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ON THE

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S C. U L P T U R E

OFT H E

GRE.EKS ..

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R E~F L E 'C T I 0

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· ON THE

PAINTING and SCULPTURE

THE.GREEKS:

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WITH

INSTRUCTIONS for the CONNQISSEUR,' AND

An ESSAY on GRACE in Works of Art.

Tranfiated from

The German Original of the Abbe WIN K E J. MAN N, Librarian of the VA TIC A N, F. R. S. &c. &c.

By HEN R Y F u SSE L I, A. M •

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LONDON:

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Printed for the TItANSLATOR., and Sold by A. MILLAR,

in the Strand. 1765.

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The Lord SeA R 5 D ALE'.

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Mv LOllD,

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I T H becoming gratitude

for your Lordlhip's con-

defceniion in granting fuch a noble Afylum. to a Stranger, I humbly prefume to Ihelter this Tranflation under your Lordfhip's Patronage.

If I have been able to do juftice to lIly Author, your Lordlhip's

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accurate ugment, and fine Talle,

will naturally protect his Work:

But I mull: rely wholly on your known

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vi D E DIe A T ION.

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known Candour and Goodnefs for

the p~(1Q~- Q.f many imB.erfe{tj~

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in · the langu-age.

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I am, with the moA: profound

refped,

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Your LORDSHIP'S

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Mba obliged;

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molt. obedient,

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and I+19~ humble Servant, '

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LONDOS.,

10 ~';pril.1 ] ;6,.

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~F.;

GRAIl S I<N GE NIU_j.

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ON THE

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ITATIO

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OF THE

PAINTING and SCULPTURE of

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the GREEKS.

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222$ • qII'

dllllt& • £4

I. NATUR.E. ·

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o the Greek climate we owe the

production of _T A S T E, and from thence it fpread at length over all the politer world. "Every invention, communicated by foreigners to that nation, was but the feed of w hat it became afterwards, changing

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2 Rejle>:iOJZS on the Imitation of the

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beth its nature and fize in a country.chofen,

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as Plato :I fays, by Minerva, to be- inhabited '

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by the, Greeks, as productive C?f every kind

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of. genius.

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But this TASTE was not only original· ·

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among the Greeks, but feemed talfo quite

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peculiar to their country: it feldom went

abroad without 10[s; and was long ere it imparted its kind influences to more difi:ant climes. It was, doubtlefs, a firanger to the northern zones, when Painting and Sculp- • ture, thofe offsprings of Greece, were defpifed there to fuch a degree, that the mofl valuable' pieces of Ccrregio ferved only for

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blinds to the windows of the royal fiables

at Stockholm. -

There is but one way for the moderns to

_become great, and ,perhaps unequalled; I

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me2.D, by ilnitating the antients. And what

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we ate told of H0J11er, that whoever under-

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fiands him wel], admires him, we find no

Iefs _tree in matters -concerning. the antienr, . efpecially the Greek arts, But then we muf]

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:a J Plato in T'imseo. Edit. Francof. p, 1044.

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Painting and Sculpture of the.G.reeks. 3

be as familiar with them as with a friend,

~o . find Laocoon as inimitable as Hamer. By fuch intimacy our judgment will be that of ' Nicomacbus : 'Take theft eyes, replied he to

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fome paltry critick, cenfuring the Helen of

Zeuxis, 'Take my eyes, and jhe ~vill appear a

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With fuch eyes Michael Angelo, Raphael,

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and POlflJil1, confidered the performances of

the antients. They imbibed tafle at its

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r : fource , 'arid Raphael particularly in its na- r

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tive country.· We know, that he fent

young artifls to Greece, to copy there, for his ufe, the remains of antiquity.

An antient Roman flatue, compared to

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· a Greek one, will generally' appear like

Virgil's Diana amidll: her Oreads, in com ..

parifon of the Nauficaa of Homer, whom

he imitated. ;,

Laocoon was the Ilandard of the Roman artills, as well as ours; and the rules of

Polyclerus became the rules of art.

I need not put the reader in mind of the

negligences to be met with in the moft ce-.

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4 Rejlexions on the Imitation of the

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lebrated antient performances ; the Dolphin

at the feet of the Medicean Venus, with the

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children, and the Parerga of the Diomedes ~.

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by Diofc~,..ides, being commonly known.

The reverfe of the beft Egyptia.n and Syrian coins feldom equals the head, in point of

workrnanfhip. Great artifts are wifely negligent, and even their errors inltruCl. Behold their works as Lucian bids you behold the Zeus of Pbidias , Zeta himfe!f, not his

jootjlool.

It is not only Nature which' the votaries

of the Creeks find in their works, but ftill more, fomething fuperior to nature; ideal beauties, brain-born images,asProc/us fays b.

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The moil; beautiful body of ours would

perhaps be as much inferior to the moft beautiful Greek one, as Iphicles was to his ,

brother Hercules. The forms of the Greeks, prepared to beauty, by the influence of the mildefl: and pureft iky, became perfectly elegant by their early exercifes. Take a

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~ In 'Timeeum Platonis.

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a Spar-

Painting and S~ulpture if. the Greeks. 5 a Spartan ,youth, fprung from heroes, undiilorted by fwaddling-cloths; whofe bed,

from his feven th year, was the earth, fami-

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.liar with wreflling and fwimming from his

infancy; and compare him with one' of our

young Sybarits, and then decide which of

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the two would be deemed worthy, by' an

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artif], to ferve for the model of a Thefeus,

an Achilles, or even a Bacchus. The latter would produce a Thefeus fed on rofes, the former a. Thefeus fed on flelh, to borrow the expreffion of E_uphrllnor.,

'. The grand games were .. always a very

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ftrong incentive for eyery Greek ,youth to

exercife himfelf Whoever afpired to the .honours of thefe was 'obliged, by the laws, to

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fubmit to a trial of ten months at Elis, the

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. general rendezvous; and there the firft re-

wards were commonly won by youths, as Pindar tells us. C To he like the God-like Di-

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agoras) was the fondeft wifh of every youth.

c Vide Pindar. 0lymp. Od. VII. Arg. & Schol, -

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6 Rej1exions an the Imitation if the

Behold the fwift Indian outflripping in purfiiit the hart: how briikl y his juices circulate ! how flexible, how elaftic his nerves and mufcles! how eafy his whole frame! Thus Homer draws his heroes, and his

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Achilles he eminently marks for "being

("Tift of foot."

By thefe exercifes the bodies of the Greeks got the great and manly Contour obferved

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in their :il:atues, without any bloated cor-

pulency. The young Spartans were bound . to appear every tenth day naked before the Ephori, who, when they perceived any in-

clinable to fatnefs, ordered them a fcantier

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diet; nay, it was one of p),thagoras's pre-

cepts, to beware of growing too corpulent; and, perhaps for the fame reafon, youths afpiring to wreftling-games were, in the re- '

mater ages of Greece, during their trial) con-

fined to a milk diet. ·

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They were particularly cautious in avoid- .

ing every deforming cuflorn , and Alcib£ades,

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. "J'11cn a boy) re(ufing to learn to play on

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Painting and Sculptul·e if the Creeks. 7 the Hute, for fear of its difcompofing his features, was followed' by all the you~ of

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In their drefs they were profefied followers of nature. No modern fiiff~ning habit, no fqueezing frays hindered Nature from form ..

ing eafy beauty; the fair knew no anxiety about their attire, and from their loofe and {bart habits the Spartan girls got the epithet of Phanomirides,

We know what pains they took to have

handfome children, but, want to be acquainted

with their methods: for certainly §2.yillet, in his Callipedy, falls fhort of their numerous expedients. They · even attempted changing blue eyes to black ones, and games of beauty were exhibited at Elis, the rewards

confifting of arms confecrated to the temple

, of Minerva. How could they mifs of competent and learned judges, when, as AIAi-

Jlotle tells us, the Grecian YOUtllS were taught drawing exprefsly for' that purpofe? From their fine complexion, which, though. ming- -

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led with a va1\: deal of foreign blood, is ftill preferved in moil of the Greek ifianas, and from the illl1 enticing beauty of the fair (ex,

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efpecially at Chios , we may eafily form an <

idea of the beauty of the former inhabitants, who boafled of- being Aborigines, nay,

more antient than the moon.

And are not there feveral modern nations,

among whom beauty is too common to give aDy- title to pre-eminence? Such are unani-

moufl y accounted the Georgians and the Kabardinfki in the Crim.

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Thofe difeafes which are defl:rUaive of beauty, were moreover unknown to the

Greeks. There is not the leaft hint of the finall-pox, in the writings of their phyficians , and Homer, whofe portraits are al\vays fo truly drawn, mentions not one pitted · face. Venereal plagues, and their daughter

the Engli!h malady, had not yet names.

And muft we not then, confidering every advantage which nature beftows, or art teaches, for forming, preferving, and im-

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P amttfJg and Sculpture if the Greeks. 9 proving beauty, enjoyed and applied by the Grecians; muft we not then confefs,

there is the flrongefl probability that the beauty of their perfons excelled all w. can

have an idea of?

Art claims liberty: in vain would nature

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produce her nobleft offsprings, in a country

where rigid laws would choak her progref-

five growth, , as in Egypt, that pretended. parent of fciences and arts: but in Greece» where, from their earliefi: youth, the happy inhabitants were devoted to mirth and plea ....

fure, where narrow-fpirited formality never reflrained the Iiberty of manners, the artifi: ·

enjoyed nature without a veil. .

The Gymnafies, where, lheltered by pub-

lic modefl:y, the youths exercifed themfelves naked, were the fehools of art. Thefe the

philofopher frequented, as well as the artift. Socrates for the inflruction of a Charmides, Autolyclls, Lyfis; Pbldias for the improve ...

ment of his art by their beauty. Here he

ftudied the elafticity of the mufcles, the ever

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1_0 · Rejlexions on the Imitation of the varying motions of the frame, the outlines of fair forms, or the Contour left by the -young wrefller on the {and. Here beautiful

-nakednefs appeared with fuch a livelinefs of

exprefiion, fuch truth and - variety of Iituations, fuch a noble air of the body, as it

would be ridiculous to look for in any hired .model of our academies.

Truth. fprings from the feelings of the heart. What fhadow of it therefore can the modern artiG: hope for, by relying upon a vile model, w hofe foul is either too bafe

to feel, or too flupid to exprefs the paflions,

the fentiment his objed: claims? unhappy he! if experience and fancy fail him.

The beginning of many of Plato's dialogues, · fuppofed to have been held in the Gyrnnafies, cannot raife our admiration of

.tile generous fouls of the Athenian youth, without giving us, at the fame time, a firong prefumption of a Iuitable noblenefs intheir outward carriage and bodily exercifes.

The

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Painting ana Sculpture. of the Greeks. I I The faireft youths danced undrefied on the

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theatre; and Sophocles, the great Sophocles,

when young, was the firfl who dared to en-

tertain his fellow-citizens in this manner. Pbryne went to bathe at. the Eleufinian games, expofed to the eyes of all Greece. arid riling from the water became the model of Venus Anadyomene. During certain folemnities the young Spartan maidens danced naked before the young men: flrange this may feem, but will appear' more probable, when we confider that the chrifiians of the

primitive church, both men and women, were dipped together in the fame font.

Then every folernnity, every feflival, afforded the artift -opportunity 'to familiarize

.himfelf with all the beauties of Nature.

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In the mofl happy times of their freedom, the humanity of the Greeks abhorred bloody gatnes, which even in the Ionick ACta had ceafed long before, if, as fome guefs, they had once been ufual there. A,z-

tiocbus Epi/banes, by ordering Ihews of Ro-

man

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'12 Rdfex£OJZS 07l the Imitation of the

man gladiators, firfi prefented them with

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fnch unhappy victims , and cuftom arid

time, weakening the pangs of fyn1pathizing humanity, changed even thefe games into

fehools of art. There Ctifltls fludied his dying gladiator, in whom you might defcry ., how much life was frill left in him ","

Thefe frequent occafions of ob(erving Nature, taught the Greeks to go on frill farther. They began to form certain general ideas of beauty, with regard to the proportions of

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the inferiour parts, as well as of the whole

frame: thefe they raifed above the reach of mortality, according to the _ fuperiour model

of forne ideal nature.

