There where the noblest figures are display'd; Thence gild the distant parts, and lessening fade: As fade the beams which Phoebus from the East

425

Flings vivid forth to light the distant West,
Gradual those vivid beams forget to shine,
So gradual let thy pictur'd lights decline.
The sculptor'd forms which some proud
Circus grace,

In Parian marble or Corinthian brass,

Illumin'd thus, give to the gazing eye

Th' expressive head in radiant Majesty,
While to each lower limb the fainter ray
Lends only light to mark, but not display:

Majus at in mediam lumen cadet usque tabellam
Latius infusum, primis quasumma figuris
Res agitur, circumque oras minuetur eunda :
Utque in

progressu jubar attenuatur ab ortu
Solis, ad occasum paulatìm, et cessat eundo;
Sic tabulis lumen, tota in compage colorum,
Primo à fonte, minus sensim declinat eundo.

Majus ut in statuis, per compita stantibus urbis, Lumen habent partes superæ, minus inferioris ; Idem erit in tabulis; majorque nec umbra, vel ater Membra figurarum intrabit color, atque secabit:

430

315

320

So let thy pencil fling its beams around,

435

Nor e'er with darker shades their force con

found.

For shades too dark, dissever'd shapes will give," And sink the parts their softness would relieve: Then only well reliev'd, when like a veil Round the full lights the wand'ring shadows

steal;

440

Then only justly spread, when to the sight
A breadth of shade pursues a breadth of light.
This charm to give, great Titian wisely made
The cluster'd grapes his rule of light and shade.
b White, when it shines with unstain'd lustre

clear

May bear an object back, or bring it near;

Corpora sed circum umbra cavis latitabit oberrans ;
Atquè ita quæretur lux opportuna figuris,
Ut late infusum lumen lata umbra sequatur.
Unde, nec immeritò, fertur Titianus ubique

Lucis et umbrarum normam appellâsse racemum.

c

445

326

< Purum album esse potest propriusque magisque

remotum :

b XXXIV. Of White c XXXIV. Album et

Aided by black it to the front aspires,

That aid withdrawn it distantly retires;
But black unmix'd, of darkest midnight hue,
Still calls each object nearer to the view.

450

a Whate'er we spy thro' colour'd light or air, A stain congenial on their surface bear, While neighb'ring forms by joint reflection give And mutual take the dyes that they receive.

But where on both alike one equal light 455 Diffusive spreads, the blending tints unite. For breaking colours thus (the ancient phrase By Artists used) fair Venice claims our praise:

Cum nigro antevenit propriùs; fugit absq; remotum; Purum autem nigrum antrorsum venit usque propinquum.

332

Lux fucata suo tingit miscetque colore Corpora, sicque suo, per quem lux funditur, aër. Corpora juncta simul, circumfusosque colores s Excipiunt, propriumque aliis radiosa reflectunt. * Pluribus in solidis liquidâ sub luce propinquis, Participes, mixtosque simul decet esse colores. Hanc normam Veneti pictores ritè sequuti,

She, cautious to transgress so sage a rule, Confin'd to soberest tints her learned school;

For tho' she lov'd by varied mode to join 461
Tumultuous crowds in one immense design,
Yet there we ne'er condemn such hostile
hues

As cut the parts or glaringly confuse;
In tinsel trim no foppish form is drest.
Still flows in graceful unity the vest ;
And o'er that vest a kindred mantle spreads,
Unvaried but by power of lights and shades,
Which mildly mixing, every social dye,
Unites the whole in loveliest harmony.

465

470

340

(Quæ fuit antiquis corruptio dicta colorum,)
Cùm plures opere in magno posuêre figuras,
Nè conjuncta simul variorum inimica colorum
Congeries formam implicitam, et concisa minutis
Membra daret pannis, totam unamquamque figu

ram

Affini, aut uno tantùm vestire colore,

345

Sunt soliti; variando tonis tunicamque, togamque, Carbaseosque sinus, vel amicum in lumine et

umbra

Contiguis circum rebus sociando colorem.

1

When small the space, or pure the ambient

air,

Each form is seen in bright precision clear;
But if thick clouds that purity deface,

If far extend that intervening space,
There all confus'd the objects faintly rise,
As if prepar'd to vanish from our eyes.

475

i Give them each foremost part a touch so

bright,

That, o'er the rest, its domineering light

May much prevail; yet, relative in all,
Let greater parts advance before the small. 480

* Qua minus est spatii aerei, aut quà purior aër, Cuncta magis distincta patent, speciesque reservant : Quâque magis densus nebulis, aut plurimus aër

Amplum inter fuerit spatium porrectus, in auras Confundet rerum species, et perdet inanes.

Anteriora magis semper finita, remotis Incertis dominentur et abscedentibus, idque More relativo, ut majora minoribus extent.

b XXXVII. Of the Interposition of Air.

iXXXVIII. The Rela

tion of Distances.'

355

* XXXVII. Aër interpositus.

'XXXVIII. Distantiarum

Relatio