I^^PI 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1
 
 EPOCHS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE ARTS.
 
 J. MOVES, PRINTER, 
 Greville Street, Hatton Garden, LoJidon.
 
 EPOCHS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE ARTS: 
 
 JncluDing Joints 
 
 ON THE USE AND PROGRESS OF 
 
 ^aintins ant» g)cuiptute 
 
 IN 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 BY 
 
 PRINCE HOARE. 
 
 lardi ingenii est, rivulos consectari; fontes renun, unde omoia 
 mauant, non videre. — CiCERO de Oratore. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 
 1813.
 
 f/ 
 
 
 to 
 
 HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS 
 
 THE PRINCE REGENT, 
 
 TO WHOM THE ARTS LOOK UP 
 AS TO THEIR NATURAL PROTECTOR, 
 
 THE FOLLOWING PAGES 
 ARE, 
 
 MOST HUMBLY 
 
 AND 
 
 RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The Patronage, afforded by the State, to Science 
 and Art in England, whether it tend in a greater or 
 less measure to their advancement than m other coun- 
 tries, differs from that of all others in its mode of 
 action. The claims of merit are not superficially 
 viewed ; long and accurate proofs of utility precede 
 reward : a method, which, if ultimately followed by 
 commensurate support, is evidently fraught wilh the 
 highest publick benefits. 
 
 The favour of England lingered in encircling him, 
 whose discoveries have rescued Nations from a loath- 
 some disease. She beheld in silence the strife of 
 regions, contending which should first enshrine him 
 among the preservers of our race. Yet reward, 
 (perhaps less aj)propriate than Philosophy might have 
 desired,) was unerringly advancing towards him.
 
 via PREFACE. 
 
 from the unanimous suffrages of her two legislative 
 bodies. 
 
 The progress of the Arts of Design may be re- 
 garded in a similar view. The merits of the English 
 School are diffused over the Continent : Painters and 
 Sculptors have been courted to the most distant 
 realms. The greatest historical work of Reynolds is 
 in the Palace at Petersburgh. The " Cupid and 
 Psyche" of Banks adorns the gardens of Czarsko-zelo. 
 Engravings from West's Pictures have been eagerly 
 purchased in France ; and the candid Watelet, in his 
 Dictionnaire des Arts, acknowledged our pretensions 
 to fame. What country or language has not wel- 
 comed the Discourses delivered by Reynolds at our 
 Academy ! The Arts of Design, rooted in our soil, 
 are fostered in foreign lands. England alone tran- 
 quilly contemplates their growth ; 
 
 " Conscious of highest worth, unmoved :" 
 
 They have blossomed and faded ; they have adorned 
 the sunshine with flowrets, and withered in the shade; 
 alike unnoticed. Yet there is no reason to doubt.
 
 PREFACE. IK 
 
 that, whenever their beneficial influence shall be ex- 
 plored, tiiey will receive support from the same pro- 
 tecting wisdom and bounty, which have so often 
 rewarded the labours of Science. 
 
 The wonder, excited in our Artists, by the inactivity 
 of the English Government with respect to the Arts 
 of Design, in comparison with the earnestness which 
 other States have shown to encourage their advance- 
 ment, has often led me to researches on the subject. 
 Although the end of Painting and Sculpture, in com- 
 mon with other imitative Arts, is justly said to be 
 delight, I have been inclined to think, that it could 
 not be for mere delight, or even for luxury, that they 
 have been so diligently courted, and at such cost, by 
 men of distinguished political abilities, to fix their 
 abode in their several States. I was therefore led to 
 suspect that advantage had also been in view. It 
 appeared, that if any instance of their encourage- 
 ment were to be singled out, in which splendour 
 seemed to be the predominant object, it was certainly 
 that of the adornment of Athens, under Pericles.
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 Yet I could not but recollect, that, when that great 
 Statesman was called on to give an account of his 
 large publick expenditures, he justified himself, not 
 by the value of the delight, or the glory produced by 
 the Arts, and to which his exertions had so confes- 
 sedly contributed, but by their utility *. Neither 
 could I disregard the expression of Aristotle, (which 
 the reader will find mentioned,) when, in speaking of 
 the study of Painting, he calls the Art " serviceable to 
 many purposes, and useful to life." Farther inquiries 
 have tended to strengthen my conjectures; aud in 
 the following pages, therefore, I have wished to in- 
 duce attention, (or at least excite inquiry) towards 
 a point, of which, after much reflexion, I am myself 
 persuaded ; viz. That the splendour of the Fine Arts, 
 aud their National utility, are necessarily united. 
 I believe that the latter cannot exist in its utmost de- 
 gree independently of the former; and that the former 
 necessarily appears, wherever the latter is established. 
 The utility of the Arts bears a different construction, 
 
 • See Appendix, No. 1,
 
 PREFACE. XI. 
 
 according to the different States and times, to which 
 it is referred. The arguments of Pericles at Athens, 
 were, that " the city being well suppHed with every 
 thing necessary for supporting the war, the super- 
 fluity of their treasure should be spent on such works 
 as, when finished, would be an eternal monument of 
 their glory, and, during the execution of them, would 
 diffuse riches anfl plenty among the people ; for, so 
 many kinds of labour, and such a variety of instru- 
 ments and materials being requisite in these under- 
 takings, every art would be exerted, and every hand 
 employed; and the city would be not only beauti- 
 lied, but maintained by itself*. 
 
 This apology for the Arts stands on general 
 grounds, applicable to all countries. Pericles docs 
 not even mention the aid, which they aflbrded in 
 Greece to the purposes of National Worship; yet 
 Iheir effects, in that respect, were there of very high 
 amount : and scarcely of less in Rome. In later 
 times, besides the fame and immediate employment, 
 
 * Langhorne's Plutarch's Lives.
 
 Xll PREFACE. 
 
 which Pericles proposed as his sole aim, an extensive 
 s^-stem of coinraercial industry is found to have mul- 
 tiplied the uses of Painting, and to have increased 
 the value of its influence to a prodigious amount ; so 
 that, in whatever modes of their operation we regard 
 the Arts of Design, they will still appear unquestion- 
 ably productive o( national utility. 
 
 Encouraged by these circumstances, I have endea- 
 voured to trace the steps of Painting towards pub- 
 lick honour ; and have extended my remarks so far, 
 as to consider of the most effectual organization of its 
 powers in regard to the State of England. If it be 
 said, that such a regulation of them is a magnificent 
 mode of viewing the Arts, I do not scruple to reply, 
 that it is in that mode I conceive it desirable to 
 view them ; being (as I have said) persuaded, that 
 their uses in every country are proportionate to their 
 superiour eminence. 
 
 Beside suggesting, that the Arts ought to be culti- 
 vated, not as organs of refinement only, but as a 
 source of utility and revenue, and that both those
 
 PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 purposes are combined in the same mode of action, 
 I have also attempted to explain the causes of their 
 uot having hitherto received support from auy Eng- 
 lish Minister, and have attributed them to a succes- 
 sion of historical circumstances, which, with partial 
 interruptions only, for more than two centuries and 
 an half, have prevented the Arts of Design from as- 
 suming any appearance of their just importance in a 
 political light. 
 
 I have then endeavoured to state, from the ex- 
 amples of preceding aeras, what kind of cultivation 
 and patronage they require, in order to their at- 
 tainment of the highest eminence; proceeding to 
 show, that the causes, which contributed to their 
 eminence in other countries, have been fundamentally 
 the same in each ; — whether from accident or from 
 design, is unimportant, as far as relates to ourselves, 
 since, whatever motives produced that effect, the 
 inference will be equally consistent with reason, that 
 by the same kind of direction we may reach the 
 same end.
 
 XIV PREFACE. 
 
 After considering the degree of insufficiency 
 of our present modes of patronage, I have, finally, 
 ventured to offer some hints of a plan, which 
 may appear not unlikely to conduct us to equal 
 eminence, or would, at least, produce equal, if not 
 higher, efforts to attain it. 
 
 " While the sheets of the following little work were 
 in the press, the British Institution suddenly dis- 
 played one of the most splendid tributes of honour, 
 that can be offered to Genius. The Gallery was 
 opened, for the publick view of an assemblage of the 
 works of the late Sir Joshua Reynolds ; a circum- 
 stance of an extraordinary nature, powerfully 
 strengthening some observations, which the Reader 
 will find, on the encouragement of Painting to be 
 desired from the State. 
 
 The proposal for this singular commemoration was 
 first suggested at the Anniversary Dinner of the 
 Royal Academy in 1811, by a distinguished lover of 
 the Arts ; and it was no sooner mentioned, than it 
 met the wannest approbation of his Royal Highness
 
 PREFACE.. . XY 
 
 the Prince Regenf, who was there present. He 
 condescended iiymediately to offer such Pictures by 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds as were in his apartments, to 
 form a part of the proposed Exhibition; and they 
 have contributed in no slight degree to its splendour. 
 They consist of the Portraits of their Royal High- 
 nesses the late Duke of Cumberland and the Duke 
 of York, the late Duke of Orleans, the Marquis of 
 Granby, Count La Lippe, Admirals Lord Rodney 
 and Lord Keppel. 
 
 Following so liberal an example, and seconding 
 the wishes of the Directors, many Noblemen and 
 Gentlemen, who possess works of Sir Joshua Rey- 
 nolds, have also contributed to deck the Gallery 
 with their treasures. The Collection has corres- 
 ponded to the most ardent wishes of the con- 
 tributors. It forms a spectacle, from its peculiar 
 nature unparalleled, and from its various beauties 
 unrivalled. Amidst such a display of excellence it 
 would be difficult to select any work as decidedly 
 superiour to all the others. To name a few only,
 
 XVI PREFACE. 
 
 the Poetic Compositions of the Ugolino, the Infant 
 Hercules and Jupiter, the Fortune-teller, Cupid 
 loosing the girdle, Dido, Puck ; and the Portraits of 
 His Majesty, Bishop Newton, Sterne, Johnson, Bur- 
 ney, John Hunter, Ladies Carnarvon and Melbourne, 
 Mrs. Siddons, Lady G. Fitzpatrick, the Duke of 
 Gloucester, Masters Crew and Bunbury, besides those 
 already mentioned, are sufficient to place the Painter 
 on a level with the great Masters of every other 
 country. Yet such an estimation of his claims is not 
 to be given indiscriminately. Sir Joshua's Pictures 
 obviously attract by a soft and captivating manner of 
 execution, which recommends them to the eye at the 
 first sight : the richness of the colouring also over- 
 powers awhile the judgment. These are merits, which 
 he combined in a greater degree than any Painter be- 
 fore him. But, on a longer inspection of his works, 
 the spectator feels, that there are more interesting 
 qualities in Painting, than softness of execution and 
 richness of colour. Reynolds stands distinguished 
 as a great Painter, because his mind discerned, and
 
 PREFACE. XVll 
 
 his skilful hand displayed, the expression and feelings 
 of Nature in every various stage and condition of 
 life. He sought and disclosed every grace of youth 
 and beauty ; he gave dignity to the noble, respect 
 to the matron, innocence and mirth to the child. 
 
 His Pictures frequently reflect back the strong 
 impression made on his mind by the eminent beau- 
 ties of former great Masters; and the attitudes of his 
 figures, as well as the ideas of his compositions, are 
 sometimes evidently borrowed from others : but his 
 powerfully combining mind rendered every thing, 
 which he touched, his own. 
 
 The opportunities which wc have had, of com- 
 paring his Pictures with the persons whom they re- 
 presented, enable us to discern, that, in Portraiture, 
 Reynolds, no less than Titian himself, excelled 
 in the due and skilful selection of the appear- 
 ances which Nature holds indiscriminately forth 
 to view. With iiim, not every peculiarity, not 
 any vice of incidental habit, affectation rarely, 
 deformity never, were requisite, to produce the 
 
 b
 
 XVIU PREFACE. 
 
 complete likeness of the person who sat to him. 
 He excluded the transient, and stamped on his 
 canvass the permanent character of the counte- 
 nance : he painted the mind : and it is by these 
 distinguished powers of perception and expression, 
 prevailing over every other excellence of his works, 
 that his superiour eminence as a Painter is finally 
 established. 
 
 As an historical Painter, it cannot be denied, that 
 Reynolds remained imperfect ; and it is not now to 
 be calculated, what might have been his accomplish- 
 ment of that province of the Art, if youthful com- 
 petition had conducted him to it, and if opportunity 
 had been presented to foster his exertions. Who 
 shall say to what disclosure of his mind the proposed 
 plan of adorning St. Paul's with Scriptural Subjects 
 might have roused him 1 His powers of conception 
 occasionally, and of execution always, appear to 
 have been equal to the highest enterprise. His 
 Ugolino is an effort of uncommon success. The 
 Picture sent to St.Petersburgh.and the Macbeth now
 
 PREFACE. XIX 
 
 in the Gallery, contain parts, which have never been 
 surpassed : as ivhohs, they fall greatly below the 
 highest excellence of Painting, Other historical 
 subjects in the present Exhibition have the same 
 parts of excellence, and the same imperfections. 
 
 Such is the Exhibition given to the publick view 
 by the zealous exertions and influence of the British 
 Institution. It presents an example of respect, never 
 before paid to any Painter, in any age or country, 
 and indicates the full sense, which the lovers of the 
 Art in England entertain of the merits of our native 
 Artist. To have furnished the means of expressing 
 a just publick sentiment, is in the highest degree 
 honourable to the Directors of the Institution. They 
 have taught us to feel, how truly the departed sub- 
 ject of their regard was fit, in the estimation of his 
 country, to have been accompanied in life by the 
 reward of national attention. The credit of our 
 land, in Painting, is here openly rested on the name 
 of Reynolds. These are the triumphs of his post- 
 huraous renown, and they are directed as useful
 
 XX PREFACE. 
 
 remembrances to those who guide the destinies of 
 genius. How many have now ambitiously concurred 
 to share in the credit of having afforded a partial 
 scope to his talents ! The fame of Reynolds is ac- 
 knowledged worthy to have mixed with that of the 
 proudest name, that has ever adorned the records 
 of our history. — But he shines in solitary glory. 
 Phidias, illustrious as the sanction of ages has made 
 him, borrowed splendour from the favour of Peri- 
 cles, under whom he rose ; and Raffaelle from that 
 of Julius II. and Leo X. The fame of Apelles be- 
 came tributary to Alexander, and that of Titian to 
 Charles V. The English Painter had no patron: 
 the coldness, or the magnanimity, of State neglect 
 has left to Reynolds undivided honours. 
 
 It may be requisite to add a few words on the 
 mode in which I have treated my subject. 
 
 On the publication of a former Essay on the state
 
 PREFACE. V XXI 
 
 of the Arts of Design in England, the reverse of the 
 judgment, expressed by Horace of himself, 
 
 " Sunt, quibus in satyra videor nimis acer ;" 
 
 " There are to whom my satire seems too bold ;" 
 
 Pope. 
 
 was by some persons applied to ray performance. I 
 appeared in their eyes to have been too generally 
 lavish of encomium on feeble efforts directed to a 
 proper purpose, and to have omitted that just por- 
 tion of discriminative censure, \vhich critical inquiry 
 demands. 
 
 To the judgment of such persons I am willing to 
 subscribe, as far as it is founded on facts. I confess 
 myself habituated to think, that men of cultivated 
 minds, (and to such only a work of that nature could 
 reasonably be addressed) are more easily to be led 
 than driven, and that, by presenting to them a 
 prospect of what may and should be done, a greater 
 effect is likely to be produced, than by an application 
 of the most strenuous reprehension of what has been, 
 and should not be neglected. And I therefore stated
 
 Xxii PREFACE. 
 
 in my preface, that " to persuade by mild and can- 
 did reasoning to the contemplation of a great na- 
 tional concern," would be found my principal en- 
 deavour. 
 
 On my present undertaking a similar censure will 
 probably be spared. I have reason to apprehend 
 remarks of a contrary nature, since I propose, in the 
 following survey, to state what I conceive to be the 
 erroneous part of our conduct, with regard to the 
 progress of the Arts ; and this as freely, and I hope 
 as candidly, as I before endeavoured to represent 
 the laudable and gratifying measures judiciously 
 adopted for their advancement. 
 
 English Painters have long felt, that all powers 
 and talents whatever, though excellent in themselves, 
 yet " when applied to the sole purpose of amusing 
 the idle and the vain, become contemptible * ;" but, 
 notwithstanding their frequent complaints of the 
 want of any great measure for raising their Art to 
 due employment, it has long and often been objected 
 
 • WiTiiERSFOON on the Drama,
 
 PREFACE. Xxiii 
 
 to them, that no specific mode has ever been pointed 
 out, by which the desired advancement might be 
 set on foot practically, and adequately in its efFecfs 
 to the proposed care of the Government. To the 
 discovery of such a mode the researches of the 
 following pages have been directed. I have availed 
 myself of every assistance that I could derive from 
 the plans of Mr. Flaxman and Mr. Opie, and from 
 the proposal made some years since to the Ministry 
 by the Royal Academy, as well as from Mr, Shee's 
 late Letter to the Directors of the British Institution, 
 and from their Representation printed in 1810; and 
 I have attempted to collect such other materials of 
 information, as may tend to direct inquiry on the 
 subject. Attached to the Arts by a professional 
 education, I see with pleasure the liberal and unre- 
 mitting zeal of their patrons, and I offer with humility 
 such hints, as the studies of my former years may per- 
 haps be allowed to authorize, and as I am thence in- 
 duced to hope may not be wholly without use. 1 have 
 no other views of interest iu the present publication ;
 
 XXiv PREFACE. 
 
 — and I believe my bookseller has as few : neither of 
 MS looks to any greater circulation of it than may 
 barely defray the expenses of printing ; and I hold 
 myself indebted to his courteousness, and his desire of 
 assisting the purposes of the elegant Arts, for the aid 
 which he affords to my undertaking. Under the influ- 
 ence, therefore, of no improper motive, I have spoken 
 my sentiments with freedom. I trust I may stand ex- 
 cused, for a partial repetition of former arguments, 
 strengthened, as the reader will find them, by farther 
 researches. I have occasionally perceived a necessity 
 of tracing over again the ground which I had already 
 measured, since in proposing a plan,' I found that 
 little satisfactory explanation could be given, with- 
 out partly detailing anew the steps necessary to such 
 
 a result. 
 
 Of the degree of political interest which I have 
 annexed to my scheme, others will judge. Of its fit- 
 ness to answer every purpose of advancement to the 
 Arts, it may be allowed to be no small testimony, 
 that it comprehends every province of Art, and era-
 
 PREFACE. XXV 
 
 braces the employment, to the highest purposes, of 
 the Painter in Poetic composition, in History, in 
 Landscape, and in Portrait; of the Architect, the 
 Statuary, and the Medallist ; with admission also to 
 the decorative Artists of each profession. 
 
 Among the points on which I have hazarded cri- 
 ticism, I consider the remarks on The Committee 
 of Taste, as the most liable to expose me to risk, on 
 account of the situation and distinguished talents of 
 its members, whose sentiments, in the first moments 
 at least, cannot fail to be opposite to my own. As a 
 Commission, established by the authority of Govern- 
 ment, I respect that Body, in common with every 
 other member of the community : but I regarded its 
 action as forming too distinguished a feature in the 
 present character of Patronage, to be in any man- 
 ner omitted ; and where I conceived the exercise 
 of its power objectionable, I have stated my objec- 
 tion. I wish to add the sentiment so well expressed 
 by Sir. H. Davy, in his late communication to the 
 Committee of Chemistry at the Royal Institution.
 
 XXVI PREFACE. 
 
 " / depend on the acuteness of its members to detect 
 my errors, if 1 am wrong ; and on their candour, to 
 admit my observations, if I am right." 
 
 In my former inquiry, I mentioned in general 
 terms the mode of education which I conceired 
 useful to the Painter, and the various opportunities 
 which presented themselves for his professional em- 
 ployment. In the present hints, I have endeavoured 
 lo define more explicitly both those points. 
 
 On the whole, whatever errors may have crept in 
 on my intentions, I trust I shall be acquitted by the 
 reader of any other design, than that of endeavouring 
 to assist the Progress of Painting in my own Country. 
 It is now become more than ever essentially requisite, 
 that some great plan should be adopted, to confirm 
 the growing strength of the Arts amongst us ; since, in 
 our present state of seclusion from the Schools of the 
 Continent, the memory of their comparative excellen- 
 ces is every day fading away, and a fear has been sug- 
 gested, from the highest living authority which can 
 be appealed to in Painting, that without some great
 
 PREFACE. XXvii 
 
 aid to the progress of the Arts on publick grounds, 
 the ambition at present excited among Artists must 
 subside in inefficiency, and Painting once more in- 
 evitably sink in England to decay. 
 
 June nth, 1813.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 PAOK 
 
 0/ a just Estimate of the Art of Design 3 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 Of National Interest in the Arts of Design 21 
 
 PART I. 
 
 Of the Rewards of the Arts of Design in England- • 51 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Of the State of Publick Knowledge, and Disposi- 
 tion, in regard to the Arts 53
 
 XXX CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 The Subject continued • 7S 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Exclusion of the Arts of Design, in their highest 
 Branches, from the ordinary Methods of National 
 Prosperity and Affluence 96 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 Honours conferred on the Arts of Design 126 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Agreement of the foregoing Chapters with Facts. — 
 Characters of deceased English Painters, since 
 the Beginning of the Year 1806 154 
 
 PART II. 
 
 O/the Patronage of the Arts of Design in England- • 173 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 Of the Methods of Encouragement adopted, to pro- 
 mote the Art of Design 175
 
 CONTENTS. XXXi 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 Patronage derived from the Royal Academy 180 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Of the Education of Painters. — Proposal for the Es- 
 tablishment of Painting in the Universities, con- 
 «dered > .... 190 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 Of the Patronage derived from the British Institution 206 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Of tlie Patronage derived from tlie Opportunities of 
 Publick Monuments, voted by the Imperial Par- 
 liament of Great Britain ....,...,, 223 
 
 PART III. 
 
 Of the ultimate Prospects, and probable Epoch, of 
 the Arts of Design in England 247 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 Of the proper Application of the Powers of the Arts- - 249
 
 XXXU CONTENTS. ' 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 TA6t 
 
 On the Employment of Painting and Sculpture in 
 
 Publick Halls 253 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 On the Employment of Painting and Sculpture in 
 Churches • • • * 258 
 
 CHAP. III. I 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 On the Employment of Painting and Sculpture in i 
 
 Palaces 268 j 
 
 j 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 On the Power and Duties of a State, relatively to the j 
 
 ArtsofDesign 278 ! 
 
 CHAP. V. ! 
 
 Of the Causes of Eminence in the Arts of Design, 
 in the celebrated Epochs of Foreign States 287 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 The Subject continued 306 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 On the Employment of the Arts of Design in England, 
 for National Purposes • . . . S34
 
 CONTENTS. XXXlll 
 
 CHAP. viir. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 On Publick Monuments 335 
 
 Review, and Conclusion 348 
 
 APPENDIX. No. I. 
 
 Containing Historical Extracts, and other Passages^ 
 in the Works of various Authors, referred to in the 
 Introduction i 
 
 1. Extracts relative to the Persecution of Painting 
 and Sculpture in England 3 
 
 2. Passages, &c. relative to general Tuition in Paint- 
 ing, among the Greeks 11 
 
 3. Relative to the Edict of Alexander, concerning 
 Pictures and Statues of himself 15 
 
 4. Relative to the Publick Works of Athens, carried 
 on under the direction of the eminent Sculptor, 
 Phidias, during the Administration of Pericles* • • <• 18
 
 XXXIV CONTENTS. 
 
 APPENDIX. No. II. 
 
 PACE 
 
 Containing Passages in Authors, referred to in 
 Fart I. 21 
 
 1. Relative to the Esteem of the Arts of Design 
 among tlie Komans • • ib. 
 
 2. Letter addressed to Nicolas Poussin, (while on his 
 Studies at Home,) by Louis XIIL K. of France • • 23 
 
 3. On the Character of Gilpin 26 
 
 APPENDIX. No. III. 
 
 Containing Observations, Sfc. re/erred to in Part II. 28 
 
 On the Estimate of Painting and Sculpture among 
 Literar}' Students • 28 
 
 APPENDIX. No. IV. 
 
 Containing Patsages and Observations referred to in 
 Part III. 43 
 
 Pictures in the Halls of several Companies in London ib.
 
 CONTENTS. XXXV 
 
 PAGE 
 
 On Works of Painting in Churclie* 44 
 
 Extracr from Pausanias, relative to the numerous 
 Works of Sculj^ture and Painting in Greece 48 
 
 Observations by tlie late Marquis of Lansdowne on 
 Pubiick Monuments 50 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 
 
 Influence of Painting on Manufactures 53 
 
 Expense of National Encounigement of Pamting •• 54 
 
 Anecdote of Nicolas Poussin 55 
 
 Vida directed to write the Poem of The Christiad • • 56 
 
 Prohibitions of Works of Painting 58 
 
 Education of Painters in Italy 59
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 47, line 20, for progress to eminence, read, final eminence. 
 
 72, — 5, ide the words " iu Painting." 
 
 73, — 5, Jot It coraprehends, read In Painting, it com- 
 
 prehenils. 
 
 109, — 3, note, for eigbteen-penny pieces, read three 
 
 shilling and eighteen-penny pieces. 
 
 216. The mark ot reference to a note on Mr. Shee's Letter 
 
 should Oe inseiled after the word " Art," in line 4. 
 
 2S7, last line, note, jor «», &»u/xa^£Ti, read Sv Sao/aa^iTt, 
 
 258, at the end of the motto, jor Div. read Dig. 
 
 298, last line, for Sanctissimi read Sanctisbima. 
 
 31 1 , line 1 , instead of a full stop after the word Painting, 
 
 - . insert a comma. 
 — 364, line 14, after Parliament insert a comma. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 16, line 21, for HAPETH2, read H APETH2. 
 
 21, — 7, — 62, read 136.
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS. 
 
 " Pneclare Aristaenetus, lib. i. epist. 13. — Long! temporis 
 usu etiain hoc perdidici ; et Artes omnes indigere Fortuni, 
 et Fortunara vicissitn ab Artibus omari." 
 
 Junius de Pictura Veterurn,
 
 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 OF A JUST ESTIMATE OF THE ART OF 
 DESIGN. 
 
 J usTLY to appreciate all endowments, pro- 
 ductive either of utility or ornament to our 
 social condition, is to exercise the faculties of 
 rational creatures, in a mode apparently agree- 
 able to the Divine Benevolence. 
 
 When we reflect, that the Arts and Sciences 
 constitute an essential feature of distinction 
 between civilized and savage life, they assume 
 so high a character in a national point of view, 
 that it becomes difficult to conceive, what 
 object of desire can present itself, more suited 
 to the dignity of a virtuous mind, than the
 
 4 INTRODUCTION. CliAP. I. 
 
 study and cultivation of them, for those pur- 
 poses which they are manifestly designed to 
 answer. 
 
 But, the numerous and varied duties of life 
 demanding exertions of different kinds, it can 
 never be the province of all, or even of many 
 men, to apply themselves to studies, which 
 require severally a total devotion of thought 
 and labour: the utmost to be expected from 
 the larger part of mankind is, that they should 
 repay with proportionate esteem the advan- 
 tages resulting from Science; and that they 
 should view with benevolence, and aid with 
 readiness, the arduous toils of those, who 
 diffuse its light over their fellow creatures. 
 This remuneration, as it is in every one's 
 power, appears to be a duty incumbent on us 
 all. Beside the obvious justice of making a 
 return for positive benefits, we find ourselves 
 called on to satisfy a claim of a most intimate 
 nature, subsisting within our own bosoms. 
 There is a kind of debt owing to men of 
 highly cultivated genius, for enabling us to 
 place a higher value on the capacity of our 
 own minds, than we might otherwise be en-
 
 CHAP. I. INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 titled to challenge. By the display of their 
 superiour faculties, we are taught to feel, how 
 admirable, and how capable of elevation, are 
 those powers of reason and of fancy, which, 
 although we may want a full opportunity of 
 exercising them individually, are yet proved 
 to be the intrinsic property of our common 
 species. 
 
 That which is due from private feelings in 
 individuals, in a State is due from a sense of 
 public worth and honour. It is from a col- 
 lective mass of exertions, in various depart- 
 ments of knowledge and power, that a nation 
 finally preponderates in superiour desert : the 
 more varied and the more extended those 
 exertions, the greater the sum of glory. — And, 
 how shall the debt of national gratitude be 
 paid? Will it not likewise be, by a constant 
 attention to discriminate, and a constant 
 promptitude to support, the beneficial ten- 
 dencies of all great human inventions? — The 
 encouragement and the remuneration of talents 
 are, then, essential actions of a State. Their 
 reaction is its reward ; the one increases its 
 utilities, the other its renown.
 
 6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 CHAP, I. 
 
 Amidst the later progress of European civi- 
 lization, the philosophical discernment of 
 England has been demonstrated, in the reve- 
 rence paid to various pursuits of Science and 
 Art. The studies of Bacon, Newton, and 
 Locke, share her homage with those of Shak- 
 speare, Milton, and Dryden ; and the honours 
 of both are mingled with the triumphs of her 
 warriors and statesmen. Nor is her respect in 
 any part confined and stationary: it increases 
 with the increase of its object. And it is owing 
 to this well-grounded disposition in her people, 
 that the labourer in every path of discovery 
 seeks a willing shelter in our happy island. 
 
 But it is not more to be hoped from nations, 
 than from individuals, that they should be, at 
 once, equally freed in all things, from the 
 influence of prejudices, which have crept upon 
 their progress, and in which improvement 
 finds an enemy more formidable tlian igno- 
 rance. Consequently, through a long period 
 of civilization, there will subsist among every 
 people, some points, wherein the due ac- 
 knowledgment of benefits, derived from parr 
 ticular Arts and Sciences, will be obstructed
 
 CHAP. I. INTRODUCTIOIsr. 7 
 
 by numerous and intricate impediments ; im- 
 pediments, which, though singly inadequate 
 to preclude conviction, are yet rendered, by 
 their combination, dangerous to the cause of 
 truth, and to the progress of social advantage. 
 The existence of prejudices*, to which the 
 zeal of the Reformation gave birth, against 
 
 * By prejudices, I would Jicre be understood to mean a 
 false judgment of the value of the Art ; not formed on a rational 
 consideration of its real qualities, but first imposed by casual 
 circumstances, and afterwards, by their continuance, grown into 
 habitual opinion. Of the state of these opinions, soon after the 
 time mentioned as the a;ra of their commencement, let the rea- 
 der form his own idea from the words of Stowe, who Avrote his 
 annals in the reign of Elizabeth : 
 
 " Of the Art called of Aristotle rgtt<})t»>i, Graphice, and in 
 English Paynting ; there be in this citie cunning masters for 
 either shaddowing, pourtraying, counterfetting t, tricldng, paynt- 
 ing, enluraining, or limning. But this is an Art now not ac- 
 counted ingenuous or fit for a gentleman, by reason that it is 
 much fallen from the reputation wliicli it iiad aunciently ; which, 
 whether it be for the unworlhinesse or unskilfulnesse of the 
 persons, exercising and practising it in this age, or for the 
 abuses and deceipts used by Paynlers, or for the scandall cf 
 Images and Idols or for what other cause I know not well ; 
 
 •t A term of Ilerrildry,
 
 8 INTRODUCTION. chap. i. 
 
 Painting and Sculpture, and their consequent 
 state of humiliation in England, has been but 
 too sensibly felt by our Artists. 
 
 Painting had continued in honour from its 
 first disclosure in the land, before the time of 
 
 but sure I am, it is now accounted base and mechanical), and a 
 meere mestier of an Artificer and handy Craftsman. Insomuch 
 Bs fewe or no gentlemen, or generous or liberal person, will ad- 
 venture the practising this Art." 
 
 This statement may appear to many too severe, and even 
 exaggerated. There are some instances of regard shown to 
 Painting at various periods after the Reformation ; and Elizabeth 
 herself, although issuing her injunction against all pictures in 
 churches, seems at other moments to have been inwardly desirous 
 of protecting them. But the general aspect of the Arts after the 
 Reformation, is correspondent with the account here given. The 
 change which they suffered in public opinion, from the honour 
 with which they had been formerly treated, to the degraded 
 state in which Stowe reports them, and to the light in which 
 they were then generally viewed, is certainly very striking. 
 
 Stowe's defence of Painting, immediately following, is scarcely 
 less singular : 
 
 " But msomuch as Aristotle recommendeth it to his Statesmmi 
 or Politician, and because it is numbered among those Arts which 
 are necessary for a gentleman, and for a courtier, by Count 
 Baldassar, and in regard also that the Heraulds (who be gentle- 
 men by their places) must be skilful in this Art, I must preface 
 somewhat in the defence or excuse of it." 
 
 See farther documents, in Appendix, No. 1.
 
 x:hap. I. INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 the Venerable Bede, through a long series of 
 religious culture in our monasteries, inter- 
 rupted only by the great political shocks of 
 the early periods ; and it had been successively 
 patronized by our monarchs, from the time of 
 Henry III., in a greater or less degree, ac- 
 cording as inclination or circumstances prompt- 
 ed. No attempt had ever been made, either 
 to degrade, or to banish the Art. If its pro- 
 fessors did not rise to eminence, they yet lived 
 in respect. 
 
 Under the patronage of Edward III. the 
 construction and decoration of chapels gave 
 an honourable employment to the various pro- 
 fessors. The Chapel of St. Stephen, in the 
 I^alace of Westminster, was a proof of the 
 royal encouragement, and of the abilities of 
 the artists *. 
 
 Under Henry VI. Painting appears to have 
 been nearly as far advanced in England, as in 
 any country in Europe at the same period f. 
 
 * Wesfs Account of Great Historical Works, &c. Academic 
 Annals, 1804-5. 
 
 t See, in Walpole's Anecdotes, the account of Paintings exe- 
 euted in tliis reign, in which the names of several English Artists
 
 10 INTRODUCTION. chap. I. 
 
 In the reign of Henry VII. the encourage- 
 ment of Sculpture, both in the persons of 
 foreign and native Artists, needs no other 
 testimonv, than the numerous works in the 
 chapel, known b}'- the monarch's name, in 
 AVestminster Abbey; and Henry VIII. was 
 himself the most ardent patron of both Arts*, 
 until the moment, when the contests of Re- 
 formation changed the scene, and the force of 
 religious censure was unfortunately directed 
 against them. The injunction of Henry 
 against Images, which had been made 
 the instruments of idolatrous delusion in 
 churches t, and still more the rigid edicts of 
 Edward VI. and Elizabeth against Statues and 
 Pictures in general :|:, while they suddenly 
 checked the career of historical and religious 
 Painting, seem to have set a mark of disgrace 
 
 of note are recorded. — The state of the Art, here spoken of, 
 must be considered as it existed previously to the York and 
 Lancaster contests, which began in 1551, or 2, and, of course, 
 it is to be compared with what existed in Italy previous to the 
 appearance of Leonardo da Vinci, who is regarded as the first 
 elevator of Painting, and who was not born till the year 1445. 
 
 * Walpole's Anecdotes. 
 
 t See Appendix, No. 1. t I'"d.
 
 CHAP. I. INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 on the Arts themselves, and to have left them 
 finally a prey to indifference and scorn. 
 
 In the reign of Edward VI. their complaints 
 were first heard to arise*; and in that of 
 Elizabeth, we find their Professors reduced to 
 penury, and petitioning almost for bread f. 
 
 The taste displayed for them, during their 
 momentary revival, by the unfortunate Charles, 
 was perhaps mingled in the stream of accusa- 
 tion against them, as partaking of Romish 
 superstition. Puritanic triumph completed 
 their overthrow t. 
 
 * Walpole's Anecdotes, vol. i. A MS. of Nicolas Hillier has 
 the following passage : " Nevertheless, if a man be so induced by 
 nature, and live in time of trouble, and under a Government 
 wherein Arts be not esteemed, and himself but of small means, 
 woe be unto him, as unto an untimely birth ; for of mine own 
 knowledge it hath made poor men poorer, as amongst others 
 many, the most rare English drawer of story works, &c. &c. — 
 (Painting undtr Edward VI.) 
 
 t See Townsend's Historical Collections. 
 
 t Painting, banished from the churches, and lowered in esti- 
 mation, was afterwards practised in its inferior branches only. 
 The reign of Charles I. promised a revival of its just rank among 
 other Sciences, but the Rebellion extinguished its hopes. 
 
 Anne first showed a return of favour to our Artists. J3iirin2 
 the reign of George I. and TI. tlie party contests of Whig and
 
 12 INTRODUCTION. chap. i. 
 
 In the interval which ensued, a few foreign 
 Artists visited the land, and assumed the 
 whole dominion of taste in Painting and 
 Sculpture ; and when, in the present course 
 of increasing national refinement, our native 
 talents ventured again to lift their head, they 
 were met by ignorance and unconcern in the 
 multitude, by religious apprehension still pro- 
 scribing their eiforts, by affectation champion- 
 ing foreign merits, by the contemptuous neg- 
 lect of deluded Connoisseurs, and the malicious 
 oppression of interested Collectors. 
 
 For a length of years, little else was left 
 than to deplore the results of such mischiefs. 
 At present, the scene is changed. Perse- 
 cution and contempt of native talents have 
 ceased ; and, amidst the activity, which per- 
 vades every professional province, and the 
 growing desire, which shows itself in a large 
 part of the community, to assist every effort 
 at advancement, it is now become highly 
 desirable, to try whether our general ac- 
 
 Tory, of Jacobitism and Brunswickism, equally diverted the 
 national attention from tlie Arts. Under his present Majesty it 
 has happily returned to them.
 
 CHAP. I. INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 quaintauce with the Arts of Design be not 
 sufficiently improved, to enable us to discover 
 their just uses, and to take into view their 
 real scope and value. 
 
 Nor yet is such an experiment altogether of 
 a promising aspect. Since the fatal blow, 
 wh.ich was struck at Painting by the ardour of 
 Reformers, while Philosophy, Law, Divinity, 
 and Politicks, have claimed and absorbed intel- 
 lectual pursuit, the Arts of Design have never 
 been an object of our education; and a false 
 estimate of them has thence been so widely 
 and uniformly diffused among the liberal 
 classes of the country, and is become so 
 blended with the whole system of our thoughts 
 and reasonings, that more than discussion may 
 be requisite, to subdue the remaining force of 
 prejudice on this head. It can, perhaps, only 
 be overcome by the steady example of the 
 Patrons, who are of late associated, with a 
 view to make those Arts the objects of their 
 peculiar benevolence. 
 
