, and after all re-touched it from the life. The +pictures, thus wrought with such pain, now appear like the effect of +enchantment, and as if some mighty genius had struck them off at a blow. + +But, whilst diligence is thus recommended to the students, the visitors +will take care that their diligence be effectual; that it be well +directed and employed on the proper object. A student is not always +advancing because he is employed; he must apply his strength to that part +of the art where the real difficulties lie; to that part which +distinguishes it as a liberal art, and not by mistaken industry lose his +time in that which is merely ornamental. The students, instead of vying +with each other which shall have the readiest band, should be taught to +contend who shall have the purest and most correct outline, instead of +striving which shall produce the brightest tint, or, curiously trifling +endeavour to give the gloss of stuffs so as to appear real, let their +ambition be directed to contend which shall dispose his drapery in the +most graceful folds, which shall give the most grace and dignity to the +human figure. + +I must beg leave to submit one thing more to the consideration of the +visitors, which appears to me a matter of very great consequence, and the +omission of which I think a principal defect in the method of education +pursued in all the academies I have ever visited. The error I mean is, +that the students never draw exactly from the living models which they +have before them. It is not indeed their intention, nor are they +directed to do it. Their drawings resemble the model only in the +attitude. They change the form according to their vague and uncertain +ideas of beauty, and make a drawing rather of what they think the figure +ought to be than of what it appears. I have thought this the obstacle +that has stopped the progress of many young men of real genius; and I +very much doubt whether a habit of drawing correctly what we see will not +give a proportionable power of drawing correctly what we imagine. He who +endeavours to copy nicely the figure before him not only acquires a habit +of exactness and precision, but is continually advancing in his knowledge +of the human figure; and though he seems to superficial observers to make +a slower progress, he will be found at last capable of adding (without +running into capricious wildness) that grace and beauty which is +necessary to be given to his more finished works, and which cannot be got +by the moderns, as it was not acquired by the ancients, but by an +attentive and well-compared study of the human form. + +What I think ought to enforce this method is, that it has been the +practice (as may be seen by their drawings) of the great masters in the +art. I will mention a drawing of Raffaelle, "The Dispute of the +Sacrament," the print of which, by Count Cailus, is in every hand. It +appears that he made his sketch from one model; and the habit he had of +drawing exactly from the form before him appears by his making all the +figures with the same cap, such as his model then happened to wear; so +servile a copyist was this great man, even at a time when he was allowed +to be at his highest pitch of excellence. + +I have seen also academy figures by Annibale Caracci, though he was often +sufficiently licentious in his finished works, drawn with all the +peculiarities of an individual model. + +This scrupulous exactness is so contrary to the practice of the +academies, that it is not without great deference that I beg leave to +recommend it to the consideration of the visitors, and submit it to them, +whether the neglect of this method is not one of the reasons why students +so often disappoint expectation, and being more than boys at sixteen, +become less than men at thirty. + +In short, the method I recommend can only be detrimental when there are +but few living forms to copy; for then students, by always drawing from +one alone, will by habit be taught to overlook defects, and mistake +deformity for beauty. But of this there is no danger, since the council +has determined to supply the academy with a variety of subjects; and +indeed those laws which they have drawn up, and which the secretary will +presently read for your confirmation, have in some measure precluded me +from saying more upon this occasion. Instead, therefore, of offering my +advice, permit me to indulge my wishes, and express my hope, that this +institution may answer the expectations of its royal founder; that the +present age may vie in arts with that of Leo X. and that "the dignity of +the dying art" (to make use of an expression of Pliny) may be revived +under the reign of George III. + + + +A DISCOURSE +Delivered to the Students of the Royal Academy, on the Distribution of +the Prizes, December 11, 1769, by the President. + + +Gentlemen,--I congratulate you on the honour which you have just +received. I have the highest opinion of your merits, and could wish to +show my sense of them in something which possibly may be more useful to +you than barren praise. I could wish to lead you into such a course of +study as may render your future progress answerable to your past +improvement; and, whilst I applaud you for what has been done, remind you +of how much yet remains to attain perfection. + +I flatter myself, that from the long experience I have had, and the +unceasing assiduity with which I have pursued those studies, in which, +like you, I have been engaged, I shall be acquitted of vanity in offering +some hints to your consideration. They are indeed in a great degree +founded upon my own mistakes in the same pursuit. But the history of +errors properly managed often shortens the road to truth. And although +no method of study that I can offer will of itself conduct to excellence, +yet it may preserve industry from being misapplied. + +In speaking to you of the theory of the art, I shall only consider it as +it has a relation to the method of your studies. + +Dividing the study of painting into three distinct periods, I shall +address you as having passed through the first of them, which is confined +to the rudiments, including a facility of drawing any object that +presents itself, a tolerable readiness in the management of colours, and +an acquaintance with the most simple and obvious rules of composition. + +This first degree of proficiency is, in painting, what grammar is in +literature, a general preparation to whatever species of the art the +student may afterwards choose for his more particular application. The +power of drawing, modelling, and using colours is very properly called +the language of the art; and in this language, the honours you have just +received prove you to have made no inconsiderable progress. + +When the artist is once enabled to express himself with some degree of +correctness, he must then endeavour to collect subjects for expression; +to amass a stock of ideas, to be combined and varied as occasion may +require. He is now in the second period of study, in which his business +is to learn all that has hitherto been known and done. Having hitherto +received instructions from a particular master, he is now to consider the +art itself as his master. He must extend his capacity to more sublime +and general instructions. Those perfections which lie scattered among +various masters are now united in one general idea, which is henceforth +to regulate his taste and enlarge his imagination. With a variety of +models thus before him, he will avoid that narrowness and poverty of +conception which attends a bigoted admiration of a single master, and +will cease to follow any favourite where he ceases to excel. This period +is, however, still a time of subjection and discipline. Though the +student will not resign himself blindly to any single authority when he +may have the advantage of consulting many, he must still be afraid of +trusting his own judgment, and of deviating into any track where he +cannot find the footsteps of some former master. + +The third and last period emancipates the student from subjection to any +authority but what he shall himself judge to be supported by reason. +Confiding now in his own judgment, he will consider and separate those +different principles to which different modes of beauty owe their +original. In the former period he sought only to know and combine +excellence, wherever it was to be found, into one idea of perfection; in +this he learns, what requires the most attentive survey and the subtle +disquisition, to discriminate perfections that are incompatible with each +other. + +He is from this time to regard himself as holding the same rank with +those masters whom he before obeyed as teachers, and as exercising a sort +of sovereignty over those rules which have hitherto restrained him. +Comparing now no longer the performances of art with each other, but +examining the art itself by the standard of nature, he corrects what is +erroneous, supplies what is scanty, and adds by his own observation what +the industry of his predecessors may have yet left wanting to perfection. +Having well established his judgment, and stored his memory, he may now +without fear try the power of his imagination. The mind that has been +thus disciplined may be indulged in the warmest enthusiasm, and venture +to play on the borders of the wildest extravagance. The habitual +dignity, which long converse with the greatest minds has imparted to him, +will display itself in all his attempts, and he will stand among his +instructors, not as an imitator, but a rival. + +These are the different stages of the art. But as I now address myself +particularly to those students who have been this day rewarded for their +happy passage through the first period, I can with no propriety suppose +they want any help in the initiatory studies. My present design is to +direct your view to distant excellence, and to show you the readiest path +that leads to it. Of this I shall speak with such latitude as may leave +the province of the professor uninvaded, and shall not anticipate those +precepts which it is his business to give and your duty to understand. + +It is indisputably evident that a great part of every man's life must be +employed in collecting materials for the exercise of genius. Invention, +strictly speaking, is little more than a new combination of those images +which have been previously gathered and deposited in the memory. Nothing +can come of nothing. He who has laid up no materials can produce no +combinations. + +A student unacquainted with the attempts of former adventurers is always +apt to overrate his own abilities, to mistake the most trifling +excursions for discoveries of moment, and every coast new to him for a +new-found country. If by chance he passes beyond his usual limits, he +congratulates his own arrival at those regions which they who have +steered a better course have long left behind them. + +The productions of such minds are seldom distinguished by an air of +originality: they are anticipated in their happiest efforts; and if they +are found to differ in anything from their predecessors, it is only in +irregular sallies and trifling conceits. The more extensive therefore +your acquaintance is with the works of those who have excelled the more +extensive will be your powers of invention; and what may appear still +more like a paradox, the more original will be your conceptions. But the +difficulty on this occasion is to determine who ought to be proposed as +models of excellence, and who ought to be considered as the properest +guides. + +To a young man just arrived in Italy, many of the present painters of +that country are ready enough to obtrude their precepts, and to offer +their own performances as examples of that perfection which they affect +to recommend. The modern, however, who recommends _himself_ as a +standard, may justly be suspected as ignorant of the true end, and +unacquainted with the proper object of the art which he professes. To +follow such a guide will not only retard the student, but mislead him. + +On whom, then, can he rely, or who shall show him the path that leads to +excellence? The answer is obvious: Those great masters who have +travelled the same road with success are the most likely to conduct +others. The works of those who have stood the test of ages have a claim +to that respect and veneration to which no modern can pretend. The +duration and stability of their fame is sufficient to evince that it has +not been suspended upon the slender thread of fashion and caprice, but +bound to the human heart by every tie of sympathetic approbation. + +There is no danger of studying too much the works of those great men, but +how they may be studied to advantage is an inquiry of great importance. + +Some who have never raised their minds to the consideration of the real +dignity of the art, and who rate the works of an artist in proportion as +they excel, or are defective in the mechanical parts, look on theory as +something that may enable them to talk but not to paint better, and +confining themselves entirely to mechanical practice, very assiduously +toil on in the drudgery of copying, and think they make a rapid progress +while they faithfully exhibit the minutest part of a favourite picture. +This appears to me a very tedious, and I think a very erroneous, method +of proceeding. Of every large composition, even of those which are most +admired, a great part may be truly said to be common-place. This, though +it takes up much time in copying, conduces little to improvement. I +consider general copying as a delusive kind of industry; the student +satisfies himself with the appearance of doing something; he falls into +the dangerous habit of imitating without selecting, and of labouring +without any determinate object; as it requires no effort of the mind, he +sleeps over his work; and those powers of invention and composition which +ought particularly to be called out and put in action lie torpid, and +lose their energy for want of exercise. + +It is an observation that all must have made, how incapable those are of +producing anything of their own who have spent much of their time in +making finished copies. + +To suppose that the complication of powers, and variety of ideas +necessary to that mind which aspires to the first honours ill the art of +painting, can be obtained by the frigid contemplation of a few single +models, is no less absurd than it would be in him who wishes to be a poet +to imagine that by translating a tragedy he can acquire to himself +sufficient knowledge of the appearances of nature, the operations of the +passions, and the incidents of life. + +The great use in copying, if it be at all useful, should seem to be in +learning to colour; yet even colouring will never be perfectly attained +by servilely copying the mould before you. An eye critically nice can +only be formed by observing well-coloured pictures with attention: and by +close inspection, and minute examination you will discover, at last, the +manner of handling, the artifices of contrast, glazing, and other +expedients, by which good colourists have raised the value of their +tints, and by which nature has been so happily imitated. + +I must inform you, however, that old pictures deservedly celebrated for +their colouring are often so changed by dirt and varnish, that we ought +not to wonder if they do not appear equal to their reputation in the eyes +of unexperienced painters, or young students. An artist whose judgment +is matured by long observation, considers rather what the picture once +was, than what it is at present. He has acquired a power by habit of +seeing the brilliancy of tints through the cloud by which it is obscured. +An exact imitation, therefore, of those pictures, is likely to fill the +student's mind with false opinions, and to send him back a colourist of +his own formation, with ideas equally remote from nature and from art, +from the genuine practice of the masters and the real appearances of +things. + +Following these rules, and using these precautions, when you have clearly +and distinctly learned in what good colouring consists, you cannot do +better than have recourse to nature herself, who is always at hand, and +in comparison of whose true splendour the best coloured pictures are but +faint and feeble. + +However, as the practice of copying is not entirely to be excluded, since +the mechanical practice of painting is learned in some measure by it, let +those choice parts only be selected which have recommended the work to +notice. If its excellence consists in its general effect, it would be +proper to make slight sketches of the machinery and general management of +the picture. Those sketches should be kept always by you for the +regulation of your style. Instead of copying the touches of those great +masters, copy only their conceptions. Instead of treading in their +footsteps, endeavour only to keep the same road. Labour to invent on +their general principles and way of thinking. Possess yourself with +their spirit. Consider with yourself how a Michael Angelo or a Raffaelle +would have treated this subject: and work yourself into a belief that +your picture is to be seen and criticised by them when completed. Even +an attempt of this kind will rouse your powers. + +But as mere enthusiasm will carry you but a little way, let me recommend +a practice that may be equivalent, and will perhaps more efficaciously +contribute to your advancement, than even the verbal corrections of those +masters themselves, could they be obtained. What I would propose is, +that you should enter into a kind of competition, by painting a similar +subject, and making a companion to any picture that you consider as a +model. After you have finished your work, place it near the model, and +compare them carefully together. You will then not only see, but feel +your own deficiencies more sensibly than by precepts, or any other means +of instruction. The true principles of painting will mingle with your +thoughts. Ideas thus fixed by sensible objects, will be certain and +definitive; and sinking deep into the mind, will not only be more just, +but more lasting than those presented to you by precepts only: which +will, always be fleeting, variable, and undetermined. + +This method of comparing your own efforts with those of some great +master, is indeed a severe and mortifying task, to which none will +submit, but such as have great views, with fortitude sufficient to forego +the gratifications of present vanity for future honour. When the student +has succeeded in some measure to his own satisfaction, and has +felicitated himself on his success, to go voluntarily to a tribunal where +he knows his vanity must be humbled, and all self-approbation must +vanish, requires not only great resolution, but great humility. To him, +however, who has the Ambition to be a real master, the solid satisfaction +which proceeds from a consciousness of his advancement (of which seeing +his own faults is the first step) will very abundantly compensate for the +mortification of present disappointment. There is, besides, this +alleviating circumstance. Every discovery he makes, every acquisition of +knowledge he attains, seems to proceed from his own sagacity; and thus he +acquires a confidence in himself sufficient to keep up the resolution of +perseverance. + +We all must have experienced how lazily, and consequently how +ineffectually, instruction is received when forced upon the mind by +others. Few have been taught to any purpose who have not been their own +teachers. We prefer those instructions which we have given ourselves, +from our affection to the instructor; and they are more effectual, from +being received into the mind at the very time when it is most open and +eager to receive them. + +With respect to the pictures that you are to choose for your models, I +could wish that you would take the world's opinion rather than your own. +In other words, I would have you choose those of established reputation +rather than follow your own fancy. If you should not admire them at +first, you will, by endeavouring to imitate them, find that the world has +not been mistaken. + +It is not an easy task to point out those various excellences for your +imitation which he distributed amongst the various schools. An endeavour +to do this may perhaps be the subject of some future discourse. I will, +therefore, at present only recommend a model for style in painting, which +is a branch of the art more immediately necessary to the young student. +Style in painting is the same as in writing, a power over materials, +whether words or colours, by which conceptions or sentiments are +conveyed. And in this Lodovico Carrache (I mean in his best works) +appears to me to approach the nearest to perfection. His unaffected +breadth of light and shadow, the simplicity of colouring, which holding +its proper rank, does not draw aside the least part of the attention from +the subject, and the solemn effect of that twilight which seems diffused +over his pictures, appear to me to correspond with grave and dignified +subjects, better than the more artificial brilliancy of sunshine which +enlightens the pictures of Titian. Though Tintoret thought that Titian's +colouring was the model of perfection, and would correspond even with the +sublime of Michael Angelo; and that if Angelo had coloured like Titian, +or Titian designed like Angelo, the world would once have had a perfect +painter. + +It is our misfortune, however, that those works of Carrache which I would +recommend to the student are not often found out of Bologna. The "St. +Francis in the midst of his Friars," "The Transfiguration," "The Birth of +St. John the Baptist," "The Calling of St. Matthew," the "St. Jerome," +the fresco paintings in the Zampieri Palace, are all worthy the attention +of the student. And I think those who travel would do well to allot a +much greater portion of their time to that city than it has been hitherto +the custom to bestow. + +In this art, as in others, there are many teachers who profess to show +the nearest way to excellence, and many expedients have been invented by +which the toil of study might be saved. But let no man be seduced to +idleness by specious promises. Excellence is never granted to man but as +the reward of labour. It argues, indeed, no small strength of mind to +persevere in habits of industry, without the pleasure of perceiving those +advances; which, like the hand of a clock, whilst they make hourly +approaches to their point, yet proceed so slowly as to escape +observation. A facility of drawing, like that of playing upon a musical +instrument, cannot be acquired but by an infinite number of acts. I need +not, therefore, enforce by many words the necessity of continual +application; nor tell you that the port-crayon ought to be for ever in +your hands. Various methods will occur to you by which this power may be +acquired. I would particularly recommend that after your return from the +academy (where I suppose your attendance to be constant) you would +endeavour to draw the figure by memory. I will even venture to add, that +by perseverance in this custom, you will become able to draw the human +figure tolerably correct, with as little effort of the mind as to trace +with a pen the letters of the alphabet. + +That this facility is not unattainable, some members in this academy give +a sufficient proof. And, be assured, that if this power is not acquired +whilst you are young, there will be no time for it afterwards: at least, +the attempt will be attended with as much difficulty as those experience +who learn to read or write after they have arrived to the age of +maturity. + +But while I mention the port-crayon as the student's constant companion, +he must still remember that the pencil is the instrument by which he must +hope to obtain eminence. What, therefore, I wish to impress upon you is, +that whenever an opportunity offers, you paint your studies instead of +drawing them. This will give you such a facility in using colours, that +in time they will arrange themselves under the pencil, even without the +attention of the hand that conducts it. If one act excluded the other, +this advice could not with any propriety be given. But if painting +comprises both drawing and colouring and if by a short struggle of +resolute industry the same expedition is attainable in painting as in +drawing on paper, I cannot see what objection can justly be made to the +practice; or why that should be done by parts, which may be done +altogether. + +If we turn our eyes to the several schools of painting, and consider +their respective excellences, we shall find that those who excel most in +colouring pursued this method. The Venetian and Flemish schools, which +owe much of their fame to colouring, have enriched the cabinets of the +collectors of drawings with very few examples. Those of Titian, Paul +Veronese, Tintoret, and the Bassans, are in general slight and +undetermined. Their sketches on paper are as rude as their pictures are +excellent in regard to harmony of colouring. Correggio and Barocci have +left few, if any, finished drawings behind them. And in the Flemish +school, Rubens and Vandyke made their designs for the most part either in +colours or in chiaroscuro. It is as common to find studies of the +Venetian and Flemish painters on canvas, as of the schools of Rome and +Florence on paper. Not but that many finished drawings are sold under +the names of those masters. Those, however, are undoubtedly the +productions either of engravers or of their scholars who copied their +works. + +These instructions I have ventured to offer from my own experience; but +as they deviate widely from received opinions, I offer them with +diffidence; and when better are suggested, shall retract them without +regret. + +There is one precept, however, in which I shall only be opposed by the +vain, the ignorant, and the idle. I am not afraid that I shall repeat it +too often. You must have no dependence on your own genius. If you have +great talents, industry will improve them: if you have but moderate +abilities, industry will supply their deficiency. Nothing is denied to +well-directed labour: nothing is to be obtained without it. Not to enter +into metaphysical discussions on the nature or essence of genius, I will +venture to assert, that assiduity unabated by difficulty, and a +disposition eagerly directed to the object of its pursuit, will produce +effects similar to those which some call the result of natural powers. + +Though a man cannot at all times, and in all places, paint or draw, yet +the mind can prepare itself by laying in proper materials, at all times, +and in all places. Both Livy and Plutarch, in describing Philopoemen, +one of the ablest generals of antiquity, have given us a striking picture +of a mind always intent on its profession, and by assiduity obtaining +those excellences which some all their lives vainly expect from Nature. I +shall quote the passage in Livy at length, as it runs parallel with the +practice I would recommend to the painter, sculptor, or architect. + +"Philopoemen was a man eminent for his sagacity and experience in +choosing ground, and in leading armies; to which he formed his mind by +perpetual meditation, in times of peace as well as war. When, in any +occasional journey, he came to a straight difficult passage, if he was +alone, he considered with himself, and if he was in company he asked his +friends what it would be best to do if in this place they had found an +enemy, either in the front, or in the rear, on the one side, or on the +other. 