no doubt, great study and practice; but I apprehend, that too great an attention to this flattery of the eye, has often made our moderns neglectful of the more effential parts. That this was the cafe in the inferior æra of ancient painting, we have the authority of Dionyfius Halicarnaffeus: "[i] The "paintings of the ancients, (fays he) were

fimple and unvaried in their colouring; "but correct in their drawing; and diftin

guished by their elegance: Thofe which ' fucceeded, lefs correct in drawing, were "more finished, more varied in their lights "and fhades; trufting their effects to the "multitude of their colours." You will obferve, that this boafted tcience of the moderns, was, to the ancients, a fymptom

[1] Αρχαιαι γραφαι χρωμασιν ειργασμέναι απλως, και ουδεμιαν εν τοις γμασιν έχουσαν ποικιλίαν, ακρίβεις δε ταις γραμμαίς, και πολυ το χαριεν εν ταύταις εχουσαι Αἱ δε μετ ̓ εκείνας, εύγραμμοι μεν ήλιον, εξειργασμέναι δε μαλλον, σκια τε και φωλι ποικιλλομέναι, και εν τῷ των μιγμάτων πληθές Tņu ¡oxuv'exováai. Dion. Hal. in Ifæo, p. 167. ed. Oxon.

of the decay of paint: And indeed, can the happieft effect in this kind, that ever flowed from the pencil of Titian, make us amends for his frequent errors in drawing, or poverty of character? Can the best painted drapery of a Carrache, or Guido, balance the want of grace and beauty in the one, of warmth and expreffion in the other? Apelles feeing a Helen, that had been painted by one of his scholars, loaded with ornaments: Cried out, [k] "So, young man! not "able to paint her beautiful, thou hast "made her fine." When I reflect on the authority of the writers, and the agreement of their notions on the subject of colouring, I am inclined to believe, that the ancients were equal, if not fuperior to the moderns in the most effential parts: I fhould lay little ftrefs on general praises, or the extra

[7] Ω μειράκιον, μη δυνάμενος γραψαι καλην, πλουσιαν

επεποίηκας.

vagance

vangance of admiration; because, it is natural to us to praise the best we know: But, when I meet with distinctions, which mark the degrees of perfection, and with effects, which can proceed but from the Highest, I can no longer doubt. I fhall offer you an instance in each kind, which strike me as decifive. Parrhafius and Euphranor had each painted a Thefeus; "[7] Euphra

66

nor objected to his rival, that his Thefeus "looked as if he had fed on rofes, his own " as if he had fed on flefh." What more could we fay of Titian and Barocci? Yet, this flight and florid ftyle, was not the conftant manner of Parrhafius; Pliny tells us, that he painted two warriors, one of which rufhing to the battle feemed to fweat; the other, ftripped of his armour, was seen to

[4] Ευφράνωρ τον Θησέα τον ἑαύλου, το Παρρασίου παρε βαλε λεγων, τον μεν εκείνου ξοδα βεβρωκεναι, τον δε ἑαυτου nga Bosa. Plutarch. Bellone an pace clariores fuerint Athenienfes.

pant. What a warmth, what a tenderness of pencil? Can paint exprefs that melting diffufion, that dewy moisture, which springs from a quickening perfpiration? The mellowest tints of the Venetian fchool furnish no fuch ideas. Our notions of excellence are too much limited by our experience; had we never seen better colouring than that of the Galatea of Raphael, a defcription of the Venus of Titian would pafs for extravagant. Why might not the Greek fchool have been as far fuperior to the Venetian, as this is to the Roman? We will now purfue the fame method we propofed before, and confider the colouring of the moderns in their greateft mafter Titian.

B. THOUGH I confefs this was the rule propofed, yet, I must take the liberty to break in upon it, and to beg, that you would first give your opinion of the colouring of Raphael.

THE

THE advances of fuch a painter in every branch of his art, are worthy our observation; particularly too, as I find the critics much divided on this point, fome holding him to be an excellent, others an indifferent colourist.

A. RAPHAEL, at his fetting, out, had no other guide than his own genius; as, the painters his predeceffors, could furnish him with no examples to imitate. After fome time, he learnt from Fra. Bartholomeo a better ftyle; his touch became more vigorous, his colouring grew warmer, and he finished lefs; yet, he ftill preferved too great a fameness; and all his perfonages had the fame brown and dufky complexion. He perfifted a long time in this tafte; and, one may venture to affirm, that he never wholly abandoned it. In his picture of the difpute of the facrament, which is the best coloured

G 4