as may be observed by trying an experiment as noticed in note 30,30 which will suggest others to the imagination. But whatever way the student takes to get an insight into this great charm of painting, either in arranging his composition so as to suit any particular effect of light and shade, or in trying various means of distributing light and shade over his design, let him carefully watch, both in Nature and in art, its various combinations, and endeavor to find out the latent cause of its beauty. As the etchings of Rembrandt embrace this quality in the highest degree, from a mere outline to the most extensive depth of shadow, they ought to be constantly before him when he has it in his power. They ought to be viewed in every direction, to enable the eye to get acquainted with the proportions of light, dark and half-tint. He ought also to engraft the scheme of chiaro oscuro on designs of his own, that the harmony which exists in these wonderful productions may be transferred, if possible, into new inventions, as in Plate VI.

HARMONY OF COLOR.

The power of combining sounds whose united influence shall call into existence, through the medium of the ear, those latent seeds by which the violent or tender passions are excited is too well understood to require explanation. That there exists the same sources of enjoyment in the human mind which are capable of being awakened through the medium of the eye is equally certain, otherwise the painter could not produce, by a combination of color, those effects which surprise or delight the spectator. Locke describes colors as only ideas of the mind apprehended by the imagination, and not qualities that have any existence in matter. Newton says colors have their origin in the different refrangibility of the rays of light, and are not received from reflections or refractions from natural bodies. Without, however, entering too minutely into the philosophy of colors, it will be necessary to inquire what are the colors which affect the eye most, or from what arrangement harmony arises. We observe that children and rude nations31 are most attracted by strong colors, from the

30 If we take a pen and sketch in a row of buildings, trees, etc., running from one side to a point of sight in the center, blotting in shadows broad and dark on the near objects, and while the ink is wet fold the paper across the point of sight, so as to take off an impression on the opposite side, the eye is not only gratified by a greater mixture of sharp and soft portions, but by a greater unity, and balance of parts, one side with another, and a repetition of the sky line with the lines of the ground; or if we draw in a group of trees and fold the paper across at the base of their stems, so as to take off a faint impression, as if reflected in water, the same agreeable sensation will be produced. 31 It is evident that gay colors of all kinds are a principal source of pleasure to young children, and they seem to strike them more particularly when mixed together in various ways. Whether there be anything in colors which corresponds to the harmony of sound may be doubted; if there be, it must, however, admit of much greater latitude than the harmony between sounds, since all mixtures and degrees of color, unless when the quantity of light overpowers the eye, are pleasant: however, one color may be more so originally than another. Black appears to be originally disagreeable to the eyes of children; it becomes disagreeable also very early from associated influences. In adults, the pleasures of mere colors are very languid, in comparison of their present aggregates

excitement which they produce. De la Hire says: "The different degrees of excitement produced by colors may be observed by keeping the eye shut, after looking at the sun or any luminous object, for the image left upon the retina will be first red, then yellow, then green, and last of all blue." We also perceive that the effect produced by strong colors may be increased or diminished by bringing them in contact with others of an opposite hue. Large portions of strong blue coming in contact with red or white (for we find the ground color often a great cause of opposition) affect the eye in a different manner from what the same colors produce when in smaller quantities; or on a ground of a neutral tint, such as we see in the specimens found in the Egyptian tombs, contrasted with the same colors distributed over a Persian shawl. In the latter case the rays coming to the eye from every separate color cross each other, so as to produce an agreeable harmony.32 In the former case one color makes too strong an impression on the eye to be obliterated easily, impressions remaining of long or short duration, according to the intensity of light or brightness of the object producing them. Reynolds mentions three modes of harmony existing in the arrangement of colors; one where the colors are of a full and strong body, such as we find in the works of Raffaelle, and which he denominates the Roman manner; another the Bologna style, which mixes several colors together so as to produce a general union in the whole without reminding you of the original colors of which they are composed, and which is carried to the greatest perfection in the small works of the Dutch school; the third is the Venetian, where the brightest colors are admitted, with the two extremes of warm and cold hues, and the whole reconciled and harmonized by being dispersed over the picture, presenting to the eye that sensation arising from a bunch of flowers. Each method seems to have its peculiar province allotted to it, corresponding to the subject or style of composition in the design, and chiaro oscuro, according as they depart more or less from common representations of Nature, or retain an entireness or severity of outline. Harmony arising from a corresponding agreement of the several

of pleasure formed by association. However, the original pleasures of mere colors remain in a small degree to the last, and those transfused upon them by association with other pleasures (for the influence is reciprocal without limits) is a considerable one-so that our intellectual pleasures are not only at first generated, but afterwards supported and resuscitated in part from the pleasures affecting the eye, which holds particularly in respect of the pleasures afforded by the beauties of Nature, and by the imitation of these which the arts of painting and poetry furnish us with."-Hartley on Man, Sense of Sight.

