eye.

540

"The portrait claims from imitative art Resemblance close in each minuter part, And this to give, the ready hand and With playful skill the kindred features ply; From part to part alternately convey The harmonizing gloom, the darting ray, With tones so just, in such gradation thrown, 545 Adopting Nature owns the work her own.

Say, is the piece thy hand prepares to trace Ordain'd for nearer sight, or narrow space? Paint it of soft and amicable hue: But, if predestin'd to remoter view, Thy strong unequal varied colours blend; And ample space to ample figures lend,

Partibus in minimis imitatio justa juvabit Effigiem, alternas referendo tempore eodem Consimiles partes, cum luminis atque coloris Compositis, justisque tonis; tunc parta labore Si facili et vegeto micat ardens, viva videtur.

550

395

Visa loco angusto tenerè pingantur, amico Juncta colore, graduque; procul quæ picta, feroci Sint et inæquali variata colore. tonoque.

400

Grandia signa volunt spatia ampla, ferosque colores,

n LI. A Portrait.

LII. The Place of the

Picture,

• LI. Effigies.

LII. Locus Tabulæ.

Where to broad lights the circumambient shade

In liquid play by labour just is laid;

S

554

Alike with liveliest touch the forms portray, Where the dim window half excludes the day; But, when expos'd in fuller light or air,

A brown and sober cast the group may bear.

t

Fly every foe to elegance and grace,

Each yawning hollow, each divided space; 560
Whate'er is trite, minute, abrupt, or dry,"
Where light meets shade in flat equality;
Each theme fantastick, filthy, vile, or vain.
That gives the soul disgust, or senses pain;

*Lumina lata, unctas simul undique copulet umbras

ㄡ

Extremus labor. In tabulas demissa fenestris

Si fuerit lux parva, color clarissimus esto:

Vividus at contra, obscurusque, in lumine aperto. 495
Quæ vacuis divisa cavis, vitare memento;

Trita, minuta, simui quæ non stipata dehiscunt,
Barbara, cruda oculis, rugis fucata colorum;

· LIII. Large Lights.
LIV. The quantity of
Light and Shade to be adapted
to the Place of the Picture.

'LV. Things which are disagreeable in Painting to be avoided.

LIII. Lumina lata.

* LIV. Quantitas luminis loci in quo tabula est expo

nenda.

y LV. Errores et Vitia Picturæ.

Monsters of barbarous birth, Chimeras drear, That pall with ugliness, or awe with fear. 566 And all that chaos of sharp broken parts,

Where reigns confusion, or whence discord starts.

Detected faults, this friendly caution take,Shun all excess; and with true wisdom deem, That vice alike resides in each extreme.

a

Know, if supreme perfection be your aim, If classick praise your pencil hope to claim, Your noble outlines must be chaste, yet free, 575 Connected all with studied harmony;

Luminis umbrarumque tonis æqualia cuncta;
Foeda, cruenta, cruces, obscoena, ingrata, chimeras,
Sordidaque et misera, et vel acuta, vel aspera tactu;
Quæque dabunt formæ, temerè congesta, ruinam,
Implicitas aliis confundent mixtaque partes.

410

b Dumque fugis vitiosa, cave in contraria labi Damna mali; vitium extremis nam super inhæret. 415 'Pulchra gradu summo, graphidos stabilita vetustæ

Few in their parts, yet those distinct and great; Your Colouring boldly strong, yet softly sweet.

d Know, he that well begins has half achiev'd His destin'd work. Yet late shall be retriev'd 580 That time mispent, that labour worse than lost, The young disciple, to his dearest cost, Gives to a dull preceptor's tame designs ; His tawdry colours, his erroneous lines, Will to the soul that poison rank convey, Which life's best length shall fail to purge away, Yet let not your untutor'd childhood strive Of Nature's living charms the sketch to give,

Nobilibus signis, sunt grandia, dissita, pura,
Tersa, velut minimè confusa, labore ligata,
Partibus ex magnis paucisque efficta, colorum

Corpori us distincta feris, sed semper amicis.

་་

Qui bene cæpit, uti facti jam fertur habere
Dimidium; picturam ita nil sub limine primo
Ingrediens, puer offendit damnosius arti,
Quàm varia errorum genera, ignorante magistro,
Ex pravis libare typis, mentemque veneno
Inficere, in toto quod non abstergitur ævo.

585

420

425

Nec graphidos rudis artis adhuc cito qualiacunque d LVIII. Advice to a eLVIII. Pictor Tyro. young Painter.

Till, skill'd her separate features to design, 589
You know each muscle's site, and how they join.
These while beneath some master's eye you trace,
Vers'd in the lore of symmetry and grace,
Boldly proceed his precepts shall impart
Each sweet deception of the pleasing art :
Still more than precept shall his practice teach,
And add what self-reflection ne'er can reach. 596

f Oft, when alone, the studious hour employ On what may aid your art, and what destroy: Diversity of parts is sure to please,

If all the various parts unite with ease;

Corpora viva super studium meditabitur, ante.
Illorum quàm symmetriam, internodia, formam
Noverit, inspectis, docto evolvente magistro,
Archetypis, dulcesque dolos præsenserit artis.

600

430

Plusque manu ante oculos quam voce docebitur usis. * Quære artem qæcunque juvant; fuge quæque re

h