for amongst the multitude of Sculptors which were in Greece and Italy 't is impossible but some of them must have been bad work-men or rather less good for though their works were much inferiour to the Artists of the first form yet somewhat of greatness is to be seen in them and somewhat of harmonious in the distribution of their parts which makes it evident that at this time they wrought on Common Principles and that every one of them avail'd himself of those Principles according to his Capacity and Genius Those Statues were the greatest Ornaments of Greece we need onely open the Book of Pausanias to find the prodigious quantity of them whether within or without their Temples or in the crossing of Streets or in the Squares and publique Places or even the Fields or on the Tombs Statues were erected to the Muses to the Nymphs to Heroes to great Captains to Magistrates Philosophers and Poets In short they were set up to all those who had made themselves eminent either in defence of their Country or for any noble action which deserv'd a recompence for it was the most ordinary and most authentique way both amongst the Greeks and Romans thus to testifie their gratitude The Romans when they had conquer'd Graecia transported from thence not onely their most admirable Statues but also brought along with them the most excellent of their Sculptors who instructed others in their Art and have left to posterity the immortal Examples of their knowledge which we see confirm'd by those curious Statues those Vases those Basso-Relievo's and those beautifull Columns call'd by the names of Trajan and Antonine They are those Beauties which out Author proposes to us for our Models And as the true Fountains of Science out of which both Painters and Statuaries are bound to draw for their own use without amusing themselves with dipping in streams which are often muddy at least troubled I mean the manner of their Masters after whom they creep and from whom they are unwilling to depart either through negligence or through the meanness of their Genius It belongs onely to heavy minds says Cicero to spend their time on streams without searching for the Springs from whence their materials flow in all manner of abundance Without which all is nothing but a blind and rash barbarity c. All that has nothing of the Ancient gust is call'd a barbarous or Gothique manner which is not conducted by any rule but onely follows a wretched fancy which has nothing in it that is noble we are here to observe that Painters are not oblig'd to follow the Antique as exactly as the Sculptors for then their Picture would favour too strongly of the Statue and would seem to be without Motion Many Painters and some of the ablest amongst them believing they do well and taking that Precept in too literal a Sence have fallen thereby into great inconveniencies it therefore becomes the Painters to make use of those Ancient Patterns with discretion and to accommodate the Nature to them in such a manner that their Figures which must seem to live may rather appear to be Models for the Antique than the Antique a Model for their figures It appears that Raphael made a perfect use of this conduct and that the Lombard School have not precisely search'd into this Precept any further than to learn from thence how to make a good choice of the Nature and to give a certain grace and nobleness to all their works by the general and confus'd Idea which they had of what is beautifull as for the rest they are sufficiently licentious excepting onely Titian who of all the Lombards has preserv'd the greatest purity in his works This barbarous manner of which I spoke has been in great vogue from the year 611 to 1450. They who have restor'd Painting in Germany not having seen any of those fair Reliques of Antiquity have retain'd much of that barbarous manner Amongst others Lucas van Leyden a very laborious man who with his Scholars has infected almost all Europe with his designs for Tapestry which by the ignorant are call'd Ancient Hangings a greater honour than they deserve these I say are esteem'd beautifull by the greatest part of the World I must acknowledge that I am amaz'd at so gross a stupidity and that we of the French Nation should have so barbarous a Tast as to take for beautifull those flat childish and insipid Tapestries Albert Durer that famous German who was contemporary to that Lucas has had the like misfortune to fall into that absurd manner because he had never seen any thing that was beautifull Observe what Vasari tells us in the life of Marc Antonio Raphael's Graver having first commended Albert for his skill in graving and his other Talents And in truth says he if this so excellent so exact and so universal a Man had been born in Tuscany as he was in Germany and had form'd his studies according to those beautifull pieces which are seen at Rome as the rest of us have done he had prov'd the best Painter of all Italy as he was the greatest Genius and the most accomplish'd which Germany ever bore We love what we understand c. This period informs us that though our inventions are never so good though we are furnish'd by Nature with a noble Genius and though we follow the impulse of it yet this is not enough if we learn not to understand what is perfect and beautifull in Nature to the end that having found it we may be able to imitate it and by this instruction we may be capacitated to observe those errors which she her self has made and to avoid them so as not to copy her in all sorts of subjects such as she appears to us without choice or distinction As being the Sovereign Iudge of his own Art c. This word of Sovereign Iudge or Arbiter of his own Art presupposes a painter to be fully instructed in all the parts of Painting so that