32 Sir Isaac Newton remarks, that when the refrangibility of any particular ray produce a certain color, he found it impossible to change that color, if sufficiently large; he could subdue its intensity, by intercepting its rays by colored mediums, but could not change it in specie. (We find this, which is a kind of glazing, was even practiced by the ancients.) He found a transmutation of colors might be made by a mixture of different kinds of rays, but in such mixtures the component colors themselves do not appear, but by their mutually allaying each other, constitute a middle color; and, therefore, if, by refraction, the different rays be separated, colors will emerge different from that of the composition. Thus blue and yellow powders finely mixed appear green to the naked eye, and yet the colors of the component particles are not thereby really changed, but only blended; for when they are viewed with a microscope, they still appear blue and yellow.Priestley's Remarks on Newton's Optics.

parts, we can easily imagine a suitableness in the coloring to preserve such unity. In the early stages of painting, when the figures possessed a dry, continuous outline, we find the colors laid in strong and bright, so as to give relief unconnected with the effect of aërial perspective. As the art advanced, we find colors made use of in the character of chiaro oscuro, and, when foreshortening and perspective effect occupied a large share in the conduct of the work, we perceive that color became more subordinate, and the outline, light and shade and color assimilated with each other in producing an effect upon the spectator, arising from neither having a preponderance in claiming his attention. In entering upon a diffuse examination of the foregoing remarks, each separate division would require a lengthened essay to particularize the way in which the eye receives delight from the various modifications of color. A work of this brief description can do little more than point out where the various examples are to be met with, and how they are modified and arranged to harmonize with those sensations which exist in the mind, and cannot be altered or diverted into other channels by the caprice or false taste of any one. I would fain hope I have gone further. I have endeavored to prove that those sources of enjoyment which lie dormant in the human mind, and which through the sense of sight are vivified and called into operation, can only, by the cultivation of that sense, be productive of pleasure.33 I have also endeavored to prove the great utility of the education of the eye as a means of general instruction, giving employment to thousands, while it opens those avenues to science which, even to the great power of language, remain as "books sealed and fountains shut up."

STUDYING FROM NATURE.

Objects drawn from Nature possess a very characteristic difference from those drawn from the combinations of fancy, or from those images presented to the imagination. We find in sketches from Nature many minute circumstances, a truth and precision, a variety and beauty, that objects drawn from memory, or those images under the guidance of the mind only, have no pretension to. The latter possess the general appearance merely like the confused character of Nature presented to indistinct vision, or, if made out with detail, the minutia contain a select set of touches or forms, become agreeable from habit, which constitutes mannerism. Such imperfections can be avoided only by having accustomed the eye in the

33 Addison remarks, that a man of polite imagination is let into a great many pleasures that the vulgar are not capable of receiving. He can converse with a picture, and find an agreeable companion in a statue. He meets with a secret refreshment in a description, and often feels a greater satisfaction in the prospect of fields and meadows than another does in the possession. It gives him, indeed, a kind of property in everything he sees, and makes the most rude uncultivated parts of Nature administer to his pleasures: so that he looks upon the world as it were in another light, and discovers in it a multitude of charms that conceal themselves from the generality of mankind.— Spectator, No. 411.

first instance to a scrupulous exactness in delineating objects from Nature, as one or two parts left out may destroy the richness and variety of lines, and an unequal proportion of the forms may deprive the copy of the truth and beauty of the original. These peculiarities are also to be examined and contemplated upon, that this character may be engrafted upon works of imagination. Reynolds says: "I very much doubt whether a habit of drawing correctly what we see will not give a proportionate power of drawing what we imagine."