 The golden dream of hope, which had long 
 soothed the patriotic cares of the British In- 
 stitution, was suddenly interrupted, about
 
 14 INTRODUCTION. CHAP. I. 
 
 three years ago, by the repugnance of a late 
 amiable Minister, to grant to the solicitation 
 of the Founders an annual sum, in support of 
 their efforts for the advancement of English 
 Painting, Never before, in any period or in 
 any country of the world, had such an assem- 
 blage of rank, and various importance, been 
 united in behalf of the Arts. Never was dis- 
 appointment more unlooked for — nor more 
 probable. For let us not endeavour to dis- 
 guise this truth. The Minister of England, 
 who refuses assistance to the encouragement 
 of Painting, does not utter, in his refusal, the 
 sentiments of an individual, but those, which 
 are common to his station in society, and to 
 his education ; by neither of which the mind 
 has necessarily been opened to the due esteem 
 of that study, for which the British Institution 
 pleaded in vain*. 
 
 * I am far from aiming at an appearance of satire in this 
 remark. It would be a bad method of reconciling the power of 
 the State to any proposition, to oflend by petulance in the outset. 
 I mean, without Intentional oftence, to state merely a plain de- 
 duction. Had the late lamented Minister thought the advance- 
 ment of the Arts of Design important to the State, would he havo
 
 CHAP. I. INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 It might, indeed, have offered some conso- 
 lation to the noble advocates, if, in declining 
 to lend a helping hand to the advance of 
 Painting, Mr. Perceval could have laid claim 
 either to singularity or precedence. Unfor- 
 tunately, similar applications, though not from 
 equal solicitants, had been twice before found 
 ineffectual, under the administrations of the 
 
 declined granting a sum of ^5,000 per annum, to assist their 
 progress? But he declined it. Had he, therefore, any belief 
 that tlie advancement of the Arts is important to the State ? 
 
 But, it may be said, a more favourable construction may be 
 given to Mr. Perceval's answer to the British Institution. He 
 had not refused support ; he had only deferred it. — A late foreign 
 diplomatic Character, as distinguished for his good sense, as for 
 his good will tovrards this country, on my expressing surprise, 
 that the Arts should not have attracted the notice of cither 
 Government, replied. That the neglect did not arise from any 
 dbregard for the Arts ; but, more probably, from their being 
 looked on as a " subject, which would keep." This reasoning, 
 however just in reference to a less advanced state of civilization, 
 can only be urged from want of due consideration, when applied 
 to our own. For England to defer the cultivation of the Arts, in 
 her present state, would resemble the case of a man, who, hav- 
 ing a title to a large estate, on coming of age, should suffer a 
 length of time to elapse subsequently to that period, without 
 taking possession.
 
 16 INTRODUCTION. CHAIM. 
 
 two most distinguished Statesmen, whom 
 Europe has seen in modern times. 
 
 During the power of Mr. Pitt, in 1801, 
 when the Royal Academicians proposed their 
 plan for a Gallery of British Honour, to the 
 formation of which they stated a provision of 
 5,0001. per annum to be at once necessary 
 and adequate, they were informed by that 
 great Financier, that " It was not then the time 
 for such an expenditure on the encouragement 
 of the Arts." 
 
 On the succession of Mr. Fox to office, very 
 considerable hopes were felt by Artists, that 
 at length the desired time was arrived. They 
 were induced to entertain this persuasion, by 
 an interpretation, (no doubt rashly formed 
 on their part,) of previous conversations 
 with some of the zealous followers and inti- 
 mates of that illustrious Politician ; from 
 which they had drawn the most sanguine 
 expectations of impending exertions in favour 
 of their professional wishes. Alas ! the only 
 time, which was come, was that, at which it 
 was again thought proper to reply, that 
 " the present was not the time."
 
 CHAP. I. IXTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 Both these great Ministers were animated 
 with sufficient love of fame, to have raised the 
 Arts to the highest eminence, if their views 
 had been directed to that point; but they 
 appeared not to have felt any strong motive for 
 extending protection to them, or fostering their 
 growth in England. 
 
 It has been requisite to advert to these circum- 
 stances, lest they should at any time be brought 
 forward as a plea against the protection of the 
 Arts of Design. For what arguments shall 
 supersede the difficulty arising from the im- 
 portance of the two names above mentioned ? 
 The joint authority of Fox and Pitt against 
 any proposition whatsoever, seems to end all 
 contest, and overset all hope. Divided as 
 those great men were on most public sub- 
 jects, must not the point, in which they unite, 
 be irrefragable r — Happily, to obviate the force 
 of so tremendous a question, it is to be re- 
 corded, on an authority liable to no suspicion, 
 that one of those illustrious men, in the latter 
 part of his life, began to be impressed with the 
 importance of an enlarged national cultivation 
 of the Arts of Design. When Mr. Fox, in the 
 
 c
 
 18 INTRODUCTION. CHAP. I. 
 
 summer of 180C, met the present President of 
 our Academy in the Gallery of the Louvre at 
 Paris, he assured him, that from the sight of 
 the objects around him, and from their conver- 
 sation on the subject of the Fine Arts, his 
 mind had been awakened to a new estimate of 
 their value ; and he added a declaration of his 
 intentions in their favour, if he should ever 
 again succeed to power. Nor was less reliance 
 placed on a favourable change in Mr. Pitt's 
 sentiments, at the time when the first plans 
 were formed for the establishment of the 
 British Gallery. But the influence of opinions, 
 fraught with so great benefits to English 
 Painting, was of too brief a period to allow of 
 any operation in its favour. The grave, in which 
 the two mighty political rivals were shortly to 
 meet, was already opening in their path, and 
 their death put an end to the momentary pro- 
 spects of success. 
 
 Yet, amidst the obstacles of lingering pre- 
 judice, the mortifications of refusals, and the 
 di2lays of disappointment, let it be recollected, 
 that, in a great nation, as long as it retains a 
 superior rank on the globe, examples of re-
 
 CHAP. I. INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 pulse, however numerous or frequent, can 
 never justly lead to despondency. As the 
 mists of ignorance and prejudice gradually 
 disperse, consecutive representations, if sup- 
 ported by reason and facts, will not fail to ob- 
 tain the end, of which they demonstrate the 
 advantages. The purpose of inquiry, therefore, 
 remains unaltered, and its progress equally 
 desirable. The means of a successful cultiva- 
 tion of the Arts of Design are in our hands; 
 to rouse attention, and light up desire in those 
 who may command success, is the remaining 
 desideratum. 
 
 Nor is it to be regarded as matter of wonder, 
 that, while our national improvement is yet 
 progressive, there are to be found those, with 
 whom, after the repeated failure of so many 
 projects and experiments, a solitary hope, of 
 no trifling magnitude, remains unabated. It 
 is founded on the following considerations: 
 
 The splendour of Athens, as has often been 
 shown, was the work of one man. 
 
 Is an Englishman of less capacity of intel- 
 lect than an Athenian ? Or of less ambition ^ 
 
 Has he less means of executing the pur-
 
 'JO INTRODUCTION. chap. i. 
 
 poses of his ambition, when directed to social 
 advantages ? 
 
 Does he direct the interests of a people, less 
 capable of comprehending, or less zealous in 
 supporting, every virtuous exertion for their 
 benefit? 
 
 Wherefore may we not then presume, that, 
 ere our mighty empire shall decline, some ad- 
 ministrator of its potent faculties will feel a 
 desire, equally with the Athenian Pericles, to 
 leave behind him a legacy of glory to pos- 
 terity r — A city, which, adorned with eternal 
 records of its own renown, shall be, even in its 
 future ruins, the admiration of the world ? 
 
 But the prize of national splendour, great 
 and important as it may be, by no means 
 forms, of itself, the strongest interest, with 
 which the advancement of the Fine Arts is 
 connected. Glory, like beauty, unless result- 
 ing from the real uses of its object, can make 
 at best but fantastic pretensions to our regard. 
 It is to their iiutioxal utilities, that they must 
 owe their most powerful claim to our protec- 
 tion and esteem. These dictate the path of 
 investigation.
 
 CHAP. II. INTRODUCTION. 21 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 OT NATIONAL INTEltEST IN THE ARTS OF 
 DESIGN. 
 
 " an me ludit amabilis 
 
 Tnsania ?" 
 
 It can never be regarded as an inquiry defi- 
 cient in interest, or unworthy of a philosophi- 
 cal nation, why an object, which, at several 
 distinct periods of anlient and modern history, 
 has appeared of very considerable importance; 
 — to the Statesman, who governed Athens, 
 the wisest republic that Europe ever knew ; 
 — -to the Conqueror, whose powerful ambition 
 brought Greece under his sway ; — to the 
 most enlightened Pontiff of Rome, and to the 
 most aspiring Monarch of France ; — should, in 
 the advanced periods of our own State, have 
 invariably appeared to the Minister of England 
 insignificant, and wholly destitute of every 
 claim on his attention. 
 
 The general political eminence of Greece,
 
 22 INTRODUCTION. ciiAP. n. 
 
 the celebrity of Pericles, the renown of i\lex- 
 ander, the splendour which has crowned the 
 memory and surrounded the ages of Leo and 
 Louis; — all these seem to be authorities, which 
 might be conceived likely to influence, in a 
 very powerful manner, men accustomed from 
 their childhood to study the history and litera- 
 ture of other countries, bat particularly of 
 Greece, whose heroes, orators, and sages, they 
 have been taught to regard with singular reve- 
 rence, as the exemplars of liberty, eloquence, 
 and philosophy. 
 
 Of scholars thus formed by education, 
 would it be candid or reasonable to suppose, 
 that they can forget the esteem, in which the 
 Arts of Design were held in Greece ? Can we 
 avoid recollecting, that, in common with the 
 other departments of public education, every 
 liberal youth was there instructed in the 
 rudiments of drawing*; that, from a convic- 
 tion of the high purposes to which Painting 
 has a claim to be directed, it was subsequently 
 admitted into the first rank of Liberal Arts ; 
 
 '^ See PteiflFer. Antiquitulnm Gracarum Gentilitium,\ih, ii, c. 3.
 
 CHAP. II. INTRODUCTION. 23 
 
 and that the practice of it was allowed to the 
 higher classes alone of free citizens * ? Will the 
 Student of political interests fail to observe, 
 that the Preceptor of Alexander, in remarking 
 on the four branches of primary study, which 
 were esteemed proper to form the education 
 of youths in Greece, classes the value of 
 Design with that of Grammar, as being 
 " useful to life, and productive of many 
 advantages f." Or shall the pupil of ambi- 
 tion be reminded that Alexander himself, 
 from a sense of the powerful control of the 
 Fine Arts over posthumous and lasting fame, 
 deemed the strictest regulation of their 
 powers necessary to the immortality of his 
 own glory j:; and that Pericles, the enlightened 
 Statesman and Ruler, a practised judge in one 
 branch of Design, thought Athens incomplete 
 
 * See Alexander ab Alexandre. GeniaUum Dienim, lib. ii. 
 c. 25. also Pliny, lib. xxxv. c. lO. — " iit ingenui exercerent : 
 mox ut honesti : perpetuo interdiclo, ne servitia docerentur." 
 
 nOAITIKilN. H. y. 
 i See Pliny, lib. vii. c. 37; Apuleius, Florida; Valerius 
 Maximusj Plutarch; Ilimerii Excerpta ; Horace; and Cicero.
 
 24 INTRODUCTION. CHAP. II. 
 
 in her renown, until he had adorned her 
 temples with the collected talents ot" Painters 
 and Sculptors * ? 
 
 Loudly as these favourable testimonies plead 
 in behalf of the Fine Arts, it is yet probable, 
 from what has been stated in the preceding 
 chapter, that our Statesmen may have been 
 unconscious of them. Not that they were 
 unacquainted with the several authors, from 
 whom such information is to be gathered; — 
 it would be idle to question the extent of their 
 classical learning: their inattention to these 
 important facts in the history of Grecian Art, 
 has been rather owing to the train, (or, if it 
 may be so called, the bias,) which their edu- 
 cation assumed in this particular instance, 
 from the singular events, which have been 
 shown to have attended Painting subsequently 
 to the Keformation. The obscurity, into which 
 the Arts thence fell, left no sufficient motive 
 to attract the thoughts of the Politician to- 
 wards them. During the course of liberal 
 study, attention was neither awakened nor di- 
 
 * See Plutarch's Life of Pericles.
 
 CHAP. 11. INTRODUCTION. 25 
 
 reeled to them ; and as it is highly probable, 
 that, after leaving their colleges, theavocations 
 of public life prevent the greater part, even of 
 the most accomplished scholars, from reverting 
 to any minute investigation of their general 
 studies, it must be accounted the result merely 
 of some fortunate chance, if the topicks which 
 form the subject of these pages, or still more, 
 the passages above alluded to*, ever again 
 present themselves to their thoughts. Occu- 
 pied with other political researches, the Eng- 
 lish Statesman, therefore, finds no incentive 
 in recollection, to an active interest in the con- 
 cerns of Painting. To him the rivalry of 
 Grecian elegance may have appeared an ob- 
 ject rather of luxury than of requisite policy; 
 and, in regard to other States, that kind of 
 glory, to which the Fine Arts have generally 
 contributed, may seem the legitimate pursuit 
 of despotic Monarchs ; public utility that of an 
 English Minister. 
 
 Many considerations thus appear to excul- 
 pate those, who have hitherto neglected to 
 
 * The entire passages will be found in Appendix, No. 1.
 
 26 INTRODUCTION. CHAP. II. 
 
 succour the efforts of the reviving Arts. 
 How far their protection is now become in- 
 cumbent on the State, it is highly desirable 
 that inquiry should ascertain. 
 
 The public utility of the Arts of Design is a 
 topick, which, though it has been occasionally 
 suggested, seems still to present the novelty of 
 an hypothesis. — It has, in fact, one point of 
 novelty, which has arisen to view in latter 
 times, and offers an inducement to their culti- 
 vation, very different from any, that (as far 
 as we have opportunities of learning) can have 
 affected the patronage of them in Greece. 
 This point is the beneficial result, derived from 
 their communication with various branches of 
 commerce, which was necessarily less in for- 
 mer periods of history, inasmuch as commerce 
 itself was less. These advantages also, it is 
 probable, have escaped the notice of our 
 Statesmen, or have failed to impress convic- 
 tion of their importance, from the cause 
 already stated. They have wholly taken place, 
 and grown to their present magnitude, since 
 the period, when the Painting and Sculpture of 
 England fell from their former state of esteem
 
 CHAP. II. INTRODUCTION. |27 
 
 into disrespect, and almost into oblivion. 
 From that period, not only their antient 
 mental excellence in the superiour paths of 
 history and poetry has been overlooked, but 
 the rising influence also of their decorative 
 branches has lain unnoticed. — From the effects 
 of that period, we remained deaf to the just 
 boasts of foreign cultivation ; or the few, who 
 listened, imbibed the pernicious doctrine of 
 the physical inferiority of English talents : 
 from the effects of that period, we became 
 blind to the successful career and splendour of 
 Painting in France, and to the prevalence of 
 her manufactures in every court and city of 
 Europe; or, if we opened our eyes, it was to 
 see, without a contest, a French Academy esta- 
 blished at Rome, and the manufactures of 
 the Gobelins and Sevres flourishing under the 
 sanction and authority of a rival State. 
 
 Another cause may have contributed to pro- 
 long indift'erence on this subject. — To counter- 
 balance the false estimate so unfortunately form- 
 ed of Painting and Sculpture, and so destructive 
 of their interests in every point of view, a par- 
 tial theory has been set up in their defence,
 
 28 INTRODUCTION. CHAP. il. 
 
 and prejudice has been combated by prejudice. 
 The cause of the injured and neglected Arts has 
 been pleaded by their warmest advocates on 
 the sole ground of their powers of elevating 
 the fancy ; or to this privilege has been 
 added the dignity of impressing the mind with 
 moral sentiments*. In order to wipe away 
 more eft'ectually the debasing ideas attached 
 to the prohibition of their higher powers, it 
 has been conceived necessary to treat with 
 some kind of disdain their inferiour claims and 
 advantages. This proceeding may have 
 tended to increase the unconcern, with 
 which the solicitude of Artists has been 
 viewed by our Ministers. Although the de- 
 fence of the higher powers of Painting stands 
 on good ground, yet to separate their delight 
 from their utility, or to represent the higher 
 provinces as totally severed from the subordi- 
 nate branches, however it may gratify refined 
 feelings, is to give an imperfect view of a 
 
 * Junius, who wrote in the time of Charles I. and searched 
 every record, accessible to learning, in praise of Painting, treats 
 of it only as an Art which elevates the mind. The subject of its 
 ntiiity was at that time new to scholars in England.
 
 CHAP. n. INTRODUCTION. 29 
 
 nationally important question. The desire of 
 viewing Painting as a pursuit of a poetic 
 nature only, in narrowing its general sphere of 
 utility, abridged also its claim to attention. 
 For if delight only be its praise, if encourage- 
 ment of its pretensions, as an instrument of 
 mental pleasure, be the sole object, well might 
 the powers of the State be esteemed idly oc- 
 cupied in fostering an increase of professional 
 members, in an employment merely serving 
 to amuse the rest of its subjects. At least, in 
 that case, why should there be competitions 
 and rewards in Painting only ? why not in 
 Poetry also ? why not in Musick ? 
 
 It might have better recommended the 
 cause, to show that the Foctk Art of Faulting, 
 or that which is commonly comprised in the 
 general title of the Fine Jrts, forms one branch 
 only of the Science of Design, and is not more 
 essentially separated from the other branches 
 than any, even the lowest of the inferiour de- 
 partments. These are the extremes of a line 
 which connects the whole. 
 
 Philosophy leaches us to regard Design, in 
 its comprehensive term, as a science divided
 
 30 INTRODUCTION. chap. n. 
 
 into distinct provinces. — The most obvious of 
 these are, 
 
 1st. The ordinary arrangements and employ- 
 ments of forms and colours for necessary uses. 
 
 2d. The elegancies of ornament. 
 
 3d. The impression of pleasure by moral 
 sentiment. 
 
 4th. The research of abstracted beauty. 
 
 The first department provides our daily 
 comforts. The second ministers to our arti- 
 ficial wants, and communicates with trade. 
 The two last form what are justly called the 
 Fine Arts. 
 
 After such a statement, all that would be 
 requisite, in order to give validity to the 
 claims of the two higher provinces, would be 
 to show the necessity of protecting and culti- 
 vating them, on account of their absolute vital 
 importance to the inferiour branches, and par- 
 ticularly to that branch which communicates 
 with trade. And this point, happily, can be 
 elucidated by facts. They are sufficiently 
 clear to warrant the conclusion. 
 
 Without cultivation of the higher branches. 
 Art remains confined to the narrow scope.
 
 CHAP. II. INTRODUCTION. Sf 
 
 formed either by the positive want of conveni- 
 ences, or by the natural love of imitation, as in 
 savage states ; and the people, whose soil pro- 
 duces the finest colours, are the finest Painters. 
 As soon as cultivation begins, the Art emerges 
 from barbarism, and gradually opens into 
 various improvements, until at length it rises 
 to the highest flights of historical records, or 
 abstracted imagination. From that point im- 
 provement begins to flow back on all the 
 preceding steps of study. 
 
 But the power of attaining this extraordi- 
 nary height, does not separate the part, to 
 which it belongs, from the whole. The Sci- 
 ence is one and uniform. It is the doctrine 
 of visible objects, in regard to form and 
 colour; and the most menial and the most 
 mental parts form alike a portion of it. On 
 this comprehensive ground, it becomes the 
 high character of a philosophical nation to 
 contemplate its importance. 
 
 Without infringing on the just privileges 
 of one branch as a mental Art, the national 
 value of the whole evidently depends on its
 
 32 INTRODUCTION. chap. II. 
 
 assuming its just rank as a Science, "useful 
 to many purposes,^ and serviceable to life." 
 It was natural, that the first admirers of Paint- 
 ing should have been captivated with its 
 powers of fascinating the sight, and elevating 
 the fancy. It was natural also, that the ob- 
 servers of political combinations should have 
 endeavoured to convert its attractive qualities 
 into a resource of the State. One of these 
 cases took place in Italy, the other (or both) 
 in France. 
 
 That the purposes, to whiclr Painting as- 
 pires, by its powers of delight, moral im- 
 pression and imagination, are of so high a 
 degree, attaches to the Science of Design an 
 eminent value; that it combines with them 
 other purposes of domestic and political utility, 
 o-ives it a superiority less attractive, but not 
 less solid. The elegancies of Art have been se- 
 parated from its subordinate uses, by nations, 
 whose state either did not require a farther 
 investigation of the subject, or who formed 
 a species of rfl;«A; for peculiar studies. It re- 
 mains for the combining mind of our own
 
 CHAP. II. INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 o 
 
 nation, to contemplate the aggregate, as we 
 are accustomed to do in other pleasing and 
 useful sciences. To combine the whole, is not 
 to confound the parts, or their comparative 
 value. The lesson of experience will show, 
 that, in order to produce the highest degree 
 of utility which can be derived from the 
 whole Science, the several provinces must 
 necessarily be kept strictly separate. 
 
 The highest province, in particular, requires 
 an appropriate cultivation distinct from the 
 rest; and, beinsc the source of excellence in 
 all the others, the degree of its merit deter- 
 mines the value of its relative dependencies. 
 
 To view Painting in the extent of its most 
 comprehensive range, is not, therefore, in any 
 measure to compromise the importance of the 
 Art, or even the dignity of its higher pur- 
 suits. It is the reverse ^ it places it on its true 
 ground, and shows its real value. Painting, 
 although compared, and similar in some points, 
 to other arts, stands, in its comprehensive ex- 
 tent, peculiarly distinct from them all. It 
 enters into, and is capable of cultivation in, 
 the high provinces of Imagination and Poetry ; 
 
 D
 
 34 INTRODUCTION.' CHAP. U. 
 
 and it enters also into all the most elegant, and 
 all the most common, uses of life. Nor, on the 
 other hand, can it be for its latter departments 
 that it has fallen at any time into disesteem. 
 Its utility may be dispensed with, but cannot 
 he brought as a charge against it. 
 
 In the union of exalted and humble pur- 
 poses, (without making a comparative esti- 
 mate of the two Sciences,) Fainting resembles 
 the present enlightened study of Chemistry, 
 whose discoveries, while, in its highest paths, 
 they lead to the most exalting contemplation 
 of Nature, enter, in subordinate detail, into all 
 the most serviceable purposes of daily econo- 
 my. There exists, indeed, a strict alliance be- 
 tween Chemistry and Design, which has 
 been generally unnoticed. The two Sciences, 
 united, embrace the whole system of Nature, 
 as far as she is made known to us by her forms 
 and colours, her ocnsible qualities and effects. 
 They embrace also, in the same relations, the 
 whole system of art; for what work of art can 
 be named, of what materials soever composed, 
 in which some chemical property, and some 
 property of form or colour, will not be found
 
 CHAP. ir. INTRODUCTION. 55 
 
 to enter ? The Sciences of Chemistry and 
 Design are therefore similarly extensive both 
 to high and low purposes ; and they have si- 
 milarly other branches of knowledge subordi- 
 nate to them, and various arts springing from 
 them. — But, without the subordinate uses of 
 Chemistry, what would be the positive value 
 of the Science ? Yet, on this account, no one 
 ever thought of considering Chemistry as an 
 ignoble Science, nor do the highest ranks of 
 society disdain its pursuits. The momentary 
 fervour of irritated minds could alone have 
 effected a perversiun of the common estimate 
 of a mental study. Happily for the Science 
 just mentioned, it stood in a less degree of ad- 
 vancement than Painting, at the time when 
 the latter was banished from the Churches. 
 The consequences of reforming zeal might 
 else have been equally to be feared in both 
 pursuits, and the whole study of Chemistry 
 would have been as justly forsworn, because St. 
 Januarius's blood was dissolved by the force of 
 its acquirements, as Painting, because it tend- 
 ed, in another mode, to idolatrous misconcep- 
 tion, and had been employed to assist delusion.
 
 36 INTRODUCTION. CHAP. II. 
 
 The most important, as well as the most 
 arduous, duty of research, therefore, would be 
 to ascertain, at what points of contact the 
 interests of the Fine Arts connect and blend 
 themselves with the interests of the State, in 
 such a manner as to be entitled to thrive and 
 grow up together with them ; in short, in 
 what manner they can be proved to be 
 accessary to the well-being and prosperity 
 of the country at large. Conviction on this 
 point, whenever it can be obtained, will not 
 fail to call forth a due portion of attention 
 from that Government, which, intent on pub- 
 lick utility alone, has conceived it to be 
 hitherto its duty to save itself from the con- 
 cerns of taste; yet without whose support, as 
 the examples of all ages will demonstrate, 
 the triumph of talent can at most be accidental 
 and brief. The lofty genius of a Painter, or 
 the eminence of a Patron, may render a 
 favoured Art the meteor of his day; but it is 
 only by a continual supply, derived from the 
 State, that the permanence of its lustre can 
 subsist. 
 
 To establish such a demonstration by a
 
 CHAP. II. INTRODUCTION. 37 
 
 series of incontrovertible arguments, must be 
 the work of some comprehensive mind, em- 
 bracing all political combinations ; but a hope 
 may be justly admitted, that every fresh dis- 
 cussion of the subject will contribute to aid its 
 progress towards final elucidation. 
 
 It appears that we may be permitted to 
 assume as a datum, that the Arts of Design 
 form a portion of the objects of civil refine- 
 ment ; and, from the favourable turn which 
 the aspect of their concerns has lately taken 
 among us, it is also now allowable to assert 
 (what, fifty years ago, would have sounded as 
 a gross absurdity,) that those Arts do exist in 
 this nation. May it, with nearly an equal 
 degree of security, be added, that they have 
 operated, and do actually operate, in produ^ 
 cing advantages to the general condition of 
 society, in a full proportion to the aids which, 
 from whatever source, have hitherto been 
 afforded to them ? 
 
 It is desirable to leave the consideration of 
 the question just stated, to the mind of every 
 reflecting reader. After the extensive view of 
 the Science which has been set before him,
 
 38 INTRODUCTION. CHAP. II. 
 
 let him look round his room, and fairly 
 estimate, how much of his daily comfort and 
 satisfaction he owes to the study, to the in- 
 genuity, to the assiduous improvements of his 
 country in the Arts of Design. The carpet on 
 which he treads, the sofa on which he re- 
 poses, the cup from which he drinks, all 
 exhibit the aids administered by those arts to 
 the conveniences of life. — Let him thence 
 examine more extensively, what are the 
 results of our latter advances in Design, in all 
 its general and subordinate provinces; in the 
 taste produced in all our various assortments 
 of manufactures, which at once adorn and 
 enrich our country *. Let him contemplate 
 the chastened elegance of forms in our vases, 
 
 • Previous to the establishment of any of the modern Societies 
 for the protection and encouragement of the Arts, a very ditferent 
 appearance presented itself. 
 
 " As the Alts were defective, so were also those works of 
 elegance, that depend upon design for the success of their deco- 
 rations and enrichments ; and the character, which both Mr. 
 Walpole and Sir J. Reynolds have given of the state of the 
 Arts, from the accession of George I. to the middle of the 
 succeeding reign, is perfectly well founded." — Edwadds's In- 
 troduction to his Anecdotes of Painters.
 
 CHAP. II. INTRODUCTIO^^ 39 
 
 and other ornaments, which deck the board of 
 wealth; or, in the splendid circles of beauty, 
 let him look on the graceful arrangements of 
 jewelry and dress. In all those respects, 
 whether of general manufactures, or works of 
 more rare taste and execution, let him inquire, 
 (if there be any reason to doubt,) how far the 
 relative degree of advance in the national state 
 of the Fine Arts gives an ascendancy to one 
 country over another. Let him look once 
 more round his home, and, if his walls be 
 furnished with the Sculpture, the Painting, or 
 the Engraving, of our native artists, let him 
 weigh in his judgment, what is the value of 
 the traces of life preserved for his delight, or 
 the trains of thought presented for his study, 
 by the objects before him. Are they scenes 
 of landscape r he enjoys, while he is taught 
 to distinguish and admire, the wondrous beau- 
 ties of Nature. Are they subjects of history ? 
 he beholds the dispensation of events under 
 the hand of Providence ; the lessons of a 
 statesmarj or a philosopher. Are they works 
 of fancy ? he feels his mind solaced, his 
 imagination raised, or its conceptions realized.
 
 40 INTRODUCTION. CHAP. II. 
 
 Are they portraits ? oh ! let him duly value 
 the emotions oH his bosom, when the marble 
 bust, or no less faithful canvass, recals the 
 estimable qualities of the persons represented, 
 whose memory, united with that of their 
 virtues, is thus bequeathed to him for ever* ! 
 The conviction, to which such reflexions 
 unavoidably give birth, leaves no more satis- 
 factory proof to be desired. 
 
 Dismissing then, as points on which no 
 question will arise, those several positions, 
 viz. 1st, that the Arts of Design hold a place 
 in the progressive refinement of a nation, 
 '2dly, that they exist in England ; and, .Sdly, 
 that they operate to the general advantage, in 
 proportion to the aid they have received, and 
 adequately to their state of advancement; it 
 remains to be next submitted to consideration, 
 
 * The following elegant passage is very forcible in its expres- 
 sions ou this subject. " Amavi consummatissimuni juvenem tam 
 ardenter, quaiu nunc impatienter requiro. Erit ergo pergratuin 
 niihi effigiem ejus subinde intueri, subiade lespicere, sub hac 
 consistere, praeter hanc conmieare. — Et, si defunctorum imagines 
 donii posita; doloiem nostrum levant, quanto magis ea?, quibus, in 
 celeberrimo loco, iioii niodo species et vultus illoruru, sed honor 
 etiam et gloria refertur? — Plin. Jan. lib. xi. epist. 7.
 
 CHAP. II. INTRODUCTION. 41 
 
 whether, as the benefits, derived from their 
 actual state among us, are proportionate to 
 their present degree of cultivation, their far- 
 ther advance would not equally be attended 
 with correspondent superior advantages. 
 
 On this point some degree of difficulty rests. 
 There has existed partially a notion, that all 
 the uses, to which the Fine Arts can be ap- 
 plied, may be obtaine i from their inferior 
 branches ; and that it is possible, therefore, to 
 encourage them sufficiently to answer fully 
 those material purposes, without entering on 
 the solicitude of a farther cultivation of their 
 highest pursuits. This is an opinion very 
 likely to be inconsiderately formed; but it is 
 built on too narrow a foundation not to be 
 quickly overset by reflexion. If cultivation 
 be useful, why not cultivate to the utmost? 
 why sit down contented with subordinate ad- 
 vantage ? If, therefore, this should prove an 
 error, arising merely IVom the want of due 
 examination, we shall find ourselves safely on 
 the road towards the final question, which 
 will then include the whole point at issue 
 respecting the active encouragement of the
 
 42 INTRODUCTION. chap. ll. 
 
 Arts ; namely, whether, seeing that they 
 produce eflfects proportionate to their cultiva- 
 tion, and that their farther advances in Eng- 
 land may justly be expected to produce 
 farther advantages in a similar or greater 
 proportion ; whether, on these grounds, it be 
 not for the benefit of England, and conse- 
 quently worthy to be regarded as an advis- 
 able public measure, that the utmost means of 
 assistance, conducive to the perfecting the Arts of 
 Design among ns, should be put into immediate 
 action. 
 
 What measures would best contribute to 
 furnish those means of assistance, the wisdom 
 of our Parliament is competent to decide. 
 Some few premises may be safely laid down 
 for consideration, from what has been alreadj^ 
 stated. 
 
 1st. If the higher provinces of the Science 
 of Design be successfully cultivated by men 
 of great talents, the improvement of taste, 
 and its moral direction, are insured ; virtuous 
 mental pleasure is produced, ingenious labour 
 is rewarded : besides which advantages, innu- 
 merable channels, opening as from a fountain-
 
 CHAP. II. INTRODUCTIO]S.\ 43 
 
 head, will diffuse an improved knowledge, 
 both of form and colour, into every depart- 
 ment of trade and commerce, which is in any 
 wise connected with the uses of either. 
 
 2dly. If the cultivation of the higher pro- 
 vinces of Design be kept unmixed with any 
 of its subordinate branches; that is, if the 
 artists employed in them be not either tempted 
 or compelled to descend to frivolous employ- 
 ment, and to waste their time and abilities in 
 the decorative branches immediately con- 
 nected with trade, the source will continue 
 pure, and the public benefit always new and 
 equal. This is a point, in which the splen- 
 dour of the Arts is connected with their 
 public utility. 
 
 3dly. If, on the contrary, the highest powers 
 of genius are not directed to the highest pur- 
 suits of Art, that excellence, which is the 
 source of its utility, (both moral and com- 
 mercial,) will not be completely attained; if 
 they are not confuted to them, the source 
 cannot remain pure and undiminished*. 
 
 * Farther remarks, on this topick, will be found in the fol- 
 lowing work.
 
 44 INTRODUCTION. CHAP. II. 
 
 4thly. It may, therefore, be conceived a 
 necessary organization of the political uses 
 of the Arts of Design, that a distinct class of 
 artists should be constantly employed in their 
 higher provinces ; viz. of works of public 
 history, or other equal subjects; that other 
 artists, either not attaining eminence in their 
 attempts of so high a nature, or not directing 
 them that way, should find adequate employ- 
 ment and subsistence in the inferiour and deco- 
 rative branches; and that artists of the latter 
 class only, should be called on to communicate 
 such assistance to our manufactures, as trade 
 may require. 
 
 It might be well worthy of the bounty of the 
 Government, or of the British Institution, to 
 obtain a distinct history of commercial ai^t, and 
 of the degrees of skill, and artists, emplo^^ed 
 in manufactures. Such an account would 
 probably lead to the greatest improvement in 
 all of them. Much intricacy of research would 
 be requisite in examining the connexions of 
 the various parts ; but they are all accessible 
 to diligence, and would not fail to reward 
 inquiry.
 
 CHAP. II. INTRODUCTION. 45 
 
 Another task, less obvious to general in- 
 vestigation, presents itself; to trace the means, 
 which lead to the accomplishment of the 
 sources of excellence in the higher provinces 
 of Design, which are comprised in the title of 
 the Fine Arts; the indispensable support of 
 all the advantages which can accrue by means 
 of the subordinate channels. It is to this 
 object, that the inquiries of the following 
 pages are directed. 
 
 A Just encouragement of t lie Fine Arts, (with- 
 out taking into view the consequent utilities 
 which have been spoken of,) will, it is pre- 
 sumed, be at present considered worthy of 
 national attention, even by the most scrupulous 
 speculatist. Even if the question of their 
 encouragement be not applicable to evert/ 
 country, it cannot but be acknowledged 
 peculiarly applicable to our own, in the 
 present period of our progress. Our character 
 among nations is that of a philosophical, re- 
 flecting people, propagating and diffusing the 
 light of Science; and, to use the words of our 
 Spanish admirers, " the eternal model of
 
 46' INTRODUCTION. chav. ll. 
 
 human civilisation*." But our prosperity 
 and our luxuries have fully kept pace with 
 our moral improvements; and whatever doubts 
 the most austere philosopher, or hesitating 
 speculatist, may entertain with respect to the 
 advantages or disadvantages of refinement, 
 he cannot but feel convinced, that, in a nation 
 already rendered highly luxurious, every ad- 
 vance in refined pleasures will be found to 
 diminish the encroachments of gross sen- 
 suality. Hence at least, it becomes of real 
 advantage to society; and even supposing still 
 farther, that the highest aims of Painting, on 
 which Painters ground so much of its claim to 
 importance, namely, the effect of pictures on 
 our moral sentiments, should be regarded as 
 doubtful, that doubt, in the present state of 
 our kingdom, would be an idle one, as to the 
 positive utility of the Fine Arts; because, 
 whatever side we may take with regard to 
 their pretensions, we must equally be com- 
 pelled to acknowledge, on the ground already 
 
 * See Spanish Papers In 1811.
 
 CHAP. II. INTRODUCTION. 47 
 
 stated, that, as the country is certainly luxu- 
 rious, the admiration and cultivation of them 
 ought to be nationally encouraged. 
 
 But the improvement of >. jr delights is, in 
 fact, one of the moral utilities of the Fine Arts. 
 Other modes of their moral utility will arise 
 for our farther consideration. On the whole, 
 the policy of employing, and the justice of 
 rewarding, virtuous talents, the pleasure which 
 the Arts impart, the splendour which it is in 
 their power to confer on a nation, their moral 
 uses, and their influence on manufactures and 
 commerce, establish the acknowledged grounds 
 of their public claim to cultivation. There is 
 also another use, viz. their political use, 
 questionable as to its magnitude only. This 
 has been hitherto little examined, but will 
 appear, from example, to be materially (and, 
 perhaps, inseparably) connected with their 
 progress to eminence. The subject will be 
 particularly considered in the latter part of 
 this work. 
 
 In confidence, therefore, of the strong sup- 
 port, which such an inquiry will not fail to re- 
 ceive, whenever it shall be publickly made;
 
 48 INTRODUCTION. chap, n. 
 
 and in union with the solicitude, not of the 
 British Institution alone, but likewise of a 
 still larger class of the community, that the 
 subject may at some time, near or distant, 
 present itself to the mind of a Minister of 
 Great Britain, it is proposed, in the course of 
 the following survey, to notice occasionally 
 the methods which have been employed to 
 sustain the progress of the Arts of Design in 
 other countries, to examine how far those 
 methods are applicable to ourselves, how far 
 measures the most conducive to the perfecting 
 the Fine Arts among us have already been 
 adopted, in what degree they necessarily de- 
 pend on the aid derived from the State, and in 
 what degree they are themselves the concern 
 of the State. 
 
 In the discussion of the points above pro- 
 posed, will be comprised a brief view of the 
 fundamental causes of the celebrity, which 
 has attended the great exertions of the Fine 
 Arts at certain distinct periods of time, in 
 Greece, Italy, and France, regarded as epoclts 
 in the history of those countries themselves, 
 no less than in that of Painting and Sculp-
 
 CHAP. II. INTRODUCTION. 49 
 
 ture : and the means will afterwards be con- 
 sidered, by which it is in the power of Eng- 
 land to assume, in her turn, an equal ascend- 
 ancy of fame in those Arts, as well as to derive 
 from them an equal portion of essential utility 
 to the State. 
 
 As the whole of the subject, here proposed, 
 is designed to be treated with a reference to 
 the advancement of knowledge in our own 
 country, it will be arranged under the follow- 
 ing heads. 
 
 1st. The Rewards of The Arts of Design in 
 England. 
 
 2d. The Patronage of the Arts of Design in 
 England. 
 
 3d. The Ultimate Prospects, and probable 
 Epoch, of the Arts of Design in England. 
 
 It is only requisite previously to remark, 
 that, in treating of these topicks, no attempt 
 has been made at any regular progression of 
 arguments, but that the several chapters will 
 be found to contain, under detached heads, 
 such reflexions as the subject occasionally 
 calls forth.
 