'It might happen,' says he, 'that the enemy to be opposed might +come on drawn up in regular lines, or in a tumultuous body, formed only +by the nature of the place.' He then considered a little what ground he +should take; what number of soldiers he should use, and what arms he +should give them; where he should lodge his carriages, his baggage, and +the defenceless followers of his camp; how many guards, and of what kind, +he should send to defend them; and whether it would be better to press +forward along the pass, or recover by retreat his former station: he +would consider likewise where his camp could most commodiously be formed; +how much ground he should enclose within his trenches; where he should +have the convenience of water; and where he might find plenty of wood and +forage; and when he should break up his camp on the following day, +through what road he could most safely pass, and in what form he should +dispose his troops. With such thoughts and disquisitions he had from his +early years so exercised his mind, that on these occasions nothing could +happen which he had not been already accustomed to consider." + +I cannot help imagining that I see a promising young painter, equally +vigilant, whether at home, or abroad in the streets, or in the fields. +Every object that presents itself is to him a lesson. He regards all +nature with a view to his profession; and combines her beauties, or +corrects her defects. He examines the countenance of men under the +influence of passion; and often catches the most pleasing hints from +subjects of turbulence or deformity. Even bad pictures themselves supply +him with useful documents; and, as Leonardo da Vinci has observed, he +improves upon the fanciful images that are sometimes seen in the fire, or +are accidentally sketched upon a discoloured wall. + +The artist who has his mind thus filled with ideas, and his hand made +expert by practice, works with ease and readiness; whilst he who would +have you believe that he is waiting for the inspirations of genius, is in +reality at a loss how to beam, and is at last delivered of his monsters +with difficulty and pain. + +The well-grounded painter, on the contrary, has only maturely to consider +his subject, and all the mechanical parts of his art follow without his +exertion, Conscious of the difficulty of obtaining what he possesses he +makes no pretensions to secrets, except those of closer application. +Without conceiving the smallest jealousy against others, he is contented +that all shall be as great as himself who are willing to undergo the same +fatigue: and as his pre-eminence depends not upon a trick, he is free +from the painful suspicions of a juggler, who lives in perpetual fear +lest his trick should be discovered. + + + +A DISCOURSE +Delivered to the Students of the Royal Academy on the Distribution of the +Prizes, December, 14, 1770, by the President. + + +Gentlemen,--It is not easy to speak with propriety to so many students of +different ages and different degrees of advancement. The mind requires +nourishment adapted to its growth; and what may have promoted our earlier +efforts, might, retard us in our nearer approaches to perfection. + +The first endeavours of a young painter, as I have remarked in a former +discourse, must be employed in the attainment of mechanical dexterity, +and confined to the mere imitation of the object before him. Those who +have advanced beyond the rudiments, may, perhaps, find advantage in +reflecting on the advice which I have likewise given them, when I +recommended the diligent study of the works of our great predecessors; +but I at the same time endeavoured to guard them against an implicit +submission to the authority of any one master, however excellent; or by a +strict imitation of his manner, to preclude ourselves from the abundance +and variety of nature. I will now add that nature herself is not to be +too closely copied. There are excellences in the art of painting, beyond +what is commonly called the imitation of nature: and these excellences I +wish to point out. The students who, having passed through the +initiatory exercises, are more advanced in the art, and who, sure of +their hand, have leisure to exert their understanding, must now be told +that a mere copier of nature can never produce anything great; can never +raise and enlarge the conceptions, or warm the heart of the spectator. + +The wish of the genuine painter must be more extensive: instead of +endeavouring to amuse mankind with the minute neatness of his imitations, +he must endeavour to improve them by the grandeur of his ideas; instead +of seeking praise, by deceiving the superficial sense of the spectator, +he must strive for fame, by captivating the imagination. + +The principle now laid down, that the perfection of this art does not +consist in mere imitation, is far from being new or singular. It is, +indeed, supported by the general opinion of the enlightened part of +mankind. The poets, orators, and rhetoricians of antiquity, are +continually enforcing this position, that all the arts receive their +perfection from an ideal beauty, superior to what is to be found in +individual nature. They are ever referring to the practice of the +painters and sculptors of their times, particularly Phidias (the +favourite artist of antiquity), to illustrate their assertions. As if +they could not sufficiently express their admiration of his genius by +what they knew, they have recourse to poetical enthusiasm. They call it +inspiration; a gift from heaven. The artist is supposed to have ascended +the celestial regions, to furnish his mind with this perfect idea of +beauty. "He," says Proclus, "who takes for his model such forms as +nature produces, and confines himself to an exact imitation of them, will +never attain to what is perfectly beautiful. For the works of nature are +full of disproportion, and fall very short of the true standard of +beauty. So that Phidias, when he formed his Jupiter, did not copy any +object ever presents to his sight; but contemplated only that image which +he had conceived in his mind from Homer's description." And thus Cicero, +speaking of the same Phidias: "Neither did this artist," says he, "when +he carved the image of Jupiter or Minerva, set before him any one human +figure as a pattern, which he was to copy; but having a more perfect idea +of beauty fixed in his mind, this he steadily contemplated, and to the +imitation of this all his skill and labour were directed." + +The moderns are not less convinced than the ancients of this superior +power existing in the art; nor less conscious of its effects. Every +language has adopted terms expressive of this excellence. The _Gusto +grande_ of the Italians; the _Beau ideal_ of the French and the _great +style_, _genius_, and _taste_ among the English, are but different +appellations of the same thing. It is this intellectual dignity, they +say, that ennobles the painter's art; that lays the line between him and +the mere mechanic; and produces those great effects in an instant, which +eloquence and poetry, by slow and repeated efforts, are scarcely able to +attain. + +Such is the warmth with which both the ancients and moderns speak of this +divine principle of the art; but, as I have formerly observed, +enthusiastic admiration seldom promotes knowledge. Though a student by +such praise may have his attention roused, and a desire excited, of +running in this great career, yet it is possible that what has been said +to excite, may only serve to deter him. He examines his own mind, and +perceives there nothing of that divine inspiration with which he is told +so many others have been favoured. He never travelled to heaven to +gather new ideas; and he finds himself possessed of no other +qualifications than what mere common observation and a plain +understanding can confer. Thus he becomes gloomy amidst the splendour of +figurative declamation, and thinks it hopeless to pursue an object which +he supposes out of the reach of human industry. + +But on this, as upon many other occasions, we ought to distinguish how +much is to be given to enthusiasm, and how much to reason. We ought to +allow for, and we ought to commend, that strength of vivid expression +which is necessary to convey, in its full force, the highest sense of the +most complete effect of art; taking care at the same time not to lose in +terms of vague admiration that solidity and truth of principle upon which +alone we can reason, and may be enabled to practise. + +It is not easy to define in what this great style consists; nor to +describe, by words, the proper means of acquiring it, if the mind of the +student should be at all capable of such an acquisition. Could we teach +taste or genius by rules, they would be no longer taste and genius. But +though there neither are, nor can be, any precise invariable rules for +the exercise or the acquisition of those great qualities, yet we may as +truly say that they always operate in proportion to our attention in +observing the works of nature, to our skill in selecting, and to our care +in digesting, methodising, and comparing our observations. There are +many beauties in our art, that seem, at first, to lie without the reach +of precept, and yet may easily be reduced to practical principles. +Experience is all in all; but it is not every one who profits by +experience; and most people err, not so much from want of capacity to +find their object, as from not knowing what object to pursue. This great +ideal perfection and beauty are not to be sought in the heavens, but upon +the earth. They are about us, and upon every side of us. But the power +of discovering what is deformed in nature, or in other words, what is +particular and uncommon, can be acquired only by experience; and the +whole beauty and grandeur of the art consists, in my opinion, in being +able to get above all singular forms, local customs, particularities, and +details of every kind. + +All the objects which are exhibited to our view by nature, upon close +examination will be found to have their blemishes and defects. The most +beautiful forms have something about them like weakness, minuteness, or +imperfection. But it is not every eye that perceives these blemishes. It +must be an eye long used to the contemplation and comparison of these +forms; and which, by a long habit of observing what any set of objects of +the same kind have in common, that alone can acquire the power of +discerning what each wants in particular. This long laborious comparison +should be the first study of the painter who aims at the greatest style. +By this means, he acquires a just idea of beautiful forms; he corrects +nature by herself, her imperfect state by her more perfect. His eye +being enabled to distinguish the accidental deficiencies, excrescences, +and deformities of things from their general figures, he makes out an +abstract idea of their forms more perfect than any one original; and what +may seem a paradox, he learns to design naturally by drawing his figures +unlike to any one object. This idea of the perfect state of nature, +which the artist calls the ideal beauty, is the great leading principle +by which works of genius are conducted. By this Phidias acquired his +fame. He wrought upon a sober principle what has so much excited the +enthusiasm of the world; and by this method you, who have courage to +tread the same path, may acquire equal reputation. + +This is the idea which has acquired, and which seems to have a right to +the epithet of Divine; as it may be said to preside, like a supreme +judge, over all the productions of nature; appearing to be possessed of +the will and intention of the Creator, as far as they regard the external +form of living beings. + +When a man once possesses this idea in its perfection, there is no danger +but that he will he sufficiently warmed by it himself, and be able to +warm and ravish every one else. + +Thus it is from a reiterated experience, and a close comparison of the +objects in nature, that an artist becomes possessed of the idea of that +central form, if I may so express it, from which every deviation is +deformity. But the investigation of this form I grant is painful, and I +know but of one method of shortening the road; this is, by a careful +study of the works of the ancient sculptors; who, being indefatigable in +the school of nature, have left models of that perfect form behind them, +which an artist would prefer as supremely beautiful, who had spent his +whole life in that single contemplation. But if industry carried them +thus far, may not you also hope for the same reward from the same labour? +We have the same school opened to us that was opened to them; for nature +denies her instructions to none who desire to become her pupils. + +To the principle I have laid down, that the idea of beauty in each +species of beings is invariably one, it may be objected that in every +particular species there are various central forms, which are separate +and distinct from each other, and yet are undeniably beautiful; that in +the human figure, for instance, the beauty of the Hercules is one, of the +gladiator another, of the Apollo another, which makes so many different +ideas of beauty. + +It is true, indeed, that these figures are each perfect in their kind, +though of different characters and proportions; but still none of them is +the representation of an individual, but of a class. And as there is one +general form, which, as I have said, belongs to the human kind at large, +so in each of these classes there is one common idea and central form, +which is the abstract of the various individual forms belonging to that +class. Thus, though the forms of childhood and age differ exceedingly, +there is a common form in childhood, and a common form in age,--which is +the more perfect, as it is more remote from all peculiarities. But I +must add further, that though the most perfect forms of each of the +general divisions of the human figure are ideal, and superior to any +individual form of that class, yet the highest perfection of the human +figure is not to be found in any one of them. It is not in the Hercules, +nor in the gladiator, nor in the Apollo; but in that form which is taken +from them all, and which partakes equally of the activity of the +gladiator, of the delicacy of the Apollo, and of the muscular strength of +the Hercules. For perfect beauty in any species must combine all the +characters which are beautiful in that species. It cannot consist in any +one to the exclusion of the rest: no one, therefore, must be predominant, +that no one may be deficient. + +The knowledge of these different characters, and the power of separating +and distinguishing them, is undoubtedly necessary to the painter, who is +to vary his compositions with figures of various forms and proportions, +though he is never to lose sight of the general idea of perfection in +each kind. + +There is, likewise, a kind of symmetry or proportion, which may properly +be said to belong to deformity. A figure lean or corpulent, tall or +short, though deviating from beauty, may still have a certain union of +the various parts, which may contribute to make them, on the whole, not +unpleasing. When the artist has by diligent attention acquired a clear +and distinct idea of beauty and symmetry; when he has reduced the variety +of nature to the abstract idea; his next task will be to become +acquainted with the genuine habits of nature, as distinguished from those +of fashion. For in the same manner, and on the same principles, as he +has acquired the knowledge of the real forms of nature, distinct from +accidental deformity, he must endeavour to separate simple chaste nature +from those adventitious, those affected and forced airs or actions, with +which she is loaded by modern education. + +Perhaps I cannot better explain what I mean than by reminding you of what +was taught us by the Professor of Anatomy, in respect to the natural +position and movement of the feet. He observed that the fashion of +turning, them outwards was contrary to the intent of nature, as might be +seen from the structure of the bones, and from the weakness that +proceeded from that manner of standing. To this we may add the erect +position of the head, the projection of the chest, the walking with +straight knees, and many such actions, which are merely the result of +fashion, and what nature never warranted, as we are sure that we have +been taught them when children. + +I have mentioned but a few of those instances, in which vanity or caprice +have contrived to distort and disfigure the human form; your own +recollection will add to these a thousand more of ill-understood methods, +that have been practised to disguise nature, among our dancing-masters, +hair-dressers, and tailors, in their various schools of deformity. + +However the mechanic and ornamental arts may sacrifice to fashion, she +must be entirely excluded from the art of painting; the painter must +never mistake this capricious changeling for the genuine offspring of +nature; he must divest himself of all prejudices in favour of his age or +country; he must disregard all local and temporary ornaments, and look +only on those general habits that are everywhere and always the same. He +addresses his works to the people of every country and every age; he +calls upon posterity to be his spectators, and says with Zeuxis, _In +aeternitatem pingo_. + +The neglect of separating modern fashions from the habits of nature, +leads to that ridiculous style which has been practised by some painters +who have given to Grecian heroes the airs and graces practised in the +court of Louis XIV.; an absurdity almost as great as it would have been +to have dressed them after the fashion of that court. + +To avoid this error, however, and to retain the true simplicity of +nature, is a task more difficult than at first sight it may appear. The +prejudices in favour of the fashions and customs that we have been used +to, and which are justly called a second nature, make it too often +difficult to distinguish that which is natural from that which is the +result of education; they frequently even give a predilection in favour +of the artificial mode; and almost every one is apt to be guided by those +local prejudices who has not chastised his mind, and regulated the +instability of his affections, by the eternal invariable idea of nature. + +Here, then, as before, we must have recourse to the ancients as +instructors. It is from a careful study of their works that you will be +enabled to attain to the real simplicity of nature; they will suggest +many observations, which would probably escape you, if your study were +confined to nature alone. And, indeed, I cannot help suspecting, that in +this instance the ancients had an easier task than the moderns. They +had, probably, little or nothing to unlearn, as their manners were nearly +approaching to this desirable simplicity; while the modern artist, before +he can see the truth of things, is obliged to remove a veil, with which +the fashion of the times has thought proper to cover her. + +Having gone thus far in our investigation of the great style in painting; +if we now should suppose that the artist has formed the true idea of +beauty, which enables him to give his works a correct and perfect design; +if we should suppose also that he has acquired a knowledge of the +unadulterated habits of nature, which gives him simplicity; the rest of +his talk is, perhaps, less than is generally imagined. Beauty and +simplicity have so great a share in the composition of a great style, +that he who has acquired them has little else to learn. It must not, +indeed, be forgot that there is a nobleness of conception, which goes +beyond anything in the mere exhibition, even of perfect form; there is an +art of animating and dignifying the figures with intellectual grandeur, +of impressing the appearance of philosophic wisdom or heroic virtue. This +can only be acquired by him that enlarges the sphere of his understanding +by a variety of knowledge, and warms his imagination with the best +productions of ancient and modern poetry. + +A hand thus exercised, and a mind thus instructed, will bring the art to +a higher degree of excellence than, perhaps, it has hitherto attained in +this country. Such a student will disdain the humbler walks of painting, +which, however profitable, can never assure him a permanent reputation. +He will leave the meaner artist servilely to suppose that those are the +best pictures which are most likely to deceive the spectator. He will +permit the lower painter, like the florist or collector of shells, to +exhibit the minute discriminations which distinguish one object of the +same species from another; while he, like the philosopher, will consider +nature in the abstract, and represent in every one of his figures the +character of its species. + +If deceiving the eye were the only business of the art, there is no +doubt, indeed, but the minute painter would be more apt to succeed: but +it is not the eye, it is the mind, which the painter of genius desires to +address; nor will he waste a moment upon these smaller objects, which +only serve to catch the sense, to divide the attention, and to counteract +his great design of speaking to the heart. + +This is the ambition I could wish to excite in your minds; and the object +I have had in my view, throughout this discourse, is that one great idea +which gives to painting its true dignity, that entitles it to the name of +a Liberal Art, and ranks it as a sister of poetry. + +It may possibly have happened to many young students whose application +was sufficient to overcome all difficulties, and whose minds were capable +of embracing the most extensive views, that they have, by a wrong +direction originally given, spent their lives in the meaner walks of +painting, without ever knowing there was a nobler to pursue. "Albert +Durer," as Vasari has justly remarked, "would probably have been one of +the first painters of his age (and he lived in an era of great artists) +had he been initiated into those great principles of the art which were +so well understood and practised by his contemporaries in Italy. But +unluckily, having never seen or heard of any other manner, he considered +his own, without doubt, as perfect." + +As for the various departments of painting, which do not presume to make +such high pretensions, they are many. None of them are without their +merit, though none enter into competition with this great universal +presiding idea of the art. The painters who have applied themselves more +particularly to low and vulgar characters, and who express with precision +the various shades of passion, as they are exhibited by vulgar minds +(such as we see in the works of Hogarth) deserve great praise; but as +their genius has been employed on low and confined subjects, the praise +that we give must be as limited as its object. The merrymaking or +quarrelling of the Boors of Teniers; the same sort of productions of +Brouwer, or Ostade, are excellent in their kind; and the excellence and +its praise will be in proportion, as, in those limited subjects and +peculiar forms, they introduce more or less of the expression of those +passions, as they appear in general and more enlarged nature. This +principle may be applied to the battle pieces of Bourgognone, the French +gallantries of Watteau, and even beyond the exhibition of animal life, to +the landscapes of Claude Lorraine, and the sea-views of Vandervelde. All +these painters have, in general, the same right, in different degrees, to +the name of a painter, which a satirist, an epigrammatist, a sonnetteer, +a writer of pastorals, or descriptive poetry, has to that of a poet. + +In the same rank, and, perhaps, of not so great merit, is the cold +painter of portraits. But his correct and just imitation of his object +has its merit. Even the painter of still life, whose highest ambition is +to give a minute representation of every part of those low objects, which +he sets before him, deserves praise in proportion to his attainment; +because no part of this excellent art, so much the ornament of polished +life, is destitute of value and use. These, however, are by no means the +views to which the mind of the student ought to be _primarily_ directed. +By aiming at better things, if from particular inclination, or from the +taste of the time and place he lives in, or from necessity, or from +failure in the highest attempts, he is obliged to descend lower; he will +bring into the lower sphere of art a grandeur of composition and +character that will raise and ennoble his works far above their natural +rank. + +A man is not weak, though he may not be able to wield the club of +Hercules; nor does a man always practise that which he esteems the beat; +but does that which he can best do. In moderate attempts, there are many +walks open to the artist. But as the idea of beauty is of necessity but +one, so there can be but one great mode of painting; the leading +principle of which I have endeavoured to explain. + +I should be sorry if what is here recommended should be at all understood +to countenance a careless or indetermined manner of painting. For though +the painter is to overlook the accidental discriminations of nature, he +is