Thus Raphael formed his Galatea, as we

learn by his letter to Count Baltazar Cafliglione E, where he fays, " Beauty ~eing fo

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Ii 'Some are of opinion, that the celebrated Ludo-

vifian gladiator, now in the great fallon of the ca-

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pitol, is this fame whom P1iny mentions. ,

e Vide Bellori Defcriz delle Imagini dipinte da

Raffaelle d'V rbino, &c. Roma, 1695 foJ.

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Painting and Sculpturt of the Greeks. 13'

feldom found among the fair, I avail myfelf

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of" a certain ideal image."

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· · According to thofe ideas, exalted above

the' . pitch of material models, the Greeks

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formed their gods and heroes: the profile of

the brow and .nofe of gods and god~e1fes is almoft a ftreight line. The fame they gave

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on their coins to queens, &c. but without

indulging their fancy too much. Perhaps this profile was as peculiar to the antient Greeks, as, flat nofes and little eyes to the Calmucks and Chinefe; a fuppofition which receives fome ftrength from the large eyes · of all the heads on Greek coins and gems.

From the fame ideas the Romans formed their Ernpreffes on their coins. Livia and Agrippina have the profile of Artemifia and Cleopatra.

We obferve, neverthelefs, that the Greek artifts in general, fubmitted to the law pre-

fcribed by the Thebans: "To do, under

a penalty, their befl in imitating Nature,"

For, where they could not poffibly apply their

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14· Re.J-'/e:r,:icns on the Imitation of the . their eafy profile, without endangering ·the refernblance, they followed Nature, as we

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fee inflanced in the beauteous head of Juli~,

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the daughter of Titus, done by Euodus f. ·

But to form a " j uft refemblance, and,

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at the fame time, a handfomer one," being

always the chief rule they obferved, and

which PO!\'g!Zotus confiantly went by; they muft, of necefiity, be fuppofed to have had. in view a more beauteous and more perfect

Nature. And when we are told, that fome artifls imitated Praxiteles, who took his concubine Cratina for the model of his Cnidian

Venus; or that others formed the graces nom Lais , it is to be underftood that they did fa, without neglecting thefe great laws of the art. -Senfual beauty furnifhed the

painter with all that nature could give; ideal . beauty with the awful and fublime , from that he took the Humane, from this the

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e Vide Storch Pierres gra\~. pl. X~XIII. 2

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Painting and Sczllpture if the Greeks. .1 5

Let anyone, ,fagacious enough to _pierce into the depths of art; compare the whole fyftem of the Greek figures with that of the

moderns, by which, as they fay, nature alone is imitated; good heaven! what a number' of neglected beauties will he not difcover!

For infiance, in moil: of the modern '

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figures, if the fkin happens to be any where

pre1fed, you fee there feveral little {mart wrinkles :. when, on the contrary, the fame parts, prefied in the fame manner on Greek 1l:ftues, by their foft undulations, form at

laft but one noble preffure. Thefe mafler-

pieces never thew us the Ikin forcibly flretched, but fuftly embracing the firm flefh, which .fills it up without any tumid expanfion, and harmonioufly follows its direction. There the Ikin never, as on modern bodies, appears in plaits diflinct from the flefh,

Moderri works are likewife difiinguiihed from the antient by parts; a crowd of [mall touches and dimples too fenfibly dra wn, In

antient works you find thefe diflributed with

fparing

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16 RejlejCi()l1S on the [mltation of tht

fparing fagacity, and, as relative to a com-

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pleter and more perfeCl: Nature, offered

but as hints, nay, often perceived only ~by

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the learned. .-

The probability lli~ increafes, that the bodies of the Greeks, as well as the works of their artifls, were framed with more unity of fy~em, a nobler harmony of. ·parts, 'and

a completenefs of the whole; above our

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lean tenfions and hollow wrinkles.

Probability, 'tis true, is all we can pretend to: but it deferves the attention of our

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artifts and connoifleurs the rather, as the veneration profe1Ted for the antient monuments is commonly imputed to prejudice, and not

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to their excellence; as if the numerous

ages, during which they have mouldered, were the only motive for. betlowing ori them exal ted praifes, and fetting them up for the

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ftandards of imitation,

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Such as would fain deny to the Greeks

the advantages both of a more perfed Na .. ture and of ideal Beauties, boaft of the famous

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Sculpture and Painting of the Greeks. 17

mous Bernini, as their great champion •. He' was of. opinion, befides, that Nature was po1feffed of every requifite beauty: the only.

1kiJl being to difcover that. H~ boafled

of having got rid of a prejudice concerning: the Medicean Venus, whofe charms he at

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fuft thought peculiar ones; but, after many

careful refearches, difcovered them 'now and '.

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then in ·Nature I. -" .: '

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. : He was taught' then; by the Venus, to difcover beauties 'in common Nature, which

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he. ha.d formerly thought 'peculiar to that

ft~tue, and but for it, never would have fearch-

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ed fot them. Follows it not from thence, that

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the beauties' of the Greek ftatues being dif ..

covered with lefs difficul ty than thofe of N a ..

ture, · are :of courfe "more affeEting j not fo diifufed, but more harmonioufly united? and -if this be true, the pointing out ofNa .. ture as chiefly -imitable, is leading us into

amore tedious and 'bewildered 'road to the

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* BaJdinucci Vita del Cay. Barnini •

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18 Rt~~i~lZ~ on .~ :r?1li:tt!t~~ of t~. knowledge of perfect beauty, than fetting up the ancients for that purpofe: confequently Bernini, by adhering too ftriClly to Nature,

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acted againft his own principles, as well as. ·

obflructed the progrefs of his difciples. - ,

The imitation of beauty is either reduced tQ a fingle. objeCt, and is individual, 'or, gai. thering obfervations from fingle ones, . com ... pr.fes of"theft one whole. The former we calt·

copying, drawing a portrait; 'tis the ftraight

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way to Dutch forrns and :figures; whereas

the other leads . to general beauty, and- its

ideal images, and is the-way the Greeks took.· But there is- ilill this difference between them

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and us : - they enjoying daily occafions. of

feeing beauty, (fuppoie even not. fuperior to ours, ) acquired thofe ideal riches Withl' IdS toil than we, confined as we are to a J few and often fruitlefs .opportunities, ever

can hope for. It would be no eafy matter7, I fancy, for OQr nature, to produce a fr~ms: .. equal in beauty to that of Antinous , and

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furely

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PIJI~tl·ng and Sculpture if the Greeks. 19

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furely no idea can foar ·above the more than

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human.~(proportiQns of a deity, in the Apollo

of the Vatican, which is a compound of the united force of Nature, Genius, and Art.

· .Their imitation difcover.ing in the one every beauty'diffufeil_.through Nature, fhew-

lng., .in. the other the pitch to which the moft· perfed N atnre can elevate ~er(elf;

when .foaring above the fenfes, will quicken the.' genius of the "artifi, and' Ihorten his difclpl~1hlP : '. he 'will learn to think and draw with confidence, feeing here the fixed

limits of human and divine beauty •.

Building on this ground, his hand and fenfes directed by the Greek rule of beauty, the modern artiil: goes on the fiiref] way to the imitation of Nature. The ideas of

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unity and -perfection, which he acquired in

meditating 'on antiquity, will help him to combine,' and to ennoble the more fcattered

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and weaker beauties of our Nature. Thus

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he will improve every beauty he difcovers in

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20 ~ Refoxions cntbe Imitation of tht ·

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it, and by companng the beauties of nature

with theideal, form rules for himfelf. '

Then, and not fooner, - .he, particularly

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the painter, may be' allowed to commit him-

felf toNature, .efpeciaUy in cafes where.his art 'is beyond the inflrudion of .the old mar-

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bles, to wit, in drapery; then, like Poztffin,

he may proceed with more liberty; (or.' ~~=-a; (' timid follower will never get the fiatt 'of " his leaders, and he who is at aIofs to " produce fomething of his own, will- be

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cc a bad -m~nager of the productions of an-

"other," as Michael Angelo fays,~' Minds

favoured by ~ature, · ·

~ibus .drte benigna, -"

Et meliore luto, finxit prcecordia Titan,

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have here a plain way to become originals. I

Thus the account .de Piles gives;' ought to be underftood, that'Raphael, a fhort time before he was.carried off by death, intended to forfake the marbles, in order to addict

bimfelf wholly to Nature. Tn.e antient

tafte

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Painting and Sculpture of the Greeks. 2 I tafte would moil: certainly have guided him through every maze of common Nature; and whatever obfervations, whatever new ideas he might have reaped from that, they would all, by a kind of chyrnical tranfmutation, have been changed to his own eflence and foul.

He, perhaps, might have indulged more variety; enlarged his draperies; improved

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his colours, his light and 1hadow: but none

of thefe improvements would have raifed his pictures to that high efteern they deferve,

for that noble Contour, and that fublimity of thoughts, which he acquired from the

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ancients. ~

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Nothing would more decifively prove the

advantages to be got by imitating the !Incients, preferably to Nature, than an efTay made with two youths of equal talents, by

devoting the Olle to antiquity, the other to Nature; this would draw Nature as he

finds her; if Italian, perhaps he might paint like C_aravoggio; if Flemifh, and lucky,

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22 ionS on the I~itation Df fbt I

like jac. 'Jorda11S; if French, like Ste/ia: the other would draw her 3:S {he directs,

and paint like Raphael. .~ ,r

II. CON T 0 U R •

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~ UT even fuppofing _ that the imitation of Nature could fupply all the artif] wants, the never could beftow the precifion of Contour, that charactcriflic diflinction of

the ancients.

The nobleft Contour unites or circum-

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fcribes every part of the moil perfect Nature,

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and the ideal beauties in the figures of the

Greeks; or rather, contains them both.

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Eupbranor, famous after theepoch of Zeuxi's,

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is iaid to have firft ennobled it.

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Many of the modems have attempted to

imitate this Contour, but very few with fiic-

..

cefs. The great Rubens is far from liaving'

attained either its precifion or elegance; efpecially in the performances which he finifhed

before

•

..

t

r

..

-

.. t

Paintmg and Sculpture of the Greeks. ~ 3 before he went 10 Italy, and frtidied' the antiques •

. The line by which Nature divides .eom-

.pletenefs from fuperfluity is but a {mall one,

..

and, infeIifible as it often is, .has been crofled

even by the heft moderns; while thefe, in .fhunning a meagre Contour, became cor-

pulent, thofe, in ~unniIig that, g~ew lean. _,

Among them all, only Michael Angelo; :

perhaps; may be faid to have attained the antique; but only in firong mufcular figures;

heroic frames; not in thofe of tender youth; nor in female bodies, which, under his bold

hand, grew Amazons.

'The Greek artifl, on the contrary, ad-

..

jufied his Contour; in every figure, to the

breadth of a tingle hair, even in the nicefl: and moll tirefome performances, as gems; Confider the Diomedes and Perfeus of Diojcor-ides h, Hercules and Iole by Teucer i, and admire the inimitable Greeks .

...

Js Viae Stofcli Pierres Grav. pl. XXIX. XXX.

i Vide Muf. Flor. T. II~ · r, v. ·

C 4 Parrba-

•

,

•

'I

24 ReJlexionl on the Imitation rif the Parrbofius, they fay, was mafler of the

· correcteft Contour.. ·

This Contour reigns in Greek figures,. even when covered with drapery, 'as the chief aitn of the artift , the 'beautiful frame pierces the marble like a tranfparent Caan cloth ..

...

