2911
APR
A N
E S S A \Y
ON THE
PICTURE S Q^UE,
AS COMPARED WITH THE
SUBLIME AND THE BEAUTIFUL;
AND, ON THE
USE OF STUDYING PICTURES,
FOR THE PURPOSE OF
IMPROVING REAL LANDSCAPE.
By VVEDALE PRICE, Eso^
QUAM MULTAVIDENT PICTORES IN UMBRIS, ET IN EMINENTIA, QU & NOS NON VIDEMUS.
Cicero,
A NEW EDITION, WITH CONSIDERABLE ADDITIONS.
LONDON:
Printed for J. ROBSON, New Bond-Street.
M.DCC.XCVI.
9?<
PREFACE.
AS the general plan and intention of my work have been a good deal mifunderftood, I wifli to give a fhort ac- count of them both.
The title itfelf might have fhewn that I aimed at fomething more than a mere book of gardenings fome, however, have con- ceived that I ought to have begun by fetting forth all my ideas of lawns, fhrubberies, gravel walks, &c. ; and as my arrangement did not coincide with their notions of what it ought to have been, they feem to have concluded that I had no plan at all,
I have in this effay undertaken to treat of two fubjedts, diftinft, but intimately con- ceded, and which, as I conceive, throw a reciprocal light on each other. I have be- A 2 gun
IV PREFACE,'
gun with that which is laft mentioned,, as I thought fome previous difcuffion with regard to pictures and pidturefque fcenery, would moil naturally lead to a particular examination of the character itfelf. In the firft chapter, I have ftated the general rea- fons for flu dying the works of eminent Jandfcape painters, and the principles of their art, with a view to the improvement of real fcenery ; and in order to fhew how little thofe works, or the principles they contain, have been attended to, I have fup- pofed the fcenery in the landfcape of a great painter, to be new-modelled accord- ing to the tafte of Mr, Brown. Having fhewn this contrail between dreffed fcenery, and a picture of the moil ornamented kind, I have in the fecond chapter compared to- gether two real fcenes -, the one in its pic- turefque and unimproved ftate, the other .when dreffed and improved according to the preient fafhion. The picture fque circum- ftaiices detailed in this fcene, very naturally lead me, in the third chapter, to invefligate *fc their
PREFACE* V
their general caufes and effects ; and in that, and the fix following chapters, I have traced them, as far as my obfervation would enable me, through all the works of art, and of nature.
This part, the raoft curious and inter- efting to a fpeculative mind, will be leafl fo to thofe who think only of what has a direct and immediate reference to the ar- rangement of fcenery : that indeed it has not ; but it is a difcuffion well calculated to give juft and enlarged ideas, of what is of no flight importance— -the general charac- ter of each place, and the particular cha- racter of each part of its fcenery. Every place, and every fcene that are worth ob- ferving, muft have fomething of the fab- lime, the beautiful, or the picturefque; and every man will allow that he would wifli to preferve and to heighten, certainly not to weaken or deftroy, their prevailing cha- racter. The mod obvious method of fuc- ceeding in the one, and of avoiding the other, is by ftudying their caufes and ef-
A 7 fedts*
VI PREFACE.
feds 4 but to confine that ftudy to fcenery only, woulo!, like all confined ftudies for a particular purpofe, tend to contract the mind ; at leaft when compared with a more comprehenfive view of the fubjedt ; I have therefore endeavoured to take the moft en- larged view poflible, and to include in it whatever had any relation to the character I was occupied in tracing, or which mew- ed its diftinction from thofe which a very fuperior mind had already inveftigated ; and fure I am, that he who ftudies the various ef- fects and characters of form, colour, and light and fhadow, and examines and com- pares thofe characters and effects, and the manner in which they are combined and dif- pofed, both in pictures and in nature, — will be better qualified to arrange, certainly to enjoy, his own and every fcenery, than he who has only thought of the moft faffi ion- able arrangement of objects $ or has looked at nature alone, without having acquired any juft principles of felection.
I be-
PREFACE. VU
I believe, however, that this part of my Eflay, and the very title of it, may have given a falfe bias to the minds of many of my readers -, nor am I furprifed at fuch an effeft. It is a very natural conclulion, and often juflified, that an author is partial to the particular fubjedt on which he has written; but mine is a particular cafe. The two chara&ers which Mr. Burke has fo ably difcuffed, had, it is true, great need of inveftigation; but they did not want to be recommended to our attention. What is really fublime or beautiful, muft always attradt and command it; but the pidtu- refque is much lefs obvious, lefs generally attractive, and had been totally neglefted and defpifed by profefled improvers : my bufinefs therefore was to draw forth, and to dwell upon thoie lefs obferved beauties. From that circumftance it has been con- ceived (or at leaft aflerted) that I not only preferred fuch fcenes as were merely rude and pi&urefque, but excluded all others.
A 4 The
Vlil PREFACE.
The fecond part is built upon the foun- dations laid in the firft, for I have exa- mined the leading features of modern gar- dening (in its more extended fenfe) on the general principles of painting •, and I have ihewn in feveral inftances, efpecially in all that relates to the banks of artificial water, how much the character of the pi&urefque has been negledled> or facrificed to a falfe idea of beauty.
But though I take no flight intereft in whatever concerns the tafte of gardening in this, and every other country, and am particularly anxious to preferve thofe pic- turefque circumftances, which are fo fre- quently, and irrecoverably deftroyed; yet in writing this Effay, I have had a more comprehenlive objeft in view: I have been delircus of opening new fources of inno- cent, and eafily attained pleafures, or at leaft of pointing out how a much higher relifh may be acquired for thofe, which, though known, are negle&ed : and it has given me no fmall pleafure to find that
both
PREFACE. IX
both my obje&s have in fome degree been attained.
That painters do fee effects in nature, which men in general do not fee, we have, in the motto I have prefixed to this effay, the testimony of no common obferver -y of one, who was fufHciently vain of his own talents and difcernment in every way, and not likely to acknowledge thofe of other men without ftrong conviction. It is not a mere obfervation of Cicero ; it is an exclamation : Quam multa vident pictores ! it marks his furprize at the extreme difference which the fludy of nature, by means of the art of painting, feems to make almoft in the fight itfelf. It may likewife be obferved, that his remark does not extend to form, in which the ancient painters are acknow- ledged to be our fuperiors : not to colour, in which they are alfo conceived to be at leaft our rivals -, but to light and ihadow, the fuppofed triumph of modern over ancient art; on which account the profeffors of painting, fince its revival, have a ftill better
right
X PREFACE.
right to the compliment of fo illuftrious 2 panegyrift, than thofe of his age.
If there were no other means of feeing with the eyes of painters, than by acquir- ing the practical fkill of their hands, the generality of mankind mufl of courfe give up the points but luckily we may gain no little infight into their method of confidering nature, and no inconfiderable ihare of their relifh for her beauties, by an eaiier procefs* — by ftudying their works. This ftudy has one great advantage over moil others; there are no dry elements to flruggle wkh. Pictures, as like wife draw- ings and prints, have in them what is Ant- ed to all ages and capacities : many of them, like Swift's Gulliver's Travels, dif- play the moft fertile and brilliant imagina- tion, joined to the moft accurate judgment and feledlion, and the deepeft knowledge of nature : like that extraordinary work, they are at once the amufement of child- hood and ignorance, and the delight, in- ftruclion, and admiration of the higheft and moft cultivated minds.
9 It
S> R E f A C £. XI
It is not, however, to be fuppofed, that theory and obfervation alone will enable us to judge either of pictures or of nature, with the fame fkill as thole, who join the pra&ical knowledge of their art, to habi- tual reflection on its principles, and its productions : between fuch artifts, and the mere lover of painting, there will always be a fufficient difference to juftify the re- mark of Cicero * : but by means of the ftudy I have fo earneftly recommended, we may greatly diminifh the immenfe diftance that exifts between the eye of a firft rate painter, and that of a man who has never
* There is an anecdote of S. Rofa, which (hews the very juft and natural opinion that painters of eminence en- tertain of their fuperior judgment with regard to their own art: it is alfo highly characterifric of the lively im- petuous manner of the artifl of whom it is related3 and whofe words might no lefs juftly he applied to real objects, than to the imitation of them. Saivator Rofa> effendogli mojlrata una fingolar pittura da un dilettante^ che infiemermnts in ejlremo la ioaava ; egli con un di quei fuoi foliti gefl jpir.tofi efclania : 0 pen/a quel che tu direjh\ jo tu la videjji con gli occki di Saivator Rofa,
thought
&h PREFACE.
thought on the fubjed. Were it, indeed, poffible that a painter of great and general excellence, a Titian, or a Carach, could at once bellow on fuch a man, not his power of imitating, but of diftinguifhing and feel- ing the effects and combinations of form, colour, and light, and fhadow, it would hardly be too much to affert that a new- appearance of things, a new world would fuddenly be opened to him ; and the be- ftower might preface the miraculous gift, with the words in which Venus addreffes her fon, when (he removes the mortal film from his eves,
Afpice, namque omnem quae nunc obducla tuentl Mortales hebetat vifus tibi & humida circum. Caligat, nubem eripiam.
CONTENTS.
JJlll^L.. X! JL-il
CONTENTS.
Chapter L
TPage H E reafons why an improver ihould ftudy pic-
tures as well as nature - - L x
The artifVs defigns in real fcenery mufr. necefTarily change with the growth, decay, and various ac- cidents of trees ; the only fixed and unchanging compofitions are in the defigns of painters - 8 Diftin&ion between the painter and the improver- o Between looking at pictures merely with a re- ference to other pictures, . and ftudying them with a view to the improvement of our ideas of nature - • - _ . _ - - ij The general principles of both arts the fame - 15 The prefent fyftem of improving, at variance with
thofe principles - - - - - 16
The manner in which a picture of Claude would probably be improved by an admirer of Mr. Brown » * - - - '*- - 17
Chapter II.
Caufes of the neglect of the piclurefque in modern improvements - * â– *â– 'â– â– * - 25
Intricacy and variety, the cbarac~r.erirl.ics of the pic- turefque ; monotony and baldnefs, of improved places ^ - - - - « -26
A dreffed lane - ----- 28
A lane in its natural and picturefque ftate - - 29
Near the houfe, piclurefque beauty muft often be facrinced to neatnefs - - - "31
Different ways in which a picturefque lane might probably be improved - - ~ 3^
Examples of two lanes that have been improved - 41
Chap-
xiv CONTENTS.
Chapter III.
P»ge
General meaning of the word pi&urefque - 46
Mr. Gilpin's definitions of it examined - - 47 It has not an exclufive reference to painting - - 48 The beautiful and the fublime have been pointed out and illuftrated by painting as well as the pic- turefque - - - - - - 49
Apology for making ufeof the word pidturefquenefs - 51 The picturefque as diftincr. a character as either the
fublime, or the beautiful - - - "53 The picturefque arifes from qualities dire&Iy oppo- fite to thofe of beauty - - - - 59
What thofe qualities are - - r . - 60
Pi&urefque and beautiful in buildings - -62
Ditto - in water - 67
Ditto - in trees - - - - 69
Ditto ~ in animals - - - 71
Ditto - in birds - - - - 73
Ditto - in men - - - - " 76
Ditto - in the higher order of
beings - ibid.
Ditto - in painting - - -'- 77
Chapter IV.
General diilidtions between the piclurefque and the
beautiful - 82
Ditto - between the pic~turefque
and the fublime - 99 The manner in which they operate on the mind - 103 Of terror, as the caufe of the fublime - - - 109
Chapter V.
To create the fublime above our contracted powers. — The art of improving therefore de- pends on the beautiful and the pidturefque - 123
Beauty
CON TENTS. xr
Page
Beauty alone has hitherto been aimed at -123
But they are feldom unmixed, and infipidity has
arifen from trying to feparate them - - 125 Inftance of their mixture in the human counte- nance - Ibid. Ditto - in flowers, fhrubs, and
trees - 127
Ditto - in buildings - - - 134.
Chapter VI.
It has been doubted by fome whether fmoothnefs
be eflential to the beautiful - 136
Effects of fmoothnefs and of roughnefs in pro- ducing the beautiful and the pi-cturefque, by means of repofe and irritation - 138
Repofe the peculiar beauty of Claude's pictures - 145 Character of the pleafures that arife from irritation - 146 Effects of repofe and irritation as caufed by light
and fhadow - - - - 147
Character of Rubens's light and fhadow - J49
Ditto - of Coreggio's - - - 151
Ditto - of Claude's, and his landfcapes com- pared with thofe of Rubens - - 152
Chapter VII.
Breadth of light and fhadow - 157
Twilight - - - - 161
The effects of twilight mould be fludied by
improvers - - - - 164
Difficulty of uniting; breadth with detail - 167
Breadth alone infufficient, but to be preferred
to detail without breadth - - -169
Application of the principle of breadth to im- provement - - - 1 71 Objections to buildings being made too white - 173 Diftiuctnefs - - - - 179
Chap-
xvi CONTENTS.
Chapter VIII.
Page
181
On the beautiful, and on what might be termed the pi&urefque, in colour
Why autumn, and not fpring, is called the paint- er's feafon - - - - 184.
The colouring of the Venetian fchool, and parti- cularly of Giorgione, Titian, and their imita- tors, formed upon the glowing tints of autumn - 195
That of Rubens more on the frefh colours of fpring - - - - - 200
Character of the atmofphere, and of the lights and fhadows in fpring, and in autumn - - %U.
Chapter IX.
On uglinefs - - - 204
Angles not ugly, though not beautiful - - - 205 Deformity is to uglinefs what picturefquenefs is to
beauty - - - -. 207
Uglinefs and deformity in hills and mountains - 209
Ditto - in trees - - - - 210
Ditto - in ground t 211
Deformity in ground, &c. not fo obvious - - 213
Connection between picturefquenefs and deformity 214
Uglinefs in buildings - - - - - 215 Uglinefs in colours - - - - -216 Effedts of deformity and uglinefs compared -y and
illuftrated by founds - >- - 217
Effects of the pi&urefque when mixed with uglinefs 219 The cxcefs of the qualities of beauty tend to infi-
pidity ; thofe of picturefquenefs to deformity - 222
Application to improvements - 226 Beauty, picturefquenefs, and deformity in the other-
fenfes - 227 General Fumming up of the arguments, to prove
that the picturcfque is a diftindt character - 229
Not
CONTENTS. xvit
Page
Not lefs fo than Envy, Revenge, or any other v
character whofe diftin&nefs is acknowledged - 234
The reafon why its diftin£tnefs has not been fo ac- curately marked out - - ' - 238
And why there are not more diftincl terms and
difcriminations in matters of tafte - - 240
PAR T II.
C H A P T E R I.
How far the principles of painting have been ap- plied to improvements - 246 Kent, one of the firft improvers on the prefent
fyftem - - - - ibid* General character of the old, and of the prefent
ftyle of gardening - - 247
Character of Kent - - 248 Reafons for having fpoken of him in fuch ftrong
terms - 253 Character of Sir Jofliua Reynolds's difcourfes - 258 Vindication of their originality againft certain ma- licious infinuations - ibid. Want of connection the great general defect of
modern gardening - - - 261 Mr. Brown - - - T. 263 The clump - - - 267 The belt - 269 That and the avenue compared «■- . " - 270 Farther remarks on the avenue - - - ibid. Diftinclion between beautiful and pi£turefque in- tricacy - - t - 276 The ufual method of thinning trees for the pur- pofe of beauty confidered - - - 280 b Hi
xviii CONTENTS.
Page
111 effe&s of breaking an avenge into clumps - 282 The painter, by means of alterations an J exclufions, may take advantage of fuch breaks, but he would miilead the improver - 284
A ftriking inftance of fuch an abufe of the art of painting ----- - Ib'tti.
Chapter II.
Trees confidered generally - 285
NecefTary accompaniments to rocks and moun- tains, and to every kind of ground and of water. An exception with regard to the fea - - 287 The variety and intricacy of trees •» 288
Thofe which are remarkably full of leaves, not al- ways preferred by painters— rthe reafons - 289 Plantations made for ornament, the leaft admired
by painters - 292
The eftablifhed trees of the country ought to
prevail in the new plantations - - ibid.
Clumps, or patches of a larger fize - - 295
Large plantations of firs have a harm effect, from not harmonizing with the natural woods of the country - * - 301
Bad effects of planting too clofe - - 302
The neceffity of a proper balance in all fcenery,
both in point of form, and of colour - - 303 Infide of a clofe plantation of firs - - 304
Difference of its character from that of a grove
of fpreading pines - 306
Fir plantations improper for boundaries u 307
A common hedge often- a more effectual boun- dary, and fome highly beautiful - - 309 This points but the neceffity of a mixture of thorns, hollies, and the lower growths in all fcreens — the fame method may be extended t© all ornamental plantations - • ibid.
CONTENT S. xix
Page
The ufe of fuch a mixture of the lower growths, if fuch a plantation mould be thinned after many years neglect - - - 312
Contraft of fuch a plantation, with a dofe wood
of firs only - - - 316
Its variety would not arife merely from a diver- sity of plants — variety in forefts produced by a few fpecies - - - 317
Continual and unvaried diversity, a fource, and a fpecies of monotony - - - 319
Accident and neglect the fources of variety in un- improved parks and forefts - - 321
The reafons why lawns have in general little variety - • - - 322.
Why a lawn looks ill in a picture - - 323
Why the moft beautiful lawn, painted by Claude, would not be equal to his belt pictures - 324
Verdure and fmoothnefs, which are the charac- teriftic beauties of a lawn, are in their nature allied to monotony - - 325
Improvers, inftead of remedying that defect:, have added to it - - - ibjd*
Soft and fmooth colours, like foft and fmooth fonnds, are grateful to the mere fenfe; a relifh for more artful combinations acquired by de- grees - - - 328
Such a relifh does not exclude a tafle for fimple fcenes, and for fimple melodies - - 329
Chapter III.
On the general effects of water in landfcape - 331 Remarks on certain paffages of the poets refpect- ing the banks of rivers ; none of them applica- ble to thofe of Mr. Brown's artificial water - ibid. Mr. Brown's artificial rivers have no objects of reflection - * - 333
CONTENTS.
Page The formal fweeps of fuch imitations, contrafted
with the intricacies and varieties of natural rivers - - - - - 335
Water with a thin grafly edge like an overflow- ing - 338 No profefTor has yet endeavoured to make an arti- ficial river like a natural one - - 349 It muft be done by attention to the banks, and to objects of reflection, as an artificial river muft be without motion - - - 351 Objects of reflection peculiarly fuited to ft ill water 353 Remarks on the expreflion of a fine Jheet of water - ibid* The great water at Blenheim - - 355 The drefTed bank, and garden fcenery ; the reafon why that part is fuperior to the other improved parts - - - - 358 The water below the cafcade - - 362 General reflexions on the fubjecl: of the efTay - 366 Appendix - - - - 391
ERRATA.
Page 55. betiv:en lines 15 and 16 the wor d than omitted. 125. 1. 9./''' feldoms, read feldom. 207. 1. 17. f'->r oppofites, read oppofite. 2,38. 1. 3. for an, read and.
2.49. 1. 13. for what a multitude, read what fuch a multitude. 290. 1. 3. for well, read dwell. 29:. 1. 3. for can be, read is.
« 1. 4. for be, read can be.
360. note, 1. 5. from the botton, for have, read hath. 36;. 1. ult. for have, read hath.
ON THE
PICTURESQJJE, &c.
THERE is no country, I believe (if we except China) where the art of laying out grounds is fo much cultivated as it now is in England* Formerly the deco- rations near the houfe were infinitely more magnificent and expenfive than they are at prefent ; but the embellifhrnents of what are called the grounds, and of all the exten- five fcenery round the place, was much lefs attended to ; and, in general, tire park, with all its timber and thickets, was left in a Hate Vol. L B of
of wealthy negleft: as thefe embelliilW ments are now extended over a whole dif- tricl, and as they give a new and peculiar character to the general face of the country, it is well worth confidering whether they give a natural and a beautiful one, and whe- ther the prefent fyftem of improving (to ufe a fhort though often an inaccurate term) is- founded on any juft principles of tafte.
In order to examine this qpeftion, the firft enquiry will naturally be, whether there is any ftandard, to which in point of grouping, and of general compofltion, works of this fort can be referred ; any authority higher than that of the perfons wrho have gained the moil general and popular reputation by thofe works, and whofe method of conducting them has had the moft exteniive influence on the general tafte ? I think there is a ftandard ; there are authorities of an infi- nitely higher kind ; the authorities of thofe 4 great
[ 3 ]
great artifts who have rnoft diligently flu- died the beauties of nature, both in their grandeft and rnoft general effects, and in their minuteft detail ; who have obferved every variety of form and of colour, have been able to felect and combine, and then, by the magic of their art, to fix upon the can- vas all thefe various beauties.
But, however highly I may think of the art of painting, compared with that of im- proving, nothing can be farther from my intention (and I wifh to imprefs it in the ftrongeft manner on the reader's mind) than to recommend the ftudy of pictures in pre- ference to that of nature, much lefs to the exclufion of it. Whoever ftudies art alone, will have a narrow pedantic manner of cor>- iidering all objects, and of referring them folely to the minute and particular purpofes of that art to which his attention has been particularly directed ; this is what improvers B 2 have
[ 4 J
have done: and if every thing is to be re- ferred to art, at lean: let it be referred to one,, whofe variety, compared to the monotony of what is called improvement, appears infi- nite, but which again falls as fhort of the boundlefs variety of themiftrefs of all art.