 PART I. 
 
 OF THE 
 
 REWARDS OF THE ARTS OF DESIGN 
 
 IN ENGLAND. 
 
 Vemique, jam nimbis remotis, 
 
 Insolitos docuere msus ' 
 Venti paventes. 
 
 Hob.
 
 \ 
 
 OF THE 
 
 REWARDS OF THE ARTS OF DESIGN. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 OF THE STATE OF PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE, AND 
 DISPOSITION IN REGARD TO THE ARTS. 
 
 " Gemmas, marmor, ebur, tyrrhena sigilla, tabellas. 
 Sunt qui non habeant, est qui non curat habere." 
 
 In order to examine with fairness the Rewards 
 of Painting and Sculpture in England, it may 
 be requisite previously to notice the present 
 state of the public disposition towards the 
 Arts in general, and particularly in relation to 
 the Arts of Design. 
 
 Public knowledge and esteem of any 
 Art, have a twofold action toward it. They 
 incite to excellence, and they produce reward. 
 They even appear, when rising to any high 
 degree, to constitute a part of the reward.
 
 54 REWARDS OF THE PARTI. 
 
 For it must be recollected, that in proportion 
 to the cultivation and refinement of the 
 people, among whom the Arts have shone, 
 have been at all times the ambition and the 
 exertions of the artists. Sophocles, or Euri- 
 pides, called to recite their dramas before the 
 assembled Judges of Elis, felt their minds ex- 
 cited to transcendent excellence. Virgil, in- 
 flamed and awed by the polished eminence of 
 the Augustan Court, and conceiving the ef- 
 forts of his utmost skill unequal to the ordeal 
 of the living taste, left behind him the most 
 perfect arrangement of poetical composition. 
 " Si quid est," says Martial, " in libellis 
 meis, quod placeat, dictavit auditor*." — Raf- 
 faelle, when he executed the admirable Paint- 
 ings of the Vatican apartments, held in his 
 view the elevating favour of a Rovere, or the 
 intellect of a Bembo and a Medici, the presid- 
 ing judges of his perform ancesf. Reynolds 
 
 * " Whatever may be found pleasing in my little volume, has 
 been dictated by the hearer." — Epist. ad Priscum. 
 
 t A similar sentiment dictated the expression of Raffaelle in his 
 well-known letter to Count Baltassar Castiglione, (in which he 
 speaks of the idea of female beauty in his own mind.) " Ho
 
 CHAP. I. ARTS OF DESIGN. 55 
 
 painted to satisfy, or rather to delight, a Burke, 
 a Goldsmith, or a Johnson. Demosthenes 
 poured forth the torrent of his eloquence in 
 defence of pubhc liberty, to men who carried 
 patriotism almost beyond mortality. Phi- 
 dias, while his works arose to astonish the 
 beholders, found himself responsible to his 
 enlightened protector for the justice of their 
 fame; and Zeuxis, Apelles, Lysippus, Praxi- 
 teles, and the illustrious train of Grecian 
 artists, painted and wrought, to earn the ap- 
 plause of the most exalted judgments*, and 
 the accurate taste of a whole people f. 
 
 fatto disegni in piu maniere sopra 1' invcnzione di V. S,, c 
 sodisfaccio a tutti, se tutti non mi sono adulator! ; ma non sodis- 
 faccio al mio giudizio, pcrche tcmo di non sodisfare al vostrc' 
 — Life of C. Cnstiglione, prefixed to II Cortegiano. 
   • The assemblage of splendid talents, which graced the reign of 
 Alexander, is attributed by Plutarch not to the patronage only of 
 that ]\Ionarch, but to liis eminent judgment of the excellences of 
 Art. He considers the most excellent among the artists of that 
 day, as being not so much " in the time of Alexander as in cm- 
 sequence of Alexander" iv nar 'AXE^avS'ptiv, ahXa ^l 'AXafavJov. 
 — Fortune m- Virtue of Alexander, book ii. 
 
 t No circumstance, connected with the Plastic Arts, can more 
 strongly show the refined state of the public mind at Athens, than 
 the anecdote related of Pericles by Plutarch, relative to the mag-
 
 .56 REWARDS OF THE part, i. 
 
 The Fine Arts, as we call them, by a term 
 adopted from the French (les Beaux Arts) are 
 made to consist of Painting, Sculpture, Mu- 
 sick, and Architecture*. In our own idiom, 
 with ajuster view of their relative qualities, 
 the more enlarged class of the Liberal 
 AuTs comprehends Poetry, Musick, Oratory, 
 Painting, Sculpture, and Architecturef. 
 
 iiilicent works on which, it is well kiimvn, tliat great Statesman 
 liad employed a large part of the cominon people. 
 
 As the Orators of the opposite party were continually inveigh- 
 ing against him for having squandered the revenues of the Re- 
 public, he, one day, asked the people, in a full assembly, 
 whether they thought that his expenses in the public works had 
 been too great. On being answered in the affirmative, " Then," 
 replied he, " those expenses shall be mine,, not yours ; and I will 
 have my name inscribed on the public buildings." — The people of 
 Athens felt the rebuke ; and, unwUling to relinquish tlieh share in 
 the glory which he bad procured for the State, voted to him the 
 unrestrained use of the public treasures. — Life of Pericles. 
 
 • To this list our light-hearted neighbours have added " La 
 Danse ; " an innovation, to which the yet surviving sentiments of 
 our sturdy ancestors will v.-ith difficulty be brought to yield. 
 
 t Other divisions have been assigned to the Arts. Dr. Henry, 
 in his History of England, divides them into two classes ; the 
 useful, and the pleasing. This division does not appear to imply 
 a sufficient distinction. They are all more or less useful ; and all 
 more or less pleasing. I am inclined to think, that when we
 
 CHAP. I. ARTS OF DESIGN. 57 
 
 Poetry has been, for a whole century *, and 
 Musick for a much longer period f, established 
 among us with such appropriate honours, as 
 are every where esteemed their due accom- 
 paniments, as well as the best incitements of 
 genius to superior effort. The youthful student 
 of Poetry receives the seeds of instruction un- 
 der the auspices of the State. He imbibes its 
 precepts in the bosom of our Universities. He 
 there also enjoys a foretaste of its mature 
 honours, in the prizes adjudged to juvenile 
 skill ; consequently on which, when his exer- 
 tions are displayed in the wider scenes of life, 
 he meets the attention of those, who were his 
 fellow-students, and thence finds the avenue 
 of fame opened before him. 
 
 The musical composer also invests himself 
 with honours in our Universities; he receives 
 at their hands that title of degree, which 
 suffices to give him distinction throuirh life 
 
 speak of the Fine Arts, in regard to Painting, Sculpture, and Ar- 
 chitecture, we mean nothing more than the finer parts of those 
 Arts, as distinguished from the more ordinary ones. 
 
 * See Dr. Trapp's preface to his Prulectiones PoeticcE. 
 
 t Simon de Tustude is mentioned as eminent in tliat faculty, 
 in the reign of Edward the Third.— See Gutch's Jnwfl/s o^ die 
 University of Oxford,
 
 58 REWARDS OF THE paUT I. 
 
 Of the art of Oratoi-y, which, although not 
 formally taught, enters into various studies, 
 it is superfluous to state the honours acquired 
 by early proficiency. It obtains its respect 
 from claims of far higher importance. It lays 
 open the paths of eminence at the bar and in 
 the pulpit, and takes a share in all the arduous 
 courses of competition for the dignities of the 
 State. 
 
 Architecture and Sculpture have never, for 
 any long period, laboured under disrespect in 
 our country. The latter suffered, for an in- 
 terval, in common with Painting, but sooner 
 recovered a portion of its lost honours; al- 
 though it is true, that it was honoured in the 
 hands of foreigners only, residing among us. 
 From the time of Charles II. the succession 
 of eminent favourite Sculptors is traced 
 through a long list of foreign names; and a 
 strong prepossession in their favour has con- 
 tinued down to our own day, and almost to 
 the present moment *. 
 
 * Cursory Strictures on Sculpture in England, by John Flax- 
 iiian, R. A. — Artist, vol. i. No. 12. 
 
 The first encouragement given to English Sculptors was in the 
 veigii of our present Monarch, George III.
 
 CHAP. I. ARTS OF DESIGN. 59 
 
 Painting is just beginning to respire from 
 an oppressive weight of neglect and obloquy, 
 under which it has long laboured, at first from 
 the influence of superstitious prejudices, and 
 afterwards from that of mistaken pride and 
 affectation. It has experienced, in common 
 with the other Arts of Design, the fostering 
 hand of the Sovereign in his Academy. It 
 may at present be said to be rising gradually 
 into public esteem, and to excite, at lengtli, 
 some small portion of national interest. 
 
 The general disposition of the English peo- 
 ple towards the Arts, is to be regarded as it 
 relates to two classes ; one, which, from the 
 advantages of education, may be expected to 
 form a just estimate of their value; and an- 
 other, of whom no such expectation can rea- 
 sonably be formed. 
 
 One of the great purposes of education is, 
 to open the mind in such a manner, that it 
 may be at all times ready to receive the seeds 
 of instruction, not more for the increase of 
 our improvement, than of our delight. The 
 refinements of virtue and pleasure are felt by 
 none but those of cultivated minds. A perfect
 
 6'0 REWARDS OF THE part I. 
 
 system of education would, therefore, embrace 
 all objects of human knowledge, without par- 
 tiality to any; but, in regard to established 
 systems, the most perfect is only so compara- 
 tively. The education of England is, probably, 
 as enlarged, as that of any other country in 
 the world ; and the genius of the people con- 
 tinues, every day, to extend its circle and its 
 uses. In proportion as real knowledge ad- 
 vances, prejudice retires. 
 
 It will be remembered, that in the early 
 part of the last century, the Guardian, in 
 the excellent opening of his work, professed 
 his design, to consider with particular atten- 
 tion the circumstances relative to those, who 
 excel in mechunicks, at the head of whom, " to 
 show his honour of them," he places the 
 Painter. " This gentleman," says he, " is, as 
 to the execution of his work, a mechanick ; 
 but as to his spirit, his conception, and de- 
 sign, he is hardly below even the poet in 
 liberal art." — " It will be," he adds, " from 
 these considerations, useful, to make the world 
 see, that the affinity between all works, which 
 are beneficial to mankind, is much nearer,.
 
 CHAP. I. . ARTS OF DESIGN. 6l 
 
 than the ilhberal arrogance of scholars will at 
 all times allow." 
 
 From the concluding sentence of this pas- 
 sage, it seems evident, that, in the higher 
 ranks of literary education, there prevailed, at 
 that time, an unwillingness to admit the pre- 
 tensions of any branch of study or knowledge, 
 in wnich the students in those ranks were 
 themselves uninstructed ; and this cause, 
 though referred to by the Guardian on ac- 
 count only of the detriment, which it occa- 
 sioned to mechanical science, may not im- 
 properly be conceived to have operated very 
 powerfully in maintaining, and even in pro- 
 longing to our own time, some of the greatest 
 difficulties, which have retarded the advance- 
 ment of the Arts of Desisn. 
 
 The origin of the prejudices, then existing 
 on the subject of Painting among scholars, has 
 already been stated in the Introductory Part. 
 But neither did they want the strength of 
 learned precedent. Seneca (a name of no small 
 classic authority) has cxpr. ss y chosen to 
 reject Painting and Sculpture from the list of 
 the Liberal Arts. " Non enim adducor," says
 
 62 REWARDS OF THE part i. 
 
 he, " ut in numerum liberalium artium 
 Pictores recipiam, noii magis quam Statuaries, 
 aut Marmorarios, aut caeteros luxuriae rainis- 
 tros *." There are few declarations more 
 positive, in regard to the professions here 
 mentioned, especially if the passage be taken 
 singly ; though it must be owned that the 
 severity of the sentence, (as far as it refers to 
 them in particular,) is not a httle abated, when 
 we find that it stands in a chapter, of which 
 the whole reasoning is directed to a general 
 depreciation of all other studies, in comparison 
 of philosophy "t-. 
 
 A doctrine in some degree similar, and fully 
 as extensive, seems to have been in favour 
 with Plutarch, who asserts, in one of his 
 introductory periods to the Life of Pericles, 
 that the admiration of the works of Phidias 
 
 * " For I cannot be brought to admit Painters into the number 
 of the Liberal Arts, any more than Statuaries and Marble-carvers, 
 and other ministers of luxury." 
 
 t " De libcralibus studiis quid sentiam, scire desideras. Nullum 
 suspicio, nullum in bonis numero, quod ad jes exit." Such is 
 the opening of the Epistle, the whole of wliich is observed to be 
 of a rhapsodical cast.
 
 CHAP. 1, ARTS OF DESIGN. 6S 
 
 and Polycletus, or of the poems of Anacreon, 
 Philemon, or Archilochus, cannot produce, in 
 ingenuous minds, any desire to be either 
 Phidias and Polycletus, or Anacreon, Phile- 
 mon, or Archilochus ; and that it by no means 
 follows, that we are to look up with respect 
 to those celebrated men, merely because we 
 receive delight from their productions; — a 
 prejudice surely entitled to high precedence*! 
 There is no reason to think that the autho- 
 rity of Seneca was of sufficient power to 
 banish from the Roman Court the Arts, of 
 which he spoke so contemptuously; or that 
 the strictures of Plutarch deterred genius from 
 attempting to rival the honours of Phidias and 
 
 * Plutarch, in t])is passage, places the arts of Poetry and 
 Design exactly in the same degree of estimation ; as he also docs 
 on other occasions. The classic reader will recollect, that in his 
 little tract of " Directions to Youth for reading the Poets," he 
 calJs the Art of Poetry, " avriV^o^jov rn ^aiy^it^ta." 
 
 Tlie resemblance between the two arts is, indeed, every where 
 discernible. It is easy to remark, that in the Introduction to 
 Dr. Blair's Lectures on Rhetorick and Belles Lettres, there is 
 scarcely a single culogiura, employed by that perspicuous writer 
 on the study of Literature, which might not be equally applied to 
 that of Painting,
 
 64 REWARDS OF THE part I. 
 
 Anacieon : but whatever influence such doc- 
 trines might, in their time, have acquired, or 
 to wliatever extent they may, in later times, 
 have aided the current of popular disfavour 
 towards Painting, it is certain, that the force 
 of unjust prejudices is at length abated, and 
 that the " arrogance of scholars," no longer 
 " illiberal," recognises " the affinity between 
 all works which are beneficial to mankind.'* 
 The result of much candid discussion seems to 
 be a general acknowledgment, that the state 
 of the Fine or Liberal Arts in any nation, is 
 to be regarded as a criterion of national re- 
 finement. How far the abatement of scholastic 
 or other prejudices has been owing to an en- 
 largement of our studies, and a more generally 
 diffused acquaintance with the principles of 
 the several Arts, is a subject which may na- 
 turally lead the reader to farther reflexion *. 
 
 * In the passage of Seneca, quoted in a precediug note, the 
 hitroductory turn of his remark, " Non enim adducor," shows 
 that the writer had to contend vcith a contrary opinion, then 
 prevalent with regard to Painting, and the otlier Arts there 
 specified. 
 
 The descendants of Seneca's countrymen have given to the 
 
 i
 
 CHAP. I. ARTS OF DESIGN, 65 
 
 A few years before the Guardian opened 
 his career, the Art of Poetry had been admitted 
 to its distinct honours in the University of 
 Oxford. Dr. Trapp, who was chosen its 
 Professor, dehvered his first lecture in the 
 year 1707 (or 8)* 
 
 The claims of Musick had, indeed, been 
 admitted at a much earlier period. In the 
 reign of Edward III. a learned Professor has 
 been mentioned, as eminent in that faculty in 
 the University t; but its specific honours were 
 allotted to it at a later date J. 
 
 The obvious usefulness of Oratory, and a 
 long confirmed sense of its extreme advan- 
 tages, seem to have rendered any stimulus to 
 the study of that art superfluous, and to have 
 
 Arts of Design the appellation of " The Three Noble Arts," (Las 
 Tres Nobles Artes.) The Latin of modern Rome terms thenj, 
 " Bona Artes." 
 
 * That the Aonian Muse should not earlier have received the 
 marks of appropriate homage from the University, is an exempli- 
 fication of the slow steps by which an enlarged national taste 
 makes its advances. — See Hume's Sketches of Man. 
 
 t See note t in p. 57. * See Appendix, No. .0.
 
 66 REWARDS OF THE parti. 
 
 superseded the necessity of any distinct pro- 
 vision for its advancement; for there appears no 
 Professorship of Rhetorick in either of the two 
 Universities of England; although, at both, 
 the appointment of a Public Orator sufficiently 
 proclaims the opinion of its importance. 
 
 The study of the Arts of Design, with cir- 
 cumscribed appointments and inferiour provi- 
 sions, appears just now to feel " the sacred in- 
 fluence of light," the returning dazcn of pro- 
 tection. The Discourses of Reynolds have 
 awakened a sentiment, which will not easily 
 be extinguished; and the lectures of succes- 
 sive Professors contribute to clear the path, 
 by slow degrees, for a more general informa- 
 tion and acquaintance with the subject. 
 
 These reflexions lead to the consideration 
 of the other part to be naturally sought for in 
 the higher classes of education, the knowledge 
 of the Arts. 
 
 Although the esteem of every art is neces- 
 sarily consequent on the knowledge of the art 
 itself, and in some degree proportionate to it, 
 yet esteem, and particularly public esteem, is
 
 CHAP. I. ARTS OF DESIGN. 67 
 
 in this case by no means confined to the same 
 bounds as knowledge. The knowledge of any 
 branch of Science may reside with a few only; 
 while the esteem generated for it by the 
 influence of those few, will extend to a very 
 numerous circle. The general knowledge of 
 the Liberal Arts, therefore, even in the higher 
 classes of life, is, for obvious reasons, very 
 inferiour to the esteem of them. In each and 
 every one of them, are required either the 
 indefatigable efforts of diligence, or the most 
 favourable opportunities of study, in order to 
 attain that degree of acquaintance with their 
 powers, and their productions, which enables 
 the student to form a right judgment con- 
 cerning them, and by which alone he can be 
 said to possess a knowledge of them *. The 
 degrees of this study, and consequent ac- 
 quaintance with its several objects, will be 
 regulated by the varying opinions and desires 
 entertained of them by individuals. 
 
 * To Tov avS'jiavTa i; JeT xaraa-XEuas-ai, Ti'vof trot (po-tvlTui • avJ'jiav- 
 Torroia • to J' iJeTv IfAirii^ciii;, tih/xia; <ro( -n^o^hXa-^ai i^aivsTai rfp^vic ; 
 ir^o^liiTamal Taro— Abriani Epict, lib. ii. c. 24.
 
 63 REWARDS OF THE PART i. 
 
 Oratory, being the most fraught with public 
 advantages, is probably the most generally 
 felt, and best understood, of all the liberal 
 Arts, among the English youth at large. 
 
 Other Arts are more or less attended to, as 
 circumstances influence the student; and a 
 more or less clear judgment is proportionately 
 formed of them. The judgment of a large 
 class of men with regard to Musick, may be 
 conceived to be well formed, owing to the 
 great extent of general application, which 
 lately prevailed, to the study and practice of 
 that Art. 
 
 The greatest difterence in the actual degrees 
 of acquirement by study, and consequent 
 acquaintance with any of the several Arts, 
 is found to exist in respect of those two, 
 which in all other points seem most con- 
 nected, and appear to bear the nearest re- 
 semblance to each other; — Poetry, and Paint- 
 ing (or Painting and Sculpture, considered a& 
 one). 
 
 In consequence of the Art of Poetry having 
 been adopted among the studies of our regular 
 education, the knowledge of it, as might be
 
 CHAP. I. ARTS OF DESIGN. 6g 
 
 expected, has been deeply cultivated among 
 us; its nature, its properties, its rules, its 
 growth and progress, have been ably in- 
 vestigated and explained in our language. 
 The publick lectures, annually delivered at the 
 University by men of eminent learning, and 
 attended by all that is promising in youth and 
 literary study, would not fail, even if there 
 were no other source of instruction in Poetry, 
 to instil a general knowledge of the subject ; 
 whereas, from Painting not forming any part 
 of our regular public instruction, the reverse 
 may be asserted respecting that Art. Of its na- 
 ture, its properties, its growth, or progress, we 
 may be said, without much hyperbole, to be, if 
 not wholly ignorant and unlettered, at least 
 very unlearned. The discourses and lectures 
 delivered, for some years past, at the Royal 
 Academy, have indeed given a check to the 
 overflowing tides of ignorance, in which the 
 Leviathan sported ; but the authority of the 
 President's and Professor's chair extends 
 as yet over a small circle, and cannot be 
 expected, for a long time, to acquire general 
 influence sufficient to remove the clouds that
 
 70 REWARDS OF THE part i. 
 
 obstruct the view of inquiry, and to raise the 
 public mind to a just conception of the Art. 
 
 It might naturally be imagined, that the 
 great similarity of the sources, which minister 
 alike to either Art, as well as of the end 
 proposed by both *, would induce an equal 
 conception of their constituent qualities. But 
 what can be more widely different, than our 
 judgments in this respect! 
 
 What state of acquaintance with the Art is 
 requisite, in order to form a legitimate judg- 
 ment in Painting, is a question, which has of 
 late awakened the pride of the artist, and the 
 jealousy of the connoisseur. It may probably 
 be reduced to a few simple theorems. 
 
 1st. Judgment must arise from knowledge. 
 Where truths are not intuitive, there can be 
 no knowledge without previous study. 
 
 2d. The mode and the degree of study, re- 
 quisite to acquire a judgment of Painting, 
 form then the whole ground of the question. 
 
 vVQKiirai '— Plutarch.
 
 CHAP. I. ARTS OF DESIGN. 71 
 
 3d. There are two divisions of study, re- 
 quisite to form a just judgment of all the 
 imitative Arts. 
 
 The one bears a reference to the Art, and 
 consists in learning to compare the merits of 
 different performances, one with another. 
 The other bears a reference to Nature, and 
 consists in learning to compare the degree of 
 resemblance in the work to its prototype, in 
 whatever manner existing in Nature. 
 
 4th. In the former of these divisions of 
 study, it is requisite to proceed so far in the 
 practice or experiment of the Art, as to perceive 
 its difficulties. It is not necessary to conquer 
 them; that would form the artist: but to 
 know of what kind they practically are, is 
 indispensable in the critick, who, it is evident, 
 can form no scale of the merit of the artist, 
 unless he be able to appreciate his achieve- 
 ment *. 
 
 * This point is obviously of importance, as will appear from 
 the following acknowledged fact. The more perfect any work 
 of Art is, the easier of imitation it appears to the unpractised 
 eye. The novice in design sits down in the Academy (o make a 
 drawing of the Medicean Venus, or the Apollo, because he 
 conceives tliera to be the most witiiin reach of his comprehension.
 
 72 REWARDS OF THE part l. 
 
 In the latter division of study, it is only 
 requisite to contemplate and observe the 
 forms and combinations of natural objects, so 
 as to be able, at any time, to bring the re- 
 presentations of them in Painting to a definite 
 standard of resemblance to their originals. 
 The objects of Nature not being every where 
 equally present, and their combinations being 
 still less so, the standard must be fixed in the 
 mind by contemplation, and must be con- 
 stantly referred to, in order to ascertain the 
 value of beauty, expression, and composition, 
 in works of Art*. 
 
 * " fxifo. ri^vri; enafa ojaivTE;." — LuciAN in Zeuxide. 
 
 " e"; Ti; TaJv WEji Tac Ti^vai; ao^Zii, Koi it^oTm o'uv ata-bho'Bi T£yviX*r 
 Tipa Ta rm ^ny,te^ySiv an)QiBuii)i ^aCfjiara,." — Callistratus. 
 
 " li, qui pictoriae artis opera inspiciunt, iniaginativa facultate 
 indigent. Nemo enim recte laudaverit pictuin equuin, nisi qui 
 animal illud animo concipiat, cujus similitudincm pictura expri- 
 mit." — AroLLONius aj)ud Piulostratum. 
 
 " Quumque perfectum accuratumque picturarum admiratorem 
 veras omnium rerum species animo concipere, conceptasque ad 
 examinanda pulcherrimse artis experimenta advocare oporteat, 
 mauifestum etiam est neutrum horum sine virtute imaginativa 
 cffici posse." — Junius, de Pict. Vet. 
 
 It was for the purpose of laying up mental stores of this
 
 CHAP. I. ARTS OF DESIGN. 73 
 
 5. Of these two divisions, the latter regards 
 chiefly imitation. 
 
 The former, besides the imitative powers of 
 Art, comprises the whole train of professional 
 objects of acquirement. It comprehends form 
 and colour, harmony and chiaro-scuro, in- 
 vention and selection, arrangement and com- 
 position ; and also that particular department 
 (or office) whether of genius or judgment, 
 which consists in the adoption of subjects, 
 that are peculiarly appropriate to the indi- 
 vidual Art, because peculiarly suited to meet 
 and satiate its individual powers. 
 
 6. The essential value, therefore, of works 
 of all imitative Art we learn, a., far as imitation 
 is concerned, from an accurate comparison of 
 them with their prototypes in Nature, whether 
 in her posit. ve forms, or her possible combina- 
 tions. Their comparative value, in all the 
 different bearings of professional skill, we 
 learn from an appreciation of the scope which 
 the eff'ort of the artist embraces, and of the 
 
 nature, that Junius conceives the admirer of Painting to seek the 
 solitude of retirement, and there employ the eye and tlie fancy- 
 in contemplation on the works of Nature. — See book i. chap. 5.
 
 74 REWARDS OF THE PART I. 
 
 difficulty wliich he has subdued. And to 
 these are to be added Llie value of his choice, 
 in the mode of representation, which comes un- 
 der the province of taste. This forms the 
 whole of the study requisite to acquire an un- 
 professional knowledge of the Arts of Design. 
 Reasonings of this nature, it is obvious, are 
 equally applicable to the attainment of judg- 
 ment in Poetry as in Painting; and it can 
 only arise from the different degree of our 
 general acquaintance with the two Arts, that 
 they are admitted in the one, and overlooked 
 or rejected in the other.
 
 CHAP. II. ARTS OF DESIGN. If S 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. 
 
 The difference in degree, with respect to 
 our general acquaintance with the two Arts 
 of Poetry and Painting, will be still more 
 strongly felt, and more justly appreciated, 
 if we contemplate the results derived from 
 it, in the effects produced on the pubhck dis- 
 position towards their Professors in our own 
 country. 
 
 Poetry is so well understood among us, that 
 its Just degrees of excellence are readily as- 
 certained, and appropriate praise is bestowed 
 on every production of merit, which issues 
 from the press. We have known how to 
 receive with distinction, in their own day, the 
 various powers of Gray, Mason, Goldsmith, 
 Covvper, Cumberland, and Burns. None of 
 all these writers were reviled, or pursued with 
 the envenomed shafts of malice, in the same
 
 76 REWARDS OF THE 
 
 PART r. 
 
 degree as Dryden and Pope ; none have been 
 unnoticed and neglected, like Milton. 
 
 The more recent energies of the Muse arise 
 with no less of public regard. We discuss in- 
 dividually with warmth, and estimate collec- 
 tively with candour, the contending merits of 
 our living bards. We appreciate, probably 
 with tolerable accuracy, their just value; and 
 though we may not boast an age surpassing 
 all former aeras of Poetry, we should hear with 
 indignation, that every puny wit of France, 
 or rhymer of Italy, was indisputably superiour 
 to them. This just attention to our native 
 Poets has become general since the dissemi- 
 nation of the principles of their Art by various 
 channels of public instruction. 
 
 In Painting, again, exactly the reverse has 
 happened in all points. With respect to that 
 Art, criticism is in the state, in which it was 
 in regard to Poetry, in the time of Milton and 
 Dryden. Who inquired into the youthful 
 powers of Gainsborough in landscape* ? Who 
 
 J * This eminent Painter, whose contempt for the follies of man- 
 
 :   kind kept even pace with his acute obsea'ation of them, was so 
 
 disgusted at the blind preference paid to his powers of portraiture,
 
 CHAP. 11. ARTS OF DESIGN. 77 
 
 defended even Reynolds from the carping 
 tongues of ignorance and malevolence * ? Who 
 regarded Wilson ? AVho smiled on Barry ? 
 We declare that Painting and Sculpture are 
 now at the highest pitch to which they have 
 ever advanced in England ; and we probably 
 declare the truth : — but who, even a very few 
 years since, would have dared to mention a 
 single English Painter, as comparable to the 
 established Masters of a foreign school ? In 
 the somewhat more favoured Art of Sculpture, 
 scarcely five years have elapsed, since, on 
 occasion of voting a statue to Mr. Pitt in one 
 
 that, for many years of his residence at Bath, he regularly shut 
 
 up all his landscapes in the back apartments of his house, to 
 
 which no coinraon visitors were admitted. Tlie landscape, that 
 
 first found its way into any collection, was purchased of him by 
 
 the late Henry Hoare, Esq. of Stourhead, on a friend's recom. 
 
 mendation / .' and so little even then was the merit of Gainsbo^ 
 
 rough didy estimated, that Mr. Bampfylde, a dilettante in \ 
 
 Painting, being on a visit at Stouriiead, offered to mend Gains. l J 
 
 borough's sheep, by repainting them, and was allowed to do so. ' / 
 
 They have been restored to their original deficiencies, by the taste 
 
 and good sense of the present possessor of that beautiful place. 
 
 • I feel myself bound, on recollection, to notice that the late 
 Lord Orford, in a preface to one of his volumes of Anecdotes, as- [ 
 inimed somewhat of this friendly office.
 
 78 REWARDS OF THE PARTI. 
 
 of our Universities, a proposal was made to 
 invite to England a Venetian Sculptor, little 
 known among us by his works, though cele- 
 brated by the reports of travellers. A firm 
 persuasion of the necessity of such an invita- 
 tion,ibr the purpose of executing so important 
 a work, and a want of acquaintance with the 
 Art which was to be employed in it, are the 
 only motives, which can, with any degree of 
 candour, be supposed to have influenced the 
 movers of that proposition. Within the dig- 
 nified shades of cloistered retirement, Sculp- 
 ture, a stranger to the schools, was known 
 only by historical tradition ; and, unfortu- 
 nately, the pages of history recorded too 
 many examples of foreign Sculptors employed 
 on the great publick works of England : 
 whence the incompetence of our countrymen 
 might naturally be inferred*. Any other mo- 
 tive would be inconsistent with that spirit of 
 
 * Fortunately, the amiable character of Canova preserved the 
 honour of our University. With the candour and temperate 
 judgment, which, no less than his professional abilities, adorn 
 the first Sculptor of Italy, he declined the splendid task, con- 
 tented with the patronage of his own powerful Mscenas, and
 
 CHAP. II. ARTS OF DESIGN. 79 
 
 patriotism, which must ever actuate the great 
 national body of an University. But it is a cir- 
 cumstance, which cannot be considered without 
 a sigh. Those, to whom it is principally de- 
 sirable that the Arts should be known, and 
 from whose applause, grounded on a due ac- 
 quaintance with them, their highest wreath of 
 honour would be obtained, regarded them as 
 aliens in their land* ! 
 
 There is yet another instance to be recorded 
 in the same Art ; but it is almost of too pa- 
 thetic a nature to take a place in the course of 
 common discussion. This instance was Proc- 
 tor — the victim of exalted and disappointed 
 hope. His story is extraordinary; and it is so 
 
 accompanying the acknowledgment of the honours offered to 
 him, with an equal acknowledgment of the talents of our native 
 Sculptors. 
 
 * The labours of Dr. Clarke, it may well be hoped, will 
 be useful in dispersing a very material part of the prejudices 
 which have prevailed among us. The examples of Grecian skill, 
 •which he has with so much laudable zeal contributed to procure 
 for the University of Cambridge, may, perhaps, serve to show 
 that Italian refinement is not so much nearer, as has been sup- 
 posed, to real excellence, than English simplicity.
 
 80 REWARDS OF THE Tart l. 
 
 little generally known, that the reader will per- 
 haps pardon digression on the occasion. 
 
 Proctor was a Student in Painting in the 
 Royal Academy. At the time of the annual 
 competitions for prizes, he, one year, presented 
 both a drawing and a model, from the life, for 
 the premiums of the silver medals, and he ob- 
 tained a medal for each. The present Pre- 
 sident of the Academy, struck with his me- 
 rit, took proper means of communicating to 
 him his advice to undertake some histori- 
 cal subject for the next Exhibition. Ac- 
 cordingly, Proctor sent to the Academy the 
 model of " Ixion on the wheel," which was 
 so highly approved by the Members of the 
 Council, that it was, by their orders, placed in 
 the centre of the Library, separate from all 
 the other models, and secured from risk of 
 damage. The work was greatly and univer- 
 sally admired, and was purchased by a friendly 
 patron of the Arts. 
 
 In the following Exhibition, Proctor, encou- 
 raged by success, sent a group of " Pirithous 
 slain by Cerberus," which was not less admired
 
 CHAP. II. ARTS OF DESIGNT. 81 
 
 than the former work, and was puichused by 
 the same liberal patron. 
 
 In a third year, conceiving his powers to be 
 strengthened by experience, he undertook a 
 much larger group of " Diomedes, King of 
 Thrace, torn to pieces by his own horses." 
 This masterly work obtained a degree of ad- 
 miration far surpassing that bestowed on his 
 former models, but by no means exceeding its 
 merits. In professional judgments, it rivalled 
 the powers of Michael Angelo, and stood 
 inferiour to Phidias alone*. — But, alas! the 
 admirable group found no purchaser. At the 
 close of the Exhibition, it was carried back to 
 the house of the Sculptor, who, stung to the 
 heart with disappointment, instantly with his 
 own hands broke the model to pieces. 
 
 From this period. Proctor appeared no 
 more at the President's house, where he had, 
 till now, become a frequent visitor. On in- 
 quiries being made, it was reported, that he 
 
 * Mr. West, who, in the most affecting manner, related to me 
 these anecdotes of Proctor, assured me, that his sentiments of 
 the Diomedes were such as I have stated, and that " no praise 
 could be too great for it." 
 
 G
 
 82 REWARDS OF THE PART I. 
 
 had lately been met very meanly dressed, 
 and apparently labouring under the greatest 
 dejection of spirits. A farther research ascer- 
 tained, that, after the unexpected neglect of 
 his last work, he had abandoned himself to 
 inactivity, having taken a lodging at sixpence 
 per night in a garret in Clare-market, sup- 
 porting himself on no other food than dry 
 biscuits, and resorting to the neighbouring 
 pump for his only liquor. 
 
 Deeply affected by this account, the Presi- 
 dent hastened to propose the consideration of 
 Proctor's state to the Council of the Royal 
 Academy, where it was immediately moved, 
 that he should be sent to Italy by the Aca- 
 demy, with the usual pension, and that fifty 
 pounds should be moreover allowed to him, to 
 make the necessary preparations for his 
 journey. This motion being carried, he was 
 invited to dinner by his friendly protector, 
 and, after dinner, the resolutions of the Aca- 
 demy were communicated to him. Proctor 
 listened to the report with extreme emotion. 
 It was settled that he should instantly prepare 
 for his journey in company with the Presi-
 
 CHAP. II. ARTS OF DESIGN. 83 
 
 dent's son. Every thing conspired to elevate 
 hope, and to promise satisfaction. The pro- 
 bable day of departure was named, and the 
 grateful Proctor took his leave. 
 
 About a week after this arrangement had 
 been made, a friend of Proctor's, who lodged 
 under the same roof with him, was announced 
 at Mr. West's house. The door of the study 
 was opened with eagerness, and the visitor 
 was seen advancing along the gallery, with 
 tears in his eyes, and with a countenance full 
 of sorrow and dismay. He came to relate 
 that poor Proctor was no more. He had 
 suffered from no particular attack of disease; 
 but his exhausted and languid frame had not 
 been able to support the sudden reverse, which 
 the favour of the Academy had produced in his 
 situation and his feelings. The unceasing 
 agitation of his powerful mind had over- 
 whelmed his stren2;th, and he had died that 
 morning ! — Such were the talents, and such 
 the history of Proctor. — Who, that feels for 
 his country, will not tremble, as he touches 
 the connecting thread of the two instances, 
 which have just been related ? Was Canova
 
 84 REWARDS OF THE PART I. 
 
 to be sought in Italy, and Proctor to die 
 unnoticed at home ? 
 
 To heal the scars of these wounds in na- 
 tional character, a numerous association of 
 men of rank and erudition has lately ad- 
 vanced, as defending and patronizing Arts, 
 which partly in themselves, and more in their 
 professors, stood (among the established and 
 surrounding honours of all others,) alone 
 calumniated and slighted. The English 
 Painter is at length allowed to believe, that he 
 is not necessarily precluded from excellence 
 by climate and constitution*; and although 
 there are yet man}', who refuse to adopt the 
 
 * The ridiculous dogmas of Du Bos and WinckeDraann, on the 
 subject of atmospheric and other physical obstacles to genius, 
 have been long overthrown ; but disdainful criticism has by no 
 means lost her powers of brilliancy. The following more re- 
 cently imported sentiments are fit to be received with no less 
 admiration, than those of the above mentioned criticks, whose 
 opinions they may even be said to surpass in refinement, 
 
 " Les raonumens d'Athenes arraches aux lieux pour lesquels 
 jls etoient faits, perdront non seulcment une partie de leur beaute 
 relative, mais ils diminucront niateriellement de beaute. Ce 
 n'est que la lumiere qui fait ressortir la delicatesse de certaines 
 lignes et de certaines coulcurs; or, cctte lumiere venant a manqn^r
 
 CHAP. II. ARTS OF DESIGN. 85 
 
 benevolent creed of the new school, there is 
 reason to hope that the spirit of patriotism is 
 effectually roused, and that the hitherto insu- 
 perable modesty of Englishmen will at length 
 be prevailed on to allow to their countrymen 
 the possession of as much talent and genius, as 
 to their neighbours*. 
 
 Still the Arts of Painting and Sculpture, 
 find in a very narrow circle, even among the 
 
 sous le del d'Angkterre, ces lignes et ces couleurs disparoitront, on 
 rester<mt cachies." 
 
 The above remark is on the subject of Lord Elgin's removal of 
 the Marbles from the Parthenon. 
 
 In speaking of the Engravings in Stuart's Ruins of Athens, the 
 following remark occurs : 
 
 " Le crayon et le burin Britanique n'ont point assez de nettete 
 pour rendre les lignes si pures des monumens de Pericles. II y a 
 toujours quelque chose de vague et de mou dans les compositions 
 Angloises. Q,uand la scene est plac^e sous le del de Londres, ce 
 style vapoureux a son agrement, mais'il gdte les pai/sages eclatans 
 de la Grice." — Voyages, ^-r. de Mr. Chateaux Br land. Poor 
 England ! 
 