being set as it were above his Art he may be the Master and Sovereign of it which is no easie matter Those of that profession are so seldom endow'd with that supreme Capacity that few of them arrive to be good Judges of Painting and I should many times make more account of their judgment who are men of Sence and yet have never touch'd a Pencil than of the opinion which is given by the greatest part of Painters All Painters therefore may be call'd Arbiters of their own Art but to be Sovereign Arbiters belongs onely to knowing Painters And permit no transient Beauties to escape his observation c. Those fugitive or transient Beauties are no other than such as we observe in Nature with a short and transient view and which remain not long in their subjects Such are the Passions of the Soul There are of these sort of Beauties which last but for a moment as the different Aires of an Assembly upon the
which are comprehended under the name of the belle lettere In my opinion the Books which are of the most advantage to those of the Profession are these which follow The Bible The History of Iosephus The Roman History of Coeffeteau for those who understand the French and that of Titus Livius translated by Vigenere with the Notes which are both curious and profitable They are in two Volumes Homer whom Pliny calls the Fountain-head of Invention and noble thoughts Virgil and in him particularly his Aeneids The Ecclesiastical History of Godeau or the Abridgement of Baronius Ovid's Metamorphoses translated into French by Du Rier and in English by Sandys The Pictures of Philostratus Plutarch's Lives translated from the Greek by several hands in 5 Volumes Pausanias though I doubt whether that Author be translated He is wonderfull for giving of great Ideas and chiefly for such as are to be plac'd at a distance or cast behind and for the combining of Figures This Author in conjunction with Homer make a good mingle of what is pleasing and what is perfect The Religion of the Ancient Romans by Du Choul and in English Godwin's Roman Antiquities Trajan's Pillar with the discourse which explains the Figures on it and instructs a Painter in those things with which he is undispensibly to be acquainted This is one of the most principal and most learned Books which we have for the Modes the Customs the Arms and the Religion of the Romans Iulio Romano made his chief studies on the Marble it self The Books of Medals The Bass-Reliefs of Perrier and others with their Explanations at the bottom of the Pages which give a perfect understanding of them Horace's Art of Poetry by the Earl of Roscomon because of the relation which there is betwixt the Rules of Poetry and those of Painting And other Books of the like Nature the reading of which are profitable to warm the Imagination such as in English are Spencer's Fairy Queen The Paradise lost of Milton Tasso translated by Fairfax and the History of Polybius by Sir Henry Shere Some Romances also are very capable of entertaining the Genius and of strengthening it by the noble Ideas which they give of things but there is this danger in them that they almost always corrupt the truth of History There are also other Books which a Painter may use upon some particular occasions and onely when he wants them Such are The Mythology of the Gods The Images of the Gods The Iconology The Tables of Hyginus The practical Perspective And some others not here mention'd Thus it is necessary that they who are desirous of a name in Painting should read at leisure times these Books with diligence and make their observations of such things as they find for their purpose in them and of which they believe they may sometime or other have occasion let the Imagination be employ'd in this reading and let them make Sketches and light Touches of those Ideas which that reading forms in their Imagination Quinctilian Tacitus or whoever was the Author of that Dialogue which is call'd in Latine De causis corrupâ—â—ae eloquentiae says That Painting resembles Fiâ—â—e which is â—â—ed by the Fuel inflam'd by Motion and gaâ—â—hers strength by burning For the power of the Genius is onely augmented by the abundance of matter to supply it and 't is impossible to make a great and magnificent work if that matter be wanting or not dispos'd rightly And therefore a Painter who has a Genius gets nothing by long thinking and taking all imaginable care to make a noble Composition if he be not assisted by those studies which I have mention'd All that he can gain by it is onely to weary his Imagination and to travel over many vast Countries without dwelling on any one thing which can give him satisfaction All the Books which I have named may be serviceable to all sorts of Persons as well as to Painters As for those Books which were of particular use to them they were unfortunately lost in those Ages which were before the Invention of Printing Neglecting the Copyers probably out of ignorance to transcribe them as not finding themselves capable of making the demonstrative Figures In the mean time 't is evidently known by the reltaion of Authors that we have lost fifty Volumes of them at the least See Pliny in his 35th Book and Franc. Iunius in his 3d. Chapter of the 2d Book of the Painting of the Ancients Many Moderns have written of it with small success taking a large compass without coming directly to the point and talking much without saying any thing yet some of them have acquitted themselves successfully enough Amongst others Leonardo da Vinci though without method Paulo Lomazzo whose Book is good for the greatest part but whose discourse is too diffusive and very tiresome Iohn Baptist Armenini Franciscus Iunius Monsieur de Cambray to whose Preface I rather invite you than to his Book we are not to forget what Monsieur Felebien has written of the Picture of Alexander by the hand of Monsieur Le Brun besides that the work it self is very eloquent the Foundations which he establishes for the making of a good Picture are wonderfully solid Thus I have given you very near the Library of a Painter and a Catalogue of such Books as he ought either to read himself or have read to him at least if he will not satisfie himself with possessing Painting as the most sordid of all Trades and not as the noblest of all Arts. 