The ufe, therefore, of ftudying pictures is not merely to make us acquainted with the combinations and effects that are con- tained in them, but to guide us by means of thofe general heads (as they may be called) of compofition, in our fearch of the num- berlefs and untouched varieties and beauties of nature; for as he who ftudies art only will have a confined tafte, fo he who looks at nature only, will have a vague and un- fettled one; and in this more extended fenfe I fhould interpret the Italian proverb, " Chi sipfegna, ha un pazzo per maeftro: He is a fool who docs not profit by the ex- perience of others,"
We.
[ 5 3
We are therefore to profit by the expe- rience contained in pictures, but not to con- tent ourfelves with that experience only ; nor are we to confider even thofe of the higheft clafs as abfolute and infallible ftand- ards, but as the bell: and only ones we have; as compofitions, which, likis thofe of the great claffical authors, have been confecrated by long uninterrupted admiration, and which therefore have a fimilar claim to influence our judgment, and to form our tafte in all that is within their province. Thefe are the reafons for ftudying copies of nature, though the original is before us, that we may not lofe the benefit of what is of fuch great moment in all arts and fciences, the accumulated experience of piaft ages ; and, with refpect to the art of improving, we may look upon pictures as a fet of ex- periments of the different ways in which trees, buildings, water, &c. may be dif- B 3 pofed3
[ 6 ]
pofed, grouped, and accompanied in the moll beautiful and ftriking manner, and in every ftyle, from the moft fimple and rural to the grandeft and moft ornamental : many of thofe objects, that are fcarcely marked as they lie fcattered oyer the face of nature, when brought together in the compafs of a fmall fpace of canvas, are forcibly impreffed upon the eye, which by that means learns hpw to feparate, to felecl, and combine.
Who can doubt whether Shakefpeare and Fielding liad not infinitely more amufe- ment from fociety, iri all its various views, than common pbfervers ? 1 believe it can be as little doubted, that the having read fuch authors muft give any man (however acute his penetration) more enlarged views of human nature in general, as well as a more intijnate acquaintance with particular characters, than he would have had from the pbfervatioa of nature only; that many
groups
[ 7 3
groups of characters, many combinations of incidents, which might -other wife have efcaped his notice, would forcibly ftrike him, from the recollection of fcenes and paflages from fuch writers ; that in all thefe :cafes the pleafure we receive from what paffes in real life is rendered infinitely more poignant by a refemblance to what we have read or have feen on the ftage. But will any man argue from thence that thefe cha- racters and incidents have no intrinlic me- rit, but merely that which is derived from •their having been made ufe of by great and admired authors ? The parallel between this and the affiftance which painting gives to- wards an accurate as well as a comprehen- five view of nature is fo obvious as hardly to require pointing out.
I am therefore perfuaded that thofe men's - minds will be the moft amufed (and per- haps not the leaft ufefully employed) to B 4 whom
[ 8 3
whom " all the world's a flage," who re-* mark wherever they go (and habit will give a rapid and unobferved facility in doing it) not only the characters of all individuals, but their effect on each other. Such an obferver will not divide what paffes into fcenes and chapters, and be pleafed with it in proportion as it will do for a novel cr a play, but he will be pleafed on the fame principles as Shakefpeare or Fielding would have been. This appears to me a true and exact flatement of the mutual relation that painting and nature bear to each other.
Had the art of improving been cultivated for as long a time, and upon as fettled prin-. ciples, as that of painting, and were there extant various works of genius, which, like thofe of the pther art, had flood the tefl of ages (though from the great change which the growth and decay of trees mull pro- duce in the original defign of the artift, this
is
[ 9 ] .
is hardly poffible) there would not be the fame neceffity of referring and comparing the works of reality to thofe of imitation; but as the cafe ftaeds at prefent, the only models of competition that approach to per- fection, the only fixed and unchanging fe- lections from the works of nature, united with thofe of art, are in the pictures and de- figns of the moft eminent mailers,
But although certain happy compofltions, detached from the general mafs of objects, and confidered by themfelves have the great- eft and moft lafting effect, both in nature or painting; and though the painter, in re- fpect to his own art, may think of thofe only, and give himfelf no concern about the reft, he cannot do fo if he is an improver as well as a painter; for he might then neglect or injure what was effential to the whole, by attending only to a part, and in that confifts the great and obvious diffe- rence
[ i* 3
rence between the practice, not the general principles, of the two arts : there is another alfo that leads to the fame point, and which has not been fufficiently attended to; the dif- ference between looking at nature merely with a view to making pictures, and look- ing at pictures with a view to the improve- ment of our ideas of nature; the former often does contract the tafte when purfued too clofely, the latter I believe as generally refines and enlarges it. The greateft paint- ers were men of enlarged and liberal minds^ and well acquainted with many arts befides their own. L* da Vinci, M. Angelo, Ra- phael, Titian, were not merely patronized by the fovereigns of that period; they were confidered almoft as friends by fuch men as Leo, Francis, and Charles, and were inti- mately connected with Aretino, Caftiglione, and all the eminent wits of that time. Thofe great artifts (nor need I have gone fo far
baok
[ ii 3
feack for examples) confidered pictures and nature as throwing a reciprocal light on ;each other, and as connected with hifcory* poetry, and all the fine arts; but the prac- tice of too many lovers of painting has been very different, and has, I believe, contributed in a great degree, and with great reafon, to give a prejudice againft the ftudy of pic- tures as a preparation to that of nature. In the fame manner that many painters confider natural fcenery merely with a re- ference to their own practice, many con- noiffeurs confider pictures merely with a re- ference to other pic~hxres,as a fchool in which they may learn the routine of connoiffeur- fhip, that is, an acquaintance with the moll prominent marks and peculiarities of diffe- rent matters; but they rarely look upon them in that point of view in which alone they can produce any real advantage, — as a fchool in which we may learn to enlarge, refine,
and
f ** ]
and correct our ideas of nature, and in re- turn, may qualify ourfelves by this more li- beral courfe of ftudy, to be real judges of what is excellent in imitation. This reflec- tion may account for what otherwife feems quite unaccountable, namely, that many en- thufiaftic admirers and collectors of Claude, Pouffin, &c. mould have fuffered profefled improvers to deprive the general and ex- tended fcenery of their places, of all that thofe painters would have moft admired and copied. Should the narrow and perverfe application of fo excellent a ftudy be pro- duced as an argument againft the ftudy altogether, that of the holy gofpel might on the fame ground be objected. to, for certainly its pure and exalted doctrines have been by fome lefs induftrioufly ap- plied to enlarge, correct, and refine our na- ture, than to furnifh matter for fcholaftic diftinctions, and all that vain and fruitlefs parade which in theology and in every other
art
C *3 ]
art and fcience anfwers fo well to the cant of connoifTeurfhip in painting. He who can in any degree contribute to direct ftudies to their proper object, even in matters of lefs moment, deferves well of mankind % with refpect to improvement in its moil compre- heniive fenfe, the great object of enquiry feems to be, what is that mode of ftudy which will beft enable a man of a liberal and intelligent mind to judge of the forms, colours, effects, and combinations of vifible objects; to judge of them either as iingle compoiitions, which may be confidered by themfelves without reference to what fur- rounds them 5 or elfe as parts of fcenery, the arrangement of which muft be more or lefs regulated and reftrained by what joins them, and the connection of which with the general fcenery muft be conftantly attended to. Such knowledge and judgment comprehend the whole fcience of improvement with regard
to
[ H \
to its effect on the eye, and I believe cin never be perfectly acquired, unlefs to the ftudy of natural fcenery, and of the various ftyles of gardening in different periods, the improver adds the theory at lead of that art, the very efTence of which is connec- tion: a principle moft adapted to correct the chief defects of improvers ; a principle always prefent to the painter's mind, if he deferves that name ; and by the guidance of which he confiders all fets of objects, what- ever may be their character or bounda- ries, from the moft extenfive profpect to the moft confined wood fcene: neither refer- ring every thing to the narrow limits of his canvas, nor defpifing what will not fuit it, unlefs, indeed, the limits of his mind be equally narrow and contracted; for when I fpeak of a painter, I mean an artift, not a mechanic.
Whatever minute and partial objections
may
[ *5 J
may be made to the ftudy of pictures for the purpofe of improvement, (many of which I have already difcuffed in my letter to Mr. Repton,) yet certainly the great lead- ing principles of the one art, as general competition — grouping the feparate parts — harmony of tints — unity of character, are equally applicable to the other : I may add alfo, what is fo very effential to the painter, though at firfl: fight it feems hardly within the province of the improver — breadth and effect of light and lhade.
Thefe are called the principles of paint* ing, becaufe that art has pointed them out more clearly, by feparating what was mod: {hiking and well combined, from the lefs interefling and fcattered objects of general fcenery ; but they are in reality the gene- ral principles on which the effect of all viiible objects muff depend, and to which it mull: be referred.
Nothing
Nothing can be more directly at war with all thefe principles (founded as they are in truth and in nature) than the prefent fyftem of laying out grounds. A painter, or whoever views objects with a painter's eye*, looks with indifference, if not with difguft, at the clamps, the belts, the made water, and the eternal fmoothnefs and fame- nefs of a finifhed place ; an improver, on. the other hand, confiders thefe as the moffc perfect embellimments, as the laft finifhing touches that nature can receive from art ; and confequently muft think the fineft com- poiition of Claude (and I mention him as
* When I fpeak of a painter, I do not mean merely a profefTor, but any man (artift or not) of a liberal mind, with a ftrong feeling for nature as well as art, who has been in the habit of comparing both together.
A man of a narrow mind and little fenfibility, in or out of a profeffion, is always a bad judge; and poilibly (as that ingenious critic the Abbe du Bos has well explained) a worfe judge for being an artift.
the
t 17 ]
the moft ornamented of all the great mafters) comparatively rude and imperfed: ; though he probably might allow, in Mr. Brown's phrafe, that it had " capabilities. "
No one, I believe, has yet been daring enough to improve a pidlure of Claude *$ or at leaft to acknowledge it j but I do not think it extravagant to fuppofc that a man,
* The account in Peregrine Pickle, of the gentleman who had improved Vandyke's portraits of his anceftors$ ufed to ftrike me as rather outre; but I met with a fimilar inftance fome years ago, that makes it appear much lefs fo. I was looking at a collection of pictures with Gainf- borough ; among the reft the houfekeeper fhewed us a portrait of her matter, which fhe faid was by Sir Jofhua Reynolds : we both flared, for not only the touch and the colouring, but the whole ftyle of the drapery and the general effect, had no refemblance to his manner* Upon examining the houfekeeper more particularly, we difco- vered that her mafter had had every thing but the face— * not re-touched from the colours having faded — but to- tally changed, and newly compofed, as well as painted, by another, and, I need not add, an inferior hand.
Such a man would have felt as little fcruple in making a Claude like his own place, as in making his own por- trait like a fcare-crow.
Vol, I, C thoroughly
[ is i
thoroughly perfuaded, from his own taftc, and from the authority of fuch a writer as Mr. Walpole*, that an art, unknown to
* I can hardly think it neceflary to make any excufe for calling Lord Orford Mr. Walpole ; it is the name by which he is beft known in the literary world, and to which his writings have given a celebrity much beyond what any hereditary honour can beftow. It is more neceflary, perhaps, to make an apology for the liberty I muft take of canvafling with freedom many pofitions in his very ingenious and entertaining treatife on Modern Garden- ing. That treatife is written in a very high ftrain of panegyric on the art of which he gives fo amufing a hifrory : mine is a direct and undifguifed attack upon it. The greater his authority the more neceflary it is to combat the impreflion which that alone will make on molt minds. I do it, however, with great deference and reluctance; for I know how difficult it is to fleer between the tamenefs of over-caution and the appearance of acrimony, or of want of refpect towards a perfbn for whom I feei fo much, and to whom on fo many accounts it is due. But he who is warmly engaged in a caufe, and has to fight againft ftrongly-rooted opinions, upheld by powerful fupporters, muft, if he hopes to vanquish them, take every fair advantage of his opponents, and not feem too timid arid fearful of giving offence where he means none.
every
t 19 I
every age and climate, that of creating laricU fcapes, had advanced with mafter-fteps t& vigorous perfe&ion ; that enough had been done to eftablifh fuch a fchool of landfcape as cannot be found in the reft of the globe ; and that Milton's defcription of Paradife feems to have been copied from fome piecd of modern gardening 5— that fuch a man, full of enthufiafm for this new art, and with little veneration for that of painting, fhould chufe to (hew the world what Claude might have been, had he had the advantage of feeing the works of Mr. Brown. The only difference he would make between im- proving a picture and a real fcene, would be that of employing a painter inftead of a gardener.
What would more immediately ftrike him
would be the total want of that leading
feature of all modern improvements, the
C % clump 1
[ â„¢ ]
clump*; and of courfe he would order fe-> veral of them to be placed in the moil open and confpicuous fpots, with, perhaps, here and there a patch of larches, as forming a ftrong contrail:, in fhape and colour, to the Scotch firs. — His eye, which had been ufed to fee even the natural groups of trees in improved places made as feparate and clump -like as poffible, would be (hocked to fee thofe of Claude, fome with their ftems half concealed by buflies and thickets; others ftanding alone, but, by means of thofe thickets, or of detached trees, con- nected with other groups of various fizes
* As fome difputes have arifen about the meaning of
the word clump, it may not be improper to define what
I mean by it. My idea of a clump, in contra-diftinclion
to a group, is, any clofe mafs of trees of the fame age and
growth, totally detached from all others, I have generally
fuppofed them to be of a round, or at leaft of a regular
form : their fize of courfe muft vary, and no rule can well
be given when fuch a detached mafs ceafes to be a clump,
and may be called a plantation.
and
[ 21 ] •
and fhapes. All this rubbiih mufl be clear- ed away*, the ground made every where quite fmooth and level, and each group left upon the grafs perfectly diftindt and fepa- rate. — Having been accuftomed to whiten all diftant buildings, thofe of Claude, from the effect of his foft vapoury atmofphere, would appear to him too indiftin&j the painter of courfe would be ordered to give them a fmarter appearance, which might poffibly be communicated to the nearer buildings alfo. — Few modern houfes or or- namental buildings are fo placed among trees, and partially hid by them, as to con- ceal much of the Hull of the architect, or the expence of the porTeffor; but in Claude, not only ruins, but temples and palaces, are often
* I do not mean by this, that nothing mould-be cleared; on the contrary, a proper degree and ftyle of clearing adds as much to beauty and effect as it does to neatnefs. But of this I fhall fay more hereafter,
C3 &
I «* 3
fo mixed with trees, that the tops over- hang their baluftrades, and the luxuriant branches fhoot between the openings of their magnificent columns and porticos : as he would not fuffer his own buildings to be fo mafked, neither would he thofe of Claude^ and thefe luxuriant boughs, and all that ob^- ftrufted a full view of them, the painter would be told to expunge, and carefully to reftore the ornaments they had hid. — Thq laft finifhing both to places and pictures i$ water: in Claude it partakes of the general foftnefs and drefTed appearance of his fcenes, and the accompaniments have, perhaps, lef§ of rudenefs than in any other mafter* ; yet^
compared
* One of my countrymen at Rome was obferving tha{ the water in the Colonna Claude had rather too drefled and artificial an appearance. A Frenchman, who was alfo looking at the picture, cried out, " Cependant, Mon- fieur, on pourroit y donner une fi belle fete !" Thi& was very chara&eriftic of that gay nation, but it is equally
fQ
[ 23 ]
compared with thofe of a piece of made water, or of an improved river, his banks are perfectly favage ; parts of them covered with trees and buihes that hang over the water ; and near the edge of it tuffucks of rufhes, large ftones, and ftumps ; the ground fometimes fmooth, fometimes bro- ken and abrupt, and feldom keeping, for a long fpace, the fame level from the water : no curves that anfwer each other j no re- femblance, in fhort, to what he had been wfed to admire : a few ftrokes of the paint- er's brufh would reduce the bank on each fide to one level, to one green j would make curve anfwer curve, without bufh or tree to hinder the eye from enjoying the uni^ form fmoothnefs and verdure, and from purfuing, without interruption, the conti-
fo of a number of Claude's pictures. They have an air defete beyond all others ; and there is no painter whofe works ought to be fo much ftudied for highly drefled yet varied nature.
C 4 nueel
C H 1
nued fweep of thefe Terpentine lines ;— *& little cleaning and polifhing of the fore- ground would give the laft touches of im- provement, and complete the picture.
There is not a perfon in the fmalleft de- gree converfant with painting, who would Dot, at the fame time, be fhocked and di- verted at the black fpots and the white fpots,-the naked water,-the naked build- jngs,*-the fcattered unconnected groups of trees, and all the grofs and glaring viola-, tions of every principle of the art ; and yet this, without any exaggeration, is the me- thod in which many fcenes, worthy of Claude's pencil, have been improved. Is it then poffible to imagine that the beau- ties of imitation fhould be fo diftinct from thofe pf reality, nay, fo completely at va- riance, that what difgraces and makes a piftuje ridiculous, fhould become orna-? mental when applied to nature ?
CHAP.
I 25 ]
CHAPTER II,
T T Teems to me, that the negled, which * prevails in the works of modern im- provers, of all that is pidturefque, is ow- ing to their exclufive attention to high polifh and flowing lines, the charms of which they are {o engaged in contem- plating, as to make them overlook two of the moft fruitful fources of human pleafure ; the firft, -that great and uni~ verfal fource of pleafure, variety, whofe power is independent of beauty, but with- out which even beauty itfelf foon ceafes to pleafe ; the other, intricacy, a quality which, though diftind from variety, is fo ^ connected
r ** ]
connected and blended with it, that the one can hardly exift without the other.
According to the idea I have formed of it, intricacy in landfcape might be defined, that difpojition of objects which , by a par- tial and uncertain concealment, excites and nourijhes curiojity *« Variety can hardly require a definition, though, from the prac- tice of many layers-out of ground, one might fuppofe it did. Upon the whole, it appears to me, that as intricacy in the difpoiition, and variety in the forms, the
* Many perfons, who take little concern in the in- tricacy of oaks, beeches, and thorns, may feel the effects of partial concealment in more interefting objects, and may have experienced how differently the paffions are moved by an open licentious difplay of beauties, and by the unguarded diforder which fometimes efcapes the care ©f modefty, and which coquetry fo fuccefsfully imitates :
Parte appar delle mamme acerbe & crude, Parte altrui ne ricuopre invida vefte ; Invida fi, ma fe agli occhi il varco chiude, I/amorofo penfier gia non s'arrefta.
tints,
I 27 I
tints, and the lights and fhadows of ob- jects, are the great characteristics of pic- turefque fceneryj fo monotony and bald- nefs are the greateft defeats of improved places.
Nothing would place this in fo diftindt a point of view as a comparifon between fome familiar fcene in its natural and pic* turefque, and in what would be its im- proved ftate, according to the prefent prin- ciples of gardening. All painters, who have imitated the more confined fcenes of nature, have been fond of making ftudies from old negle&ed bye roads and hollow ways ; and, perhaps, there are few fpots that, in fo fmall a compafs, have a greater variety of that fort of beauty called pic- turefque -, but, I believe, the inftances are very rare of painters, who have turned out volunteers into a gentleman's walk or drive, either when made between artificial banks,
or
[ 28 ]
or when the natural fides or banks have been improved. I fhall endeavour to ex- amine whence it happens, that a pidtu- .refque eye looks coldly on what is very generally admired, and difcovers a thou- fand interefting objects where a common eye fees nothing but ruts and rubbifh ; and whether the pleafure of the one, and the Indifference of the other, arife from the cauies I have affigned.
Perhaps, what is mod immediately ftrik- ing in a lane of this kind is its intricacy ; any winding road, indeed (efpecially where there are banks) muft neceffarily have fome degree of intricacy; but in a dreffed lane every effort of art feems diredled againft that difpofition of the ground : the fides are fo regularly Hoped, fo regularly plant- ed, and the fpace (when there is any) be- tween them and the road fo uniformly le- velled ; the fweeps of the road fo plainly
artificial,
• . [ 29 I
artificial, the verges of grafs that bound it fo; nicely edged; the whole, in fhort, has fuch an appearance of having been made by a receipt, that curiofity, that moll: ac- tive principle of pleafure, is almofl extin- guifhed.
But in thefe hollow lanes and bye roads all the leading features, and a thoufand circumftances of detail, promote the natu- ral intricacy of the ground ; the turns are fudden and unprepared ; the banks fometimes broken and abrupt; fometimes fmooth, and gently but not uniformly flop-* ing; now wildly over-hung with thick- ets of trees and bufhes ; now loofely {kittl- ed with wood ; no regular verge of grafs, no cut edges, no diftinft: lines of feparation; all is mixed and blended together, and the border f of the road itfelf, lhaped by the
mere
* It may be obferved, that whenever a border, or fuch a feparation of the general covering of the furface (whe- ther
t 30 1
mere tread of paffengers and animals, is as tmconftraiiied as the footfteps that formed it: even the tracks of the wheels (for no cir- cumftance is indifferent) contribute to the pifturefque effeft of the whole ; the lines they defcribe are full of variety ; they juft mark the way among trees and bufhes, while any obftacle, a clufter of low thorns, a furze-bufh, a tuifuck, a large ftone, will force the wheels into fudden and intricate turns, at the fame time thofe obftacles themfelves, either wholly or partially con- cealing the former tracks, add to that variety and intricacy ; often a group of trees, or a
ther grafs, mofs, heath, &c.) as difcovers the foil, is formed by the action of water, of froft, or by the tread of animals, it is free from that edginefs, that cutting liny appearance, the fpade always leaves, and which of all things is moft deftru£tive of variety and intricacy : this, I think, accounts for the attachment of painters to What is called broken ground, and to the natural banks of rivers, as well as for their contempt for thofe of ar- tificial water,
thicket,
f
I 31 1
thicket, will occafion the road to feparate In two parts, leaving a fort of ifland in the middle *, and of thefe and numberlefs other accidents painters have continually availed themfelves.