to pronounce distinctly, and with precision, the general forms of +things. A firm and determined outline is one of the characteristics of +the great style in painting; and, let me add, that he who possesses the +knowledge of the exact form, that every part of nature ought to have, +will be fond of expressing that knowledge with correctness and precision +in all his works. + +To conclude: I have endeavoured to reduce the idea of beauty to general +principles. And I had the pleasure to observe that the professor of +painting proceeded in the same method, when he showed you that the +artifice of contrast was founded but on one principle. And I am +convinced that this is the only means of advancing science, of clearing +the mind from a confused heap of contradictory observations, that do but +perplex and puzzle the student when he compares them, or misguide him if +he gives himself up to their authority; but bringing them under one +general head can alone give rest and satisfaction to an inquisitive mind. + + + +A DISCOURSE +Delivered to the Students of the Royal Academy on the Distribution of the +Prizes, December 10, 1771, by the President. + + +Gentlemen,--The value and rank of every art is in proportion to the +mental labour employed in it, or the mental pleasure produced by it. As +this principle is observed or neglected, our profession becomes either a +liberal art or a mechanical trade. In the hands of one man it makes the +highest pretensions, as it is addressed to the noblest faculties, In +those of another it is reduced to a mere matter of ornament, and the +painter has but the humble province of furnishing our apartments with +elegance. + +This exertion of mind, which is the only circumstance that truly ennobles +our art, makes the great distinction between the Roman and Venetian +schools. I have formerly observed that perfect form is produced by +leaving out particularities, and retaining only general ideas. I shall +now endeavour to show that this principle, which I have proved to be +metaphysically just, extends itself to every part of the art; that it +gives what is called the grand style to invention, to composition, to +expression, and even to colouring and drapery. + +Invention in painting does not imply the invention of the subject, for +that is commonly supplied by the poet or historian. With respect to the +choice, no subject can be proper that is not generally interesting. It +ought to be either some eminent instance of heroic action or heroic +suffering. There must be something either in the action or in the object +in which men are universally concerned, and which powerfully strikes upon +the public sympathy. + +Strictly speaking, indeed, no subject can be of universal, hardly can it +be of general concern: but there are events and characters so popularly +known in those countries where our art is in request, that they may be +considered as sufficiently general for all our purposes. Such are the +great events of Greek and Roman fable and history, which early education +and the usual course of reading have made familiar and interesting to all +Europe, without being degraded by the vulgarism of ordinary life in any +country. Such, too, are the capital subjects of Scripture history, +which, besides their general notoriety, become venerable by their +connection with our religion. + +As it is required that the subject selected should be a general one, it +is no less necessary that it should be kept unembarrassed with whatever +may any way serve to divide the attention of the spectator. Whenever a +story is related, every man forms a picture in his mind of the action and +the expression of the persons employed. The power of representing this +mental picture in canvas is what we call invention in a painter. And as +in the conception of this ideal picture the mind does not enter into the +minute peculiarities of the dress, furniture, or scene of action, so when +the painter comes to represent it he contrives those little necessary +concomitant circumstances in such a manner that they shall strike the +spectator no more than they did himself in his first conception of the +story. + +I am very ready to allow that some circumstances of minuteness and +particularity frequently tend to give an air of truth to a piece, and to +interest the spectator in an extraordinary manner. Such circumstances, +therefore, cannot wholly be rejected; but if there be anything in the art +which requires peculiar nicety of discernment, it is the disposition of +these minute circumstantial parts which, according to the judgment +employed in the choice, become so useful to truth or so injurious to +grandeur. + +However, the usual and most dangerous error is on the side of minuteness, +and, therefore, I think caution most necessary where most have failed. +The general idea constitutes real excellence. All smaller things, +however perfect in their way, are to be sacrificed without mercy to the +greater. The painter will not inquire what things may be admitted +without much censure. He will not think it enough to show that they may +be there; he will show that they must be there, that their absence would +render his picture maimed and defective. + +Thus, though to the principal group a second or third be added, and a +second and third mass of light, care must be yet taken that these +subordinate actions and lights, neither each in particular, nor all +together, come into any degree of competition with the principal; they +should make a part of that whole which would be imperfect without them. +To every part of painting this rule may be applied. Even in portraits, +the grace and, we may add, the likeness, consists more in taking the +general air than in observing the effect similitude of every feature. + +Thus figures must have a ground whereon to stand; they must be clothed, +there must be a background, there must be light and shadow; but none of +these ought to appear to have taken up any part of the artist's +attention. They should be so managed as not even to catch that of the +spectator. We know well enough, when we analyse a piece, the difficulty +and the subtlety with which an artist adjusts the background, drapery, +and masses of light; we know that a considerable part of the grace and +effect of his picture depends upon them; but this art is so much +concealed, even to a judicious eye, that no remains of any of these +subordinate parts occur to memory when the picture is not present. + +The great end of the art is to strike the imagination. The painter is, +therefore, to make no ostentation of the means by which this is done; the +spectator is only to feel the result in his bosom. An inferior artist is +unwilling that any part of his industry should be lost upon the +spectator. He takes as much pains to discover, as the greater artist +does to conceal, the marks of his subordinate assiduity. In works of the +lower kind everything appears studied and encumbered; it is all boastful +art and open affectation. The ignorant often part from such pictures +with wonder in their mouths, and indifference in their hearts. + +But it is not enough in invention that the artist should restrain and +keep under all the inferior parts of his subject; he must sometimes +deviate from vulgar and strict historical truth in pursuing the grandeur +of his design. + +How much the great style exacts from its professors to conceive and +represent their subjects in a poetical manner, not confined to mere +matter of fact, may be seen in the cartoons of Raffaelle. In all the +pictures in which the painter has represented the apostles, he has drawn +them with great nobleness; he has given them as much dignity as the human +figure is capable of receiving yet we are expressly told in Scripture +they had no such respectable appearance; and of St. Paul in particular, +we are told by himself, that his bodily presence was mean. Alexander is +said to have been of a low stature: a painter ought not so to represent +him. Agesilaus was low, lame, and of a mean appearance. None of these +defects ought to appear in a piece of which he is the hero. In +conformity to custom, I call this part of the art history painting; it +ought to be called poetical, as in reality it is. + +All this is not falsifying any fact; it is taking an allowed poetical +licence. A painter of portraits retains the individual likeness; a +painter of history shows the man by showing his actions. A painter must +compensate the natural deficiencies of his art. He has but one sentence +to utter, but one moment to exhibit. He cannot, like the poet or +historian, expatiate, and impress the mind with great veneration for the +character of the hero or saint he represents, though he lets us know at +the same time that the saint was deformed, or the hero lame. The painter +has no other means of giving an idea of the dignity of the mind, but by +that external appearance which grandeur of thought does generally, though +not always, impress on the countenance, and by that correspondence of +figure to sentiment and situation which all men wish, but cannot command. +The painter, who may in this one particular attain with ease what others +desire in vain, ought to give all that he possibly can, since there are +so many circumstances of true greatness that he cannot give at all. He +cannot make his hero talk like a great man; he must make him look like +one. For which reason he ought to be well studied in the analysis of +those circumstances which constitute dignity of appearance in real life. + +As in invention, so likewise in, expression, care must be taken not to +run into particularities, Those expressions alone should be given to the +figures which their respective situations generally produce. Nor is this +enough; each person should also have that expression which men of his +rank generally exhibit. The joy or the grief of a character of dignity +is not to be expressed in the same manner as a similar passion in a +vulgar face. Upon this principle Bernini, perhaps, may be subject to +censure. This sculptor, in many respects admirable, has given a very +mean expression to his statue of David, who is represented as just going +to throw the stone from the sling; and in order to give it the expression +of energy he has made him biting his under-lip. This expression is far +from being general, and still farther from being dignified. He might +have seen it in an instance or two, and he mistook accident for +universality. + +With respect to colouring, though it may appear at first a part of +painting merely mechanical, yet it still has its rules, and those +grounded upon that presiding principle which regulates both the great and +the little in the study of a painter. By this, the first effect of the +picture is produced; and as this is performed the spectator, as he walks +the gallery, will stop, or pass along. To give a general air of grandeur +at first view, all trifling or artful play of little lights or an +attention to a variety of tints is to be avoided; a quietness and +simplicity must reign over the whole work; to which a breadth of uniform +and simple colour will very much contribute. Grandeur of effect is +produced by two different ways, which seem entirely opposed to each +other. One is, by reducing the colours to little more than chiaroscuro, +which was often the practice of the Bolognian schools; and the other, by +making the colours very distinct and forcible, such as we see in those of +Rome and Florence; but still, the presiding principle of both those +manners is simplicity. Certainly, nothing can be more simple than +monotony, and the distinct blue, red, and yellow colours which are seen +in the draperies of the Roman and Florentine schools, though they have +not that kind of harmony which is produced by a variety of broken and +transparent colours, have that effect of grandeur that was intended. +Perhaps these distinct colours strike the mind more forcibly, from there +not being any great union between them; as martial music, which is +intended to rouse the noble passions, has its effect from the sudden and +strongly marked transitions from one note to another, which that style of +music requires; whilst in that which is intended to move the softer +passions the notes imperceptibly melt into one another. + +In the same manner as the historical painter never enters into the detail +of colours, so neither does he debase his conceptions with minute +attention to the discriminations of drapery. It is the inferior style +that marks the variety of stuffs. With him, the clothing is neither +woollen, nor linen, nor silk, satin, or velvet: it is drapery; it is +nothing more. The art of disposing the foldings of the drapery make a +very considerable part of the painter's study. To make it merely natural +is a mechanical operation, to which neither genius or taste are required; +whereas, it requires the nicest judgment to dispose the drapery, so that +the folds have an easy communication, and gracefully follow each other, +with such natural negligence as to look like the effect of chance, and at +the same time show the figure under it to the utmost advantage. + +Carlo Maratti was of opinion that the disposition of drapery was a more +difficult art than even that of drawing the human figure; that a student +might be more easily taught the latter than the former; as the rules of +drapery, he said, could not be so well ascertained as those for +delineating a correct form, This, perhaps, is a proof how willingly we +favour our own peculiar excellence. Carlo Maratti is said to have valued +himself particularly upon his skill in this part of the art yet in him +the disposition appears so artificial, that he is inferior to Raffaelle, +even in that which gave him his best claim to reputation. + +Such is the great principle by which we must be directed in the nobler +branches of our art. Upon this principle the Roman, the Florentine, the +Bolognese schools, have formed their practice; and by this they have +deservedly obtained the highest praise. These are the three great +schools of the world in the epic style. The best of the French school, +Poussin, Le Sueur, and Le Brun, have formed themselves upon these models, +and consequently may be said, though Frenchmen, to be a colony from the +Roman school. Next to these, but in a very different style of +excellence, we may rank the Venetian, together with the Flemish and the +Dutch schools, all professing to depart from the great purposes of +painting, and catching at applause by inferior qualities. + +I am not ignorant that some will censure me for placing the Venetians in +this inferior class, and many of the warmest admirers of painting will +think them unjustly degraded; but I wish not to be misunderstood. Though +I can by no means allow them to hold any rank with the nobler schools of +painting, they accomplished perfectly the thing they attempted. But as +mere elegance is their principal object, as they seem more willing to +dazzle than to affect, it can be no injury to them to suppose that their +practice is useful only to its proper end. But what may heighten the +elegant may degrade the sublime. There is a simplicity, and I may add, +severity, in the great manner, which is, I am afraid, almost incompatible +with this comparatively sensual style. + +Tintoret, Paul Veronese, and others of the Venetian schools, seem to have +painted with no other purpose than to be admired for their skill and +expertness in the mechanism of painting, and to make a parade of that art +which, as I before observed, the higher style requires its followers to +conceal. + +In a conference of the French Academy, at which were present Le Brun, +Sebastian Bourdon, and all the eminent artists of that age, one of the +academicians desired to have their opinion on the conduct of Paul +Veronese, who, though a painter of great consideration, had, contrary to +the strict rules of art, in his picture of Perseus and Andromeda, +represented the principal figure in shade. To this question no +satisfactory answer was then given. But I will venture to say, that if +they had considered the class of the artist, and ranked him as an +ornamental painter, there would have been no difficulty in answering: "It +was unreasonable to expect what was never intended. His intention was +solely to produce an effect of light and Shadow; everything was to be +sacrificed to that intent, and the capricious composition of that picture +suited very well with the style he professed." + +Young minds are indeed too apt to be captivated by this splendour of +style, and that of the Venetians will be particularly pleasing; for by +them all those parts of the art that give pleasure to the eye or sense +have been cultivated with care, and carried to the degree nearest to +perfection. The powers exerted in the mechanical part of the art have +been called the language of painters; but we must say, that it is but +poor eloquence which only shows that the orator can talk. Words should +be employed as the means, not as the end: language is the instrument, +conviction is the work. + +The language of painting must indeed be allowed these masters; but even +in that they have shown more copiousness than choice, and more luxuriancy +than judgment. If we consider the uninteresting subjects of their +invention, or at least the uninteresting manner in which they are +treated; if we attend to their capricious composition, their violent and +affected contrasts, whether of figures, or of light and shadow, the +richness of their drapery, and, at the same time, the mean effect which +the discrimination of stuffs gives to their pictures; if to these we add +their total inattention to expression, and then reflect on the +conceptions and the learning of Michael Angelo, or the simplicity of +Raffaelle, we can no longer dwell on the comparison. Even in colouring, +if we compare the quietness and chastity of the Bolognese pencil to the +bustle and tumult that fills every part of, a Venetian picture, without +the least attempt to interest the passions, their boasted art will appear +a mere struggle without effect; an empty tale told by an idiot, full of +sound and fury, signifying nothing. + +Such as suppose that the great style might happily be blended with the +ornamental, that the simple, grave, and majestic dignity of Raffaelle +could unite with the glow and bustle of a Paulo or Tintoret, are totally +mistaken. The principles by which each are attained are so contrary to +each other, that they seem, in my opinion, incompatible, and as +impossible to exist together, as to unite in the mind at the same time +the most sublime ideas and the lowest sensuality. + +The subjects of the Venetian painters are mostly such as give them an +opportunity of introducing a great number of figures, such as feasts, +marriages, and processions, public martyrdoms, or miracles. I can easily +conceive that Paul Veronese, if he were asked, would say that no subject +was proper for an historical picture but such as admitted at least forty +figures; for in a less number, he would assert, there could be no +opportunity of the painter's showing his art in composition, his +dexterity of managing and disposing the masses of light, and groups of +figures, and of introducing a variety of Eastern dresses and characters +in their rich stuffs. + +But the thing is very different with a pupil of the greater schools. +Annibale Caracci thought twelve figures sufficient for any story: he +conceived that more would contribute to no end but to fill space; that +they would, be but cold spectators of the general action, or, to use his +own expression, that they would be figures to be let. Besides, it is +impossible for a picture composed of so many parts to have that effect, +so indispensably necessary to grandeur, of one complete whole. However +contradictory it may be in geometry, it is true in taste, that many +little things will not make a great one. The sublime impresses the mind +at once with one great idea; it is a single blow: the elegant indeed may +be produced by a repetition, by an accumulation of many minute +circumstances. + +However great the difference is between the composition of the Venetian +and the rest of the Italian schools, there is full as great a disparity +in the effect of their pictures as produced by colours. And though in +this respect the Venetians must be allowed extraordinary skill, yet even +that skill, as they have employed it, will but ill correspond with the +great style. Their colouring is not only too brilliant, but, I will +venture to say, too harmonious to produce that solidity, steadiness, and +simplicity of effect which heroic subjects require, and which simple or +grave colours only can give to a work. That they are to be cautiously +studied by those who are ambitious of treading the great walk of history +is confirmed, if it wants confirmation, by the greatest of all +authorities, Michael Angelo. This wonderful man, after having seen a +picture by Titian, told Vasari, who accompanied him, "that he liked much +his colouring and manner; but then he added, that it was a pity the +Venetian painters did not learn to draw correctly in their early youth, +and adopt a better manner of study." + +By this it appears that the principal attention of the Venetian painters, +in the opinion of Michael Angelo, seemed to be engrossed by the study of +colours, to the neglect of the ideal beauty of form, or propriety of +expression. But if general censure was given to that school from the +sight of a picture of Titian, how much more heavily, and more justly, +would the censure fall on Paulo Veronese, or more especially on Tintoret? +And here I cannot avoid citing Vasari's opinion of the style and manner +of Tintoret. "Of all the extraordinary geniuses," says he, "that have +ever practised the art of painting, for wild, capricious, extravagant, +and fantastical inventions, for furious impetuosity and boldness in the +execution of his work, there is none like Tintoret; his strange whims are +even beyond extravagance; and his works seem to be produced rather by +chance than in consequence of any previous design, as if he wanted to +convince the world that, the art was a trifle, and of the most easy +attainment." + +For my own part, when I speak of the Venetian painters, I wish to be +understood to mean Paulo Veronese and Tintoret, to the exclusion of +Titian; for though his style is not so pure as that of many other of the +Italian schools, yet there is a sort of senatorial dignity about him, +which, however awkward in his imitators, seems to become him exceedingly. +His portraits alone, from the nobleness and simplicity of character which +he always gave them, will entitle him to the greatest respect, as he +undoubtedly stands in the first rank in this branch of the art. + +It is not with Titian, but with the seducing qualities of the two former, +that I could wish to caution you, against being too much captivated. +These are the persons who may be said to have exhausted all the powers of +florid eloquence, to debauch the young and unexperienced, and have, +without doubt, been the cause of turning off the attention of the +connoisseur and of the patron of art, as well as that of the painter, +from those higher excellences of which the art is capable, and which +ought to be required in every considerable production. By them, and +their imitators, a style merely ornamental has been disseminated +throughout all Europe. Rubens carried it to Flanders, Voet to France, +and Luca Giordano to Spain and Naples. + +The Venetian is indeed the most splendid of the schools of elegance; and +it is not without reason that the best performances in this lower school +are valued higher than the second-rate performances of those above them; +for every picture has value when it has a decided character, and is +excellent in its kind. But the student must take care not to be so much +dazzled with this splendour as to be tempted to imitate what must +ultimately lead from perfection. Poussin, whose eye was always steadily +fixed on the sublime, has been often heard to say, "That a particular +attention to colouring was an obstacle to the student in his progress to +the great end and design of the art; and that he who attaches himself to +this principal end will acquire by practice a reasonably good method of +colouring." + +Though it be allowed that elaborate harmony of colouring, a brilliancy of +tints, a soft and gradual transition from one to another, present to the +eye what an harmonious concert of music does to the ear, it must be +remembered that painting is not merely a gratification of the sight. Such +excellence, though properly cultivated where nothing higher than elegance +is intended, is weak and unworthy of regard, when the work aspires to +grandeur and sublimity. + +The same reasons that have been urged why a mixture of the Venetian style +cannot improve the great style will hold good in regard to the Flemish +and Dutch schools. Indeed, the Flemish school, of which Rubens is the +head, was formed upon that of the Venetian; like them, he took his +figures too much from the people before him. But it must be allowed in +favour of the Venetians that he was more gross than they, and carried all +their mistaken methods to a far greater excess. In the Venetian school +itself, where they all err from the same cause, there is a difference in +the effect. The difference between Paulo and Bassano seems to be only +that one introduced Venetian gentlemen into his pictures, and the other +the boors of the district of Bassano, and called them patriarchs and +prophets. + +The painters of the Dutch school have still more locality. With them, a +history piece is properly a portrait of themselves; whether they describe +the inside or outside of their houses, we have their own people engaged +in their own peculiar occupations, working or drinking, playing or +fighting. The circumstances that enter into a picture of this kind are +so far from giving a general view of human life that they exhibit all the +minute particularities of a nation differing in several respects from the +rest of mankind. Yet, let them have their share of more humble praise. +The painters of this school are excellent in their own way; they are only +ridiculous when they attempt general history on their own narrow +principles, and debase great events by the meanness of their characters. + +Some inferior dexterity, some extraordinary mechanical power, is +apparently that from which they seek distinction. Thus, we see, that +school