'T is the business of a Painter in his choice of Postures c. See here the most important Precept of all those which relate to Painting It belongs properly to a Painter alone and all the rest are borrow'd either from Learning or from Physick or from the Mathematicks or in short from other Arts for it is sufficient to have a natural Wit and Learning to make that which we call in Painting a good Invention for the design we must have some insight into Anatomy to make Buildings and other things in Perspective we must have knowledge in the Mathematicks and other Arts will bring in their Quota's to furnish out the matter of a good Picture but for the Oeconomy or ordering of the whole together none but onely the Painter can understand it because the end of the Artist is pleasingly to deceive the Eyes which he can never accomplish if this part be wanting to him A Picture may make an ill effect though the Invention of it be truly understood the Design of it correct and the Colours of it the most beautifull and fine that can be employ'd in it And on the contrary we may behold other Pictures ill invented ill design'd and painted with the most common Colours which shall make a very good effect and which shall more pleasingly deceive Nothing pleases a man so much as order says Xenophon And Horace in his Art of Poetry Singula quaeque locum teneant
contains half a Face From the lower part of the Knee to the Anckle two Faces From the Anckle to the Sole of the Foot half a Face A Man when his Arms are stretch'd out is from the longest Finger of his Right hand to the longest of his left as broad as he is long From one side of the Breasts to the other two Faces The bone of the Arm call'd Humerus is the length of two Faces from the Shoulder to the Elbow From the end of the Elbow to the root of the little Finger the bone call'd Cubitus with part of the Hand contains two Faces From the box of the Shoulder-blade to the pit betwixt the Collar-bones one Face If you would be satisfy'd in the Measures of breadth from the extremity of one Finger to the other so that this breadth shou'd be equal to the length of the Body you must observe that the boxes of the Elbows with the Humerus and of the Humerus with the Shoulder-blade bear the proportion of half a Face when the Arms are Stretch'd out The Sole of the Foot is the sixth part of the Figure The Hand is the length of a Face The Thumb contains a Nose The inside of the Arm from the place where the Muscle disappears which makes the Breast call'd the Pectoral Muscle to the middle of the Arm four Noses From the middle of the Arm to the begining of the Hand five Noses The longest Toe is a Nose long The two utmost parts of the Teats and the pit betwixt the Collar-bones of a Woman make an equailateral triangle For the breadth of the Limbs no precise measures can be given because the measures themselves are changeable according to the quality of the persons and according to the movement of the Muscles If you wou'd know the Proportions more particularly you may see them in Paulo Lomazzo 't is good to read them once at least and to make Remarks on them every man according to his own judgment and according to the occasion which he has for them Though Perspective cannot be call'd a certain Rule c. That is to say purely of it self without prudence and discretion The greatest part of those who understand it desiring to practise it too regularly often make such things as shock the sight though they are within the Rules If all those great Painters who have left us such fair Platforms had rigorously observ'd it in their Figures they had not wholly found their account in it They had indeed made things more regularly true but withall very unpleasing There is great appearance that the Architects and Statuaries of former times have not found it to their purpose always nor have follow'd the Geometrical Part so exactly as Perspective ordains For He who wou'd imitate the Frontispiece of the Rotunda according to Perspective wou'd be grosly deceiv'd since the Columns which are at the extremities have more diameter than those which are in the middle The Cornish of the Palazzo Farnese which makes so beautifull an effect below when view'd more nearly will be found not to have its just measures In the Pillar of Trajan we see that the highest Figures are greater than those below and make an effect quite contrary to Perspective increasing according to the measure of their distance I know there is a Rule which teaches a way of making them in that manner and which though 't is to be found in some Books of Perspective yet notwithstanding is no rule of Perspective Because 't is never made use of but onely when we find it for our purpose for if for example the Figures which are at the top of Trajan's Pillar were but as great as those which are at the bottom they wou'd not be for all that against Perspective and thus we may say with more reason that it is a rule of Decorum in Perspective to ease the sight and to render objects more agreeable 'T is on this general observation that we may establish in Perspective the rules of Decorum or convenience whensoever occasion shall offer We may also see another Example in the base of the Farnesian Hercules which is not upon the level but on