To educate the eye to accomplish this it is necessary, in the first instance, to select such objects as are simple in their forms, that the eye may perceive them distinctly, and make them gradually give place to others more complicated, to fit the eye and the hand to a variety of lines. It is also of the first importance that the drawings be made sufficiently large, that an opportunity may be given for filling up the various spaces with the minute parts, and also to prevent the hand acquiring a cramped or little manner of drawing. It is also of equal importance that the object chosen for representation be such as can be compared with the original, to test the exactness of the copy. Much injury and fallacy has arisen from not attending early to a proper mode of study. How often, for example, do we perceive in those who draw landscapes the incapability of drawing the human figure with any degree of correctness. This arises entirely from careless drawing in the first instance. A tree may be imperfectly drawn, yet look sufficiently true to please most spectators; but the human figure possesses proportions, the want of which can be easily detected; but, had we an opportunity of comparing the tree with the original in Nature, we should discover the resemblance to be equally imperfect, for an eye capable of drawing correctly can draw any object presented to it, whether simple or complicated. Educating the eye in the first instance in the elements of lineal and aërial perspective gives it a clearer insight into the causes of the changes of form and shadow observable in all objects, while drawing from the objects themselves in place of copies gives it a power of perception and a knowledge of embodying forms in composition quite unattainable by any other method. When we consider that the images of objects dwell upon the retina only while the eye is directed to them, and, like the pictures on the table of the camera obscura, instantaneously vanish when we turn to something else, we may perceive the necessity of keeping each several part sufficiently long under examination before delineating it,

34

24 Doctor Jurin observes, that the eye, as well as other parts of the frame, acquires strength and perfection from frequent use of the muscles, as is noticed in the eyes of sportsmen, travelers, sailors, etc., who see better at long distances; while those whose professions lead them to close examination, see better at small distances: but drawing from Nature, especially distant prospects, perfects the eye in both these extremes, as we have to carry the vision to examine objects far off, and immediately transfer it to a near examination on the paper close to the eye, for this organ is wonderfully provided with the means of changing the crystalline lens, both for pushing it forward from the retina, and rendering it more convex when viewing near objects; and also for drawing it more within the vitreous humor and rendering it flatter when examining distant objects. -See Doctor Jurin on Distinct Vision, and Potterfield on the Eye.

that the mind may be put in possession of its form and color, so as to retain it in the memory not only while copying it, but with such an impression as will improve and enrich the imagination with a multiplicity of imagery. Those who advocate the study of Nature, without educating the eye in the first instance, are not aware that it is the superfices of things only which present themselves to the outward vision, and, without a monitor to direct, the art would always be in its infancy.35 A tree drawn by a beginner represents a flat image, like a plant or a piece of sea weed dried between the leaves of a book. A figure represents but the section of one, for even if the foreshortened portions were perceived, he is incapable of giving them the perspective appearance, or lifting it from the ground by means of the application of light and shade. The first restorers of the art in Italy advanced but little beyond the flat brasses that supplied them with the means of design. Even in the hands of Giotto and Masaccio foreshortening was but little attended to, and then from a want of light and shade to give the parts their relative situations, looked cramped and feeble. It was not till the master minds of Leonardo da Vinci and Michael Angelo grappled with the subject that difficulties disappeared. Those portions of the figure were no longer represented in profile views, but advanced or receded from the spectator, and whole groups, in place of looking like a continuous frieze, were turned around and sunk in the depths of the composition by means of lineal and aërial perspective. Raffaelle, by taking advantage of the works of those who had preceded him, carried the art to a state of perfection which the study of Nature, notwithstanding his constant application to her, never could have enabled him to achieve. The contemplation of the fine works of antiquity created elevated visions of ideal composition, while his constant application to Nature for the details enabled him to give a reality and identity to the creations of his imagination. Without the eye being made acquainted with the beauties of those who have advanced the art to its present state, either progressively, by studying the best works, or by commencing a course of drawing from antique sculpture, it will be impossible to select what is beautiful in Nature, or be able to choose one point of view more interesting than another. It will also be impossible to combine a variety of objects, unless we have a knowledge of those principles upon which the various works are constructed that have given satisfaction; for, though, as is the case with music, the varieties are endless, yet the science is simple, and to be perceived by those who investigate the arrangements of harmony. He who attempts to study from Nature unassisted by education, in the first instance, will find himself often mistaken

35 "Cicero remarks, that not to know what has been transacted in former times, is to continue always a child. If no use is made of the labors of past ages, the world must remain always in the infancy of knowledge. The discoveries of every man must terminate in his own advantage, and the studies of every age be employed on questions which the past generation had discussed and determined. We may with as little reproach borrow science as manufactures from our ancestors; and it is as rational to live in caves till our own hands have erected a palace, as to reject all knowledge of architecture, which our understandings will not supply."-Doctor Johnson.