* In the Abbe de Lille's exquifite poem on gardens, (which I had not read when I publifhed my eflay, but which I have hardly ceafed to read fince I had it in my pofleflion) there are fome lines that very beautifully de- scribe, or rather indicate the fame circumftance in the feparation of a brook : I am tempted to tranferibe part of the paflage, as it affords a very happy example how much the motion, the tranfparency, and the various charms of water, add life and animation to a fcene comparatively dead.
Plus loin il fe fepare en deux ruiffeaux agiles ;
Que fe fuivant Tun l'autre avec rapidite,
Difputent de vitefle, & de limpidite.
The whole pafTage is excellent, and the poem alto- gether full of the jufteft tafle, and theniceft difcrimina- tions, as well as the moll brilliant imagery, and the' whole expreiTed in the happieft, and moft poetical ftyle* I mould have thought myklf very - ungrateful, if in 3 fecond edition I had not acknowledged the very great pleafure and inftruction I had received from it, and added my teftimony to that I believe of every other reader,
la
C 32 ]
In forefts particularly, it is inconceiva*' ble how much the various routes in all di- rections, through the wild thickets, and among the trunks of old trees, add to the intricacy and perplexed appearance of the fceneryj an effed: that would be totally deftroyed if the tracks were all fmoothed and made level, and a gravel road, with eaiy fweeps, made in their room.
It is a lingular circumftance, that fome of the moft ftriking varieties of form, of colour, and of light and fhade, fhould, in thefe, as in many other fcenes, be owing to the indifcriminate hacking of the peafant, nay, to the very decay that is occafioned by it. When oppofed to the tamenefs of the poor pinioned trees of a gentleman's plantation drawn up ftrait and even toge- ther, there is often a fort of fpirit and jmimation in the manner in which old neg~ h &ed pollards ftretch out their immenfe
limbs
t 33 3
limbs quite acrofs one of thefe hollow roads, and in every wild and irregular direction : on fome the large knots and protuberances add to the ruggednefs of their twifled trunks ; in others, the deep hollow of the infide, the moffes on the bark, the rich yellow of the touch-wood, with the blacknefs of the more decayed fubftance, afford fuch variety of tints, of brilliant and mellow lights, with deep and peculiar fhades, as the finefl: timber tree (however beautiful in other refpects) With all its health and vigour, cannot exhibit.
This carelefs method of cutting, jufl as the farmer happened to want a few flakes or poles, gives infinite variety to the gene- ral outline of the banks : near to one of thefe " unwedgeable and gnarled oaks'*, often rifes the flender elegant form of a young beech, afh, or birch, that had efcaped the axe, and whofe tender bark and
Vol. I. D light
C 34 ]
light foliage appear, ftill more delicate and airy when feen fidev/ays againft the rough bark and maffy head of the oak, Some- times it rifes alone from the bank ; fome- times from amidft a duller of rich hollies or wild junipers | fometimes its light and upright ftem is embraced by the projecting cedar-like boughs of the yew.
The ground itfelf, in thefe lanes, is as much varied in form, tint, and light and made, as the plants that grow upon it; this, as ufual, inftead of owing any thing to art, is, on the contrary, occafioned by accident and neglecl: *. The winter tor- rents,
* The manner in which improvers may profit by the lucky efFe6ts of accident and neglecl: (for I do not mean to fay that they are always lucky) is fully difcuiTed in my letter to Mr. Repton. The principle, which is here ex- emplified in trees and hollow lanes, extends to objects of much greater importance, to every fpecies of improve- ment, even to the higheft and moft important of all, that of government. Neither improvers nor legislators will
leave
[ 35 1
rents, in fome places warn down the mould from the upper grounds, and form pro- jections of various fhapes, which, from the fatnefs of the foil, are generally enriched with the moil luxuriant vegetation; in other parts, they tear the banks into deep hollows, difcovering the different * ftrata of earth, and the maggy roots of trees; thefe hollows are frequently overgrown with wild rofes, with honeyfuckles, periwincles,
leave every thing to neglect and accident ; but it certainly is wife in both, by carefully obferving all the effects which have arifen from them, to learn how to take ad- vantage of future changes, and, above all, to iearn that moft ufeful leflbn, not to fupprefs the workings of nature, but to watch, and take indications from them j for who would choofe to fettle in that place, or under that go- vernment, where the warnings, indications, and all the free efforts of nature, were forcibly counteracted and fuppreffed.
* Mr. Gilpin, in his Obfervations on the River Wye (page 21.) has, with his ufual accuracy, defcribed the variety of broken ground, and of the colours of the dif- ferent ftrata,
D 2 and
r 36 i
and other trailing plants, whofe flowers and pendent branches have quite a different effect when hanging loofely over one of thefe receffes, oppofed to its deep made, and mixed with the fantaflic roots of trees, and the varied tints of the foil, from thofe that are cut into borne s, or crawl along the uniform Hope of a mowed or dug fhrub- bery. - In the fummer time thefe little caverns afford a cool retreat for the fheep; and it is difficult to imagine a more beauti- ful fore-ground than is formed by the dif- ferent groups of them in one of thefe lanes 1 fome feeding on the patches of turf that in the wider parts lye between the fern and the bufhes; fome lying in the niches they have worn in the banks among the roots of trees, and to which they have made many fide-long paths ; fome repofing in thefe deep receffes, their bowers,
O'er-canopied with lufcious eglantine.
Near
I 37 ]
Near the houfe pidhirefque beauty muft, in many cafes, be facrificed to neatnefs j but it is a facrifice, and one which fhould not wantonly be made. A gravel walk cannot have the playful variety of a bye road ; there muft be a border to the gravel, and that and the fweeps muft, in great meafure, be regular, and confequently formal : I am convinced, however, that many of the cir- cumftances, which give variety and fpirit to a wild fpot, might be fuccefsfully imi- tated in a dreffed place; but it muft be done by attending to the principles, not by copying the particulars. It is not necef- fary to model a gravel walk, or drive after a iheep track or a cart rut, though very ufeful hints may be taken from them both ; and without having water-docks or thiftles before one's door, their effecT:, in a painter's fore-ground, may be produced by plants that are confidered as ornamental. I am D 3 equally
C 38 )
equally perfuaded that a dreffed appearance might be given to one of thefe lanes, with- out deftroying its peculiar and charadteriftic beauties.
I have faid little of the fuperior variety and effedt. of light and fhade in fcenes of this kind, as they of courfe muft follow variety of forms and of maffes, and intricacy of dif- pofition : I wiflied to avoid all detail that did not appear to me necelfary to explain or illuftrate fome general principles ; but when general principles are put crudely without examples, they not only are dry, but obfcure, and make no irnpreffion.
There are feveral ways in which a fpot of this kind, near a gentleman's place, would probably be improved ; for even in the monotony of what is called improve- ment there is a variety of bad. Some, per- haps, would cut down the old pollards, clear the rubbifb, and leave only the maiden
trees
[ 39 1
trees ftanding ; fome might plant up the •whole; others grub up every thing, and make a fhrubbery on each fide -, others put clumps of fhrubs, or of firs ; but there is one improvement that I am afraid almofi: all who had not been ufed to look at ob- jects with a painter's eye would adopt, and which alone would entirely deftroy its character -, that is fmoothing and * level- ling
* Toleve], in a very ufual fenfe of the word, 'means -to take away all difti nations ; a principle that, when made general, and brought into action by any deter- mined improver, either of grounds or governments, oc- cafions fuch mifchiefs as time flowly, if ever, repairs, and. which are hardly more dreaded by monarchs than painters.
A good landfcape is that in which all the parts are free and unconftrained, but in which, though fome are prominent and highly illuminated, and others in fhade and retirement ; fome rough, and others more fmooth and poiifhed, yet they are all necefFary to the beauty, energy, efre£r, and harmony of the whole. I do not fee how a good government can be more exactly defined ; and as this definition fuits every ftyle of landfcape, from D 4 the
[ 40 ]
ling the ground : the moment this me- chanical common-place operation (by which Mr. Brown and his followers have gained fo much credit) is begun, adieu to all that the painter admires — to all intricacies — to all the beautiful varieties of form, tint, and light and made -y every deep recefs — every bold projection— the fantaftic roots of trees — the winding paths of fheep — all mull go; in a few hours, the rafh hand offalfe tafte completely demolifhes what time only, and a thoufand lucky accidents, can mature, fo as to make it become the admiration and ftudy of a Ruyfdal or a Gainfborough, and reduces it to fuch a thing as an Oilman
the plaineft and fimpleft to the moft fplendid and com- plicated, and excludes nothing but tamenefs and confu- fion, fo it equally fuits all free governments, and only excludes anarchy and defpotifm. It muft be always re- membered however, that defpotifm is the moft complete leveller ; and he who clears and levels every thing round his own lofty manfion, feems to me to have very Turkifh principles of improvement,
4 in
C 41 1
in Thames-ftreet may at any time contract for by the yard at Iflington or Mile-End.
I had lately an opportunity of obierving the progrefs of improvement in one lane, and the effect of it in another, both un- fortunately bordering on gentlemen's plea- lure grounds. The firft had on one fide a high bank full of the beauties I have de- fcribed ; I was particularly ftruck with a beech which flood fingle on one part of it, and with the effect and character that its fpreading roots gave, both to the bank and to the tree itfelf * : the iheep alfo had
# There is fomething wonderfully pi£turefque and characteriftic in the large roots of trees, and in none more than in thofe of the beech ; they feem to faften on the earth with their dragon claws ; a huge oak too, whofe fpurs ftrongly divide from the trunk, mews what are the rivets that enable him to defy the ternpeft, et quanta radice ad Tartara tendit.
When thefe roots and fpurs are moulded up, from that prevailing fafhion of making every thing fmooth and level, the tree looks like an enormous poft ftuck in the ground.
made
. [ 42 ]
made their fidelong paths to this fpot, and often lay in the little compartments be^ tween the roots. One day I found a great many labourers wheeling mould to this place ; by degrees they filled up all in- equalities, and completely covered the roots and pathways ; one would have fup- pofed they were working for my Uncle Toby, under the direction of Corporal Trim *> for they had converted this varied
bank
* Thefe worthy pioneers, their employment, and their employers, are very aptly defcribed in two verfes of Taflb, and especially if the word guaftatori J is takeq in its raoft obvious fenfe ;
Inanzi i guaftatori avea mandati Ivuoti luoghi empir', & fpianar gli erti. This is a moft complete receipt for fpoiling a pictu- refque fpot ; and one might fuppofe, from this military ftyle having been fo generally adopted, and every thing laid open, that our improvers are fearful of an enemy "being in ambufcade among the bufhes of a gravel pit, or lurking in fome intricate group of trees. In that rCfpecT:, it muft be owned, the clump has infinite merit ;
X Spoilers.
for,
[ 43 3
bank into a perfect glacis, only the gazons were omitted. They had however worked up the mould they had wheeled into a fort of a mortar, and had laid it as fmooth from top to bottom as a mafon could have done . with his trowel. From the number of men employed, the quantity of earth wheeled, and the nicety with which this operation was performed, I am perfuaded it was in a great meafure done for the fake of beauty.
The improved part of the other lane I never faw in its original itate, but by what remains untouched, and by the accounts I heard, it muil have afforded noble ftudies for a painter. The banks are higher and the trees are larger than in tlie other lane, and their branches, ftretching from fide to fide,
" High over arch'd imbower."
for, befides its compact foldier-like appearance, it may be commanded from every point, and the enemy ealily 4iflodged.
I heard
C 44 J
I heard a vaft deal from the gardener of the place near it, about the large ugly roots that appeared above ground, the large holes the fheep ufed to lie in, and the rubbifh of all kinds that ufed to grow about them. The laft poffeffor took care to fill up and clean, as far as his property went : and that every thing might look regular, he put, as a boundary to the road, a row of white pales at the foot of the bank on each fide and on that next his houfe he raifed a peat wall as upright as it could well ftand, by way of a facing to the old bank, and in the middle of this peat wall planted a row of laurels: this row the gardener ufed to cut quite flat at top, and the cattle, reach- ing over the pales, and browfing the lower fhoots within their bite, kept it as even at bottom, fo that it formed one projecting lump in the middle, and had juft as pidu- refque an appearance as a bufhy wig
fqueezed
I 45 J
iqueezed between the hat and the cape. I mould add, that thefe two fpecimens of dreffed lanes are not in a diftant county, but within thirty miles of London, and in a diftricl: full of expenfive embelliiliments.
I am afraid many of my readers will think that I have been a long while getting through thefe lanes, but in them, and in old quarries, and in chalk and gravel pits that have been long neglefted, a great deal of what conftitutes, and what deftroys piftu- refque beauty, is ftrongly exemplified with- in a fmall compafs, and in fpots eafily re- forted to; the caufes too are as clearly marked, and may be as fuccefsfully ftudied as where the higher ftyles of it (often mixed with the fublime) are difplayed among forefts, rocks, and mountains.
CHAP*
C 46 ]
CHAPTER IIL
^TF^HERE are few words whole meaning •*• has been lefs accurately determined than that of the word Picturefque.
In general, I believe, it is applied to every object, and every kind of fcenery, which has been, or might be reprefented with good effect in painting; juft as the word beautiful (when we fpeak of vifible nature) is applied to every object, and every kind of fcenery, that in any Way give pleafure to the eye; and thefe feem to be the fignifications of both words, taken in their moft extended and popular fcnfc. A more precife and diflincT: idea of beauty has
been
I 47 I
been given in an effay, the early fplendor of which, not even the full meridian blaze of its illuftrious author has been able to extin- guifh : but the pidturefque, confidered as a feparate character, has never yet been accu- rately diftinguifhed from the fublime and the beautiful ; though as no one has ever pre- tended that it is fynonimous with either (for it is fometimes ufed in contradiftin€lion to them both) fuch a diftin&ion mufl exift.
Mr. Gilpin *, from whofe very inge- nious and extenlive obfervations on this fubjedt. I have received great pleafure and inftrudfcion, appears to have adopted this common acceptation, not merely as fuch, but as giving an exact and determinate idea of the word; for he defines pic-
* All the notes, which relate to the difference of opi- nion between me and Mr. Gilpin, including that on Pindar's celebrated defcriptian of the eagle, are in the appendix, page 391.
D 8 turefque
£ 4? 3
turefque objects to be thofe " whieri H pleafe from fome quality capable of be- u ing illuftrated in painting f£ or, as he again defines it in his Letter to Sir Joihui Reynolds " fuch objects as are proper fub- «* jects for painting -f" Both thefe defini- tions feem to me (what may perhaps ap- pear a contradiction) at once too vague, and too confined -y for though we are not to expect any definition to be fo accurate and comprehenfive, as both to fupply the place, and ftand the teft of inveftigation, yet if it does not in fome degree feparate the^ thing defined from all others, it differs little from any general truth on the fame fubject. For inftance, it is very true, that pidturefque objects do pleafe from fome quality capable of being illuftrated in painting ; but fo alfd does every object that is reprefented in
* Efiay on Pi&urefque Beauty, page i*
f End of Effay on Pi&urefque Beauty, page 36.
painting
I 49 3
painting if it pleafes at all, otherwise it Would not have been painted ; and hence we ought to conclude (what certainly is not meant) that all objedts which pleafe in pi&ures are therefore pidtufefque, for no diftindtion Of exelufion is made. Were any other perfon to define pidlurefque ob- jedts to be thofe which pleafe from fome ftriking effedt of form* colour, or light and fhadow,~fuch a definition would indeed give but a very indiftindt idea of the thing defined; but, though hardly more vague than the others, it would be much lefs confined, for it would not have an exclu* five reference to art.
I hope to fhew* in the courfe of this work, that the pidturefque has a character not lefs feparate &nd diftindi than either the fublime of the beautiful, nor lefs inde- pendent of the art of painting. It has in- deed been pointed out and illuftrated by
Vol. L £ that
[ 5° 3
that art, and is one of its moft ftriking or- naments ; but has not beauty been pointed out and illuftrated by that art alfo ; nay, ac- cording to the poet, brought into exiftence by it ?
Si Venerem Cous nunquam pofuiffet Apelles Merfa fub sequoreis ilia lateret aquis.
Examine the forms of thofe painters who lived before the age of Raphael, or in a country where the fludy of the antique (operating as it did at Rome on minds high- ly prepared for its influence) had not yet taught them to feparate what is beautiful from the general niafsj we might almoft conclude that beauty did not then exift ; yet thofe painters were capable of exact imitation, but not of felection. Examine grandeur of form in the fame manner; look at the dry, meagre forms of A. Durer (a .man of genius even in Raphael's estima- tion) of P. Perugino, A. Mantegna, &c„
and
C m 3
and compare them with thofe of M. An- gelo and Raphael: Nature was not more dry and meagre in Germany or Perugia than at Rome. — Compare the landfcapesand back grounds of fuch artifts with thofe of Titian ; Nature was not changed, but a mind of a higher caft, and inftruded by the expe- rience of all who had gone before, rejected minute detail, and pointed out, by means of fuch feledlions and fuch combinations, as were congenial to its own fublime concep- tions, in what forms, in what colours, and in what effects, grandeur in landfcape con- lifted. Can it then be doubted but that grandeur and beauty have been pointed out and illuftrated by painting as well as pic- turefquenefs * ? Yet, would it be a juft
* I have ventured to make ufe of this word, which I believe does not occur in any writer, from what appeared to me the neceffity of having fome one word to oppofe to beauty and fublimity, in a work where they are (o often compared.
E 2 definition
[ 52 ]
definition of fublime or of beautiful objects to fay, that they were fuch (and, let the words be taken in their moft liberal con- struction) as pJeafed from fome quality ca- pable of being illujlrated in painting, or, that were proper fubjeffs for that art ? The ancients, indeed, not only referred beauty of form to painting, but even beauty of colour ; and the poet who could defcribe his miftrefs's complexion, by comparing it to the tints of Apelles's pictures, muft have thought that beauty of every kind was highly illuftrated by the art he referred to.
The principles of thofe two leading characters in nature, the fublime and the beautiful, have been fully illuftrated and difcriminated by a great mafter; but even when I firfb read that moil original work, I felt that there were numberlefs objects which give great delight to the eye, and
yet
t 53 3
yet differ as widely from the beautiful, as from the fublime. The reflections I have fince been led to make, have convinced me that thefe objefts form a diftinft clafs, and belong to what may properly be called the pi&urefque.
That term (as we may judge from its etymology) is applied only to objedts of fight, and indeed in fo confined a manner as to be fuppofed merely to have a reference to the art from which it is named. I am well convinced, however, that the name and reference only, are limited and uncer- tain, and that the qualities which make objedts pi&urefque, are not only as diftindt as thofe which make them beautiful or fublime, but are equally extended to all our fenfations, by whatever organs they are re- ceived ; and that mufic (though it appears like a folecifm) may be as truly piftu- jrefque, according to the general principles
E 3 of
[ 54 3
of pidturefquenefs, as it may be beautiful or fublime, according to thofe of beauty or fublirnity.
But there is one circumftance particu- larly adverfe to this part of my eflay; I mean the manifeft derivation of the word pifturefque. The Italian pittorefco is, I imagine, of earlier date than either the Eng- lifh or the French word, the latter of which, pittorefque, is clearly taken from it, having, no analogy to its own tongue. Pittorefco is derived, not like the Engliih word, from the thing painted, but from the painter; and this difference is not wholly immate- rial; for the one refers to a particular imi- tation, and the obje&s, which may fuit it ; the other to thofe objedls, which, from the habit of examining all the peculiar efFedts, as well as the general appearance of nature, an artift may be ftruck with, though a common obferver may not ; and that independently
of
[ 55 3
of the power of reprefenting them. The Englifh word naturally draws the reader's mind towards pictures, and from that par- tial and confined view of the fubjedt, what is in truth only an illuftration of pi&u- refquenefs, becomes the foundation of it. The words fublime and beautiful have not the fame etymological reference to any one vifible art, and therefore are applied to ob- jects of the other fenfes : fublime indeed, in the language from which it is taken, and in its plain fenfe, means high, and therefore, perhaps, in flrictnefs, fhould relate to objects of fight only ; yet we no more fcruple to call one of Handel's choruffes fublime, Corelli's famous pajiorak beautiful; but fhould any perfon fimply, and without any qualifying expreffions, call a capricious movement of Scarlatti or Haydn pi$urefque9 he would, with great reafon, be laughed at, for it is not a term applied to founds j yet £ 4 fuch
[ 5* 1
fuch a movement, from its fudden, unex~ pected, and abrupt tranfitions,— from a cer- tain playful wildnefs of character, and an ap- pearance of irregularity, is no lefs analogous to fimilar fcenery in nature, than the con- certo, or the chorus, to what is grand, pr beautiful to the eye.