an easie declivity on the advanc'd part that the feet of the Figure may not be hidden from the sight to the end that it may appear more pleasing which the noble Authors of these things have done not in contempt of Geometry and Perspective but for the satisfaction of the Eyes which was the end they propos'd to themselves in all their works We must therefore understand Perspective as a Science which is absolutely necessary and which a Painter must not want Yet without Subjecting our selves so wholly to it as to become slaves of it We are to follow it when it leads us in a pleasing way and that it shows us pleasing things but for some time to forsake it if it lead us through mire or to a precipice Endeavour after that which is aiding to your Art and convenient but avoid whatsoever is repugnant to it as the 59th rule teaches Let every Member be made for its own Head c. That is to say you ought not to set the Head of a Young man on the Body of an Old one nor make a white Hand for a wither'd Body Not to habit a Hercules in Taffeta nor an Apollo in course stuff Queens and persons of the first quality whom you wou'd make appear Majestical are not to be too negligently dress'd or indishabile no more than Old men The Nymphs are not to be overcharg'd with drapery in fine let all that which accompanies your Figures make them Known for what effectively they are Let the Figures to which Art cannot give a Voice imitate the Mutes in their Actions c. Mutes having no other way of speaking or expressing their thoughts but onely by their gestures and their actions 't is certain that they do it in a manner more expressive than those who have the use of Speech for which reason the Picture which is mute ought to imitate them so as to make it self understood Let the principal Figure of the Subject c. 'T is one of the greatest blemishes of a Picture not to give knowledge at the first Sight of the Subject which it represents And truly nothing is more perplexing than to extinguish as it were the principal Figure by the opposition of some others which present themselves to us at the first view and which carry a greater lustre An Orator who had undertaken to make a Panegyrick on Alexander the Great and who had emply'd the strongest Figures of his Rhetorique in the praise of Bucephalus would do quite the contrary to that which was expected from him Because it would be believ'd that he rather took the Horse for his Subject than the Master A Painter is like an Orator in this He must dispose his matter in such sort that all things may give place to his principal Subject And if the other Figures
salvage Nature which is not of our acquaintance and which seems to be of a quite new Creation Whom you must have always present as a witness to the truth c. This passage seems to be wonderfully well said The nearer a Picture approaches to the truth The better it is and though the Painter who is its Author be the first Judge of the Beauties which are in it he is nevertheless oblig'd not to pronounce it till he has first consulted Nature who is an irreproachable evidence and who will frankly but withall truly tell you its Defects and Beauties if you compare it with her Work And of all other things which discover to us the Thoughts and inventions of the Graecians c. As good Books such as are Homer and Pausanias the prints which we see of the Antiquities may extremely contribute to from our Genius and to give us great Ideas in the same manner as the Writings of good Authors are capable of forming a good Style in those who are desirous of writing well If you have but one single Figure to work upon c. The reason of this is That there being nothing to attract the Sight but this onely Figure the Visual Rays will not be too much divided by the Diversity of Colours and Draperies but onely take heed to put in nothing which shall appear too sharp or too hard and be mindfull of the 4th Precept which says that two Extremities are never to touch each other either in Colour or in Light but that there must be a mean partaking of the one and of the other Let the Drapery be nobley Spread upon the Body let the Folds be large c. As Raphael practis'd after he had forsaken the manner of Pietro Perugino and principally in his latter Works And let them follow the order of the parts c. As the fairest pieces of Antiquity will show us And take heed that the folds do not only follow the order of the parts but that they also mark the most considerable Muscles because that those Figures where the drapery and the naked part are seen both together are much more gracefull than the other Without sitting too streight upon them c. Painters ought not to imitate the Ancients in this circumstance the ancient Statuaries maâ—â— their Draperies of wet Linen On purpose to make them sit close and streight to the parts of their Figures for doing which they had great reason and in following which the Painters would be much in the wrong and you shall see upon what grounds those great Genius's of Antiquity finding that it was impossible to imitate with Marble the fineness of stuffs or garments which is not to be discern'd but by the Colours the Reflexes and more especially by the Lights and Shadows finding it I say out of their power to dispose of those things thought they could not do better nor more prudentially than to make use of such Draperies as hinder'd not from seeing through their Folds the delicacy of the Flesh and the purity of the Out-lines things which truly speaking they possest in the last perfection and which in all appearance were the subject of their chief study But Painters on the contrary who are to deceive the Sight quite otherwise than Statuaries are bound to imitate the different sorts of Garments such as they naturally seem and such