   This amiable but dangerous quality ot public modesty has no 
 where shovfn itself in so inconceivable an excess, as in the provin- 
 ces of the Modem Drama, and the Modern Arts of Design ; and 
 I doubt whether this be not as strongly and as peculiarly the 
 English Malady, as any disorder which has ever bgme that name.
 
 86 UEWARDS or TIIF. PARTI. 
 
 higher classes, that knowledge and esteem of 
 their powers, and thai just disposition towards 
 them, wiiicii are al once their excitement and 
 reward. The almost inconceivable misappre- 
 
 In the complaints of Horace respecting the Criticks of his time, 
 lie levels his satire against one of those Hyper-jndges, who 
 tiioiight every work of former ages preferable to tliose of their 
 
 own : 
 
 " Qui redit ad fastos, virtutcnique aeslimat annis, 
 Miraturqne nihil, nisi quod Libitina sacravit :" 
 
 hut he did not conjecture the greater extent of this critical dis- 
 ease, under which we in this Island have laboured, and wliich 
 may with as nuich propriety be adduced to prove the unpropi- 
 tiousness of the air and climate to genius, as any of tiie faucil'iii 
 symptoms so copiously discovered by the excellent and candid 
 Pliilosophers of the Continent in the last century : 
 
 " Quod si tam Graiis novitas invisa fuisset, 
 Quam nobis ; quid nunc esset vetus ?" 
 
 In a vcTy ingenious work lately published on Gothic Architec- 
 ture, the Author has furnished us with another striking proof of 
 this national quality. He is of opinion, that all the researches 
 of the curious, concerning the origin of that species of Architec- 
 ture, known vulgarly by the name of Gothic, have been di- 
 rected erroneously, and that it originated in our own land. His 
 argument certainly receives a strong confirmation from this pe- 
 culiar trait of our character. There is no nation on the globe, 
 who having a title to such a discovery in the Arts of Design, 
 « ould not in so long a period have asserted it;, — except our own.
 
 CHAP. II. ARTS OF DESIGN. 8/ 
 
 hension, not only of the less obvious aims, 
 but of the most common and familiar objects, 
 of Painting, in a very numerous class of spec- 
 tators *, has an unfortunate tendency to chili 
 
 * A gemleniaii, whose superiour attainments have raised liiiu 
 to very higli distinction, asked mc a few years ago, wlience 
 it happened that a Portrait, before wiiich we were sitting, and 
 which was represented looking at tlic spectator, should continue 
 to look towards him equally, in whatever part of the room he 
 placed himself? — To his strong understanding it was only re- 
 quisite to reply by another question ; " Since the object on the 
 canvass before you is the mechanical delineation, or diagram, ol' 
 an eye whose pupil or sight is turned towards you, what would be 
 the name of the ait, which would cause a change in those lines, 
 merely by changing the place of the spectator ? — The question of 
 this gentleman was the mere result of a void in the mind in 
 regard to the Art of Painting. This instance is by no means 
 singular. 
 
 The truhj wonderful wonder excited by tlie Miraculous " En- 
 tombing of Christ," has been the jest of every novice in Painting, 
 and is another instance of the little degree of acquaintance with 
 the powers of Art, in a large cla.ss of educated life. Many 
 perstms were not only unable to perceive that the subject of their 
 astonishment was an ordinary and unavoidable cllict of linear 
 perspective, but tliey could not yield their belief to ils possibility 
 of arising from that cause. — All reasoning is necessarily vain, 
 where the grounds of the reasoning are either unfelt or dis- 
 allowed. — Such persons will wonder to the end of their lives. 
 It is but fair, however, for their consolation irom fears nf magic, 
 to »tate, that ju the picture just mentioned, in addition to tlm
 
 88 
 
 REWARDS OF THE 
 
 PAUT I. 
 
 tlie ardour of Art, inasmuch as it presents an 
 insurmountable bar to the diffusion of senti- 
 ment by its utmost exertions. That bar can 
 never be removed, unless by a more general 
 
 linear accuracy with -which it is drawn, n very dexterous and 
 ingenious management was used, which contributed to the illu- 
 sion of the eye. 
 
 The picture (though not at last sight obviously) was sloped for- 
 ward at top, so that, as the spectator changed his situation in the 
 room, the same parts of tlie picture did not appear to his eye 
 under the same perpendicular lines, and of course what appeared 
 to fall directly under a point in the centre, when he stood directly 
 fronting the picture, appeared to the right or left of that central 
 point, according as he moved to the right or left in the room. 
 
 This may be easily demonstrated. Suppose a perpendicular 
 line suspended from the point a in the centre of the picture, and 
 let the point a represent the head of the Christ, and let the 
 point b on which the perpendicular line falls, represent the left 
 heel of the same ligurc, or any other supposed part of the body 
 in a direct line under the hi'ad : 
 
 When the spectator stands in front of the picture, and of the 
 supposed line a b, he sees it as it is above described, and as it 
 is shown by No. 1 ; because, as the picture is sloped forward
 
 CHAP. II. ARTS OF DESIGN. 89 
 
 instruction of youth in the rudiments of De- 
 sign ; a regulation, of which there is at present 
 no apparent Hkelihood, although it is difficult 
 to assign any solid reason, wherefore Drawing 
 should not form a part of our ordinary school- 
 exercises. The uses to which it serves in the 
 lower stations of life, and the refinements to 
 
 through its whole length equally, no variation then takes place 
 in the appearance of that perpendicular. 
 
 Now, let the spectator move to the right ; a perpendiculat line 
 supposed to fall from a, will no longer appear to his eye to pass 
 through the point b, but to fall on the left of it at c, and of 
 course the point b will appear to have shifted to the right, or to 
 have followed the spectator ; as in No. 2. 
 
 But let the spectator move to the left of the picture ; the effect 
 will be as shown by No. 3 ; exactly the reverse of what it ap- 
 peared to him when on the right, as the point 6 still follows him, 
 and novjr appears to tlie left of the perpendicular; which is the 
 required wonder of the work in question. The effect produced 
 on the eye by this method is considerable ; but it is trivial, in 
 comparison of that which necessarily results from the skilful use 
 displayed in this picture, of the rules of perspective, and of the 
 gradations of colour. 
 
 In Italy, where Painting is somewhat more familiarly known, 
 this picture is not said to have produced any sensation of astonish- 
 ment. 
 
 A second wonder of the same nature is said to have lately 
 made its appearance in London, the unwearied receiver of everv 
 thing that is mar\elloHS.
 
 go REWARDS OF THE part i. 
 
 which it leads in the higher, are incontrovert- 
 ible arguments *. 
 
 Let us next turn to the disposition shown 
 toward the Arts, among that class of society, 
 which is necessarily supposed destitute of 
 opportunity to form, either from observation 
 or study, a just estimate of their value. It 
 
 » See Papers, by T. Hope, Esq. and B. West, Pres. R. A. 
 — Artist, vol. i. 
 
 A plan of general instruction in the rules of Design, seems to 
 have been originally in the contemplation of The Society for the 
 Encouragement of Arts, as appears from the following paragraph 
 in its first resolutions. 
 
 " And it being the opinion of all present, that the Art of 
 Drawing is absolutely necessary in many employments, trades, 
 and manufactures, and that the encouragement thereof may 
 prove of great utility to the public ; it was resolved to bestow 
 premiums on a certain number of boys or girls under the age of 
 sixteen, who shall produce the best pieces of Drawing, and show 
 themselves most capable when properly examined." 
 
 Extract from the Minutes of the Society. — See Edwards's 
 Introduction to his Anecdotes of Painters. 
 
 Barry, whose zeal for his Art was of the most ardent kind, was 
 perhaps instigated by a similar desire for the general diffusion of 
 a knowledge in Drawing, when he offered, by advertisements in the 
 public papers, " to give instruction in the Art of Design to any 
 Nobleman or Gentleman, who might require such assistance." 
 
 See Edwards's Anecdotes of Painters, p. 299,
 
 CHAP. II. ARTS OF DESIGX. 91 
 
 is evident, that example must here give the 
 preponderating bias. The knowledge of the 
 Liberal Arts will here scarcely amount to any 
 describable sum; but attention and esteem for 
 them will be proportionate to their influence on 
 the higher ranks. — The demands of those Arts 
 which claim respect by acknowledged rights, 
 will be readily con ceded by the mass of mankind 
 placed in a subordinate station. With those not 
 equally authorized, the case will be different. 
 If an incompetent knowledge of Paintins^ and 
 Sculpture subsist in the minds of the enlighten- 
 ed arid superiour classes of life, what surprise 
 can be excited by a confused chaos of sen- 
 timent in the inferiour classes? The pres- 
 sure of crowds admits little scope for the 
 refreshments of taste. Would it be absurd to 
 state, that within the walls of the great city of 
 London, scarcely more than one individual of 
 a thousand feels the slightest solicitude con- 
 cerning the Arts just mentioned, whether they 
 exist or are unknown in the country* .? 
 
 * The reader is requested to keep in mind, that in remarks of 
 this nature, the Arts of Sculpture and Painting are always in.
 
 92 REWARDS OF THE PART I. 
 
 " To Britons full 
 
 The Goddess spreads her stores ; the secret soul 
 
 That quickens trade ; the breath unseen, that wafts 
 
 To tiiem the treasures of a balanc'd world : 
 
 But Finer Arts (save what the Muse has sung 
 
 In daring flight above all modern wing) 
 
 Neglected droop the head." 
 
 Thomson's Liberty. 
 
 Yet that the neglect, described by the Poet, 
 arises from no intentional disregard to the 
 Fine Arts, no want of benevolence in the 
 bosoms of our citizens, is evident from the 
 assiduity with which they have followed the 
 example of the Parliament, in the commemo- 
 ration of Heroes and Statesmen by the hand 
 of the Sculptor. 
 
 With regard to Painting, what reason shall 
 a busy multitude discover, for supposing it to 
 form any necessary part of the objects of pijb- 
 lick interest, while the Government of the 
 country gives no example of attention, scarcely 
 takes notice of its existence ? — Far be it, then, 
 
 tended to be spoken of as they exist in their highest classes ; viz. 
 of History and Poetry.
 
 CHAP. II. ARTS OF DESTGN^. QS 
 
 from any one to infer, that, in the neglect of 
 Painting, the citizens of London are neglect- 
 ful of a known duty. The only inference that 
 can be justly drawn, is, that they are unap- 
 prised of the existence of am/ duty with re- 
 gard to the cultivation of Painting*. Did 
 they once feel the cultivation of that Art to 
 be incumbent on them, who can hesitate in 
 asserting, that there is not a city in the world, 
 
 * The following circumstance may not unaptly be supposed 
 to indicate the general degree of estimation of the Arts in 
 London. 
 
 When one of the late annual reports of the state of the public 
 circumstances was made in France, and published in our papers 
 distinct mention was found in it of the works of Painting and 
 Sculpture which had been carrying on during the p|ccedinc year, 
 and of the general advancement of those Arts, as one of the 
 points of national progress, in which the publick were interested. 
 But so little, it would seem, do the Arts form any essential con- 
 cern of the public in London, that in the ininicdiately subsequent 
 reflexions of several of our news-writers (who can scarcely be 
 supposed ignorant of the general sentiments of their readers) on 
 the various points which they conceived to be of importance in 
 that report, no notice whatever was taken of that part, in which 
 the Arts were spoken of. It did not possess sufficient com- 
 parative interest, to claim a single remark of any kind or dei^ree.
 
 94 REWARDS OF THE PART I. 
 
 which would more strenuously concur in pro- 
 moting its advancement? 
 
 An inadequate state of publick knowledge 
 concerning the Arts, tends at all times to im- 
 pede the hopes of summary achievement in 
 their highest excellences. With regard to 
 those of Design, no one can reasonably doubt, 
 that in England a growing desire towards 
 them is discoverable in a great part of the 
 nation ; but it is desire immature, uninformed, 
 unauthorized. We judge of them as yet only 
 by their surface. We have been habituated 
 to regard their productions as the efforts of 
 dexterous ingenuity, and little more. In a 
 national view, we do not appear to have yet 
 reflected, that the foundation of their excel- 
 lence must be laid in general, regular, and 
 permanent study*; that their highest beau- 
 ties are not superficial, that they do not 
 originate in the hand, that they will never 
 start out of ignorance ; that although their 
 seeds are sown by the immediate bounty of 
 
 * Quae porro Ars statim fuit ? quid non cultu nitesctt ? 
 
 QuiNTiL. ix. 4.
 
 CHAP. II. ARTS OF DESIGN. QS 
 
 Providence, their maturity is neither a gift 
 nor an inspiration beyond the ordinary pro- 
 cesses of NATURE*. 
 
 * Non cum anirais artes cceli ex penetralibus ceciderunt; sed 
 exquisitae et natae sunt in terns hic omnes, et cum processu tempo- 
 rum paulatim raeditatione conflatae. — Arnobius, lib. xi.
 
 96 EXCLUSION OF THE PART 1. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 EXCLUSION OF THE ARTS OF DESIGN, IN THEIR 
 HIGHEST BRANCHES, FROM THE ORDINARY 
 METHODS or NATIONAL PROSPERITY AN D 
 AFFLUENCE. 
 
 « Cities, full 
 
 Of wealth, of trade, of cheerful toiling crowds. 
 Not dreaming then of Britain's brighter fame !" 
 
 Thomson. 
 
 We come now to consider the rewards, appro- 
 priated to the Arts of Design in England. 
 
 The prosperous advance of every undertak- 
 ing, not deriving its support from any peculiar 
 degree of protection afforded to it by a Go- 
 vernment, must principally depend on its 
 power of connecting itself with the general 
 resources of the country in which it is carried 
 on ; resources founded on the habits, temper, 
 and general dispositions of the people. 
 
 Now, a man must be very little given to re- 
 flexion, who does not perceive, that from the
 
 CHAP. III. ARTS OF DESIGN, &C. Q"/ 
 
 relative situation (whether natural or politi- 
 cal) of this Country, the great basis and spring 
 of its resources, as long as we remain in the 
 zenith of our glory, must be Commerce. Ad- 
 mitting, therefore, the axiom above proposed, 
 whatever in this country can annex its success 
 to the success of commerce, will rise with 
 little effort, and as little chance of failure, to 
 its highest point of elevation ; whereas, what 
 derives its prosperity and exaltation from 
 other sources, will incur great risks, and 
 will need very extraordinary exertions for its 
 support. 
 
 Under this statement, it is to be feared that 
 the prospects of the Arts of Design in England, 
 as far as regards xhefucility of rising to emi- 
 nence in their highest provinces, may be as- 
 serted to be of the most inauspicious kind. 
 Accumulation of wealth, improvement of ma- 
 nufactures, and cultivation of such of the 
 sciences as are useful and applicable to the 
 necessities of life, are all the immediate ob- 
 jects of commerce ; because wealth, manufac- 
 tures, and inventions subservient to daily
 
 98 EXCLUSION OF THE PAIIT I. 
 
 wants, will always find an extensive welcome 
 among the various inhabitants of the globe; 
 and none of these points of commerce can be 
 said to be totally separated from the progress 
 of the Fine Arts : but it is no less distinctly 
 true, that none of them are essential ingredi- 
 ents in the nature of the Arts, and therefore 
 cannot essentially conduce to their rise or 
 growth, when regarded solely in their pri- 
 mary provinces; that is, in the provinces of 
 history and poetical conception ; the onl}-- 
 ones in which they are now treated of. In 
 the improvement of manufactures, the Arts of 
 Design have a very material connexion, by 
 means of their several subordinate branches ; 
 and in all those branches, as they are depart- 
 ments attached to commerce, the Arts in Eng- 
 land may be expected to flourish, as they 
 actually do, with the appearance of sponta- 
 neous advance. Herein they become useful, 
 if not to the abstract necessities, at least to the 
 required luxuries of life, on which an enlarged 
 commerce greatly depends. But, in their 
 hio;hest sphere, the case is totally different :
 
 CHAP. in. ARTS OF DESIGN, &C. QQ 
 
 they there greatly augment and exalt our 
 pleasures, but add nothing to the positive uses 
 of our physical existence. 
 
 It is the more necessary to maintain this 
 distinction, since, with the hope of ingratiating 
 the concerns of the Arts with the vulgar and 
 the powerful, frequent endeavours have been 
 used to establish a theory of mutual depend- 
 ence between the Fine Arts and the trade of a 
 country. The distinction is obvious : trade is, 
 or may be, connected with the subordinate 
 p ovinces of design ; it is influenced by them, 
 and may influence them in return ; but with 
 the higher province it has no immediate con- 
 nexion whatever. From that province can 
 only be derived a superiour excellence, capable 
 of being engrafted on the subordinate branches, 
 and thence subsequently transferred to trade. 
 
 It is, in fact, a very distinguishing and 
 powerful property of the Art of Design, when 
 risen to eminence, to contribute, in greater or 
 less measure, to the treasure of every Slate, 
 and the wealth of every commercial nation ; 
 as the history of several countries, since the
 
 100 EXCLUSION OF THE parti. 
 
 revival of Painting at Florence, will abundantly 
 testify. 
 
 At that period, Commerce, in Italy, was at 
 as low an ebb as Painting ; and the bad taste, 
 which prevailed in every article of manufac- 
 ture, being nearly equal throughout the Con- 
 tinent, offered no incitement to the merchant 
 to traffick in other countries with the products 
 of his own. A general poverty of style, and 
 crowded ornaments which overlaid, instead 
 of enriching, the labour of the artisan, were 
 the only remarkable features of almost every 
 work of mechanical industry *. But no sooner 
 had the Arts of Design begun to enlighten the 
 horizon, than the aspect of the scene was sud- 
 denly changed. Florence, assisted and ani- 
 mated by their opening powers, even in the 
 midst of civil broils and sanguinary wars, 
 directed her industry to the improvement of 
 manufactures, and became the emporium of 
 other kingdoms. Every material of labour 
 
 * Dechazelle. Discours sur VInfluence de la Peinture sur 
 les Arts d' Industrie Commerciale. — Question propos^e par ITn- 
 stitut National.
 
 CHAP. III. ARTS OF DESIGN, &C. 101 
 
 acquired, by the influence of Design, a value 
 wholly independent of itself, and far surpassing 
 its own price. ISew manufactories were esta- 
 blished. Her works in gold and silver, under 
 the hands of Benvenuto Cellini and his con- 
 temporaries ; her jewelry, her vases, her stuffs, 
 her furniture of all kinds, found their way, 
 first to the neighbouring courts, and thence 
 to every part of the globe *. 
 
 When Raffaelle, rising from the Tuscan M 
 horizon, shone in the brightness of his zenith > 
 at Rome, the influence of his mighty genius ^ 
 pervaded and swelled the streams of com- 
 merce. The earthen-ware now known by his 
 name, ennobled by beauties before unseen, . \ 
 was sought with avidity ; and the tapestry of f 
 Flanders gathered splendour from his Designs, 
 
 * " L'orfevrerie signala la premiere, et avec le plus de succes, 
 les heurcux efforts de la renaissance des Arts, Les grands Pein- 
 tres Florentins ne dedaignoient pas de rctracer, d'apres les mo- 
 deles antiques, des bas-reliefs que les Baccio Baldini, les Maso 
 Finiguera, les Cellini, et autres habiles orfevres, modeloient ou 
 gravoient sur les ouvrages destines aux Souverains. Le gofit en 
 ce genre suivit constaniment, depuis cette epoque, la rectitude, 
 ou imita les travers du genie de la Pciuture." — Deciiazelle. 
 Discours, ^c.
 
 102 EXCLUSION OF THE PART I. 
 
 and those of Giulio Romano and others of his 
 school. 
 
 Allured partly by the fame of the Artist, and 
 partly by the important utility of the Art, 
 Francis the First, of France, attempted to 
 draw Leonardo da Vinci to his Court, and 
 prevailed ; though at too late a period of that 
 great Painter's life, to derive the hoped-for 
 advantages to the country. Primaticcio, and 
 Rosso*, however, followed, eminently schooled 
 in every thing that related to ornamental 
 magnificence; and their designs, imitated in 
 every manufacture of France, raised her to a 
 rivalry with Italy in works of elegance. Suc-^ 
 ceeding Painters prolonged the strife 'I'. 
 
 * " Le Rosso concourut, avec le Primatice, a faire p^netrer 
 I'influence de la Peinture dans tous les ateliers: comme dessin, 
 elle ^puroit les fonnes, varioit les combinaisons ; comme coii- 
 leur, elle revetoit de teintes brillantes les plus tristes surfaces, et 
 elle communiquoit ainsi aux diff^rens produits de I'industrie, ses 
 illusions les plus seduisaiites. Ce fut elle qui inspira les ouvriers, 
 que Bernard Palissy sut emplo^ier a emailler ses belles poteries : 
 enfin la Peinture cnfanta, dans tous les genres, des nierveilles, 
 qui attesterent bientot la magnificence et le genie du Souverain." 
 — Dechazelle. Discours, <^c. 
 
 t "Jean Cousin, Peintre Fran9ais, herita des divers talents du
 
 criAP. III. ARTS OF DESIGN, &C. 103 
 
 In Flanders, it is naturally to be concluded, 
 that Rubens lighted anew the torch of inge- 
 nious industry in the workshops of the arti- 
 sans; and that in their tapestries, their carpets, 
 their laces, in every thing in which the Art of 
 Design could insinuate itself, the designs of 
 his school contributed to render them famous 
 through Europe. 
 
 Under the administration of Richlieu, in 
 France, the influence of Design begun to be 
 again felt in the manufactorial industry of 
 Paris. A goldsmith, of the name of Claude 
 Balin, enriched his works with new beauties, 
 which he drew from the pictures of Nicolas 
 Poussin, and from the remains of Grecian 
 Sculpture. The result corresponded with his 
 wishes : an activity, unexampled in his de- 
 partment of trade, was instantly conspicuous*. 
 
 Piinialice, et la lecondite de sou art fut egalement favorable a 
 I'industrie conimerciale.- • -On le voyoit, tour a tour, retracersur 
 la toile les grands evenemens de I'liistoire ; peindre sur les vitraux 
 des temples les fastes de la religion ; enibellir la deraeure des rois 
 de meubles sculptes d'apres scs dcsseius, et decorer iiigeuieuse- 
 meat les cuirasses et lea epees des lieros fraufais. II euricliissoit 
 la batterie des fusils et des carabines de figures chinicriques," &c. 
 &c. — Deciiazelle. 
 
 * Ibid.
 
 104 EXCLUSION OF THE part 1. 
 
 The successors of Richlieu extended the 
 same influence to the mercantile interests of 
 that country. " About the year l667, France, 
 iu the ministry of the sharp-sighted Colbert, 
 set on foot the famous tapestry manufactures 
 at the Gobelins in Paris : for this end pro- 
 curing from all parts drawers, designers, pain- 
 ters, dyers, and engravers ; also workers in 
 gold, silver, ivory, brass, &c. 8cc. which, under 
 the direction of the famous Le Brun, were 
 brought to great perfection, and thereby much 
 money kept at home, which was before sent 
 abroad for such hke ornaments and curiosi- 
 ties *." 
 
 This general activity of the ministry, in 
 applying the powers of Painting to the pur- 
 poses of manufactures and trade, gave to 
 various productions of France that decided 
 beauty, which became the cause of so much 
 envy, and so much lavish expense, in all other 
 countries. It conferred on the nation that 
 extensive prerogative, which has been deno- 
 minatcd fashion . For, why did the fashion of 
 French manufactures prevail over others, but 
 
 * Andekson's History of Commerce.
 
 CHAP. III. ARTS OF DESIGN; &C. 105 
 
 on account of their superiour taste and elegance ? 
 and to what were iheir superiour taste and 
 elegance owing, but to their constant com- 
 munication with the sources of Painting, and 
 to the infusion of excellence through that 
 channel ? 
 
 " The lustre of our inanufactures," savs a 
 French writer before quoted, " and the pro- 
 sperity which every where attended them, cor- 
 responded to the degree of influence which 
 Painting possessed over them." — •" In fact," 
 he adds, " every vessel of silver and gold, of 
 porcelain or common clay ; our jewels, arms, 
 furniture, cartoons for tapestry, chintzes, laces, 
 ribands, millinery (ouvrages de modes,) em- 
 broideries, gold and silver tissues, experience 
 more or less, in the hands of the workman 
 who fashions them, the salutary effects of that 
 influence *." 
 
 In our own days, the rival competitions of 
 England and Prance, formed under the eye 
 of the returning Arts, have raised the ma- 
 nufactures of either country to a celebrity, 
 
 * Dechazelle.
 
 106 EXCLUSION OF THE PART U 
 
 which renders them the objects of universal 
 desire. From the designs of David> the clas- 
 sical Painter of France, every article of house- 
 hold furniture has received the stamp of grace, 
 and attained a value beyond all former ex- 
 ample. In England, the industry of Wedge- 
 wood transferred to his earthern wares the 
 forms of all that Grecian and Etruscan taste 
 has recommended to use or luxury ; regular 
 artists of merit were emploj^ed in making his 
 designs ; and the enormous preponderance^ of 
 his manufacture sufficient!}' declares the wealth 
 which it has added to his country. It became 
 immediately an object of rivalry to France; 
 and the porcelain of Sevres, and the tapestry 
 of the Gobelins, have equally increased in 
 attraction*. The beaut}' of the stained papers, 
 
 • " Les Anglais ont, les premiers, emprunte les formes, qui se 
 retrouvent dans les monunicns de I'antiquite, pour les porter sur 
 les produits de leurs manufactures de poterie. lis surent donner 
 du prix a, de simples vases de terre, quand nous conservions 
 encore dans ces objets, que Part peut embellir, le goflt factice et 
 
 deprave. IMais dcpuis que I'ecole de Vien a propage I'heu- 
 
 reuse imitation des niodeles antiques, nos manufactures de por- 
 celaine ont cesse de montrer ces inventions pueriles. Des formes 
 aimables et commodes, inspirees par le besoin, et decorees avec
 
 CHAP. III. ARTS OF DESIGN, &C. 10/ 
 
 and the printed linens of both countries, rival- 
 ling, in colour and design, whatever the most 
 ingenious labours and sumptuous looms of 
 India have produced, have been wholly owing 
 to the same diffusion of the light of Painting *. 
 That Art seems to say to the invention of the 
 
 grace, ont fait disparoitre ces bizarreries ; la main meme de la 
 Peiutuie eteud siir la porcelaine le vif ^mail, qui rend celte 
 
 poterie si precieuse. Les manufactures nationales de Sevres 
 
 eblouisseiit aujouFd'hui nos regards. Dans ces Peintures ravis- 
 santes, ainsi que dans les tentures des Gobelins, et les tapis de 
 la Savonnerie, ce n'est plus I'iudustrie commerciale, c'est, pour 
 ainsi dire, I'art de la Peinture lui-meme, qui est sorti do sou 
 atelier, pour se preter aux fantaisies du luxe." — Dechazelle. 
 
 * The French assume to themselves the whole merit of this 
 branch of manufacture, and the success consequent on it. 
 
 "JJ influence de la Peinture, qui s'exerce dans toute son etendue 
 dans ce genre d'industrie, commvmique a ses prodviits un attrait 
 vraiment magique : cet art, conuiie un vrai Protee, se metamor- 
 phose sans cesse; et plus il se renouvelle, plus la fantaisie s'y 
 attache. Figures, animaux, fleurs, architecture, paysages, chi- 
 nieres m^mcs, tous les objets de la nature, tous les reves d'une 
 brillante imagination, sont representes sur ces freles tentures avcc 
 une seduction, qui leveille sans cesse les desirs du consommateur. 
 Ce genre, invente par les Chinois, apportc par les Anglais, et 
 perfectionnC' en France, forme en ce moment unc branche de notre 
 commerce iudustriel, aussi active qu'intercssante."— Deciia. 
 
 Z£LL£.
 
 108 EXCLUSION OF THE part I. 
 
 artisan and the manufacturer; " Behold what 
 you can reach !" and to the wealthy and taste- 
 ful purchaser, no less forcibly; " Behold what 
 you desire!"*" 
 
 In another department of trade, what value 
 have not the labours of the Painter and the 
 Engraver added to the splendid editions, both 
 in England and France, of the most distin- 
 guished works of classic literature? 
 
 But what branch of manufacture does not 
 feel the influence of Painting? Jewelry, dress, 
 arms, furniture, carriages, houses, ships, coins 
 — all feel the result of the existing state of 
 Design. Our coins, indeed, form a most im- 
 portant concern also of another nature. Ask 
 of the medallist, by what means the counter- 
 feiting of a coin is most likely to be prevented ? 
 he will tell you, that there is but one efi'ectual 
 mode, namely, that of engraving it in such a 
 superiour degree of excellence, as shall set at 
 defiance the imitation of ordinary workmen. 
 But if this method be really effectual, or if it 
 be attended with the most favourable chances 
 
 • Dechazelle.
 
 CHAP. III. ARTS OF DESIGN, &C. 109 
 
 of success, can the moralist give a satisfactory 
 answer, why, while the miserable man, im- 
 pelled by penury or error to counterfeit the 
 money of the realm, meets death for his of- 
 fence this most probable mode of prevention 
 has not been regularly applied*? 
 
 It might, perhaps, be at the first view con- 
 ceived, that, in order to make a drawing for 
 an urn or a cream-jug, a sofa or a carpet, it is 
 not necessary that large sums should be ex- 
 pended to nurture the progress of elevated 
 science, and that the spirit of a Raffaelle, or 
 a Michael Angelo, should be waked anew. 
 But the reference of the subordinate branches 
 to the higher principles of design is plain and 
 easy ; since Experience, the great instructress, 
 has here disclosed a lesson, which renders all 
 other explanation unnecessary. Whatever 
 happy and gifted appearance the various 
 practice of manual ingenuity may assume, it 
 has been evident from facts, that the native 
 
 * In the only instance, in wlilch the talents of our preseirt 
 eminent Gem-sculptor have been employed on the current coin, 
 viz. the last new eighteen-penny pieces, I am told tliut no coun- 
 terfeits liave yet been found.
 
 110 EXCLUSION OF THE PART I. 
 
 talents of ingenious artisans are only fully 
 unfolded, and brought to the exercise of their 
 full utihty, when the study of another class 
 of men has disclosed the principles of their 
 respective arts. The numerous kinds of com- 
 mercial industry, which feel the influence of 
 Painting, have remained, and will again re- 
 main, confined within very narrow bounds, 
 whenever deprived of the extensive resources, 
 which are placed at the disposal of the work- 
 man b}' the superiour advances of Genius in 
 the knowledge of Design and Colour. 
 
 Hence it will be seen, that the inspiring 
 auspices of the present genius that has asto- 
 nished and terrified Europe, are not confined 
 to the parade of empire, in the protection 
 afforded to the Arts, and the conspicuous 
 honours paid to their higher pursuits. They 
 have in view not the splendour onl}^, but the 
 utilities of the nation. They seek to effect a 
 renovation of the sources which fertilize com- 
 merce; by securing to accomplished Art the 
 perfect freedom of its efforts, and placing it 
 beyond the reach of subordinate temptation. 
 The successful precedents of Francis the First^
 
 CHAP. III. ARTS OF DESIGN, &C. Ill 
 
 and Louis the Fourteenth, have furnished to a 
 deeply contemplative mind a sufficient ground 
 for the present action of the French Govern- 
 ment in this respect. That it is directed to 
 the improvement of the nation's commercial 
 interests, the question proposed by the Insti- 
 tute, " of the Influence of the Arts of Design 
 on the Commerce of a country*," is ample 
 proof. 
 
 But what the Arts of Design thus bestow, 
 they must not hope to reap. Commerce, (ex- 
 cept as it contributes generally to the strength 
 of the nation, which protects them) possesses 
 in itself neither power nor appropriate means 
 
 * " Quelle est Vinfiuence de la Peinture sur les arts cCin- 
 dustrie commerciaie ? Faire connoitre les avautages, que VEtat 
 retire de cette influence, et ceux qu'il peut encore s'en promettre. 
 —Paris. An. xiii. 1804. 
 
 This question was proposed at a time wlien Colonics and Com- 
 merce were held to be desirable objects to tlie French nation, and 
 when a writer on the above question did not hesitate to quote the 
 following sentence : " Quel pouvoir superieur a rassenibl6, vetu, 
 civilise les peuples ?" (s'ecrie I'Auteur de VHistoire des Etablissc- 
 ments des Europtens dans ks Indes.) " C'cst le Commerce, r6- 
 pondent a-la-t'ois tous les horames Majref."
 
 112 EXCLUSION OF THE paKT I. 
 
 to raise them to eminence in their highest 
 provinces. On the contrary, the result of 
 wealth, which has been shown to accrue from 
 their superiour cultivation, by means of the 
 consequent diffusion of excellence through 
 tlieir subordinate and marketable branches, 
 is the immediate point in which they en- 
 danger their own stability, and tend to de- 
 stroy themselves. The improvements flowing 
 to manufactures, may be considered as one of 
 the great drains of Art ; and the more copious 
 the streams that are sluiced from the head, the 
 sooner the fountain may be exhausted. The 
 danger at least is signal, and will be inevit- 
 able, unless there be, in some other part, an 
 adequate guard established, to keep the sources 
 either constantly pure or frequently renovated ; 
 — a renovation, which can only be effected by 
 a recurrence to the fundamental principles of 
 excellence. 
 
 The natural process of events, viewed under 
 this aspect, will, in some measure, account for 
 the gradual decay of Painting in Italy, and 
 still more clearly for its decline in France,
 
 CHAP. III. ARTS OF DESIGN, &C. 1 13 
 
 until the late strenuous attempts of the Go- 
 vernment of that country to renovate the pri- 
 mary sources of Art. 
 
 In Italy, after the diminution, and almost 
 total extinction, of her political weight, the 
 influence of Painting showed itself, indeed, in 
 very few instances of such manufactures as 
 compose the articles of common intercourse 
 among nations ; but it was led by the peculiar 
 genius of the State into a channel of a distinct 
 kind, in which the Art itself was reduced to 
 a trade, and became, as it were, its own ma- 
 nufacture. Every convent and every chapel 
 was necessarily furnished with an altar-piece 
 and other pictures ; and a sort of religious 
 manufactory was thus established, in which 
 the meanest Painter could earn his bread, and 
 the most excellent could acquire nothing more. 
 Into this channel were gradually drawn all the 
 feeble remains of declining skill and science ; 
 and the increasing languor of the State al- 
 lowed of no efforts for renovation. The artist, 
 content to be regarded with the smile of com- 
 placence by his superiour in rank, voluntarily 
 
 I
 
 114 EXCLUSION OF THE PARTI. 
 
 forgot the poverty of his employment; and the 
 enervated Art sunk finally in oblivion. 
 
 France, ever the busiest nation in enterprise, 
 as she furnishes the most lively examples of the 
 employment of the Arts in the service of com- 
 merce, exhibits also the strongest proofs of 
 their declining by the same means. JSo sooner 
 had the aspiring genius of Francis the First 
 calle<l the talents of other countries into his 
 kingdom, than the active spirit of the Go- 
 vernment began to aim at directing them to- 
 wards the uses of the nation, as has been seen 
 in the application of Primaticcio's designs. 
 But tlie imported Art, while by its influence 
 it strengthened the commercial efforts of the 
 kingdom, became itself proportionally im- 
 paired. Jean Coussin, the successor of Pri- 
 niaticcio, though celebrated for the versatility 
 of his talents to every purpose of industry, has 
 left a name of little professional note. 
 
 The source of those stieams, which nourished 
 commerce, experienced a partial renovation, 
 from the pure and elevated studies of Poussin, 
 who, as well as Le Sueur, fortunately remained.
 
 CHAP, III. ARTS OF DESIGN, &:C. 115 
 
 in spite of every temptation, inaccessible to 
 the approaches of the commercial spirit. But 
 the powerful talents of Le Brun, who succeeded 
 them, were mixed with the profitable but cor- 
 ruptive leaven ; and, from his example, the 
 Art degenerated, in the hands of succeeding 
 Painters, into mere fantastick frippery. 
 
 Napoleon appears, in this respect, to have 
 fallen into the same errour as his predecessors 
 in the patronage of the Fine Arts, viz. that of 
 employing the highest artists in the offices of 
 the subordinate branches. David has been 
 employed, as Primaticcio and Le Brun were, 
 in making designs for decorative ornament 
 and household furniture. This method is de- 
 structive of permanent advantage to the coun- 
 try. The abilities of a Painter, capable of the 
 higher pursuits of Art, should be kept in suit- 
 able and corresponding paths, and the subor- 
 dinate channels left to others of less exalted 
 powers. The conduct of the French ministry 
 in this instance, has, perhaps, been the cause, 
 that their school of Painting never pro- 
 ceeded farther in its advances towards excel- 
 lence.
 
 1}6 EXCLUSION OF THE PAUT 1. 
 
 Ill a country constituted as our own is, the 
 advantages accruing to manufactures and 
 commerce from Painting, expose the Art to 
 a still more fatal danger — they may possibly 
 operate as a cause of premature decay. The 
 commercial spirit is a busier spirit than am- 
 bition itself. It watches more constantly, it 
 operates more numerously : its endeavour is, 
 to draw every talent, whether mature or 
 otherwise, into its immediate service ; and it 
 effects its purpose by instilling the wish for 
 lucrative indulgence — the Capua of the Arts 
 and Sciences. Metaphysical writers, or writers 
 affecting to be thought so, may assert the 
 influence of climate ; but the moral system of 
 every country is far the more powerful agent 
 in its operation on genius. We have seen the 
 musical talents of Italy subside, in London, in 
 the traffick of a warehouse. 
 
 It is by no means here meant to assert, that 
 it is unfitting for Painters to receive great 
 pecuniary rewards for their labours, or that 
 their talents would be prejudiced by them. 
 Such suggestions are the language of oppres- 
 sion or of ignorance : the great wealth, attri-
 
 CHAP. III. ARTS OF DESIGN, &C. 117 
 
 buted by writers to Zeuxis, and some other ex- 
 cellent Grecian Painters*, will suffice to con- 
 trovert the ungracious sentiment. Yet it is use- 
 ful to be remembered, that their wealth was 
 merely the consequence of their eminent fame. 
 Riches were so little the primary object of their 
 pursuit, that it is recorded of Nicias, an Athe- 
 nian Painter, that, when he might have sold a 
 picture, which he had just finished, to a fo- 
 reign Sovereign for a large sum, he chose 
 rather to offer it as a gift to his native coun- 
 try f. A similar anecdote is related of Polyg- 
 notus, who assisted in painting the portico at 
 Athens, called the Tloiicixri. How great soever 
 were the importance and value of his works, 
 he refused all payment for them ; a disin- 
 terestedness, amply recompensed by fame, 
 and by the grateful acknowledgments of his 
 
 * For an account of the very great prices paid to many of the 
 Greek Painters for their celebrated works, see Junius, book ii. 
 chap. ix. De Picturu Veterum. Tlie reader will find them 
 partly mentioned in the ensuing chapter. 
 
 t " Athenis est ejus NecramaiUia Homeri : hauc vendere noluit 
 Attalo rcgi talentis sexaginta, potiusque patriic sure douavit, 
 abundans opibus."— Pi.in y, lib. xxxv. c. 11.
 