There is, indeed, a general harmony and correfpondence in all our fenfations when they arife from fimilar caufes, though they affect us by means of different fenfes -, and thefe caufes (as Mr, Burke has admirably explained*) can never be fo clearly afcer- tained when we confine our obfervations to one {qr{c only,
J rymft here obferve (and I wifh the reader to keep it in his mind) that the en- quiry is not in what fenfe certain words $re ufed in the beft author?, ftill lefs what
* Sublime and Beautiful? [page 236.
[ 57 I
is their common, and vulgar ufe, and abufe ; but whether there are certain qualities which uniformy produce the fame effects in all vifible objects, and, according to the lame analogy, in objects of hearing, and of all the other fenfes ; and which qualities (though frequently blended and united with others in the fame object or fet of objects) may be feparated from them, and affigned to the clafs to which they belong.
If it can be fliewn that a character com- pofed of thefe qualities, and diftindl from all others, does prevail through all nature, — if it can be traced in the different obje&s of art and of nature, and appears confident throughout, — it furely deferves a diflindt title ; but with refped to the real ground of enquiry, it matters little whether fuch a chara&er, or the fet of objects belonging to it, be called beautiful, fublime, or pi&u-
refque,
C 5§ J
refqne, or by any other name, or by no name at all.
Beauty is fo much the molt enchant- ing and popular quality, that it is' often applied as the higher! commendation to whatever gives us pleaiure, or raifes our admiration, be the caufe what it will, Mr. Burke has pointed out many inftances of thefe ill-judged applications, and of the confufion of ideas which refult from themi but there is nothing more ill-judged, or more likely to create confufion (if we agree with Mr. Burke in his idea of beauty) than the joining it to the word picturefque, and calling the character 'by the title of Pic- turefque Beauty,
I rnuft obferve, however, that I by no means object to the expreffion itfelf, I only object to it as a general term for the character, and as comprehending every kind
of
[ 59 ]
of fcenery, and every fet of objeds which look well in a picture : That is the fenfe (as far as I have obferved) in which it is very commonly ufed, and, confequently, an old hovel, an old cart horfe, or an old woman, are often, in that fenfe, full of pic- turefque 'beauty, and certainly the vapplica~ tion of the laft term to fuch objects muft tend to confufe our ideas ; but were the expreffion reftrained to thofe objects only in which the picturefque and the beau- tiful are mixed together, and fo mixed> that the refult, according to common apprehenfion, is beautiful ; and were it never ufed when the pidurefque (as it no lefs frequently happens) is mixed folely with what is terrible, ugly, or deformed, I mould highly approve of the expreffion, #nd wifh for more diftindtions of the fame kind.
In reality, the pidturefque not only dif- * fers
[ 6o ]
fers from the beautiful in thofe qualities which Mr. Burke has fo juftly afcribed to it, but arifes from qualities the moft dia- metrically oppofite.
According to Mr. Burke, one of the moft effential qualities of beauty is fmooth- nefs ; now as the perfection of fmooth- nefs is abfolute equality and uniformity of furface, wherever that prevails there can be but little variety or intricacy ; as, for inftance, in fmooth level banks, on a fmall, or in naked downs, on a large fcale. An- other effential quality of beauty is gradual variation; that is (to make ufe of Mr. Burke's expreffion) where the lines do not vary in a fudden and broken manner, and where there is no fudden protuberance : It requires but little reflection to perceive, that the exclufion of all but flowing lines cannot promote variety ; and that fudden protuberances, and lines that crofs each
other
[ 6i ]
ether in a fudden and broken manner, are among the moll fruitful caufes of in- tricacy.
I am therefore perfuaded, that the two oppofite qualities of roughnefs *, and of fudden variation, joined to that of irregu- larity, are the moft efficient caufes of the pi&urefque.
This, I think, will appear very clearly, if we take a view of thofe objedls, both natural and artificial, that are allowed to be pidturefque, and compare them with thofe which are as generally allowed to be beautiful.
* I have followed Mr. Gilpin's example in uflng; roughnefs as a general term ; he obferves, however, that, *c properly fpeaking, roughnefs relates only to xhsfurface of bodies 5 and that when we fpeak of their delineation we ufe the word ruggednefs." In making roughnefs (in this general fenfe) a very principal diftin&ion between the beautiful and the pi&urefque, I believe I am fup» ported by the general opinion of ail who have confldere4 the fubjedr, as well as by Mr. Gilpin's authority.
A temple
E * 3
A temple or palace of Grecian archi- tecture in its perfect entire ftate, and with its furface and colour fmooth and even, either in painting or reality, is beautiful ; in ruin it is picturefque. Obferve the procefs by which time (the great author of fuch changes) converts a beautiful objecl: into a picturefque one. Firft, by means of Weather ftains, partial incruftations, mof- fes, &c. it at the fame time takes off from the uniformity of its furface, and of its co* lour; that is, gives it a degree of rough- nefs, and variety of tint. Next, the va- rious accidents of weather loofen the ftones themfelves ; they tumble in irregular maf- fes upon what was perhaps fmooth turf or pavement, or nicely trimmed walks and fhrubberies; now mixed and overgrown with wild plants and creepers, that crawl over, and fhoot among the fallen ruins. Sedums, wall-flowers, and other vegetables
that
[ H ]
that bear drought, find nouriiliment m the decayed cement from which the Hones have been detached : Birds convey their food into the chinks, and yew, elder, and other berried plants project from the fides ; while the ivy mantles over other parts, and crowns the top. The even regular lines of the doors and windows are broken, and, through their ivy-fringed openings is difplayed, in a more broken and picturefque manner, that finking image in Virgil :
Apparet domus intus, & atria longa patefcunt 5 Apparent Priami & veterum penetralia reguou
Gothic architecture is generally confidered as more picturefque, though lefs beautiful, than Grecian, and, upon the fame princi- ple that a ruin is more fo than a new edi- fice. The firft thing that ftrikes the eye in approaching any building is the general outline againft the fky (or whatever it may be oppofed to) and the effect of the open- ings : • in Grecian buildings the general
lines
t 64 1
lines of the roof are ftrait, and even whetl varied and adorned by a dome or a pedi- ment, the whole has a character of fymme- try and regularity.
Symmetry, which in works of art parti- cularly, accords with the beautiful, is in the fame degree adverfe to the pkfturefque, and among the various caufes of the fuperior picturefquenefs of ruins, compared with entire buildings, the definition of fymme- fry is by no means the leaft powerful.
In Gothic buildings, the outline of the fummit prefents fuch a variety of forms, of turrets and pinnacles, fome open, fome fretted and varioufly enriched, that even where there is an exact correfpondence of parts, it is often difguifed by an appearance of fplendid confufion and irregularity *. In
* There is a line in Dryden's Palamon and Arcitet which might be interpreted according to this idea, though I do not fuppofe he intended to convey any fuch mean- ing:
" And ail appeared irregularly great.'*
the
the doors and windows of Gothic churches, the pointed arch has as much variety as any regular figure can well have ; the eye too is not fo ilrongly conduced from the top of the one, to that of the other, as by the pa- rallel lines of the Grecian ; and every per- fon muft be flruck with the extreme rich- nefs. and intricacy, of fome of the principal windows of our cathedrals and ruined ab- beys. In thefe laft is difplayed the triumph of the pidturefque ; and its charms to a painter's eye are often fo great as to rival thofe of beauty itfelf *.
Some people may, perhaps, be unwilling
* I hope it will not be fuppofed, that by admiring the picturefque circumfiances of the Gothic, I mean to un- dervalue the fymmetry and beauty of Grecian buildings ; whatever comes to us from the Greeks, has an irrefiftible claim to our admiration ; that diftinguifhed people feized on the true points both of beauty and grandeur in all the arts, and their architecture has juftly obtained the fame high pre-eminence, as their fculpture, poetry, ani eloquence.
Vol. I. F to
[ 66 ]
to allow, that in ruins of Grecian and Gothic architecture, any confiderable part of the fpe&ator's pleafure arifes from the pifturefque circumftances, and may choofe to attribute the whole, to what may juftly claim a great (hare in that pleafure — the elegance or grandeur of their forms — the veneration of high antiquity — or the folem- nity of religious awe; in a word, to the mixture of the two other characters : but were this true, yet there are many build- ings, highly interefting to all who have united the ftudy of art with that of nature, in which beauty and grandeur are equally out of the queftion ; fuch as hovels, cot- tages, mills, ragged infides of old barns and ftables, &c. whenever they have any mark- ed and peculiar efFedt, of form, tint, or light and fhadow. In mills particularly, fuch is the extreme intricacy of the wheels and the wood work y fuch the Angular variety of
forms,
[ 67 ]
forms, and of lights and fhadows, of moffes and weather flains from the conftant moif- ture; of plants fpringing from the rough joints of the ftones ; fuch the affemblage of every thing which moft conduces to pidlu- refquenefs, that even without the addition of water, an old mill has the greateft charm for a painter.
It is owing to the fame caufes that a building with fcafFolding has often a more picturefque appearance, than the building itfelf, when the fcafFolding is taken away— that old, moffy, rough- hewn park pales of unequal heights, are an ornament to land- fcape, efpecially when they are partially concealed by thickets ; while a neat poft and rail, regularly continued round a field, and feen without any interruption, is one of the moll unpiclurefque, as being one of the moft uniformof all boundaries.
But among all the objects of nature, F 2 there
[ 68 I
there is none in which roughnefs and ftnoothnefs more ftrongly mark the dif- tin&ion between the two characters, than in water. A calm, clear lake, with the re- flections of all that furrounds it, feen under the influence of a fetting fun, at the clofe of an evening clear and ferene as its own furface, is, perhaps, of all fcenes, the moft congenial to our ideas of beauty in its ftricieft and in its moft general fenfe.
Nay, though the fcenery around ihouTd be the moft wild and pi&urefque (I might almoft fay the moft favage) every thing is fo foftened and melted together by the re- flection of fuch a mirror, that the prevail- ing idea, even then, might poffibly be that of beauty, fo long as the water itfelf was chiefly regarded. On the other hand, all water whofe furface is broken,, and whofe motion is abrupt and irregular, as univer- fally accords with our ideas of the pie-
turefque ^
E 69 3
turefque ; and whenever the word is men- tioned, rapid and ftony torrents and cata- racts, and the waves dafhing againM; rocks, are among the firft images that prefent themfelves to our imagination. The two charafters alfo approach and balance each other, as roughnefs or fmoothnefs, as gentle undulation or abruptness prevail.
Among trees, it is not the fmooth young beech, or the frefli and tender afh *, but the
* As the young am (though at any age by no means a popular tree) is a favourite with painters, it muft feem inconfiftent to thofe who refer the term to art only, that I mould deny it to be picture fque. But as I have before remarked, if all the objects which painters have been fond of reprefenting were therefore to be called pi£tu^ refque, it would be a term of little diftindlion. The young aih has every principle of beauty; frefhnefs and delicacy of foliage, fmoothnefs of bark, elegance of form; nor am I furprifed that Virgil, whofe poetry has fo much of thofe qualities, mould call the am the mod beautiful tree in the woods; but when its own leaves are changed to the autumnal tint, and when contrafted with ruder or more maffive (hapes or colours, it becomes part of a pi&urefque circumfrance, without changing its own nature.
F I rugged
C 7° ]
rugged old oak, or knotty wych elm, that are picturefque ; nor is it neceffary they fhould be of great balk; it is fufficient if they are rough, moffy, with a character of age, and with fudden variations in their forms. The limbs of huge trees, /batter- ed by lightning or tempeftuous winds, are in the higheft degree picturefque ; but whatever is caufed by thofe dreaded powers of destruction , mu ft always have a tincture of the fublime *.
If
* There is a fiaiile in Ariofto, in which the two cha- racters are finely united:
Quale flordito, et itupido aratore, Poi ch'e paflato il fulmine j fi leva Di la, dove l'altiffimo fragore Preflb agli uccifi buoi ftefo l'aveva; Che mira fenfa fronde, et fenza onore II Pin che da lontan vedar foleva Tal fi levo'l Pagano.
Milton feems to have thought of this fimile ; but the fublimity both of his fubjecl:, and of his own genius, made fiim reject thofe picturefque circumftances,whofe variety,
while
[ 7i ]
If we next take a view of thofe ani- mals that are called pidhirefque, the fame qualities will be found to prevail. The afs is eminently lb, much more than the horfe j and among horfes, it is the wild forefter with his rough coat, his mane and tail rag- ged and uneven, or the worn-out cart-horfe with his ftaring bones. The fleek, pam- pered fteed, with his high arched creft, and flowing mane, is frequently repre- fented in painting, but his prevailing cha- racter whether there, or in reality, is that of beauty.
Among dogs, the Pomeranian and the rough water-dog, are more picturefque than the fmooth fpaniel, or greyhound; the
while it amufes, diftrac"ts the mind, and has kept it fixed on a few grand and awful images :
As when heaven's fire Has fcath'd the foreft oaks, or mountain pines, With finged top their flately growth tho' bare Stands on the Mailed heath.
F 4 &aggy
[ 7* 3
flhaggygoat than the fheep; and thefe iaft are more fo when their fleeces are ragged, and worn away in parts, than when they are of equal thicknefs, or when they have lately been (horn. No animal indeed is fo conflant- ly introduced in landfcape as the fheep, but that (as I obferved before) does not prove fuperior picturefquenefs ; and I imagine, that befides their innocent character (fo flut- ed to paftoral icenes, of which they are the natural inhabitants) it arifes from their being df a tint at once brilliant and mellow, and which unites happily with all objects; and alfo from their producing broader mafles of light and fhadow than any other animal. The reverfe of this is true with regard to deer ; their wild, appearance, their lively adion, their fudden bounds, the intricacy of their branching horns, are circumftances highly picturefque ; their effect in groups is apt to be meagre and fpotty.
Am ong
[ 73 1
Among lavage animals, the lion with Lis fhaggy mane is much more pictu- refque than the lionefs, though fhe is equally an object of terror.
The effect of fmpothnefs or roughnefs, in producing the beautiful or the pictu- refque, is again clearly exemplified in birds. Nothing is more ftrictly beautiful, or more happily conveys that idea, than their plu- mage when fmooth and undifturbed — when the eye glides over it without interruption. Nothing, on the other hand, has a more picturefque effect than feathers, when they are placed as detached ornaments, or when in their natural ftate they are ruffled by any accidental circumftance — by any fudden paffion in the animal — or when they appear fo from their natural arrangement. As all the effects of paffion and of ftrong emotion on the human figure and countenance are picturefque, fuch likewife aire their effects
on
[ 74 ]
on the plumage of birds; when inflamed with anger, or with defire, the firft fymp- toms appear in their ruffled plumage *. The game cock, when he attacks his rival, raifes the feathers of his neck, the purple pheafant his creft, and the peacock, when he feels the return of fpring, fhews his paffion in the fame manner,
And every feather fhivers with delight.
Many birds have received from nature
* In all animals the fame caufes produce the fame kind of efFecT:. The briftles of the wild boar, the quills on the fretful porcupine, are fuddenly raifed by fudden emotions; and it is curious to obferve how all that dis- turbs inward calm, creates a correfpondent roughnefs without.
The firft fymptoms of the interruption of that flate of the mind, which fo well anfwers to the beautiful, is an interruption of outward fmoothnefs. In man, when inflamed with anger, the eye-brows are contracted, the fkin wrinkled -, and the moft terrible of animals {hews the fame picturefque marks of rage and fiercenefs.
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the
t 75 3
the fame picturefque appearance as in others happens only accidentally : fuch are the birds whofe heads and necks are adorn- ed with ruffs, with crefts, and with tufts of plumes; not lying fmcothly over each other as thofe of the back, but loofely and irre- gularly difpofed. Thefe are, perhaps, the moft finking and attractive of all birds (and it is the fame in all other objeds) as hav- ing that degree of roughnefs and irregula- rity, which gives a fpirit to fmoothnefs and fymmetry; and as thefe laft qualities pre- vail, the refult of the whole is juftly called beautiful.
Birds of prey have generally more of the pi&urefque, from the angular form of their beaks, the rough feathers on their legs, their crooked talons, their colour (on which I fhall fay more hereafter) as alfo from their action and energy 5 all this counter- balances the general fmoothnefs of the plu- mage
C 76 3
mage on their backs and wings, which they have in common with the reft of the feathered creation. Laftly, among our own fpecies, beggars, gypfies, and all fuch rough tattered figures as are merely pic- turefque, bear a clofe analogy, in all the qualities that make them fo, to old hovels •and mills, to the wild fore ft horfe, and other objects of the fame kind.
More dignified characters, fuch as a Be- lifarius — a Marius in age and exile % haT*e the fame mixture of picturefquenefs, and of decayed grandeur, as the venerable re- mains of the magnificence of paft ages,
If we afcend to the higheft order of created beings, as painted by the grandeft of our poets, they, in their ftate of glory
* The noble picture of Salvator Rofa, at Lord Townfend's, which in the print is called Belifarius, has been thought to be a Marius among the ruins of Cartilage.
an$
L 77 1
and happinefs, raife chiefly ideas of beauty
and fublimity : like earthly objefts, they
become piclurefque when * ruined — when
fhadows have obfcured their original bright-
nefs, and that uniform, though angelic
expreffion of pure love and joy, has been
deftroyed by a variety of warring paf-
fions :
Darken'd fo, yet fhone Above them all the archangel ; but his face Deep fears of thunder had entrench'd, and care Sat on his faded cheek ; but under brows Of dauntlefs courage and confiderate prids Waiting revenge ; cruel his eye, but caft Signs of remorfe and paflion.
If from nature we turn to that art from which the expreffion itfelf is taken, wc fhall find all the principles of picturefque*- nefs confirmed. Among painters, Salvator
* Nor appear'd Lefs than archangel rutti'd, and the excefs Of glory obfcured,
Rofa
[ 7§ ]
Rofa is one of the moft remarkable for his pifturefque effects, and in no other matter are (ccn fuch abrupt and rugged forms, fuch fudden deviations both in his figures and his landfcapes ; and the rough - nefs and broken touches of his pencilling, admirably accord with the objects they ehara&erife.
Guido, on the other hand, was as emi- nent for beauty -y in his celeftial counte- nances are the happieft examples of gra- dual variation — of lines that melt, and flow into each other; no fudden break — no- thing that can difturb that pleafing lan- guor which the union of all that confti- tutes beauty imprefles on the foul. The ftile of his hair is as fmooth as its own character, and its effect in accompanying the face will allow \ the flow of his dra- pery— the fweetnefs and equality of his pencilling— and the filvery clearnefs and
purity
[ 79 ]
purity of his tints, are all examples of the juftnefs of Mr. Burke's principles of beau- ty. But the works even of this great mailer, mew us how unavoidably an at- tention to mere beauty, and flow of out- line, will lead towards famenefs and infi- pidity. If this has happened to a painter of fuch high excellence, who fo well knew the value of all that belongs to his art, and whofe touch, when he painted a St. Peter or a St. Jerome, was as much admired for its fpirited and characleriftic roughnefs, as for its equality and fmooth- nefs in his angels and madonnas, — what muft be the cafe with men who have been tethered all their lives in a clump 0£ a belt ?
There is another inftance of contraft be- tween two eminent painters, which I can- not forbear mentioning, as it confirms the alliance between roughnefs and piclu-
[ 8o ]
refquenefs, and between fmoothnefs and beauty, and ihews, in the latter cafe, the confequent dangdr of famenefs. Of all the painters who have left behind them a high reputation, none, perhaps, was more uniformly fmooth than Albano, or lefs de- viated into abruptnefs of any kind; none alfo have greater monotony of character y. but, from the extreme beauty and delica- cy of his forms, and his tints (particularly in his children) and his exquifite finifh- ing, few pictures are more generally cap- tivating.
His fcholar, Mola, (and that circum- flance makes' it more lingular) is as re-y markable for many of thofe oppofite qua- lities which diftinguifh S. Rofa, though he has not the boldnefs and animation of that original genius. There is hardly any painter whofe pictures more immediately catch the eye of a connoifleur, than thofe § of
[ 8i ]
of Mola, or that lefs attradt the notice of a perfon unufed to painting. Salvator has a favage grandeur, often in the higheflr de- gree fublime ; and fublimity, in any fhape, will command attention ; but Mola's fcenes and figures, for the moft part, are neither fublime nor beautiful; they are purely pi&urefque : his touch is lefs rough than Salvator's j his colouring has, in general, more richnefs and variety -> and his pictures feem to me the moft perfect examples of the higher ftile of pidturefque- nefs : infinitely removed from vulgar na- ture, but having neither the foftnefs and delicacy of beauty, nor that grandeur of conception which produces the fublime .
Vol. I. G CHAP-
[ s* ]
CHAPTER IV.
FROM all that has been ftated in the laft chapter, picture fquenefs appears to hold a ftation between beauty and fubli- mity \ and on that account, perhaps, is more frequently, and more happily blended with them both, than they are with each other, It is, however, perfe&ly diftindl from either; for in the firft place it is evident that piclu- refquenefs and beauty are founded on very oppofite qualities -y the one on fmoothnefs %
the
* Baldnefs feems to be an exception, as there fmooth* nefs is pi&urefque, and not beautiful. It is, however, an exception, which, inftead of weakening, confirms what I have faid, and (hews the conftant oppofition of the two characters, even where their caufes appear to be confounded.