The high-ftiled Agrippina, and the three

veftals in the royal cabinet at Drefden, deferve to be mentioned as eminent proofs of this. This Agrippina feems not the mother of Nero, but an elder one, the fpouCe of Germanicus. She much refembles another pretended Agrippina, in the parlour of the library of St. Marc, at Venice k. Ours is a

-

fitting figure, above the fize of Nature, her

head inclined on her right hand; her fine face fpeaks a foul 'c pining in thought," ab-

forbed in penfive forrow, and' fenfelefs to

every outward impreffion. The arti.£l, I fu pp 0 fe, intended to draw his heroine in the

k Vide Zanetti Statue nell' AntifaJa della -libraria

di s. Marco. Venez, 1740• fol.. · ,

mourn~

..

,.

•

..

•

P diniing and SculpttJre of the Greeks. 2 S mournful moment Ihe received the news of

her banithment to Pandataria. ,- 1

L

The three veftals deferve our efleem from

~

..

a double title: as being the firft important difcoveries of Herculaneum, and models. -of ..

L •

the fublimefl drapery. - .All three, _but par-

~

ticularly one above the natural fize, would,

with regard to that, be worthy companions of the F arnefian Flora, and all the other boafls of antiquity, The two others feem, by their refernblance to each other, produc-

_ ,tions of the fame hand, only diftinguilhedby their heads, which are not of equal good ... nefs, On the heft the curled hairs, running

in furrows from the forehead, are tied on the neck: on the other the hair being fmooth on the fcalp, and curled on the front, is gathered behind, and tied with a ribband : this head feems of a modern hand, but a good one.

There is no veil on there heads; but that makes not againfl: their being vellals: for

the prieflefles ofVe1'la (I fpeak 'on proof) were

•

..

..

...

£6 . Rejkxions ~n the ltnitation rf tk . were not always veiled , or rather, as the drapery feems. to betray, the veil, w hich ,,,as of one piece with the garments, being

~own backwards, mingles with the cloaths

on the neck. ·

'Tis to thefe three inimitable pieces that the world owes the firfl-hints of the enfuing

difcovery of the fubterranean treafures of

Herculaneum. ·

Their difcovery happened when the fame ruins that overwhelmed the town had nearly extinguitbed the unhappy remembrance of it: when the tremendous fate that

... ~ ". "I'

fPoke its doom was only known by the ac- '

count which Pliny give.s of his uncle's death.

Thefe great mailer-pieces of the Greek a~ were tranlplanted, and \v~rlhipped in Ge'r~ many, long before Naples could boafl of one

fingle Herculanean monument. ..

. They were difcovered in the year I 706 at

-

Portici near Naples, in a .. ruinous vault, 01\

.. -

oecafion .. of digging the ,fo.l!ndat,ioDS . ·of -a

. 2 villa,

- --

...

..

..

Painting ond Sculpfu'r.e of the Greeks. "7

villa, for the Prince d'Elbeuf and immea

if'

...

diately, with other new difcovered marble

and metal ftatues, came into the po1Ieffion

I

of Prince Eugene) and. were tranfported to

Vienna.

~ .

~ ....

Eugene, who well knew their value, pro-

... ..... I

vided a Sala Tercena to be built exprefsly for

them, and a few others: and fa highly were

, .

they efteerned, that even on the lirfi: rumour

of their "(ale, the academy and the artifts

were in an uproar, and every body, when

.. · 'r t

they were trantported to Drefden, followed

them with' heavy eyes. ·

•

'The famous Matielli, to whom ·

His rule Po/yc/et;, his chilftl Phiditls gl1tt:Ji, Algatotti.

copied them in clay before their removal,

• .... II J.-

arid follo\ving "them fome years after, fil1e~~ ~

._ ~

Drefden with' everlafling monuments of his

• I ..

I

art: but eve~ there he fiudied the dr~p~iy

of his prieftefles, (drapery his chief lkiII !) till-he laid down -his chiflel, and' thus gave

..

II

the

•

28· xions on the ImitatiDfJ of tw

the moil: ftriking proof of their excel-

lence.

t

...._

-. ,.

...

III. D RAP E R Y •

,

..

..

Y Drapery is to be underflood all that the

art teaches of covering the nudities, and

.

folding the garments; and this is -the third

prerogative of the ancients.

~

The Drapery of the veflals above, is grand J

.. -

and elegant. The fmaller foldings fpring gra-

dually from the larger ones, and in them are loft again, with a noble freedom, and gen-

~

tle harmony of the whole, without hiding

the correct Contour. How few of the mo-

derns would ftand the teft here! ·

Jnftice, however, fhall not be refufed to fome great modern artifls, who, without impairing nature or truth, have left, in certain

....

cafes, the road which the ancients generally

purfiied. The Greek Drapery, in order to help the Contour 1 was, for the moft part. taken from thin and wet garDl~ntsa which of

- . - ~

3 cou!fe

• •

..

Painting-ana SculptTirt of the Greeks. 20 courfe clafped the body, and difcovered the ilia pe. The robe of the Greek ladies was extremely thin; thence its epithet of Peplon.

· N everthelefs the reliefs, the piClures, a~d patticuHiriy·"the bufls of-the ancients; are fiifiances that. they did not~-always keep :,to ~s

uriitulating: 'Drapery I. 1 -. , .. _ _ • • •

~ · .In .modem.ttimes the llrtifts wereforced

•

. - ~

to -heap ~ ·garments, and fometimes - - heavy ones, on each other, which. of courfe could

-

not fait ;intQ~ .the ·f1owing.:-~fold$ of ·the .. an-

cients. ; .. Hence the Iarge-folded D-rapei1,:_lly:_ which- the painter andfculptor may difplay, ~S'- much fkill as. by:,~e'._.ancient +·m,tJ.n®r~ Carlo Marat and. Francis Solimena. may

be called' the chief maflers of it: but the

.. - "1'-

garments of, the new Venetian fchool, ~y

paffing the .pounds of nature and propri~(yJ

...

became· ftift .. .as brafs.

~

.. I

...

.. L. oJ ,.. •• ~

I, Among the butts remarkable for that' coar(er ·

Drapery, ,we 'may .reckon the beauteous Caracalla · in the r01~ cabinet at Drefden;

."

..

•

I

IV. Ex~

...

-

•

,

...

-

a .. _

I ~

.. _ fI_E IaA and mpJl'~~inePt~h~f~a:eriftic -- : __ 9f the C~ee~_ works is ~ noble fimpli-

city and Iedate grandeur in Geftun::andJEx~ prefiion. As the bottom of the. ~"f~a · 'Iies peaceful beneath "a foaming .finface,' .a great i?o1 .lies .fedate, b-eneath the fhifc ~f · paffions jg~Gfeek-fi!nir~s.: - ~~~:: .~. : - - - ~".; ~:., " - -, J

z:,

- ~:7is ~ - in ' the- : fare' ~ of LaOtotJn:~" thIs foul

-

fhines. with full - iirlb-e, not confined -how ..