 118 EXCLUSION OF THE PARTI, 
 
 country *. Zeuxis himself, after he had once 
 amassed the wealth ascribed to him, deter-? 
 mined no longer to receive money for his 
 pictures f. 
 
 Other great artists of Greece appear to 
 have lived and died eminently poor. Felibien 
 says, that Lysippus, the eminent Sculptor, ex- 
 pired through want, neglecting the means of 
 subsistence, from his intense application to his 
 Art ; and that Myron, no less celebrated than 
 the former, died so poor, that no one thought 
 it worth while to appear as heir to his pro- 
 perty %. 
 
 Under whatever shape the desire of money 
 may be disguised, if it be the motive of the 
 Painter's industry, it is a motive at variance 
 with, and counteracting, his elevation in Art. 
 It tends to make him hasty in his labours, and 
 
 * Pliny, lib. xxxv. c. 9. Plutarch also, in his Life nf Cimon, 
 thus mentions Polygnotus, xiainting in the Poecile gratuitously ; 
 
 " O' noXuyVMTOf a* w twv favau^ojv, kJ aTT EpyoXoSiaf Eypa<{)£ -rii' 
 ^oav, aXXtt TTpoTxa, <f)iX(3Ti((/CB(a£vo? vpog tw ttoXiv." 
 
 t " Postea donare opera sua instituit, quod nullo satis digno 
 pretio permutari posse diceret : sicuti Alcmenam Agrigentinis, 
 Pana Archelao." — Plin. lib. xxxv. c. 9. 
 
 X Eiitretiens, torn. i.
 
 CHAP. III. ARTS OF DESIGN, &C. 119 
 
 lightly satisfied with his work ; and, in short, 
 occupies his mind with an object separate and 
 distinct from his Art itself. The sentence 
 passed by Horace on the candidate for an 
 immortal wreath of Poetry, is no less appli- 
 cable to the Painter*. Money is to the Arts, 
 what fame has been said to be to eloquence. 
 " The only valuable fame," said Cicero and 
 Lord Mansfield, " is that which follozcs, not 
 that which is folloiced." The wealth, which 
 accrues to the Painter, in consequence of his 
 excellence, is in the highest degree respectable 
 and advantageous to him ; but the pursuit of 
 wealth is his certain ruin. He who labours 
 for notoriety or for money, will generally, 
 with due industry, become notorious and rich ; 
 but, if he be a Poet or a Painter, his merits 
 will be merely popular; he will be known to 
 all, paid by all, living; he will be forgotten, 
 and his works disregarded, by posterity. " The 
 Gnditani,^' says Eustatius, " built an altar in 
 common to Poverty and Art." 
 
 • " All hjEC animos scrugo et cura peculi 
 
 Cum semcl imbuerit, spcramus carmina fingi 
 Posse, Hnenda cedro, et Isevi servanda cupresso ?" 
 
 De Arte Poeticd.
 
 120 EXCLUSION OF THE PARTI. 
 
 Any attempt, therefore, to connect the pro- 
 gress of the Arts with the ordinary channels 
 of the commerce of England, would be so far 
 likely to prove abortive, as it could be pro- 
 ductive of advantage in their inferiour \)XO- 
 vinces only, and would be prejudicial to their 
 higher ones. 
 
 There is, nevertheless, one branch of Design, 
 in which a contrary proposition may at first 
 view appear to hold good ; namely, Engraving. 
 It has been stated with great truth, that a very 
 advantageous commerce was for many years 
 carried on in Prints exported from this coun- 
 try ; and it is thence, with no less reason, 
 inferred, that the finer and more excellent the 
 works of the English Painters are proved to 
 be, the greater will be the commercial result 
 of the labour of the Engraver. But this in- 
 ference, just as it certainly is, by no means 
 tends to weaken the arguments above urged ; 
 because, although prints, engraved from fine 
 works of Painting, will be certain of finding a 
 sale, and the sale will probably be in propor- 
 tion to the excellence of the works offered to 
 the purchaser, it yet remains equally true,
 
 «HAP. m. ARTS OF DESIGN, &C. 121 
 
 that if the desire of gain, likely to arise from 
 such sale, be the motive for painting the 
 works, it is an inconsistent and derogatory 
 motive, and will impede, instead of promoting, 
 the progress of the Painter towards supreme 
 excellence in his profession. Sufficient proofs 
 of this assertion were to be found in the 
 Galleries, (however otherwise laudable) of 
 Boydell, Macklin, and Bowyer. Even many 
 of the Engravings, as Engravers will testify, 
 were there deteriorated by the rigid pressure 
 of time to meet the purposes of Commerce. 
 
 In truth, the irruption of Commerce into 
 the higher provinces of all or any of the 
 Liberal Arts, is greatly to be dreaded, earnestly 
 to be deprecated. What are its baleful effects, 
 already visible in Literature? It might appear 
 invidious to say, that Commerce has destroyed 
 Learning, in proportion as it has diffused 
 Literature ; but it is an obvious truth, that (if 
 not the largest) a very large part of Literature 
 is now reduced to book-makitig. An Author, 
 who has once shown himself able to attract 
 notice on one subject, is immediately sought 
 out; and instigated by a Bookseller to write on 
 
 \ ^ 

 
 122 EXCLUSION OF THE PARTI. 
 
 another; and he frequently continues, from 
 solicitation, the performance of what ought 
 only to be the result of feeling and mental 
 impulse. If he will not write, he edits. Under 
 the auspices of some favourite name, start up, 
 daily, new editions of Poets, Romancers, Dra- 
 matists, and Novel-writers, to which the Editor 
 is prompted by the lucrative offers of his 
 employer, who thus finds the means to traffick 
 in his fame, and to bring his name — a posses- 
 sion, which should be held next to sacred — 
 into the common market. 
 
 Exclusively of such publications, to which 
 the consciousness of well-earned fame may be 
 supposed to stimulate attention in some de- 
 gree, look at the crowded repositories — may 
 we not almost say m««?//af^o;7>s, of compilation, 
 in which a circulating sale is, with equal indus- 
 try and ingenuity, established in every street 
 in London! Look at the torrents of science 
 which every shop and every hour pours forth ! 
 Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, Galleries, Maga- 
 zines, Repositories ! Panoramical, Pantologi- 
 cal, Allegorical, Historical, Biblical; Classic, 
 Scientific, Graphic, Botanic ; Chymical, Me-
 
 CHAP. III. ARTS OF DESIGN, &C. 123 
 
 dical, Practical, Universal ! Olympus had not 
 half so many deities, as we have instructors 
 worthy of their protection ; and the Muses, if 
 they have preserved their chastity, must by 
 some miracle have been multiplied — now not 
 nine, but ninety. In this afflicting overflow 
 of Literature, the desire of gain is the predo- 
 minant motive. The Authors or the Editors, 
 (as they may happen to be called,) are the 
 organs of superiour movers, and the real 
 'Rook-makers are the 'Qook-sellers. 
 
 Add to this, the love of praise, that great 
 stimulus to the exertions of the artist, and 
 perhaps the spring of his excellence, although 
 it may hold its place among a commercial 
 people, bears no prominent part in the general 
 concerns of commerce. The characteristick 
 description of that people, who rose to unri- 
 valled excellence in Painting, Sculpture, and 
 Architecture, (nor less eminent in Poetry,) is 
 given in these words : 
 
 ''• Prater laudetn nullius avari." 
 
 The Romans, by the testimony of the same 
 writer, were the reverse j and it is remarkable
 
 124 EXCLUSION OF THE PABT I. 
 
 that the Romans boast of no eminent native 
 Painters or Sculptors, after the sera of the 
 Republick, in which Fabius Pictor recorded 
 his own victories by his pencil *. Nor did 
 their more refined descendants aspire to form 
 a second Epoch of Painting, until that Art 
 had begun to receive so great a share of the 
 homage of praise, as to render excellence in 
 its science a practice worthy the ambition of 
 wenius. 
 
 What sentence would the satirist have 
 passed on London ? No one, it is true, will 
 deny that a high sense of honour is universally 
 entertained in England. Public opinion pre- 
 fers it to life. Glory is followed by the Briton 
 through tracks of extreme danger, with an 
 ardour scarcely parallelled in any age or 
 country. But this love of glory, as an object 
 of essential and indispensable pursuit, is it not 
 confined to particular classes in life ? Would 
 it wear the face of satire, to aver, that the 
 
 * Pliny, speaking of one branch of Sculpture, says, " Mi- 
 ruinque, cum ad infinitum operum pretia creverint, autoritas Artis 
 exstincta est. Quastus causa eniin, ut omnia, exerceri caepta est, 
 quae glorias solebat. — Lib, xxxiv. cap, 2.
 
 CHAP. III. ARTS OF DESIGN, &C. 1^5 
 
 pursuit of Praise, Fame, merely as praise and 
 fame, is derided or lamented by the majority 
 of this wealthy metropolis ? 
 
 To return ; it is easy, then, to perceive, 
 from what has been stated in this chapter, 
 that the attainment of ultimate excellence in 
 the Arts of Design is necessarily independent 
 of the principal sources of prosperity and afflu- 
 ence in our country ; and that if ever they may 
 aspire to arrive at eminence among us, a pas- 
 sage must be opened to them through other, 
 more congenial paths.
 
 126 HONOURS CONFERRED ON parti. 
 
 CHAP. TV. 
 
 OF HONOURS CONFERRED ON THE ARTS OF 
 
 DESIGN. 
 
 " Palmaque nobilis 
 
 Evehit ad Deos." 
 
   " More for glory than the small rewafd. 
 
 How emulation strove !" 
 
 The reward of the Olympic Games was a 
 simple wreath. Rewards of honour have 
 formed a part of the policy of all enlightened 
 nations; and it may justly be supposed, that, 
 where the advance of the Arts of Design has 
 been shown to be unconnected with the gene- 
 ral sources of prosperity and affluence in the 
 country, the State, aware that honours are 
 the only compensation for a necessary absence 
 of wealth, will be found to have allotted to 
 Painters such distinctions as cherish genius, 
 and such opportunities of fame, as at once
 
 CHAP. IV. THE ARTS OF DESIGN. 127 
 
 excite and crown its aspiring nature. This is 
 a consideration deserving of the strictest at- 
 tention. 
 
 The experience of the Naturalist demon- 
 strates, that nothing more powerfully contri- 
 butes to bring a tender and sensitive plant to ma- 
 turity, and finally to perfection in its kind, than 
 the nourishment of it by a constant renewal of 
 materials agreeable to its original nature. In 
 a similar manner in the intellectual, as in the 
 physical garden, the blossoms of the tree will 
 ever be most beautiful, when the nutrition that 
 it receives from the care of superintendence, is 
 congenial with its essential properties. The 
 love of honour, if it may not be considered as 
 innate in the breasts of men of talents, is at 
 least the congenial attendant of that early 
 impression on the mind, which, generally in- 
 scrutable in its origin, and indelible in its 
 effect, alone appears to excite and direct 
 the superiour exertions of genius : the 
 Painter and the Poet, indeed, often turn 
 aside from the guiding brightness of their 
 guardian star, to seek support or ease under 
 more ignoble influence; but it will be found
 
 128 HONOURS CONFERRED ON part I. 
 
 that they rarely do so, without a consciousness 
 that they degrade, and, as it were, desert their 
 native faculties; nor without deviating, at the 
 same time, from the paths which lead to ex- 
 cellence and immortality. Necessity may some- 
 times chain down the reluctant spirit, and the 
 sense of honour may remain firm and vivid, 
 while its calls can no longer be obeyed ; but on 
 the supposition of freedom of choice and action, 
 (and placing the candidate on an average foot- 
 ing with the moderate conditions of life,) it 
 is unquestionable, that the wish, the contest 
 for honourable distinctions only, may be re- 
 garded as the invariable test of such talents, 
 as are designed by Providence to illumine and 
 instruct mankind*. 
 
 * " Ambition is tlie stamp impressed by Heaven, 
 To mark the noblest minds." — Irene. 
 
 Whatever ridicule has occasionally been cast on professions 
 or expectations of service without emolument, 
 
 " In th' atitique age, 
 When service sweat for duty, not for liire," 
 
 may not this remark be found as just even in political pursuits, as 
 in the Arts ? It is a truth, and a very melancholy one, that the 
 general desire of a party succeeding to power, has sometime* bee»
 
 CHAP. IV, THE ARTS OF DESIGN. 129 
 
 Distinctions, which confer a marked ac- 
 knowledgment of eminent attainments in Sci- 
 ence or the Arts, every where secure the 
 claims of the possessor to deference and re- 
 spect; just as, in other stations of life, titles 
 and rank, (even when hereditary proofs only 
 of merit,) are yet the agreed symbols, and, 
 in a manner, the current and legal coin of 
 public esteem. The coin, it is allowed, is 
 often debased, and often counterfeited ; but 
 these circumstances produce no alteration in 
 the value of its original standard. 
 
 If such distinctions, implying superiour merit, 
 reflect back to the mind sensations of honour, 
 the hope of attaining them must be found to 
 form one of the most congenial modes of eli- 
 citing the native powers of genius *. 
 
 They may also be considered as necessary 
 
 marked by the most unqualified and voracious rush to places and 
 emoluments. But tliis is the action of the Acj-rf. Tlie truly ex- 
 alted minds in every party liave demonstrated more of ambition 
 than of avarice. To look to no remote periods, l\Ir. Fox and 
 IVIf . Pitt are unquestionable examples of this assertion. 
 
 • Pendemus ex laude, atque banc laboris nostri ducimus sum- 
 mam. — QuiNCTiL. lib. iv. 2, 
 
 K
 
 130 HONOURS CONFERRED ON parti, 
 
 to the most salutary direction of its exertions. 
 It is desirable, not only to cultivate the ge- 
 nius of our land, but to give to its cultivation 
 a philanthropic tendency ; to make it beneficial 
 as well as powerful ; and that, while it acquires 
 the force requisite to win admiration, it should 
 also adopt the modes most calculated to ob- 
 tain an influence over the affections. — Those 
 modes it will the most readily assume, when 
 it looks forward to a return of favourable at- 
 tention from their minds, to whom it addresses 
 Its efforts. Merit, compelled to watch and 
 cherish in neglected solitude the germs of in- 
 ternal talent, and unable finally to rescue its 
 claims from obscuritj'^, will not indeed lose its 
 powers, nor forfeit its essential title to superi- 
 ority ; but it is in danger of eventually assum- 
 ing an air more savage than benevolent ; of 
 dictating, rather than persuading ; of deter- 
 ring, instead of inviting. If urged to contest 
 by opposition, it too frequently deserts the 
 paths of instruction, to obey the impulses of 
 irritated feelings, derides or stigmatizes what 
 Nature would have prompted it to admire, and
 
 CHAP. IV. THE ARTS OF DESIGN. 131 
 
 endeavours to subvert what it is not allowed 
 to polish *. 
 
 These plain general reasonings will probably 
 be admitted by all parties; by those, who 
 think the present state of the Arts in England 
 inadequate to their just support, as well as by 
 those who hold a contrary opinion. Let us 
 therefore now observe, of what nature are the 
 rewards of honour most congenial, and, after- 
 wards, what are those which have actually been 
 allotted in England, to the Art of Painting. 
 
 There is scarcely any amount of honours, 
 in reward of the Arts of Design, which is 
 not authorized by the example of antiquity. 
 What honours, indeed, were paid to the con- 
 structors, or the adorners, of the enormous 
 piles of Architecture and Statuary in Egypt, 
 History does not inform us ; but those, which 
 Sculpture and Painting received in Greece, 
 are authenticated by numerous testimonies. 
 
 • It has been the skilful policy of our great Antagonist, to 
 make several of the most eminent Professors in Science, and the 
 Arts, members of his Lfo-iofi o/ffonoMr; and I have the testimony 
 of a Parisian, well acquainted with the actual state of Literature and 
 the Arts in France, " that the little bit of riband had produced a 
 greater effect on the exertions of the Professors, than all the pecu- 
 niary rewards which had been bestowed.
 
 132 HONOURS CONFERRED ON PART I. 
 
 When Polygnotus painted in the Portico, 
 before mentioned, at Athens, and refused to 
 receive a pecuniary reward for his works, the 
 Council of the Amphictyons, who represented 
 the States of Greece, returned him thanks by 
 a solemn decree, in the name of the whole 
 nation; ordering, that in all the cities which 
 he might visit, he should be lodged and main- 
 tained at the publick expense *. 
 
 Strabo relates, that the inhabitants of the 
 Isle of Coos obtained a remission of consider- 
 able part of a tribute imposed on them, on 
 condition of their parting with a picture, which 
 they possessed, o^ aFenus Anadt/omefief', and 
 Pliny, that Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, being 
 desirous of obtaining possession of a statue of 
 Venus, the work of Praxiteles, which then be- 
 longed to the people of Gnidos, promised to dis- 
 charge the whole debt owing by the city, if they 
 would yield him up the statue J. 
 
 The prices given by Sovereigns for works of 
 
 * See Pliuy ; and Rollin, on the Arts and Sciences of the 
 Ancients, t Book xiv. Geogr. 
 
 t Book xxxvi. chap. 5. Pliny's expression in relating this 
 anecdote is striking : " Omnia perpeti maluere ; nee immeritv. 
 Illo enini siguo Praxiteles nobilitavit Gnidon."
 
 CHAP. IV. THE ARTS OF DESIGN. 13J 
 
 eminent i\rt, kept pace with the respect which 
 
 was paid to them. 
 Candaules, king of Lydia, for a picture 
 
 painted by Bularchus, one of the most ancient 
 
 Greek Painters, paid the weight of the work 
 
 itself in gold*. 
 
 A picture painted by Aristides, the Theban 
 Artist, representing a conflict with the Per- 
 sians, in which the Painter had introduced a 
 hundred figures, (probably of celebrated cha- 
 racters,) is said to have been bought by Mnaso, 
 Ruler of the Eleatenses, at the price of ten 
 mincB for each of the hundred persons repre- 
 sented. The same ruler paid, for other pic- 
 tures, prices nearly of equal magnitudet. 
 
 Attains, the Sovereign of Pergamus, bought 
 a picture also by Aristides, at the price of a 
 hundred talents J; and the same price was 
 paid for a single figure of a youth, painted by 
 Polycletus ||. 
 
 But these pecuniary rewards, although of so 
 vast amount, appear of inferiour value to the 
 
 * Pliny, book XXXV. chap. 10. t Ibid. X Itiid. 
 
 II Ibid, book xxxiv. chap. 8.
 
 134 HONOURS CONFERRED ON parti. 
 
 honours before mentioned, and to others of no 
 less importance. 
 
 Demetrius Poliorcetes, the conqueror of 
 united Kings, hastened, after the siege of 
 Rhodes, from the din of war and the shouts 
 of victory, to visit the philosophic Protogenes 
 in his unmolested study*: and Plutarch re- 
 lates, that the Rhodians sent heralds to De- 
 metrius, entreating him to spare the work of 
 that Painter ; to which he replied, that he 
 would rather break to pieces the images of 
 his forefathers, than destroy the labours of 
 Protogenes f. 
 
 Phidias was honoured by Pericles with 
 every possible mark of esteem, and his de- 
 scendants enjoyed from the States of Greece 
 a salary annexed to the employ of keeping 
 clean the Statue of Jupiter Olympius, one of 
 
 * Pliny, XXXV. 10. The situation of his study is even said by 
 Pliny, in another part, to have saved Rhodes, as, it being placed 
 on the side where alone the city vras assailable, Demetrius forbore 
 the attack, rather than ryn the chance of injuring the works of 
 the Painter. Accustomed as we are to admire tlie importance of 
 the Arts in Greece, it is difHcuIt to extend belief to tlie whole of 
 this anecdote. 
 
 t Plutarch in Demetrio.
 
 OHAV. IV. THE ARTS OF DESIGN. 135 
 
 the most renowned works of that great Sculp- 
 tor. Before they set about the performance 
 of this task, which took place at stated periods, 
 sacrifices were offered in the Temple*. 
 
 Alexander the Great was not behind hand 
 with Pericles in his respect for the Arts. 
 Apelles was no less publickly honoured by 
 him, than Phidias had been by the Statesman 
 of Athens; and history has recorded a tribute 
 paid to his admiration of the artist, beyond 
 the reach of wealth -f-. 
 
 The same Painter, when he had finished the 
 celebrated representation of Alexander hold- 
 ing the thunder-bolt, in the Temple of Diana 
 at Ephesus, received his reward in gold inea- 
 sured out, instead of counted. 
 
 The veneration, in which works of the most 
 admired skill continued long afterwards to be 
 held, in all the cities throughout Greece, may 
 be learned from one of Cicero's charges against 
 Verres, in which he accuses him of having 
 
 * Pausanias, lib. v. 
 
 t See the anecdote of Campaspe, in Pliny, lib. xxxv. c. 10.
 
 136 HONOURS CONFERRED ON part I. 
 
 plundered, while he was Praetor in Sicily,every 
 thing that bore the name of Art*. 
 
 The Romans, although they fell very short 
 of the excellence of the Greeks, in the execu- 
 tion of works of Painting and Sculpture, were 
 not wanting in the value which they placed on 
 them, or the respect which they paid to them. 
 
 The principal anecdote related of Roman 
 powers of Painting, is materially connected 
 with its honours. Fabius Pictor, the head of 
 the noble family of the Fabii, assumed his 
 surname from his Paintings in the Temple of 
 the Goddess Sa/us'f. 
 
 * " Quid arbitramini," exclaims the Orator, *' Rheginos, qui 
 jam cives Romaiii sunt, mereri velle, ut ab eis marmorea ilia 
 Venus auferatur? Quid Tarentinos, ut Europam in Tauro se- 
 dentem amittant? Ut Satjrum, qui apud illos in ^^de Vestae 
 est ? ut cretera ? Quid Thespienses, ut Cupidinis signum, propter, 
 quod unum visuntur Thespiae ? Quid Cnidios, ut Venerem 
 Marmoream ? Quid, ut pictam, Coos ? Quid Ephesios, ut 
 Alexandrum ? Quid Cyzicenos, ut Ajacem, aut Medeaui ? Quid 
 Rhodios, ut lalysum ? Quid Alhenienses, ut ex Marmore lac 
 clium, aut Paraluni pictum, aut ex aere Myronis buculam ?" 
 
 t Quid sibi voluit Caius Fabius, nobiiissinius civis? qui, cum 
 ia ffide Salutis, quam C. Junius Bubulcus dedicaverat, parietes
 
 CHAP. IV. THE ARTS OF DESIGN. 137 
 
 Pacuvius, the Poet, is the only respectable 
 name in Roman Painting, after Fabius; but, 
 by Pliny's account, the Art rose into the 
 highest respect, when M. V. M. Messala, and 
 L. Scipio, surnamed Asiaticus, commemorated 
 their victories by Pictures, which they placed 
 in the most honourable public situations *. 
 
 The respect of the Romans for works of Art 
 appears, indeed, to have very greatly exceeded 
 their knowledge concerning them. L. Mura- 
 mius, the first celebrated importer of Greciaa 
 Painting, finding that a Picture b}' Aristides, 
 which was exposed to sale among other booty, 
 had been bought by Attalus at the unexpected 
 price of six thousand sestertii, conceived it to 
 have some secret value which he could not 
 perceive, and refused to relinquish it, in spite 
 of the remonstrances of the roj'al purchaser f. 
 
 Scipio Minor, (the patron of Polybius and 
 Pantetius), by a conduct directly the reverse 
 
 pinxisset, nomen his suurn inscripsit. Id euim deinum ornamenti 
 faniiliae coiibulatibus, ft sacerdotiis et triuiuphis celebcnim^e 
 deerat. — Val. Max. lib. viii. cap, 14. 
 
 See also Appendix, No. 2. 
 
 * Appendix, No. 2. t Pliny, lib. xxxv. c. 10.
 
 138 HONOURS CONFERRED ON paUT I, 
 
 of that of Mummius, showed equal honour to 
 the Alts, and to the cities which venerated 
 them. Having taken a town filled with Sta- 
 tues of Greek Divinities, which had been 
 carried away from Sicily, he ordered, by a 
 publick proclamation, that such cities, as were 
 the rightful owners of the Statues, should 
 prove their claim, and have them restored to 
 them *. 
 
 Julius Ceesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Horten- 
 sius the Orator, and M. Agrippa, are likewise 
 mentioned by Pliny among the admirers and 
 liberal purchasers of various Pictures and Sta- 
 tues. A singular anecdote also is mentioned 
 by the same writer, respecting a Statue by 
 Lysippus, which seems to indicate a very 
 great and general esteem for works of Art, 
 prevailing among the people of Rome in the 
 time of Tiberius f. 
 
 Nero was himself a Painter, and a patron of 
 Painting. 
 
 But on the respect paid to Painting by 
 
 * Plutarcli, Rom. Apophthegm. 
 I See Appendix, No. ?.
 
 CHAP. IV. THE AllTS OF DESIGN. 139 
 
 Antiquity, it is now, perhaps, idle to reason. 
 In Greece, it was attributable to the highest 
 national interest, of which any people are 
 capable, — their Religion. In Rome, the Arts 
 were wholly indebted for it to the characteristic 
 ostentation of the national manners. The 
 political difference o( present Europe makes it 
 necessary to regard them, in later ages, under 
 a different aspect. 
 
 To the respect of antiquity for the Arts of 
 Design, has succeeded the profusion of ho- 
 nours, bestowed on the professors of them by 
 the various foreign Sovereigns of modern 
 Europe. The love and protection of their 
 rising nowers, in the house of Lorenzo of 
 Medici, were followed by the patronage of 
 Julius II., Leo X., Clement VII., and other 
 subsequent Popes. The Dukes of Milan, 
 Mantua, and Urbino, the Emperors Maxi- 
 milian and Charles V., Ferdinand of Hungary, 
 Francis I., and Philip II., have vied with each 
 other in favour and personal attention to 
 Painters; to Albert Durer, Leonardo da Vinci, 
 Titian, Giulio Romano, and Holbein. Rubens 
 experienced the distinguished favour of the
 
 140 HONOURS CONFERRED ON part i. 
 
 Archduke Albert, and of the Duke of Man- 
 tua, and was even employed in a publick 
 capacity, in an embassy from the Court of 
 Spain to that of England. 
 
 The Portraits of Painters formed a part of 
 the Gallery in the Ducal Palace of Florence. 
 At a later period, in France, the attention 
 and respect offered to Poussin, are of no less 
 degree than any which have yet been men- 
 tioned. A letter to him has been preserved, 
 written by the hand of Louis XIIL, in which 
 the Monarch expresses the highest esteem for 
 his character, and warmly presses his return 
 to France, and his acceptance of the honours 
 prepared for him*. 
 
 In the greater part of these examples, some 
 notions of utility have been mixed with the 
 splendour of patronage. 
 
 It has been already shown that the Sove- 
 reigns of England have not been sparing of 
 honours either to Painting or Sculpture in 
 former periods of our history f, and that some 
 momentary gleams of favour have also visited 
 
 * Felibien. t See Introduction, p. 9.
 
 CHAP. YI. THE ARTS OF DESIGN. *139 
 
 them in later ones, is an observation equally 
 due to the character of our Nation. 
 
 In the period preceding the Reformation, 
 the favour of their Patrons had been gradu- 
 ally augmented ; and Henry the Vlllth* seems 
 to have vied in magnificent liberality towards 
 them with all the other Sovereigns of his 
 time. 
 
 In the period which succeeded, it is difficult 
 to decide, whether Elizabeth was inattentive 
 to the Arts from her own sentiments, or from 
 that wary policy which so frequently dis- 
 guised them. But the favour of Charles was 
 unequivocally distinguished : he had chosen 
 the Arts, principally as fit objects of delight 
 to an elegant mind t, and his love for them 
 was willingly extended to the personal ho- 
 nours of those who professed them. Rubens 
 and Vandyck were welcomed with the most 
 
 * See account of his encouragement of Painting and Painters, 
 in Appendix, No. 1. 
 
 t Walpole mentions an Academy erected under the favour of 
 Charles the Ist by Balthazar Gerbier ; in which " none but who 
 could prove themselves gentlemen, were to be admitted for educa- 
 tion, and where they were to be instructed in Arts and Sci- 
 ences, Foreign Languages, Mathematicks, Painting, Architecture, 
 Riding, Fortification, Antiquities, and the Science of Medals." 
 
 K *
 
 142 HONOURS CONFERRED ON parti. 
 
 stltution of a publick body was formed for 
 honour solely, the Royal Academy is that 
 body. Not only the numerous cares of the 
 President are compensated by the honour of 
 his situation ; the Professorships also have 
 only nominally an independent salary annexed 
 to them, the Professors earning a settled price 
 in proportion to the Lectures read by them *, 
 The whole of its existence is in the beam of 
 royal favour. Yet it may be questionable whe- 
 ther the Academy, as far as regards its crea- 
 tion mercl}', can be considered as altogether 
 claiming a place under the head of honourable 
 rewards. For, although such an establishment 
 could not be formed without partly rewarding 
 those, who were first intrusted with the direc- 
 tion of it, the more essential design of its 
 creation seems to have been, to induce the 
 cultivation of Painting in England, and to 
 promote the progress of future talents towards 
 the deserving and attaining of rewards. And 
 
 • The courses of Lectures, as well as the salaries of all other 
 appointments in the Royal Academy, are paid from the funds 
 arkinsr from the annual Exhibitions,
 
 CHAP. IV. THE ARTS OF DESIGN. 143 
 
 it will come more properly under considera- 
 tion, in this latter point of view, in the next 
 part, under the head of Patronage. 
 
 Similar doubts cannot be entertained con- 
 cerning the personal rank conferred, eitlier on 
 the collective bodj^ of ^^cadeniicians *, or on 
 particular individuals of merit among them. 
 The former cannot fail to be admitted as an 
 unequivocal mark of respect paid to the Arts 
 in their persons; and of the latter, it can only 
 be called in question, whether the honour has 
 been conferred on account of any singular 
 work of high desert, or from the amiable 
 partiality of the Monarch, for men, whose 
 general character and talents were justly de- 
 serving of his esteem. But, in either case, 
 the gift is the act of the Sovereign, who is on 
 
 • Tlie diploma granted to every Academician, on his becoming 
 member of the body, has the King's sign manual, and gives 
 him the rank of Esquire, (an honour which, by the law of our 
 land, descends to his eldest son,) placing him next in precedence 
 to those who hold the Degree of Doctor in the Three Faculties at 
 the Universities. An artist who adds to this rank tlie merit of 
 deserving it, may be well content as to the state in which he 
 iinds hiraself placed at an enrly part of his career. 
 
 a
 
 144 HONOURS CONFERRED ON PART I. 
 
 all occasions the fountain of national honour. 
 The honours thus bestowed, may be inade- 
 quate to the reward, but are certainly con- 
 genial to the nature, of the Arts ; and they 
 might be fully sufficient ta remove some of the 
 prejudices which have retarded the cultivation 
 of Painting, if other impediments did not 
 obstruct their effects. 
 
 Of farther honours of Painting, none are to 
 be found, unless we consider as such, several 
 nominal appointments in the list of his Ma- 
 jesty's household; among which, the only two 
 that at present imply any consequent employ- 
 ment of the artist, are the offices o^ the 
 King's Portrait PaiyHer, and the Surveyor of 
 his Majesty s Piclnrcs. The former is the more 
 important. To this appointment the successful 
 applicant is advanced, not by publick compe- 
 tition, but for the most part by favour ; and, 
 having long been unaccompanied with the 
 privilege of painting the Sovereign's Portrait 
 from the life, it has been so little regarded as 
 an object of fame, that the artist, if he has 
 not disdained, has too frequently overlooked 
 the employment, hiring inferiour Painters to
 
 CHAP. IV. THE ARTS OF DESIGN. 145 
 
 paint the Pictures required of him, at a cheap 
 rate, proportioned to the salary of his office. — 
 This is a circumstance doubly to be regretted ; 
 first, as it tends to convey to other kingdoms 
 an inferiour idea of our power in the Arts; 
 and, secondly, as it is a species of injustice, 
 that the artist, who enjoys the nominal honour 
 of being the Sovereign's Painter, should not 
 also enjoy the fame, to which such a distinc- 
 tion might entitle him. For instance, this 
 office was some years ago conferred on Rey- 
 nolds; and no Painter in this country was ever 
 better entitled to the honour of the nomina- 
 tion. But who could forbear to smile, on 
 reflecting, that the artist, chosen to convey 
 the resemblance of his Sovereign to foreign 
 nations, and to latest posterity, was one, from 
 whom the voice of the Monarch himself had 
 never commanded his Portrait*! Yet, alas! 
 who can smile, when he reflects that this 
 empty compliment of office was the only re- 
 semblance of national employment, oflTered to 
 
 ** The only Portrait of his Majesty by Reynolds, is in the. 
 Royal Academy, for which solely it was painted. 
 
 1,
 
 146 HONOURS CONFERRED ON PARTI. 
 
 the professional exertions of that most ac- 
 complished Painter, either before or after he 
 became the Knighted President of the Royal 
 Academy! He, to whom Nature gave her 
 truth, and from whose pencil she borrowed 
 grace; he, by whom Alexander might have 
 chosen, in the polished age of Greece, ex- 
 clusively to transmit his image to future times, 
 passed through his long career of publick ad- 
 miration, wholly undesired and unenjoyed by 
 the State, whose realms he adorned ! Thus, 
 it may be safely asserted, at least half the 
 opportunity, offered by the life of so illus- 
 trious an artist, to raise the character of 
 English Art, was lost to our country, for want 
 of adequate employment to call his talents 
 justly and fully into exertion. 
 
 The title of Historical Painter to His Ma- 
 jesty, was first conferred on the present Pre- 
 sident of the Royal Academy, and was so 
 much the more honourable to the person on 
 whom it was conferred, as it was an unsolicited 
 nomination, arising from the benevolence of 
 the Sovereign. The greater part of the other
 
 CHAP. IV. THE ARTS OF DESIGN. 147 
 
 titles of artists belonwino: to the household, are 
 similarly of recent date. 
 
 These then constitute the sum of honours 
 conferred on the Arts in England. First, the 
 Royal Academy: in which the privileges of its 
 Members are the final revvai'ds ; sanctioning 
 merit, but leading it to no farther opportu- 
 nities of support or fame, and looking forward 
 beyond themselves to total vacuity. Secondly, 
 the titles of offices annexed to his Majesty's 
 household; two of which alone are necessarily 
 followed by any demand on the skill of the 
 Painter; and of those two, the principal in 
 name regarded as a salary only, almost with- 
 out honour! And can these be considered as 
 adequate incitements to the genius of the 
 land ? 
 
 Before any study can be expected to attain 
 its utmost degree of elevation among a great 
 and reflecting people, it must be enabled to 
 assume distinctions, suited to its progressive 
 advance; its employment, correspondent to 
 the several distinctions, must be conspicuous ; 
 and its pretensions to honour placed on clear 
 and open ground.
 
 148 HONOURS CONFERRED ON part i. 
 
 It may be the more requisite to insist on 
 this point, on account of some remains of 
 unjust opinion, under which the Arts of De- 
 sign still obviously labour in this country. 
 The degree of rank or estimation, in which 
 we hold their studies, is at variance with the 
 terms in which we speak of them. We call 
 them Liberal Jrts; but how can that study be 
 deemed liberal, which is unconnected with 
 established liberal education, and in which no 
 person in the liberal classes of life would 
 professionally engage ? The father, who would 
 even ambitiously bring his son up to the prac- 
 tice of Physick, or the Law, will hesitate to 
 make him a Painter, or a Sculptor. 
 
 There exists an obvious distinction on this 
 point. Our present system of opinions allows 
 Painters to be of a liberal class, but will 
 not allow men in the liberal classes to be 
 Painters. Indeed so little have the distinct 
 provinces of Painting been hitherto made the 
 subject of attention by the discriminating 
 classes of society, that its mental part, and 
 its mechanical, continue to be spoken of un- 
 der the same denomination ; and a Painter is
 
 CHAP. IV. THE ARTS OF DESIGN. 149 
 
 a term, equally expressive of the man who 
 fills the mind with the awful exhibitions of the 
 Sistine Chapel, and of him who covers the 
 wainscot or the walls of our houses, to secure 
 them from the injuries of smoke and rain. 
 That both are adepts of the same Science has 
 before been stated : that their employments 
 are decidedly different, needs not to be stated 
 at all. 
 
 There is, no doubt, a reason to be given, 
 which will be esteemed (if not by the Philo- 
 sopher, at least by many who are not Philo- 
 sophers,) of a still more substantial nature, 
 wherefore an English gentleman should not 
 consider Painting as an eligible employment 
 for his son; viz. the impossibility of connect- 
 ing its highest pursuits with the ordinary 
 channels of wealth; a fault, as has been shown, 
 inherent in its nature. For this reason, many 
 situations in life are preferred for our children, 
 which, if honour be regarded abstractedly^, it 
 is difficult to esteem more creditable to the 
 holders; but they are productive of immense 
 opulence; Painting, comparatively of none. 
 AVaving then the injustice of prejudice of
 
 150 HONOURS CONFERRED ON parti. 
 
 every kind, there are found to be two rational 
 grounds of objection, which may prevent an 
 English gentleman from considering Painting 
 to be an eligible profession for his son ; and 
 both these grounds are relative to the con- 
 sideration of its honours. The first and prin- 
 cipal is, the total want of any object of 
 adequate importance, to which the views of 
 the professor can be directed, as in other 
 pursuits*. His alternative is solely an active 
 life of Portraiture for the multitude; a sub- 
 ordinate accomplishment of Art, and still 
 more subordinate occupation, when viewed by 
 the eye of an ambitious mind ; or a contem- 
 plative life of Historical Painting, for his own 
 domestic approbation : a mode of employment 
 which, though without blemish, is yet seldom 
 found to contain any powerful stimulus to ex- 
 ertion, and in which the chances of satisfac- 
 
 * If the various denominations of Histoiical Painter to his Ma- 
 jesty, Sculptor to his Majesty, Marine Painter to his Majesty, 
 Landscape Painter to his Majesty, £cc. &c. denoted any real or 
 regular employment of the Painter or Sculptor, necessarily conse- 
 quent on his appointment, the objection here stated would be in 
 no small measure obviated.
 