Baldnefs, is the fmoothnefs of age and decay, not of youth, health, and frefhnefs : it is piclurefque, from pro- ducing
i 83 i
the other on roughnefs ;— the one on gra- dual, the other on fudden variation ;— the one on ideas of youth and frefhnefs, the other on that of age, and even of decay.
But as moll of the qualities of vifible beauty (excepting colour) are made known to us through the medium of another fenfe, the fight itfelf is hardly more to be attended to than the touch, in regard to all thofe fenfations which are excited by beautiful forms ; and the diftin&ion be- tween the beautiful and the pidturefque will, perhaps, be moft ftrongly pointed out by means of the latter fenfe, 1 am
ducing variety and peculiarity of character ; from de- flroying the ufual fymmetry and regularity of the face, and fubftituting an uncertain, inftead of a certain boun- dary*
When a bald head is well plaiitered and flowered, and the boundary of the forehead diftinctly marked in po- matum and powder, it has as little pretention to pic* turefquenefs as t« beauty.
G a aware
L U ]
aware that this is liable to a grofs and ob- vious ridicule; but for that reafon none but grofs and common-place minds will dwell upon it.
Mr. Burke has obferved, that * " men are carried to the fex, in general, as it is the fex, and by the common law of na- ture 5 but they are attached to particulars by perfonal beauty-" he adds, " I call beauty a foeial quality ; for where women and men, and not only they, but when other animals give us a fenfe of joy and pleafure in beholding them (and there are many that do fo) they infpire us with fentiments of tendernefs and affection towards their perfons ; we like to have them near us, and we enter willingly into a kind of rela- tion with them."
Thefe fentiments of tendernefs and af- fection, nature has taught us to exprcfs by * Sublime and Beautiful, p. 66.
careffes,
[ 85 ]
carefles, by gentle preflure ; thefe are the endearments we make ufe of (where fex is totally out of the queftion) to beautiful children, to beautiful animals, and even to things inanimate ; and where the fize and character (as in trees, buildings, &c) ex>- clude any fuch relation, ftill fomething of the fame difference of fenfation between them, and rugged objects, appears to fub- fift; that fenfation however is diminifhed as the fize of any beautiful object is en- creafed ; and as it approaches towards gran- deur and magnificence, it recedes from lovelinefs.
As the eye borrows many of its fenfa- tions from the touch, fo that again feems to borrow others from the fight. Soft, frefh, and beautiful colours, though " not fenfible to feeling as to fight," give us an inclination to try their effect on the touch ; whereas, if the colour be not beautiful* G 3 that
C 86 ]
that inclination, I believe, is always dim}- nimed, and, in obje&s merely pi&urefque, and void of all beauty, is rarely excited *♦
I obferved in a former part, that fymme- try, which perfectly accords with the beaur tiful, is in the fame degree adverfe to the pidlurefque : irregularity is therefore a ftrongly marked diftindtion between the two chara&ers. The general fymmetry which prevails in the forms of animals, is obvious, but as no precife ftandard of it \x\ each fpecies has been made, or acknow- ledged, any flight deviation from what is moft ufual, is fcarcely attended to. In the human form, from our being more nearly interefted in all that belongs to it, fymme-
* I have read, indeed, in fome fairy tale, of a country, where age and wrinkles were loved and care/Ted, and youth and frefhnefs neglected ; but in real life, I fancy, the rnoft pi&urefque old woman, however her admirer may ogle her on that account, is perfectly fafe from hi? carefTes»
try
[ *7 1
try has been more accurately defined ; and as far as human obfervation and feledtion can fix a ftandard for beauty, that ftandard has been fixed by the Grecian fculptors, and is acknowledged in all the moft civilized parts of Europe : a near approach to that ftandard makes the perfon to be called re- gularly beautiful j a departure from it, (whatever ftriking and attractive peculia- rity it may beftow) is ftill a departure from that perfection of ideal beauty, fo dili- gently fought after, and fo nearly attained by thofe great artifts ; from the few pre* cious remains of whole works, we have learned the rudiments of that fcience (as it might almoft be called) which gave birth to them, the fcience of diftinguifhing what is moft exquifite and perfect, from the pore ordinary degrees of excellence.
There are fome expreffions in the lan^
guage of a neighbouring people of lively
G 4 imagina-
[ 88 ]
imagination, among whom gallantry and attention to the other fex has been particu- larly cultivated, which feem to imply an uncertain idea of fome character, which was not precifely beauty, but which, from whatever caufes, produced ftriking and pleafing effects : fuch are une phyjionomie de fantaijie, and the well known expreffion of un certain je ne fgais quoi ; it is alfo com- mon to fay of a woman — que fans etre belle elle eft piquante — a word by the bye that in many points anfwers very exadly to pictu- refque, The amufing hiftory of Roxalana and the Sultan, is at the fame time the hiftory of the pidturefque or the piquant, both in regard to perfon and manners, and alfo of its effeds. Marmontel certainly did not intend to give the petit nez retroufse as a beautiful feature, but to fhew how much fuch a ftriking irregularity, might accord and co-operate with the fame fort of irregularity
in.
[ «9 |
in the chara&er of the mind. The playful, unequal, coquetifh Roxalana, full of fudden turns and caprices, is oppofed to the beau- tiful, tender, and conftant Elvira ; and the effe&s of irritation, to thofe of foftnefs and languor : the tendency of the qualities of beauty alone towards monotony, are no lefs happily infmuated.
Although there are no generally received ftandards with refpeCt to animals, yet thofe who have been in the habit of breeding them, and of attending to their forms, have fixed to themfelves certain ftandards of per- fection ; Mr. Bakeweil, like Phidias or Apelles, had probably formed in his mind an idea of perfection *, beyond what he had
feen
* It may be faid, that this perfe&ion relates only to their difpofition to produce fat upon the moll profitable parts ; a very grazier-like, and material idea of beauty it muft be fairly owned. But {till, if a ftandard of {hape (from whatever caufe) be acknowledged, and called
beautiful,
[ 90 ]
feen in nature ; and which, like them, but by a different procefs, he was conftantly endeavouring to imbody. Any departure from the moll perfect ftandard which he had realized, both he, and all thofe who acknowledged it, would probably confider as an irregularity in the form, — as a de- viation from their idea of beauty, how- ever ftriking the animal might be to others in its general appearance. More mark-, ed and fudden deviations from the general fymmetry of animals, whether arifing from particular conformation, from accident, or from the effects of age or difeafe, often very flrongly attrad: the painter's notice, . and are recorded by him; but they never can be thought to make the ohje£l more beautiful : many of thefe would, on (he contrary, by moil men be called deformi-
beautiful, any departure from that fettled correfpondence
and fymmetry of parts, will certainly, within that jurif-
di&ion, be confidered as a departure from beauty.
ties,
c n 3
ties, and not without reafon. I mall here- after have occafion to mew the connexion, as well as the diftin£tion that fubfifts be- tween deformity and pi&urefquenefs.
If we turn from animal to vegetable nature, many of the moil beautiful flowers have a high degree of fymmetry ; fo much fo, that their colours appear to be laid on after a regular and finifhed defign : but beauty is fo much the prevailing charac- ter of flowers, that no one feeks for any thing pifturefque among them. In trees, on the other hand, every thing appears fo loofe and irregular, that fymmetry feems put of the queflion $ yet ftill the fame ana- logy fubfifts. A beautiful tree, conlidered jn point pf form only, mud have a certain correfpondence of parts, and a comparative regularity * and proportion, whereas ine- quality * Cowley has very accurately enumerated the chief qualities of beauty, in his defcription of what he confiders
as
r 92 ]
quality and irregularity alone, will give to a tree a fitturefqiie appearance; more efpe- daily if the effeds of age and decay, as Well as of accident are confpicuous j when, for inftance, fome of the limbs are {bat- tered, and the broken flump remains in the void fpace; when others, half twilled round by winds, hang downwards ; while others again, flioot in an oppofite direction, and perhaps fome large bough projects fideways
as one of the mcft beautiful of trees, — the lime. He has not forgot fymmetry in the catalogue of its charms, though it is probable that few readers- will agree with him in admiring the degree, or the ftyle of it, which is difplayed in the lime : but exact fymmetry in ail things, was then as extravagantly in famion, as it is now (per- haps too violently) in difgrace.
Stat Philyra; haud omnes formofior altera furgit Inter Hamadryades ; molliffima, Candida, laevis, Et viridante coma, & bene olenti flore fuperba, Spargit odoratam late atque esqualiter umbram.
If we take Candida for clear, as candidi fontes; and viridante as peculiarly frefh and verdant, we have every quality of beauty Separately confidered,
from
[ 93 J
from below the ftag-headed top, and then as fuddenly turns upwards, and rifes above it. The general proportion of fuch trees, whether tall or fhort, thick or flender, is not material to their character as piBur- refque objects, but where elegance and gracefulnefs are concerned, a fhort thick proportion will not give an idea of thofe qualities. There certainly are a great va- riety of pleaiing forms and proportions in trees, and different men have different pre- dilections, juft as they have with refpedl to their own fpecies; but I never knew any perfon, who (if he obferved at all) was not ftruck with the gracefulnefs and elegance of a tree, whofe proportion was rather tall, whofe ftem had an eafy fweep, but which returned again in fuch a manner, that the whole appeared completely poifed and ba- lanced, and whofe boaghs were in fome degree pendent, but towards their extremi- ties
C 94 1
ties made a gentle curve upwards : if to fuch a form you add frem and tender foliage and bark, you have every quality afligned to beauty.
In the laft chapter I defcribed the pro- cefs by which a beautiful artificial objecl: becomes picfturefque ; I will now mew the iimilar effect of the fame kind of procefs, in natural objedts ; and what may more point- edly illuftrate the fubjecl, will compare at the fame moment the effedl of that procefs on animate and inanimate obje&s. It can- not be faid that there is much general ana- logy between a tree, and a human figure ; but there is a great deal in the particular qualities which make them either beautiful > or pidlurefque : almofl all the qualities of beauty, as it might naturally be expected, belong to youth; and, among them all, none is more confonant to our ideas of beauty, or gives fo general an impreffion of I it,
I 95 ' 1
it, as frefhnefs : without it, the moil: perfect form wants its moft precious finifh ; where- ever it begins to fade, wherever marks of age, or of unhealthinefs appear, — though other effects, other fympathies, other cha- racters may arife, — there mult be a diminu- tion of beauty. Frefhnefs belongs equally to human, and to vegetable beauty, and is diffufed over the whole appearance ; many particular parts have likewife a mutual ana- logy : the luxuriancy of foliage, anfwers to that of hair ; the delicate fmoothnefs of hark*, to that of the fkin; and the clear, even, and tender colour of it to that of the com- plexion : there is in both alfo (though much more fenfibly in the fkin) another
* Many forts of trees, like many individuals of the human fpecies, never have the frefhnefs of youth ; the one in the bark, or the foliage ; the other is the fkin, or the complexion, or both of them in their general appear- ance. I am here fuppofmg the change to be made, from what is in every part, moft frefh and beautiful in each.
beautv
[ 96 ]
beauty arifing from a look of foftnefs, and fupplenefs, fo oppofite to the hard and dry appearance, which, as well as roughnefs, is brought en by age ; and which peculiar foftnefs (arifing in this cafe from the free circulation of juices to every part, and in contra-diftinfrion to what is dry, though yielding to preffure) is well expreffed by the Greek word 'vygorvis; a word whole meaning I fhall have occafion to dwell more fully upon hereafter*. The earlier!, and moil perceptible attacks of time, are made on the bark, and on the fkin, which at firft, however, merely lofe their evennefs of furface, and perfect clearnefs of colour : by degrees, the lines grow ftronger in each; the tint more dingy; often unequal and in fpots $ and in proportion as either trees, or men or women, advance towards decay, the regular progrefs of time, and often the effe&s of
* See Appendix.
accident*
r 9? 3
accident, occafion great and partial changes in their forms. In trees, the various hol- lows and inequalities which are produced by fome parts failing, and others in confe- quence falling in — from accidental marks and protuberances — and from other circum- ftances, which a long courfe of years gives rife to, are obvious; and many correfpondent changes, and from fimilar caufes, in the hu- man form, are no lefs obvious. By fuch changes, that nice fymmetry and correfpon- dence of parts_, fo effential to beauty, is in both deftroyed ; in both, the hand of time traces ftill deeper furrows, and roughens their furface ; a few leaves, a few hairs, are thinly fcattered on their fummits ; that light, airy, afpiring * look of youth is gone,
* With refpect to trees I have heard it remarked by timber-merchants, that when the top-fhoots of a tree ceafe to afpire, and feem rather to turn downwards, it will grow no more, however well the buds and leaves may appear.
Vol. I. H and
[ 98 ]
and both feem fhrunk and tottering, and ready to fall with the next blaft.
Such is the change from beauty ; and to what ? 'iu rely not to a higher, or an equal degree, or to a different ftyle of beauty, no, nor to any thing that refembles it : and yet, that both thefe objects, (even in this laft ftate) have often ftrong attractions for pain- ters-^-their works afford fufficient teftimo- ny ; that they are called picturefque — the general application of the term to fuch ob- jects, makes it equally clear; and that they totally differ from what is beautiful— the common feelings of mankind no lefs con- vincingly prove. One mifapprehenfion I would wiih to guard againft; I do not mean, by the inftances I have given, to affert, that an object, to be pidurefque, muft be old and decayed ; but that the moft beautiftil objects will often become fo, by age, and by decay : and I believe it is equally
true,
[ 99 ]
true, that thofe which are naturally of a ftrongly marked, and peculiar character, are likely to become frill more pidturefque, by the procefs I have mentioned.
I have now very fully ftated the principal circumftances by which the piclurefque, is feparated from the beautiful. It is equally diftind: from the fublime ; for though there are fome qualities common to them both, yet they differ in many eiTential points, and proceed from very different caufes. In the firft place, greatnefs of dimenfion * is a powerful caufe of the fublime ; the pidhi- refque has no connection with dimenfion of any kind (in which it differs from the beautiful alfo) and is as often found in the
* I would by no means lay too much ftrefs on great- nefs of dimenfion ; but what Mr. Burke has obferved with regard to buildings, is true of many natural ob- jects, fuch as rocks, cafcades, &c. : Where the fcale is too diminutive, no greatnefs of manner will give them grandeur.
H 2 fmaUeft
[ ICO ]
fmalleft as in the largeft objects.— -The fu> blime, being founded on principles of awe and terror, never defeends to any thing light, or playful ; the picturefque, whofe characteriftics are intricacy and variety, is equally adapted to the grandeft, and to the gayeft fcenery.- — Infinity is one of the moil efficient caufes of the fu'blime ; the bound- lefs ocean, for that reafon, infpires awful fenfations : to give it picturefquenefs, you mud deftroy that caufeofits fublimity ; for it is on the fhape, and difpofition of its boundaries, that the picture fque mufl, in great meafure, depend.
Uniformity (which is fo great an enemy to the picturefque) is not only compatible with the fublime, but often the caufe of it. That general, equal gloom which is fpread over all nature before a ftorm* with the ftillnefs, fo nobly defcribed by Shake'fpear, is in the higher! degree fub-
[ i°i 3
lime *. The picturefque, requires greater va«* riety, and does not fhew itfelf, till the dread- ful thunder has rent the region, has toffed the clouds into a thoufand towering forms, and opened (as it were) the receffes of the Iky. A blaze of light unmixed with made, on the fame principles, tends to the fublime only : Milton has placed light, in its moft glorious brightnefs, as an inacceffible bar- rier round the throne of the Almighty :
For God is light. And never but in unapproached light, Dwelt from eternity.
And fuch is the power he has given even to its diminifhed fplendor,
That the brighteft feraphim Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes.
* And as we often fee againft a florm A fdence in the heavens, the wrack ftand ftill. The bold winds fpeechlefs, and the orb itfelf As hufh as death, anon the dreadful thunder Does rend the region.
H3 I*
[ I°2 1
In one place, indeed, he has introduced very pi&urefque circumftances in his fit- blime reprefentation of the deity ; but it is of the deity in wrath, — it is when from the weaknefs and narrownefs of our concep- tions, we give the names, and the effects of our paffions, to the all-perfect Creator :
And clouds began To darken all the hill, and fmoke to roll In dulky wreaths reluctant flames, the fign Of wrath awak'd.
In general, however, where the glory., power, or majefty of God are reprefented, he has avoided that variety of form, and of colouring, which might take off from Am- ple and uniform grandeur, and has encom- paffed the divine effsnce with unapproached light, or with the majefty of darknefs.
Again, (if we defcend to earth) a per- pendicular rock of vail bulk and height, though bare and unbroken, — a deep chafm under the fame circumftances, are objects
which
[ i°3 ]
which produce awful fenfations; but without
fome variety and intricacy, either in them-
felves, or their accompaniments, they will
not be picturefque. — Laftly, a moft effential
difference between the two characters is,
that thefublime, by its folemnity, takes off
from the lovelinefs of beauty *, whereas
the picturefque renders it more captivating.
According to Mr. Burke *f-, the paffion
caufed by the great and fublime in nature,
when thofe caufes operate moft powerfully,
is aftonifhment ; and aftonifhment is that
ftate of the foul, in which all its motions are
fufpended with fome degree of horror : the
fublime alfo, being founded on ideas of pain
and terror, like them operates by ftretch-
ing the fibres beyond their natural tone.
* Majefty and love, fays the poet who had moft ftudied the art of love, never can dwell together ; and therefore Juno, whofe beauty was united with majefty, had no captivating charms till fhe had put on the ceftus, j that is, till flie had changed dignity for coquetry.
f Sublime and Beautiful, Part II. Se£t. i.
H4 The
[ io4 ]
The paffion excited by beauty, is love and complacency; it acts by relaxing the fibres fomewhat below their natural tone *, and this is accompanied by an inward fenfe of melting and languor.
Whether this account of the effects of fublimity and beauty be ftrictly philofophi-
* I have heard this part of Mr. Burke's book criti- cized, on a fuppofition that pleafure is more generally produced from the fibres being ftimulated, than from'their being relaxed. To me it appears, that Mr. Burke is right with refpect to that pleafure which is the effect of beauty, or whatever has an analogy to beauty, according to the principles he has laid down.
If we examine our feelings on a warm genial day, in a fpot full of the fofteft beauties of nature, the fragrance of fpring breathing around us — pleafure then feems to be our natural ffate ; to be received, not fought after ; it is the happinefs of exifHng to fenfations of delight only ; we are unwilling to move, almoft to think, and defire only to feely to enjoy.
How different is that active purfuit of pleafure, when the fibres are braced by a keen air, in a wild, romantic jfituation; when the activity of the body, almoft keeps pace with that of the mind, and eagerly fcales every rocky promontory, explores every new recefs. Such is the difference between the beautiful, and the picturefque.
cals
[ *°5 3
cal, has, I believe, been queftioned; but in any cafe, whether the fibres are really ftretched, or are relaxed, it prefents a lively image of the fenfations often produced by love and aftonimment. To purfue the fame train of ideas, I may add, that the effect of the picturefque is curiofity ; an effect, which, though lefs fplendid and powerful, has a more general influence ; it neither re- laxes, nor violently ftretches the fibres, but by its active agency keeps them to their full tone; and thus, when mixed with either of the other characters, corrects the languor of beauty, or the horror of fublimity. But as the nature of every corrective muft be to take off from the peculiar effect of what it is to correct, fo does the picturefque when united to either of the others. It is the coquetry of nature; it makes beauty more amufing, more varied, more playful, but alfo,
* Le& winning foft, lefs amiably mild."
Again,
[ io6 ]
Again, by its variety, its intricacy, its partial concealments, it excites that active curiofity Which gives play to the mind, loofening thofe iron bonds with which aftonifhment chains up its faculties *.
Where characters, however diltinct in their nature, are perpetually mixed together in fuch various degrees and manners, it is not always eafy to draw the exact line of Reparation : I think, however, we may con- clude, that where an object, or a fet of ob- jects, are without fmoothnefs or grandeur, but from their intricacy, their fudden and irregular deviations, their variety of forms, tints, and lights and fhadows, are interefling to a cultivated eye — they are limply pictu- re fque; fuch, for inftance, are the rough l^anks that often inclofe a. bye-road, or a hol-
* This feems to be perfectly applicable to tragi- epmedy, and is at once its apology and condemnation. Whatever relieves the mind from a ftrong impreffion, of courfe weakens that impreilion*
low
[ io7 ]
low lane: Imagine thejize of thefe banks, and the /pace between them, to be increafed, till the lane, becomes a deep dell — the coves, large caverns- — the peeping flones, hanging rocks, fo that the whole may imprefs an idea of awe and grandeur; — the fublime will then be mixed with the pifturefque, though the fade only, not the Jiyle of the fcenery, would be changed, On the other hand, if parts of the banks were fmooth, and gently floping— or if in the middle fpace the turf was foft and clofe-bitten — or if a gentle ftream pafled between them, whofe clear, broken furface, reflected all their varieties- — > the beautiful and the pidturefque, by means of that foftnefs and fmoothnefs, would then be united.
