Now, I am inclined to believe, that the first painters of Greece were no lefs perfect in the one than in the other. I think we have proved this in Apelles and Parrhafius; Let us therefore suppose the merits of Titian, Correggio, and Raphael, united to the grace, beauty, and fublime of the antique, we shall then have an idea of confummate painting; and our imagination may bring before us, the Helen of Zeuxis, the Alexander of Apelles, and the Medea of Timomachus.

B. I HAVE heard it maintained by profeffors in the art, that it was impoffible that any one perfon should excel in all the feveral branches of painting: affirming, that it was above the condition of humanity; and, that the time and labour bestowed on some, must always be at the expence and to the diminution of the others.

A. THIS recalls to my mind an image, I have somewhere met with, of a man, who, lying under a covering that is too fhort, no fooner fecures his breast, but he must bare his feet; and this will be the event in both cafes, where the genius or covering is fcanty. But it will not be fo, in men of quick and great abilities. I think we may prove this from the progress of Raphael. He no fooner faw the cartons of Michael Angelo, and Leonardo da Vinci, than he' dropped, in a great measure, the dryness of his master Perrugino; and blending the boldness of the first, with his own delicacy, ftruck out a ftyle of defign more perfect than his model In the fame manner, and at the fame time, his colouring was much improved by his imitation of Fran. Bartolomeo; his compofition, by the ideas he caught from Maffaccio; and the clear obscure of

the

the Florentine fchool, fuch as it was, he made his own. The misfortune of Raphael was, not that his genius was weak, but, that his examples were imperfect: The ease with which he furpaffed thefe, fhews, that he was equal to greater: Had he seen the tender carnation in the Venus of Titian; the enchantment of clear obfcure in the nativity of Correggio; his ready and comprehenfive spirit would foon have united them to his own design and compofition: Of the laft, he was in a great measure the inventor; it is no wonder then, as he died very young, that the best part of his life was employed in the improvement of them. But this was not the cafe with the greatest painters of antiquity Apelles had all the advantages, which Raphael wanted; inftead of Perrugino, he had a Pamphilus to his mafter; he had he had excellent examples in each part of painting. In defign, Phidias

:

and

1

and Polycletus; in colouring and the clear obfcure, Zeuxis and Parrhafius in compofition, [z] the happy ideas of the last, joined to the ingenuity of Timanthes: And, as incitements to his ambition, the friendship of Alexander, the emulation of Protogenes, the examples and counfels, of Praxiteles and Lyfippus.

B. WHATEVER might have been the refult of thefe advantages; how excellent fo ever Apelles and his cotemporaries, in giving the utmost beauty and energy to a fingle idea; you will allow, that, in mixed and varied compositions, Raphael is much their fuperior; a merit, which in the eyes of many critics, will counterbalance the fublime and pathetic of the ancients.

1

A. I HAVE admitted, that it was much the taste of the Greek painters, to reft the merit of their compofitions on a fingle cha[2] Τα Παρασια σοφίσματα.

racter

racter or expreffion. That they judged well in this, the agreement of all the writers of antiquity, in giving the preference to these works, fufficiently proves. No doubt, the nobleft end of painting, is, by a fudden and powerful impreffion, to ftrike home on the paffions: This will never be effected, in painting, by drawing the imagination. through links of fucceffive ideas. The children of Medea, we are told, were reprefented fmiling at the dagger in their mother's hand; her fury, mixed with a pity of their innocence, has been fully defcribed: Would you extend compofition beyond this, you rather weaken than improve it; is it to be imagined, that a painter, capable of fuch expreffions as thefe, could not have marked the subordinate emotions in a number of affiftants? We have already taken notice, in the Iphigenia of Timanthes, of the Climax in the expreffions; and of his fingu