alone has the custom of representing candle-light, not as it +really appears to us by night, but red, as it would illuminate objects to +a spectator by day. Such tricks, however pardonable in the little style, +where petty effects are the sole end, are inexcusable in the greater, +where the attention should never be drawn aside by trifles, but should be +entirely occupied by the subject itself. + +The same local principles which characterise the Dutch school extend even +to their landscape painters; and Rubens himself, who has painted many +landscapes, has sometimes transgressed in this particular. Their pieces +in this way are, I think, always a representation of an individual spot, +and each in its kind a very faithful but very confined portrait. + +Claude Lorraine, on the contrary, was convinced that taking nature as he +found it seldom produced beauty. His pictures are a composition of the +various draughts which he has previously made from various beautiful +scenes and prospects. However, Rubens in some measure has made amends +for the deficiency with which he is charged; he has contrived to raise +and animate his otherwise uninteresting views, by introducing a rainbow, +storm, or some particular accidental effect of light. That the practice +of Claude Lorraine, in respect to his choice, is to be adopted by +landscape painters, in opposition to that of the Flemish and Dutch +schools, there can be no doubt, as its truth is founded upon the same +principle as that by which the historical painter acquires perfect form. +But whether landscape painting has a right to aspire so far as to reject +what the painters call accidents of nature is not easy to determine. It +is certain Claude Lorraine seldom, if ever, availed himself of those +accidents; either he thought that such peculiarities were contrary to +that style of general nature which he professed, or that it would catch +the attention too strongly, and destroy that quietness and repose which +he thought necessary to that kind of painting. + +A portrait painter likewise, when he attempts history, unless he is upon +his guard, is likely to enter too much into the detail. He too +frequently makes his historical heads look like portraits; and this was +once the custom amongst those old painters who revived the art before +general ideas were practised or understood. A history painter paints man +in general; a portrait painter, a particular man, and consequently a +defective model. + +Thus an habitual practice in the lower exercises of the art will prevent +many from attaining the greater. But such of us who move in these +humbler walks of the profession are not ignorant that, as the natural +dignity of the subject is less, the more all the little ornamental helps +are necessary to its embellishment. It would be ridiculous for a painter +of domestic scenes, of portraits, landscapes, animals, or of still life, +to say that he despised those qualities which have made the subordinate +schools so famous. The art of colouring, and the skilful management of +light and shadow, are essential requisites in his confined labours. If +we descend still lower, what is the painter of fruit and flowers without +the utmost art in colouring, and what the painters call handling; that +is, a lightness of pencil that implies great practice, and gives the +appearance of being done with ease? Some here, I believe, must remember +a flower-painter whose boast it was that he scorned to paint for the +million; no, he professed to paint in the true Italian taste; and +despising the crowd, called strenuously upon the few to admire him. His +idea of the Italian taste was to paint as black and dirty as he could, +and to leave all clearness and brilliancy of colouring to those who were +fonder of money than of immortality. The consequence was such as might +be expected. For these pretty excellences are here essential beauties; +and without this merit the artist's work will be more short-lived than +the objects of his imitation. + +From what has been advanced, we must now be convinced that there are two +distinct styles in history painting: the grand, and the splendid or +ornamental. + +The great style stands alone, and does not require, perhaps does not so +well admit, any addition from inferior beauties. The ornamental style +also possesses its own peculiar merit. However, though the union of the +two may make a sort of composite style, yet that style is likely to be +more imperfect than either of those which go to its composition. Both +kinds have merit, and may be excellent though in different ranks, if +uniformity be preserved, and the general and particular ideas of nature +be not mixed. Even the meanest of them is difficult enough to attain; +and the first place being already occupied by the great artists in either +department, some of those who followed thought there was less room for +them, and feeling the impulse of ambition and the desire of novelty, and +being at the same time perhaps willing to take the shortest way, they +endeavoured to make for themselves a place between both. This they have +effected by forming a union of the different orders. But as the grave +and majestic style would suffer by a union with the florid and gay, so +also has the Venetian ornament in some respect been injured by attempting +an alliance with simplicity. + +It may be asserted that the great style is always more or less +contaminated by any meaner mixture. But it happens in a few instances +that the lower may be improved by borrowing from the grand. Thus, if a +portrait painter is desirous to raise and improve his subject, he has no +other means than by approaching it to a general idea. He leaves out all +the minute breaks and peculiarities in the face, and changes the dress +from a temporary fashion to one more permanent, which has annexed to it +no ideas of meanness from its being familiar to us. But if an exact +resemblance of an individual be considered as the sole object to be aimed +at, the portrait painter will be apt to lose more than he gains by the +acquired dignity taken from general nature. It is very difficult to +ennoble the character of a countenance but at the expense of the +likeness, which is what is most generally required by such as sit to the +painter. + +Of those who have practised the composite style, and have succeeded in +this perilous attempt, perhaps the foremost is Correggio. His style is +founded upon modern grace and elegance, to which is super, added +something of the simplicity of the grand style. A breadth of light and +colour, the general ideas of the drapery, an uninterrupted flow of +outline, all conspire to this effect. Next him (perhaps equal to him) +Parmegiano has dignified the genteelness of modern effeminacy by uniting +it with the simplicity of the ancients and the grandeur and severity of +Michael Angelo. It must be confessed, however, that these two +extraordinary men, by endeavouring to give the utmost degree of grace, +have sometimes, perhaps, exceeded its boundaries, and have fallen into +the most hateful of all hateful qualities, affectation. Indeed, it is +the peculiar characteristic of men of genius to be afraid of coldness and +insipidity, from which they think they never can be too far removed. It +particularly happens to these great masters of grace and elegance. They +often boldly drive on to the very verge of ridicule; the spectator is +alarmed, but at the same time admires their vigour and intrepidity. + + Strange graces still, and stranger flights they had, + . . . + Yet ne'er so sure our passion to create + Ae when they touch'd the brink of all we hate. + +The errors of genius, however, are pardonable, and none even of the more +exalted painters are wholly free from them; but they have taught us, by +the rectitude of their general practice, to correct their own affected or +accidental deviation. The very first have not been always upon their +guard, and perhaps there is not a fault but what may take shelter under +the most venerable authorities; yet that style only is perfect in which +the noblest principles are uniformly pursued; and those masters only are +entitled to the first rank in, our estimation who have enlarged the +boundaries of their art, and have raised it to its highest dignity, by +exhibiting the general ideas of nature. + +On the whole, it seems to me that there is but one presiding principle +which regulates and gives stability to every art. The works, whether of +poets, painters, moralists, or historians, which are built upon general +nature, live for ever; while those which depend for their existence on +particular customs and habits, a partial view of nature, or the +fluctuation of fashion, can only be coeval with that which first raised +them from obscurity. Present time and future maybe considered as rivals, +and he who solicits the one must expect to be discountenanced by the +other. + + + +A DISCOURSE +Delivered to the Students of the Royal Academy on the Distribution of the +Prizes, December 10, 1772, by the President. + + +Gentlemen,--I purpose to carry on in this discourse the subject which I +began in my last. It was my wish upon that occasion to incite you to +pursue the higher excellences of the art. But I fear that in this +particular I have been misunderstood. Some are ready to imagine, when +any of their favourite acquirements in the art are properly classed, that +they are utterly disgraced. This is a very great mistake: nothing has +its proper lustre but in its proper place. That which is most worthy of +esteem in its allotted sphere becomes an object, not of respect, but of +derision, when it is forced into a higher, to which it is not suited; and +there it becomes doubly a source of disorder, by occupying a situation +which is not natural to it, and by putting down from the first place what +is in reality of too much magnitude to become with grace and proportion +that subordinate station, to which something of less value would be much +better suited. + +My advice in a word is this: keep your principal attention fixed upon the +higher excellences. If you compass them and compass nothing more, you +are still in the first class. We may regret the innumerable beauties +which you may want: you may be very imperfect: but still, you are an +imperfect person of the highest order. + +If, when you have got thus far, you can add any, or all, of the +subordinate qualifications, it is my wish and advice that you should not +neglect them. + +But this is as much a matter of circumspection and caution at least as of +eagerness and pursuit. + +The mind is apt to be distracted by a multiplicity of pursuits; and that +scale of perfection, which I wish always to be preserved, is in the +greatest danger of being totally disordered, and even inverted. + +Some excellences bear to be united, and are improved by union, others are +of a discordant nature; and the attempt to join them only produces a +harsher jarring of incongruent principles. + +The attempt to unite contrary excellences (of form, for instance) in a +single figure, can never escape degenerating into the monstrous, but by +sinking into the insipid, taking away its marked character, and weakening +its expression. + +This remark is true to a certain degree with regard to the passions. If +you mean to preserve the most perfect beauty in its most perfect state, +you cannot express the passions, which produce (all of them) distortion +and deformity, more or less, in the most beautiful faces. + +Guido, from want of choice in adapting his subject to his ideas and his +powers, or in attempting to preserve beauty where it could not be +preserved has in this respect succeeded very ill. His figures are often +engaged in subjects that required great expression: yet his "Judith and +Holofernes," the "Daughter of Herodias with the Baptist's Head," the +"Andromeda," and even the "Mothers of the Innocents," have little more +expression than his "Venus attired by the Graces." + +Obvious as these remarks appear, there are many writers on our art, who, +not being of the profession, and consequently not knowing what can or +what cannot be done, have been very liberal of absurd praises in their +descriptions of favourite works. They always find in them what they are +resolved to find. They praise excellences that can hardly exist +together, and above all things are fond of describing with great +exactness the expression of a mixed passion, which more particularly +appears to me out of the reach of our art. + +Such are many disquisitions which I have read on some of the cartoons and +other pictures of Raffaelle, where the critics have described their own +imagination; or indeed where the excellent master himself may have +attempted this expression of passions above the powers of the art; and +has, therefore, by an indistinct and imperfect marking, left room for +every imagination, with equal probability to find a passion of his own. +What has been, and what can be done in the art, is sufficiently +difficult; we need not be mortified or discouraged for not being able to +execute the conceptions of a romantic imagination. Art has its +boundaries, though imagination has none. We can easily, like the +ancients, suppose a Jupiter to be possessed of all those powers and +perfections which the subordinate Deities were endowed with separately. +Yet, when they employed their art to represent him, they confined his +character to majesty alone. Pliny, therefore, though we are under great +obligations to him for the information he has given us in relation to the +works of the ancient artists, is very frequently wrong when he speaks of +them, which he does very often in the style of many of our modern +connoisseurs. He observes that in a statue of Paris, by Fuphranor, you +might discover at the same time three different characters; the dignity +of a judge of the goddesses, the lover of Helen, and the conqueror of +Achilles. A statue in which you endeavour to unite stately dignity, +youthful elegance, and stern valour, must surely possess none of these to +any eminent degree. + +From hence it appears that there is much difficulty as well as danger in +an endeavour to concentrate upon a single subject those various powers +which, rising from different points, naturally move in different +directions. + +The summit of excellence seems to be an assemblage of contrary qualities, +but mixed, in such proportions, that no one part is found to counteract +the other. How hard this is to be attained in every art, those only know +who have made the greatest progress in their respective professions. + +To conclude what I have to say on this part of the subject, which I think +of great importance, I wish you to understand that I do not discourage +the younger students from the noble attempt of uniting all the +excellences of art, but to make them aware that, besides the difficulties +which attend every arduous attempt, there is a peculiar difficulty in the +choice of the excellences which ought to be united; I wish you to attend +to this, that you may try yourselves, whenever you are capable of that +trial, what you can, and what you cannot do: and that, instead of +dissipating your natural faculties over the immense field of possible +excellence, you may choose some particular walk in which you may exercise +all your powers, in order each of you to be the first in his way. If any +man shall be master of such a transcendant, commanding, and ductile +genius, as to enable him to rise to the highest, and to stoop to the +lowest flights of art, and to sweep over all of them unobstructed and +secure, he is fitter to give example than to receive instruction. + +Having said thus much on the union of excellences, I will next say +something of the subordination in which various excellences ought to be +kept. + +I am of opinion that the ornamental style, which in my discourse of last +year I cautioned you against considering as principal, may not be wholly +unworthy the attention of those who aim even at the grand style; when it +is properly placed and properly reduced. + +But this study will be used with far better effect, if its principles are +employed in softening the harshness and mitigating the rigour of the +great style, than if in attempt to stand forward with any pretensions of +its own to positive and original excellence. + +It was thus Lodovico Caracci, whose example I formerly recommended to +you, employed it. He was acquainted with the works both of Correggio and +the Venetian painters, and knew the principles by which they produced +those pleasing effects which at the first glance prepossess us so much in +their favour; but he took only as much from each as would embellish, but +not overpower, that manly strength and energy of style, which is his +peculiar character. + +Since I have already expatiated so largely in my former discourse, and in +my present, upon the styles and characters of painting, it will not be at +all unsuitable to my subject if I mention to you some particulars +relative to the leading principles, and capital works of those who +excelled in the great style, that I may bring you from abstraction nearer +to practice, and by exemplifying the propositions which I have laid down, +enable you to understand more clearly what I would enforce. + +The principal works of modern art are in fresco, a mode of painting which +excludes attention to minute elegancies: yet these works in fresco are +the productions on which the fame of the greatest masters depend: such +are the pictures of Michael Angelo and Raffaelle in the Vatican, to which +we may add the cartoons, which, though not strictly to be called fresco, +yet may be put under that denomination; and such are the works of Giulio +Romano at Mantua. If these performances were destroyed, with them would +be lost the best part of the reputation of those illustrious painters, +for these are justly considered as the greatest efforts of our art which +the world can boast. To these, therefore, we should principally direct +our attention for higher excellences. As for the lower arts, as they +have been once discovered, they may be easily attained by those possessed +of the former. + +Raffaelle, who stands in general foremost of the first painters, owes his +reputation, as I have observed, to his excellence in the higher parts of +the art. Therefore, his works in fresco ought to be the first object of +our study and attention. His easel-works stand in a lower degree of +estimation; for though he continually, to the day of his death, +embellished his works more and more with the addition of these lower +ornaments, which entirely make the merit of some, yet he never arrived at +such perfection as to make him an object of imitation. He never was able +to conquer perfectly that dryness, or even littleness of manner, which he +inherited from his master. He never acquired that nicety of taste in +colours, that breadth of light and shadow, that art and management of +uniting light, to light, and shadow to shadow, so as to make the object +rise out of the ground with that plenitude of effect so much admired in +the works of Correggio. When he painted in oil, his hand seemed to be so +cramped and confined that he not only lost that facility and spirit, but +I think even that correctness of form, which is so perfect and admirable +in his fresco works. I do not recollect any pictures of his of this +kind, except perhaps the "Transfiguration," in which there are not some +parts that appear to be even feebly drawn. That this is not a necessary +attendant on oil-painting, we have abundant instances in more modern +painters. Lodovico Caracci, for instance, preserved in his works in oil +the same spirit, vigour, and correctness, which he had in fresco. I have +no desire to degrade Raffaelle from the high rank which he deservedly +holds: but by comparing him with himself, he does not appear to me to be +the same man in oil as in fresco. + +From those who have ambition to tread in this great walk of the art, +Michael Angelo claims the next attention. He did not possess so many +excellences as Raffaelle, but those he had were of the highest kind. He +considered the art as consisting of little more than what may be attained +by sculpture, correctness of form, and energy of character. We ought not +to expect more than an artist intends in his work. He never attempted +those lesser elegancies and graces in the art. Vasari says, he never +painted but one picture in oil, and resolved never to paint another, +saying it was an employment only fit for women and children. + +If any man had a right to look down upon the lower accomplishments as +beneath his attention, it was certainly Michael Angelo: nor can it be +thought strange that such a mind should have slighted or have been +withheld from paying due attention to all those graces and embellishments +of art which have diffused such lustre over the works of other painters. + +It must be acknowledged likewise, that together with these, which we wish +he had more attended to, he has rejected all the false though specious +ornaments which disgrace the works even of the most esteemed artists; and +I will venture to say, that when those higher excellences are more known +and cultivated by the artists and the patrons of arts, his fame and +credit will increase with our increasing knowledge. His name will then +be held in the same veneration as it was in the enlightened age of Leo +the Tenth: and it is remarkable that the reputation of this truly great +man has been continually declining as the art itself has declined. For I +must remark to you, that it has long been much on the decline, and that +our only hope of its revival will consist in your being thoroughly +sensible of its depravation and decay. It is to Michael Angelo that we +owe even the existence of Raffaelle; it is to him Raffaelle owes the +grandeur of his style. He was taught by him to elevate his thoughts, and +to conceive his subjects with dignity. His genius, however, formed to +blaze and to shine, might, like fire in combustible matter, for ever have +lain dormant if it had not caught a spark by its contact with Michael +Angelo: and though it never burst out with that extraordinary heat and +vehemence, yet it must be acknowledged to be a more pure, regular, and +chaste flame. Though our judgment will upon the whole decide in favour +of Raffaelle: yet he never takes that firm hold and entire possession of +the mind in such a manner as to desire nothing else, and feel nothing +wanting. The effect of the capital works of Michael Angelo perfectly +correspond to what Bourchardon said he felt from reading Homer. His +whole frame appeared to himself to be enlarged, and all nature which +surrounded him diminished to atoms. + +If we put those great artists in a light of comparison with each other, +Raffaelle had more taste and fancy, Michael Angelo more genius and +imagination. The one excelled in beauty, the other in energy. Michael +Angelo has more of the poetical inspiration; his ideas are vast and +sublime; his people are a superior order of beings; there is nothing +about them, nothing in the air of their actions or their attitudes, or +the style and cast of their very limbs or features, that puts one in mind +of their belonging, to our own species. Raffaelle's imagination is not +so elevated; his figures are not so much disjoined from our own +diminutive race of beings, though his ideas are chaste, noble, and of +great conformity to their subjects. Michael Angelo's works have a +strong, peculiar, and marked character; they seem to proceed from his own +mind entirely, and that mind so rich and abundant, that he never needed, +or seemed to disdain, to look abroad for foreign help. Raffaelle's +materials are generally borrowed, though the noble structure is his own. +The excellency of this extraordinary man lay in the propriety, beauty, +and majesty of his characters, his judicious contrivance of his +composition, correctness of drawing, purity of taste, and the skilful +accommodation of other men's conceptions to his own purpose. Nobody +excelled him in that judgment, with which he united to his own +observations on nature the energy of Michael Angelo, and the beauty and +simplicity of the antique. To the question, therefore, which ought to +hold the first rank, Raffaelle or Michael Angelo, it must be answered, +that if it is to be given to him who possessed a greater combination of +the higher qualities of the art than any other man, there is no doubt but +Raffaelle is the first. But if, according to Longinus, the sublime, +being the highest excellence that human composition can attain to, +abundantly compensates the absence of every other beauty, and atones for +all other deficiencies, then Michael Angelo demands the preference. + +These two extraordinary men carried some of the higher excellences of the +art to a greater degree of perfection than probably they ever arrived at +before. They certainly have not been excelled, nor equalled since. Many +of their successors were induced to leave this great road as a beaten +path, endeavouring to surprise and please by something uncommon or new. +When this desire after novelty has proceeded from mere idleness or +caprice, it is not worth the trouble of criticism; but when it has been +in consequence of a busy mind of a peculiar complexion, it is always +striking and interesting, never insipid. + +Such is the great style as it appears in those who possessed it at its +height; in this, search after novelty in conception or in treating the +subject has no place. + +But there is another style, which, though inferior to the former, has +still great merit, because it shows that those who cultivated it were men +of lively and vigorous imagination. This I call the original or +characteristical style; this, being less referred to any true architype +existing either in general or particular nature, must be supported by the +painter's consistency in the principles he has assumed, and in the union +and harmony of his whole design. The excellency of every style, but I +think of the subordinate ones more especially, will very much depend on +preserving that union and harmony between all the component parts, that +they appear to hang well together, as if the whole proceeded from one +mind. It is in the works of art, as in the characters of men. The +faults or defects of some men seem to become them when they appear to be +the natural growth, and of a piece with the rest of their character. A +faithful picture of a mind, though it be not of the