 CHAP. IV. THE ARTS OF DESIGN. 151 
 
 toiy achievement are proportionally dimi- 
 nished. — On this ground, Painting manifestly 
 labours under an inferiority to the other liberal 
 professions. 
 
 The second ground of objection, is the one 
 before hinted ; viz. the great uncertainty of 
 ever acquiring even an ordinary competency 
 by the practice of Painting; an objection, to 
 which (contrarily to the former) it stands ex- 
 posed in common with every other profession, 
 and which therefore would be no sufficient 
 obstacle, if success, once accomplished, 
 brought the profession within view of any 
 highly honourable situation, as is the case 
 in other professions in England. But of this, 
 it has been shown above, no prospect what- 
 ever exists. Being without that counter- 
 balance, the risk of the attempt naturally 
 preponderates. 
 
 In this point we may, perhaps, with a good 
 grace consent to be instructed by our rival; 
 for, although no regulations of a foreign Insti- 
 tute may appear fit for our exact imitation, yet 
 the proceedings which have lately taken place
 
 fw 
 
 152 HONOURS CONFERRED ON parti. 
 
 in Paris on tiiis head, are well entitled to our 
 consideration : 
 
 « Two departments of the Institute, namely, 
 that of the Fine Arts, and that of the Adminis- 
 tration of the Arts, are commissioned to in- 
 spect the works of the most eminent French 
 Painters and Sculptors, and to select five 
 Artists of each description, who shall be al- 
 lowed to concur in a publick Exhibition of their 
 works. The prizes are five, of progressive 
 value, and the concurrence is appointed to 
 take place once in ten years. The candi- 
 date who obtains the highest prize, becomes 
 from that moment devoted to The State, and is 
 employed by it in conformity to his talents. 
 The other candidates receive their respective 
 prizes, and retain a privilege of concurring 
 again in the next Exhibition. Thus, once in 
 every ten years, one Painter, and 07ie Sculptor, 
 are preferred to the honours and rewards of 
 National Employment. — This Plan commen- 
 ced in 1811. 
 
 From the view which has been taken of 
 the inferiour advantages of Painting to those
 
 CHAP. IV. THE ARTS OF DESIGN. 153 
 
 of every other employment in the liberal 
 classes, it may be safely inferred, that the 
 honours bestowed on it do not constitute its 
 adequate reward ; and consequently, that no 
 adequate and appropriate reward has hitherto 
 been conferred on, or held forth to, the Art in 
 England. — It will, perhaps, be more closely to 
 the purpose, as serving to mark a desideratum 
 in the present state of the Arts in England, to 
 repeat in explanation, that no putli or station 
 of appropriate and adequate reward, has yet 
 been opened to the English Artist. The no- 
 minal honours already appointed, may, or may 
 not, be thought sufficient, according to the 
 merit of the individuals to whom they fall; 
 but the honour wanted is, distinguished pub/ick 
 employment of men of talents, wlien they have 
 once acquired a just claim to professional 
 eminence.
 
 154 CHARACTERS OF DECEASED PART I. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 AGREEMENT OF THE FOREGOING 
 CHAPTERS WITH FACTS. 
 
 CHARACTERS OF DECEASED ENGLISH PAINT- 
 ERS, SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR 
 1806. 
 
 " Pauci, quos aequus amavit 
 
 Juppiter." 
 
 The truth or fallacy of opinions is easily ascer- 
 tained, by a knowledge of the facts on which 
 they are founded ; and although the events of 
 the moment may not always supply sufficient 
 documents of proof in support of opinions 
 advanced, they would be very formidable ad- 
 versaries, if found in direct opposition to 
 them. 
 
 Let us here pause, for the purpose of observ- 
 ing how far facts correspond with the remarks 
 that have been offered. Immediately con- 
 nected with the preceding statement of the 
 general disposition of the Nation towards the
 
 CHAP. V. ENGLISH PAINTERS. 155 
 
 Arts, must be considered all events, in which 
 the progress of the Arts is materially concerned. 
 It is therefore proposed in the present chap- 
 ter, to notice such circumstances as have oc- 
 curred subsequently to the " Summary State- 
 ment" given in a publication before alluded 
 to*. 
 
 The principal circumstances of that de- 
 scription are, the annual returns of numerous 
 Exhibitions of Painting in different parts of 
 the Kingdom, which, though they may occa- 
 sionally be without some particular specimens of 
 superiour talents, unquestionably demonstrate 
 the average state of the Arts amongst us; — 
 that average state, which, it has been asserted, 
 must correspond, in a very great measure, with 
 the general state of the publick feeling with re- 
 gard to the Arts. 
 y Let us first look at the Exhibition at So- 
 merset House: what does it still exhibit? A 
 ^ splendid mass of Portraiture, such as has 
 /^ rarely, if ever, been surpassed in any school 
 of any Nation. To this point, the actual 
 
 * Inquiry into llie Requisite Cultivation of the Arts of Design 
 ki England, 1806.
 
 156 CHARACTERS OF DECEASED part I. 
 
 degree of knowledge and esteem of Painting 
 in the publick, and the skill of the artist, 
 equally concur. The slowly awakening taste 
 of the Nation has scarcely produced any in- 
 crease of works in the higher classes of Art. 
 In Familiar History, the scenery of humble 
 and domestic life, the nearest allied to Por- 
 trait Painting, extraordinary efforts have de- 
 servedly attracted a considerable portion of 
 publick attention. The number of Historical 
 Pictures in other classes continues in the 
 same inferiour proportion as ever, to that of 
 Portraits. The Nation views with compla- 
 cence, and without farther ambition, an excel- 
 lence of no inconsiderable degree, widely dif- 
 fused in the latter branch ; and its taste may be 
 regarded as so far advanced, as it no longer 
 imagines superiour powers to exist in every 
 work of foreign schools. We reason with 
 justice from a lately imported specimen (in 
 Engraving) of the most favourite Portraiture 
 of France, that we are as yet in no dread of 
 rivalry in that province. 
 ^ Our Exhibitions of Water-coloured Drawings 
 have displayed an uniformity of merit in
 
 CHAP. V. ENGLISH PAINTERS. 157 
 
 Landscape ; and some examples have here also 
 appeared in subjects of Familiar History, which 
 aided, perhaps, by the comparatively easy me- 
 thod of execution, have presented instances 
 of graphic expression, seldom seen except in 
 works of the highest kind. To this point also, 
 the state of the Art appears to be within the 
 compass of the actual degree of publick know- 
 ledge. 
 
 The effects of the British Gallery will be 
 considered in the subsequent part of this 
 work. 
 
 The Exhibitions established in the provincial 
 cities, have been in many instances highly cre- 
 ditable to individual exertion, and may not a 
 little tend to mature the taste of the publick; 
 but they have been hitherto attended with 
 very various results. In some instances they 
 have been greatly sucessful ; in others far less 
 prosperous.— Little information is to be ga- 
 thered from them respecting the present state 
 of the publick knowledge or taste. 
 
 But the period here noticed, has been 
 marked with the loss of several native artists, 
 whose success or failure must be of weight in
 
 158 CHARACTERS OF DECEASED paut I. 
 
 the consideration of the topick before us. The 
 most eminent are, Barry, Opie, Hoppner, Paul 
 Sandby, and Gilpin. Each of these it may be 
 useful to the present purpose to consider sepa- 
 rately. 
 
 Baury. 
 
 Of the highly gifted and highly cultivated 
 state of Barry's mind, the copious intelligence, 
 lately given to the publick by the editor of his 
 Life and Writings*, affords ample and satisfac- 
 tory proofs. Scholar, Philosopher, Author, he 
 commanded attention in every point : of his 
 talents in Painting, the proofs are not less 
 numerous ; but the peculiar record of his 
 merits, is the Progress of Human Culture, 
 painted by him in the great room of the 
 Society of j4rts, Manufactures, and Commerce; 
 a work, which eminently displays the com- 
 bined powers of his hand and his mind. 
 
 The character of Barry as a Painter, it is no 
 easy task to ascertain. Learned, laborious, 
 enthusiastic, ardent in pursuit of the highest 
 excellence of Design, the intent and direction 
 
 * Dr. Fryer,
 
 CHAP. V. ENGLISH PAINTERS. 159 
 
 of his works was uniform. His aim was to be 
 exemplary; to banish all playful levities of 
 Art; to make Painting the organ of national 
 sentiment and instruction. His forms were 
 such as his own mind had selected, from con- 
 stant observation of the Greek Statues. His 
 conception was vigorous ; his composition 
 scientific. — With merit so high, what coun- 
 terpoise intervened to suspend unqualified 
 praise ? — His forms, though select, were occa- 
 sionally dry and overcharged. His concep- 
 tion, though vigorous, was frequently crude. 
 His composition, though learned, was some- 
 times heavy, sometimes extravagant. Though 
 studious of character, he never touched the 
 affections. Such, briefly, are the features that 
 distinguished, on either side, the merits of that 
 singular man and artist, Barry. Let us now 
 look at the results drawn from the general 
 disposition of the State towards the Arts, as 
 far as it affected him. 
 
 Barry had assiduously improved the faculties 
 of no ordinary kind, with which Heaven had 
 endowed him. His mind was informed by 
 education, by travel, by research into ewery
 
 160 CHARACTERS OF DFXEASED parti. 
 
 study which adorns the scholar, and strength- 
 ens the artist. — He devoted his hfe to Histori- 
 cal, or rather Poetical Painting; and he passed 
 the greater portion of it in difficulty and partial 
 obscurity ; unable to discover any opportunity 
 of employing his talents and acquirements 
 either greatly to his own advantage or to that 
 of the community. At length, by perseverance, 
 by the force of impressive argument and attest- 
 ed professional ability, he made his way to the 
 single undertaking, which forms the important 
 memorial of his name, at the residence of the 
 Society of Arts. With the exception of that 
 solitary opportunity of opening the accumu- 
 lated stores of his mind, his years of life were 
 for the most part consumed unprofitably, 
 amidst discontent, indignation, reproach of 
 the neglect which wronged him, and an un- 
 conquered, unproductive devotion to the re- 
 search of excellence in his Art. 
 
 Let it be allowable to ask — not an intimate 
 — not a partial admirer of this extraordinary 
 man, but any one merely in the slightest 
 degree acquainted with Barry's merits; nay, 
 any one who knew them only by the name.
 
 CHAP. V. ENGLISH PAINTERS. l6l 
 
 which, in spite of all obstacles, his abilities 
 had conferred on him; is the above account 
 such a one as should, in human reasoning, be 
 expected of such a character, in an advanced 
 period of a polished State ? Were the re- 
 sults of his life and talents the proper interests 
 of the capital, which the country possessed in 
 him? — And wherein lay the cause, which 
 prevented his labours from being useful and 
 honourabl to the community at large ; 
 from being of avail to forward the advance of 
 
 the Arts ? Shall we hesitate to reply, that 
 
 it lay in the want of a path in which he 
 could proceed r — in the absolute impossibility 
 of bringing his full and comprehensive mind 
 into adequate exertion! 
 
 Nor let the sarcastic brow be lifted, to cen- 
 sure the praise of Barry as extravagant or 
 romantic. What Barry performed, was per- 
 formed under the pressure of want, neglect, and 
 obvious publick inutility, aggravated by the 
 conscious sense of the worth of his own mind, 
 and of the high and virtuous study, to which 
 he had committed it. Was such a state of 
 
 M
 
 162 CHARACTERS OF DECEASED parti. 
 
 mind likely to produce the fullest and most 
 propitious disclosure of its powers? Will the 
 fancy glow under the conviction of mortified 
 eflort ? Will conception expand under the 
 feelings of neglect, — nay, almost of con- 
 tumely ? 
 
 *' By the waters of Babylon we sat down 
 and wept : we hanged our harps on the willows, 
 that grow therein. They that led us away cap- 
 tive, required of us a song and melody in our 
 heaviness ; saying, ' Sing us one of the songs 
 of Zion.' — How shall we sing the Lord's song 
 in a strange land?" 
 
 All that the En2;lish Nation has seen of 
 Barry's merits, is exactly as much as the 
 utmost means of impediment could not pre- 
 vent him from disclosing. What it might 
 have seen in other circumstances, must be 
 calculated by the ordinary difference between 
 stijiing and fostering the progress of exertion. 
 
 Opie. 
 
 Let us now turn to look on Opie. His 
 merits are yet so fresh in remembrance, and
 
 CHAP. V. ENGLISH PAINTERS. l63 
 
 the character of his works has been given by 
 so perfect a judge of his art*, that it will be 
 here sufficient to borrow from that account 
 the general features of his merits. 
 
 To original conception and ideal arrange- 
 ment of his subject, Opie added a powerful 
 execution, dependent in great measure on the 
 value of his model. He sought expression 
 and character in simplicity; and, with the 
 faculty of real genius, he saw Nature dis- 
 tinctly and forcibly in one point above all 
 others. That point was the truth of colour, as 
 it is conveyed to the eye through the atmo- 
 sphere in varying degrees of distance. He re- 
 presented local hues in all their tones and pro- 
 portions, whether in light or shade, with per- 
 fect uniformity ; and this appearance of truth 
 was invariable in all his works. 
 
 His Portraits, as well as his Pictures in 
 general, possessed breadth in an eminent de- 
 gree. They unvaryingly possessed, in a strong 
 manner, the general expression of character ; 
 
 * See Mr. Wesfs Account of Opie's Merits as a Painter. — 
 Artht, vol. i. No. 7. — See also the article Opie, in Mr. Y 
 edition of Pilkington's Dictionary of Painters. 
 
 "'u sell's y^
 
 164 CHARACTERS OF DECEASED parti. 
 
 they were (though not always) deficient in 
 some of the refined discriminations, which 
 mark the highly polished heads of Raffaelle, 
 Titian, and Reynolds. 
 
 With the talents of the Artist let us next 
 compare the progress of his success, as far 
 as it affected the Art itself. — On the de- 
 sultory manner, in which Opie gained access 
 to the professional path of Painting, it would 
 he superfluous to remark. His disadvantages 
 in that respect were numerous, and he over- 
 came them. Great, however, as are the ad- 
 vantages of early education, assisted by erudi- 
 tion and instruction, it may be contended 
 by those who think genius every thing, that 
 its unshackled flights are more propitious to 
 the outset of eminent talents. But grant that 
 they are so — grant that an extraordinary genius 
 had found its way to the contest for eminence 
 in the most favourable manner — what was to 
 be found to aid its progress ? — Opie, in his 
 early course, imitated, imbibed, rivalled every 
 degree and mode of art, of which he was 
 capable of judging. In the narrow sphere 
 which bounded his observations, he saw little
 
 CHAP. V. ENGLISH PAINTERS. l65 
 
 or nothing worthy of his imitation, and his 
 style was bold and puerile. When he was con- 
 ducted to London, and his eyes had opened 
 on the raaturer powers of Reynolds and his 
 contemporaries ; when his mind had been en- 
 riched by studying the numerous works of 
 Painting in the cabinets of the metropolis, he 
 still imitated and rivalled. His standard of 
 competition was raised — he glowed with more 
 elevated ambition — he panted for the contest 
 of superiour renown. — But what course was 
 open for the pursuits of rivalry? Should he 
 enter the lists with Barry, and swell the cata- 
 logue of their bounties, who 
 
 " Help to bury whom they help to starve?" 
 
 or should he contend with the great Historical 
 Painter of our day, and meet with him the 
 mortifying apathy of the publick, only at 
 length awakened to the triumph of septuage- 
 nary toil: — Or should he seek some great 
 publick course, in which his ardent mind 
 might expand its superiour faculties ; where 
 he might strive to adorn his age, 
 
 " And make the world to come his own ?"
 
 l66 CHAUACTERS OF DECEASED part I. 
 
 No such path existed. — The utmost scope of 
 exertion within his view, was, hke his fellows, 
 to paint Portraits — diligently to profess him- 
 self a. Portrait- Painter — even that a precarious 
 calling, but the only one, which it was in his 
 power to unite with necessary subsistence. 
 
 An observation similar to that which has 
 already been made on Barry, may here be 
 made on Opie ; — he achieved only what 
 could not be prevented. His capacious mind 
 had not, at the time of his early death, com- 
 pleted half its stores; and it maj' be doubted, 
 even by those who regarded him with the 
 fondest and proudest partiality, whether he 
 could be said to iiave yet arrived at originality 
 — to have yet opened the sluices of a saturated 
 mind. — He was born for competition; he was 
 impelled by the force of a native ambition, to 
 contend for eminence with whatever he savir 
 most elevated in his profession. He rose to 
 mix his name with the highest of our school, 
 such as he found it existing. Had he met it 
 in a still more elevated state — nay, had he 
 met the school of Phidias or Apelles, it is a 
 probable deduction from what he actually
 
 CHAP. V. ENGLISH PAINTERS. 16? 
 
 accomplished, that the unquenchable spirit of 
 emulation, which animated his whole mind, 
 would have raised him near to a level with 
 the highest. The degree, therefore, of what 
 has been lost in the instance of Opie, from the 
 total absence of encouragement on the part of 
 the State, is equally problematical as in the 
 foregoing case of Bany. Both these great 
 Artists may be brought as additional, irrefra- 
 gable instances of the national loss, incurred 
 by the reluctance of our Government to extend 
 its protection to the progress of Painting. 
 
 HOPPNER. 
 
 AVith a conduct, if not with feelings, wholly 
 different from the elevated ambition of the 
 two last-mentioned Painters, Hoppner, though 
 " with ability to distinguish himself in another 
 sphere," suffered the charm of publick admira- 
 tion to chain him down to Portraiture, in 
 which department of his Art, with the excep- 
 tion of a very few works of poetical composi- 
 tion, he passed his whole years, amidst an un- 
 ceasing flow of employment and encourage- 
 ment.
 
 168 CHARACTERS OF DECEASED part i. 
 
 His character in Art is marked with few 
 striking features. — He became one of the 
 most eminent Portrait-Painters after the death 
 of Reynolds. Of that great Master, as he 
 fervently admired the works, he followed also 
 the style, with the desire of a rival, but too 
 often with the submission of an imitator. 
 Both in Portraits and in subjects of fancy, his 
 colouring was ricli, mellow, and harmonious. 
 His female figures are graceful in their atti- 
 tudes, and their draperies are tasteful and 
 elegant. He represented with happiness the 
 incidental air of fashion. His Portraits of 
 men were often less distinguished by strength 
 of character, than by other merits; though 
 many have great merit in that point also. 
 His back-grounds exhibited his powers in 
 another branch of Art : his Landscape was 
 variegated by fancy, and beautiful in colour 
 and effect. 
 
 Paul Sandby. 
 
 Of P. Sandby it is principally worthy to be 
 observed, that he was the inventor in England 
 of that style of water-coloured drawing in 
 Landscape, which has since been carried to
 
 CHAP. T. ENGLISH PAINTERS. IGQ 
 
 SO singular a degree of beauty and expres- 
 sion of Nature; and that he enjoyed the pa- 
 triotic satisfaction of seeing others advance 
 far beyond himself, in the path which he had 
 discovered and laid open. — This zcas his re- 
 ward. 
 
 Gilpin. 
 
 Gilpin, less anatomically learned than 
 Stubbs, gave to inferiour animals of every de- 
 scription, not only the forms of simplicity and 
 truth, but added a grace and sentiment, which 
 seemed to rank them in a higher class of in- 
 tellect. Confiding in his powers of this kind, 
 he produced his " Council of the Houyhn- 
 hnms," and other subjects of equal concep- 
 tion. They were fortunately within the scope 
 of Publick Knowledge, and his talents met 
 with the respect to which they were entitled*. 
 
 But, if tlie fate of the several artists here 
 described give demonstration of the state of 
 
 • Tlie reader will find ia the Appendix, No. 2, an extract 
 from a letter of an iirlist and near relation of ]\lr. Gilpin, which 
 gives so pleasing an account of an amiable man, that it cannot 
 fail to be acceptable. 
 
 h
 
 170 CHARACTERS OF DECEASED pakt l. 
 
 the publick taste, it may also tend to its ex- 
 citement to remark, that the works of all those 
 artists furnish no less striking instances of 
 proof, (if such were wanting, in addition to the 
 great example of Reynolds,) that the genius, 
 which the virtuosi of the last century were so 
 anxiously seeking, is already in the land, 
 and claims the adoption of the State. It is 
 true that we can as little deny the excellence 
 as the precedence, of Greek and Italian Art: 
 time has given the one, and the works of 
 extraordinary artists of the highest class have 
 established the other. But the eternal supe- 
 riority of former schools or powers of Art, it 
 is the virtuous and honourable office of the 
 Moderns to contest. The artists of England 
 hold perpetual combat with the i\ncients of 
 either epoch ; to subdue them — not by methods 
 so long unfortunately practised against them- 
 selves, by decrying their works, and depre- 
 ciating their just merits, but by fair and open 
 rivalry. But the Arts, left to themselves, are 
 not sufficient to their own glory. Let them 
 be duly supported — let us treat them as we 
 do our arms. Do we not boast that, all heroes
 
 CHAP. V. ENGLISH PAINTERS. 171 
 
 as our soldiers are, it is in consequence of 
 skilful instructors and adequate providers, that 
 they are enabled to conquer?— that they are 
 not merely as brave, but as ably conducted, as 
 ably supported, and as amply rewarded, as 
 any of the boasting or boasted demigods of 
 the Continent ? 
 
 So let it be with the Arts !
 
 PART II. 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PATRONAGE OF THE ARTS OF DESIGN 
 IN ENGLAND. 
 
 " Oh better Sun! 
 
 Sun of the Arts ! by whom the cloudy North 
 Sublira'd, shall envy not Italia's skies, 
 When shall we call these ancient laurels ours ? 
 And when thy work complete?" 
 
 Thomson's Liberty. 
 
 " Pictura, ars quondam uobilis, tunc cum expeteretur a regibus 
 populisque," — Pliny.
 
 OF THE 
 
 PATRONAGE OF THE ARTS OF DESIGN, 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 OF THE METHODS OF ENCOURAGEMENT 
 ADOPTED, TO PROMOTE THE ART OF 
 DESIGN. 
 
 " Here shall he need 
 
 All circumspection." 
 
 Paradise Lost, book ii. 
 
 The inadequacy of the support, which the 
 Fine Arts derive from the ordinary paths of 
 national prosperity, has, in all countries, given 
 birth to Patronage; a mode of encouragement, 
 to which artists of genius have resorted, as a 
 measure of necessity rather than of inclina- 
 tion. Patronage of an exalted kind has adorned 
 the greatest States; and conducted, as it is, 
 with honourable and virtuous purposes, it
 
 176 INTRODUCTORY. PART II. 
 
 cannot fail, in its extension, to produce honour 
 to our own. 
 
 The view designed to he taken of the Pa- 
 tronage of England, on the present occasion, 
 is confined to an examination of the means 
 hitherto employed for the advancement of the 
 Arts of Design ; in order that we may be 
 enabled to form a just estimate of their 
 amount, both as to their real and probable 
 eflects. 
 
 The gratifying prospect of the benefits 
 which have attended them, deserves to be first 
 contemplated ; deferring to a later moment 
 the less acceptable task, of examining in what 
 degree they have failed, or are likely to fail, 
 of complete success. 
 
 Pirst in rank, amidst the Patrons of English 
 Art, stands our beloved and venerable Sove- 
 reign, George the Third. How pleasing a 
 testimony will it bear of his benevolent and 
 polished mind, that, at a time when the Arts 
 of Design in England were languishing in the 
 extreme, for want of sustenance to the artists; 
 when they poured forth their complaints un- 
 heard in every other quarter, the heart of the
 
 PART II. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 177 
 
 Sovereign was moved with compassion ! He 
 received the supphcants into his paternal care, 
 and extended to them the solacing assurance of 
 needful assistance! The Royal Academy rose 
 under his auspices, and has been established 
 in a building assigned to the publick uses of 
 the State ; he permitted his name to be en- 
 rolled at the head of a numerous list of men, 
 depressed by neglect, but zealous to increase 
 the fame of their country by the merit of 
 their attainments *. Graced by his favour. 
 
 * At the same time tliat the Sovereign thus generously ex- 
 tended his protection to the rising establisliment of the Academy, 
 nothing could be more graceful and amiable than the impartial 
 candour of his conduct towards the Chartered Society of Artists, 
 from which the Royal Academy had been formed. On the 
 members of that Society addressing him, when the success of 
 the Exhibitions of the Royal Academy had instigated them to a 
 similar undertaking, they were benignly answered, that " The 
 Society had his Majesty's protection ; that his Majesty did not 
 mean to encourage one set of men beyond another ; that having 
 afforded his favour lo the Society by his Royal Charter, he had 
 thought right also to encourage the new Petitioners ; that his in- 
 tention was to patronize the Arts; that the Society might rest 
 assured, his royal favour would be equally extended to both, and 
 that he should visit their Exhibitions as usual." — See the Intro- 
 •luction to Edwards's Anecdotei of Painters. 
 
 N 

 
 17S INTRODUCTORY. part ii. 
 
 during more than forty years, the annual Ex- 
 hibitions have not only attracted continual 
 publick attention, but have produced a reve- 
 nue, equal to the entire maintenance of the 
 Academy, without farther burthen on the 
 benevolence of tiie Founder. 
 
 About thirt}^ years after the establishment 
 of the Royal Academy, relief began to dawn 
 anew on one description of artists. The Par- 
 liament decreed funereal honours to our States- 
 men and Heroes. These honours were order- 
 ed to be bestowed in the form of Publick 
 Monuments, erected in the Cathedrals of 
 the metropolis. Hero after Hero crowned his 
 life with glory, and vote after vote showered 
 affluence on the Sculptors. 
 
 Lastly; sensible of individual merits, unjustly 
 depressed or obscured, and forming generous 
 designs for the support of a laborious class of 
 men, employed in innocent, and perhaps vir- 
 tuous, pursuits, a combination of opulent and 
 highly cultivated persons arose to vindicate 
 the friendless Painters, and by timely aids to 
 preserve their industry fo;: the honour of their 
 country. The British Institution pur-
 
 PART n. INTRODUCTORY, 179 
 
 chased, and opened, a place of perpetual ex- 
 hibition and sale for the works of British 
 artists, and has, by its exertions, already dis- 
 tributed among them several thousand pounds. 
 
 These are the chief supports, which pro- 
 fessional talents have received in this country; 
 which have successively aided the course of 
 the Arts of Design, and cheered the toils of 
 the artists. 
 
 As the subject was partly treated of in a 
 former work, a cursory view of each of these 
 sources of patronage will be sufficient.
 
 180 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM PART xi. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM THE 
 ROYAL ACADEMY. 
 
 " Beneath one roj'al head, whose vital pcw't 
 Corrects, enlivens, and exerts the whole, 
 In finer Arts and publick works, shall she. 
 Shall Britain yield ?" 
 
 Libertt/, 
 
 The Royal Academy must at all times be 
 regarded as the ground-work of every other 
 endeavour to support the powers, or enlarge 
 the utilities, of Painting. It is the grammar- 
 school of the Arts; and though it may be ques- 
 tioned as to the extent of the assistance which 
 it affords, no serious doubt can be entertained 
 of its tendency, by means of its several de- 
 partments of regular instruction, to promote 
 the advance of knowledge in those studies to 
 which it is devoted. 
 To forward the full exercise of youthful
 
 CHAP. I. THE ROYAL ACADEMY. 181 
 
 talents, the Academy holds forth at once a 
 proper stimulus and reward in its annual and 
 biennial prizes ; and to fit the students for 
 those competitions, as well as to enlarge the 
 scope of instruction, conveyed by the schools, 
 are wisely added the annual Lectures of va- 
 rious Professors ; exertions, which though 
 sometimes accomplished with less regularity 
 than might have been desirable, yet, whea 
 once taking their course, have been more 
 frequentl}'^ endangered by zeal than indolence. 
 By these Lectures, as also by Discourses oc- 
 casionally delivered by the' President, the 
 students of the present day have been taught 
 to take a comprehensive and elevated view of 
 their Art. Without such accompaniments to 
 ordinary discipline, the pupil would be edu- 
 cated in the routine alone of his profession: 
 whatever is beyond, would be left to his 
 casual observation, an inadequate instructress 
 during the pressure of his necessary occupa- 
 tions. 
 
 The general vote of the Members of the 
 Royal Academy has lately reformed an omis- 
 sion in its j:)rimnry regulations, and added to
 
 182 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM part il. 
 
 the provinces of instruction the Lectures of a 
 Professor in Sculpture. Other departments of 
 tuition are still open, and may at some future 
 period increase the means of information to 
 the pupils *. 
 
 The annual Exhibitions have contributed 
 to give publicity to the artists and to their 
 works, as well as to keep alive that intercourse 
 with the polished classes of general society, 
 which must, in every view, be favourable to 
 the purposes of the Academy. 
 
 Such, briefly, are the benefits accruing to 
 the progress of Design from the Koyal Aca- 
 demy, in which the patronage of his Majesty 
 has been happily seconded by the zeal of the 
 Academicians themselves, whose various la- 
 bours, in the Schools of the Establishment, 
 
 * The recent Institute of Milan divided the Professorships into 
 no less than nine branches of instruction, and attached to each a 
 distinct school, which was to be regularly kept open under the 
 eye of an assistant. — (See Academic Annals.) How far the pro- 
 ject has been carried into eflect, the present state of our relations 
 with the Continent prevents us from knowing ; but the plan un- 
 questionably wore the appearance of enlightened patriotism, both 
 in regard to the Arts, and to the advantages which a State may 
 derive from them.
 
 €HAP. I. THE ROYAL ACADEMY. 18S 
 
 entitle them to stand in the first rank of pa- 
 trons of the Fine Arts in this country *. 
 
 Let us now view the subject on the other 
 side. Regarded in the light of effective Pa- 
 tronage, regarded as a National Establishment 
 of instruction in those Arts to which it is 
 dedicated, few degrees of inadequacy will be 
 found to exceed those of the provisions for 
 study in the Royal Academy. Scanty in its 
 supplies of Models and Plaster Casts ; the 
 latter crowded into so narrow a space, that it 
 is difficult for the students even to obtain a 
 
 * It is to be remarked, that occasional supineness in the 
 Academy has suffered some advantages, which were in the power 
 of that body, to pass by without avail ; and that internal dis- 
 sensions have sometimes sullied the respect due to its establish- 
 ment ; but when these errors are put in the balance with the 
 unabated steadiness with which, during nearly half a century, 
 its members have supported an undertaking, so honourable to 
 their country ; not only foregoing the annual emoluments 
 which arise from their labours, but even devoting them to the 
 benefit of others, who, in the advance of Art, may eventually 
 eclipse their own fame, (and whom they partly enable to do 
 so ;) when these things are weighed, it is only to be wished Ihat 
 the correction of the faults of that body, and the reward of its 
 achievements, may take place at the same time.
 
 184 PATROiSTAGE DERIVED FROM PAUX II. 
 
 proper view of them, something yet is done 
 to assist in attaining the first Elements of 
 Drawing. But, in the present state of the 
 Institution, it would almost appear that it is 
 by a kind of mis-nomer, rather than by a just 
 assumption, that the term Painting has been 
 included in its title; since not a single ori- 
 ginal Picture is to be found in its Schools. 
 An University without a Library could hardly 
 be more preposterous, than an Academy of 
 Painting without a collection of Pictures. 
 What idea of the patronage of Learning 
 would that College hold up, whose Library 
 were to consist of no other volumes, than a 
 few translations from two classic authors? — 
 Such is precisely the case of the Royal Aca- 
 demy. Seven copies from RafFaelle's Car- 
 toons, and three copies from Pictures of Ru- 
 bens, form its Gallery of Paintings*. Nor is 
 
 * Yet it is observable, that Reynolds expresses his conceptiou 
 of the advantages of an Academy in the following terms : " The 
 principal advantage of an Academy is, that, beside furnishing 
 able men to direct the student, it will be a repository for the 
 great Examples of Art. These are the materials on which genius 
 is to work, and without which the strongest intellect may be
 
 CHAP.i. THE ROYAL ACADEMY. 185 
 
 the case much better in the other departments 
 of the Academy. In the School of Sculpture 
 there is not one Marble Statue, and in that of 
 Architecture not one ]Model of the renowned 
 buildings of antiquity. Add to this, the only 
 collection which pretends, and partly serves, 
 to supply deficiencies in all the separate 
 branches of study, the collection of Engravings 
 from works of the celebrated Masters, is so 
 small as scarcely to deserve notice *. 
 
 fruitlessly or deviously employed. By studying these autlientick 
 models, that idea of excellence, which is the result of the accu- 
 mulated experience of past ages, may be at once acquired, and 
 the tardy and obstructed progress of our predecessors may teach 
 us a shorter and easier way." — Discourses delivered at the Royal 
 Academy, Jan. 2, 1769. 
 
 * " Our Academy," said the ardent Barry, " is too ill sup- 
 plied with materials of observation : the miserable, beggarly state 
 of its Library and collection of Antique Vestiges, I have so often 
 had occasion to lament, that it is almost shameful to mention it 
 any more." — See his Letter to the Dilettanti Society. 
 
 Since the period in which the above remark was made, fre- 
 quent attention has been paid by the Academy to the deficiencies 
 of its Library, which has been diligently augmented vvitii various 
 purchases. 
 
 Several casts from the Antique Slatues have also been pur- 
 chased .
 
 186 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM PART ir. 
 
 The principal inadequacy, therefore, of the 
 Royal Academy to that sphere of instruction, 
 which the Institution is otherwise well calcu- 
 lated to fill, consists in the want of a Gallery 
 furnished with original Pictures, for the study 
 of the pupils; in the want of (at least a few) 
 original Statues; of a better furnished Li- 
 brary, both in Books and Engravings; of 
 Models in Architecture ; and of a larger and 
 more commodious space for proper study from 
 the collection of Plaster-Casts *. 
 
 But these wants, material as they are, do 
 not constitute the whole deficiency of a Royal 
 Academy, considered as a publick Institution 
 for perfecting the progress of the Arts of De- 
 sign in their highest sphere ; in that sphere, 
 where alone their eminence can correspond to 
 the dignity of the English State. In that 
 view, it is to be wished, that an Academy of 
 Painting were enabled to combine instruction 
 of every requisite kind, in so extensive a 
 
 • The Letter of iMr. Barry, quoted in the preceding note, con- 
 tains also a proposition for extending the rooms of the Academy 
 adjoining to the spot wliere it now stands.
 
 CHAP. I. THE ROYAL ACADEMY. 187 
 
 degree, as to form a School of classic attain- 
 ments, to qualify the students for still higher 
 advantages. Although an Academy of Arts 
 can never pretend to vie with an University in 
 comprehensive range of knowledge, it might 
 justly aspire to rival it in the depth and ac- 
 curacy of all studies appertaining to a single 
 science. 
 
 That such attainments are not inconsistent 
 with the views of the Royal Academy, the 
 naturally elegant tact of Reynolds's mind has 
 demonstrated, in the Honorary Professorships 
 annexed to it by his suggestion ; and, per- 
 haps, as a first and easy step towards a just 
 enlargement of its studies, the immediate con- 
 version of the two learned appointments of 
 that description, from honorary into ejftctive, 
 might be a measure highly desirable. The 
 Professorships of History and Antient Litera- 
 ture might be rendered advantageous to the 
 Schools of the Academy, in the same manner 
 as that ot' Anatomy actually is, and might tend 
 to supply the want of those general classical 
 attainments, from which so many of the stu-
 
 188 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM part II. 
 
 dents are unfortunately, but, at present, ne- 
 cessarily precluded. 
 
 Such, then, may be considered the amount 
 ol" patronage derived from the labour, the zeal, 
 the instruction, the ambition, of the Royal 
 J\cademy. It is obvious, that its various defi- 
 ciencies cannot be supplied without liberal aid 
 from the State. And are not the purposes of 
 such an Institution worthy of a portion of the 
 national expense? Whatever exertions it has 
 hitherto made, it owes to the Councils of its 
 professional Members ; whatever stores it ac- 
 cumulates, are purchased from funds arising 
 out of the labours of the Exhibitors ; what- 
 ever instructors it provides, whatever rewards 
 it bestows to excite youthful competition for 
 superiority, whatever relief it extends to age 
 and less successful labour, the expenses are 
 equally supplied from the same funds*. It 
 owes to the State its dwelling, (subject to all 
 
 • The sum of 5000/. was originally granted by His Majesty 
 to the Academj', on its establishment ; since which time, as 
 ■above observed, it has been in all respects maintained by /y 
 its own exertions.
 
 CHAP. I. THE ROYAL ACADEMY. 189 
 
 the State taxes,) and to the Sovereign its 
 name and favour. Shall it descend, like a 
 fable, to posterity, that the august foun- 
 der of the Academy of England, during so 
 long a term of years, met no farther aid to his 
 exalted views; that no Minister of the Sove- 
 reign's Council, no voice amidst his Parlia- 
 ment, has shared with him the honourable 
 task of fame ? Shall he remain the insulated 
 Patron of the Fine Arts ? 
 
 Let it be repeated ; a Library, original Sta- 
 tues, original Pictures, Models in Architec- 
 ture, enlarged sources of instruction ; are the 
 desired and requisite provision of the Royal 
 Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Arclii- 
 tecture.
 
 190 UF THE EDUCATION PART II. 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 OF THE EDUCATION OF PAINTERS. 
 
 PROPOSAL FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF 
 PAINTING IN THE ITNIVERSITIES, CON- 
 SIDERED. 
 
 • " Light flashed to light. 
 
 Moral, or intellectual, more intense 
 By giving, glows." 
 
 Thomson. 
 
 Conscious of the inadequacy, both of the 
 rewards hitherto conferred on the Arts of 
 Design, and of the methods of instruction 
 hitherto established for their attainment, some 
 who have conceived Painting capable of be- 
 coming an instrument of moral benefit, have 
 proposed its introduction among the studies of 
 our Universities, as a measure at once appro- 
 priate to the liberal nature of the study itself, 
 and likely to conduce to the perfection of its 
 powers. A brief examination of this proposal
 
 CHAP. II. OF PAINTERS. IQl 
 
 may aptly claim a place in the consideration 
 of the patronage of the Fine Arts. 
 
 In the proposed introduction of Painting 
 among the studies of our Universities, two 
 points are stated, as principally to be regarded. 
 First, the advantages, wliich Painters would 
 derive from such an opportunity of enlarging 
 their sphere of instruction, and from their 
 communications with men of learning; se- 
 condly, the insight and just feeling with re- 
 spect to the Art, which would be diffused 
 among all classes of students in the Univer- 
 sities. 
 
 1st. With regard to the former, no doubt 
 can be entertained, that the more the mind is 
 expanded, and the more it is strengthened by 
 collected treasure, the more vigorous and 
 powerful will be its exertions in the point to 
 which it is particularly directed*. No one, 
 it is probable, in these days wishes to impose 
 on our credulity the inconceivable phantom, 
 which, under thfi name of Genius, was once 
 
 • " Deinde ipsa multanim artium scleiitia etiam aliud aijentes 
 nos omat, atquc ubi niiuime crcdas, craiuct, exccllit." — Junius, 
 ie Pict. Vet.
 