- . .

~~~~ii;, -the face, - amidft tire moftj violent

fufferings. Pangs "piercing every' ~ mnfcle,

•

every labouring nerve; -pangs which -we al-

moll: feel ourfelves, while we confider- not

the face, -nor the moll expreffive parts _!', only the belly contracted by excruciating

pains: thefe however, I fay,- exert- net-them ... {elves with violence, either in the face or

... ~..i .. • ~ - • ~ '. .. • -6

~ , .

- - ~

~llf~. H~ pierces not heaven, .like the:

+

Laocoon of Virgil; his- .mouth- is rather

opened to difcharge an anxious overloaded

"""I;

....

~

groan,

,

,

Painting (ltzJ Sculpture of the Greeks. 3 ~

, .

~

grQan~ as 8adolet fays; the fhuggling ',bOdy

and the, fupporting mind exert themielves with .equal ~r~ngtlt) ~ay balance all th~

frame. - : . " ',_

Laocoon (u£rers, but fuffers like ~the Phi ..

. ~

~.. .

, Ioctetes of Sophocles ': we, weeping ~ feel his pains; but - wifh ' for. the hero's fu~ngth to

fupport his mifery, - ....:': ', : -. .:

f .... -

, The Expreffion of fo great a fbUI· IS 'be-

yond the force of mere nature, It was' -in his own mind the artiA: was to fearch; tat

~

the ftrength offpirit with which he.marked

his marble. ~ Greece enjoyed jirtifts and ~ phi.; lofophers in the fame - perfons ; and: ·~the

wifdorn of more than one.Metrodorus di~ rected art, and infpir~d its figures with more than common fouls.

..

· Had Laocoon been covered with a garh

becoming an antient facrificer, his fufferings

would have Ioft one half of their Expreffion. Bernini pretended to perceive the firft effects of the operating venom in the numbnefs of one of the thighs.

Every

...

•

3 2 Rejlexions OIl the imitation of t6t'

- - Every aCl:iori or -gefiure in- Greek figures, not framped with this character or fage digbity, - but too violent, too paflionate, was

called "Parenthyrfos." - ~

- For, the more tranquillity reigns lin a body, the fitter it is to draw the true character of the foul; which, in every. exceflive ge!lurej

feerns to ruth from her proper centre, and being hurried. away by extremes becomes unnatural. . Wound up to the_higheft pitch ~f~p~OD, Ihe maj. force heifelf :upon the duller eye; but the true fphere of her actiO!!- is ~pij~ity_ and 'calmnefs. In Laocoon

- - ...

!tUferings alone had been Parenthyrfos; the.

artift_ therefore,', in order to reconcile the fig--

nificative and ennobling qualities of his foul, put him into a poflure, allowing for the fufferi'ngs that were neceflary, the next to a fia.te of tranquillity: a tranquillity however that is charaderiflical : the foul will be her{elf. -this individual not the "foul of man-

kind~; fedate, but active ; calm, but not in-

•

different or drowfy.

\

What

....

•

Painting and Sculptutef!!the Greeks. 33

..

. What a contraft l how diametrically.op ..

...

pofite to this is the tafte of our modern ar-

tifts, efpecially the young ones! on nothing

~

do they bellow their .approbation, but con-

torfions and ftrange poftures, inipired with

. .

boldnefs j this they pretend is done with fpirit,

~

with Francbezxa. Contrail is the darling of

~

their ideas; in it they fancy every perfection.

They fill their performances with comet ....

like excentric fouls, defpifing every thing

but an Ajax or a Capaneus. .

"

Arts have their infancy as well as men;

they begin, as well as the artifl:, with froth

_ l

and bombaft: in fuch bufkins the mufe of

lEfchilus fialks, and part of the diction in his Agamemnon is more loaded with hyper .. boles than all Heraclitus's nonfenfe. Perhaps the primitive Greek painters drew in. the fame manner that their firft good trage-

dian thought in.

In \ all human actions flutter and rafh-

j -

nefs precede, Iedatenefs and folidity follow:

hut time only can difc.:over, and the judi-

•

D C10US

..

34 RiflexiolZs 012 the Imitation oj the

cious will admire there only: they are the charaCteriftics of great maflers , violent paf-

fions run away with their difciples. -

•

The [ages in the art know the difficulties

hid under that air of eafinefs : .

ut jib:' qui~is

Speret idem, Judet multum, Jrzglraque laboret

AuJus idem. Her,

,

La Page, though an eminent defigner, was not able to attain the purity of ancient tafle,

Every thing is animated in his works; they

demand, and at the fame time diffipate, your

attention, like a company ftriving to talk all at once.

This noble fimplicity and fedate grandeur is alfo the true characteriftical mark of the

heft and maturell Greek writings, of the epoch and {chool of Socrates. Poffeffcd of

..

thefe qualities Raphael became eminently

great, and he owed them to the ancients.

That great foul of his, lodged in a beauteo IS body, was requifite for the firft difcovery

,

..

Painting and Sculpture oj tbe Greeks. 3 5 difcovery of the true character of the ancients: ..

, he- full felt all their beauties, and (what he was peculiarly happy in I) at an age when

vulgar, unfeeling, and half-mouidcd fouls overlook every higher beauty.

Y e that approach his works, teach your eyes to be fenfible of thofe beauties, refine your tafte by the true antique, and then that folemn tranquillity of the chief figures

in his Attila, deemed - infipid by the vulgar, will appear to you equally fignificant and

fublime. The Roman bifhop, in order to divert the: Hun from his defign of affailing Rome, appears not with the air of a Rhetor,

but as a venerable man,_ whofe very prefence

foftens uproar into peace; like him drawn

by Virgil : . -:

Tum pietate gravem ac meritis., fi forte virzlllI

I

quem

Confpexerr, filent, adreClifiJue auribus adjant:

LEn. I .

•

D2

full

J

..

3 6 Reflexions on the Imitation of the ,"

J

full of confidence in God, he faces down the

barbarian: ~le two A pollles defcend not with the air of Ilaughtering. angels, but ~~if facred may be compared with profane) like

Jove, whofe v~ry nod Ihakes Olympus. .:

Algardi, in his celebrated reprefentation of the fame frary, done in bas-relief on an altar in St. Peter's church at Rome, was

...

..

either too negligent, or too weak, to give this active tranquillity of his great predecefior to the figures of his Apoilles. There they appear like meiTengers of the Lord of Hafts: here like human warriors with mortal

arms.

How few of thofe ,ye call connoifleurs

have ever been able to underftand, and fin ... cerely to admire, the grandeur of expreflion in the St. Michael of Guido, in the church

...

of the Capuchins at Rome! - they· prefer

commonly the Archangel of Concha, whore face glows with indignation and revenge.",

whereas o Vide 'tV right's Travels.

The viCtorious St. Michael of Guido, treads 011

+

the

\

P ointing and Sculpture ~ the Greeks. 37

I

whereas Guido's Angel, ~ after having overthrown the. fiend of God and man,' hovers over him unruffied and undifmayed.

Thus, to heighten the hero of 'The Cam-

paign, victorious Marlborough, the Britiih poet paints. the avenging Angel hovering over Britanllia with the like ferenity and awful calmnefs.

- The royal gallery- at Drefden contains

now, among .its treafures, one of Raphael's. bell: pictures, witnefs V afari, &c. a Madonna · with the' Infant; St. Sixtus and St.

~ -

Barbara kneeling, one on each fide_, and t\VO

Angels in the fore-part. :

-

It was the chief altar-piece in the cloifler

of St. Sixtus at Piacenza, which was crouded by connoiifeurs, who came to fee this Raphael, in the fame manner as Thefpis

•

,vas in the days of old, for the fake of the

beautiful Cupid of Praxiteles.

the body of his antagoniH, with all the precifion of a dancing-mailer. Webb's Inquiry, &c.

i

D 3

Be ...

\

...

38 Rtjkxions on the Imitation of lhe

Behold the Madonna I her face brightens with innocence; a form above the female fize, and the calmnefs of her mien, make her appear as already beatified: fhe has that

filent a wfulnefs which the ancients Ipread over "their deities. How grand, how noble

...

is her Con tou r !

The child in her arms is elevated above vulgar children, by a face darting the beams of divinity through every fmiling feature of

harmlefs childhood. ,

St. Barbara kneels, with adoring Ilillnefs,.at her fide: but being far beneath the

...

majefty of the chief figure, the great artifb

...

compenfated her humbler graces with foft

enticing charms.

The Saint oppofite to her is venerable with age. His features feem to bear wit .. nefs of his facred youth,

The veneration which St. Barbara declares

for the Madonna, exprefled in the moil: fenfible and pathetic manner, by her fine

hands clafped on her breafl, helps to fup-

port

,.

P amtilzg and Sculpture of the Greeks, 3 9

port the motion of one of St. Sixtus' s hands, by which he utters his ex tafy, better becoming (as the artitl judicioully thought, and chofe for variety's fake) manly ftrength,

than female modeily, _, ·

Time, 'tis true) has withered the primitive :Lplendour of this picture, and partly blown

(

off its lively colours; but fiill the foul, with'

•

which the painter infpired his godlike work,

breathes life' through all its parts.

Letthofe that approach this, and the reft of Raphael's works, in hopes of finding there the trifling Dutch and Flemiih beauties, the laboured nicety of Netfcher, or

Douw, flefh itiorified by Van der Werf, or even the licked manner of fome of Ra-

•

phae~ts living countrymen; let thofe, I fay,

be told, that Raphael was not a great rnafler

fur them.

..

D -4 V. WORK.-

..

v. WORKM.ANSHIP in SCULPTURE.

FTER thefe remarks on the Nature,

the Contour, the Drapery, the fimplicity and grandeur of Expreflion in the per~ forrnances of the Greek artifts, we fhall proceed to [orne inquiries into their method of working-

Their models were generally made of wax; jnfl:ead of which the moderns ufed

clay, or fuch like .. unctuous ftua: as feeming fitter for expreffing Beth, than the more gluey and tenacious wax.

A method however not new, though more

frequent in our times: for we know even the name of that ancient who firft attempted modelling in wet clay; 'twas Dibutades. of

. ~

Sicyon; and Arc¢laus, the friend of Lu~.

cullus, grew more famous by his models of

clay than his other performances. He made for Lucullus a figure of clay reprefenting llatpinefi, and received 60,000 feflerces :

~ an4

..

•

Paintingand Sculpture of the Greeks. 4'

. ...

•

and OClavius, a Roman Knight, paid him

a talent for the model only of a large difh, in plaifter, which he defigned to have finiihed

in gold.

"

· Of all materials, clay might be allowed

to be the fittefl for iliaping figures, could it preferve its rnoiflnefs , but lofing that by time or fire, its folider parts, contraCting by degrees, letTen the bulk of the mafs , and that which is formed, being of different diameters, gravIs fooner dry in forne parts than in others, and the dry ones being lhrunk to a fmaller

. Iize, there will be no proportion kept in the whole.

From this inconvenience wax is always free: it lofes nothing of its bulk; and there

are alfo means to give it the fmoothnefs of flefh, which is refufed to modelling; viz. you make your model of clay, mould it with plaifier, and cafi the wax over it.

But for transferring their models to the marble, the Greeks feern to 112ve poffeffcd

fome

42 Rifiexions on the Imitation of the

fomepeculiar advantages, which are now loG: for you difcover, every w here in their works, the traces of a confident hand; and even in thofe of inferior rank, it would be nc eary

matter to prove a wrong cut. Surely hands fo fleady, fo fecure, muft of neceffity have been gtlided by rules more determinate and

~

lefs arbitrary than we can boaft of.

The ufual method of our fculptors is, to quarter the well-prepared model with horizontals and perpendiculars, and, as is common in copying a picture, .to draw arelative number of fquares on the marble.

~

Thus, regular gradations of a feale be-

ing fuppofed, every finall (quare of the mo-

del has its correfponding one on the marble. But the contents of the relative mafles Dot

being determinable by a meafured furface, the artifl, though he gives to his fione the

•

refemblance of the model, yet, as he only

depends on the precarious aid of- his eye, he Ihall never ceafe wavering, as to his doing right or wrong, cutting too flat or too deep.

Nor

•

•

...

..

Paindng and Sculpture of the Greeks. 43

Nor can he find lines to determine precifely the outlines, or the Contour of the inward parts, and the centre of his model,

in fo fixed and unchangeable a manner, as to enable him, exactly, to transfer the fame

Contours upon his flone.

To all this add, that, if his work happens to be too voluminous for one fingle hand, he muft truft to thofe of his journeymen and difciples, who, too often, are nei-

ther fkilful nor cautious enough to follow their mailer's defign j and if once the fmalleft trifle be cut wrong, for it is impoffible to

fix, by this method, the limits of the cuts, all is loft .

•

•

+

It is to be remarked in general, that every fculptor, who carries on his chifTelings