I may here obferve, that as foftnefs is become a vifible quality, as well as fmooth- nefs, fo alfo, from the fame kind of iym- pathy, it is a principle of beauty in many vi-
fible
[ ioS ]
fible objects : but as the hardeft bodies, are thofe which receive the higheft poliih, and confequently the higheft degree of fmooth- nefs, there muff be a number of objects in which fmoothnefs and foftnefs are for that reafon incompatible. The one however is not unfrequently miftaken for the other, and I have more than once heard pictures, which were fo fmoothly finiihed that, they looked like ivory, commended for their foftnefs.
The fkin of a delicate woman, is an ex- ample of foftnefs and fmoothnefs united ; but if by art, a higher poliih is given to the fkin, the foftnefs (and in that cafe I may add the beauty) is deftroyed. Fur, mofs, hair wool,&c. are comparatively rough; but they are foft, and yield to preffbre, and therefore take off from the appearance of hardnefs, and alfo of edginefs. A ftone, or rock, when polifhed by water, is fmoother, but lefs foft, than when covered with mofs; and upon
this
[ I09 1
this principle, the wooded banks of a river, have often a fofter general effect, than the bare, (haven border of a canal. There is the fame difference between the grafs of a pleafure-ground mowed to the quick, and that of a frefh meadow; and it frequently happens, that continual mowing deftroys the verdure, as well as the foftnefs. So much does exceffive attachment to one principle deftroy its own ends.
All this fhews, that the two characters, though diftinct, are feldom wholly unmixed: for as there are picture fque circumftances in many beautiful, entire buildings; fo there are alfo circumftances of beauty, in many picturefque ruins.
Before I end this chapter, I mail wifti to fay a few words with refpect to my adop- tion of Mr. Burke's doctrine. It has been afTerted, that 1 have pre-fuppofed our ideas cf the fublime and beautiful, to be clearly
fettled ;
[ no ]
fettled* ; whereas the leaft attention to what I have written, would have fhewn the con- trary. As far as my own opinion is concern- ed, I certainly am convinced of the general truth and accuracy of Mr. Burke's fyftem, for it is the foundation of my own $ but I mu-ft be very ignorant of human nature, to fuppofe u our ideas clearly fettled" on any queilion of that kind : I therefore have always fpoken cautioufly, and even doubt- ingly, to avoid the imputation of judging for others ; I have faid — ifwQ agree with Mr. Burke— according to Mr. Burke, — and in
hi
the next chapter to this, I have ftated that Mr. Burke has done a great deal towards fettling the vague and contradictory ideas, &c. Thefe paffages fo very plainly fhew, how little I prefumed to fuppofe our ideas were clearly fettled, that no perfon, who had
* EfTay on Defign in Gardening, by Mr. George Mafon, page 20 1.
2 read
[ III ]
read the book with any degree of attention, could have made fuch a remark; and I muft fay, that whoever does venture to criticize what he has not confidered, is much more his own enemy, than the author's.
By way of proving that Mr. Burke's ideas of the fublime, are unworthy of be- ing attended to, Mr. G. Mafon has the following remark, which I have taken care to copy very exactly \ <c The majority of think- ing and learned men, whom it has been my lot to converfe with on fuch fubjects, are as well perfuaded of terror s being the caufe of fublime, as that Tenterden fteeple is of Goodwin fands." As Mr. Mafon feems very converfant with the claffics, as well as with Englifh authors, and as the fublime in poetry has been difcuffed by writers of high authority, and the fublirnity of many paf- fages very generally acknowledged — I could wifh that he, and his learned friends, would
take
E II2 ]
take the trouble of examining fuch pafTages in Homer, Virgil, Shakefpear, Milton, and all the poets who are moll eminent for their fublimity : and mould they find, (as furely they will) that almoft all of them are ma- aifeftly founded upon terror, or on thofe modifications of it which Mr. Burke has- fo admirably pointed out— rlet them reflect what muft have been the depth and pene- tration of that man's mind, who, fcarcely arrived at manhood, clearly law how one great principle,* (the acknowledged caufe of the fublime in poetry*) was likewife
the
* That the fublime in poetry is founded upon terror, feems to be taken for granted (and probably on the autho- rity of Ariflode) by Longinus; for in many places he has ufed the word terrible as almoft fynonymous withfublime. Speaking of a bombaft .pallage, he fays, if you examine it ek T8 (poo£pa noa bhiyov wtovootei ispo$ to evHarotpponrrov y and again, where he difcriminates between a fublime, and a difgufting image, he fays, « yap foivw mows. to Eidoohov, ofiOa /uurvrroy. Should it be faid, that htvov fjgnifies alfo what is excelienj, or finking, hi various
ways,
r us J
tiie moft powerful caufe of fublimity, in all obje&s whatfoever ; purfued it through all the works of art, and of nature ; and ex- plained, illuftrated, and adorned his dif-
ways, as well as terrible*, I mould afk how it came by fuch a fignification ? clearly, becaufe terror, in its various modifications* is the caufe of all that is moft ftriking. The Italians apply fuch expreflions to any ftriking words of art; a fine picture or ftatue (no matter what the fubje£r.) is called un fpavento j and the ftyle of the grandeft of modern artifts is called
Di MicheP Agnol' la terrihiF viai
A more familiar inftance may be given to the Englifk reader, of the ufe which is continually made of the word terrible, for the purpofe of raifingour ideas of the objects to which it is applied ; and certainly by perfons who never read Ariftotle, ©r Longinus, or even Mr. Burke. Who can hear at a horfe race, of the terrible high bred cattle, and not feel how univerfally the fame idea has prevailed.
Were it not that fome perfons, of whom I think very highly, had doubts with regard to particular parts of this iubjedt, which I wiflied to combat more at large than I could well do in converfation, I fhould perhaps have contented myfelf with oppofing the terrible high bred cat- tle, to Tenterdenjleeple,
Vol. I. I covery,
[ H4 1
covery, with that ingenuity, and that bril- liancy of language, in which he ftands un- rivalled. Then let Mr. Mafon read over his own paflage of Tenterden fteeple, and I wifh him no greater humiliation.
A number of fublime paflages in poetry will of courfe prefent themfelves to a perfon fo well read in the claffics as Mr. Mafon, who, under the title of claffical landfcapes •*, has proved by fo many quotations, that the ancients had eyes juft like our own, and were ftruck and pleafed with rocks, woods and water juft: as we are •f. Were I not authorized by his example, and by the ob-
* Our ideas of art^ vary in different ages, but thofe of natural fcenery remain the fame j and in all poets, of every age and country, the defcriptions of what is beau- tiful, or fublime, are founded on the fame general no- tions. Had Mr. Mafon undertaken to fhew, that among the ancients, Hounflow heath would have been reckoned a paradife, and Richmond and the Thames deferted, it would have been very unfair to have cenfured the number of his quotations.
f Effcy on Defign in Gardening,, page 28.
je&ions
C "5 ]
jeftions he has raifed, I fhould really feel afhamed of proving in the fame manner, what is hardly lefs evident j but being fo authorifed, I will beg leave to put him in mind of a few paffages, in which, if terror is not the caufe of the fublime, I have no idea of any caufe, of any effect.
It is natural to begin by the great father of all poetry, and by one of the paifages cited, and particularly dwelt upon by Longi- nus*, in his famous treatife on the fublime.
Aeivov (? &povm<re Trarvp avtyav te Sscov te 'T^oQev ctvrag eve^Qe Tlotreidauv etiv<z%e Tatav aTTEigEtTtYiv, ogEcov t' aiTTEivot Kagwa.
XlaVTE$ V EtTOSlOVTO <7T0QE$ TtO^VTTlOaKii iSlJf,
K.M KOgUtpCU) T^fiWW T£ 7TQhl$y KM VYl£$ A %«{«','.
JLd&UTEV ^' UWEVEgOEV CtVa% EVEgUV AiftuVEUS)
AEidag ^ eh. fyovfs u?.T0y km <#%e, /jw oi bwifis Tmm> avapfwZsiE HocrEidaav Evoax^h
OlKUZ 3fi SvYITOHTl KM O$tXVlXT0l<ri <P<ZVEIYI
^LlAEftoChi y EuguEvra, ia te ruyEam Seoi TTEp. II. u. 56.
* Longinus has only quoted the latter part of this paf- fage, and has begun his quotation by a vtrte taken from a different part of the fame book; but this does not at all affe& the argument,
I 2 The
E "6 3
The moft fublime paffage (according to my idea) in Virgil, or perhaps in any other poet, is that magnificent perfonification of a thunder ft orm.
Ipfe Pater, media nimborum in no&e, corufca Fulmina molitur dextra, quo maxima motu Terra tremet, fugere ferae, & mortalia corda Per gentes humilis ftravit pavor, — Ille flagranti Aut Atho aut Rhodopen, aut alta Ceraunia telo Dejicit.
Diveft thefe two paffages of terror, what remains ? In this laft: particularly, the fublime oppolition between the caufe, and the efFedt of terror, more ftrongly than in any other, illuftrates the principle. And I may here obferve, that one circumftance which gives peculiar grandeur to perfoni- fications, is, the attributing of natural events, to the immediate adtion of fome angry, and powerful agent.
Ipfe Pater media, &c.
Neptunus muros faevoque emota tridente
Fundaments quatit.
When-
[ "7 )
Whenever Dante is mentioned, the in- fcription over the gates of hell, and the Conte Ugolino, are among the firft things which occur. Milton's Paradife Loft is wrought up to a higher pitch of awful terror than any other poem ; to a mind full of poetical fire, he added the moft ftudied attention to effecT: ; and I think there is a fingular inftance of that attention, and of the ufe he made of terror, in one of his moft famous fimiles :
As when the fun new rifen, Looks through the horizontal mifty air Shorn of his beams, or from behind the moon In dim eclipfe, difaftrous twilight flieds On half the nations,
Thefe circumftances are perfectly appli- cable to the fallen archangel ; but Milton pofiibly felt that the fun himfelf, when fhorn of his beams, and in eclipfe, was a Icfs magnificent objecT: than when in full I 3 fplendour.
C "8. ]
fplendour, and therefore added * that dig- nified image of terror
And with fear of change Perplexes monarch's.
From Shakefpear alfo, a number of de- tached paffages might be quoted, to prove what furely needs no additional argument ; but that moft original creator, and moft ac- curate obferver, of whom no Englifhmaa can fpeak without enthufiafm, has furniihed a more ample proof of the fublime effect of unremitting terror. Let thofe who have read, or feen his tragedies, confider which among them all is moft ftrikingly fublime;
* It might even be conjectured, that he had literally added that laft image ; for the paufe (which no poet took more pains to vary) is the fame as in the preceding line, and the half verfe which follows
" Darken'd fo, yet fhone"
would do equally well in point of metre, and of fenfe after
On half the nations.
which
[ U9 ]
which of them moft fufpends all our facul- ties in aftonifhment : I believe almoft every voice will give it for Macbeth*. In that all is terror ; and therefore either Ariftotle, Longinus, Shakefpear, and Burke, or Mr, G. Mafon, and his learned friends, have been totally wrong in their ideas of the fublime, and of its caufes.
That the fame principle prevails in all natural fcenery, has been fo fully, and clearly explained by Mr. Burke, that any further arguments feem fuperfluous ; yet as it fometimes happens, that what is placed in a different, though lefs ftriking light, may
* The paffage from Ariftotle, lately prefixed by a poet of great eminence, to a wild and . marvellous tale, which he has tranflated from the German, will not affect the tragedy of Shakefpear ; for no one can fay that in Macbeth the marvellous only prevails, It furnifbes, however, another proof (if proofs were wanting) that terrible and fublime were frequently ufed as nearly fyno- nymous terms. 'Ot &, y^ ro QoSegw, oOO^x, to jt^oeruihq
I 4 chance
[ 120 ]
chance to ftrikc particular minds, I will mention a few things which have occurred to me. I am perfuaded that it would be difficult to conceive any fet of objects, to which, however grand in themfelves, an addition of terror, would not give a higher degree of fublimity -, and furely that muft be a caufe, and a principal caufe, the in- creafe of which increafes the effect; the ab- fence of which, weakens, or deftroys it. The fea is at all times a grand objecT: ; need I fay how much that grandeur is increafed by the violence of another element ? and again, by thunder and lightning ? how ihips in diftrefs, and amongft rocks ftili add to it ? Why are rocks and precipices more fublime, when the fea dafhes at the foot of them, forbids all accefs, or cuts off all retreat, than when we can with eafe approach, or retire from them ? How is it £hat Shakefpear has heightened the fubli- mity
[ **« 3
mity of Dover cliffs, fo much beyond what the real fcene exhibits ? by terror •> he has placed terror on the fummit, with Glou- cefter, ready to throw himfelf down the abyfs ; he has fufpended it in the middle, where
<* Half way dowfl * Hangs one who gathers famphire; dreadful 'trade."
He has again ftationed it on the beech be- low, and has drawn an idea of terror from the comparative deficiency of one ftxifc :
The murmuring furge That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes Cannot be heard fo high ; I'll look no more Left my brain turn.
The nearer any grand and terrible ob- jects in nature prefs upon the mind (pro- vided that mind is able to contemplate them with awe, but without abjec~t fear *)
the
* In what manner, and by what fympathies, terror, in its various degrees and modifications, produces an idea of
fublimity,
[ 122 ]
the more fublime will be their effe&s. The moft favage rocks, precipices, and ca- taracts, as they keep their ftations, are only awful; but mould an earthquake fhake their foundations, and open a new gulph beneath the cataradr, — he, who removed from immediate danger, could dare at fuch a moment, to gaze on fuch a fpeftacle, would furely have fenfations of a much higher kind, than thofe which were im- prefled upon him when all was ftill and unmoved.
fublimity, is a curious, but not an eafy fubje& of difcuffion; certain it is, that we never fympathize with what is mean and cowardly, and that the effect of the fublime (how- ever produced) muft in all cafes be that of exalting the mind of the reader, or fpectator. That effect Longinus has defcribed with equal juftnefs and energy.
CHAP.
C *23 1
CHAPTER V,
f\F the three characters, two only, are ^-^ in any degree fubjedt to the im- prover ; to create the fublime is above our contracted powers, though we may fome- times heighten, and at all times lower its effe&s by art. It is, therefore, on a pro- per attention to the beautiful, and the pic- turefque, that the art of improving real landfcapes muft depend.
As beauty is the moft pleafing of all ideas to the human mind, it is very natural that it mould be moft fought after, and that the name mould have been applied to every fpecies of
excellence.
[ I24 ]
excellence. Mr. Burke has done a great deal towards fettling the vague and contra- di&ory ideas which were entertained on that fubjedr, by inveftigating its principal caufes and effects ; but as the beil things are oft perverted to the worft purpofes, fo his ad- mirable treatife has, perhaps, been one caufe â– of the infipidity which has prevailed under the name of improvement. Few places have any claim to fublimity, and where nature has not given them that character, art is ineffectual ; beauty, therefore, is the great object, and improvers have learned from the higheft authority, that two of its prin- cipal caufes are fmoothnefs, and gradual variation ; thefe qualities are in themfelves very feducing, but they are ftill more fa (when applied to the furface of ground) from its being in every man's power to produce themj it requires neither tafte, nor invention, but merely the mechanical hand
an4
I ms ]
and eye of many a common labourer ; and he who can make a nice afparagus bed, has one of the moft effential qualifications of an improver, and may foon learn the whole myftery of flopes, and hanging levels.
If the principles of the beautiful, ac- cording to Mr. Burke, and thofe of the piclurefque, according to my ideas, are juft* it feldoms happens that they are perfectly unmixed ; and, I believe, it is for want of obferving how nature has blended them, and from attempting to make objects beau- tiful, by dint of fmoothnefs and flowing lines, that fo much infipidity has arifen.
The moft enchanting objecl: the eye of man can behold — that which immediately prefents itfelf to his imagination when beauty is mentioned — that, in comparifon of which all other beauty appears taftelefs and uninterefting — is the face of a beautiful woman ; but even there, where nature has
fixed
[ 126 ]
fixed the throne of beauty, the very feat of its empire, me has guarded it, in her moft perfect models, from its two dangerous foes — inlipidity and monotony. The Greeks (who cannot be accufed of having neglected the ftudy of beauty, or, like Dutch painters, of having fervilely copied whatever was be- fore them) judged that a line nearly ftrait of the nofe and forehead, was neceffary to give a zeft to all the other flowing lines of the face y then the eye brows, and the eyelafhes, by their projecting made over the tranfpa- rent furface of the eye, and above all the hair, by its comparative roughnefs, and its partial concealments, accompany and re- lieve the foftnefs, clearnefs, and fmooth- nefs of all the reft. Where the hair has no natural roughnefs, it is often artificially curled and crifped *, and it cannot be fup-
pofed
* The instrument for that purpofe is certainly of
very ancient date, as Virgil (who probably ftudied the
x coflume
[ "7 1
pofed that both fexes have been fo often miftaken in what would beft become them. Flowers are the moft delicate and beau- tiful of all inanimate obje&sj but their
queen,
coflume of the heroic age) fuppofes it to have been in ufe at the time of the Trojan war, and makes Turnus fpeak contemptuoufly of iEneas, for having his locks perfumed, and as Madame de Sevigne exprefTes it, frifes naturellement avec des fers ;
Vibratos calido ferro, myrrhaque madentes.
The natural roughnefs or crifpnefs of hair is often men- tioned as a beauty — Pauree crefpe crini — capelli crejpe, Sc lunghe, & d'oro,
In many points the hair has a finking relation to trees ; they refemble each other in their intricacy, their ductility, the quicknefs of their growth, their feeming to acquire frefh vigour from being cut, and in their being detached from the folid bodies whence they fpringj they are the varied boundaries, the loofe and airy fringes, without which mere earth, or mere flefh, however beau- tifully formed, are bald and imperfect, and want their moft becoming ornament.
In catholic countries, where thofe unfortunate victims of avarice and fuperftition, are fuppofed to renounce all
idea
t ^ 1
queen, the rofe, grows on a rough builv whofe leaves are fefrated, and which is full of thorns. The mofs rofe has the addition of a rough hairy fringe, which almoft makes a part of the flower itfelf. The arbutus* with its fruit, its pendant flowers, and rich glofiy foliage, is, perhaps, the moft beauti- ful of all the hardier ever-green, fhrubs ; but the bark of it is rugged, and the leaves (which, like thofe of the rofe, are fa wed at the edges) have thofe edges pointed up- wards, and cluttering in fpikes -, and it may poffibly be from that circumftance, and from the boughs having the fame up- right tendency, that Virgil calls it arbutus horrida, or, as it ftands in fome manu-
idea of pleafing our fex, the firft ceremony is that of Slitting off their hair, as a facriflce of the moft feducing ernament of beauty ; and the formal edge of the fillet-, which prevents a fingle hair from efcaping, is well con- trived to deaden the effect of features.
fcripts^
[ i29 ]
fcripts *, horrens. Among the foreign oaks, maples, &c. thofe are particularly
efteemed,
* This epithet is frequently applied to fharp pointed and jagged objects, in the fame upright pofition— hor- rentibus haftis— cautibus horrens Caucafus-— horridior rufco, &c; The Delphin edition fuppofes it to be called horrida, quia raris eft foliis ; but the arbutus is far from being thin- of leaves, when in a flourifhing ftate. Ruseus may probably have taken this idea from a verfe in the 7th Eclogue— rara tegit arbutus umbra, which he in- terprets, raris inumbrat foliis; but in another place Virgil calls it^frondentia arbuta ; and if rara, in the firft pafTage, does mean thin (as Martyn has alfo rendered it) it accords but ill with tegit, and with the fhepherd's re- queft— lblftitium pecori defendite : I therefore imagine rara may mean, in that place, (as it does in many lan- guages) excellent — rarum, quod non ubiqiie reperitur, unde pro praeftanti fumitur. Stef. Thef. Martyn thinks it is called horrida from the roughnefs of the bark; but an epithet, which applies to the tree in general, is more likely to be given from the general outward form, than from a particular part lefs apparent, and often entirely hidden. Many plants point their leaves downwards^ as the lilac, chefnut, Portugal laurel, &c. Whoever will compare the arbutus, and the Portugal laurel, both whofe VOL. I. K leaves
[ H* ]
efteemed, whofe leaves (according to a common, though perhaps contradictory phrafe) are beautifully jagged.
The oriental plane has always been reckoned a tree of the greateft beauty. Xerxes's paffion for one of them is well known, as alfo the high eftimation they were held in by the Greeks and Romans. The furface of their leaves is fmooth and glofly, and of a bright pleafant green ; but they are fo deeply indented, and fo full of fharp angles, that the tree itfelf is often diftinguifhed by the name of the true jagged oriental plane.
The vine leaf has, in * all refpe&s, a
leaves are ferrated, will find how ftrongly the epithet, horrens, applies to the former. Of the verb horreo, Stephens fays, proprie cum pili fetseque in animante eriguntur. Vulgarly ftand an end -y capilli horrent.