 192 OF THE EDUCATION part ll. 
 
 supposed to be invested with faculties, capable 
 in one point only, of even the most ordinary 
 comprehension, Correggio is no longer denied 
 to have possessed the means of erudition ; 
 Shakspeare is allowed to have been conversant 
 with the learning of his times; and Homer to 
 have been learned in learning of every kind. 
 We may now safely assert, that the intellect, 
 which is capable of carrying to eminence its 
 favourite pursuit, is fit to mix with enlightened 
 minds in every other province of study. Raf- 
 faelle and Bembo, Reynolds and Johnson, are 
 proved to be no discordant names. And, if 
 the display of mind gives the value to the 
 Painter's works, if " this exertion of the mind 
 is the only circumstance that truly ennobles 
 his Art *," the more informed and the more 
 perfected that mind be which is displayed, the 
 greater must be the value of the work. To 
 confirm this truth, where, but in example, 
 need we look for such authority, as may be 
 justly allowed to determine our judgment ? If 
 we turn to the eminence of the Italian School, 
 
 • Reynold^.
 
 CHAP. II. OF PAINTERS. 193 
 
 its brightest splendour is to be seen in the 
 emanations from the powerful erudition of 
 Michael Angelo, the classic stores of Leonardo 
 da Vinci, and the cultivated mind of Raffaelle 
 Sanzio. It will strike an inquirer, that M. 
 Angelo was educated by his father, Bonaroti 
 Simoni, with an express view to his occupying 
 a literary situation. At the early age of four- 
 teen, he could no longer be restrained from 
 following the bent of his genius for Painting: 
 but no sooner had his talents disclosed them- 
 selves, than he fortunately became an object 
 of concern to the enlightened patriotism of 
 Lorenzo de Medici*. At the house of that 
 profound estimator of the Arts, he was in- 
 vited to a constant seat at table, and there 
 found himself daily associated with all, who 
 were illustrious for learning, at Florence. His 
 farther leisure was passed in contemplating 
 the treasures of Lorenzo's collections. These 
 singular advantages may be said to have 
 completed his education ; and there is little 
 reason to doubt, that, in the active course of 
 
 • Roscoe's Life of Loremo de Medici. 
 o
 
 194 OF THE EDUCATION PART li. 
 
 his life, the superiour capacity of the scholar 
 contributed very largely, to raise him in his 
 favourite pursuit above his compeers*. 
 
 L. da Vinci, the great founder of the Flo- 
 rentine, or rather of the Classic School of Paint- 
 ing, descended from a noble family, was not 
 more renowned for his professional skill, than 
 for his extensive learning ; a profound and 
 active scholar, who " sailing round the world 
 of Art and Science, touched at every port, 
 and brought home something of value from 
 each -f." 
 
 The education of Raffaelle did not extend 
 beyond the usual attainments of his country 
 and station : bis father was a Painter ; and far 
 the greater part of his time, during his early 
 years, appears to have been passed in the 
 assistance of his father's works, and the rivalry 
 of those of his master, Pietro Perugino. But^ 
 when the native force of his mind had, in the 
 
 * The Poems of M. Angelo were published by his great ne- 
 phew, M. A. B. U Giovane, at Florence, in 1623 ; and are ranked 
 with the Testi di Lingua oi Italian Literature. — Roscoe's Life 
 of Lorenzo de Medici. 
 
 t Opie'a Lectures.
 
 CHAP. II. OF TAINTERS. 195 
 
 first vigour of youth, impelled him to loftier 
 contest, the advantages of an intimate asso- 
 ciation with men of the highest erudition, per- 
 haps overbalanced all that the schools of his 
 province could have taught him. It is indis- 
 putable, that the correctness of his knowledge 
 and taste is as evident in his great works 
 in the Vatican, as the amiable and compla- 
 cent genius, which animated all his produc- 
 tions. Behold the effect of this union: his 
 name is synonimous with the Art which he 
 practised ; and the powerful superiority of Bo- 
 naroti in anatomical skill, nay, the energy of 
 his sublime but less softened mind, has failed 
 to eclipse the lustre of his only rival*! 
 
 If we take the instance of the most eminent 
 Painter of our own country, will not the case 
 
 * To Raffaelle may well be applied the following sentence of 
 Junius : 
 
 " Idque non doctus niodo et pradens spectator, sed etiatn 
 populus intelligit, ac statim ita iaude prosequitur, ut legitime 
 studuisse, ut per omnes eruditionis numeros isse, ut denique 
 Pictorem etiam fatcatur : quern noii posse aliter existere, neque 
 unquam extitisse confirrao, nisi eum, qui tanquam in aciem omni- 
 bus armis instructus, sic in publicum omnibus artibus oruatus 
 cxierit."— De Fict, Vtt. lib. iii. cap. 1,
 
 196 OF THE EDUCATION" PART II. 
 
 appear equally clear ? The father of Reynolds 
 was a Schoolmaster ; and although his advan- 
 tages, derived from that source, must have been 
 far from deserving to be ranked on a level with 
 those, which he would have received from the 
 more copious instruction of our great publick 
 schools, there would be little risk in appealing 
 to the most enlightened scholar, whom those 
 schools ever produced, to determine, whether 
 the discourses of Reynolds are, or can be, the 
 productions of a man uninformed in the circle 
 of Literature *. Indeed, that they obviously 
 do not appear to have been written without 
 the aid of learning, is demonstrated by their 
 having been for a long time attributed, some- 
 times to Johnson, sometimes to Burkef; to 
 
 * If this point should not be allowed, how strong an argument ') 
 would be furnished against the utility of literary education ! For, iL 
 since the Discourses of Reynolds have been declared, on the au- / 
 thority of eminent scholars, to stand in the first class with respect V 
 to beauty of language and style, if that excellence can be attained Jf 
 by a man without learning, what is the inference ? 
 
 t Among the many unpublished papers of Mr. Burke, there 
 has not been found the sliglitest vestige, that can lead to the sup- 
 position of liis having ever assisted Reynolds in his Discourses. 
 Nor is the style of Burke more to be recognised in them, than 
 of Johnson himself. 

 
 CHAP. n. OF PAINTERS. 197 
 
 Goldsmith, to Beauclerc, to any one but their 
 author. This strange misconception may serve 
 as another proof ot" the mistaken estimate, then 
 made of the faculties of mind requisite to form 
 a great Painter. It was conceived, that to 
 write a book, exceeded a Painter's capacity. 
 
 The scholar, viewing his Discourses without 
 this prejudice, will need no technical judg- 
 ment, to perceive that they contain the /)A/- 
 /oso;?^y of Painting; and that their reasoning 
 is grounded on general principles, applicable 
 to every Art and every Science. 
 
 In the Flemish School, observe how the 
 magnificence of the pencil was sustained, by a 
 man whom education had profusely enriched 
 with accomplishments ! Learned, elegant, po- 
 lite; Rubens was fit to enter the ranks of di- 
 plomatic character, and he poured forth in 
 his works the erudition of his country and 
 his age. 
 
 Amidst the Schools of Design in Spain, 
 what name shall be spoken with greater reve- 
 rence, than that of Velasquez I)e Silva ? And 
 where was Velasquez educated ? In the re- 
 tirement and erudition of a cloister. Designed
 
 198 OF THE EDUCATION PART 11. 
 
 for the ministry of the Church, (with which 
 view his parents brought him, an infant, to 
 Seville,) he imbibed in his early years the rudi- 
 ments of science. When his genius called 
 him to the pursuit of Painting, he found in 
 the house of his master, Pacheco, (who was 
 himself a good classical scholar and a poet,) 
 a continual society of men of learning and 
 distinguished talents, well suited to improve a 
 mind endowed by Nature with the most inge- 
 nuous dispositions*. He rose above all his 
 contemporaries. 
 
 But if we look beyond all these instances, 
 to the acknowledged, permanent exemplars of 
 Art, where are they to be found, but in a 
 country, where Painters and Sculptors were 
 Scholars, Philosophers, and Teachers f; and 
 
 • Francesco Pacheco, under whom Velasquez studied, writes 
 thus of him : " Al cabo de cinco aiios, que estuvo en esta (que se 
 podia llamar) Academia del buon gusto, le case con mi hija, mo- 
 vido de su virtud, limpieza, buenas partes, y de las esperanzas de 
 su natural y grande ingenio." — Diccionario de Los Professores de 
 las Bellas Artes. 
 
 t Metrodorus Pictor idemque Philosophus, magnae in utr^ue 
 scieutia autoritatis. Itaque quum L. Paulas, devicto Perseo, pe- 
 tisset ab Atheniensibus, ut sibi quam probatissimum pliilosophum
 
 CHAP. II. OF PAINTERS. 199 
 
 where their publick education embraced all 
 that could strengtlien, and all that could adorn 
 the mind * ? 
 
 mitterent ad erudiendos liberos, iteraque plctorem ad triumphum 
 excolenduna, Athenienses Metrodoram elegerant, professi eundem 
 in utroque praestantissimum ; quod ita quoque Paulus judicavit. 
 — Plin. lib. XXXV. cap 11. 
 
 * " Euphranorem admirandum facit, quod et caeteris optimis 
 studiis inter praecipuos, et pingendi fingendique idem mirus artifex 
 fuit." — QuiNCTiL. lib. xii. cap. 10. 
 
 " Hie primus videtur," says Pliny, " expressisse dignitates 
 heroum, et usurpasse syiumetriam." — But testiraoaies of tliis kind 
 of various Greek Painters are innumerable. 
 
 The works of Apclles need no oUier proof of his various learn- 
 ing. Besides, as liis master, Pamphilus, procured the enactment 
 of the law, which confined the study of Painting to the higher 
 classes of citizens, it is exidently to be presumed, that Apelles 
 was in that class, and of course had enjoyed the advantages of the 
 education appertahiing to it. It will be recollected also, that 
 Socrates was educated to Sculpture. 
 
 The account given of Pamphilus, enables us to judge of the de- 
 gree of study allotted to Paiudng among the Greeks. Apelles, it 
 appears, was a student under him for ten years. And such was 
 the opinion, which the pupil entertained of the advantage of pro- 
 found instruction, that he himself left liis precepts in writing. 
 They are unfortunately lost to us. — " Apelles, eo usque, Olympi- 
 ade cxii. provectus, ut plura solus prope, quam caeteri omnes con- 
 tulerint: volurainibus etiam editis, quas doctrinara earn conti- 
 nent." — Pliny. 
 
 Besides Apelles, the following Painters and Sculptors are men-
 
 200 OF THE EDUCATION part II. 
 
 2d. With regard to the second point of ad- 
 vantage, considered likely to result from the 
 proposed admission of Design or Painting 
 among the studies of our Universities; viz. the 
 insight and just feeling of the Art, which would 
 be acquired by the general classes of colle- 
 giate students ; the path of demonstration is 
 not equally easy, on account of the existing 
 impediments before alluded to, as arising from 
 habitual opinions established by education. 
 Few will be willing to enter on an investiga- 
 tion, at once troublesome and apparently un- 
 necessary. For it would seem, that, from the 
 
 tioned by Junius, among those, who wrote on their respective Arts, 
 but whose writhigs have also been lost. 
 
 PAINTERS. 
 
 Perseus, Disciple of Apelles. 
 
 EuPHRANON, the Isthmian, Con Symmetry and Colours.) 
 
 Pliny, xxxv. 11. 
 Melanthius, (quoted by D. Laertius, in his Life of 
 
 Polemon,) 
 Pamphilus, (on Painting, and the Eminent Painters.) 
 Protogenes, (on Painting and Forms.) 
 
 SCULPTORS. 
 Antigonus. 
 Men^chmus. ^ Pliny, xxxiv, 8. 
 
 Xenocrai 
 
 wus. "\ 
 iMus. \ Plin^ 
 
 ATES. \
 
 CHAP. II. OF PAINTERS. 201 
 
 Study of Design being omitted among the 
 general objects of regular attention in our 
 publick schools, the student finds himself 
 authorized not only to neglect it, but to con- 
 clude, that no particular instruction is requisite 
 for the comprehension of the Art, even in its 
 highest branches *. And even supposing 
 the proposal to meet the most candid and 
 complacent attention, still the want of ac- 
 quaintance with the study which is the sub- 
 ject of it, will necessarily produce among 
 scholars a difficulty of appreciating its advan- 
 tages. It can only be from analogical rea- 
 soning, that we can form a just estimate of 
 the effects, likely to be produced by the admis- 
 sion of Painting into the ranks of Univer- 
 sity studies ; from considering, in what man- 
 ner we attain a just insight into other 
 branches of Science, and in what degree our 
 
 * This reasoning appears to be just and natural, on the part 
 of the young student. He necessarily presumes, that in the in- 
 stitutions of learning, appointed by the State, all iit objects of 
 liberal study are set before him ; and if he finds any particular 
 art or science omitted, he infers, either, that the kiiowledire of 
 such art or science is of itself obvious, or that it is below the 
 standard of his sphere of study.
 
 202 OF THE EDUCATION rART il, 
 
 present state of acquaintance with them de- 
 pends on their being held forth to us, as legiti- 
 mate objects of liberal study*. From reason- 
 ings of that nature it will be sufficiently evi- 
 dent, that were Design once admitted and 
 stationed in the schools of the Universities, no 
 ingenuous youth would leave his College un- 
 imbiied \yith, at least, those general principles 
 of the Art, which may rationally be supposed 
 to give an insight into its real powers ; and an 
 early intercourse with those who are devoted 
 to its pursuit, would gradually, and almost 
 i^isensibly, conduct the general student to a 
 just feeling of its essential excellencies f. 
 
 * The reader will find the subject briefly considered in this 
 view, in the Appendix, No. 3. 
 
 t On this point I have the authority of a remarkable Council, 
 held in one of our Universities : 
 
 " The great advantages of an University being such a conjunction 
 or communication of studies, as depends upon the concourse and 
 converse of a multitude of students in the same place. By rea- 
 son whereof, the great parts and learning of some, more eminent 
 than the rest, do by their examples, instructions and directions, as 
 likewise by their frequent occasional conversations and intercourse, 
 very much communicate and convey to others the benefit of their 
 own studies. And the frequency and variety of publick exercises 
 by men of different abilities and studies, all concurring to the in-
 
 CHAP. II. OF PAINTERS. 20 
 
 o 
 
 It must be acknowledged, that in the former 
 point, as far as it regards the actual attend- 
 ance of young Painters on the regular duties 
 of our Colleges, the difficulties are as obvious, 
 though not as great, as the advantages. It is 
 evident, that the admission of artists to those 
 studies, must be understood to imply in them 
 a previous acquirement of classical learning, 
 equal to that of the generality of such vouths 
 as enter our Universities*. The accommoda- 
 tion of a Painter's time and appropriate labour 
 to the stated duties of a College, might also 
 perplex his progress 'f. 
 
 crease of the common stock of learning, do insensibly instil into 
 one another such a measure and variety of linowledee and expe- 
 rience, as by their divided studies they could never attain to." 
 
 Petition of the University of Oxford, in the Protectorship of 
 Richard Cromwell, — See Gutch's Annals of Oxford. 
 
 * How far such a degree of attainments is compatible with the 
 necessary application of a Painter to the daily practice of his Art, 
 may remain liable to opposite opinions. Tiius much, however, is 
 indisputable. If we look within our own Academy, we shall find 
 that although (dl the Members are not of the first class of Scho- 
 lars, there are not wanting those, whose early acquirements must 
 probably have been fully competent to meet the usual tests of 
 proficiencj', required by the Universities. 
 
 t There is less difficulty in this point, than may at first be ap-
 
 204 OF THE EDUCATION PART 11. 
 
 In the second point of the proposal, affect- 
 ing the general classes of students, no similar 
 difficulties can possibly arise; and if the ex- 
 periment be once admitted, and the expecta- 
 tions formed on it should be justified, its 
 advantages are here so extensive, that, ardu- 
 ous as the attainment of the measure may 
 justly be esteemed, it can be no wonder, that 
 the eye and heart of the youthful artist should 
 turn to it with the liveliest emotions of hope. 
 " It is," he will say, " from the class of liberal 
 youths, thus informed bj' familiar acquaint- 
 ance with the just pursuits of the Art, that 
 will one day arise the Statesman, capable of 
 conducting it to an eminence, due to the pre- 
 tensions and genius of England. It is he, who 
 will fix the evanescent honours of our labour 
 and success. The Art of Painting has already 
 achieved among us all that the execution of 
 trivial subjects, and excellence in the inferiour 
 branches, can demand. Colouring, chiaro- 
 scuro, imitation, familiar expression, rival- 
 
 prehended. The length of College vacations affords ample op- 
 portunity of redeeming the loss of i-ractical application, occa- 
 sioned by College dutiee.
 
 «HAP. II. OF PAINTERS. 205 
 
 ling each other ! The two Establishments, of 
 the Royal Academy, and the British Institu- 
 tion, have brought Painting to a high degree 
 of skill, and pictures to a high price. It re- 
 mains, that the Art should meet the protect- 
 ing favour of a Statesman, who has learned to 
 feel, what Pericles, what Alexander, Au- 
 gustus, Leo, Louis, George, have felt; and 
 that, amidst the exalted powers of our State, 
 our amiable and venerable Sovereign should 
 no longer stand the solitary guardian of 
 Graphic Science."
 
 206 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM paRTII. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 OF THE PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM THE 
 BRITISH INSTITUTION. 
 
 " venturi pra3scia lauras." 
 
 The encouragement of Sculpture, dependent 
 on the votes of Parliament for the erection of 
 monuments to the memory of our Statesmen 
 and Military Commanders, should come next 
 in order under consideration ; but, for reasons 
 of a different nature, let us previously take a 
 view of the patronage, deriving to the Arts of 
 Design, from the establishment of the British 
 Institution. 
 
 Concerning the primary design of this In- 
 stitution, it would be sufficient, to ask, for what 
 but noble purposes could a combination be 
 formed, of the most opulent, elevated, and illus-
 
 CHAP. III. THE BRITISH INSTITUTION. 207 
 
 trious characters in the kingdom ? With what, 
 but the most hberal views, could they direct 
 their attention to the Arts of their country so 
 long unknown, except from the cries and com- 
 plaints of their professors ? What but the 
 most genuine benevolence could incline them 
 to assume the troublesome office of Agents 
 for the Artists with the publick ; and to set 
 the first example of purchasers, from among 
 those pictures that formed a part of the good 
 work, which they promoted ? 
 
 The British Institution, having provided 
 commodious rooms, where the pictures of 
 living artists might be exhibited, has annu- 
 ally admitted for sale, whatever works of com- 
 petent merit have been sent thither. It 
 assembles, also, an annual collection of the 
 works of Italian and other masters, which 
 students are invited to copy : a judicious 
 and liberal arrangement, tending to relieve 
 one of the great deficiencies noted in the 
 Royal Academy, and acceptable to the young 
 proficients, in proportion to the exceeding dif- 
 ficulty of procuring access (for the purposes of 
 study) to many valuable collections, with which
 
 208 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM part li. 
 
 the metropolis abounds. Not long after its 
 establishment, it announced the offer of pe- 
 cuniary rewards for the best compositions in 
 distinct classes ; and in proportion as its funds 
 increased, it has augmented its rewards. It 
 commenced also its Gallery of Antient Mas- 
 ters. Finally, redeeming the neglect of the 
 age, and oifering to the State an example of 
 Patronage, the Directors purchased of our 
 great Historical Painter one of his best and 
 latest works, at the splendid price of 3,000 
 guineas, purposing at the same time that it 
 shall form the commencement of a Gallery of 
 the English School. After the long interval, 
 which had succeeded to the labours of Barry, 
 at the Society of Arts, this purchase made by 
 the British Institution, is to be hailed as the 
 first example of Publick Patronage shown to 
 Painting in England *'. 
 
 * Much, indeed, had been said for several years past, of en- 
 couragement shown to the Arts. But in v/hat did the encou- 
 ragement chiefly consist ? 
 
 When West announced the completion of his classic work of 
 the Death of Nelson, and made known, that it might be seen at his 
 house, immense crowds of spectators instantly flocked thither, who 
 thronged his painting room, passages, door, nay, even the very
 
 CHAP. III. THE BRITISH INSTITUTION. 209 
 
 Such are the acts of liberality, which have 
 graced the Patronage of the British Institu- 
 tion, and entitled the Patrons to distinguished 
 acknowledgment. 
 
 street iii which his house is situated, in order to gain a view of so 
 interesting a publick work. The crowd continued for many weeks. 
 It seemed impossible to satiate just and general curiosity ; and 
 the Picture was at length removed to the Engraver's. Many 
 in that numerous assemblage conceived, no doubt, that they 
 were showing encouragement to the Art, and to the Artist, by 
 their presence ; and, as far as the attention of curiosity denotes 
 encouragement, they certahily weie so : but does it not almost 
 exceed belief, that of all this crowd, no one individual should be 
 found sufficiently wealthy, or sufficiently sensible of the merits 
 by which he was attracted to the liouse, to express a wish, nay, 
 even to make an inquiry, tending to the purchase of a Picture, 
 capable of affiarding such extensive delight ? 
 
 It may be inferred, therefore, that the best record of one of 
 the most deeply affecting, and most nationally important, events 
 ■which our history contains, would have been uncalled for, and 
 would not have existed, if the professional ardour of the Painter 
 and the Engraver had been as inactive, as the publick Patronage 
 of established meat in the Arts. 
 
 Booksellers and publishers were long the greatest patrons of 
 Historical Pahiting in England. Several Painters, who have 
 devoted themselves to historical invention, have derived their 
 chief employment Irom that source : the nobility of England 
 purchased the books, to which engravings from their Pictures 
 were annexed, and were content to be their Patrons at second 
 hand. 
 
 P
 
 210 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM part It. 
 
 Let us now further consider its plans, and 
 the prosecution of them. What question can 
 arise on the advantages accruing from them ? 
 Whether they were laid with a view to 
 awaken the enthusiasm of genius, and elevate 
 the pretensions of a great Nation in the Arts 
 of Design, or held for their object the more 
 ordinary branches of Art, and were intended 
 to advance the useful improvements of our 
 manufactures ; either of those purposes was 
 eminently deserving of so illustrious a pa- 
 tronage. 
 
 The original Resolutions of the Establish- 
 ment announce a path of decided utility to 
 the interests of the Country. They proposed 
 the institution of such a school of Painting, 
 as might forward and improve the communi- 
 cations of that Art with the manufactures of 
 the Country ; and in this was deservedly im- 
 plied the task of " extending and increasing 
 the beneficial eifects of the Royal Academy." 
 This purpose, it is evident, must be fully an- 
 swered by the mode of encouragement above 
 related ; viz. by the opportunities offered to 
 young Artists, for the copying of fine pictures.
 
 CHAP. III. THE BRITISH INSTITUTION. 211 
 
 and the sale of their works. The plan ap- 
 pears, therefore, doubly laudable ; while it 
 provides the best grounds for improvement of 
 our manufactures, it secures a provision for all 
 those youths, whom talents or circumstances 
 may preclude from the ambitious pursuit of 
 the higher views inspired by the lessons of 
 the Academy ; and it smooths and prepares 
 the way for the action of the Government, 
 whenever it shall deign to assume the active 
 patronage of the more elevated efforts of Art. 
 But the remaining parts of the plan come 
 more properly under consideration, in treating 
 of the Fine Arts, as the^? appear to regard the 
 patronage of the high provinces of Painting. 
 In offering its pramia, the Institution considers 
 " the higher branches of Painting, Sculpture, 
 and Modelling," as the subjects of them. The 
 prajmia of the Gallery cannot be supposed to 
 affect Painters of established reputation, who 
 would obviously have more to lose than to 
 gain by such a competition. They are, there- 
 fore, expressly said to be offered, " to ex- 
 cite the emulation and exertions of -younger 
 Artists." — These bounties appear to be meant
 
 212 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM part II. 
 
 to form the first link of progressive Patronage, 
 advancing from the groundwork laid by the 
 Royal Academy. It may have been con- 
 ceived, that youths, who were duly qualified 
 by their attainments in the schools of that 
 Establishment, might here find a favourable 
 opportunity of trying their strength by compe- 
 tition. But the Institution having expressly 
 excluded ail professional Artists from admis- 
 sion to any active concern in its proceedings, 
 are the noble Directors aware of the arduous 
 charge which they have thus imposed on 
 themselves? To become the Judges and guides 
 of the rising talents of the Country ? What judg- 
 ment shall fathom the promises of excellence 
 in immature eiforts, or foresee the failure of 
 premature superficial lustre i" Hardly the most 
 experienced Artist would be competent to the 
 task. And how important in their conse- 
 quences, are the dangers of errour ! — This is a 
 fearful responsibility. 
 
 It is impossible to view the efforts of the 
 British Institution, without reverting to a 
 wish for the powerful protection of the State 
 to the higher departments of the Arts. Were
 
 CHAP. III. THE BRITISH INSTITUTION. 213 
 
 we to imagine the exertions of the Institution 
 to be the ultimate efforts, hkely to be made 
 for the promotion of the higher provinces of 
 Painting in England, it might be useful to 
 inquire, what would be the result of this in- 
 stance of exemplary benevolence, in its effects 
 on the character of English Art ? 
 
 Can the production of works in the Fine 
 Arts be forwarded by the same methods of 
 encouragement, as ordinary manufactures; 
 and will the mere expertness of the palette 
 and pencil make a Painter ? If not, if more 
 be wanting towards the attainment of excel- 
 lence, would there be no danger, that the fa- 
 vour of the British Gallery might tend more 
 to multiply production, than to exalt talent ? 
 to produce Pictures, rather than Painting^ 
 to remove the Art from the Science ? to foster 
 a frivolous facility of manner, in the place of 
 the steady and philosophical train of study, 
 which the genius of England seems to demand 
 in all pursuits ? On this subject it might then 
 behove the Institution to pause; not for the 
 purpose of checking its liberality, but of ren- 
 dering itself more secure of a result adequate
 
 214 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM PART I r, 
 
 to its views. The object of the Britisii In- 
 stitution being supposed to be, to assist the 
 progress of British Painting toward the most 
 elevated state of which it is capable, would it, 
 in the pracinia which it offers, proceed on 
 substantial or on fallacious grounds ? Would 
 it not appear to assume as a datum, that a 
 scientific foundation of Painting is already 
 laid in the schools of this country', and that 
 nothing is wanting, but to excite diligence, 
 and to reward practice i? And would it not be 
 a charge incumbent on so noble an association, 
 that those, who are invited by it to enter the 
 course of fame, should be fitly provided with 
 the means to reach the goal ? 
 
 " Let rewards," it has been said, " be suffi- 
 cient, and the point is gained. Patrons will 
 make Painters." To ascribe such sentiments 
 to any improper consciousness of superiour 
 station or wealth, would be most illiberal : 
 they may be more justly construed to indicate 
 the voice of hope. But, in the state of ulti- 
 mate patronage here supposed, how far would 
 the benevolent views of the patrons be an- 
 swered ? It is undeniable, that patronage will
 
 GHAP. III.THE BRITISH INSTITUTION. 215 
 
 produce Painters; but the question for the con- 
 sideration of so elevated an Institution would 
 be, whether the present mode of patronage will 
 produce Painters of that high class, consistent 
 with the avowed object of the llstablishment ? 
 Might it not be found, perhaps at loo late a 
 period, that the means and groundwork of 
 adequate Science, so essentially requisite to 
 success in the arduous pursuit, are still want- 
 ing ; and that excellence cannot be called into 
 view by soliciting the dexterity of the hand, 
 where there has been no sufficient previous 
 information of the mind *' ? 
 
 * " Omnis Ars, oranisque etiam disciplina honorabiliorem natu- 
 raliter habet rationeni, quam artificiuni, quod maim atque opere 
 artificis exercetur." — Boethuis, lib. i. Musices, cap. 34. 
 
 It has been sarcastically remarked, that, as in consequence c?^* 
 
 of the liberality of ihe British Institution, Painters can now - ■• 
 
 gain an ample remunerati.m, nothing remains for them but to 
 show that the want of patronage was their only deficiency, and 
 to prove, by the immediate production of the most elevated k 
 
 works, that their abilities were at all times more ready, than the ^ f. 
 
 opportunities for exerting them. '^--^ 
 
 Such a remark might naturally enough have been made by 
 writers, whose rapid occupations permit them to assign a few 
 minutes only to each successive subject; but to a less rapid, or 
 less busy inquirer, it Is obvious, that, before the establishment of
 
 » ¥■■ 
 
 216 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM paut II. 
 
 In point of fact, it is not unreasonable to 
 doubt, whether offers of emolument, de- 
 tached from other considerations, will ever 
 produce excellence in any Art, Of the sister 
 Muse of Poetry, we are certain that, in 
 England *, no pecuniary rewards were held 
 forth for its encouragement, when Shakspeare 
 and Milton wrote. The penury, in which the 
 great Epic Poet laboured, and died, is almost 
 proverbial among authors. But both lived in 
 a time, when attainments in Literature were 
 esteemed among the most desirable possessions 
 of society ; and to be learned, was an object of 
 ambition even to the greatest f. 
 
 the British Gallery, many Painters did indeed want victuals, who 
 
 fi . could not paint without them; and that, now that they can get 
 
 *^ food, they will paint. But was food all that was wanting ' Will 
 
 the amplest maintenance at once inspire refined knowledge ? And 
 
 ^ , .is eating the only thing requisite, to elevate diligence to profes- 
 
 Li "' |i sional eminence? 
 
 • * Mr. Shee's Letter to the British Institution, connecting 
 
 competition for large pecuniary reward \vith a far larger portion 
 
 of publick honour, at the same time that it px/poses a security to 
 
 the independent efforts of Art, offers a well-digested piaii of 
 
 rendering money subservient to higher motives. 
 
 t It may, indeed, be replied, that we are not less learned now 
 than at those periods, and we are generally even more so : yet
 
 CHAP. III. THE BRITISH INSTITUTION. 217 
 
 Without depreciating, or even a<iverting to, 
 the merits of any individual, it is a melan- 
 
 where is now our Milton or Sliakspeare? To tMs it niny be 
 sufficient to answer, that a continued succession of Miltons and 
 Shakspeares would be a greater ph^enomenon in Nature, than tlie 
 hiatus, whVi has occurred between them and tlieir equals Nor 
 is it to be imagined, that any one could be absurd enough to 
 assert, that eminence of genius will infallibly accrue, in conse- 
 quence of the cultivation of Science. But this argument does 
 not supersede the necessity of regular improvement in study, as 
 affording, beside its ordinary benefits, the most advantageous 
 ground for genius to start from, at whatever period (present or 
 future) genius may appear among us. 
 
 There is a very apposite passage on this subject, in A^'oltaire's 
 Sitcle de Louis XIV. — " Les terres, qui firent naitre dans ces 
 tenis illustres tant de fruits du genie, avaient ele long-tems pre- 
 pares auparavaiit. On a clierche en vain dans les causes morales, 
 et dans les causes physiques, la raison de cette tardive fecondite 
 suivie d'une si longue sterilite. La veritable raison est, que chez 
 les peuples qui cultivent les Beaux Arts, il faut beaucoup d'an- 
 nees pour epurer la langue et le gout. Quand les premiers pas sont 
 fails, alors les genies se dcveloppent," &c. — torn. iil. chap, 32. 
 
 How absurdly did we long celebrate with excess of delight the 
 triumph of Shakspeare's " Wood notes wild," as the happy pro- 
 duce of untutored genius, swelling at once above all the powers 
 of modulation, which he could have acquired by instruction! 
 The cause of learning is indebted to every one who, by fair 
 examples, tends to show how much the superiority of the Muses 
 may be founded ou gradual general culture. — A late publication
 
 218 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM part II. 
 
 clioly truth, that the body of artists in this 
 country must, in the present state of patronage, 
 want that general, extensive instruction, which 
 prepares genius to reach the summit of ex- 
 cellence. There is no adequate channel of 
 learning, for the youths who devote them- 
 selves to the Schools of Design. Instead of 
 being early familiarized with the extensive 
 range of Science, with which their Art is 
 connected, and in which the exercise of its 
 higher branches must always participate, their 
 profession has even been thought to require 
 the exclusion of other studies * ; and in the 
 profession itself, instead of being taught to 
 assimilate the feelings of their minds with the 
 elevated poetic conceptions of the Greek or 
 Italian masters, they were, for a long time, 
 
 of Extracts from Authors contemporary with Shakspeare may be 
 considered in this instructive light. 
 
 * The learned Junius speaks of these opinions, as prevalent in 
 his time. 
 
 Non quidem me latet plures esse, qui, communi eruditione 
 satis superque imbuti, contemnunt potius literas quam nesciunt ; 
 tanquam majorem industrias et laboris gloriam habituri, si inge- 
 nium eoruni nullis alienarum artium adminiculis inniti vide- 
 retur."— De Pict. Vet. lib. iii.
 
 ^ 
 
 CHAP. III. THE BRITISH INSTITUTION. 219 
 
 educated to workmanship only. They were 
 instructed to reverence Michael Angelo for his 
 style, and Raffaelle for his drawing; to seek 
 in Titian and Rubens for local hues or syste- 
 matic colour ; and nothing farther : the rest, 
 that is, the highest powers of those Painters, ■?. 
 
 their elevated conception, poetic fancy, splendid 
 composition and arrangement, were left (ge- 
 nerally speaking, but certainly not without •, 0>f ^ 
 exceptions) to the pupils' own powers of dis- •^^ 
 covery, or were, at best, scantily set to view 
 by fortuitous opportunities of instruction. The 
 lofty enterprises of genius were thence fatally ^^^ 
 considered, as to be achieved by none but the | 
 untutored force of native talents. The philo- | 
 sophical observation of Reynolds first, in this 
 country, brought Genius down from " his vi- 
 sionary situation in the clouds, to give him a 
 more solid mansion on the earth *." •^'■■-"- v 
 
 * See his admirable Discourses. Disc. 7. ^'*' 
 
 Of the same nature are the following sentiments expressed not 
 loug since by the present President of the Academy, in conversa- 
 tion on the subject of the Arts, as cultivated in various nations. 
 
 " I have settled my mind as to this point : when I look at the 'k "^ 
 
 works of the Greeks, I do not see Fancy, I do not see Genius; ^ V 
 
 I see Philosophy" 
 
 •55
 
 220 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM part II. 
 
 So for, then, as the preceding statement may- 
 be thought just, the designs of the British 
 Institution, in the points which regard the 
 elevation of Painting, may be considered as 
 imperfect, or, to speak more properly, as im- 
 mature ; for why should not a hope subsist, 
 that the honourable perseverance, displayed 
 in the prosecution of its plans, may finally 
 lead to the best and greatest efforts ? 
 
 The Institution will ever merit the gratitude 
 ; of English artists for the weight it has added 
 to the benevolent efforts of individuals, in 
 favour of our native School. It has opened 
 I the doors of opulence to the admission of 
 English Pictures, and reconciled the patrons 
 of foreign talents to the pretensions of our 
 own. Nor is it a matter of small moment, 
 
 i that, if ever the Government should assume to 
 itself the patronage of the higher provinces 
 
   of Painting, its views would be found so fully 
 seconded by the British Institution, as to pro- 
 duce nearly a complete arrangement of the 
 powers of the State in regard to Painting. This 
 respectable Institution, even if it should not 
 
 ;■ attain a higher end, cannot fail to create a
 
 CHAP.III. THE BRITISH INSTITUTION. 221 
 
 body of artists, capable of filling every subor- 
 dinate channel with adequate excellence. 
 
 From every surmise of deficiency, the con- 
 duct of the Institution, with respect to the 
 purchase of the Historical Picture by Mr. 
 Jw,West, stands eminently exempt. ISo act of 
 patriotic zeal towards the Arts can be more 
 perfect than the remuneration of contemporary 
 merit, approved and established by the suf- 
 frages of professional judgment. All is then 
 done, which the circumstances of the time 
 allow. Happily for this country, the Picture 
 of " Christ Healing the Sick" assumes so high 
 a rank in graphic composition, as to fear no 
 future decline from its present just estimation. 
 The great Master of composition, from whose 
 hand it came, holds a place in this respect 
 amongst whatever modern or ancient schools 
 have produced of eminence. Above the 
 sportive, desultory trains of Venetian group- 
 ing, he ranks with the more chaste composers 
 of the Florentine and Lombard Schools ; and 
 surpassing many, is excelled by few. The 
 merits of the Picture exhibited at the British 
 Gallery are not new in the artist. Nearly
 
 222 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM part il. 
 
 fifty years of his life have been passed in the 
 production of works of similar worth. But, 
 had the merit of the work been less, the act of 
 patriotism in the British Institution would not 
 have been less perfect. 
 
 The same benevolence, which has been thus 
 far evinced, and, in its latter act of just retri- 
 bution to merit, so honourably distinguished, 
 may, at some future period, become the soui^ce 
 of those advantages, considered in the preced- 
 ing chapter, as fundamental to the highest 
 elevation of Art. From the British Institu- 
 tion may proceed the desired establishment at 
 our Universities, and give to its founders a 
 claim to such honours of philosophic patron- 
 age, as Athens only ever knew.
 
 CHAP. IV. PUBLICK MONUMENTS. 223 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM THE OPPORTU- 
 NITIES OF PUBLICK MONUMENTS, VOTED 
 BY THE IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT OF GREAT 
 BRITAIN. 
 
 " The brave, who sink to rest. 
 By all their country's wishes blest !" 
 
 A MORE unwelcome task remains. If there 
 has been cause for apprehension, lest what has 
 hitherto been said, may have seemed to trespass 
 on the respect due to individuals, who are the 
 liberal assertors of our country's talents, how 
 much greater must be the danger of question- 
 ing the amount of advantages, derived to the 
 Arts from national protection! — from the very 
 quarter, wherein it is the effort of these pages 
 to excite attention to their interests! — Ar- 
 duous, or invidious as the task may prove, 
 still it is to be attempted. — Let us turn to the
 
 224 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM paut II. 
 
 patronage, descending to Sculpture, from the 
 votes of the Houses of Parhament, in honour 
 of deceased Warriors and Statesmen. 
 
 Patronage of the Arts was not, in this in- 
 stance, the primary mover; but its action was 
 worthy of the Parhament of Great Britain. 
 That august Assembly, disregarding the pre- 
 judices, which have so often influenced lesser 
 patrons, sought no artist from Italy, Germany, 
 or France, to celebrate the glories of English 
 heroes ; but, with the plain sense, of which 
 the feuds of party can alone defraud a collective 
 body, assigned the various monuments to 
 Nollekens, Banks, Bacon, Flaxman, and Rossi. 
 They were assigned to them, as will presently 
 appear, not because, as Sculptors, the Parlia- 
 ment conceived them wholly adequate to the 
 execution of so arduous a task, but as they 
 were native artists. This was the step of 
 patriotism, and with the same step the exalted 
 commissions for Monumental Sculpture still 
 move. There is annexed to them a super- 
 intendence, of which it will presently be 
 necessary to speak. 
 