as Colours Reflexes Lights and Shadows of all which they are Masters can make them appear Thus we see that those who have made the nearest imitations of Nature have made use of such Stuffs or Garments which are familiar to our Sight and these they have imitated with so much Art that in beholding them we are pleas'd that they deceive us such were Titian Paul Veronese Tintoret Rubens Van Dyck and the rest of the good Colourists who have come nearest to the truth of Nature Instead of which others who have scrupulously tied themselves to the practice of the Ancients in their Draperies have made their works crude and dry and by this means have found out the lamentable secret how to make their Figures harder than even the Marble it self As Andrea Mantegna and Pietro Perugino have done and Raphael also had much of that way in his first Works in which we behold many small foldings often repleited which look like so many Whip-cords 'T is true these repetitions are seen in the Ancient Statues and they are very proper there Because they who made use of wet Linen and close Draperies to make their Figures look more tender reasonably foresaw that the Members would be too naked if they left not more than two or three Folds scarce appearing such as those sorts of Draperies afford the Sight and therefore have us'd those Repetitions of many Folds yet in such a manner that the Figures are always soft and tender and thereby seem opposite to the hardness of Marble Add to this that in Sculpture 't is almost impossible that a Figure cloath'd with course Draperies can make a good effect on all the sides and that in Painting the Draperies of what kind soever they be are of great advantage either to unite the Colours and the Grouppes or to give such a ground as one would wish to unite or to separate or farther to produce such reflections as set off or for filling void spaces or in short for many other advantages which help to deceive the Sight and which are no ways necessary to Sculptors since their Work is always of Relievo Three things may be inferr'd from what I have said concerning the rule of Draperies First that the Ancient Sculptors had reason to cloath their Figures as we see them Secondly that Painters ought to imitate them in the order of their Folds but not in their quality nor in their number Thirdly That Sculptors are oblig'd to follow them as much as they can without desiring to imitate unprofitably or improperly the manners of the Painters and to make many ample Folds which are insufferable hardnesses and more like a Rock than a natural Garment See the 211th Remark about the middle of it And if the parts be too much distant from each other c. 'T is with intent to hinder as we have said in the rule of Grouppes the visual Rays from being too much divided and that the Eyes may not suffer by looking on so many objects which are separated Guido was very exact in this observation See in the Text the end of the Rule which relates to Draperies And as the Beauty of the Limbs consists not in the quantity and rising of the Muscles c. Raphael in the beginning of his Painting has somewhat too much multiply'd the Folds because being with reason charm'd with the graces of the Ancients he imitated their Beauties somewhat too regularly but having afterwards found that this quantity of Folds glitter'd too much upon the Limbs and took off that Repose and Silence which in Painting are so friendly to
not properly speaking a part of the main Action But Virgil concludes with the death of Turnus sor after that difficulty was remov'd Aeneas might marry and establish the Trojans when he pleas'd This Rule I had before my Eyes in the conclusion of the Spanish Fryar when the discovery was made that the King was living which was the knot of the Play unty'd the rest is shut up in the compass of some few lines because nothing then hinder'd the Happiness of Torismond and Leonora The faults of that Drama are in the kind of it which is Tragi comedy But it was given to the people and I never writ any thing for my self but Anthony and Cleopatra This Remark I must acknowledge is not so proper for the Colouring as the Design but it will hold for both As the words c. are evidently shown to be the cloathing of the Thought in the same sense as Colours are the cloathing of the Design so the Painter and the Poet ought to judge exactly when the Colouring and Expressions are perfect and then to think their work is truly finish'd Apelles said of Protogenes That he knew not when to give over A work may be over-wrought as well as under-wrought too much Labour often takes away the Spirit by adding to the polishing so that there remains nothing but a dull correctness a piece without any considerable Faults but with few Beauties for when the Spirits are drawn off there is nothing but a caput mortuum Statius never thought an expression could be bold enough and if a bolder could be found he rejected the first Virgil had Judgment enough to know daring was necessary but he knew the difference betwixt a glowing Colour and a glaring as when he compar'd the shocking of the Fleets at Actium to the justling of Islands rent from their Foundations and meeting in the Ocean He knew the comparison was forc'd beyond Nature and rais'd too high he therefore softens the Metaphor with a Credas You would almost believe that Mountains or Islands rush'd against each other Credas innare revulsas Cycladas aut montes concurrere montibus aequos But here I must break off without finishing the Discourse Cynthius aurem vellit admonuit c. the things which are behind are of too nice a consideration for an Essay begun and ended in twelve Mornings and perhaps the Iudges of Painting and Poetry when I tell them how short a time it cost me may make me the same