their whole length, on firft fafhioning his marble, and does not prepare them by gra-

dual cuts for the laft final Ilrokes , it is to be remarked, I fay, that he never can keep

his work free from faults.

..

Another

,

44 ReJlexions on the Imitation Of tbe

- Another chief defect in that method is this: the artift cannot help cutting off, every moment, the lines on his block; and though he rellore them, cannot poffibly be fOte of

.

avoiding miflakes.

On account of this unavoidable uncer ..

•

tainty, the artitls found themfelves obliged

to contrive another method, and that which the French academy at Rome firfi: made nee of for copying antiques, was applied by many even to modelled performances.

Over the f1:atue which you want to copy, you fix a well-proportioned fquare, di .. viding it into equally diflant degrees, by plummets: by thefe the outlines of the figure are more diflinctly marked than they could pollibly be by means' of the former method: they moreover afford the artift an exact meafure of the more prominent or

...

lower parts, by the degrees in which thefe

parts are llear them, and in Ihort, allow him

....

to go on with more confidence. . ..

But

,.

,

Pointing and Sculpture if the Greeks. 4- S

But the undulations of a curve being not determinable by a fingle perpendicular) the

Contours of the figure are but indifferently indicated to the artifl , and among their many declinations from a ftraight furface,

his tenour is every moment loft. _ :

.. -

, The difficulty of difcovering the real pro .. _

portions of the figures, may alfo be eafi~y

~

imagined: they feek them by horizontals

placed acrofs the plummets. But the rays

· reflected from the figure through the fquares, will Ilrike the eye in enlarged angles, and confequentlyappear bigger, in proportion as

•

•

they are high or low to the point of view.

Neverthelefs, as the ancient monuments muft be mofl cautioufly dealt with, plum[nets are frill of ufc in copying them, as no furer or eafier method has been difcovered:

but for performances to be done from mogels they are unfit for want of precifion, Michael A11gelo went alone a way un-

known before him, and (ftrange to tell!) untrod

•

..

..

~

ReJexions on the Imitation of the

,.,

untrod fince the time of that genius of modern fculpture.

This Phidias of latter times, and next to

the Greeks, hath, in all probability, hit thevery mark of his great mailers. We know

at leaft no method fo eminently proper for expreffmg on the block every, even the minuteft, beauty of the model.

VaJan· n feems to give but a

defcription of this method, viz.

defective M-ichael

,

11 Vafari vite de Pittori, Scult. et Arch. edit. 1568• -Part III. P: 776. " ~attro prigioni bozzati, ~, che poflano infegnare a cavare de' Marmi Ie figure

c, con un modo ficuro da non iflorpiare i falli, che

" iJ modo e quell-a, che 5' e' fi pigliaffi una figura di

" cera 0 d' altra materia dura, e fi meteffi. a giacere

" in una conca d' acqua, la quale acqua effendo per cc Ia fua natura nella fua fommita piana et pari, ale, zando la detta figura a poco del pari, cofi ven~, gona a fcoprirfi prima le parti piu relevate e a

" nafcondem i fondi, -cioe Ie parti piu bafre della 'c: figura, tanto che nel fine ella cofi viene fcoperta ..

"tutta. Nel medefimo modo fi. debbono- cavare con

~c: 10 fcarpello le figure de' Marmi, prima fcoprendo

" Ie parti piu rilevate, e di mana tin mana Ie piu bafle,

CC: il quale modo fi vede offervato da Michael Angelo

" ne' fopra detti prigioni, i quali fua Eccellenza

- .c, vuolejche fervino per efempio de fuoi Academici."

Angelo

Painting and Sculpture of the Greeks. 47

r

~

Angelo took a veffel filled with water, in

which he placed his model of wax, or fome fuch indifToluble matter: then, by degrees, raifed it to the furface of the water. In this manner the prominent parts were unwet, the lower covered, 'till the whole at length appeared. Thus fays Vafari, he cut his marble, proceeding from the more prominent parts to the lower ones.

17 afari, it feems, either miflook fomething in the management of his friend, or by the

negligence of his account gives us room to imagine it fomewhat different from what he

relates.

The form of the veffel is not determined j

to raife the figure from below would prove too troubleforne, and prefuppofes much more

than this hiftorian had a mind to inform us of.

Michael Alzge/a, no doubt, thoroughl y exarnined his invention, its conveniencies and inconveniencies, and in all probability obferved the following method.

2

He

48 P~fkxiolZS an the Imitation of the --

......

He took a veffel proportioned to his mOM

~

del; for inflance, an oblong [quare: he

marked the furface of its fides with certain

...

dimenfions, and thefe he transferred after-

wards, with regular gradations, on the marble. The infide of the veflel he marked to the bottom with degrees. Then he laid,

•

or, if of wax, faftened his model in it; he

drew, perhaps, a bar over the veffel fuitable to -its dimenfions, according to whofe num .. ber he drew, firf], lines on his marble, and immediately after, the figure j he poured water on the model till it reached its outmof]

"

points, and after having fixed upon a pro-

rninent part, he drew off as much water as hindred him from f~eing it, and then went

to work with his chiffel, the degrees [hewiog him ho\v to go on; if, at the fame time,

..

forne other part of the model appeared, it

was copied too, as far as feen,

\. ..

,

Water \vas again carried off, in order to let the lower parts appear; by the degrees he Iaw to what pitch it was reduced, and

by

..

+

•

..

" .. -

P tiznting and Sculpture of the Greeks. 49

-

by its Iinoothnefs he difcovered the exact

furfaces of the lower parts; nor could he go wrong, having the fame number of degrees

to guide him, upon his marble.

The water not only pointed him out the heights or depths, but ~lfo the Contour of'

his model; and the Cpace 1 eft free on the Infides to the fiirface of the water, whofe

~

largenefs was determined by the degrees of

the two other fides, was tile exact rneafure of what .might fafely be cut down from the block.

..

His work had now got the firf] form, and Ii correct one: the levelnefs of the water had drawn a line, of which every prominence of. the mafs was a point; according to the diminution of the water the line funk in a horizontal direction, and was followed by the artifl 'till he difcovered the declinations of the prominences, and their mingling with the lower parts. Proceeding thus with every degree, as it appeared, he finifhed the Contour, and took his model out of the water.

E l-lis

•

•

...

...

50 Rsflexions on the Imitation if the

•

His figure wanted beauty: he again po~r-

ed water to a proper height over his model,

-

.. and then numbering the degrees to ·the Iine

-

defcribed by the water, he defcried the ex-

act height of the protuberant parts j on thefe he levelled his rule, and took the me afure·

of the diftance, from its verge to the bottom; and then comparing all he had done with his marble, and finding the fame num-

ber of degrees, he was geometrically fure of fuccefs.

Repeating his taik, he attempted to ex-

•

prefs the motion and re-action of nerves and

mufcles, the foft undulations of the finaller parts, and every imitable beauty of his model. The water infinuating itfelf, even into

the. rnoft inacceflible parts, traced their Con-

I

tour with the correcteft Iharpnefs and pre-

~

cifion.

This method admits of every poffible

,

pofturc. In profile efpecially, it .dilcovers

every inadvertency , Ihews the Contour of

1 the

•

,

. Pointing ond SCllljt!J~e 0/ the Greeks. ~ I the prorninen t and lower parts; and the whole diameter.

" All this, and: the hope of futtefs, pre':

fuppofes a model formed by tkilftil hands," in the true" t~fl:e' of antiquity.

This is the way. by which Michael .An~

gelo arrived at immortality. Fat1le arid rewards confpired to procure him what leifure he wanted, for performances which required fo much care.

But the artifl of our' .days, however endowed by nature and induflry with talents to raife himfelf, and even though he perceive precifion and truth in this method, .is forced to exert his abilities for getting bread rather than honour: he of courfe refls in

his ufual fphere, and continues to tru!1: in an

~

eye direded by years and practice. ~

Now this eye, by the obfervations of which he is chiefly ruled, being at lafl, though by a great deal of uncertain practice, become almoft decifive: how refined, how exa8:

•

E z might

--

..

..

I •

..

..

, .,.

5Z

sions on the Imitation of the

...

might it not have been, if, from early youth, acquainted with never-changing rules !

And were young artifts, at their firl\ beginning to fhape the clay or form the wax,

fo happy as to be inflructed in this fure method of Michael Angelo, which was the fruit of long refearches, they might with reafon hope to come as near the Greeks as he did.

VI. P A I N TIN G.

t

R E E K Painting perhaps would {hare

all the praifes bellowed on their Sculp-

ture, had time and the barbarity of mankind allowed us to be decifive "on that

point. _.

All, the Greek painters are allowed is

~

Contour and Expreffion. PenpeCtive, Com-

pofition, and Colouring, are denied them; a

judgment founded on fome bas-reliefs, and

the new-difcovered ancient (for we dare not fay Greek) pictures, at and near Rome, in the fubterranean vaults of the palaces of

M£Ecena~)

....

..

Pointing and ~culpture if the Greeks. 53 Mrecenas, · Titus, Trajan, and the Antoninl, of which but about thirty are preferved en-

tire, {orne being only in Mofaic.. ·

'Turnbull, to his treatife on ancient painting, has fubjoined a collection of the moil: known .ancient pictures, drawn by Camillo

Paderni, and engraved by Mynde; and thefe alone give forne value to the magnificent

and abufed paper of his work. T .. wo of

them are copied from originals in the cabinet

of the late Dr. Mead. ·

That PouJlin much ftudied the pretended Aldrovandine Nuptials; that drawings are found done by Anniba/ Carracci, from the

~ .

prefumed Marcius Coriolanus; and that there

is a moft firiking refemblance between the heads of Guido, and thofe on the Mofaic reprefenting Jupiter carrying off Europa, are remarks long fince · made.

Indeed, if ancient Painting were ,to be judged by there, and fuch like remains of Frefco pictures, Contour and Expreffion might be wrefted from it in the fame manner .

...

E 3

For

54- I?~fxiQns GIl. tb« Imitation of· tbe

~ -

for the pictures, with Qgures as qig .as Iife, pulled off with the walls of the Hercula .. nean theatre, afford bu~ - a very poor idea of the Contour and Expreffion of the ancient

painters. Thefeus, the conqueror of the Minotaur, worlhipped by .. the Athenian

.oil

youths; Flora with Hercules and a F aunus ;

the pretended judgment of the Decemvir Appius Claudius, are on the teftimony of an artifr who fa \v them, of a Contour as mean

•

as faulty; and the heads want not only Ex ..

prefiion, but thole in the Claudius even Character.

But even this is an evident inftance of the meannefs of- the artifis: for the fcience of

.... ~ .... ..... -r

beautiful Proportions, of Contour'; and ~xpreflion, could not be the exclufive p~ivilege

of Greek fculptors alone, ·

However, though I am for doing jufiice

to the ancients, I have no intention to leffen

,

the merit of the moderns. t.,

In Perfpective there is no comparifon between them and the ancients, whom no learned

,

•

..

,

. .

Pai?zting and Sculpture ~ the Greeks. 5 5

earned defence can intitle to, ~ny fuperiority

in that fcience. The laws of Cornpofition

and Ordonnance feem to have been but irnperfeCl:ly known by the ancients: the reliefs of the times when the Greek arts were

•

flourifhing at Rome,. are inftances of this.

The- accounts of the ancient writers, and the

~ + ~ •

'remains of Painting are Iikewife, in point of

Colouring, decifive in favour of the moderns.

There are feveral other objeCts of Painting which, in modern times, have attained

~

greater perfection: fuch are landfcapes and

cattle pieces. The ancients Ieem not to

have been acquainted with the handfomer

varieties of different animals in different climes, if we may conclude £I. om the horfe

of M. Aurelius; the two horfes in Monte Cavallo; the pretended Lyfippean hones

above the portal of St. Mark's church at Venice; the F arnefian bull, and other ahi-

mals of that groupe.

..

EA-

•

Iob-

5 6 . Rejkxions on the Imitation of tb«

I obferve, by the" bye, that- the ancients

were careleis of giving to their: horfes the

diametrical motion of their. legs; as we fee in the hones at Venice, and .the ancient coins: and in that they have been followed,

nay even defended, by {owe ignorant moderns.

'Tis chiefly to oil-painting that our land[capes, and efpecially thofe of the Dutch,

owe their beauties: by that their colours ac ... quired more ftrength and livelinefs; and even nature herfelf feems to have given them a thicker, moifler atmofphere, as an advantage to this branch of the art.

