The literary works of sir Joshua Reynolds. To which is prefixed a memoir by H.W. Beechey, Volume 2 |
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Page 3
... reason ; for such is the progress of thought , that we perceive by sense , we combine by fancy , and distinguish by reason : and without carrying our art out of its natural and true character , the more we purify it from every thing ...
... reason ; for such is the progress of thought , that we perceive by sense , we combine by fancy , and distinguish by reason : and without carrying our art out of its natural and true character , the more we purify it from every thing ...
Page 12
... reason why the countenance should not correspond with the atti- tude and expression of the figure ) , but is mentioned in order to infer from hence , that this frequent deficiency in ancient Sculpture could proceed from nothing but a ...
... reason why the countenance should not correspond with the atti- tude and expression of the figure ) , but is mentioned in order to infer from hence , that this frequent deficiency in ancient Sculpture could proceed from nothing but a ...
Page 15
... reason to have deterred him from that practice . We have not , I think , in our Academy , any of Bernini's works , except a cast of the head of his Nep- tune * : this will be sufficient to serve us for an ex- ample of the mischief ...
... reason to have deterred him from that practice . We have not , I think , in our Academy , any of Bernini's works , except a cast of the head of his Nep- tune * : this will be sufficient to serve us for an ex- ample of the mischief ...
Page 33
... reason . Neither of those pictures have any interesting story to support them . That of Paolo Veronese is only a representation of a great concourse of people at a dinner ; and the subject of Rubens , if it may be called a subject where ...
... reason . Neither of those pictures have any interesting story to support them . That of Paolo Veronese is only a representation of a great concourse of people at a dinner ; and the subject of Rubens , if it may be called a subject where ...
Page 42
... reasons to point out any particular method and course of study to young Artists on their arrival in Italy . I have left it to their own prudence , a prudence which will grow and improve upon them in the course of unremitted , ardent ...
... reasons to point out any particular method and course of study to young Artists on their arrival in Italy . I have left it to their own prudence , a prudence which will grow and improve upon them in the course of unremitted , ardent ...
Common terms and phrases
admirable Albert Durer altar ancient Andrea Antwerp appears artist atque attention beauty called Caracci Caravaggio certainly character Christ church colouring composition Correggio defect detto disposition Domenichino Domenico Feti drapery drawing drawn effect equal excellence expression figures finished Francesco Francis Fresnoy genius Giacomo give grace grandeur hand head History Bologna History Florence idea imagination imitation invention Jan Steen John Jordaens judgment kind Landsc landscape light and shadow likewise looking LUCA GIORDANO Ludovico Carracci Magdalen manner Masaccio master means Michael Angelo mind nature noble object observed ornament Painter passions Paul Veronese perfect perhaps Pietro Pietro Perugino Poem Poet Poetry portrait possessed principal produce Prospero Fontana quæ racter Rafaëlle Raffaelle Rembrandt represented Rome Rubens Rubens's rules Saint Sculpture shade spectator style taste Teniers thing tint Tintoret tion Titian truth ture Vandyck Venice VERSE Virgin whole
Popular passages
Page 133 - The Italian, attends only to the invariable, the great and general ; ideas which are fixed and inherent in universal nature; the Dutch, on the contrary, to literal truth and a minute exactness in the detail, as I may say, of nature modified by accident. The attention to these petty peculiarities is the very cause of this naturalness so much admired in the Dutch pictures, which, if we suppose it to be a beauty, is certainly...
Page 136 - Among the various reasons why we prefer one part of her works to another, the most general, I believe, is habit and custom : custom makes, in a certain sense, white black, and black white ; it is custom alone determines our preference of the colour of the Europeans to the .(Ethiopians, and they, for the same reason, prefer their own colour to ours.
Page 134 - As we are then more accustomed to beauty than deformity, we may conclude that to be the reason why we approve and admire it, as we approve and admire customs and fashions of dress for no other reason than that we are used to them...
Page 391 - A happy genius is the gift of nature : it depends on the influence of the stars, say the astrologers ; on the organs of the body, say the naturalists ; it is the particular gift of heaven, say the divines, both Christians and heathens. How to improve it, many books can teach us ; how to obtain it, none ; that nothing can be done without it, all agree — Tu nihil invita dices faciesve Mintrva.
Page 127 - You would not then have seen an upright figure standing equally on both legs, and both hands stretched forward in the same direction, and his drapery, to all appearance, without the least art of disposition.
Page 130 - ... minute exactness in the detail, as I may say, of Nature modified by accident. The attention to these petty peculiarities is the very cause of this naturalness so much admired in the Dutch pictures, which, if we suppose it to be a beauty, is certainly of a lower order, which ought to give place to a beauty of a superior kind, since one cannot be obtained but by departing from the other.
Page 400 - that the figures of the groups must not be all on a side, that is, with their faces and bodies all turned the same way, but must contrast each other by their several positions." Thus in a play, some characters must be raised to oppose others, and to set them off the better, according to the old maxim, " Contraria juxta se posita, magis elucescunt.
Page 220 - ... better: it is here as in personal attractions; there is frequently found a certain agreement and correspondence in the whole together, which is often more captivating than mere regular beauty. RUBENS appears to have had that confidence in himself, which it is necessary for every artist to assume, when he has finished his studies, and may venture in some measure to throw aside the fetters of authority; to consider the rules as subject to his controul, and not himself subject to the rules; to risk...
Page 69 - Therefore, having once adopted a style and a measure not found in common discourse, it is required that the sentiments also should be in the same proportion elevated above common nature, from the necessity of there being an agreement of the parts among themselves, that one uniform whole may be produced. To correspond, therefore, with this general system of deviation from nature, the manner in which poetry is offered to the ear, the tone in which it is recited, should be as far removed from the tone...
Page 400 - English, the bawd of her sister, the design or drawing; she clothes, she dresses her up, she paints her, she makes her appear more lovely than naturally she is* she procures for the design, and makes lovers for her; for the design of itself is only so many naked lines. Thus in Poetry, the expression is that which charms the reader, and beautifies the design, which is only the outlines of the fables.