answer which my late Lord Rochester made to one who to commend a Tragedy said it was written in three weeks How the Devil could he be so long about it For that Poem was infamously bad and I doubt this Parallel is little better and then the shortness of the time is so far from being a Commendation that it is scarcely an Excuse But if I have really drawn a Portrait to the Knees or an half length with a tolerable Likeness then I may plead with some Justice for my self that the rest is left to the Imagination Let some better Artist provide himself of a deeper Canvas and taking these hints which I have given set the Figure on its Legs and finish it in the Invention Design and Colouring THE PREFACE OF THE French Author AMong all the beautiful and delightful Arts that of Painting has always found the most Lovers the number of them almost including all Mankind Of whom great multitudes are daily found who value themselves on the knowledge of it either because they keep company with Painters or that they have seen good Pieces or lastly because their Gusto is naturally good Which notwithstanding that Knowledge of theirs if we may so call it is so very superficial and so ill grounded that it is impossible for them to describe in what consists the beauty of those Works which they admire or the faults which are in the greatest part of those which they condemn and truly 't is not hard to find that this proceeds from no other cause than that they are not furnish'd with Rules by which to judge nor have any solid Foundations which are as so many Lights set up to clear their understanding and lead them to an entire and certain knowledge I think it superfluous to prove that this is necessary to the knowledge of Painting 'T is sufficient that Painting be acknowledg'd for an Art for that being granted it follows without dispute that no Arts are without their Precepts I shall satisfy my self with telling you that this little Treatise will furnish you with infallible Rules of judging truly since they are not onely founded upon right Reason but upon the best Pieces of the best Masters which our Author hath carefully examin'd during the space of more than thirty years and on which he has made all the reflections which are necessary to render this Treatise worthy of Posterity which though little in bulk yet contains most judicious Remarks and suffers nothing to escape that is essential to the Subject which it handles If you will please to read it with attention you will find it capable of giving the most nice and delicate sort of Knowledge not onely to the Lovers but even to the Professors of that Art It would be too long to tell you the particular advantages which it has above all the Books which hath appear'd before it in this kind you need onely to read it and that will convince you of this truth All that I will allow my self to say is onely this That there is not a word in it which carries not its weight whereas in all others there are two considerable faults which lie open to the sight viz That saying too much they always say too little I assure my self that the Reader will own 't is a work of general profit to the Lovers of Painting for their instruction how to judge exactly and with Knowledge of the Cause which they are to judge And to the Painters themselves by removing their difficulties that they may work with pleasure because they may be in some manner certain that their Productions are good 'T is to be used like Spirits and precious Liquours the less you drink of it at a time 't is with the greater pleasure read it often and but little at once that you may digest it better and dwell particularly on those passages which you find mark'd with an Asterism* For the observations which follow such a Note will give you a clearer Light on the matter which is there treated You will find them by the Numbers which are on the side of the Translation from five to five Veres by searching for the like Number in the Remarks which are at the end of it and which are distinguish'd from each other by this note ¶ You will find in the latter Pages of this Book the Judgment of the Author on those Painters who have acquir'd the greatest Reputation in the World Amongst whom he was not willing to comprehend those who are now
the Sight and even of Animals which are not easily to be dispos'd By this rule we plainly see how necessary it is for a Painter to know how to model and to have many Models of soft Wax Paul Veronese had so good store of them with so great a quantity of different sorts that he would paint a whole historical Composition on a perspective Plan how great and how diversified soever it were Tintoret practis'd the same and Michael Angelo as Giovan. Bapt. Armenini relates made use of it for all the Figures of his day of Iudgment 'T is not that I would advise any one who would make any very considerable work to finish after these sorts of Models but they will be of vast use and advantage to see the Masses of great Lights and great Shadows and the effect of the whole together For what remains you are to have a Lay-man almost as big as the life for every Figure in particular besides the natural Figure before you on which you must also look and call it for a witness which must first confirm the thing to you and afterwards to the Spectators as it is in reality You may make use of these Models with delight if you set them on a Perspective Plan which will be in the manner of a Table made on purpose You may either raise or let it down according to your convenience and if you look on your Figures through a hole so contriv'd that it may be mov'd up and down it will serve you for a point of Sight and a point of Distance when you have once fix'd it The same hole will further serve you to set your Figures