B. OVID thus marks this tranfition of colours in his defçription of the rainbow [u]. A thousand colours gild the face of day, A. A REMARK made by Petronius Arbiter, on certain paintings of Apelles, points out the happy effects of this delicacy of [u] In quo diverfi niteant cum mille colores, Tranfitus ipfe tamen spectantia lumina fallit, diftant. Videmus in Iride aliquid flammei, aliquid lutei, aliquid cærulei, et alia in Picture modum fubtilibus lineis ducta, ut ait Poeta ; ut an diffimiles colores fint, fcire non poffis, nifi cum primis extrema contuleris; ufque adeo mira arte naturæ, quod a fimillimis coepit in diffimilia definit. Seneca Nat. quæft. lib. i. c. 3. pencil. "[x] With fuch fubtilty, fuch a "likeness to nature, were the extremities "of the figures blended with their fhades, "that you must have taken what was be""fore you for real life." Nicias the Athenian is praised by Pliny, for his knowledge in the Clear obfcure; "[y] He preferved "the lights and fhades, and was particu"larly careful, that his paintings should "project from the canvafs." But, the great [x] Tanta enim fubtilitate extremitates imaginum erant ad fimilitudinem præcifæ, ut crederes etiam animorum effe picturas. In Satyrico. Men of a refined tafte, have a feeling of thofe delicacies, which escape the notice of common obfervers ; thus Pliny, ambire enim debet fe extremitas ipfa et fic definere, ut promittat alia poft fe, oftendatque etiam quæ occultat. This artifice of withdrawing the outline impercep tibly from the eye, is that which gives to bodies their roundness or projection: It was much ftudied by the ancients, and too much neglected by Raphael; whose contours are fometimes fo marked, that his figures appear too evidently to be of a piece with the canvafs. [] Lumen et umbras cuftodivit, atque ut eminerent e tabulis picturæ, maxime curavit. Lib. xxxv-11. eft tr eft effect in this kind, is by the fame attributed to the Alexander of Apelles, in the character of Jupiter the thunderer: "[2] "The fingers (fays he) feem to shoot for"ward, and the thunder to be out of the "picture." This paffage is too ftriking to need a comment. Let us compare the idea we receive from this, with the happiest productions of the modern artists; what could we expect more from the magick pencil of Correggio? I mean as to the effect of clear obfcure; for, I am at a lofs, from whom to expect, the beauty and grace of an Alexander, united to the majefty and fplendor of a Jove. If it appears from what I have offered, that the painter can by a nice conduct of light and fhade, give to the characters he brings on the scene a kind of real existence: So can he, by a par [x] Pinxit et fulmen tenentem; digiti eminere videntur, et fulmen extra tabulam effe. Lib. xxxv. 10. tial diftribution of this advantage, give them an evident preference one to the other; and by adding a degree of fplendor to each character, proportioned to its importance in the drama, he becomes mafter of a beautiful gradation, no lefs fatisfactory to the underftanding, than pleafing to the eye. SINCE I cannot offer you an example of this in any of the ancient paintings now to be feen, I fhall remind you of a piece of poetic painting, in which you will find every circumstance of dignity and beauty, fet off with the fineft effect of Clear obfcure, that, perhaps, ever entered into the imagination of either poet or painter. It is, where Virgil introduces Æneas into the prefence of Dido [a]. [a] Vix ea fatus erat, cum circumfufa repente Scindit fe nubes, et in æthera purgat apertum. Reftitit Æneas, claraque in luce refulfit, Scarce Scarce had he spoke, when lo! the bursting cloud- There is fomething in this description fo truly picturefque, it breaks upon the imagination with such a sudden energy of Clear obfcure, that I am perfuaded, the poet must have had in his eye, fome celebrated picture in this ftyle. It is easy to distinguish, when the arts borrow their ideas one from another, and the lights which they fo commu Os, humerofque Deo fimilis: Namque ipfa decoram Æneid. i. ver. 590. |