Thefe, and (orne other advantages over the ancients, deferve to be fet forth with more folid arguments than we have hitherto

..

had.

VII. ALL EGO R Y.

HE RE is one other important Ilep left towards the .atchievement of the art; but the artifi, who, boldly forfaking the

,

•

•

Paintin_g and Sculpture of the Greeks. 5' . the common path, dares to attempt it, finds himfelf at once on.the brink of a precipice,

and ftarts back. difmayed. _ .

The flories of martyrs and faints, fables and metamorphofes, are almoft the only

objeCts of modern painters repeated a thou{and times, and varied almoft beyond the

limits of poffibility, every tolerable judge grows fick at them.

The judicious artift falls afleep over a

.Daphne and Apollo, a Proferpine carried riff by Pluto, an Europa, &c. he wifhes for occafions to thew himfelf a poet, to produce . fign:ificant images, to paint Allegory.

Painting goes beyond the fenfes: there is its moll: elevated pitch, to which the Greeks {trove to raife themfelves, as their writings evince. Parrhafius, Iike Ariftides, a painter of the foul, was able to exprefs the cha-

racter even of a whole people: he painted the Athenians as mild as cruel, as fickle as

fteady, as brave as timid. Such a reprefentation owes its poffibility only to the al-

· I egorical

1

. ~

5 8 Rd/txions on the lmitatiOll of- the- ~

_.

.

legorical method, whofe images c-oBvey ge~

- ~

..

neral idea.s. . ~ ·

..

But here the artifl is loa in a defart.

....

r

Tongues the mofl fayage, which are entirely

deftitute of abflracted ideas, containing no word whofe fenfe could exprefs memory,

{pace, duration, &c. . thefe · tongues, I fay,

.

are not more 'deftiture of general figi1s,

than painting in our days. The painter who' thinks beyond his palette longs for

forne learned apparatus, by whofe ftores he

~

might be enabled to invefi abilracted ,ideas

with fenfible and meaning images. Nothing has yet been publifhed of this kind, to fatisfy a rational being; the e1fays hitherto made are not confiderable, and far beneath

-

this great defign. The artift himfelf knows

befl in what degree he is fatisfied with Ripa's Iconology, and the emblems of an-

cient nations, by Van Hooghe,

Hence the greateft artifts have ehofen but vulgar objects. .I1nm·bal Caracci, inftead of reprefentin g in general Iymbols and fenfible

• •

Images

,

•

•

•

•

,

t

Painting and Sculpture tfthe.Oreeks. 59 images the hj1lory of the Farnefian family, as 'an al1egori~al poet, wafted all his fkill in

~ -

fables known to the whole world. ~ -

Go, vifit the galleries of monarchs, and the publick repofitories of art, and fee what difference there is betwe~n the number of allegorical) poetical, or even hiflorical perforrnances, and that of fables, faints,' or

•

madonnas.

Among great artifls, Rubens is the moil: eminent, w ho firft, like a fublime poet, dared to attempt this untrodden path. His

moil: voluminous competition, the .gallery of Luxembourg, has been communicated to the world by the hands of the beft en ..

gravers.

After him the fiiblimeft performance undertaken and finifhed, in that kind, is, no doubt, the cupola of the imperial Iibrary at

Vienna, painted by .Daniel Grf!,n, and engraved by Sedelmayer. The Apotheofis of Hercules at Verfailles, · done by Le Moine-, and alluding to the- Cardinal lfercu1es de

Fltl/;"'\'

.t '

..

"" . ..

•

•

lJo 'Xi~l1S DtZ the Imitlltion Dj, the --- .

~ , though deemed in France the maR

au of compofitions, is, in comparifon of

the learned and - ingenious performance of tbeGerlllan artift, but a very mean andfhort-

~ ....... ted Allegory, refembling a panegyric, the

moft ftriking beauties of which are relative to the almanack, The artifl had it in his power to indulge grandeur, and his flipping th. occafion is afionifhing : but even allowing, that the A potheofis of a minifler was all that he ought to have decked the chief cieling of a royal palace with, we never':' thelefs iee through his fig-leaf.

The artift would require a work, containing every image with which any abflractcd idea might be poetically invefted: a work collected from all mythology, the bell; poets of all

ages, the myfterious philofophy of different nations, the monuments of the ancients on

.

gems, coins, utenfils, &~. This magazine

Ihould be diftributed into feveral claifes, and,

with proper applications to peculiar poffible cafes, adapted to the inflruction of the artift.

This

..

,

..

..

. ..

,

P ointing Dna Sculpture of the Greeks. 6 i

This would; at the (arne time, open a vall field for imitating the ancients, and participating of their fublimer tafte,

The t~fte in our decorations, which, Iince the complaints of Vitruoius, hath changed for the worfe, partly by the grotefques brought in vogue by Marte da Feltro, partly by our trifling houfe-painting, might alfo, from more intimacy with the ancients, reap the advantages of reality and common fenfe,

'"

The Caricatura-carvings, and favourite

fhells, thofe chief fupports of our ornaments, are full as unnatural as the candle-

flicks of l/itruuius, with their little caflles and palaces ~ how eafy would it be, by the help of Allegory, to give -fome learned convenience to 'the fmalleil ornament!

..

RedJere perflnce feit convcnientiq, cuiqu~. ·

- Ho~

•

Paintings of ceilings, doors, and chimneypieces, are commonly but the expletives of there places, becaufe they cannot be gilt

• I aU

•

•

,

•

...

62 ReJle~I~s, 012 tbe. Imitation of the.

all over, Not only they have not the leaft

- -

relation to the rank .and circumftances of the

7 •

.

proprietor, but-often throw fome ridicule or

reflection upon him. «

'Tis an abhorrence of barennefs that fills

waIls and rooms; and pictures void _of

7

thought mufl fupply the vacuum.

Hence the artift, abandoned to the dictates

of his own fancy, paints, for ,want of AIle .. :

•

gory, perhaps a fatire on him to whom.

..

he owes his induftry; or, to fhun this Cha-

rybdis, finds himfelf reduced to paint figures

void of any meaning.

'III

Nay, he may often find it difficult to

meet even with thofe, 'till at laft

..

\

.....-- nxlu: agri Somnia, ~ant2

Finguntur Species. Hor .

.

Thus Painting is degraded from its moll:

eminent prerogative, the reprefentation of

invifible, pail: and future things •.

..

If pictures be fometimes met with, which

might be fignificant in fome particular place,

,

•

..

Pain.l:mg. f:Z1U/ Sl:tIlpture of the Gteeks, ~l

•

place; jhey often t{}fe_ ttlaC .p~epe~ty by lJ:l:1pid

J'

and wrong applications. .

Perhaps the mafter of fome new building

.

Dives agris, diV_~J ptjfitis in fil'nore'

Hor •

I

..

l nummts

•

or ,

..

- ... .. .. ..... .

may, without the leaft compunction for ef-

•

fending the rules -of perfpective, place" figures

. ~

of the fmallefl fize above the vafi doors of

.. ..

~ ~ .

...

his apartments and falloons. 'I fpeak-h~re of

't. ~ ~.. •

thofe ornaments which make part of the.

furniture; not of fig~res which. are _often'j

t

and for good reafons; f~t rUp prorriifcuoully.

in collections. .

•

The decorations of architecture are often

as ill-chofen. Arms and trophies deck a hunting-houfe as nonfenfically, as Gany-

mede and the eagle, Jupiter and Leda, figure it among the reliefs of the brazen gates of St. Peter's church at Rome.

·Aits have 11 double aim! to delight and to inflruct. Hence the greatefr landfcape-

..

painters think, they have fulfilled but half

their

..

..

..

... .,..,._ -

64 iions on the Imitation, &c~ - .

their talk in drawing their pieces without, 6gures.

Let the artift's pencil, like the -. pen - of

Arlftotle, be impregnated with reafon , that, after having fatiated the eye) he may nou-

riih the mind : and this he may obtain by Allegory; invefting, not hiding his ideas.' Then, whether he chufe fome poetical objeCt • elf, or follow the dictates of

others, he Ihall be infpired by his art, Ihall be fired with the flame brought down from

- - ,

heaven by Prometheus, Ihall entertain the

votary of art, and inftruCl: the mere lover

of it. ·

L

..

r

\.

A LET-

t

..

# -

.....

'\.

1

A

E

CONTAIr~ING

OB ECTIONS

AGAINST

..

'The foregoing REF LEX ION s •

•

F

...

• oil

'I

A

..

L

T

E R

T

E

CONTAINING

•

OBJECTIONS againfl: the foregoing REF LEX ION s.

SIR,

S you have written on the Greek arts

and artills, I wiih you had made your treatife as much the o~je~ of your caution as the Greek a rtiLls made their works;

which, before difmiffing them, they exhibited

to publick view, in order to be examined by every body, and efpeciall y by competent judges

of the art. The trial was held during the grand, chiefly the Olympian, games; and all

Greece was interelted on lEtion's producing

his pidure of the nuptials of Alexander and Roxana. You, Sir, wanted a Proxenidas

F 2 to

\

..

-

..

,

-

I

68 ObjeGlioHS againJl ,

to be j udged by, as well as that artift; and had it not been for your myfterious concealment, I might have communicated your treatife, before its publicatien, to tOme Iearned men and connoifleurs of my acquaintance, without meationlng the author's name.

One of them vifited Italy twice, where he devoted all his time- to a molt anxious

examination of paiHtiflg., and .particularly feveral months to each eminent picture, at the very place where it was painted-, the only method, you know, to- form a coonoiffeur. The judgment of a man, able to

..

tell you which of Guido's. altar-pieces is

painted on taffeta, or Iinnen, what {om: of

wood Raphael chofe for his transfiguration, &c. the judgment of fuch a. J~, -I: fancy,

muft be allowed to be decifivc,

Another of my acquaintance has ftudiiW antiquity.: he knows it by the very fmell.,

Calle! & rlrtificetn filo dfpr~Jldere Odore.

SeClan. Sat.

He

•

,

the fi;reg()ing' ~eJlexions. 69

•

He can tell you th~' .number of knots on Hercules's club) has reduced Neftor's goblet

I

to the modern meafure : nay, is ,fufpeCted of

. ~

me<jiJa(~g folQ~ions to all the queflions pro-

pofed by Tiberius to the gr-amm~Ii~n$~

· A third, for feveral y~ars pafl, has neglect-

j

ed every thing but hunting after ancient

,

coins. Many a new difcovery we .owe to him j - efpecially forne .ccncerning .t:~~ hiftory

"-

of the ancient coiners; and, as I amtold, he

is toroufc the attention of the world by a Prodromus-concerning the coiners of 'Cyzicum •

•

What a number of. reproaches might you

have efcaped, had you fubmitted your Etray to the judgment ofthefegentIemen ! theywere pleafed to acquaint me with their objections, and I 1110uld be forry, for your honour, to fee them publifhed,

Among other objeCtions, the firft is furprized at your paffing by the two Angels, in your .defcription of the Raphael in the royal cabinet at Drefden , paving been told, that a

Bolognefe painter, in mentioning this piece,

F 3 which

•

•

,

•

70 OhjeSions llgainjl

.. #'

which he faw at St. Sixtus's at Piacenza,

\

breaks into thefe terms of admiration: O!

what Angels of Paradife "! by which he

.

fuppofes thofe Angels to be the moft beau-

tiful figures of the picture.

The fame perfon would reproach you for having defcribed that piCture in the manner

of Raguenet b. ·

-

The fecond concludes the beard of Lao-

..

coon to be as worthy of your attention as his contracted belly: for every admirer of Greek works, fays he, muft pay the fame refpetl: to the beard of-Laocoon, which father Labat paid to that of the Mofes of Michael Angelo.

This learned Dominican, .

. ff<.!'i 1110res h01Jzini/,1JZ multorum vidit & urbes,

..

has, after fo many centuries, drawn from

..

a Lettere d'alcuni Bolognefi, Vol. I. p. 1-59. .

b Compare a defcription of a St. Sebaflian of Bee .. eafumi, another of a Hercules and Anreeus of Lanfranc, &c. in Raguenet's Monumens de Rome. Paris, J2.mo,

this

t

..

•

the -foregoing R~8jons. 1J

this very ftatue ~n evident proof-of the true falbion in which Mofes wore his own individual beard, and whofe imitation mull, of courfe, be the diftinguifhing mark of every

true jew '. .

I

There is not the leafl: (park of learning,

~

fays he, in your remarks on the Peplon of

the three veftals: he might perhaps, on the

•

very infleCtion of the veil, have' difcovered

to you as many curiofities as Cuper himfelf found on the edge of the veil of Tragedy in the Apotheofis of Homer •.

We alto want proof of the veftals being

c Labat voyage en Efpagne & en Ita). T .111. p.213. - -" Michel Ange etoit auffi {avant dans I'antiquite " que dans l'anatomie, Ia fculpture, Ja peinture, et " l'archite8:ure; et puifqui ilnous a reprefente MoyCe " avec une fibelle et Ii longue barbe, il eft fur, -et " doit paffer pour conllant, que le prophete .Ia por" toit ainfi , et par une confequence neceflaire les

•

c' J uifs, qui pretendent le copier avec exactitude, et

-., 'lui font la plus grande partie de leur religion de ·

f' l'obfervance des ufages qu' it a Jajlfe, doivent avoir

" de la barbe comme lui, ou renoncer a la qualite