most elevated kind, +though it be irregular, wild, and incorrect, yet if it be marked with +that spirit and firmness which characterises works of genius, will claim +attention, and be more striking than a combination of excellences that do +not seem to hang well together, or we may say than a work that possesses +even all excellences, but those in a moderate degree. + +One of the strongest marked characters of this kind, which must be +allowed to be subordinate to the great style, is that of Salvator Rosa. +He gives us a peculiar cast of nature, which, though void of all grace, +elegance, and simplicity; though it has nothing of that elevation and +dignity which belongs to the grand style, yet has that sort of dignity +which belongs to savage and uncultivated nature. But what is most to be +admired in him is the perfect correspondence which he observed between +the subjects which he chose, and his manner of treating them. Everything +is of a piece: his rocks, trees, sky, even to his handling have the same +rude and wild character which animates his figures. + +To him we may contrast the character of Carlo Maratti, who, in my own +opinion, had no great vigour of mind or strength of original genius. He +rarely seizes the imagination by exhibiting the higher excellences, nor +does he captivate us by that originality which attends the painter who +thinks for himself. He knew and practised all the rules of art, and from +a composition of Raffaelle, Caracci, and Guido, made up a style, of which +its only fault was, that it had no manifest defects and no striking +beauties, and that the principles of his composition are never blended +together, so as to form one uniform body, original in its kind, or +excellent in any view. + +I will mention two other painters who, though entirely dissimilar, yet by +being each consistent with himself, and possessing a manner entirely his +own, have both gained reputation, though for very opposite +accomplishments. + +The painters I mean are Rubens and Poussin. Rubens I mention in this +place, as I think him a remarkable instance of the same mind being seen +in all the various parts of the art. The whole is so much of a piece +that one can scarce be brought to believe but that if any one of them had +been more correct and perfect, his works would not be so complete as they +now appear. If we should allow a greater purity and correctness of +drawing, his want of simplicity in composition, colouring, and drapery +would appear more gross. + +In his composition his art is too apparent. His figures have expression, +and act with energy, but without simplicity or dignity. His colouring, +in which he is eminently skilled, is, notwithstanding, too much of what +we call tinted. Throughout the whole of his works there is a +proportionable want of that nicety of distinction and elegance of mind +which is required in the higher walks of painting; and to this want it +may be in some degree ascribed that those qualities which make the +excellency of this subordinate style appear in him with their greatest +lustre. Indeed, the facility with which he invented, the richness of his +composition, the luxuriant harmony and brilliancy of his colouring, so +dazzle the eye, that whilst his works continue before us we cannot help +thinking that all his deficiencies are fully supplied. + +Opposed to this florid, careless, loose, and inaccurate style, that of +the simple, careful, pure, and correct style of Poussin seems to be a +complete contrast. + +Yet however opposite their characters, in one thing they agreed, both of +them having a perfect correspondence between all the parts of their +respective manners. + +One is not sure but every alteration of what is considered as defective +in either, would destroy the effect of the whole. + +Poussin lived and conversed with the ancient statues so long, that he may +be said to be better acquainted with then than with the people who were +about him. I have often thought that he carried his veneration for them +so far as to wish to give his works the air of ancient paintings. It is +certain he copied some of the antique paintings, particularly the +"Marriage in the Albrobrandini Palace at Rome," which I believe to be the +best relique of those remote ages that has yet been found. + +No works of any modern has so much of the air of antique painting as +those of Poussin. His best performances have a remarkable dryness of +manner, which, though by no means to be recommended for imitation, yet +seems perfectly correspondent to that ancient simplicity which +distinguishes his style. Like Polidoro he studied them so much, that he +acquired a habit of thinking in their way, and seemed to know perfectly +the actions and gestures they would use on every occasion. + +Poussin in the latter part of his life changed from his dry manner to one +much softer and richer, where there is a greater union between the +figures and the ground, such as the "Seven Sacraments" in the Duke of +Orleans' collection; but neither these, nor any in this manner, are at +all comparable to many in his dry manner which we have in England. + +The favourite subjects of Poussin were ancient fables; and no painter was +ever better qualified to paint such subjects, not only from his being +eminently skilled in the knowledge of ceremonies, customs, and habits of +the ancients, but from his being so well acquainted with the different +characters which those who invented them gave their allegorical figures. +Though Rubens has shown great fancy in his Satyrs, Silenuses, and Fauns, +yet they are not that distinct separate class of beings which is +carefully exhibited by the ancients and by Poussin. Certainly when such +subjects of antiquity are represented, nothing in the picture ought to +remind us of modern times. The mind is thrown back into antiquity, and +nothing ought to be introduced that may tend to awaken it from the +illusion. + +Poussin seemed to think that the style and the language in which such +stories are told is not the worse for preserving some relish of the old +way of painting which seemed to give a general uniformity to the whole, +so that the mind was thrown back into antiquity not only by the subject, +but the execution. + +If Poussin, in imitation of the ancients, represents Apollo driving his +chariot out of the sea by way of representing the sun rising, if he +personifies lakes and rivers, it is no ways offensive in him; but seems +perfectly of a piece with the general air of the picture. On the +contrary, if the figures which people his pictures had a modern air or +countenance, if they appeared like our countrymen, if the draperies were +like cloth or silk of our manufacture, if the landscape had the +appearance of a modern view, how ridiculous would Apollo appear instead +of the sun, an old man or a nymph with an urn instead of a river or lake. + +I cannot avoid mentioning here a circumstance in portrait painting which +may help to confirm what has been said. + +When a portrait is painted in the historical style, as it is neither an +exact minute representation of an individual nor completely ideal, every +circumstance ought to correspond to this mixture. The simplicity of the +antique air and attitude, however much to be admired, is ridiculous when +joined to a figure in a modern dress. It is not to my purpose to enter +into the question at present, whether this mixed style ought to be +adopted or not; yet if it is chosen it is necessary it should be complete +and all of a piece: the difference of stuffs, for instance, which make +the clothing, should be distinguished in the same degree as the head +deviates from a general idea. + +Without this union, which I have so often recommended, a work can have no +marked and determined character, which is the peculiar and constant +evidence of genius. But when this is accomplished to a high degree, it +becomes in some sort a rival to that style which we have fixed as the +highest. + +Thus I have given a sketch of the characters of Rubens and Salvator Rosa, +as they appear to me to have the greatest uniformity of mind throughout +their whole work. But we may add to these, all these artists who are at +the head of the class, and have had a school of imitators from Michael +Angelo down to Watteau. Upon the whole it appears that setting aside the +ornamental style, there are two different paths, either of which a +student may take without degrading the dignity of his art. The first is +to combine the higher excellences and embellish them to the greatest +advantage. The other is to carry one of these excellences to the highest +degree. But those who possess neither must be classed with them, who, as +Shakespeare says, are men of no mark or likelihood. + +I inculcate as frequently as I can your forming yourselves upon great +principles and great models. Your time will be much misspent in every +other pursuit. Small excellences should be viewed, not studied; they +ought to be viewed, because nothing ought to escape a painter's +observation, but for no other reason. + +There is another caution which I wish to give you. Be as select in those +whom you endeavour to please, as in those whom you endeavour to imitate. +Without the love of fame you can never do anything excellent; but by an +excessive and undistinguishing thirst after it, you will come to have +vulgar views; you will degrade your style; and your taste will be +entirely corrupted. It is certain that the lowest style will be the most +popular, as it falls within the compass of ignorance itself; and the +vulgar will always be pleased with what is natural in the confined and +misunderstood sense of the word. + +One would wish that such depravation of taste should be counteracted, +with such manly pride as Euripides expressed to the Athenians, who +criticised his works, "I do not compose," says he, "my works in order to +be corrected by you, but to instruct you." It is true, to have a right +to speak thus, a man must be a Euripides. However, thus much may be +allowed, that when an artist is sure that he is upon firm ground, +supported by the authority and practice of his predecessors of the +greatest reputation, he may then assume the boldness and intrepidity of +genius; at any rate, he must not be tempted out of the right path by any +tide of popularity that always accompanies the lower styles of painting. + +I mention this, because our exhibitions, that produce such admirable +effects by nourishing emulation, and calling out genius, have also a +mischievous tendency by seducing the painter to an ambition of pleasing +indiscriminately the mixed multitude of people who resort to them. + + + +A DISCOURSE +Delivered to the Students of the Royal Academy on the Distribution of the +Prizes, December 10, 1774, by the President. + + +Gentlemen,--When I have taken the liberty of addressing you on the course +and order of your studies, I never proposed to enter into a minute detail +of the art. This I have always left to the several professors, who +pursue the end of our institution with the highest honour to themselves, +and with the greatest advantage to the students. + +My purpose in the discourses I have held in the Academy is to lay down +certain general ideas, which seem to me proper for the formation of a +sound taste; principles necessary to guard the pupils against those +errors into which the sanguine temper common at their time of life, has a +tendency to lead them, and which have rendered abortive the hopes of so +many successions of promising young men in all parts of Europe. + +I wish, also, to intercept and suppress those prejudices which +particularly prevail when the mechanism of painting is come to its +perfection, and which when they do prevail are certain to prevail to the +utter destruction of the higher and more valuable parts of this literate +and liberal profession. + +These two have been my principal purposes; they are still as much my +concern as ever; and if I repeat my own ideas on the subject, you who +know how fast mistake and prejudice, when neglected, gain ground upon +truth and reason, will easily excuse me. I only attempt to set the same +thing in the greatest variety of lights. + +The subject of this discourse will be imitation, as far as a painter is +concerned in it. By imitation I do not mean imitation in its largest +sense, but simply the following of other masters, and the advantage to be +drawn from the study of their works. + +Those who have undertaken to write on our art, and have represented it as +a kind of inspiration, as a gift bestowed upon peculiar favourites at +their birth, seem to ensure a much more favourable disposition from their +readers, and have a much more captivating and liberal air, than he who +goes about to examine, coldly, whether there are any means by which this +art may be acquired; how our mind may be strengthened and expanded, and +what guides will show the way to eminence. + +It is very natural for those who are unacquainted with the cause of +anything extraordinary to be astonished at the effect, and to consider it +as a kind of magic. They, who have never observed the gradation by which +art is acquired, who see only what is the full result of long labour and +application of an infinite number, and infinite variety of acts, are apt +to conclude from their entire inability to do the same at once, that it +is not only inaccessible to themselves, but can be done by those only who +have some gift of the nature of inspiration bestowed upon them. + +The travellers into the East tell us that when the ignorant inhabitants +of these countries are asked concerning the ruins of stately edifices yet +remaining amongst them, the melancholy monuments of their former grandeur +and long-lost science, they always answer that they were built by +magicians. The untaught mind finds a vast gulf between its own powers +and these works of complicated art which it is utterly unable to fathom. +And it supposes that such a void can be passed only by supernatural +powers. + +And, as for artists themselves, it is by no means their interest to +undeceive such judges, however conscious they may be of the very natural +means by which the extraordinary powers were acquired; our art being +intrinsically imitative, rejects this idea of inspiration more, perhaps, +than any other. + +It is to avoid this plain confession of truth, as it should seem, that +this imitation of masters--indeed, almost all imitation which implies a +more regular and progressive method of attaining the ends of painting--has +ever been particularly inveighed against with great keenness, both by +ancient and modern writers. + +To derive all from native power, to owe nothing to another, is the praise +which men, who do not much think what they are saying, bestow sometimes +upon others, and sometimes on themselves; and their imaginary dignity is +naturally heightened by a supercilious censure of the low, the barren, +the grovelling, the servile imitator. It would be no wonder if a +student, frightened by these terrors and disgraceful epithets, with which +the poor imitators are so often loaded, should let fall his pencil in +mere despair, conscious how much he has been indebted to the labours of +others, how little, how very little of his art was born with him; and, +considering it as hopeless, to set about acquiring by the imitation of +any human master what he is taught to suppose is matter of inspiration +from heaven. + +Some allowance must be made for what is said in the gaiety or ambition of +rhetoric. We cannot suppose that any one can really mean to exclude all +imitation of others. A position so wild would scarce deserve a serious +answer, for it is apparent, if we were forbid to make use of the +advantages which our predecessors afford us, the art would be always to +begin, and consequently remain always in its infant state; and it is a +common observation that no art was ever invented and carried to +perfection at the same time. + +But to bring us entirely to reason and sobriety, let it be observed, that +a painter must not only be of necessity an imitator of the works of +nature, which alone is sufficient to dispel this phantom of inspiration, +but he must be as necessarily an imitator of the works of other painters. +This appears more humiliating, but it is equally true; and no man can be +an artist, whatever he may suppose, upon any other terms. + +However, those who appear more moderate and reasonable allow that study +is to begin by imitation, but that we should no longer use the thoughts +of our predecessors when we are become able to think for ourselves. They +hold that imitation is as hurtful to the more advanced student as it was +advantageous to the beginner. + +For my own part, I confess I am not only very much disposed to lay down +the absolute necessity of imitation in the first stages of the art, but +am of opinion that the study of other masters, which I here call +imitation, may be extended throughout our whole life without any danger +of the inconveniences with which it is charged, of enfeebling the mind, +or preventing us from giving that original air which every work +undoubtedly ought always to have. + +I am, on the contrary, persuaded that by imitation only, variety, and +even originality of invention is produced. + +I will go further; even genius, at least what generally is so called, is +the child of imitation. But as this appears to be contrary to the +general opinion, I must explain my position before I enforce it. + +Genius is supposed to be a power of producing excellences which are out +of the reach of the rules of art--a power which no precepts can teach, +and which no industry can acquire. + +This opinion of the impossibility of acquiring those beauties which stamp +the work with the character of genius, supposes that it is something more +fixed than in reality it is, and that we always do, and ever did agree, +about what should be considered as a characteristic of genius. + +But the truth is that the degree of excellence which proclaims genius is +different in different times and different places; and what shows it to +be so is that mankind have often changed their opinion upon this matter. + +When the arts were in their infancy, the power of merely drawing the +likeness of any object was considered as one of its greatest efforts. + +The common people, ignorant of the principles of art, talk the same +language even to this day. But when it was found that every man could be +taught to do this, and a great deal more, merely by the observance of +certain precepts, the name of genius then shifted its application, and +was given only to those who added the peculiar character of the object +they represented; to those who had invention, expression, grace, or +dignity; or, in short, such qualities or excellences the producing of +which could not then be taught by any known and promulgated rules. + +We are very sure that the beauty of form, the expression of the passions, +the art of composition, even the power of giving a general air of +grandeur to your work, is at present very much under the dominion of +rules. These excellences were, heretofore, considered merely as the +effects of genius; and justly, if genius is not taken for inspiration, +but as the effect of close observation and experience. + +He who first made any of these observations and digested them, so as to +form an invariable principle for himself to work by, had that merit; but +probably no one went very far at once; and generally the first who gave +the hint did not know how to pursue it steadily and methodically, at +least not in the beginning. He himself worked on it, and improved it; +others worked more, and improved farther, until the secret was +discovered, and the practice made as general as refined practice can be +made. How many more principles may be fixed and ascertained we cannot +tell; but as criticism is likely to go hand in hand with the art which is +its subject, we may venture to say that as that art shall advance, its +powers will be still more and more fixed by rules. + +But by whatever strides criticism may gain ground, we need be under no +apprehension that invention will ever be annihilated or subdued, or +intellectual energy be brought entirely within the restraint of written +law. Genius will still have room enough to expatiate, and keep always +the same distance from narrow comprehension and mechanical performance. + +What we now call genius begins, not where rules, abstractedly taken, end, +but where known vulgar and trite rules have no longer any place. It must +of necessity be that even works of genius, as well as every other effect, +as it must have its cause, must likewise have its rules; it cannot be by +chance that excellences are produced with any constancy, or any +certainty, for this is not the nature of chance, but the rules by which +men of extraordinary parts, and such as are called men of genius work, +are either such as they discover by their own peculiar observation, or of +such a nice texture as not easily to admit handling or expressing in +words, especially as artists are not very frequently skilful in that mode +of communicating ideas. + +Unsubstantial, however, as these rules may seem, and difficult as it may +be to convey them in writing, they are still seen and felt in the mind of +the artist, and he works from them with as much certainty as if they were +embodied, as I may say, upon paper. It is true these refined principles +cannot be always made palpable, like the more gross rules of art; yet it +does not follow but that the mind may be put in such a train that it +shall perceive, by a kind of scientific sense, that propriety which +words, particularly words of unpractised writers such as we are, can but +very feebly suggest. + +Invention is one of the great marks of genius, but if we consult +experience, we shall find that it is by being conversant with the +inventions of others that we learn to invent, as by reading the thoughts +of others we learn to think. + +Whoever has so far formed his taste as to be able to relish and feel the +beauties of the great masters has gone a great way in his study; for, +merely from a consciousness of this relish of the right, the mind swells +with an inward pride, and is almost as powerfully affected as if it had +itself produced what it admires. Our hearts frequently warmed in this +manner by the contact of those whom we wish to resemble, will undoubtedly +catch something of their way of thinking, and we shall receive in our own +bosoms some radiation at least of their fire and splendour. That +disposition, which is so strong in children, still continues with us, of +catching involuntarily the general air and manner of those with whom we +are most conversant; with this difference only, that a young mind is +naturally pliable and imitative, but in a more advanced state it grows +rigid, and must be warmed and softened before it will receive a deep +impression. + +From these considerations, which a little of your reflection will carry a +great way further, it appears of what great consequence it is that our +minds should be habituated to the contemplation of excellence, and that, +far from being contented to make such habits the discipline of our youth +only, we should, to the last moment of our lives, continue a settled +intercourse with all the true examples of grandeur. Their inventions are +not only the food of our infancy, but the substance which supplies the +fullest maturity of our vigour. + +The mind is but a barren soil; is a soil soon exhausted, and will produce +no crop, or only one, unless it be continually fertilised and enriched +with foreign matter. + +When we have had continually before us the great works of art to +impregnate our minds with kindred ideas, we are then, and not till then, +fit to produce something, of the same species. We behold all about us +with the eyes of these penetrating observers, and our minds, accustomed +to think the thoughts of the noblest and brightest intellects, are +prepared for the discovery and selection of all that is great and noble +in nature. The greatest natural genius cannot subsist on its own stock: +he who resolves never to ransack any mind but his own will be soon +reduced, from mere barrenness, to the poorest of all imitations; he will +be obliged to imitate himself, and to repeat what he has before often +repeated. When we know the subject designed by such men, it will never +be difficult to guess what kind of work is to be produced. + +It is vain for painters or poets to endeavour to invent without materials +on which the mind may work, and from which invention must originate. +Nothing can come of nothing. + +Homer is supposed to be possessed of all the learning of his time. And +we are certain that Michael Angelo and Raffaelle were equally possessed +of all knowledge in the art which was discoverable in the works of their +predecessors. + +A mind enriched by an assemblage of all the treasures of ancient and +modern art will be more elevated and fruitful in resources in proportion +to the number of ideas which have been carefully collected and thoroughly +digested. There can be no doubt that he who has the most materials has +the greatest means of invention; and if he has not the power of using +them, it must proceed from a feebleness of intellect or from the confused +manner in which those collections have been laid up in his mind. + +The addition of other men's judgment is so far from weakening, as is the +opinion of many, our own, that it will fashion and consolidate those +ideas of excellence which lay in their birth feeble, ill-shaped, and +confused, but which are finished and put in order by the authority and +practice of those whose works may be said to have been consecrated by +having stood the test of ages. + +The mind, or genius, has been compared to a spark of fire which is +smothered by a heap of fuel and prevented from blazing into a flame. This +simile, which is made use of by the younger Pliny, may be easily mistaken +for argument or proof. + +There is no danger of the mind's being over-burdened with knowledge, or +the genius extinguished by any addition of images; on the contrary, these +acquisitions may as well, perhaps better, be compared, if comparisons +signified anything in reasoning, to the supply of living embers, which +will contribute to strengthen the spark that without the association of +more would have died away. + +The truth is, he whose feebleness is such as to make other men's thoughts +an incumbrance to him can have no very