in the Ceiling and dispos'd upon a Grate of Iron-wire or supported in the Air by little Strings rais'd at discretion or by both ways together You may joyn to your Figures what you see fitting provided that the whole be proportion'd to them and in short what you your self may judge to be of no greater bigness than theirs Thus in whatsoever you do there will be more of truth seen your work it self will give you infinite delight and you will avoid many doubts and difficulties which often hinder you and chiefly for what relates to lineal perspective which you will there infallibly find provided that you remember to proportion all things to the greatness of your Figures and especially the points of Sight and of Distance but for what belongs to aerial perspective that not being found the judgment must supply it Tintoret as Ridolphi tells us in his life had made Chambers of Board and Past board proportion'd to his Models with Doors and Windows through which he distributed on his Figures artificial Lights as much as he thought reasonable and often pass'd some part of the night to consider and observe the effect of his Compositions His Models were of two Foot high We are to consider the places where we lay the Scene of the Picture c. This is what Monsieur de Chambray calls to do things according to Decorum See what he says of it in the Interpretation of that word in his Book of the Perfection of Painting 'T is not sufficient that in the Picture there be nothing found which is contrary to the place where the action which is represented passes but we ought besides to mark out the place and make it known to the Spectator by some particular Address that his mind may not be put to the pains of discovering it as whether it be Italy or Spain or Greece or France whether it be near the Sea shore or the Banks of some River whether it be the Rhine or the Loyre the Po or the Tyber and so of other things if they are essential to the History Nealces a man of Wit and an ingenious Painter as Pliny tells us being to paint a Naval Fight betwixt the Egyptians and the Persians and being willing to make it known that the Battle was given upon the Nile whose waters are of the same Colour with the Sea drew an Ass drinking on the Banks of the River and a Crocodile endeavouring to surprize him Let a Nobleness and Grace c. It is difficult enough to say what this Grace of Painting is 't is to be conceiv'd and understood much more easily than to be explain'd by words It proceeds from the illuminations of an excellent Mind which cannot be acquir'd by which we give a certain turn to things which makes them pleasing A Figure may be design'd with all its proportions and have all its parts regular which notwithstanding all this shall not be pleasing if all those parts are not put together in a certain manner which attracts the Eye to them and holds it fix'd upon them For which reason there is a difference to be made betwixt Grace and Beauty And it seems that Ovid had a mind to distinguish them when he said speaking of Venus Multaque cum formâ gratia mista suit A matchless Grace was with her Beauty mix'd And Suetonius speaking of Nero says he was rather beautifull than gracefull Vultu pulchro magis quam venusto How many fair women do we see who please us much less than others who have not such beautifull Features 'T is by this grace that Raphael has made himself the most renown'd of all the Italians as Apelles by the same means carry'd it above all the Greeks This is that in which the greatest difficulty consists c. For two reasons both because great study is to be made as well upon the ancient Beauties and on noble Pictures as upon nature it self and also because that part depends entirely on the Genius and seems to be purely the gift of Heaven which we have receiv'd at our Birth upon which account our Author adds Undoubtedly we see but few whom in this particular Jupiter has regarded with a gracious Eye so that it belongs only to those elevated Souls who partake somewhat of Divinity to work such mighty wonders Though they who have not altogether receiv'd from Heaven this precious Gift cannot acquire it without great Labour nevertheless 't is needfull in my opinion that both the one and the other should perfectly learn the character of every Passion All the Actions of the sensitive Appetite are in Painting call'd Passions because the Soul is agitated by them and because the Body suffers through them and is sensibly alter'd They are those divers Agitations and different Motions of the Body in general and of every one of its parts in particular that our excellent Painter ought to understand on which he ought to make his study and to form to himself a perfect Idea of them But it will be proper for us to know in the first place that the Philosophers admit eleven Love Hatred Desire Shunning Ioy Sadness Hope Despair Boldness Fear and Anger The Painters have multiply'd them not onely by their different Degrees but also by their different Species for they will make for example six