" de Juifs/' - ·

.d Apotheof. Homeri, p. 81, 82,

F 4- real1y

..

..

-

06jeClions agtzitIJ

really Greek perfo'r1ilan~es: our reafon fails us t~o often in the moil: obvious things.' If unhappily the marble of thefe figures. Ihould

~ .

•

be proved to be no Lychnites, they are 'loA, and your treatife too: had you but flig4tI y

I ~ . ..

_tela us their marble was Iarge-grained, that

• T

would have been a fufficient proof of their

J ...

authenticity , for it would be fomewhat dif-

ficult to determine the bignefs of the 'grains

with fnch exactnefs as to diftinguifh the

I

Greek -msrble from the Roman of Luna.

But the worft is, they are even denied the

title of veftals .

..

The third mentioned rome heads of Livia

~ r.. •

and Agrippina, without that pretended pr~

•

file of yours, Here he thinks you ha-d the

100ft lucky occafion totalk of that kind of

. . - .

nofe 'by the ancients called §J.gadrata~ as an

ingredient of beauty * But you no doubt

know, that the nofes of Iome o .. f the molt famous Greek flatues, viz. the Medicean

Venus, and the Picchinian Meleager, are

much

,

~

the flre'gDing RdlexitJns.

... .. .. "

much 'too thick: 'r~r:. =b~coming the model, of

I

beautv, in that kind,. to our artifls, '

~ , f

I 'fha11 not, however, g~11' ~u with aU

,

..

the doubts arid objeB:ions railed againft'your

treatife, and repeated to naufeoufnefs, upon the' arrival of an Academician, : the' Margites

of bU~l1ays, who, 'being Ihewed your treatife, gaye ~t ~'a flight glance, then laid it afide, offended' as it were at, firft fight. But it was eafy to perceive that · he wanted his opinion to be .afked, which we accordingly all did.

" The '. author, faid he- very peremptorily,

• ~ r

feems not to have been at much 'pa~ns with

this tre'atife: I cannot find above "four-or fiv:e quotations, and t40fe negligelltly inferred , no chapter, no page, cited j he 'Certainly col •

•

letted his- "remarks from books which he is

afhamed to produce.')

Yet cannot I help introducing another gentleman, iliarp-fighted enough to pick 0Ut fomething that had efcaped all my attention ; viz. that the Gfeeks were \ the

lira

•

73

..

-

\

/

74

ObjeSions Ilgainjl 0

- .. ..

£rft inventors of Painting and Sculpture , an

~ ...

aflertion, as he was pleafed to exprefs him-

•

{elf, entirely falfe, having been told it was

the Egyptians, - or fome people {lill more an~

~ r_

cient, and. unknown to him.

• 0" Even the mof] whimfical humour may be

.. ~ ~ ..

turned to profit: neverthelefs, I think it

manifeft that you intended to talk only of

oW "'I • -

.. good Tafte in thofe arts; and the firft Ele-

~

meats of an art have the fame proportion to

. ,. ... .. - .. . -

good Tafle in it, as .the feed has ~to the

fruit. That the art was Ilill in its. infancy

among the Egyptians, when it had attained the higheft degree of perfedion.among the Greeks, may be feen by examining .one fin gIe gem: you need only confider the head

-flf Ptolomaus Pbilopator "by Aulus, and the

..

two figures adjoining to it done" by an

•

Egyptian c, in order to be convinced of the

. ~

little merit this nation could pretend to iq

, ~

point of art ..

e Stofcb Pierr. Grav. pl. XIX. · ·

The

-

,

III •

-

the foregoing Rejltxion!. 75

•

The form and tafte of their Painting have

-

been - afcertained by Middleton. f The

piClures of perfons as big as life,· on two mummies in the royal cabinet of antiquities

I

at Drefden, are evident inftances of their in-

capacity. But thefe relicks being curious;

..

in feveral other refpeCl:s, I fhall hereafter ·

fubjoin a Ihort account of them •.

...

I cannot, my friend, help allowing fome

reafon for feveral of thefe objeClions. Your

,

negligence in your quotations was, no doubt,

fomewhat prejudicial to your authenticity: the art of changing blue eyes to black ones, certainly deferved an authority. Y au imitate Democritus , who being afked, (' What is man?" every body knows what was his

reply. What reafonable creature will fub •

.

mit to read all Greek fcholiafts !

Ibit eo, quo 'Vis, qui Zonam perdidit. •

,

Hor •

.

Confidering, however, how eafuy the h~-

"'t

f Monum. Antiquit. p. 255.

man

,

..

'\

76 · "Obft8wm agm~

man mind is biaffed, either by fricndlhip or animofity, I took occafion from 'thefe ob-

... ~ L

jedione to examine your treatife \vi~, ;iDOre

I ....

exadnefs , and fhall DO\V, by the :moll Bn, ...

. ...

partial cenfure, flrive to ~lear 'Inyfelf frOm

.. ..

...

every imputation of prepofleffion -in _ your

•

favour.

I will pafs by the firA: and fecond page,

~ ~

though fonlething might be _ Iaid on your

comparifon of the Diana with the Nauficaa,

. -

and the application: nor would it have been

- ~

amifs, had you thrown fome more light on the

10

remark concerning the mifufed pidures of

•

Corregio (\Tery likely borrowed - from ·Count

Tetlin's letters), by giving_ an account of the

-

other indignities which the piClures of the

- ... ..

...

beft artifts, at the Ertn:e: time, met with at

...

•

Stockholm.

.

It is well known .that, . after the fiirrender

~

..

of Prague to Count Konigfmar~, the 15th

of July 1648, the rnofl precious pictures of

•

L'le Emperor Rodolph II. were carried oft"

3 - to

•

-

...

the·foregoing ReJlexions. 77

,#

to Sweden Z. Among thefe were fome pic ..

..

tures of Corregio, which the Emperor had

been prefented with .by their firft pofieffor, Duke Frederick of Mantua; two of them being. the-famous Leda, and a Cupid handling bis bow h. Chriftina, endowed at that time

t#

~ -

rather with fcholaflic learning than tafle,

treated there treafures as the Emperor Clan ... dius did an Alexander of Apelles , who ordered the head to be cut off, and that of

•

Al1guftus to fill its place I. . In the fame

manner heads, hands, feet were here cut

•

off from the moft beautiful pidures , a car-

pet was plaftered over with them, and the mangled pieces fitted up with new heads, &c. Thofe that fortunately' efcaped the

common havock, among which were the pieces of Corregio, came afterwards, together with feveral other pitlures, bought by

~

..

I Puffendorf Rer, Suec. L. xx. §. so. p. 796•

h Sandrart Acad. P. II. L. 2.. c. 6. p. 118. Conf.

~t.Gelais defcr.des'Tabl, du Palais Royal, p. 12. & feq.

j Plin. Hill. Nat. L. 35. c. 10.. .

..

..

-

...

78 - Objec1z·ons agail!ft

the ~een_ at Rome, into the po1feffion of the Duke of Orleans, who purchafed -2 50

...

of them, and .among thofe eleven ~of Cor-

regio, for 9000 Roman crowns.

But I am not contented with your charg-

- ing only the northern countries with barbarifm, on account of the little efleem they paid to the aILS. If good taile is to be judged in this manner, I anl afraid for our French neighbours. For having taken Bonn, the refidence of the Elector of Cologne, after the death of M ax. Henry, they ordered the

largeft pictures to be cut out of their frames, without diftinCtion, in order to ferve for coverin gs to the waggons, in which the moft valuable furniture of the electoral cafile was carried off for France. But, Sir, do 'not prefume on - my continuing with mere hiftorical 'remarks: I Ihall proceed with my ob-

I

jections; after making the two follo~7ing- ge-

neral obfervations ..

-

I. You have written in a ftyle too con-

cife for being difiinCt. Were you afraid of being

I

...

..

~

the' foregoing Rejkxions. 79

...

being condemned to the' penalty of· a

Spartan, who could not reflrain himfelf to only three words,· perhaps that of reading Picciardin's Pifan W ar ] DiflinClnefs is required where univerfal infiruffion is the I end.

Meats are - to fuit the tafl~ of the guells,

rather than that of the cooks,

I t -. CtEnce fircula nqflrtZ

Malim convivis quam placuVft coquis.

r

II. There appears, in almoft eyery line of yours, the moft paffionate attachment to

antiquity; which perhaps I Ihall convince you of, by the following remarks.

The firft particular objetlion I have to make is againft your third page. Remember, however, that my pailing by two

pages is very generous dealing:

non temere a me ~ivis ferret idem :

Hor.

but let us now begin a formal trial.

The

l._ .. _+- .....

•

..

/

•

..

I

80 Objtflions again}1

The author talks of certain negligences ia ~e Greek works, which ought to be con-

.

6dered {uitably to Lucian's precepts .concern •

..

ing the Zeus of Phidias: "Zeus 11imfel~

_Dot his; footflool ," k t h perhaps he ~ ...... ~

sot be _ gOO with any fault in the foot.-~oo},

_...

but: with a very grievous one in the fi~~u.c:.

Is it no fault that Phidias made his Zeus

•

..

of fo enormous a bulk, as- almofi to reach

.. • + -

the cieliflg of the temple, which. mutt in ...

,

fallibly have been thrown down, .had the

god taken it in his head to rife? r To .have left the -tenlple without any cieIing at all,

• •

1 Iike that of the Olympian Jupiter at Athens,

had been 20 inftance of more judgment '", "Tis but jU11ice to claim an explication of what the author means by" negligences",

..

He perhaps might be pleafed to get -·a pa~

port, even for the faults of tile ancients, by fhelrering them under the ~ authority of

•

-

k Lucian de Hifl. Scrib,

1 Strabo -Geogr.. L. VIII. p. 542. D Y-itruv. L.l1I. c. I,

•

fuch

,.

•

the foregoing "Riflexions.

-81

\.

fuch~ ti~~s; nay, to change them into beauties, as Alceus did the (pot on the-finger of .

•

his beloved boy, W e too often view the

blem~s of the ancients, as a parent does

thofe of his children:

: StrabOIZem

Appellat ptttztm pater) & pullum, male parous

Si cui filius ejJ. Hor,

If there negligences were like thofe wifhed for' in the Jalyfus of Protogenes, where the chief. figure was out-Ihone by" a partridge,

they might be con fi dered as the agreeable neg-

.. r- .. ..

ligee of a fine lady; but this is the queffion.

Befides, had the author confulted his interefl, he never would have ventured citing the Diomedes of Diofcorides: but being too

well acquainted with that genl, one of the

..

moft valued, moil: finifhed monuments of

•

Greek 'art; and being apprehenfive of the

prejudice that might arife againft the meaner productions of the ancients, on difcovering many faults in one fo eminent as Diomedcs ,

G he

..

•

82

O/deClio_ns agaln.ft

he endeavoured to keep matters from being to;> nearly examined, arid to foften every

fault into -negligence. .

How! if by argument I fhall attempt to Ihew that Diofcorides underfiood neither

perfpeCtive, nor the moll trivial rules of the

•

motion of a human body; nay, that he of-

fended even againft poffibility? I'll venture

to do it, though . '

incedo per ignes

SuppqJitos cineri dolofo. Hor.

~ • •

And perhaps I am not the firfl: difcoverer of his faults: yet I do not remember to have feen any thing relative to them.

The Diomedes of Diofcorides is either a fitting, or a rifing figure; for the attitude is ambiguous. It is plain he is not fitting; and rifing is inconfiftent with his action,

Our body endeavouring to raife itfelf from a feat, mov~s always mechanically towards its fought-for centre of gravity, drawing back the

,

..

the foregoing i?d!exiol11 .

the legs, which were advanced in 1itting ~ ~ inflead of which the figure flretches out his fight leg. Every erection begins with elevated heels, and in that moment a11 the weight of the body is fupported only by the toes, which Was obferved by Felix 0, in his

Diomedes : but here 'all-refts on the folc.

Nor can Diomedes, (if we fuppofe him . to be a fitting :figure, as he .touches with his left leg the bottom of his thigh) find, in

raifing himfelf, the centre of his gravity, . only by a retraction of his legs, and of

courfe cannot rife in that pofture. His left \

hand refl:ing upon the bended leg, holds the palladion, whili] his right touches negli ..

gently the .pedeflal with the point of a Ihort

fword , confequently he cannot rife, neither

moving. his legs in the natural and eafy

manner required in any erection, nor making

n Borell, de motu animal. P. I. c. 18. prop. 142, p. 142• edit. Bernoue.

• Stofeh. Pierr, Gravi pI. XXXV.

G 2

ufe

..

r

84 Of?jections againft

ufe of his arms to deliver himfelf from that uneafy fituation,

There is at the fame time a fault com-

~ +

+

mitred againft the rules of perfpeCtive.

The foot of the left bended leg, touching the cornice of the pedeflal, fhews it over-reaching that part of the floor, on which the pedeftal and the right foot are fituated, confequently the line defcribed by the hinder ..

foot is the fore on the gem, and uce'Verfo.

But allowing even ~ a poffibility to that

fituation, it is contrary to the Greek chara Cler , which is always diffinguifhed by the natural and eafy. A ttributes neither to be

met with in the contorfions of Diomedes, nor in an attitude, the impoffibility of which every one mutt be fenfible of, in endeavour-

-

ing to put himfelf in it, without the help

of. former Ctttif:lg.·

Felix, fuppofed to have lived after Diofcorides, though ·preferving the fame attitude, has endeavoured to make its violence more