* The leaf of the Burgundy vine is rough, and its in- feriority, in point of beauty, to the fmooth-ieaved vines* is, I think, very apparent, and clearly owing to that cir-
cumftance.
ftrong
t m 1
ftrong refemblance to the leaf of the plane j and that extreme richnefs of effect, which every body muft be ftruck with in them both, is greatly owing to thofe fharp an- gles, to thofe fudden variations, fo contrary to the idea of beauty when conlidered by itfclf. — On the other hand, a clufter of fine grapes, in point of form, tint, and light and ihadow, is a fpecimen of unmixed beauty i and the vine, with its fruit, may be cited> as one of the mofi ftriking inftances of the union of the two characters, in which, how ever, that of beauty infinitely prevails : and who will venture to affert, that the charm of the whole would be greater, by feparating them ? by taking off all the angles and fharp points, and making the outline of the leaves, as round and flowing as that of the fruit ? — The effect of thefe jagged points and angles, is more ftrongly marked in fculpture, [ efpecially of vafes of metal ; K 2 where
[ *32 3
where the vine leaf, if imprudently hand- led, would at leaft prove that fharpneis is very contrary to the beautiful in feeling y and the analogy between the two fenfes is Purely very jufr. It may alfo be remarked, that in all fuch works fiarpnefs of exe- cution is a term of high praife.
I muft here obferve (and I muft beg to call the reader's attention to what in my idea throws a ftrong light on the whole of the fubjecl:) that almoft all ornaments are roughs and moft of them fharp, which is a mode of roughnefs ^ and, confiderecT analogically, the moil contrary to beauty of any mode. But as the ornaments are rough, fo the ground is generally fmooth ^ which fhews, that though fmoothnefs is the ground, the eiTential quality of beauty, without which it can fcarcely exift- — yet that roughnefs, in its different modes and de- gree^ is the ornament, the fringe of beauty § that
[ *33 1
that which gives it life and fpirit, and pre- ferves it from baldnefs and infipidity **
* The moft beautiful, or at leaft the moll touching, and exquifitely modulated of all founds, that of a fine hu- man voice, appears to the greateft advantage when there is fome degree of fharpnefs in the inftrument which ac- companies it; as in the harp, the violin\or the harpfi- chord. The flute, or even the organ, have too much of the fame quality of found ; they give no relief to the voice; it is like accompanying fmooth water, with fmooth banks. Often in the fweeteft and moft flowing melodies, difcords, (which are analogous to angles and fharpnefs) are introduced, to relieve the ear from that lan- guor and wearinefs, which long continued fmoothnefs always brings on ; yet will any one fay, that, confidered feparately, the found of a harpfichord is as beautiful as that of a flute, or of a human voice ; or that they ought to be claffed together ? or that difcords are as beautiful as concords ; or that both are beautiful, becaufe when they are mixed with judgment the whole is more de- lightful ? Does not this mew, that what is veryjuftly called beautiful from the effential qualities of beauty being predominant, is frequently, nay, generally compo- fite ; and that we acl againft the conftant practice of nature, and of judicious art, when we endeavour to make objects more beautiful, by depriving them of what gives beauty fome of its moft powerful attractions.
K3 The
i m 1
The column is fmooth, the capital i% rough ; the facing of a building fmooth, the frize and cornice rough, and fuddenly projecting : fo it is in vafes, in embroidery, in every thing that admits of ornament * ; and as ornament is the moft prominent and ftriking part of a beautiful whole, it is frequently taken for the moft effential part, and obtains the firft place in defcriptions. A plain ftone building, without any fharp ornaments, may be very beautiful, and by many perfons be thought peculiarly fo from its fimplicity ; but were an architect to ornament the (hafts, as well as the capitals of
* A goblet, rich with gems and rough with gold. — > Pallarn fignis aurcque rigeniem.
Confider what is the natural, the only procefs in ornamenting any fmooth furface, independently of co- lour ; it muft be by making it lefs fmooth, that is, com- paratively rough : there muft be different degrees and modes of roughnefs, of fharpnefs, and this is the character of thofe ornaments that have been admired for ages,
his
his columns, and all the fmooth ftone work of hishoufe or temple, there are few people who would not be fenfible of the difference between a beautiful building, and one richly ornamented. This, in my mind, is the fpirit of that famous reproof of Apelles (among all the painters of antiquity the moft renowned for beauty) to one of his fcholars who was loading a Helen with ornaments ; " Young man," faid he, " not being able to paint her beautiful, you have made her rich/'
K4 CHAP-
[ 136 ]
CHAPTER VL
AS, notwithftanding the various and ftriking lights in which Mr. Burks has placed the alliance between fmooth- nefs and beauty, and in fpite of the very clofe and convincing arguments he has drawn, by analogy, from the other fenfes, that pofition has been doubted *.— I hope
it
* A perfon of the moft unquestioned abilities, and general accuracy of judgment, but who had not paid much attention to this fubjecl:, afferted that a variety of objects were beautiful, without the leaft fmoothnefs ; and that the piclurefque was always included either in the fublime, or the beautiful. I aflced him what he would call an old rugged mofly oak, with branches twifted
into
[ l37 3
it will not be thought prefumptuous in me to offer fome farther illuftrations, on a fubjeel: which he has treated fo copioufly, and in fo mafterly a manner. I am, in- deed, highly interefied in the queftidn, for if his principles be falfe, mine are equally fo.
I imagine the doubt to have arifen, from its being fuppofed that all which flrongly attracts and captivates the eye, is included in the fublime? and the beautiful ; but I cannot help nattering myfelf, that the having confidered and compared the three characters together, has thrown a reciprocal light on each -y and that the pi&urefque fills up a vacancy between the fublime and the
into fudden and irregular deviations, but which had no character of grandeur ? He faid, he mould call it a pretty tree. He would probably have been furprifed if I had called one of Rembrant's old hags a pretty woman ; and yet they are as much alike as a Jree and a woman can well be,
beautiful,
I '38 ]
beautiful, and accounts for the pleafure we receive from many objects on principles dif- tindt from them both ; which objedts fhould therefore be placed on a feparate clafs.
One principal effe& of fmoothnefs (and to which perhaps it owes its fo general power of pleafing) is, that it gives an ap- pearance of quiet and repofe. Rough- nefs,* on the contrary, a fpirit and ani- mation.
* By roughnefs, I mean what is in any way contrary to fmoothnefs ; whatever is rough, rugged, or angular, whether the object bepolifhed, or unpolifhed. Accord- ing to this definition, polifhed furfaces if cut into an- gles, (as polifhed fieel, glafs or diamond) can no longer be confidered as fmooth objects, though parts of them will be fmooth,
A diamond when fmooth, has, like other polifhed fur- faces, a confiderable degree of ftimulus ; but when its furface is cut into fharp points and angles, it becomes infinitely more ftimulating. It is by means of thefe angles, of thefe fharp points, that a diamond acquires its diftinguifhed title of a brilliant; without them a piece of cut-glafs (as it is termed) would deferve it better.
Again
[ J39 I
mation. Thefe feem to me the moft pre* vailing effects of the beautiful and the pic- turefque, as likewife the means by which they generally operate : and if thefe pre- mifes be true, it will be juft to conclude, that where there is a want of fmoothnefs, there is a want of rcpofe, and confequently of beauty; and on the other hand, that where there is no roughnefs, there is a wrant of fpirit and ftimulus, and confe- quently of pi&urefquenefs.
The fenfe of feeing (as I before ob- ferved) is fo much indebted to that of feel- ing for a number of its perceptions, that there is no confidering the one, abftractedly
Again (to confider broken lights in another point of view) we can bear the full uninterrupted fplendor of the fetting fun. nay, can gaze on the orb itfelf with little uneafinefsj but when its rays are broken by paifing through a thin fcreen of leaves and branches (as in a lane) no eye is proof againft the ir- ritation.
from
from the other : he therefore would reafon very ill on the effects of virion, who fhould leave out our ideas of rough and fmooth, of hard and loft, of thicknefs, diftance, &c. becaufe they were originally acquired by the touch. I fhould on that account fup- pofe, that befides the real irritation which they produce by means of broken lights, all broken, rugged furfaces have alfo, by fympathy, fome thing of the fame effect on the fight, as on the touch ; and if it be true (as it probably v/ill be acknowledg- ed) that fmooth furfaces (where there is no immediate irritation from light) give a repofe to the eye ; rugged and broken ones, muft produce a contrary impref- fion.
But though it feems highly probable that broken and angular furfaces, both from fympathy, and from real irritation of the organ, ftimulate more than fuch as are
fmooth,
t Ht ]
fmooth, yet the ftimulus from which the moftconftant and .marked effects proceed— that, which in a peculiar manner belongs to the pidurefque, and diftinguifhes it from the beautiful, — afifes principally from its two great characlerifties, intricacy and variety, as produced by roughnefs and fudden deviation; and as oppofed to the comparative monotony of fmoothnefs, and flowing lines.
If for inftance, we take any frncoth ob- ject, whofe lines are fiowkig,..fuch as a down, of the fineft turf, with gently f welling knolls and hillocks of every foft and undulating form — though the eye may repofe on this with pleafure, yet the whole is {qqxi at once, and no farther curiofity is excited. But let thofe fwelling knolls (without altering the fcale) be changed into bold, broken pro- montories, with rude overhanging rocks; inflead of the imooth tnrf, let there be furze,
heath,
[ 142 ]
heath, or fern, with open patches between, and fragments of rocks and large ftoncs lying in irregular maffes — it is clear, (on the fuppofition of thefe two fpots being of the fame extent, and on the fame fcale) that the whole of the one may be compre-* hended immediately, and that if you tra- verfe it in every direction, little new can occur \ while in the other, every ftep changes the whole of the compofition. Then each of thefe broken promontories and fragments, have as many fuddenly varying forms and afpefts, as they have breaks, even without light and made ; but when the fun (Joes mine upon them, each break is the occa- sion of fome brilliant light, oppofed to ibme fudden fhadow : All deep coves, hollows, and fiflures (fuch as are ufually found in this ftyle of fcenery) invite the eye to pene- trate into their receffes, yet keep its curiofity alive, and unfatisfied ; whereas in the other,
the
[ 143 1
the light and fhadow has the fame uniform, unbroken chara&er, as the ground itfelf.
I have in both thefe fcenes avoided any mention of trees ; for in all trees of every growth, there is a comparative roughnefs and intricacy, which, unlefs counteracted by great fkill in the improver, will always prevent abfolute monotony: Yet the dif- ference between thofe which appear plant- ed, or cleared for the purpofe of beauty, with the ground made perfectly fmooth about them, and thofe which are wild and uncleared, with the ground of the fame character, is very apparent. Take, for in- ftance, any open grove, where the trees, though neither in rows nor at equal dis- tances, are detached from each other, and cleared from all underwood ; the turf on which they ftand fmooth and level; and their flems diftinctly feen. Such a grove,
of full-grown flourifhing trees, that have
had
E H4 ]
liad room to extend their heads and branches, is defervedly called beautiful j> and if a gravel road winds eafily through it> the whole will be in character.
But whoever has been among foreftsj and has attentively obferved the oppofite character of thofe parts, where wild tangled thickets open into glades, half feen acrofs the ftems of old flag- headed oaks, and twilled beeches — has remarked the irregu- lar tracks of wheels, and the foot-paths of men and animals, how they feem to have been fee king and forcing their way, in every direction— -mull have felt how differently the ftimulus of curiofity is excited in two fuch fcenes ; and the effect of the lights and fhadows, is exactly in proportion to the intricacy of the objects.
From all this it appears, that as a cer- tain degree of ftimulus or irritation is ne- ceftary to the picturefque, fo, on the other
hand*
t HS 1
hand, a foft and pleafing repofe, is equally the effect, and the characteriftic, of the beautiful.
The peculiar excellence of the painter, who moft ftudied the beautiful in landfcape, is charadlerifed by il ripofo di Claudia \ and when the mind of man is in the delightful ftate of repofe, of which Claude's pictures are the image,— when he feels that mild and equal funfhine of the foul, which warms and cheers, but neither inflames nor irri-^ tates* — his heart feems to dilate with hap* pinefs, he is difpofed to every a£t of kind- nefs and benevolence, to love and cherifh all around him, Thefe are the fenfations, which beauty, confidered generally, and without any diftinction of nature, or fex, does, and ought to infpire. A mind in fuch a ftate, is like the furface of a pure and tranquil lake \ in both, the flighted impulfe excites a cofrefpondent mdtion -, and the af-
Vol. I. L fections,
[ H6 ]
fe&ions, like the waters, feem gently to ex- pand themfelves on every fide. But if the heavier!: mafs be thrown into a rapid ftream, theeffed: is fhort-lived; if into a river tum- bling over ftones, or dafhing among rocks, it is momentary. The one is an emblem of irritation, as the other of repofe.
Irritation * is indeed the fource of our moft a&ive and lively pleafures ; but its na- ture, like the pleafures which fpring from it, is eager, hurrying, impetuous: and when the mind, from whatever caufe, becomes agitated, thofe mild and foft emotions which flow from beauty, and of which beauty is the genuine fource, are fcarcely perceived. Let thofe who have been uied to obferve the
* I am aware that irritation is generally ufed in a bad fenfe; rather as a fource of pain, than of pleafure : but that is the cafe with many words and expreffions which relate, to our more eager and tumultuous emo- tions, andrfeems to point out their diftindt nature and origin.
works
f H7 1
Works of nature, reflect on their fenfations when viewing the fmooth and tranquil fcene of a beautiful lake, — or the wild, abrupt, and noify one, of a picturefque ri- ver : I think they will own them to have been as different as the fcenes themfelves, and that nothing but the poverty of lan- guage* makes us call two fenfati©ns fo dif- tinct from each other, by the common name of pleafure. v
Having confidered the effects of repofe and irritation, as caufed by the fixed pro- perties of material objects, I will now ex- amine how they are produced by what is immaterial and uncertain; and how far the various accidents of light and fhadow (two oppofite though almofl infeparable ideas, and which therefore in the language of painters are often combined into one) cor- refpond with the inherent qualities of objects, and with their operation on the mind.
L 2 Nothing
[ 148 ]
Nothing is more obvious, than that all ftrong and brilliant lights, and all fudden contrafts of them with deep fhadows, Sti- mulate the organ of fight. It is equally obvious, that all foft quiet lights, fuch as infenfibly melt into fhadow, and emerge from it again in the fame gradual manner, give a pleafing * repofe to the eye. Thefe pofitions will be moft aptly illustrated, and their application to the beautiful and the picturefque moft clearly pointed out, by attending to the practice of two painters, whofe works are in the higheft efteem, and
* It is on this charm of repofe and of foftnefs, that poets lay fo much ftrefs, when they defer ibe the beau- ties of moon-light ; which many of them feem to do with peculiar fondnefs.
<c Now reigns <c Full-orb'd the moon, and with more pleafing light " Shadowy fets off the face of things.' '
And that feeling paftage in Shakefpear : H How fweet the moon-light fieeps upon yon bank."
of
[ H9 1
of which the ftyle and character is efta- blifhed by general confent.
The genius of Rubens was ftrongly turned to the pidturefque difpofition of his figures, fo as often to facrifice every other confideration to the intricacy, contrail, and flriking variations of his groups. Such a difpofition of objects, feems to call for fomething fimilar in the management of the light and fhade; and accordingly we owe fome of the moft ftriking examples of both, to his fertile invention. In point of brilli- ancy, of fuch extreme fplendour of light as is on the verge of glare *, no pictures can fland in competition with thofe of Rubens : fometimes thofe lights are almoft
* I fpeak of thofe pictures (and they are very nume- rous) in which he aimed at great brilliancy. As no painter poflefTed more entirely all the principles of his art, the folemn breadth of his light and (hade is, on fome ©ccafions, no lefs flriking than its force and fplendor on others,
L 3 unmixed
[ i5o ]
unmixed with fhade ; at other times they burft from dark fhadows, they glance on the different parts of the pifture, and pro- duce that flicker (as it fometimes is called) fo captivating to the eye ; but fo dangerous alfo, when attempted by inferior artifts, or by thofe who are lefs thoroughly mailers of the principles of harmony, than that great painter, All thefe dazzling effe&s are heightened by the fpiritcd management of his pencil, by thofe fbarp, animated touches *, which give life and energy to every objed:.
Correggio's
* Many painters, when they reprefent any ftriking effects of light, leave the touches of the pencil more rough and flrongly marked, than the quality of the ob- jects themfelves feems to juftify Rembrant, who fuc- ceeded beyond ail others in thefe forcible effects, carried alfo this method of creating them farther than any other mailer. Thofe who have feen his famous picture in the fladthoufe at Amfterdam, may remember a figure highly illuminated, whofe drefs is a filver tiffue, with fringes, taffels, and otner ornaments nearly of the fame brilliant
colour.
Correggio's principal attention (in point of form) was directed to flow of outline and gradual variation : Of this he never entirely loft fight, even in his moft capri- cious fore-fhortenings ; and the ftyle of his light and fhadow is fo congenial, that the
colour. It is the moft furpriling inftance I ever faw of the effect of that rough manner of pencilling, in pro- ducing what moft nearly approaches to the glitter, and to the irritation, which is caufed by real light when act- ing powerfully on any object ; and this too, with a due attention to general harmony, and with fuch a com- manding truth of reprefentation, as no high finifhing can give.
It feems to me, that this may be accounted for on the principle I have before mentioned, of roughnefs in ma- terial objects being a caufe of irritation. Light in itfelf has nothing that bears any relation to rough or fmooth ; but when ftrong, irritates in a high degree : As painting cannot attain to the full fplendor even of reflected light, and as that fplendor acts by ftimulating, it is natural that painters {hould have helped out the infufficiency of the art by fome other ftimulus, and by increafing the irritating quality of the objeel: illuminated, have ftriven to make a nearer approach to that of light itfelf.
L 4 one
[ *J* ]
one feems the natural confequence of the other. He is always cited as the moft perfect model of thofe foft and infenfible tranfitions, of that union of effedt, which, above every thing elfe, imprefles the gene- ral idea of lovelinefs. The manner of his pencilling is exaftly of a piece with the reft $ all feems melted together, but with fo nice a judgment, as to avoid, by means of certain free, yet delicate touches, that laboured hard- nefs and infipidity, which arife from what is called high finifhing, Correggio's pictures are indeed as far removed from monotony, as from glare -3 he feems to have felt be- yond all others, the exadl degree of bril-^ liancy which accords with the foftnefs of beauty, and to have been, with regard to figures, what Claude was in landfcape.
The pi&ures of Claude are brilliant in a high degree -> but that brilliancy is fo dif- fufed over the whole of them, fo happily
balanced^
[ 153 ]
balanced, fo mellowed and fubdued by that almoft vifible atmofphere, which per- vades every part, and unites all together, that nothing in particular catches the eye ; the whole is fplendor, the whole is repofe ; every thing lighted up, every thing in fweet- eft harmony. Rubens in his landfcapes dif- fers as ftrongly from Claude, as he does from Correggio in his figures -, they are full of the peculiarities, and pi&urefque accidents in nature ; of ftriking contrails of form, colour, and light and fhadow: fun-beams burfting through a fmall opening in a dark wood — a rainbow againft a ftormy fky — effedts of thunder and lightning — torrents rolling down trees torn up by the roots, and the dead bodies of men and animals ; with many other fublime and pidturefque cir- cumftances. Thefe fudden gleams, thefe cataradts of light, thefe bold oppofitions of ^louds and darknefs, which he has fo no-
bly
[ *54 ]
bly introduced, would deftroy all the beauty and elegance of Claude : On the other hand, the mild and equal fun-fhine * of
that
* Nothing is Co captivating, or feems fo much to ac- cord with our ideas of beauty, as the fmiles of a beautiful countenance ; yet they have fometimes a ftriking mix- ture of the other character. Of this kind are thofe fmiles which break out fuddenly from a ferious, fometimes from almoft a fevere countenance, and which, when that gleam is over, leave no trace of it behind —
Brief as the lightning in the collied night, That in a fpleen unfolds both heaven and earth ; And e'er a man has time to fay, behold ! The jaws of darknefs do devour it up.
This fudden effecT: is often hinted at by the Italian poets, as appears by their allufion to the moft fudden and dazzling of lights ; — gWfcintilla un rifo — tampeggia un rifo — il balenar' d'un rifo.
There is another fmile, which feems in the fame de- gree to accord with the ideas of beauty only : It is that fmile which proceeds from a mind full of fweetnefs and fenfibility, and which, when it is over, ftill leaves on the countenance its mild and amiable impfeffion ; as after the fun is fet, the mild glow of his rays is ftill diffufed
over
[ *5S ]
that charming painter, would as ill accord with the twifted and Angular forms, and the bold and animated variety of the land- fcapes of Rubens.
Thefe few inftances from the art of painting (and many more might eafily be produced) fhew in how great a degree foftnefs, fmoothnefs* gradual variation of form, infenfible transitions from light to fhadow, and general repofe, are the charac- teristic marks of artifts, whofe works are moft celebrated for their beauty ; and thefe caufes operate fo powerfully when united, that notwithstanding the pure out- line, and the happy mixture of the an- tique character in Raphael ; the angelic
over every obje£r. This fmile, with the glow that ac- companies it, is beautifully painted by Milton, as moft becoming an inhabitant of heayen :
To whom the angel, with a fmile that glow'd Celeftial rofy red, love's proper hue, Thus anfwer'd.
9 air
[ '5* 1
air of Guido ; and the peculiar and feparate beauties of others painters, I believe that if a variety of perfons converfant in paint- ing, were afked what pidlures (taking every circumftance together) appeared to them moft beautiful, and had left the fofteft, and molt pleafing impreffion — the majority of them would fix upon Correggio.
