194
PAINTING.
pass between the mountains whose tops rise anil appear above 1them. Mountains that are high, anil covered with snow, are very jproper to produce extraordinary effects in the off-kip, which areadvantageous to the painter, and pleasing to the spectator. Thedisposition of ofi'skips is arbitrary; let them only agree with thewhole together of the picture, and the nature of the country we ijwould represent. They are usually blue, because of the interpo- isitions of air between them and the eye; hot they lose this colourby degrees, as they come nearer the eye, and so take that which ijis natural to the objects. In distancing mountains, \ie must ob- jjserve to join them insensibly by the roundings off, which the re- jflection,s make probable; and avoid a certain edginess in their jextremities, which makes them appear in slices, as if cut with !scissars, and stuck upon the cloth. 3. By verdure or tuning is ijmeant the greenness with which the herbs colour the ground. |!Tins is done several ways; and the diversity proceeds not only jfrom the nature of plants, which, for the most part, have their ;particular verdures, hut also from the change of seasons, anil the icolour of the i a, th, w hen the herbs are but thinly sown. By this Ivariety, a painter may choose or unite, in the same tract of land, |several sorts of greens, intermixed and blended together, w Inch ;are olten of great service to those who know how to use them; |because this diversity of greens, as it is often found in nature, gives Ia character of truth to those parts, where it is properly used. There ij-is a wonderful example of this part of landscape, in the view of jMechlin, by Rubens. 6. Though rocks have all sorts of shapes, and ;.participate of all colours ; yet there are, in their diversity, certain 1characters which cannot he well expressed without having recourse |to nature. Some are in hanks, and set off with beds of shrubs; jothers in Imue blocks, cither projeclingor falling back; others con- :sist of large broken parts, contiguous to each other; and others, Iin short, of an enormous size, all in one stone, either naturally, as ,free-stone, or else through the injuries of time, which in the course !of many ages has worn away their marks of separation. But what- iever their form he, they are usually set out with clefts, breaks,hollows, bushes, moss, and the stains of time; and these particu-lars, well managed, create a certain idea of truth. 7. Agroundor land, in the painter’s style, is a certain distinct piece of land,which is neither too woody nor hilly. Grounds contribute, morethan any tiling, to the gradation and distancing of landscape ; be-cause they follow one another, either in shape, or in their claro-obscuro, or in their variety of colouring, or by some insensibleconjunction of one with another. 8. A terrace, in painting, is apiece of ground, either quite naked or having very little herbage,like great roads and places often frequented. They are of use•cliieil y in the fore-grounds of a picture, where they ought to hevery spacious and open, and accompanied with some accidental iverdure, and some stones, which, if placed with judgement, givea terrace a greater share of probability. 9- Painters mean bv jbuildings any structures they generally represent, hut chielly such :as are of a regular architecture, and are most conspicuous. 10.Much of the spirit of landscape is owing to the waters which areintroduced in it. They appear sometimes impetuous, as when astorm makes them overflow their banks; at other times rebound-ing, as by the fall of a rock ; at other times, through unusual pres-sure, gushing out and dividing into numberless streams, whosemotion and murmuring agreeable deceive both the eye and ear;at other times calm anil purling in a sandy bed ; at other times so jstill and standing, as to become a faithful looking-glass, which \doubles all the objects that are opposite to it; and in this state 1they have more life than in the most violent agitation. ConsultBourdon’s works, or his prints, on this subject: he lias treated ofwaters with the greatest propriety. 11. As it is the part of the jfore-ground to-usher the eye into the piece, great care must hetaken that the eye meet with good reception; sometimes by theopening of a fine terrace, whose design and workmanship may heequally curious; sometimes by a variety of well-distinguishedplants, and these sometimes flowered ; and at other times, byfigures in a lively taste, or other objects, either admirable for theirnovelty or introduced as hv chance. In a word, the artist cannottoo much study his fore-grouud-objects since they attract the eve,impress the first character of truth, and greatly contribute to make jthe artifice of a picture successful, and to anticipate our esteem '!for the whole work. IP. Plants are not always necessary in fore- jj^grounds, because there are several ways of making those grounds j.