natural, by oppafing to him the figure of Ulyffes,

,

...

,.

-

t/;e foregoing Rd/exlons.

..

8S

•

;

UlyfTes, who, as we are told, in order to

bereave him of the honour of having feized the Palladion, offered to rob him of it, but

..

being difcovered, was repulfed by Diomedes ;

which being his fuppofed action on the gem,

_ ...

allows violence of attitude p. · ,

Diomedes cannot be a fitting figure, for the Contour of his buttock and thigh is free, and not in the leaft cornprefled : the

•

foot of the bent leg is vifible, and the leg

itfelf not bent enough.

The Diomedes reprefented by Mariette

is abfurd i the left leg refembling a claiped pocket-knife, and the foot being drawn up

fo high as to make it impoffible in nature -! that it Ihould reach the pedeflal q.

Faults of this kind cannot be called negligences, and would not btl forgiven in any modern artifl:.

L

,

Diofcorides, 'tis true, in this renowned performance did but copy Polycletus, whofe

P Storch Pierr. Grav. pl. xxxv.

'I Mariette Pierr. Grav, T. II. n, 94.

G 3 Dorypho ..

•

,

S 6 ObjeBio12s againJ1

Doryphorus (as is commonly agreed) was the heft rule of human proportions", But, though a copyifr, Diofcorides efcaped. a fault

which his mafier fell into. For the pe-

"

deftal, over which the Diomedes of Poly ...

cletus leans, is contrary to the moll: com .. rnon rules of perfpective , its cornices, which

•

fhould be parallel, forming two different

lines. ·

J"wonder at Perrault's omitting to make

objections againfl the ancient gems.

I mean not to do any thing derogatory to

the author, when I trace forne of his parti ... cular obfervations to their fource,

The food prefcribed to the young wrefllers,

..

in the remoter times of Greece, is mentioned by Paufanias 5. But if the author alluded to the paiTage which I have in view, why

does he talk in general of milk-food, when Paufanias particularly mention! foft cheefe ?

~ Storch Pierr. Grav. pI. LIV.

, Paufanias, L. VI. c. 7. P.' 470.

Dromeus

,

..

,

the flregoilzg Rd/eXions 87

Dromeus of Stymphilos, we learn there, 111ft introduced flefh meat.

My relearches, concerning their myfterious art of changing blue eyes to black ones, have not fucceeded to my with. I find it

mentioned but once, and that only by the bye by Diofcorides ', The author, by clear-

ing up this art, might perhaps have thrown a greater lufire over his treatife, than by producing his new method of fiatuary. He

had it in his po\ver to fix the eyes of the. Newtons and Algarotti's, on a problem worth

their attention, and to engage the fair fex, bya di~overy fo advantageous to their charms, efpecially in Germany, where, contrary to

Greece, large, fine, blue eyes are more fre-

quently met with than black ones. ·

There was a time when the fa1hion re-

quired to be green eyed:

Et ft bel oeil siert & riant & clair:

Le Sire de Couey, chant.

t .Diofcorid. de Re Medica, L. V. c. 179. COJlf ..

SaIlllaf. Exercit. Plin. c. J 5. P: 134. b,

• G 4 But

\.

f ....

I

88

OldeBions llgainfl

But I do not know whether art had I any fhare in their colouring. And as to the fmall .. pox, Hippocrates might be quoted, if gram'!' matical difquifitions fuited my purpofe. 1

However, I think, no effeCts of the finallpox: on a face can be fa much the reverfe of

~

beauty, as thatdefeC1: which the Athenians were

reproachfully charged with, viz. a buttock as pitiful as their face was perfect ". Indeed

..

Nature, in fo fcantily· fupplying thofe parts)

feemed to derogate as much from the Athe-r nian beauty) as, by her Iavifhnefs, from that of the Indian Enotocets, whofe ears, we

are told, were large enough to ferve them

for pillows,

As for opportunities to iludy the nudities, our times, I think, afford as advantageous ones as the Cymnafies of the ancients. 'Tis the fault of our artifts to make no ufe of that~· propofed to the Parifian artifls,

1] Arit1:oph. Nub. v. I 1,8. ibid. v •• 363- Et ScholiaR •

•

w Obfervat, fur les arts, fur quelques morceaux de

peint, & fculpt, expofes au Louvre en 1748. p. 18.

• •

VIZ.

t

-

the flrlgDing ReJlexionl. 99

viz. to walk. during the Iummer feafon, along the Seine, in order to have a full view of the naked parts, from the fixth to the fiftieth year. ·

'Tis perhaps to Michael Angelo's frequent ..

ing fuch opportunities that we owe his celelebrated Carton of the Pifan war", where the foldiers bathing in a river 7 at . the found

of a trumpet leap out of the water, and

make hafte to huddle on their cloaths.

One of the mofi: ofrenfive paffages of the treatife is, no doubt, the unjuft debafernent of the modern fculptors beneath the an ...

cients. Thefe latter times are poflefled of feveral Glycons in mufcular heroic figures,

and, in tender youthful female bodies, of

~

more than one Praxiteles. Mlcbael AlzgeloJ

· ..;1lgardi,. and Sluter, whofe genius embel-

•

lifhed Berlin, .produced rnufcular bodies,

. _-. - In'PiC1i membra Glyconis,

+

Hor •

•

~ ~jJlofo di Raffaellc Borghini, J,.,. I, p. +6.

•

1J)

•

..

,

....

-

..

90 · ObjeClions agailzfl ·

in a. ftyle rivalling that of Glycan himfelf; and in delicacy the Greeks are perhaps even

outdone by Bernini, Fiammingo, Le Gras, Rauchmiiller, Donner .

The unIkilfulnefs of the ancients, in fhaping children, is agreed upon by our ar ..

.

tills, who, I fuppofe," would for imitation

choofe a Cupid of Fiammingo rather than of Praxiteles himfelf. The ftory of M. An-

gelo's placing a Cupid of his own by the fide of an antique one, in order to inform our times of the fuperiority ofthe ancient art, is

- of no weight here: for no work of Michael 'Angelo can bring us fo near perfeCtion as Nature herfelf .

I think it 110 hyperbole to advance, that Fiammingo, like a new Prometheus, pro-

duced creatures which art had never fcen before him. For, if from almoft all

the children on ancient gems. Y and re-

Y See the Cupid by SOLON, Stofch.64- the Cupid leading the Linnets, by SOSTR~ TUS, Stofch.66, and a Child and F'aun, by AJ;EOCHUS, Storch 20.

2 liefs

..

A

...

..

the joregoilzg RejlexiolZS. 9 I

liefs z, we may form a conclufion of the art itfelf, it wanted the true expreffion of childhood, as loofer forms, more milkinefs, and

unknit bones. Faults which, from the epoch

~

of Raphael, all children laboured under, till

the appearance of _ Francis ~~efnoy, called Fiammingo, whoCe children having the advantages of Iuitable innocence and nature, became models to the following artifls, as in

..

youthful bodies Apollo and Antinous are:

an ho .. nour which Algardi, his contemporary, may be allowed to ala~e.

Their models in .clay are, by our artifls,

efleemed fuperior to all the antique marble children", and an artift of genius and talents aflured me, that during a fray of [even years at 'Vienna, he fa w not one copy taken from an ancient Cupid in that academy.

Neither do I know on what fingular idea · of beauty, the ancient artifls founded their cuftorn, of hiding the foreheads of their

Z Vide Bartoli Admiranda Rom. fol. 50, 51. 6[.

Zanetti Stat. Antich. P. II. fol. 33.

children

92 OhjeElioizs agiJiljfl

..

children and youths with hair. Thus a

Cupid was reprefented by Praxiteles 2; thus a Patroclus, in a picture mentioned by Philoftratus b: and there I is no ftatue nor bull, no gem nor coin of Antinous, in wh-ich we

do not find him thus drefled. Hence, .per-

•

haps, that gloom, that melancholy, with

which all the heads of this favourite of Ha-

..

drian are marked.

Is not -there in a free open brow more noblenefs and fublimity? and does not Bernini feem to have been better acquainted

F -

with beauty than the ancients, when he re-

moved the over-lhadowing locks from the forehead of young Lewis XIV. whofe buR

f

he was then executing? ce Your Majefty,

raid Bernini, is King, and may with con-

_.

fidence fhew your brow to all the world."

From that time King and court drefled their

hair a la Bernini C. "

2 Vide Cal1iftrat. p. 9°3. b Vide Philoilrati Heroic,

C Vide Baldinucci vita del Caval. Bernin. P.4i.

His

,

..

-tbe foregoing Rejlexions. 9~

III.

His' ju$lgment of the' bas- reliefs on the

monument of Pope Alexander VI d. leads us to {orne remarks on thofe of antiquity.

" The 1ki11 in bas-relief, [aid he, coniifls in giving the air of relief to the flat:· the

figures of that monument feem what they are indeed, not what they are not."

The chief end of bas-relief is to deck

thofe places that want hiftorical or allegorical ornaments, but which have neither cor ... nices fufficiendy fpacious, nor proportions regular enough to allow groupes of entire fiatues: and as the cornice itfelf is chiefly intended to Ihelter the fubordinate parts from

being directly or Indirectly hurt, no bas .. relief mufi: exceed the projection thereof's which would not only make the cornice of

no ufe, but endanger the figures themfelves, \ ;

The figures of ancient bas-reliefs 1hoot commonly fo much forward as to become .

..

almofl round. But bas-relief being founded .

.i Vide Baldinuc,i vita del Caval. Bernia. p. 72• OD

•

..

....

94 ObjeElions 'againjl

•

•

on fiCtion, can only counterfeit reality ~ its perfection is well to imitate; and a natural mafs is againft its nature if flat, ought to

"I

appear projeCted, and vice »erfa. If this be

true, it muil: of courfe be allowed that :figures wholly round are inconftfient with it,

and are to be confidered as folid marble pillars built upon the theatre, whofe aim is mere illufion; for art, as is faid of tragedy, wins truth from fiClion, and that by truth .

To art we often owe charms fuperior to thofe of nature; a real garden and vegetating

trees, on the ftage, do not affect us fo agreeably, as when well expreffed by the imitating art. A rofe of Vall Huifum, mallows of

· Veerenda I, bewitch us more than all the

darlings of the 1110ft fkilful gardener: the rnoft enticing landfcape, nay, even the charms of the Theffalian Tempe, would not, perhaps, affeCt lIS with that irrefiftible de ...

light which, flowing from Dietrick's pencil, enchants our fenfes and imagination.

By

t

..

..

J

the foregoing Rejlexions. 9 5

By fuch inftances we may fafely form a judgment' of the ancient bas-reliefs: the

...

royal cabinet at Drefden is poffeffed of two

eminent ones: 'a Bacchanal on a tomb, and

a facrifice to Priapus on a large marble vafe.

The bas-relief claims a particular kind of Iculpture , a method that few have fucceeded in, of which Matielli may be an infiance. The Emperor Charles VI. having

ordered forne models to be prepared by the moil: renowned artifls, in bas-relief, intend-

ed for the {piral columns at the church of

S. Charles Borromreo j Mafic/Ii, already famous, was principally thought of; but how-

ever refufed the honour of fo confiderable a work;· on account of the enormous bulk of his model, which requiring too great cavities, would have diminifhed the mafs of the flone, and of courfe weakened the pillars. Mader was the artiil:, whofe models were

ur.iverfally applauded, and who by his admirable execution proved that he deferved

that

•

..

..

96 the foregoing Rejlexions.

that preference. Thefe bas-reliefs reprefent the flory of the patron of this church.

It is in general to be obferved, firft, fhat

...

.

this kind of fculpture admits not indifferently

of every attitude and action; -as for inftance,

of too ftrong projections of the legs. Se-

T

condly, That, befides difpofing of the feveral

modelled figures in well-ranged groupes~ the diameter of everyone ought to be applied to the bas-relief itfelf, by a leffened fcale s

as for inftance, the diameter of a figure in

•

the model being one foot, the profile of the

fame, according to its fize, will be three inches, or-Iefs : the rounder a figure of that diameter, the greater the fk.ill. Commonly the relief wants perfpeaive, and thence ariie

.mofl of its faults.

....

. Tl10ugh I propoled to make onl y a few

remarks on the .ancient bas-relief, I find

myfelf, like a certain ancient Rhetor, almoft

"

under a neceffity of being new-tuned. I

have firayed beyond my Iimits j thoughat the fame time I remembered that there is a

.. -

law

,

...

..

,

the foregoing Rejlexions.

97

.. ...

la VI among commentators, to content themfelves with bare remarks on the contents of a treatife : and alfo fenfible that I am writing

a letter, not a book, I confider that I may draw fome inflrudions f01· my own ufe,

__ a. a ut vineta egomet cedam mea" Hor,

from fome people's impetuofity againfl: the

..

author; who, becaufe they are hired for it,

Ieem to think that writing is confined to them alone.

The Romans, though they worfhipped the deity 'Terminus (the guardian God of limits and borders in general; and) if it pleafe thefe gentlemen, of the limits ill arts and fciences too), allowed neverthelefs an uni-

verfal unreftrained criticifm: land the de-

..

cifions of fome Greeks and Romans, in

matters of an art, which they did not practife, feem neverthelefs authentick to our artifls,

H

Nor