great strength of mind or genius +of his own to be destroyed, so that not much harm will be done at worst. + +We may oppose to Pliny the greater authority of Cicero, who is +continually enforcing the necessity of this method of study. In his +dialogue on Oratory he makes Crassus say, that one of the first and most +important precepts is to choose a proper model for our imitation. _Hoc +fit primum in preceptis meis ut demonstremus quem imitemur_. + +When I speak of the habitual imitation and continued study of masters, it +is not to be understood that I advise any endeavour to copy the exact +peculiar colour and complexion of another man's mind; the success of such +an attempt must always be like his who imitates exactly the air, manner, +and gestures of him whom he admires. His model may be excellent, but the +copy will be ridiculous; this ridicule does not arise from his having +imitated, but from his not having chosen the right mode of imitation. + +It is a necessary and warrantable pride to disdain to walk servilely +behind any individual, however elevated his rank. The true and liberal +ground of imitation is an open field, where, though he who precedes has +had the advantage of starting before you, yet it is enough to pursue his +course; you need not tread in his footsteps, and you certainly have a +right to outstrip him if you can. + +Nor, whilst I recommend studying the art from artists, can I be supposed +to mean that nature is to be neglected? I take this study in aid and not +in exclusion of the other. Nature is, and must be, the fountain which +alone is inexhaustible; and from which all excellences must originally +flow. + +The great use of studying our predecessors is to open the mind, to +shorten our labour, and to give us the result of the selection made by +those great minds of what is grand or beautiful in nature: her rich +stores are all spread out before us; but it is an art, and no easy art, +to know how or what to choose, and how to attain and secure the object of +our choice. + +Thus the highest beauty of form must be taken from nature; but it is an +art of long deduction and great experience to know how to find it. + +We must not content ourselves with merely admiring and relishing; we must +enter into the principles on which the work is wrought; these do not swim +on the superficies, and consequently are not open to superficial +observers. + +Art in its perfection is not ostentatious; it lies hid, and works its +effect itself unseen. It is the proper study and labour of an artist to +uncover and find out the latent cause of conspicuous beauties, and from +thence form principles for his own conduct; such an examination is a +continual exertion of the mind, as great, perhaps, as that of the artist +whose works he is thus studying. + +The sagacious imitator not only remarks what distinguishes the different +manner or genius of each master; he enters into the contrivance in the +composition, how the masses of lights are disposed, the means by which +the effect is produced, how artfully some parts are lost in the ground, +others boldly relieved, and how all these are mutually altered and +interchanged according to the reason and scheme of the work. He admires +not the harmony of colouring alone, but he examines by what artifice one +colour is a foil to its neighbour. He looks close into the tints, of +what colours they are composed, till he has formed clear and distinct +ideas, and has learnt to see in what harmony and good colouring consists. +What is learnt in this manner from the works of others becomes really our +own, sinks deep, and is never forgotten; nay, it is by seizing on this +clue that we proceed forward, and get further and further in enlarging +the principle and improving the practice. + +There can be no doubt but the art is better learnt from the works +themselves than from the precepts which are formed upon these works; but +if it is difficult to choose proper models for imitation, it requires no +less circumspection to separate and distinguish what in those models we +ought to imitate. + +I cannot avoid mentioning here, though it is not my intention at present +to enter into the art and method of study, an error which students are +too apt to fall into. + +He that is forming himself must look with great caution and wariness on +those peculiarities, or prominent parts, which at first force themselves +upon view, and are the marks, or what is commonly called the manner, by +which that individual artist is distinguished. + +Peculiar marks I hold to be generally, if not always, defects, however +difficult it may be, wholly to escape them. + +Peculiarities in the works of art are like those in the human figure; it +is by them that we are cognisable and distinguished one from another, but +they are always so many blemishes, which, however, both in the one case +and in the other, cease to appear deformities to those who have them +continually before their eyes. In the works of art, even the most +enlightened mind, when warmed by beauties of the highest kind, will by +degrees find a repugnance within him to acknowledge any defects; nay, his +enthusiasm will carry him so far as to transform them into beauties and +objects of imitation. + +It must be acknowledged that a peculiarity of style, either from its +novelty, or by seeming to proceed from a peculiar turn of mind, often +escapes blame; on the contrary, it is sometimes striking and pleasing; +but this it is vain labour to endeavour to imitate, because novelty and +peculiarity being its only merit, when it ceases to be new, it ceases to +have value. + +A manner, therefore, being a defect, and every painter, however +excellent, having a manner, it seems to follow that all kinds of faults, +as well as beauties, may be learned under the sanction of the greatest +authorities. + +Even the great name of Michael Angelo may be used to keep in countenance +a deficiency, or rather neglect of colouring, and every other ornamental +part of the art. + +If the young student is dry and hard, Poussin is the same. If his work +has a careless and unfinished air, he has most of the Venetian School to +support him. If he makes no selection of objects, but takes individual +nature just as he finds it, he is like Rembrandt. If he is incorrect in +the proportions of his figures, Correggio was likewise incorrect. If his +colours are not blended and united, Rubens was equally crude. + +In short, there is no defect but may be excused, if it is a sufficient +excuse that it can be imputed to considerable artists; but it must be +remembered that it was not by these defects they acquired their +reputation: they have a right to our pardon, but not to our admiration. + +However, to imitate peculiarities or mistake defects for beauties that +man will be most liable who confines his imitation to one favourite +master; and, even though he chooses the best, and is capable of +distinguishing the real excellences of his model, it is not by such +narrow practice that a genius or mastery in the art is acquired. A man +is as little likely to form a true idea of the perfection of the art by +studying a single artist as he would be of producing a perfectly +beautiful figure by an exact imitation of any individual living model. + +And as the painter, by bringing together in one piece those beauties +which are dispersed amongst a great variety of individuals, produces a +figure more beautiful than can be found in nature, so that artist who can +unite in himself the excellences of the various painters, will approach +nearer to perfection than any one of his masters. + +He who confines himself to the imitation of an individual, as he never +proposes to surpass, so he is not likely to equal, the object of +imitation. He professes only to follow, and he that follows must +necessarily be behind. + +We should imitate the conduct of the great artists in the course of their +studies, as well as the works which they produced, when they were +perfectly formed. Raffaelle began by imitating implicitly the manner of +Pietro Perugino, under whom he studied; so his first works are scarce to +be distinguished from his master's; but soon forming higher and more +extensive views, he imitated the grand outline of Michael Angelo. He +learnt the manner of using colours from the works of Leonardo da Vinci +and Fratre Bartolomeo: to all this he added the contemplation of all the +remains of antiquity that were within his reach, and employed others to +draw for him what was in Greece and distant places. And it is from his +having taken so many models that he became himself a model for all +succeeding painters, always imitating, and always original. + +If your ambition therefore be to equal Raffaelle, you must do as +Raffaelle did; take many models, and not take even him for your guide +alone to the exclusion of others. And yet the number is infinite of +those who seem, if one may judge by their style, to have seen no other +works but those of their master, or of some favourite whose manner is +their first wish and their last. + +I will mention a few that occur to me of this narrow, confined, +illiberal, unscientific, and servile kind of imitators. Guido was thus +meanly copied by Elizabetta Sirani, and Simone Cantarini; Poussin, by +Verdier and Cheron; Parmigiano, by Jeronimo Mazzuoli; Paolo Veronese and +Iacomo Bassan had for their imitators their brothers and sons; Pietro de +Cortona was followed by Ciro Ferri and Romanelli; Rubens, by Jacques +Jordans and Diepenbeck; Guercino, by his own family, the Gennari; Carlo +Marratti was imitated by Giuseppe Chiari and Pietro da Pietri; and +Rembrandt, by Bramer, Eckhout, and Flink. All these, to whom may be +added a much longer list of painters, whose works among the ignorant pass +for those of their masters, are justly to be censured for barrenness and +servility. + +To oppose to this list a few that have adopted a more liberal style of +imitation: Pelegrino Tibaldi, Rosso, and Primaticio did not coldly +imitate, but caught something of the fire that animates the works of +Michael Angelo. The Carraches formed their style from Pelegrino Tibaldi, +Correggio, and the Venetian School. Domenichino, Guido, Lanfranco, +Albano, Guercino, Cavidone, Schidone, Tiarini, though it is sufficiently +apparent that they came from the School of the Carraches, have yet the +appearance of men who extended their views beyond the model that lay +before them, and have shown that they had opinions of their own, and +thought for themselves, after they had made themselves masters of the +general principles of their schools. + +Le Seure's first manner resembles very much that of his master Vovet: but +as he soon excelled him, so he differed from him in every part of the +art. Carlo Marratti succeeded better than those I have first named, and +I think owes his superiority to the extension of his views; besides his +master Andrea Sacchi, he imitated Raffaelle, Guido, and the Carraches. It +is true, there is nothing very captivating in Carlo Marratti; but this +proceeded from wants which cannot be completely supplied; that is, want +of strength of parts. In this, certainly men are not equal, and a man +can bring home wares only in proportion to the capital with which he goes +to market. Carlo, by diligence, made the most of what he had; but there +was undoubtedly a heaviness about him, which extended itself, uniformly +to his invention, expression, his drawing, colouring, and the general +effect of his pictures. The truth is, he never equalled any of his +patterns in any one thing, and he added little of his own. + +But we must not rest contented, even in this general study of the +moderns; we must trace back the art to its fountain head, to that source +from whence they drew their principal excellences, the monuments of pure +antiquity. + +All the inventions and thoughts of the ancients, whether conveyed to us +in statues, bas-reliefs, intaglios, cameos, or coins, are to be sought +after and carefully studied: The genius that hovers over these venerable +relics may be called the father of modern art. + +From the remains of the works of the ancients the modern arts were +revived, and it is by their means that they must be restored a second +time. However it may mortify our vanity, we must be forced to allow them +our masters; and we may venture to prophecy, that when they shall cease +to be studied, arts will no longer flourish, and we shall again relapse +into barbarism. + +The fire of the artist's own genius operating upon these materials which +have been thus diligently collected, will enable him to make new +combinations, perhaps, superior to what had ever before been in the +possession of the art. As in the mixture of the variety of metals, which +are said to have been melted and run together at the burning of Corinth, +a new and till then unknown metal was produced equal in value to any of +those that had contributed to its composition. And though a curious +refiner may come with his crucibles, analyse and separate its various +component parts, yet Corinthian brass would still hold its rank amongst +the most beautiful and valuable of metals. + +We have hitherto considered the advantages of imitation as it tends to +form the taste, and as a practice by which a spark of that genius may be +caught which illumines these noble works, that ought always to be present +to our thoughts. + +We come now to speak of another kind of imitation; the borrowing a +particular thought, an action, attitude, or figure, and transplanting it +into your own work: this will either come under the charge of plagiarism, +or be warrantable, and deserve commendation, according to the address +with which it is performed. There is some difference likewise whether it +is upon the ancients or the moderns that these depredations are made. It +is generally allowed that no man need be ashamed of copying the ancients: +their works are considered as a magazine of common property, always open +to the public, whence every man has a right to what materials he pleases; +and if he has the art of using them, they are supposed to become to all +intents and purposes his own property. + +The collection which Raffaelle made of the thoughts of the ancients with +so much trouble, is a proof of his opinion on this subject. Such +collections may be made with much more ease, by means of an art scarce +known in his time; I mean that of engraving, by which, at an easy rate, +every man may now avail himself of the inventions of antiquity. + +It must be acknowledged that the works of the moderns are more the +property of their authors; he who borrows an idea from an artist, or +perhaps from a modern, not his contemporary, and so accommodates it to +his own work that it makes a part of it, with no seam or joining +appearing, can hardly be charged with plagiarism; poets practise this +kind of borrowing without reserve. But an artist should not be contented +with this only; he should enter into a competition with his original, and +endeavour to improve what he is appropriating to his own work. Such +imitation is so far from having anything in it of the servility of +plagiarism, that it is a perpetual exercise of the mind, a continual +invention. + +Borrowing or stealing with such art and caution will have a right to the +same lenity as was used by the Lacedemonians; who did not punish theft, +but the want of artifice to conceal it. + +In order to encourage you to imitation, to the utmost extent, let me add, +that very finished artists in the inferior branches of the art will +contribute to furnish the mind and give hints of which a skilful painter, +who is sensible of what he wants, and is in no danger of being infected +by the contact of vicious models, will know how to avail himself. He +will pick up from dunghills what by a nice chemistry, passing through his +own mind, shall be converted into pure gold; and, under the rudeness of +Gothic essays, he will find original, rational, and even sublime +inventions. + +In the luxuriant style of Paul Veronese, in the capricious compositions +of Tintoret, he will find something that will assist his invention, and +give points, from which his own imagination shall rise and take flight, +when the subject which he treats will, with propriety, admit of splendid +effects. + +In every school, whether Venetian, French, or Dutch, he will find either +ingenious compositions, extraordinary effects, some peculiar expressions, +or some mechanical excellence, well worthy his attention and, in some +measure, of his imitation; even in the lower class of the French +painters, great beauties are often found united with great defects. + +Though Coypel wanted a simplicity of taste, and mistook a presumptuous +and assuming air for what is grand and majestic; yet he frequently has +good sense and judgment in his manner of telling his stories, great skill +in his compositions, and is not without a considerable power of +expressing the passions, The modern affectation of grace in his works, as +well as in those of Bouche and Watteau, may be said to be separated by a +very thin partition from the more simple and pure grace of Correggio and +Parmigiano. + +Amongst the Dutch painters, the correct, firm, and determined pencil, +which was employed by Bamboccio and Jan Miel on vulgar and mean subjects, +might without any change be employed on the highest, to which, indeed, it +seems more properly to belong. The greatest style, if that style is +confined to small figures such as Poussin generally painted, would +receive an additional grace by the elegance and precision of pencil so +admirable in the works of Teniers. + +Though this school more particularly excelled in the mechanism of +painting, yet there are many who have shown great abilities in expressing +what must be ranked above mechanical excellences. + +In the works of Frank Hals the portrait painter may observe the +composition of a face, the features well put together as the painters +express it, from whence proceeds that strong marked character of +individual nature which is so remarkable in his portraits, and is not to +be found in an equal degree in any other painter. If he had joined to +this most difficult part of the art a patience in finishing what he had +so correctly planned, he might justly have claimed the place which +Vandyke, all things considered, so justly holds as the first of portrait +painters. + +Others of the same school have shown great power in expressing the +character and passions of those vulgar people which are the subjects of +their study and attention. Amongst those, Jean Stein seems to be one of +the most diligent and accurate observers of what passed in those scenes +which he frequented, and which were to him an academy. I can easily +imagine that if this extraordinary man had had the good fortune to have +been born in Italy instead of Holland, had he lived in Rome instead of +Leyden, and had been blessed with Michael Angelo and Raffaelle for his +masters instead of Brower and Van Gowen, that the same sagacity and +penetration which distinguished so accurately the different characters +and expression in his vulgar figures, would, when exerted in the +selection and imitation of what was great and elevated in nature, have +been equally successful, and his name would have been now ranged with the +great pillars and supporters of our art. + +Men who, although thus bound down by the almost invincible powers of +early habits, have still exerted extraordinary abilities within their +narrow and confined circle, and have, from the natural vigour of their +mind, given such an interesting expression, such force and energy to +their works, though they cannot be recommended to be exactly imitated, +may yet invite an artist to endeavour to transfer, by a kind of parody, +those excellences to his own works. Whoever has acquired the power of +making this use of the Flemish, Venetian, and French schools is a real +genius, and has sources of knowledge open to him which were wanting to +the great artists who lived in the great age of painting. + +To find excellences however dispersed, to discover beauties however +concealed by the multitude of defects with which they are surrounded, can +be the work only of him who, having a mind always alive to his art, has +extended his views to all ages and to all schools, and has acquired from +that comprehensive mass which he has thus gathered to himself, a well +digested and perfect idea of his art, to which everything is referred. +Like a sovereign judge and arbiter of art, he is possessed of that +presiding power which separates and attracts every excellence from every +school, selects both from what is great and what is little, brings home +knowledge from the east and from the west, making the universe tributary +towards furnishing his mind and enriching his works with originality and +variety of inventions. + +Thus I have ventured to give my opinion of what appears to me the true +and only method by which an artist makes himself master of his +profession, which I hold ought to be one continued course of imitation, +that is not to cease but with our lives. + +Those who, either from their own engagements and hurry of business, or +from indolence, or from conceit and vanity, have neglected looking out of +themselves, as far as my experience and observation reaches, have from +that time not only ceased to advance and improve in their performance, +but have gone backward. They may be compared to men who have lived upon +their principal till they are reduced to beggary and left without +resources. + +I can recommend nothing better, therefore, than that you endeavour to +infuse into your works what you learn from the contemplation of the works +of others. To recommend this has the appearance of needless and +superfluous advice, but it has fallen within my own knowledge that +artists, though they are not wanting in a sincere love for their art, +though they have great pleasure in seeing good pictures, and are well +skilled to distinguish what is excellent or defective in them, yet go on +in their own manner, without any endeavour to give a little of those +beauties which they admire in others, to their own works. It is +difficult to conceive how the present Italian painters, who live in the +midst of the treasures of art, should be contented with their own style. +They proceed in their common-place inventions, and never think it worth +while to visit the works of those great artists with which they are +surrounded. + +I remember several years ago to have conversed at Rome with an artist of +great fame throughout Europe; he was not without a considerable degree of +abilities, but those abilities were by no means equal to his own opinion +of them. From the reputation he had acquired he too fondly concluded +that he stood in the same rank, when compared to his predecessors, as he +held with regard to his miserable contemporary rivals. + +In conversation about some particulars of the works of Raffaelle, he +seemed to have, or to affect to have, a very obscure memory of them. He +told me that he had not set his foot in the Vatican for fifteen years +together; that indeed he had been in treaty to copy a capital picture of +Raffaelle, but that the business had gone off; however, if the agreement +had held, his copy would have greatly exceeded the original. The merit +of this artist, however great we may suppose it, I am sure would have +been far greater, and his presumption would have been far less if he had +visited the Vatican, as in reason he ought to have done, once at least +every month of his life. + +I address myself, gentlemen, to you who have made some progress in the +art, and are to be for the future under the guidance of your own judgment +and discretion. + +I consider you as arrived to that period when you have a right to think +for yourselves, and to presume that every man is fallible; to study the +masters with a suspicion that great men are not always exempt from great +faults; to criticise, compare, and rank their works in your own +estimation, as they approach to or recede from that standard of +perfection which you have formed in your own mind, but which those +masters themselves, it must be remembered, have taught you to make, and +which you will cease to make with correctness when you cease to study +them. It is their excellences which have taught you their defects. + +I would wish you to forget where you are, and who it is that speaks to +you. I only direct you to higher models and better advisers. We can +teach you here but very little; you are henceforth to be your own +teachers. Do this justice, however, to the English Academy, to bear in +mind, that in this place you contracted no narrow habits, no false ideas, +nothing that could lead you to the imitation of any living master, who +may be the fashionable darling of the day. As you have not been taught +to flatter us, do not learn to flatter yourselves. We have endeavoured +to lead you to the admiration of nothing but what is truly admirable. If +you choose inferior patterns, or if you make your own _former_ works, +your patterns for your _latter_, it is your own fault. + +The purpose of this discourse, and, indeed, of most of my others, is to +caution you against that false opinion, but too prevalent amongst +artists, of the imaginary power of native genius, and its sufficiency in +great works. This opinion, according to the temper of mind it meets +with, almost always produces, either a vain confidence, or a sluggish +despair, both equally fatal to all proficiency. + +Study, therefore, the great works of the great masters for ever. Study +as nearly as you can, in the order, in the manner, on the principles, on +which they studied. Study nature attentively, but always with those +masters in your company; consider them as models which you are to +imitate, and at the same time as rivals which you are to combat. + + + +A DISCOURSE +Delivered to the Students of the Royal Academy on the Distribution of the +Prizes, December 10th, 1776, by the President. + + +Gentlemen,--It has been my uniform endeavour, since I first addressed you +from this place, to impress you strongly with one ruling idea. I wished +you to be persuaded, that success in your art depends almost entirely on +your own industry; but the industry which I principally recommended, is +not the industry of the _hands_, but of the _mind_. + +As our art is not a divine gift, so neither is it a mechanical trade. Its +foundations are laid in solid science. And practice, though essential to +perfection, can never attain that to which it aims, unless it works under +the direction of principle. + +Some writers upon art carry this point too far, and suppose that such a +body of universal and profound learning is requisite, that the very +enumeration of its kind is enough to frighten a beginner. Vitruvius, +after going through the many accomplishments of nature, and the many +acquirements of learning, necessary to an architect, proceeds with great +gravity to assert that he ought to be well skilled in the civil law, that +he may not be cheated in the title of the ground he builds on. + +But without such exaggeration, we may go so far as to assert, that a +painter stands in need of more knowledge than is to be picked off his +pallet, or collected by looking on his model, whether it be in life or in +picture. He can never be a great artist who is grossly illiterate. + +Every man whose business is description ought to be tolerably conversant +with the poets in some language or other, that he may imbibe a poetical +spirit and enlarge his stock of ideas. He ought to acquire a habit of +comparing and divesting his notions. He ought not to be wholly +unacquainted with that part of philosophy which gives him an insight into +human nature, and relates to the manners, characters, passions, and +affections. He ought to know something concerning the mind, as well as a +great deal concerning the body of man. + +For this purpose, it is not necessary that he should go into such a +compass of reading, as must, by distracting his attention, disqualify him +for the practical part of his profession, and make him sink the performer +in the critic. Reading, if it can be made the favourite recreation of +his leisure hours, will improve and enlarge his mind without retarding +his actual industry. + +What such partial and desultory reading cannot afford, may be supplied by +the conversation of learned and ingenious men, which is the best of all +substitutes for those who have not the means or opportunities of deep +study. There are many such men in this age; and they will be pleased +with communicating their ideas to artists, when they see them curious and +docile, if they are treated with that respect and deference which is so +justly their due. Into such society, young artists, if they make it the +point of their ambition, will by degrees be admitted. There, without +formal teaching, they will insensibly come to feel and reason like those +they live with, and find a rational and systematic taste imperceptibly +formed in their minds, which they will know how to reduce to a standard, +by applying general truth to their own purposes, better perhaps than +those to whom they owed the original sentiment. + +Of these studies and this conversation, the desired and legitimate +offspring is a power of distinguishing right from wrong, which power +applied to works of art is denominated taste. Let me then, without +further introduction, enter upon an examination whether taste be so far +beyond our reach as to be unattainable by care, or be so very vague and +capricious that no care ought to be employed about it. + +It has been the fate of arts to be enveloped in mysterious and +incomprehensible language, as if it was thought necessary that even the +terms should correspond to the idea entertained of the instability and +uncertainty of the rules which they expressed. + +To speak of genius and taste as any way connected with reason or common +sense, would be, in the opinion of some towering talkers, to speak like a +man who possessed neither, who had never felt that enthusiasm, or, to use +their own inflated language, was never warmed by that Promethean fire, +which animates the canvas and vivifies the marble. + +If, in order to be intelligible, I appear to degrade art by bringing her +down from her visionary situation in the clouds, it is only to give her a +more solid mansion upon the earth. It is necessary that at some time or +other we should see things as they really are, and not impose on +ourselves by that false magnitude with which objects appear when viewed +indistinctly as through a mist. + +We will allow a poet to express his meaning, when his meaning is not well +known to himself, with a certain degree of obscurity, as it is one source +of the sublime. But when, in plain prose, we gravely talk of courting +the muse in shady bowers, waiting the call and inspiration of genius, +finding out where he inhabits, and where he is to be invoked with the +greatest success; of attending to times and seasons when the imagination +shoots with the greatest vigour, whether at the summer solstice or the +equinox, sagaciously observing how much the wild freedom and liberty of +imagination is cramped by attention to established rules, and how this +same imagination begins to grow dim in advanced age, smothered and +deadened by too much judgment. When we talk such language, or entertain +such sentiments as these, we generally rest contented with mere words, or +at best entertain notions not only groundless, but pernicious. + +If all this means what it is very possible was originally intended only +to be meant, that in order to cultivate an art, a man secludes himself +from the commerce of the world, and retires into the country at +particular seasons; or that at one time of the year his body is in better +health, and consequently his mind fitter for the business of hard +thinking than at another time; or that the mind may be fatigued and grow +confused by long and unremitted application; this I can understand. I +can likewise believe that a man eminent when young for possessing +poetical imagination, may, from having taken another road, so neglect its +cultivation as to show less of its powers in his latter life. But I am +persuaded that scarce a poet is to be found, from Homer down to Dryden, +who preserved a sound mind in a sound body, and continued practising his +profession to the very last, whose later works are not as replete with +the fire of imagination as those which were produced in his more youthful +days. + +To understand literally these metaphors or ideas expressed in poetical +language, seems to be equally absurd as to conclude that because painters +sometimes represent poets writing from the dictates of a little winged +boy or genius, that this same genius did really inform him in a whisper +what he was to write, and that he is himself but a mere machine, +unconscious of the operations of his own mind. + +Opinions generally received and floating in the world, whether true or +false, we naturally adopt and make our own; they may be considered as a +kind of inheritance to which we succeed and are tenants for life, and +which we leave to our posterity very near in the condition in which we +received it; not much being in any one man's power either to impair or +improve it. + +The greatest part of these opinions, like current coin in its +circulation, we are obliged to take without weighing or examining; but by +this inevitable inattention, many adulterated pieces are received, which, +when we seriously estimate our wealth, we must throw away. So the +collector of popular opinions, when he embodies his knowledge, and forms +a system, must separate those which are true from those which are only +plausible. But it becomes more peculiarly a duty to the professors of +art not to let any opinions relating to that art pass unexamined. The +caution and circumspection required in such examination we shall +presently have an opportunity of explaining. + +Genius and taste, in their common acceptation, appear to be very nearly +related; the difference lies only in this, that genius has superadded to +it a habit or power of execution. Or we may say, that taste, when this +power is added, changes its name, and is called genius. They both, in +the popular opinion, pretend to an entire exemption from the restraint of +rules. It is supposed that their powers are intuitive; that under the +name of genius great works are produced, and under the name of taste an +exact judgment is given, without our knowing why, and without being under +the least obligation to reason, precept, or experience. + +One can scarce state these opinions without exposing their absurdity, yet +they are constantly in the mouths of men, and particularly of artists. +They who have thought seriously on this subject, do not carry the point +so far; yet I am persuaded, that even among those few who may be called +thinkers, the prevalent opinion gives less than it ought to the powers of +reason; and considers the principles of taste, which give all their +authority to the rules of art, as more fluctuating, and as having less +solid foundations than we shall find, upon examination, they really have. + +The common saying, that tastes are not to be disputed, owes its +influence, and its general reception, to the same error which leads us to +imagine it of too high original to submit to the authority of an earthly +tribunal. It will likewise correspond with the notions of those who +consider it as a mere phantom of the imagination, so devoid of substance +as to elude all criticism. + +We often appear to differ in sentiments from each other, merely from the +inaccuracy of terms, as we are not obliged to speak always with critical +exactness. Something of this too may arise from want of words in the +language to express the more nice discriminations which a deep +investigation discovers. A great deal, however, of this difference +vanishes when each opinion is tolerably explained and understood by +constancy and precision in the use of terms. + +We apply the term taste to that act of the mind by which we like or +dislike, whatever be the subject. Our judgment upon an airy nothing, a +fancy which has no foundation, is called by the same name which we give +to our determination concerning those truths which refer to the most +general and most unalterable principles of human nature, to works which +are only to be produced by the greatest efforts of the human +understanding. However inconvenient this may be, we are obliged to take +words as we find them; all we can do is to distinguish the things to +which they are applied. + +We may let pass those things which are at once subjects of taste and +sense, and which having as much certainty as the senses themselves, give +no occasion to inquiry or dispute. The natural appetite or taste of the +human mind is for truth; whether that truth results from the real +agreement or equality of original ideas among themselves; from the +agreement of the representation of any object with the thing represented; +or from the correspondence of the several parts of any arrangement with +each other. It is the very same taste which relishes a demonstration in +geometry, that is pleased with the resemblance of a picture to an +original, and touched with the harmony of music. + +All these have unalterable and fixed foundations in nature, and are +therefore equally investigated by reason, and known by study; some with +more, some with less clearness, but all exactly in the same way. A +picture that is unlike, is false. Disproportionate ordinance of parts is +not right because it cannot be true until it ceases to be a contradiction +to assert that the parts have no relation to the whole. Colouring is +true where it is naturally adapted to the eye, from brightness, from +softness, from harmony, from resemblance; because these agree with their +object, nature, and therefore are true: as true as mathematical +demonstration; but known to be true only to those who study these things. + +But besides real, there is also apparent truth, or opinion, or prejudice. +With regard to real truth, when it is known, the taste which conforms to +it is, and must be, uniform. With regard to the second sort of truth, +which may be called truth upon sufferance, or truth by courtesy, it is +not fixed, but variable. However, whilst these opinions and prejudices +on which it is founded continue, they operate as truth; and the art, +whose office it is to please the mind, as well as instruct it, must +direct itself according to opinion, or it will not attain its end. + +In proportion as these prejudices are known to be generally diffused, or +long received, the taste which conforms to them approaches nearer to +certainty, and to a sort of resemblance to real science, even where +opinions are found to be no better than prejudices. And since they +deserve, on account of their duration and extent, to be considered as +really true, they become capable of no small decree of stability and +determination by their permanent and uniform nature. + +As these prejudices become more narrow, more local, more transitory, this +secondary taste becomes more and more fantastical; recedes from real +science; is less to be approved by reason, and less followed in practice; +though in no case perhaps to be wholly neglected, where it does not +stand, as it sometimes does, in direct defiance of the most respectable +opinions received amongst mankind. + +Having laid down these positions, I shall proceed with less method, +because less will serve, to explain and apply them. + +We will take it for granted that reason is something invariable and fixed +in the nature of things; and without endeavouring to go back to an +account of first principles, which for ever will elude our search, we +will conclude that whatever goes under the name of taste, which we can +fairly bring under the dominion of reason, must be considered as equally +exempt from change. If therefore, in the course of this inquiry, we can +show that there are rules for the conduct of the artist which are fixed +and invariable, it implies, of course, that the art of the connoisseur, +or, in other words, taste, has likewise invariable principles. + +Of the judgment which we make on the works of art, and the preference +that we give to one class of art over another, if a reason be demanded, +the question is perhaps evaded by answering, "I judge from my taste"; but +it does not follow that a better answer cannot be given, though for +common gazers this may be sufficient. Every man is not obliged to +investigate the causes of his approbation or dislike. + +The arts would lie open for ever to caprice and casualty, if those who +are to judge of their excellences had no settled principles by which they +are to regulate their decisions, and the merit or defect of performances +were to be determined by unguided fancy. And indeed we may venture to +assert that whatever speculative knowledge is necessary to the artist, is +equally and indispensably necessary to the connoisseur. + +The first idea that occurs in the consideration of what is fixed in art, +or in taste, is that presiding principle of which I have so frequently +spoken in former discourses, the general idea of nature. The beginning, +the middle, and the end of everything that is valuable in taste, is +comprised in the knowledge of what is truly nature; for whatever ideas +are not conformable to those of nature, or universal opinion, must be +considered as more or less capricious. + +The idea of nature comprehending not only the forms which nature +produces, but also the nature and internal fabric and organisation, as I +may call it, of the human mind and imagination: general ideas, beauty, or +nature, are but different ways of expressing the same thing, whether we +apply these terms to statues, poetry, or picture. Deformity is not +nature, but an accidental deviation from her accustomed practice. This +general idea therefore ought to be called nature, and nothing else, +correctly speaking, has a right to that name. But we are so far from +speaking, in common conversation, with any such accuracy, that, on the +contrary, when we criticise Rembrandt and other Dutch painters, who +introduced into their historical pictures exact representations of +individual objects with all their imperfections, we say, though it is not +in a good taste, yet it is nature. + +This misapplication of terms must be very often perplexing to the young +student. Is not, he may say, art an imitation of nature? Must he not, +therefore, who imitates her with the greatest fidelity be the best +artist? By this mode of reasoning Rembrandt has a higher place than +Raffaelle. But a very little reflection will serve to show us that these +particularities cannot be nature: for how can that be the nature of man, +in which no two individuals are the same? + +It plainly appears that as a work is conducted under the influence of +general ideas or partial it is principally to be considered as the effect +of a good or a bad taste. + +As beauty therefore does not consist in taking what lies immediately +before you, so neither, in our pursuit of taste, are those opinions which +we first received and adopted the best choice, or the most natural to the +mind and imagination. + +In the infancy of our knowledge we seize with greediness the good that is +within our reach; it is by after-consideration, and in consequence of +discipline, that we refuse the present for a greater good at a distance. +The nobility or elevation of all arts, like the excellence of virtue +itself, consists in adopting this enlarged and comprehensive idea, and +all criticism built upon the more confined view of what is natural, may +properly be called shallow criticism, rather than false; its defect is +that the truth is not sufficiently extensive. + +It has sometimes happened that some of the greatest men in our art have +been betrayed into errors by this confined mode of reasoning. Poussin, +who, upon the whole, may be produced as an instance of attention to the +most enlarged and extensive ideas of nature, from not having settled +principles on this point, has in one instance at least, I think, deserted +truth for prejudice. He is said to have vindicated the conduct of Julio +Romano, for his inattention to the masses of light and shade, or grouping +the figures, in the battle of Constantine, as if designedly neglected, +the better to correspond with the hurry and confusion of a battle. +Poussin's own conduct in his representations of Bacchanalian triumphs and +sacrifices, makes us more easily give credit to this report, since in +such subjects, as well indeed as in many others, it was too much his own +practice. The best apology we can make for this conduct is what proceeds +from the association of our ideas, the prejudice we have in favour of +antiquity. Poussin's works, as I have formerly observed, have very much +the air of the ancient manner of painting, in which there are not the +least traces to make us think that what we call the keeping, the +composition of light and shade, or distribution of the work into masses, +claimed any part of their attention. But surely whatever apology we may +find out for this neglect, it ought to be ranked among the defects of +Poussin, as well as of the antique paintings; and the moderns have a +right to that praise which is their due, for having given so pleasing an +addition to the splendour of the art. + +Perhaps no apology ought to be received for offences committed against +the vehicle (whether it be the organ of seeing or of hearing) by which +our pleasures are conveyed to the mind. We must take the same care that +the eye be not perplexed and distracted by a confusion of equal parts, or +equal lights, as of offending it by an unharmonious mixture of colours. +We may venture to be more confident of the truth of this observation, +since we find that Shakespeare, on a parallel occasion, has made Hamlet +recommend to the players a precept of the same kind, never to offend the +ear by harsh sounds:--"In the very torrent, tempest, and whirlwind of +your passions," says he, "you must beget a temperance that may give it +smoothness." And yet, at the same time, he very justly observes, "The +end of playing, both at the first and now, is to hold, as it were, the +mirror up to nature." No one can deny but that violent passions will +naturally emit harsh and disagreeable tones; yet this great poet and +critic thought that this imitation of nature would cost too much, if +purchased at the expense of disagreeable sensations, or, as he expresses +it, of "splitting the ear." The poet and actor, as well as the painter +of genius who is well acquainted with all the variety and sources of +pleasure in the mind and imagination, has little regard or attention to +common nature, or creeping after common sense. By overleaping those +narrow bounds, he more effectually seizes the whole mind, and more +powerfully accomplishes his purpose. This success is ignorantly imagined +to proceed from inattention to all rules, and in defiance of reason and +judgment; whereas it is in truth acting according to the best rules, and +the justest reason. + +He who thinks nature, in the narrow sense of the word, is alone to be +followed, will produce but a scanty entertainment for the imagination: +everything is to be done with which it is natural for the mind to be +pleased, whether it proceeds from simplicity or variety, uniformity or +irregularity: whether the scenes are familiar or exotic; rude and wild, +or enriched and cultivated; for it is natural for the mind to be pleased +with all these in their turn. In short, whatever pleases has in it what +is analogous to the mind, and is therefore, in the highest and best sense +of the word, natural. + +It is this sense of nature or truth which ought more particularly to be +cultivated by the professors of art; and it may be observed that many +wise and learned men, who have accustomed their minds to admit nothing +for truth but what can be proved by mathematical demonstration, have +seldom any relish for those arts which address themselves to the fancy, +the rectitude and truth of which is known by another kind of proof: and +we may add that the acquisition of this knowledge requires as much +circumspection and sagacity, as to attain those truths which are more +open to demonstration. Reason must ultimately determine our choice on +every occasion; but this reason may still be exerted ineffectually by +applying to taste principles which, though right as far as they go, yet +do not reach the object. No man, for instance, can deny that it seems at +first view very reasonable, that a statue which is to carry down to +posterity the resemblance of an individual should be dressed in the +fashion of the times, in the dress which he himself wore: this would +certainly be true if the dress were part of the man. But after a time +the dress is only an amusement for an antiquarian; and if it obstructs +the general design of the piece, it is to be disregarded by the artist. +Common sense must here give way to a higher sense. + +In the naked form, and in the disposition of the drapery, the difference +between one artist and another is principally seen. But if he is +compelled to the modern dress, the naked form is entirely hid, and the +drapery is already disposed by the skill of the tailor. Were a Phidias +to obey such absurd commands, he would please no more than an ordinary +sculptor; since, in the inferior parts of every art, the learned and the +ignorant are nearly upon a level. + +These were probably among the reasons that induced the sculptor of that +wonderful figure of Laocoon to exhibit him naked, notwithstanding he was +surprised in the act of sacrificing to Apollo, and consequently ought to +be shown in his sacerdotal habits, if those greater reasons had not +preponderated. Art is not yet in so high estimation with us as to obtain +so great a sacrifice as the ancients made, especially the Grecians, who +suffered themselves to be represented naked, whether they were generals, +lawgivers, or kings. + +Under this head of balancing and choosing the greater reason, or of two +evils taking the least, we may consider the conduct of Rubens in the +Luxembourg gallery, of mixing allegorical figures with representations of +real personages, which, though acknowledged to be a fault, yet, if the +artist considered himself as engaged to furnish this gallery with a rich +and splendid ornament, this could not be done, at least in an equal +degree, without peopling the air and water with these allegorical +figures: he therefore accomplished that he purposes. In this case all +lesser considerations, which tend to obstruct the great end of the work, +must yield and give way. + +If it is objected that Rubens judged ill at first in thinking it +necessary to make his work so very ornamental, this brings the question +upon new ground. It was his peculiar style; he could paint in no other; +and he was selected for that work, probably, because it was his style. +Nobody will dispute but some of the best of the Roman or Bolognian +schools would have produced a more learned and more noble work. + +This leads us to another important province of taste, of weighing the +value of the different classes of the art, and of estimating them +accordingly. + +All arts have means within them of applying themselves with success both +to the intellectual and sensitive part of our natures. It can be no +dispute, supposing both these means put in practice with equal abilities, +to which we ought to give the preference: to him who represents the +heroic arts and more dignified passions of man, or to him who, by the +help of meretricious ornaments, however elegant and graceful, captivates +the sensuality, as it may be called, of our taste. Thus the Roman and +Bolognian schools are reasonably preferred to the Venetian, Flemish, or +Dutch schools, as they address themselves to our best and noblest +faculties. + +Well-turned periods in eloquence, or harmony of numbers in poetry, which +are in those arts what colouring is in painting, however highly we may +esteem them, can never be considered as of equal importance with the art +of unfolding truths that are useful to mankind, and which make us better +or wiser. Nor can those works which remind us of the poverty and +meanness of our nature, be considered as of equal rank with what excites +ideas of grandeur, or raises and dignifies humanity; or, in the words of +a late poet, which makes the beholder learn to venerate himself as man. + +It is reason and good sense therefore which ranks and estimates every +art, and every part of that art, according to its importance, from the +painter of animated down to inanimated nature. We will not allow a man, +who shall prefer the inferior style, to say it is his taste; taste here +has nothing, or at least ought to have nothing to do with the question. +He wants not taste, but sense, and soundness of