Memoirs of Painting: With a Chronological History of the Importation of Pictures by the Great Masters Into England Since the French Revolution, Volume 1 |
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Page 122 - More from his art than from their actions claim. Bright, beyond all the rest, CORREGGIO flings His ample lights, and round them gently brings The mingling shade. In all his works we view Grandeur of style, and chastity of hue.
Page 131 - Of all the extraordinary geniuses," says he, " that have practised the art of painting, for wild, capricious, extravagant, and fantastical inventions, for furious impetuosity and boldness in the execution of his work, there is none like Tintoret ; his strange whimsies are even beyond extravagance ; and his works seem to be produced rather by chance than in consequence of any previous design, as if "he wanted to convince the world that the art was a trifle, and of the most easy attainment.
Page 67 - This circumstance, at once sublime, beautiful, and picturesque, is one of those rare instances of supreme felicity by which a man may be said to be lost in his own glory. The thought has been seized with such avidity, and produced so many imitations, that no one is accused of plagiarism. The real author is forgotten ; and the public, habituated to consider the incident as a part of the subject, have long ceased to inquire when or by whom it was invented.
Page 77 - O'er the fair fraud so close a veil is thrown, That every borrow'd grace becomes his own.
Page 85 - ... of light and shadow, the simplicity of colouring, which, holding its proper rank, does not draw aside the least part of the attention from the subject, and the solemn effect of that twilight which seems diffused over his pictures, appear to me to correspond with grave and dignified subjects, better than the more artificial brilliancy of sunshine which enlightens the pictures of Titian...
Page 50 - Seize on the summit of correct design : Learn how, at JULIO'S birth, the Muses smiled, And in their mystic caverns nursed the child ; How, by th...
Page 178 - Begin by painting in your shadows lightly, taking care that no white be suffered to glide into them — it is the poison of a picture except in the lights. If ever your shadows are corrupted by the introduction of this baneful colour, your tones will no longer be warm and transparent, but heavy and leaden. It is not the same in the lights : they may be loaded with colour as much as you think proper.
Page 345 - If the picture be upon canvas, like those of the two latter named masters, it breaks into a thousand small lines or cracks. If upon panel, like the pictures of Raffaelle, Andrea del Sarto or Fra Bartolomeo, it breaks up the paint by scaling it off in small points of the size of a pin's head. In either case it is equally destructive. If the picture, again, is of the Spanish School, and is painted upon the red absorbent grounds, upon a rough canvas, water not only breaks the unity of its surface, but...
Page 71 - ... Rome, Parmegiano studied with the utmost diligence the antique, and the works of the most celebrated painters; but particularly those of Raphael, Michael Angelo, and Julio Romano. Of Raphael especially, he imitated the style and manner, and as he resembled that painter in beauty of countenance and elegance of deportment, it was currently said, that the soul of Raphael had emigrated into the body of Parmegiano. He now added to his other acquisitions the study of anatomy, and proved the delicacy...
Page 37 - Ille hie est Raphael, timuit quo sospite vinci Rerum magna parens, et moriente mori.