living They are undoubtedly his as being found among his Papers written in his own hand As for the Prose Translation which you will find on the other side of the Latine Poem I must inform you on what occasion and in what manner it was perform'd The Love which I had for Painting and the pleasure which I found in the Exercise of that noble Art at my leisure hours gave me the desire of being acquainted with the late Mr. du FRESNOY who was generally reputed to have a through knowledge of it Our Acquaintance at length proceeded to that degree of Intimacy that he intrusted me with his Poem which he believ'd me capable both of understanding and translating and accordingly desir'd me to undertake it The truth is that we had convers'd so often on that Subject and he had communicated his Thoughts of it so fully to me that I had not the least remaining difficulty concerning it I undertook therefore to translate it and imploy'd my self in it with Pleasure Care and Assiduity after which I put it into his hands and he alter'd in it what he pleas'd till at last it was wholly to his Mind And then he gave his Consent that it should be publish'd but his Death preventing that Design I thought it a wrong to his Memory to deprive Mankind any longer of this Translation which I may safely affirm to be done according to the true sence of the Author and to his liking Since he himself has given great Testimonies of his Approbation to many of his Friends and they who were acquainted with him know his humour to be such that he wou'd never constrain himself so far as to commend what he did not really approve I thought my self oblig'd to say thus much in vindication of the faithfulness of my Work to those who understand not the Latine for as to those who are conversant in both the tongues I leave them to make their own judgment of it The Remarks which I have added to his work are also wholly conformable to his opinions and I am certain that he wou'd not have disapprov'd them I have endeavour'd in them to explain some of the most obscure passages and those which are most necessary to be understood and I have done this according to the manner wherein he us'd to express himself in many Conversations which we had together I have conâ—â—in'd them also to the narrowest compass I was able that I might not tire the patience of the Reader and that they might be read by all persons But if it happens that they are not to the tast of some Readers as doubtless it will so fall out I leave them entirely to their own discretion and shall not be displeas'd that another hand shou'd succeed better I shall onely beg this favour from them that in reading what I have written they will bring no particular gusto along with them or any prevention of mind and that whatsoever judgment they make it may be purely their own whether it be in my favour or in my condemnation A TABLE of the Precepts Contain'd in this TREATISE OF what is Beautiful p. 7 Of Theory and Practice 8 Concerning the Subject 11 Invention the first part of Painting 12 The Disposition of the whole Work ib. The Faithfulness of the Subject ib. Whatsoever palls the Subject to be rejected 15 Design or Drawing the second part of Painting 16 Variety in the Figures 19 The Members and Drapery of every Figure to be suitable to it ib. The Actions of Mutes to be imitated ib. Of the principal Figure of the Subject ib. Grouppes of Figures 20 The Diversity of Postures in the Grouppes ib. Equality of the Piece ib. Of the number of Figures 23 Of the Ioints and Feet ib. The Motions of the Hands and Head must agree ib. What must be avoided in the distribution of the Figures ib. That we must not tie our selves to Nature but accommodate her to our Genius 24 Ancient Figures the Rules of imitating Nature 27 A single Figure how to be treated ib. Of the Draperies ib. What things contribute to adorn the Picture 31 Of precious Stones and Pearls for Ornament ib. The Model ib. The Scene of the Picture ib. The Graces and the Nobleness ib. Let every thing be set in its proper place ib. Of the Passions 32 Gothique Ornamens to be avoided ib. Colouring the third part of Painting 35 The Conduct of the Tones of Lights and Shadows 39 Of dark Bodies on light grounds 40 That there must not be two equal Lights in a Picture 43 Of White and Black 44 The Reflection of Colours 47 The Vnion of Colours ib. Of the Interposition of Air. ib. The relation of Distances 48 Of Bodies which are distanc'd ib. Of Bodies which are contiguous and of those which are seperated ib. Contrary extremities to be avoided ib. Diversity of Tones and Colours ib. The Choice of Light 51 Of certain things relating to the practical part ib. The Field or Ground of the Picture ib. Of the Vivacity of Colours 52 Of Shadows ib. The Picture to be of one Piece ib. The Looking-glass the Painters best Master ib. An half Figure or a whole one before others ib. A Portrait 55 The place of the Picture ib. Large Lights 56 What Lights are requisite ib. Things which are vicious in Painting to be avoided ib. The prudential part of a Painter ib. The Idea of a beautiful Piece 59 Advice to a young Painter ib. Art must be subservient to the Painter 60 Diversity and Facility are pleasing ib. The Original must be in the Head and the Copy on the Cloth ib. The Compass to be in the Eyes ib. Pride an Enemy to good Painting 63 Know your self ib. Practise perpetually 64 The Morning most proper for Work ib. Every day do something ib. The Passions which are true and naâ—â—ural ib. Of Table-Books 67 The method of Studies for a young â—â—ainter 71 Nature and Experience perfect Art 76 THE ART OF PAINTING DE ARTE GRAPHICA LIBER UT PICTURA POESIS ERIT similisque Poesi Sit Pictura refert par aemula quaeque sororem Alternantque vices nomina muta Poesis Dicitur haec Pictura loquens solet illa vocari Quod fuit auditu gratum cecinere Poetae Quod pulchrum aspectu Pictores pingere curant Quaeque Poetarum numeris indigna fuêre Non eadem Pictorum operam studiumque merentur Ambae quippe sacros ad Relligionis honores Sydereos superant ignes Aulamque Tonantis Ingressae Divûm aspectu alloquioque fruuntur Oraque magna Deûm dicta observata reportant Coelestemque suorum operum mortalibus ignem Inde peâ—â— hunc orbem studiis coêuntibus errant Carpentes quae digna sui revolutaque lustrant Tempora Quaerendis consortibus Argumentis Denique quaecumque in coelo terraque marique Longius in tempus durare ut pulchra merentur Nobilitate sua claroque insignia casu Dives ampla manet Pictores atque Poetas Materies inde alta