judgment. + +Indeed, perfection in an inferior style may be reasonably preferred to +mediocrity in the highest walks of art. A landscape of Claude Lorraine +may be preferred to a history of Luca Jordano; but hence appears the +necessity of the connoisseur's knowing in what consists the excellence of +each class, in order to judge how near it approaches to perfection. + +Even in works of the same kind, as in history painting, which is composed +of various parts, excellence of an inferior species, carried to a very +high degree, will make a work very valuable, and in some measure +compensate for the absence of the higher kind of merits. It is the duty +of the connoisseur to know and esteem, as much as it may deserve, every +part of painting; he will not then think even Bassano unworthy of his +notice, who, though totally devoid of expression, sense, grace, or +elegance, may be esteemed on account of his admirable taste of colours, +which, in his best works, are little inferior to those of Titian. + +Since I have mentioned Bassano, we must do him likewise the justice to +acknowledge that, though he did not aspire to the dignity of expressing +the characters and passions of men, yet, with respect to the facility and +truth in his manner of touching animals of all kinds, and giving them +what painters call their character, few have ever excelled him. + +To Bassano we may add Paul Veronese and Tintoret, for their entire +inattention to what is justly esteemed the most essential part of our +art, the expression of the passions. Notwithstanding these glaring +deficiencies, we justly esteem their works; but it must be remembered +that they do not please from those defects, but from their great +excellences of another kind, and in spite of such transgressions. These +excellences, too, as far as they go, are founded in the truth of general +nature. They tell the truth, though not the whole truth. + +By these considerations, which can never be too frequently impressed, may +be obviated two errors which I observed to have been, formerly at least, +the most prevalent, and to be most injurious to artists: that of thinking +taste and genius to have nothing to do with reason, and that of taking +particular living objects for nature. + +I shall now say something on that part of taste which, as I have hinted +to you before, does not belong so much to the external form of things, +but is addressed to the mind, and depends on its original frame, or, to +use the expression, the organisation of the soul; I mean the imagination +and the passions. The principles of these are as invariable as the +former, and are to be known and reasoned upon in the same manner, by an +appeal to common sense deciding upon the common feelings of mankind. This +sense, and these feelings, appear to me of equal authority, and equally +conclusive. + +Now this appeal implies a general uniformity and agreement in the minds +of men. It would be else an idle and vain endeavour to establish rules +of art; it would be pursuing a phantom to attempt to move affections with +which we were entirely unacquainted. We have no reason to suspect there +is a greater difference between our minds than between our forms, of +which, though there are no two alike, yet there is a general similitude +that goes through the whole race of mankind; and those who have +cultivated their taste can distinguish what is beautiful or deformed, or, +in other words, what agrees with or what deviates from the general idea +of nature, in one case as well as in the other. + +The internal fabric of our mind, as well as the external form of our +bodies, being nearly uniform, it seems then to follow, of course, that as +the imagination is incapable of producing anything originally of itself, +and can only vary and combine these ideas with which it is furnished by +means of the senses, there will be, of course, an agreement in the +imaginations as in the senses of men. There being this agreement, it +follows that in all cases, in our lightest amusements as well as in our +most serious actions and engagements of life, we must regulate our +affections of every kind by that of others. The well-disciplined mind +acknowledges this authority, and submits its own opinion to the public +voice. + +It is from knowing what are the general feelings and passions of mankind +that we acquire a true idea of what imagination is; though it appears as +if we had nothing to do but to consult our own particular sensations, and +these were sufficient to ensure us from all error and mistake. + +A knowledge of the disposition and character of the human mind can be +acquired only by experience: a great deal will be learned, I admit, by a +habit of examining what passes in our bosoms, what are our own motives of +action, and of what kind of sentiments we are conscious on any occasion. +We may suppose a uniformity, and conclude that the same effect will be +produced by the same cause in the minds of others. This examination will +contribute to suggest to us matters of inquiry; but we can never be sure +that our own sensations are true and right till they are confirmed by +more extensive observation. + +One man opposing another determines nothing but a general union of minds, +like a general combination of the forces of all mankind, makes a strength +that is irresistible. In fact, as he who does not know himself does not +know others, so it may be said with equal truth, that he who does not +know others knows himself but very imperfectly. + +A man who thinks he is guarding himself against Prejudices by resisting +the authority of others, leaves open every avenue to singularity, vanity, +self-conceit, obstinacy, and many other vices, all tending to warp the +judgment and prevent the natural operation of his faculties. + +This submission to others is a deference which we owe, and indeed are +forced involuntarily to pay. + +In fact we are never satisfied with our opinions till they are ratified +and confirmed by the suffrages of the rest of mankind. We dispute and +wrangle for ever; we endeavour to get men to come to us when we do not go +to them. + +He therefore who is acquainted with the works which have pleased +different ages and different countries, and has formed his opinion on +them, has more materials and more means of knowing what is analogous to +the mind of man than he who is conversant only with the works of his own +age or country. What has pleased, and continues to please, is likely to +please again: hence are derived the rules of art, and on this immovable +foundation they must ever stand. + +This search and study of the history of the mind ought not to be confined +to one art only. It is by the analogy that one art bears to another that +many things are ascertained which either were but faintly seen, or, +perhaps, would not have been discovered at all if the inventor had not +received the first hints from the practices of a sister art on a similar +occasion. The frequent allusions which every man who treats of any art +is obliged to draw from others in order to illustrate and confirm his +principles, sufficiently show their near connection and inseparable +relation. + +All arts having the same general end, which is to please, and addressing +themselves to the same faculties through the medium of the senses, it +follows that their rules and principles must have as great affinity as +the different materials and the different organs or vehicles by which +they pass to the mind will permit them to retain. + +We may therefore conclude that the real substance, as it may be called, +of what goes under the name of taste, is fixed and established in the +nature of things; that there are certain and regular causes by which the +imagination and passions of men are affected; and that the knowledge of +these causes is acquired by a laborious and diligent investigation of +nature, and by the same slow progress as wisdom or knowledge of every +kind, however instantaneous its operations may appear when thus acquired. + +It has been often observed that the good and virtuous man alone can +acquire this true or just relish, even of works of art. This opinion +will not appear entirely without foundation when we consider that the +same habit of mind which is acquired by our search after truth in the +more serious duties of life, is only transferred to the pursuit of +lighter amusements: the same disposition, the same desire to find +something steady, substantial, and durable, on which the mind can lean, +as it were, and rest with safety. The subject only is changed. We +pursue the same method in our search after the idea of beauty and +perfection in each; of virtue, by looking forwards beyond ourselves to +society, and to the whole; of arts, by extending our views in the same +manner to all ages and all times. + +Every art, like our own, has in its composition fluctuating as well as +fixed principles. It is an attentive inquiry into their difference that +will enable us to determine how far we are influenced by custom and +habit, and what is fixed in the nature of things. + +To distinguish how much has solid foundation, we may have recourse to the +same proof by which some hold wit ought to be tried--whether it preserves +itself when translated. That wit is false which can subsist only in one +language; and that picture which pleases only one age or one nation, owes +its reception to some local or accidental association of ideas. + +We may apply this to every custom and habit of life. Thus the general +principles of urbanity, politeness, or civility, have been ever the same +in all nations; but the mode in which they are dressed is continually +varying. The general idea of showing respect is by making yourself less: +but the manner, whether by bowing the body, kneeling, prostration, +pulling off the upper part of our dress, or taking away the lower, is a +matter of habit. It would be unjust to conclude that all ornaments, +because they were at first arbitrarily contrived, are therefore +undeserving of our attention; on the contrary, he who neglects the +cultivation of those ornaments, acts contrarily to nature and reason. As +life would be imperfect without its highest ornaments, the arts, so these +arts themselves would be imperfect without _their_ ornaments. + +Though we by no means ought to rank these with positive and substantial +beauties, yet it must be allowed that a knowledge of both is essentially +requisite towards forming a complete, whole, and perfect taste. It is in +reality from the ornaments that arts receive their peculiar character and +complexion; we may add that in them we find the characteristical mark of +a national taste, as by throwing up a feather in the air we know which +way the wind blows, better than by a more heavy matter. + +The striking distinction between the works of the Roman, Bolognian, and +Venetian schools, consists more in that general effect which is produced +by colours than in the more profound excellences of the art; at least it +is from thence that each is distinguished and known at first sight. As +it is the ornaments rather than the proportions of architecture which at +the first glance distinguish the different orders from each other; the +Doric is known by its triglyphs, the Ionic by its volutes, and the +Corinthian by its acanthus. + +What distinguishes oratory from a cold narration, is a more liberal +though chaste use of these ornaments which go under the name of +figurative and metaphorical expressions; and poetry distinguishes itself +from oratory by words and expressions still more ardent and glowing. What +separates and distinguishes poetry is more particularly the ornament of +_verse_; it is this which gives it its character, and is an essential, +without which it cannot exist. Custom has appropriated different metre +to different kinds of composition, in which the world is not perfectly +agreed. In England the dispute is not yet settled which is to be +preferred, rhyme or blank verse. But however we disagree about what +these metrical ornaments shall be, that some metre is essentially +necessary is universally acknowledged. + +In poetry or eloquence, to determine how far figurative or metaphorical +language may proceed, and when it begins to be affectation or beside the +truth, must be determined by taste, though this taste we must never +forget is regulated and formed by the presiding feelings of mankind, by +those works which have approved themselves to all times and all persons. + +Thus, though eloquence has undoubtedly an essential and intrinsic +excellence, and immovable principles common to all languages, founded in +the nature of our passions and affections, yet it has its ornaments and +modes of address which are merely arbitrary. What is approved in the +Eastern nations as grand and majestic, would be considered by the Greeks +and Romans as turgid and inflated; and they, in return, would be thought +by the Orientals to express themselves in a cold and insipid manner. + +We may add likewise to the credit of ornaments, that it is by their means +that art itself accomplishes its purpose. Fresnoy calls colouring, which +is one of the chief ornaments of painting, _lena sororis_, that which +procures lovers and admirers to the more valuable excellences of the art. + +It appears to be the same right turn of mind which enables a man to +acquire the _truth_, or the just idea of what is right in the ornaments, +as in the more stable principles of art. It has still the same centre of +perfection, though it is the centre of a smaller circle. + +To illustrate this by the fashion of dress, in which there is allowed to +be a good or, bad taste. The component parts of dress are continually +changing from great to little, from short to long, but the general form +still remains; it is still the same general dress which is comparatively +fixed, though on a very slender foundation, but it is on this which +fashion must rest. He who invents with the most success, or dresses in, +the best taste, would probably, from the same sagacity employed to +greater purposes, have discovered equal skill, or have formed the same +correct taste in the highest labours of art. + +I have mentioned taste in dress, which is certainly one of the lowest +subjects to which this word is applied; yet, as I have before observed, +there is a right even here, however narrow its foundation respecting the +fashion of any particular nation. But we have still more slender means +of determining, in regard to the different customs of different ages or +countries, to which to give the preference, since they seem to be all +equally removed from nature. + +If an European, when he has cut off his beard, and put false hair on his +head, or bound up his own natural hair in regular hard knots, as unlike +nature as he can possibly make it; and having rendered them immovable by +the help of the fat of hogs, has covered the whole with flour, laid on by +a machine with the utmost regularity; if, when thus attired he issues +forth, he meets a Cherokee Indian, who has bestowed as much time at his +toilet, and laid on with equal care and attention his yellow and red +ochre on particular parts of his forehead or cheeks, as he judges most +becoming; whoever despises the other for this attention to the fashion of +his country, whichever of these two first feels himself provoked to +laugh, is the barbarian. + +All these fashions are very innocent, neither worth disquisition, nor any +endeavour to alter them, as the change would, in all probability, be +equally distant from nature. The only circumstances against which +indignation may reasonably be moved, are where the operation is painful +or destructive of health, such as is practised at Otahaiti, and the +straight lacing of the English ladies; of the last of which, how +destructive it must be to health and long life, the professor of anatomy +took an opportunity of proving a few days since in this Academy. + +It is in dress as in things of greater consequence. Fashions originate +from those only who have the high and powerful advantages of rank, birth, +and fortune; as many of the ornaments of art, those at least for which no +reason can be given, are transmitted to us, are adopted, and acquire +their consequence from the company in which we have been used to see +them. As Greece and Rome are the fountains from whence have flowed all +kinds of excellence, to that veneration which they have a right to claim +for the pleasure and knowledge which they have afforded us, we +voluntarily add our approbation of every ornament and every custom that +belonged to them, even to the fashion of their dress. For it may be +observed that, not satisfied with them in their own place, we make no +difficulty of dressing statues of modern heroes or senators in the +fashion of the Roman armour or peaceful robe; we go so far as hardly to +bear a statue in any other drapery. + +The figures of the great men of those nations have come down to us in +sculpture. In sculpture remain almost all the excellent specimens of +ancient art. We have so far associated personal dignity to the persons +thus represented, and the truth of art to their manner of representation, +that it is not in our power any longer to separate them. This is not so +in painting; because, having no excellent ancient portraits, that +connection was never formed. Indeed, we could no more venture to paint a +general officer in a Roman military habit, than we could make a statue in +the present uniform. But since we have no ancient portraits, to show how +ready we are to adopt those kind of prejudices, we make the best +authority among the moderns serve the same purpose. The great variety of +excellent portraits with which Vandyke has enriched this nation, we are +not content to admire for their real excellence, but extend our +approbation even to the dress which happened to be the fashion of that +age. We all very well remember how common it was a few years ago for +portraits to be drawn in this Gothic dress, and this custom is not yet +entirely laid aside. By this means it must be acknowledged very ordinary +pictures acquired something of the air and effect of the works of +Vandyke, and appeared therefore at first sight to be better pictures than +they really were; they appeared so, however, to those only who had the +means of making this association, for when made, it was irresistible. But +this association is nature, and refers to that Secondary truth that comes +from conformity to general prejudice and opinion; it is therefore not +merely fantastical. Besides the prejudice which we have in favour of +ancient dresses, there may be likewise other reasons, amongst which we +may justly rank the simplicity of them, consisting of little more than +one single piece of drapery, without those whimsical capricious forms by +which all other dresses are embarrassed. + +Thus, though it is from the prejudice we have in favour of the ancients, +who have taught us architecture, that we have adopted likewise their +ornaments; and though we are satisfied that neither nature nor reason is +the foundation of those beauties which we imagine we see in that art, yet +if any one persuaded of this truth should, therefore, invent new orders +of equal beauty, which we will suppose to be possible, yet they would not +please, nor ought he to complain, since the old has that great advantage +of having custom and prejudice on its side. In this case we leave what +has every prejudice in its favour to take that which will have no +advantage over what we have left, but novelty, which soon destroys +itself, and, at any rate, is but a weak antagonist against custom. + +These ornaments, having the right of possession, ought not to be removed +but to make room for not only what has higher pretensions, but such +pretensions as will balance the evil and confusion which innovation +always brings with it. + +To this we may add, even the durability of the materials will often +contribute to give a superiority to one object over another. Ornaments +in buildings, with which taste is principally concerned, are composed of +materials which last longer than those of which dress is composed; it, +therefore, makes higher pretensions to our favour and prejudice. + +Some attention is surely required to what we can no more get rid of than +we can go out of ourselves. We are creatures of prejudice; we neither +can nor ought to eradicate it; we must only regulate, it by reason, which +regulation by reason is, indeed, little more than obliging the lesser, +the focal and temporary prejudices, to give way to those which are more +durable and lasting. + +He, therefore, who in his practice of portrait painting wishes to dignify +his subject, which we will suppose to be a lady, will not paint her in +the modern dress, the familiarity of which alone is sufficient to destroy +all dignity. He takes care that his work shall correspond to those ideas +and that imagination which he knows will regulate the judgment of others, +and, therefore, dresses his figure something with the general air of the +antique for the sake of dignity, and preserves something of the modern +for the sake of likeness. By this conduct his works correspond with +those prejudices which we have in favour of what we continually see; and +the relish of the antique simplicity corresponds with what we may call +the, more learned and scientific prejudice. + +There was a statue made not long since of Voltaire, which the sculptor, +not having that respect for the prejudices of mankind which he ought to +have, has made entirely naked, and as meagre and emaciated as the +original is said to be. The consequence is what might be expected; it +has remained in the sculptor's shop, though it was intended as a public +ornament and a public honour to Voltaire, as it was procured at the +expense of his cotemporary wits and admirers. + +Whoever would reform a nation, supposing a bad taste to prevail in it, +will not accomplish his purpose by going directly against the stream of +their prejudices. Men's minds must be prepared to receive what is new to +them. Reformation is a work of time. A national taste, however wrong it +may be, cannot be totally change at once; we must yield a little to the +prepossession which has taken hold on the mind, and we may then bring +people to adopt what would offend them if endeavoured to be introduced by +storm. When Battisto Franco was employed, in conjunction with Titian, +Paul Veronese, and Tintoret, to adorn the library of St. Mark, his work, +Vasari says, gave less satisfaction than any of the others: the dry +manner of the Roman school was very ill calculated to please eyes that +had been accustomed to the luxuriance, splendour, and richness of +Venetian colouring. Had the Romans been the judges of this work, +probably the determination would have been just contrary; for in the more +noble parts of the art Battisto Franco was, perhaps, not inferior to any +of his rivals. + +* * * * * + +Gentlemen,--It has been the main scope and principal end of this +discourse to demonstrate the reality of a standard in taste, as well as +in corporeal beauty; that a false or depraved taste is a thing as well +known, as easily discovered, as anything that is deformed, misshapen, or +wrong in our form or outward make; and that this knowledge is derived +from the uniformity of sentiments among mankind, from whence proceeds the +knowledge of what are the general habits of nature, the result of which +is an idea of perfect beauty. + +If what has been advanced be true, that besides this beauty or truth +which is formed on the uniform eternal and immutable laws of nature, and +which of necessity can be but one; that besides this one immutable verity +there are likewise what we have called apparent or secondary truths +proceeding from local and temporary prejudices, fancies, fashions, or +accidental connection of ideas; if it appears that these last have still +their foundation, however slender, in the original fabric of our minds, +it follows that all these truths or beauties deserve and require the +attention of the artist in proportion to their stability or duration, or +as their influence is more or less extensive. And let me add that as +they ought not to pass their just bounds, so neither do they, in a well- +regulated taste, at all prevent or weaken the influence of these general +principles, which alone can give to art its true and permanent dignity. + +To form this just taste is undoubtedly in your own power, but it is to +reason and philosophy that you must have recourse; from them we must +borrow the balance by which is to be weighed and estimated the value of +every pretension that intrudes itself on your notice. + +The general objection which is made to the introduction of philosophy +into the regions of taste is, that it checks and restrains the flights of +the imagination, and gives that timidity which an over-carefulness not to +err or act contrary to reason is likely to produce. + +It is not so. Fear is neither reason nor philosophy. The true spirit of +philosophy by giving knowledge gives a manly confidence, and substitutes +rational firmness in the place of vain presumption. A man of real taste +is always a man of judgment in other respects; and those inventions which +either disdain or shrink from reason, are generally, I fear, more like +the dreams of a distempered brain than the exalted enthusiasm of a sound +and true genius. In the midst of the highest flights of fancy or +imagination, reason ought to preside from first to last, though I admit +her more powerful operation is upon reflection. + +I cannot help adding that some of the greatest names of antiquity, and +those who have most distinguished themselves in works of genius and +imagination, were equally eminent for their critical skill. Plato, +Aristotle, Cicero, and Horace; and among the moderns, Boileau, Corneille, +Pope, and Dryden, are at least instances of genius not being destroyed by +attention or subjection to rules and science. I should hope, therefore, +that the natural consequence likewise of what has been said would be to +excite in you a desire of knowing the principles and conduct of the great +masters of our art, and respect and veneration for them when known. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SEVEN DISCOURSES ON ART*** + + +******* This file should be named 2176.txt or 2176.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/1/7/2176 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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