In beauty of landfcape, Claude (lands quite ajone, without a competitor.
CHAP.
[ *S7 3
CHAPTER VIL
THESE efFecls of harmony and re- pofe naturally lead me to that great principle of the art of * painting (for it is the great connecting, and harmonizing principle of nature) breadth of light and fhadow.
What is called breadth, feems to bear nearly the fame relation to light and (ha-
* Or rather (in a more juft and comprehend ve view) of that art, which chiefly by means of light and fhadow, bodies forth the forms of things from a plain furface, and which, being independent of colours, includes every fpe- cies of drawing and engraving.
dow,
[ 158 ]
dow, as fmoothnefs does to material ob- je&s ; for as all uneven furfaces caufe more irritation than thofe which are fmooth, and thofe moil of all which are broken into little inequalities -, fo thofe lights and fha- dows which are fcattered and broken, are infinitely more irritating than thofe which are broad and continued. Every perfon of the leaft obfervation, muft have remarked how broad the lights and ihadows are on a fine evening in nature, or (what is al- moft the fame thing) in a picture of Claude. He mufl equally have remark- ed the extreme difference between fuch lights and ihadows, and thofe meagre and frittered ones, that fometimes difgrace the works of painters, in other refpects of great excellence ; and which prevail in nature, when the fun-beams, refraded and difperfed in every direction by a number of white flickering clouds, create a perpetual (Lifting
glare,
glare, and keep the eye in a ftate of conftant irritation. All fuch accidental effects arif- ing from clouds, though they flrongly fhew the general principle, and are highly proper to be ftudied by all lovers of painting or of nature, yet not being fubjecl: to our con- troul, are of lefs ufe to improvers ; a great deal however it fubjecl; to our controul, and I believe we may lay it down as a very general maxim, that in proportion as the objects are fcattered, unconnected, and in patches, the lights and fhadows will be fo too ; and vice verfa.
If, for inftance, we fuppofe a continued fweep of hills, either entirely wooded, or entirely bare, and under the influence of a low cloudlefs fun — whatever parts are ex- pofed to that fun, will have one broad light upon them ; whatever are hid from it, one broad fhade. If we again fuppofe this wood to have been thinned in fuch a man- ner,
t *te }
ner, as to have left mafTes, groups, and fingle trees fo difpofed, as to prefent a pleafing and connected whole, though with detached parts; or, if we fuppofe the bare hills to have been planted in the fame ftyle —-the variety of light and ihadow will be greatly increafed* and the general breadth ftill be preferved* Nor would that breadth be injured if an old ruin, a cottage, or any building of a quiet tint, was difcovered among the trees. But if the wood were fo thinned, as to have a poor, fcattered, un- connected appearance ; or the hills planted in clumps, patches and detached trees — * the lights and fhadows would have the fame broken and disjointed effect as the objects themfelves. If to this were added any harfh contraft (fuch as clumps of firs and white buildings) the irritation would be greatly increafed. In all thefe cafes, the eye, inftead of repofing on one broad, con- nected
i 161 ]
hefted whole, is ftopt and harafled by lit* tie difunited, difcordant parts : I of courfe fuppofe the fun to adt on thefe different ob- jects with equal fplendourj for there are fomc days, when the whole fky is fo full of jarring lights, that the fhadieft groves and avenues hardly preferve their folemnity ; and there are others, when the atmofphere (like the laft glazing of a pi&ure) foftens into mellownefs, whatever is crude through- out the landfcape.
This is peculiarly the effe&of * twilight;
for
* Milton, whofe eyes feem to have been moft fen- fibly affected by every accident, and gradation of light, (and that poffibly in a great degree from the weaknefs, snd confequently the irritability of thofe organs) fpeaks always of twilight with peculiar pleafure. He has even reverfed what Socrates did by philofophy ; he has called up twilight from earth, and placed it in heaven :
From that high mount of God whence light and fhade Spring forth, the face of brighteft heaven had changed To grateful twilight.
Vol. I, M w^t
[ ,62 ]
for at that delightful time, even artificial water, however naked, edgy, and tame its banks, will often receive a momentary charm ; when all that is fcattered and cut- ting, all that difgufts a painter's eye, is blended together in one broad and footh- ing harmony of light and fhadow. I have more than once, at fuch a moment, happened to arrive at a place entirely new to me, and have been ftruck in the higher! degree with the appearance of wood, wa- ter, and buildings, that feemed to accom- pany and fet off each other, in the happieft
What is alfo fmgular, he has in this pafTage made fhade an efience equally with light, not merely a priva- tion of it ; a compliment, never, I believe, paid to fha- dow before, but which might be expected from his averfion to glare, fo frequently, and fo ilrongly expreffed 3
Hide me from day's garijh eye.
When the fun begins to fling His faring beams.
manner^
manner ; and I have felt quite impatient to examine all thefe beauties by day-light :
" At length the morn, and cold indifference came."
The charm which held them together, and made them act fo powerfully as a whole, was gone.
It may, perhaps, be faid, that the imagi- nation, from a few imperfect hints, may form beauties which have no existence, and that indifference may naturally arife, from thofe phantoms not being realized. I am far from denying the power of par- tial concealment and obfcurity on the ima- gination ; but in thefe cafes, the fame fet of objects, whenfeen by twilight, is often beautiful as a picture, and would appear highly fo, if exactly reprefented on the can- vafs ; but in full day-light, the fun, as it were, decompounds what had been fo happily mixed together, and feparates a M 2 ftriking
[ i64 ]
ftriking whole, into detached unimpreffive parts.
Nothing, I believe, would be of more fervice in forming a tafte for general effect, and general compofition, than to examine the fame fcenes, in the full diftinctnefs of day, and again after fun-fet. In fact, twi- light does, what an improver ought to do j it connects what was before fcattered -y it fills up flaring, meagre vacancies ; it deftroys edginefs ; and by giving fhadow as well as light to water, at once increafes both its brilliancy and foftnefs. It muft however be obferved, that twilight, while it takes off the edginefs of thole objects which are below the horizon, more fenfibly marks the outline of thofe which are oppofed to the fky ; and confequently difcovers the defects, as well as the beauties of their forms* From this circumftance, improvers may- learn a very ufeful leffon, that the outline
againft
againft the iky mould be particularly at- tended to, fo that nothing lumpy, meagre, or difcordant mould be there ; for at all times, in fuch a fituation, the form is made out, but moft of all when twilight has melted the other parts together* At that time many varied groups, and elegant fhapes of trees, which were fcarcely noticed in the more general diffufion of light, diftinctly appear; then too the ftubborn clump (which before was but too plainly feen) makes a ftill fouler blot on the horizon : while there is a glim- mering of light he maintains his poft, nor yields, till even his blacknefs is at laft con- founded in the general blacknefs of night.
Thefe are the powers and effects of that breadth I have been defcribing, and which may juftly be confidered as a fource of vifual pleafure diftindt from all others ; for objects, which in themfelves are neither beautiful, nor fublime, nor picturefque, are inciden- M 3 tally
[ 166 1
tally made to delight the eye, from their be- being produdlive of breadth. This feems to account for the pleafure we receive from many maffive, heavy objefts, which, when deprived of the effedl of that harmonizing principle, and considered fingly, are even pofitively ugly. Such, indeed, is the effed of breadth, that pi&ures or drawings eminently poffeffed of it (though they fhould have no other merit) will always attract the atten- tion of a cultivated eye ; while others, where the detail is admirable, but where this mafter-principle is wanting, will often, at the firft view, be pafled by without notice. The mind, however, requires to be ftimu- lated as well as foothed, and there is in this, as in fo many other inftances, a ftrong ana- logy between painting and mufic: the fir ft effed of mere breadth of light and fhadow is to the eye, what that of mere harmony of founds is to the ear ; both produce a pleafing repofe, a calm fober delight, which, if not re- lieved
[ 16/ 3
lieved by fomething lefs uniform, foon finks Into diftafte and wearinefs : for repofe and fleep, which are often ufed as fynonymous terms, are always nearly allied. But as the principle of harmony muft be preferved in the wildeft and moft eccentric pieces of mufic, in thofe where fudden, and quickly varying emotions of the foul are expreffed; fo muft that of breadth be equally attended to in fcenes of buftle, and feeming confufion, in thofe where the wildeft fcenery, or moft vio- lent agitations of nature are reprefented; and I am here tempted to parody that fre- quently quoted paffage of Shakefpeare, " in the very torrent, tempeft, and wThirlwind of the elements, the artiuy in painting them, muft acquire a breadth that will give them fmoothnefs."
There is, however, no fmall difficulty
in uniting breadth, with the detail, the
fplendid variety, and marked characler of
M 4 nature.
[ ,68 ]
nature. Claude is admirable in this, as in aU moft every other refpect* With the greateft accuracy of detail, and truth of character, his pictures have the breadth of the fim- pleft warned drawing, or aquatinta print ; where little elfe is expreffed, or intended. In a ftrong light, they are full of interefting and entertaining particulars; and as twi- light comes on (an effect I have obferved with great delight) they have the fame gradual fading of the glimmering landfcape, as in real nature.
This art of preferring breadth with detail and brilliancy, has been fludied with great fuccefs by Teniers, Ian Steen, and many of the Dutch mafters. Oftade's pictures and etchings are among the happieft exam- ples of it ; but above all others, the works of that fcarce and wonderful mafter, Gerard Dow. His eye feems to have had a micro- fcopic power in regard to the minute tex- ture
[ i69 3
tare of objects (for in his paintings they bear the fevere trial of the ftrongeft magni- fier) and at the fame time the oppofite fa- culty of excluding all particulars with re*= fpect to breadth and general effect.' His mailer, Rembrant, did not attend to minute detail $ but by that commanding manner, fo peculiarly his own, and which marked with equal force and juftnefs, the leading charac- ter of each object, he produced an idea of detail, much beyond what is really expreffed. Many of the great Italian mailers have done this alfo, and with a tafte, a grandeur, and a noblenefs of ftile, unknown to the in- ferior fchools ; though none have exceeded, or even equalled Rembrant, in truth, force, and effect. But when artifls, neglecting the variety of detail, and thofe characteriftic features that well fupply its place, content themfelves with mere breadth, and propofe that as the final object of attainment — their
productions,
[ 17° ]
productions, and the intereft excited by them, will be, in comparifon of the ftyles I have mentioned, what a metaphyfi- cal treatife is to Shakefpeare or Fielding; they will be rather illuflxations of a prin- ciple, than reprefentations of what is real ; a fort of abftracl idea of nature, not very unlike Crambe's abftracl: idea of a lord mayor.
As nothing is more flattering to the vanity and indolence of mankind, than the being able to produce a pleafing general effect, with little labour or ftudy ; fo no- thing more obftru&s the progrefs of the art, than fuch a facility. Yet ftill thefe ab- ftrafts are by no means without their com- parative merit, and they have their ufe as well as their danger ; they fliew how much may be effected by the mere naked princi- ple, and the great fuperiority that alone gives to whatever is formed upon it, over
thofe
[ i7i J
thofe things which are done on no princi- ple at all -, where the feparate objects are fet down, as it were, article by article ; and where the confufion of lights fo perplexes the eye, that one might fuppofe the art hi had looked at them through a multiplying glafs.
I may, perhaps, be thought to have dwelt longer on this article, than the prin- cipal defign of my book feemed to require; but though (as I mentioned in a former part) the ftudy of light and fhadow ap- pears, at firft light, to belong exclufively to the painter, yet, like every thing which relates to that charming art, it will be found of infinite fervice to the improver. Indeed, the violations of this principle of breadth and harmony of light and fhadow, are, perhaps, more frequent, and more dif- guftingly orTenfive, than thofe of any other.
Many people feem to have a fort of callus
over
[ I72 ]
over their organs of fight, as others over thofe of hearing; and as the callous hearers feel nothing in mufic but kettle-drums and trombones; fo the callous fe-ers can only be moved by ftrong oppofitions of black and white, or by fiery * reds. I am therefore fo far from laughing at Mr. Locke's blind man for likening fcarlet to the found of a trumpet, that I think he had great reafon to pride himfelf (as he did) on the difcovery.
It might reafonably be fuppofed, that the natural colour, of brick were fufriciently ftimulating $ but I have feen brick houfes painted of fo much more flaming a red, that (to ufe Mr. Brown's expreffion) they put the whole vale in a fever. White, though glaring, has not that hot fultry appearance;
P Red properly belongs to colouring, as it cannot be expreffed by a mere black and white drawing, or engraving j yet, where a tint is fo glaring as to deltroy the harmony of colouring, I am apt to think it will have the fame erTedr. on breadth of light and fhadow.
and
[ *73 ]
and there is fuch a look of neatnefs and gaiety in it, that we cannot be furprifed, if, where lime is cheap, only one idea mould prevail — that of making every thing as white as poffible. Wherever this is the cafe, the whole landfcape is full of little fpots, which can only be made pleafing to a painter's eye, by their being almoft buried in trees : But where a country is without natural wood, and is improved by dint of white-warn and clumps of firs, a painter (were he confined there) would be abfo- lutely driven to defpsiir ; and feel ready to re- nounce, not only his art, but his eyefight.
One of the moft charming effects of fun- fhine,isits giving to objects, not merely light, but that mellow golden hue fo beauti- ful in itfelf, and which, when diffiifed, as in a fine evening, over the whole landfcape, creates that rich union and harmony, fo en- chanting in nature and in Claudg, But if i either
either in Claude, or in nature, any one ob^ jecT: fhould be introduced of fo glaring a white, as not to partake of that general hue, the whole attention, in fpite of all our efforts to the contrary, will be drawn to that one point ; if there are feveral, the eye will be diftradted among them*. Again, (to confider it in another view) when the fan breaks out in gleams, there is fomething that delights and furprifes, in feeing an object, before only vifible, lighted up in fplendor; and then gradually finking into fhade. But
* From that analogy fo often mentioned, it is ufuaf to fay, that an object in a picture, or in nature, is out of tune. The expreffion is perfectly juft : in mufic, one fuch note will invincibly fix our attention upon it, and feveral diftracl: it; and in either cafe, it is impoifible to enjoy the harmony of the reft. There is, however, this difference; a palling note, however falfe, is quickly over; but a glaring object, is like an eternal holding note held firmly out of tune, and which, in that cafe well de- ferves the name an unmufkal friend once gave to hold- ing notes in general ; " I don't know what you call them," faid he, « I mean one of thofelong noifes."
a whitened
[ *7S 3
a whitened object is already lighted up, it remains fo when every thing has retired into obfcurity ; it ftill forces itfelf into notice ; ftill impudently flares you in the face.
A cottage of a quiet colour, half con- cealed among trees, with its bit of garden, its pales and orchard, is one of the mod tranquil and foothing of all rural objects ; and when the fun ftrikes upon it, and dif- covers a number of lively picture fque cir- cumftances, one of the mofl chcarful : but if cleared, round and whitened, its modeft retired character is gone, and fucceeded by a perpetual glare.
Sunihine, when it gilds fome object of a fober tint, is like a fmile that lights up a ferious countenance; a * whitened object, is like the eternal grin of a fool.
Iwifh
* Even very white teeth (where excefs of whitenefs is leaft to be feared) if feen too much, have often a kind of filly look that feems to belong to the part itfelf: no-
thing
£ 176 J
I wifli, however, to be underftood, that when I fpeak of white-wafh, and whitened buildings, I mean that glaring white which is produced by lime alone, or without a fuf- ficient quantity of any lowering ingredient $ for there cannot; be a greater, or a more im- mediate improvement, than that of giving to a fiery brick building, the tint of a ftone one. No perfon, I believe, has any doubt that ftone (fuch as Bath and Portland, and many others which pafs under the general name of free-Hone) is the moft beautiful material for building ; and I imagine there is no in- ftance of an architect's having painted fuch Hones white, in order to make them more beautiful, though dingy, or red ftone may fometimes have been painted of a free ftone
thing can be more chara&eriftic of that effect, than the well known expreffion of, the gentleman with the foolifh teeth. Thofe gentlemen who deal much in pure white- warn, might well be diftinguifhed by the fame complU ment being paid to their buildings.
colour.
[ *77 1
colour. The true object of imitation feems therefore to be the tint of a beautiful ftone ; and if thofe who whiten their buildings, would pique themfelves on matching ex- actly the colour of Bath, or Portland ftone, fo as to be neither whiter, nor yellower, the greateft neatnefs and gaiety might prevail, without glare.
Befides the glare, there is another cir- cumftance which often renders white- wafti extremely offenfiye to the eye, efpecially when it is applied to any uneven furface ; and that is, a fmeared, dirty appearance. This is the cafe where old, or rough ftone - work is dabbed with lime, while the dirt is left between the joints 5 as likewife where the coarfe wood-work that feparates the plaiftered wails of a cottage is brufhed over, as well as the fmooth walls them- felves : in thefe, however, the object is in- con fiderable, and the effect in proper -
Vol. I. N tioni
I 178 ]
tlon ; but when this pitiful tafle is employ- ed upon fome antient caftle-like maniion, or the * moffy weather- ftained tower of an old church, it becomes a fort of facrilege. Such a building, daubed over and plaiftered, is, next to a painted old woman, the moft difgufting of all attempts at improvement j on both, when left in their natural ftate, time often ftamps a pleafing and venera- ble imprefiion; but when thus fophifti- cated, they have neither the frefhnefs of youth, nor the mellow piclurefque cha- racter of age; and inftead of becoming
* I mufl here beg leave to remind the reader, that when I mentioned the great and immediate improvement of giving to a brick building, the colour of ftone, it was. to a fiery brick. When brick becomes weather flaine4 and moiTy, it harmonifes with the colours that ufually accompany it, and has often a richnefs, mellownefs, and variety of tintrinfinitely pleaflng to a painter's eye; for. {he cool colour of the greenifh mofs lowers all the fiery quality, while the fubdued fire beneath, gives a glow to. what without it would be cold and infipid.
attractive,
I *79 ]
attractive, are only made horribly confpi- cuous.
I am afraid it will not be eafy to check the general paffion for diftindnefs and confpicuity. Each profpecl hunter (a moft numerous tribe) like the heroic Ajax, forms but one prayer ;
Let them fee but clearly, and fee enough, they are content ; and much may be faid in their favour; compofition, grouping, breadth and effect of light and fhadow, harmony of colours, &c. are comparatively attended to and enjoyed by few; but ex~ tenfive profpects are the moil popular of all views, and their refpe&ive fuperiority is generally decided by the number of churches and counties. Diftinclnefs is therefore the great point; a painter may wiih feveral hills of bad fhapes^and thoufands of uninterefting N a acres
[ *8o ]
acres, to be covered with one general fhadej but to him who is to reckon up his counties, the lofs of a black or a white fpot, of a clump or a gazabo, is the lofs of a voucher.
Then again, as the profpeft-fhewer has great pleafure and vanity in pointing out thefe vouchers, fo the improver, on his fide, has full as much in being pointed at ; we therefore cannot wonder that fo many churches have been converted into thefe beacons of tafte, or that fo many hills have been marked with them*
CHAP-
[ i8i ]
CHAPTER VIIL
I HAVE hitherto endeavoured to trace the pifturefque, in all that relates to form, and to the effe&s of light and (hade ; I have endeavoured to diftinguifh it from the beautiful, and from the fublime,
and to fhew the general influence of breadth on them all. It now remains to examine how far the fame general principles hold good with regard to colours.
Mr. Burke's idea of the beautiful in co- lour, feems to me in the higheft degree fa- tisfadtory, and to correfpond with all his other ideas of beauty. I muft obferve at the fame time, that the beautiful in colour, is of a pofitive and independent nature; N 3 whereas
t ifc 3
whereas the fublime in colour is in 2 great degree relative, and depends on other circumftances. A beautiful colour, is a common and a juft expreffion; na one hefitates whether he fhall give that title to the leaf of a rofe, or to the fmalleft bit of it. But though the deep gloomy tint of the fky before a ftorm, and its effed: on all nature, is fublime, no one would call that colour (whether a dark blue or purple, or whatever it might be) a fublime colour, if fimply fhewn him with- out the other accompaniments*
It is as little the cuflom to fpeak of pidturefque, as of fublime colours; many, however, without impropriety, might be called fo> for there are many, which hav- ing nothing of the foftnefs, frefhnefs, and delicacy of beauty, are generally found in fcenes highly pidturefque, and admirably accord with them. As that term has ufu-
ally
t m 1
&lly a reference (though not ari exclufive one) to the art from which it is named, fo it may be remarked that painters, from having obferved the deep, rich, and mellow effe&s of thefe colours, have been particu- larly fond of introducing them into their pictures; and fometimes to the abfolute ex- clufion of thofe that are more ftridly beau^ tiful: Among the former kind may be reck- oned the autumnal hues in all their varie- ties; the various gradations in the tints of broken ground, and of the decayed parts in old trees | the weather ftains, and many of the mofies on ftones and trunks of trees ; with a thoufand more, equally diftincl: from thofe which are beautiful. If to thefe be oppofed the foft and tender colours of the ftems of young trees, the frefh greens of fpring, both in trees and herbage, its flowers and bloflbms, it will mew in how many N 4 inftances
[ i84 3
iniiances picturefque colours as well as forms, arife from age and decay.
Autumn (which is metaphorically ap- plied to the decline of human life, when " fallen into the fere, the yellow leaf") and not the fpring,