agreeable. But if we resolve to draw plants there, we ought topaint them exactly alter life. 13. In composing landscape, the 'artist may have intended to give it a character agreeable to thesuhjectdie lias chosen, ami which his figures ought to represent,lie may also, as often happens, have only thought of his figures,after finishing his landscape. The truth is, the figures in mostlandscapes are made rather to accompany than to suit them. Thereare landscapes so disposed and situated, as to require only passingfigures; winch several good masters, each in his style, have in-troduced, as Poussin in the heroic, and Fouquier in the rural, withall probability and grace. Resting figures have also been madeto appear inwardly active. And these two different ways of treat-ing figures act equally, though in a different manner. It is ratherinaction that ought to be blamed in figures; for in this condition,which robs them of all connection with the landscape, they appearto be pasted on. Great care must be taken to proportion tlie sizeof the figures to the bigness of the trees, and other objects of thelandscape. And as they chielly give life to a landscape, theymust he dispersed as conveniently as pos-ible. 14. The beautyof trees is perhaps one of tire greatest ornaments of landscape; onaccount of the variet y of their' kinds, and their freshness, hut chieflytheir lightness, which makes them seem, as being exposed to theair, to be always in motion. Though diversity he pleasing in allthe objects of landscape, it is chielly in trees that it shews its great-est heautv. Landscape considers both their kinds and their forms.Their kinds require the painter’s particular study, to distinguishthem from each other; for we must he able at lirst sight to dis-cover which are oaks, elms, firs, sycamores, poplars, willows, pines,&c. which, by a specific colour, or touching, are distinguishablefrom all other kinds, Besides the variety which is found in eachkind of tree, there is in all trees a geneial variety. ’Phis is ob-served in the different manners in which their branches are disposed,some being very vigorous and thick, others more dry and thm ;some more green, others more red or yellow. But, whatever theirnature or manner of brandling he, let the handling he lively andthin, to preserve the spirit ot their characters. The observationof the different harks merits particular attention ; for in hardwoods, age or accident chaps them, and thereby gives them a sortof embroidery. Beginners will find, in practice, that the chieftrouble of landscape lies in handling trees; anil both in practice,and speculation, trees are the most difficult part of landscape, astliev are its greatest ornament. After having studied and copied,with the pen or crayon, first the prints, and then the designs, ofTitian and Caracei, the student should imitate with the pencilthose touches which they have most distinctly specified, ii theirpaintings can lie procured: hut since they are scarce, olheisshouliihe got which have a good character for their touching: as thoseof Fouquier , who is a most excellent model : Paul Brill, Bn-ugci,and Bourdon, are also very good ; their touching is neat, lively,and thin. Thu student should here also ripply himself'assiduously tonature, and direct his genius to delineate that extensive variety,which she everywhere presents in the appearance of trees. Forthe general rules of drawing landscapes and the perspective parti-cularly required in this department of painting, see Drawim;,and Perspective. The principal colours used in landscapesare; 1. flake white; 2. white lead, or common white; 3. linelight ochre; 4. brown ochre; 5. brown pink; (>. burnt umber;7. ivory black; 8. Prussian blue ; 9. ultramarine; 10. tene-vertc; ’ll. lake; 12. Indian red ; 13 .vennillion, or native cinnabar;14. king’s yellow. The principal lints are, 1. Light ochre andwhite; 2. Light ochre, Prussian blue , and white ; 3. Light ochre,anil Pru-'ian blue; 4. The same darker; 3. Terreverte andPrussian blue ; (i. Brown pink and Prussian blue ; 7. Brown pinkand brown ochre; 8. Brown pink, ochre, and Prussian blue; 9.Indian red and white; 10. Ivory-black, Indian red, and lake.The colours necessary for dead-colouring, are: common while,light ochre, brown ochre, burnt umber, Indian red, ivory-black,and Prussian blue . The principal colours and tints for paintingdie sky, are, line white, ultramarine, Prussian blue , light ochre,venniilion, lake, and Indian red. The tints are, a fine azure,lighter azure, light ochre and white, vermillion and white ; and atint made of while, a little vermillion, and some of the light azure,at vour discretion. See Coi.our-Making.
f'ortruilurc. Before we proceed to particulars in this branchof painting, it is necessary to attend to some general propositions:
I. There