NOTE XXXII. VERSE 307. That majesty, that grace, so rarely given It is undoubtedly true, and perfectly ob-. vious, that every part of the art has a grace belonging to it, which, to satisfy and captivate the mind, must be superadded to correctness. This excellence, however expressed, whether we call it Genius, Taste, or the Gift of Heaven, I am confident may be acquired: or the Artist may certainly be put into that train by which it shall be acquired; though he must, in a great measure, teach himself by a continual contemplation of the works of those Painters, who are acknowledged to excel in grace and majesty this will teach him to look for it in nature, and industry will give him the power of expressing it on canvas. R. Thy last, thy noblest task remains untold, This is truly the noblest task, and is the finishing of the fabrick of the art: to attempt this summit of excellence, without having first laid the foundation of habitual correctness, may indeed be said to build castles in the air. Every part which goes to the composition of a picture, even inanimate objects, are capable to a certain degree of conveying sentiment, and contribute their share to the general purpose of striking the imagination of the spectator. The disposition of light, or the folding of drapery, will give sometimes a general air of grandeur to the whole work. NOTE XXXIV. VERSE 325. By tedions toil no passions are exprest, R. His hand who feels them strongest paints them best. A Painter, whatever he may feel, will not be able to express it on canvas, without having recourse to a recollection of those principles by which the passion required is expressed. The mind thus occupied, is not likely at the same time to be possessed with the passion which he is representing. An image may be ludicrous, and in its first conception make the Painter laugh as well as the Spectator; but the difficulty of his art makes the Painter, in the course of his work, equally grave and serious, whether he is employed on the most ludicrous, or the most solemn subject. However, we may, without great violence, suppose this rule to mean no more, than that a sensibility is required in the Artist, so that he should be capable of conceiving the passion properly before he sets about representing it on canvas. NOTE XXXV. VERSE 325. By tedious toil no passions are exprest, R. His hand who feels them strongest paints them best. "The two verses of the text, notwithstanding the air of antiquity which they appear to have, seem most probably to be the author's own," says the late French editor but I suppose, as I did on a similar adage before, that the thought is taken from antiquity. With respect to my translation, I beg leave to intimate, that by feeling the passions strongest, I do not mean that a passionate man will make the best painter of the passions, but he who has the clearest conception of them, that is, who feels their effect on the countenance of other men, as in great actors on the stage, and in persons in real life strongly agitated by them: perhaps my translation would have been clearer and more consonant with the above judicious explication of Sir Joshua Reynolds, if it had run thus: He who conceives them strongest paints them best. NOTE XXXVI. VERSE 348. Full late awoke the ceaseless tear to shed For perish'd art ;— M. The later French editor, who has modernized the style of Du Piles's translation, says here, that " he has taken the liberty to soften this passage, and has translated Nilsuperest, by presque rien, instead of Du Piles's version, Il ne nous a rien restè de leur peinture, being authorised to make this change by the late discoveries of ancient painting at Herculaneum ;" but I scarce think that, by these discoveries, we have retrieved any thing of ancient colouring, which is the matter here in question, therefore I have given my translation that turn, NOTE XXXVII. VERSE 349. -for those celestial hues Which Zeuxis, aided by the Attick Muse, M. From the various ancient Paintings, which have come down to us, we may form a judgement with tolerable accuracy of the excellencies and the defects of the art amongst the ancients. There can be no doubt, but that the same correctness of design was required from the Painter as from the Sculptor; and if what has happened in the case of Sculpture, had likewise happened in regard to their Paintings, and we had the good fortune to possess what the Ancients themselves esteemed their master-pieces, I have no doubt but we should |