 The employment given to Sculptors in the
 
 ctlAP. IV. PUBLICK MONUMENTS. 225 
 
 present day by the State, and by distinct 
 publick bodies, offers to the view of Hope 
 advantages of the highest kind. It promises 
 a splendid support to the aspiring efforts of 
 the Art, and an ample remuneration of the 
 talents employed in the completion of her 
 works. Whatever plans may be proposed, or 
 whatever wishes may be conceived for the 
 national cultivation of the Arts of Design, the 
 records of departed virtues must necessarily 
 form a part of them. Never in any other 
 country did publick opportunity present a 
 more gratifying scope for the exertions of 
 genius in this respect; nor ever did patriot 
 munificence dispense reward with a more open 
 hand. — How grateful would it be to every 
 lover of his country's fame, if it were equally 
 to be asserted, that the works of Sculpture, 
 executed under these circumstances, were 
 found to correspond to the lofty appearances 
 of national encouragement! But who is bold 
 enough to say that such is the case? Justly 
 admirable as are the talents of individual 
 Professors, and with all the partiality, which 
 the respect, due to their names, may be sup- 
 
 e
 
 '126 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM part U. 
 
 posed to excite, publick expectation retires un- 
 satisfied. Much less can the^ be satisfied, who 
 have conceived pecuniary assistance to be all 
 that has been wanting to the advancement of 
 the Art of Design among us. Let us look, 
 then, without reserve, at the actual state of 
 the case. We see Sculptors employed, who 
 deservedly hold a high place in the estimation 
 of their country : we see large sums of money 
 voted to each, with the most unsparing hand, 
 and situations of the highest honour assigned 
 to their works ; our Cathedrals have laid open 
 their proudest spaces, to receive a tribute 
 worthy of the English nation. Yet, it must 
 be repeated, the result is not satisfactory. 
 Talents, patronage, opportunity, all combined 
 to render honour to the Art ! all failing i — and 
 what is the cause ? — If a more satisfactory 
 reason cannot be assigned, some degree of 
 elucidation may arise from the hints, which 
 will here be offered ; — offered with pain, as far 
 as they are in danger of offending benevolent 
 feelings, but disclosed from the prompting 
 of a sense of duty. 
 Sculpture, in the annals of our time, exhibits
 
 CHAP. IV. PUBLICK MONUMENTS. 227 
 
 great opportunities of national celebrity, un« 
 fortunately marred by lesser circumstances. 
 Whenever great designs are to be put in exe- 
 cution for publick use, and at the publick 
 expense, it can scarcely ever fail to be, in the 
 first instance, desirable, that the direction of 
 such works should be placed under the super- 
 intendence of persons, qualified to form the 
 most accurate judgment concerning them. 
 When Athens was designed to be rendered as 
 immortal by the lustre of her publick works, as 
 by the renown of her patriot valour, the sole 
 director, appointed by Pericles to conduct 
 the splendid undertaking, was the accom- 
 plished Sculptor Phidias*. His presiding 
 mind inspired emulation in those, who valued 
 praise from his lips beyond wealth. The ad-* 
 miration of ages was secured. — When, in a 
 later age of fame, Leo the Xth bade the apart- 
 ments of the Vatican become the rivals of 
 Greece, Raff"aelle Sanzio, then eminent from 
 his merits, already disclosed under Julius the 
 lid., was appointed Prefect of the works of the 
 
 » d: 
 
 ee Appendix, No. 1.
 
 228 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM part n. 
 
 palace, and other great publick designs*. If 
 these methods were successful; if Athens was 
 thus rendered eminent above all other seats of 
 the Arts, and her Temples, her Porticos, her 
 Paintings, and her Statues, put in possession 
 of a deathless fame ; if the Pontifical Palace 
 of Rome rose to vie with Athenian lustre; is 
 it not natural for us to ask, whether similar mea- 
 sures have been adopted by our country, in 
 those instances in which the votes of the Par- 
 liament contribute to our national fame in 
 
 Sculpture t ? 
 
 On inquiry, we shall find a very different 
 course pursued — with what prospect of 
 greater advantage to the national character, 
 the inauspicious appearance of its progress 
 makes it reasonable to examine: a course 
 to which, nevertheless, it is but just to 
 conclude, that those who had the power of 
 directing it, and who with such magnificence 
 
 * Roscoe's lAfe of Leo X. 
 
 t It may add strength to our inquiry, when we find that also 
 in France, under the dazzling monarchy of Louis XIV., the ge- 
 nius of Le Brun was called to the supermtendance of all the Arts 
 dependent on the influence of Design.
 
 CHAP. IV. PUBLICK MONUMENTS. 229 
 
 support it, were led rather by want of ade- 
 quate investigation of the subject, than by 
 any want of desire to adopt the best methods 
 within their knowledge. The benevolence of 
 the State in this respect has been already 
 mentioned. A superintendence of the publick 
 monuments of Sculpture seems to have been 
 considered necessary, to guide the less in- 
 formed minds of the Sculptors; and for that 
 purpose a commission was formed, composed 
 of such persons as were most conspicuous for 
 a liberal regard for the Arts : gentlemen, of 
 high repute for classical learning and refine- 
 ment, (some of them members of the House of 
 Commons), candid in their opinions, and 
 amiable in every concern of life. In con- 
 junction with these, was nominated the Presi- 
 dent of the Royal Academy. 
 
 Exclusively of this distinguished super- 
 intendence, an additional body was afterwards 
 formed, for the purpose of regulating the 
 situations of monuments in our Cathedrals ; 
 consisting of Members of the former Commis- 
 sion, and of two Sculptors, two Painters, and 
 Iwo Architects, Members of the Academy.
 
 230 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM PART II. 
 
 It is difficult, and might be superfluous, to 
 trace minutely by what steps the arbitration 
 over publick works of Sculpture, thus at first 
 submitted to two mixed assemblies of inde- 
 pendent men and artists, has gradually fallen 
 altogether into the hands of a select number 
 of unprofessional jud;j;es, to the total exclu- 
 sion, or with the total desertion, of artists of 
 whatever description. The effects alone of such 
 a change are the object of the present 
 remarks. 
 
 The judgment of highly educated men can 
 at no time be viewed without respect. To 
 such men, of general learning, were it not 
 for the adverse precedents of Athens and 
 Rome, we might prudently have resorted, to 
 complete the wishes of our Parliament; to 
 men, who although unversed in the rules of 
 professional skill, possessed minds generally 
 illumined, and whose Jove of their country's 
 honour could not be called in question. To 
 such men, were it not for the same adverse 
 precedents, the nation might prudently have 
 appealed, when competition arose for the 
 execution of its publick votes, to form an
 
 CHAP. IV. PUBLTCK MONUMENTS. 231 
 
 unbiassed tribunal, before which the merits of 
 the candidates might be weighed. 
 
 But farther: — had the pubhck works of 
 those illustrious ages disappointed the expec- 
 tations arising from the high repute of the 
 various artists employed on them ; did not 
 the unabated evidence of the one, and those 
 immortal remains, which we are so fortunate 
 as to possess of the other, demonstrate, that, 
 under the guidance of professional judgment, 
 the haiid of the artist was no less eminently 
 successful ; we might then, with equal pro- 
 priety, have permitted, nay, solicited, our tri- 
 bunal to interpose its influence in the various 
 arrangements of the works offered for its 
 choice ; to improve the subordinate divisions 
 of number and proportion, to raise and abase, 
 to join and disjoin, to change, or transfer, parts 
 and wholes, from this design to that, from one 
 artist to another. In all these appeals we 
 should have been justified, because, secure 
 from professional prejudices and jealousies, 
 no other passions were likely to warp the 
 judgment ; and because, the severe rule of pro- 
 fessional science having misled its followers.
 
 232 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM part il. 
 
 every advantage was to be looked for from in- 
 genuous and uninstructed feelings. 
 
 Such a train of reasoning, which has unin- 
 tentionally assumed an air of sarcasm, would 
 have conducted us to the predicament in 
 which we stand. To whatever cause it may 
 have been owing, the Designs and Models for 
 all publick monuments, even of such as were at iC 
 first offered by publick bodies to the single de- 
 cision of the Royal Academy *, have since 
 
 * III 1784, the House of Assembly in Jamaica having voted a 
 Statue to Lord Rodney, in honour of the Victory obtained by him, 
 two years before, over the French Fleet, directed its Agent in 
 England " to apply to the most eminent Artists, and to offer 
 premiums for the best Designs, to be approved of by the Artists 
 of the Royal Academy." i 
 
 Two models were in consequence sent to the Academy, and the 
 work was adjudged to Mr. Bacon. — See Barry's Letter to the 
 Dilettanti Society. 
 
 When the Howardian Committee, in 1791, requested permis- 
 sion from the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, to place a monument 
 to the memory of Howard in their Cathedral, the favour was 
 granted with this annexed condition ; " that no monument should 
 be erected without the design being first approved of by a Coni- 
 juittee of the Royal Academicians." — Dr. Letsom's Hiiits, re- 
 specting Howard's Monument. 
 
 In 1792, the British inhabitants of Madras having voted a 
 
 /"\\
 
 CHAP. IV. PUBLICK MONUMENTS. 233 
 
 exchanged their tribunal, and have been uni- O^ 
 foruily submitted to the control of a select 
 body, composed of gentlemen of rank and in- 
 dependence, and known by the title of The 
 Committee of Taste. 
 
 To the Committee of Taste, thus formed 
 exclusively of unprofessional judges, not only 
 an absolute preliminary power is intrusted, of 
 deciding what designs shall be accepted and 
 preferred for execution, as well as to what 
 Sculptors a preference shall be given, in con- 
 sequence of his design having met their ap- 
 probation, but they exercise also a discre- 
 tionary power of directing whether a part or 
 the whole, of any of the models so approved by 
 them, shall be executed ; whether parts of one 
 
 Statue to Earl Cornwallis, their Committee addressed a letter " to 
 tlie President and Council ol" the Ro3'ai Academy," requesting 
 " that they would nominate an Artist to execute a Pedestiiun 
 Statue of the Earl." 
 
 Banks was the only candidate for this work. — Barry's Letter. 
 
 In 1798, when the British Parliament voted monuments to 
 several distinguished Characters, the Commission for the erection 
 of Publick Monuments (since known by the name of the Connuit- 
 tee of Taste,) superintended the direction of the publick works, 
 and has from that time continued to exercise a similar control.
 
 234 PATRONAGE DERIVED EROM >aRT ii, 
 
 design shall be transferred to another, so as 
 perhaps to compound one out of tieo ; and, 
 finally, whether a Sulptor shall execute his own 
 design or that of another competitor. It needs 
 little sagacity to discern, and little reasoning 
 to point out, to what incongruities, to what 
 alternative of insipidity or deformity, such me- 
 thods unavoidably lead. Proportions violated, 
 character transformed, confusion introduced ; 
 neglect, operating under the security of a com- 
 mission, or the yoke of control ; and fame 
 sunk in the preponderating necessity of ac- 
 commodation and subserviency ; 
 
 " Where only what they needs must do, appears. 
 Not what they would." — Milton, book iii. 
 
 A mere statement of such a mode of pro- 
 ceeding, is sufficient. 
 
 May not this situation of the concerns of 
 Sculpture, (however benevolent the design,) be 
 considered as preventive of the honours, which 
 England is entitled to reap from the talents 
 and proficiency of her Sculptors ; who, at once 
 elevated and bowed down, find employment
 
 CHAP. IV. PUBLICK MONUMENTS. 235 
 
 and money showered on them, but are left 
 with little or no power over their own fame. 
 Are not these dangers naturally arising from 
 the exercise of a judicial authority, beyond 
 the limits of its necessary acquaintance with 
 the subject placed under its control ? How 
 c;reat soever be the respect due to learning, it 
 can never be too carefully distinguished, that 
 what is termed general cultivation of the mind, 
 does not necessarily (and of course may, or 
 may not) include an acquaintance with any 
 particular Art or Science. What, in the pre- 
 sent question, is the particular subject sub- 
 mitted to a Committee of Taste? On what 
 are its member^ commissioned to judge, and 
 in what do they direct the hand of the agent ? 
 On subjects of Oratory, of Poetry, of Mathe- 
 maticks, of Classical Learning, or of any other 
 branch of Art or Science, the study of which 
 has formed an essential part of their educa- 
 tion ? On all such subjects their judgment 
 w^ould be decisive: — but they are called to 
 direct the only one, (at all connected with 
 classic literature) to the regular knowledge of 
 which their education has not conducted them.
 
 236 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM paht ll. 
 
 And does taste precede knowledge ? Can we dis- 
 tinguish what is good from what is bad in any 
 art, before we know what is really in the art? 
 
 To interfere with the arrangements of pro- 
 fessional skill, either in the conception or 
 execution of its task, is to exercise power 
 without competent knowledge; an evil, of all 
 others, the most obvious, the most generally 
 deprecated, and every where the most carefully 
 to be guarded against, as being of all others 
 that to which mankind are most invariably 
 prone. — There are few educated men in Eng- 
 land, who do not acknowledge this to be a 
 truth in Politicks: why will they not imagine 
 it to be one in Art?- 
 
 The following anecdote is related by iElian, 
 of the Greek Sculptor, Polycletus. 
 
 " The famous Sculptor, Polycletus, began 
 tvvo Statues at the same time ; one of which 
 he resolved to execute agreeably to the taste 
 of the multitude, and the other agreeably to 
 the rules of his art. He indulged every one 
 who came to see the former, by transposing 
 and altering some part or other of it, in com- 
 pliance with their wishes and suggestions.
 
 CHAP. IV. PUBLICK MONUMENTS. ^'^^ 
 
 " When the two Statues were finished, he ex- 
 posed them both to publick view ; and one of 
 them was highly admired, and the other 
 laughed at : on which Polycletus, addressing 
 his visitors, said — ' Well! the Statue which ^ 
 you hold in such contempt, is your own 7" 
 making; that, which you admire, /made*."'r_^ 
 
 The circumstances, which have here been 
 stated, will perhaps be found to afford a suffi- 
 cient explanation of the want of correspond- 
 ence in our publick monuments to the exalted 
 patronage, under which they arise. If that 
 explanation has been given, the purpose of 
 these observations is answered. 
 
 But candour demands, that, in the state- 
 ment of the causes which have conduced to 
 the disappointment of pubUck expectation in 
 our great works of Sculpture, the question be 
 viewed on the other side also. 
 
 * " Auo E'Kova; tipyaj-aro rtoXuXAEiTOC xaxa to auTo, tw ;it£v, ToTf 
 2;^Xo(f ;^api^o^6v<!?, tw Je, xara tov w(xo>i t^; TEpi^m;" Ip^api^sro Je 
 
 TOIJ TTOXXolJ TOV T^ltm TUTOV, Xa&' EXafTOV t5v EKTlOVTaJV jUETETl&Ef T(, 
 
 xai fxifxi^u, Tru^OfjLVtoi; ti txa^a i<|»iyiiff'£(* TrpsiI&nxEv uv ijCKf CTEpa;' 
 xai h fj.it Ltto TrivTonv l^a^ua^tTO, h Js ETEpa iyi'haro' uTToXaciv iy 
 £4»i n«XijxX£iTof oXXi TaCrm fxcv r,v ^lyETE, lfA.tXi; liroirifaTf rairtiv 
 ii,h, ^avfjial^tre, iyJ/." Book xiv. chap. 8.
 
 238 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM part II. 
 
 Obvious as are the objections to a mode of 
 superintendence detrimental to the progress 
 of its object, it would probably be no less 
 absurd to object altogether to placing a judi- 
 cial control over publick monuments in men 
 ofgeneral, but unprofessional education. Were 
 the decision concerning them to be left in all 
 points to the suffrages of professional persons, 
 it is easy to conceive that professional jealou- 
 sies and feuds might prejudice the general 
 good. It is well known, that men exempt 
 from such motives to partiality, have fre- 
 quently been esteemed the safer judges. 
 The learned Junius, after enumerating the 
 various subjects of contemplation necessary 
 for the accomplishment of connoisseurs in 
 Painting, adds; " Sic instructi, sano rectoque 
 judicio summorum artificum labores excutiunt, 
 ipsis quandoque artificibus (absit invidia 
 dicto) felicius ; cum in his proprii operis amor, 
 atque alienge artis obtrectatio severitatem in- 
 tegritatemque judicii non raro infringunt*." 
 
 * Persons so instructed, form a sound and unbiassed judgment 
 of the works of the greatest artists : nor let it appear invidious to 
 remark, that they sometimes canvass their merits more successfully 
 than artists themselves ; since a natural partiality to their owB
 
 CHAP. IV. PUBLICK MONUMENTS. 239 
 
 It is only requisite to observe, that Junius's 
 catalogue of the objects of contemplation 
 above mentioned, fill two very closely printed 
 quarto pages. Unprofessional judges, in- 
 structed by the method which he proposes, 
 would be amply entitled to the privileges he 
 claims for them*. 
 
 Much reasoning, it is evident, may be em- 
 ployed on either side ; and, after contemplat- 
 ing the several arguments, (without entering 
 on the length of such, as the subject might 
 induce,) what is the result ? May it safely be 
 summed up in a proposal of the following 
 tenour ? 
 
 1. Let the competition for publick monu- 
 ments be open to all artists, as at present : 
 
 2. Let all models for publick monuments 
 be presented to the inspection of the Royal 
 Academy, and submitted to a general ballot of 
 that body : 
 
 works, and disparagement of the skill of others, in the tainds of 
 professional men, are too apt to infringe on the strict integrity of 
 their judgment." 
 
 • The chapter is deserving of the attention of Amateurs. It i« 
 the fifth in liis first book de PictiirA Veterinn.
 
 C40 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM paut ii. 
 
 3. Let such inodels as shall obtain the 
 highest vote, be considered as recommended 
 fo7' publick adoption: 
 
 4. Let a control be lodged in a Committee, 
 composed wholly of independent unprofes- 
 sional men, to be named by the House of 
 Commons; with the admission only of the 
 President of the Royal Academy ; and let the 
 control extend to the total reception or rejec- 
 tion of any of the models recommended by 
 the Royal Academy. In that single act of 
 control, let the department of the Committee 
 begin and end. By thus giving to the Com- 
 mittee an absolute power of choice, as to 
 such models as should be adopted, and by 
 leaving to the artist an absolute control over 
 the design and completion of his own work; 
 the impartialit}', on one hand, of an en- 
 lightened and liberal judgment, in the selec- 
 tion of works to be executed for the publick ; 
 and the freedom of genius, on the other hand, 
 in the execution of them, would remain equally 
 unimpaired and full *. 
 
 , * If a Committee of Taste vpere empowered to inspect the ^ 
 occasional discoveries of works of former ages, in England, it is *.
 
 CHAP. IV. PUBLICK MONUMENTS. 241 
 
 It is to be farther observed with regret, that 
 such impediments to the success of the Arts of 
 Design as have been mentioned, are not con- 
 probable that very great advantages might be derived from their .^ 
 classical attainments. Their reports might tend to interest the ^ 
 State for the remains of antient Art ; the preservation of which 
 would reflect a credit on publick taste, but of which every trace 
 is sometimes obliterated by avarice or ignorance. 
 
 The remains of a Roman Bath were discovered about 50 years 
 since at Bath, in a nearly perfect state. After Ij'ing open for 
 some time, they were destroyed, or the ground filled up ; and 
 buildings were erected over them, which are called the Duke of 
 Kingston's Baths. Other remains were lately found near Arun- 
 del, and at Canterbury, and other places ; wliich will perhaps be 
 in the same manner covered over. 
 
 Remains of Art, far more interesting to Englbhmen, were found 
 at the time of the repairs of the House of Commons, when the 
 walls of St. Stephen's Chapel, with all their original decorations 
 nearly unimpaired, were discovered by the workmen, and, by 
 the permission of the Directors, in part destroyed by them also^ 
 I cannot but feel persuaded that the knowledge of those valuable 
 remains never came to the ears of our Sovereign, whose great 
 solicitude in the cause of the Arts, so often witnessed by the 
 Royal Academy, can leave no doubt that he would have affec- 
 tionately preserved those reliques of English Painting, so rarely 
 surviving in his kingdom, and so reputable to the reign of Edward 
 III., his predecessor in the patronage of the Arts. The Com- 
 mittee of Taste would in this instance have appeared a proper 
 organ of communication, and would probably have proved an ef- 
 fectual one, for the preservation of much national credit. 
 
 R
 
 242 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM part II. 
 
 fined to Sculpture alone. There is to be found 
 another instance of a superintendence some- 
 what similar, in Architecture, and it may be 
 considered as deserving of a transient notice 
 in this place. 
 
 The magnificent plans of architectural im- 
 provements in the neighbourhood of West- 
 minster Abbey, appear to be submitted to the 
 same kind of direction, to which the care 
 of publick Sculpture has been consigned. 
 These works are under the control of person-s 
 of high situation, but not professional. 
 
 In order to the erection of Buildings, ap- 
 propriate to the dignified purposes, and suited 
 to the intentions of publick expenditure on 
 the occasion, premiums were some time since 
 offered by advertisement, for the best de- 
 signs for the constructions here proposed. 
 The plans, which were sent in, in consequence 
 of those advertisements, were found to be all 
 from young Architects, emulous of the under- 
 taking. The Committee, in whose hands the 
 power of ordering the works is lodged, with 
 equal modesty and good sense, conceived 
 themselves inadequate to decide on the pro-
 
 CHAP. IV. PUBLICK MONUMENTS. 243 
 
 fessional merits of the respective designs. 
 They, therefore, proposed a reference to the 
 judgment of three of the most eminent Ar- 
 chitects of our time. What judgment those 
 referees have given, it would be superfluous to 
 mention, as no part of the undertaking has 
 since proceeded. But one reflexion will na- 
 turally occur on what has been here stated. 
 If the eminent Architects whom it was 
 thought necessary to call in as referees, were 
 the fit judges, were they not likewise the fit 
 Architects of the publick improvements? No 
 objection should, or can, be held forth against 
 the encouragement of rising genius, by offer- 
 ing premiums for publick designs ; but as the 
 State is entitled to the services of the highest 
 talents which it possesses in every kind, what 
 could be more consistent with its just claims, 
 (and such consistency, it may be hoped, is in 
 contemplation,) than that the execution of the 
 work in question should be intrusted to men of 
 acknowledged superiority ? 
 
 But to resume the subject of the chapter. 
 After stating the several causes, which appear 
 to render the present mode of superintendence,
 
 244 PATRONAGE DERIVED FROM part II. 
 
 exercised over our great national works, either 
 ineffectual, or prejudicial, to the advance of 
 the Art of Design in our country, it is requi- 
 site to state, on the other hand, that it would 
 be not only unjust, but absurd beyond all 
 rational supposition, not to admit that the 
 general description of the body, exercising the 
 power, which has been objected to in its in- 
 terference with the detail of the Sculptor's 
 work, necessarily includes the very persons, 
 whose opinions the Sculptor would be most 
 anxious to learn, if they were previously 
 versed in the principles, and acquainted with 
 the practice, of his Art. There is no character 
 more reverenced by artists, no conversation 
 more eagerly sought, than that of an accom- 
 plished scholar, communicating the sentiments 
 excited by Painting and Sculpture in an inge- 
 nuous mind: and this consideration may be 
 allowed to form an additional argument in 
 favour of the proposal before described, for 
 giving a place to Design, among the general 
 studies of the Universities. The result of such 
 an appointment as the Committee of Taste, 
 might then be justly expected to be an in-
 
 CHAP. IV. PUBLICK MONUMENTS. 245 
 
 crease of the glory of our country; but, until 
 the Science shall form a part of the education 
 of its members, the Fine Arts dependent on it 
 can not advance under their control, and 
 the nation is consequently disappointed in its 
 just expectations from the skill of its artists. 
 
 Thus far the principal causes have been con- 
 sidered, which render the patronage, hitherto 
 bestowed on the Arts of Design, inadequate 
 to the accomplishment of their final purposes.
 
 PART III. 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ULTIIVIATE PROSPECTS 
 
 AND PROBABLE 
 
 EPOCH OF THE ARTS OF DESIGN 
 
 IN ENGLAND. 
 
 " that, well employ'd, with Rome 
 
 May vie our grandeur, and with Greece our Arts." 
 
 Thomson.
 
 OF THE 
 
 ULTIMATE PROSPECTS 
 
 AND PROBABLE 
 
 EPOCH OF THE ARTS OF DESIGN 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 OF THE PROPER APPLICATION OF THE 
 POWERS OF THE ARTS. 
 
 " Paulum sepultae distat inertise 
 Celata Virtus." 
 
 We are now arrived at that point, which 
 may be considered as the chief scope and 
 ultimate use of every historical survey of 
 the Arts ; namely, the consideration of the 
 means, whereby it is in the power of the En- 
 glish Government to direct the employment 
 of them in such a manner, as to equal the 
 utilities, the moral benefits, the splendour and
 
 250 INTRODUCTORY. PART III. 
 
 the fame, which other nations have derived 
 from them in past ages ; in those ages, 
 whose honours in this respect still lie as a 
 reproach on our own; not of inability, but of 
 inactivity. Encircled as we are by numerous 
 glories, who will think that England has 
 achieved her duty, while a point of inferiority 
 yet remains unquestioned ? Who will accede 
 to the reply, hitherto given by our Ministers, 
 when applied to for protection to the Arts, 
 " that the expense is unsuitable to our present 
 situation?" — Take the solicitude for the Arts 
 at the lowest — that its object is merely mag- 
 nificence; shall their advocates be told that 
 England has no pretensions to magnificence ? 
 Will it be said that England ought not to he 
 magnificent? — that she is not'? — When, some 
 years ago, an inadvertent proposition was 
 made in the House of Commons, for retrench- 
 ing the expenses of the high offices of state, 
 a member, celebrated for the powers of wit, in 
 opposing the motion, pointedly ridiculed the 
 idea of a " Lord Chancellor going to the 
 House of Lords in a covered cart." Although 
 few may assent to the supposition, that th<?
 
 TART III. INTRODUCTORY. 251 
 
 official presence of the Chancellor of England 
 can, in any situation whatever, be viewed 
 without respect; as few will hesitate to agree, 
 that its present magnificence is the proper 
 garb of such an office. It is by the universal 
 consent of the Nation, that the Establishments 
 of our State are deemed justly magnificent. 
 And this consent does not surely arise from 
 any plea of necessity, which can be alleged 
 on the part of those who fill them. If no- 
 thing more than their positive wants were the 
 point of consideration, for what reason, to 
 take an instance of the highest respectability 
 in the State, should the office of the Speaker 
 of the House of Commons have a salary of 
 6OOOI. per annum annexed to it? Would no 
 man be found gladly to qualify himself for it, 
 for as many hundreds ? But it is evident, that 
 the real estimate of the salary refers to a 
 different object; and that magnificence is, in 
 the publick opinion, no less than in that of the 
 State, a necessary accompaniment of the 
 national Establishments. If a provision, there- 
 fore, for the encouragement of Painting, be 
 indeed an object of publick magnificence, it is
 
 252 INTRODUCTORY. part in. 
 
 a provision worthy of, and congenial to, our 
 Government. Yet, to state this plea, is to 
 take, as has been observed, its claims in the 
 very weakest point ; for what, if to magni- 
 ficence be added publick utility ? Ts it in that 
 case unsuitable to the present, or to any other, 
 period of the annals of the English State ? 
 But, that publick utility is a ground, which 
 the advocates for the protection of the Liberal 
 Arts are fairly entitled to take, has in part 
 been shown in the preceding pages. 
 
 Let us proceed to consider the opportunities 
 which present themselves, for effecting the 
 accomplishment of excellence in Painting, by 
 a more adequate employment of eminent 
 Painters, under the favour of the Govern- 
 ment. They have been repeatedly pointed 
 out by various writers on this subject. Publick 
 Halls, of every description. Churches, and 
 Palaces, are obviously the scenes, to which 
 the powers of the Arts are to be invited. And 
 on each of these, in the view above advert- 
 ed to of publick utility, it may be allowable to 
 offer a few additional remarks.
 
 GHAP. I. EMPLOYMENT OF PAINTING, &C. 253 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF PAINTING AND 
 SCULPTURE IN PUBLICK HALLS. 
 
 " The crowning City, whose Merchants are Prhices, whose 
 Traffickers are the honourable of the Earth." 
 
 EzEK. chap, xxi'ii, ver. 8. 
 
 That our large publick buildings are for the 
 most part without any works of" Painting, 
 there needs no argument to demonstrate. 
 That they might be so adorned, is no less 
 evident : the voice of the State to that effect, 
 is alone requisite *. 
 
 But, besides the larger publick edifices, there 
 is another range of buildings, depending on 
 particular bodies of men, and equally capable 
 of ornamental improvement. To the stranger 
 who visits London, and whom curiosity may 
 lead in search of the numerous halls of those 
 
 / * The House of Lords is not destitute of one branch of Paint'- , / 
 
 ', r' ing. It \% again covered with its old tapestries. ' '■ t-C j^. ^ ^i/P'tA'H'
 
 954 EMPLOVMKNT OF PAINTING, &C. PART HI, 
 
 respectable associations, called Companies, it 
 must seem matter of surprise, nay, rather, 
 wholly unaccountable, that in edifices, where 
 every other appearance indicates comfort and 
 respectability, so many bare walls should be 
 left, in such a state as not to afford either use, 
 pleasure, or profit to their possessors, when 
 they might be so easily rendered fruitful in 
 all. Supposing a meeting to be convened for 
 serious purposes, can it be otherwise than 
 useful, that every member, on his entrance, 
 should be reminded of the events, on which is 
 founded the respect due to the body there 
 assembled ; or of the duties, for which that 
 assembly was first convened ? If they meet 
 for purposes of social festivity, what so fit to 
 entertain the eye, and enliven the fancy, as 
 works of beauty and taste? As to the third 
 point, profit — those Companies are, perhaps, 
 scarcely aware, that, if their Halls were filled 
 with Pictures of distinguished merit, and be- 
 came indispensable objects of a traveller's 
 curiosity, (as is, or zeas, the case at Venice, 
 and other towns in Italy,) the gratuitous con- 
 tributions of the visitors, (if it should not be
 
 CHAP. I. IN PUBLICK HALLS. 256 
 
 desirable to impose a demand,) might occa- 
 sionally supply a fund for any known purpose 
 of beneficence, suited to their society. 
 
 In the general concerns of industry, no 
 small portion of the superiority of England 
 over other States, appears to consist in her 
 making the greatest possible use of her actual 
 faculties. But in circumstances of the kind 
 here mentioned, there seems to be a neglect 
 of existing means, wholly inconsistent with 
 her modes of diligence in other points. A 
 very few Halls of the Companies in London 
 are distinguished by the possession of any 
 work of Painting*. 
 
 The larger Establishments of Bridewell and 
 Christ Church Hospital offer a better example; 
 the former possessing the celebrated Picture 
 by Holbein, representing Edward VI. deliver- 
 ing the Charter of that Institution to the 
 Mayor and Citizens of London ; and the 
 latter, a Picture, also by Holbein, in which 
 the Mayor and Corporation of London are 
 
 * See Appendix, No. 4.
 
 255 EMPLOYMENT OF PAINTING, &C. PART III. 
 
 represented, receiving the grant for the three 
 Hospitals*. 
 
 Guildhall appears to be devoted to Sculp- 
 ture. There is ample room in it for the em- 
 ployment also of the sister Art of Painting; 
 and its spacious panels are admirably calcu- 
 lated to admit her works, and to display them 
 to advantage. 
 
 The Directors of some of our Publick 
 Buildings of a still larger description, are well 
 apprized of the productiveness of ornamented 
 walls. At Greenwich Hospital, the sum of an- 
 nual profits is augmented by the Exhibition of 
 the Paintings ofThornhill in the Great Hall; 
 and by that of the additional Work painted 
 by West in the Chapel. The emoluments 
 derived from these Exhibitions, are dedicated 
 to purposes of benevolence and national 
 utility f. 
 
 It is needless to observe, that, whenever it 
 may be thought proper to adorn the large 
 
 * It contains also a work by Verrio. 
 
 t They form a part of the fund raised for the maintenance of 
 seamen's children : 200 arc now provided for.
 
 CHAP.I. IN PUBLICK HALLS. 257 
 
 publick buildings of London with Paintings, 
 they will necessarily be filled with patriotic 
 subjects, because no subjects would be proper 
 for them, but such as in some measure apper- 
 tain to their national purposes. The same 
 would take place in the Hall of each Com- 
 pany. And in these points, whatever might 
 be the merit of the respective Paintings, all 
 would contribute to the general celebrity and 
 renown of their country. They would furnish 
 present honours, by renewing the memory of 
 the past ; and in the future pages of history, 
 their records would prove the most valuable 
 documents.
 
 258 EMPLOYMENT OF PART III. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Oj$ THE EMPLOYMENT OF PAINTING AND 
 SCULPTURE IN CHURCHES. 
 
 " Ipsi per visum enarraturi divina pluribus pauperioribusquc 
 Spectatoribus." — Div. Ciirysostom. Orat. xii. 
 
 The proposal of adorning our Churches with 
 Sculptures and Pictures, and thereby render- 
 ing their walls a series of religious lessons, 
 has been so fully spoken of in a former in- 
 quiry, that any farther observations on so 
 obvious a point could only be superfluous 
 repetition. It appears unquestionable that, in 
 buildings consecrated to the purposes of Di- 
 vine Worship, the aids of Painting and Sculp- 
 ture may be usefully and laudably called in, to 
 strengthen religious impressions, and by that 
 means to assist the effect of religious instruc- 
 tion. The increase of Pictures, of late admit- 
 ted into Churches, in various parts of England, 
 gives reason to believe, that Painting, in ihie
 
 CHAP. U. PA1NTING,&C. IN CHURCHES. 259 
 
 respect, begins to recover the just point of 
 appreciation, at which it stood among us, be- 
 fore the Reformation. But very few instances 
 only have yet occurred in the metropolis, in 
 which the liberal spirit of Patronage has 
 afforded a scope for the assistance of the Art. 
 St. Stephen's, Walbrook, containing a Picture 
 by West, and the Chapel of the Foundling 
 Hospital, filled many years since by the gra- 
 tuitous exertions of several Painters, are the 
 principal, if not the only examples. 
 
 The value of Sculptural Memorials needs no 
 other testimony than the universal employ- 
 ment of them in our Churches; and this mode 
 of Sculpture can hardly be said to require 
 farther recommendation to publick favour. 
 Our Churches afford no less a scope for the 
 useful labours of Painting ; and there can be 
 little reason to doubt that the increasing esti- 
 mation of the Arts of Design will allot both to 
 Sculpture and Painting a wider range than they 
 at present possess, in those elevated paths, in 
 w hich they are so fitly suited to ijiove *. 
 Nevertheless, while a just zeal in their 
 
 * See Appendix, No. IV.
 
 260 EMPLOYMENT OF PART III. 
 
 cause looks anxiously forward to so im- 
 portant an aid to their progress, a farther 
 topick reasonably presents itself to con- 
 sideration ; viz. the proper emphi/ment of 
 their powers : for, since the power of the 
 Arts of Design is so obvious, in aiding the 
 purposes of piety by representations of an 
 appropriate kind, it cannot be doubted that 
 the same power, injudiciously employed, 
 might tend to produce again those inconveni- 
 ences, which have formed the ground-work 
 (or at least the pretext) for the objections 
 raised against the Arts themselves; objections 
 only then absurd, when they confound ihe 
 frailty of Art with its substance, and mistake 
 contingency for essence. An indiscriminate 
 zeal, therefore, to fill our Churches with Sculp- 
 ture and Pictures, is as much to be depre- 
 cated, as the absurd superstition which so 
 long opposed their admission : and the sub- 
 ject may, on this account, be justly thought 
 to demand a more serious attention, and more 
 discriminate examination, than it has hitherto 
 obtained. 
 
 With regard to Painting, so few of its works
 
 . 11. PAINTING, &C.INCHURCHES. 261 
 
 CHAP 
 
 have hitherto made their appearance in the 
 service of religion, that opportunities of pos- 
 sible offence can scarcely be said to have 
 arisen : but it may without hesitation be as- 
 serted, that the Art must be considered as 
 unworthy to enter the holy walls of our 
 Churches, whenever it shall cease to regard 
 a subservience of its powers to the purposes 
 of piety as its chief duty, and when it 
 shall aim either at attracting admiration for 
 its own qualities, separately from its sacred 
 commission, or shall voluntarily swerve from 
 objects of holy contemplation, to awaken 
 passions of worldly competition and pursuit*. 
 Those representations alone, which serve 
 forcibly to imprint on our minds the mercy 
 and goodness of our Creator, the benevolent 
 merits of our Redeemer, the duties of Chris- 
 
 * '' Hoc exercitii genere si qiiis uti voluerit, iUud tanhinimodo 
 pingendum fingendumve sibi meminerit, quod ad virtutem ca- 
 pessendara provocet spectatores ; non quod ad vitia inani oblecta- 
 tione possit aliicere. Hoc enini opus diaboli est, illud Chrisliani." 
 
 Marulus, lib. iii. cap. 9. 
 
 Sahelmcus, lib. ii. cap. 9» 
 
 Apud Theatrum Vit<B HumaiuE, p. 749. 
 
 {:
 
 262 EMPLOYMENT OF part III. 
 
 tian love, or the hopes of Christian immortahty, 
 are the objects of tlie Art in such places. 
 Under such just restrictions as this ruling 
 principle prescribes, Painting is capable of 
 demonstrating its powers of publick utility, 
 by exhibiting the purest lessons of piety and 
 religion ; lessons of the most extensive influ- 
 ence, because open to every eye, intelligible 
 to every mind. To such employment let it 
 be called in our Churches. 
 
 Sculpture, on the other hand, from the mul- 
 tiplicity of its religious works, presents an 
 ample field for important investigation. The 
 too ordinary employment of Sculpture in our 
 Churches, resembles in some measure the 
 general occupation of our Painters. It is em- 
 ployed in a species of Portraiture, recording 
 the character, and prolonging the memory of 
 individuals. In this manner our Churches 
 might, in the course of time, be transformed 
 into mere Portrait-galleries, exhibiting, either 
 by personal resemblance, or allegorical device, 
 those whose descendants are sufficiently in- 
 terested in their name, to desire such records ; 
 and sufficiently rich to obtain them.
 
 CHAP. II. PAINTING,&C. IN CHURCHES. 263 
 
 In a higher class of Sculpture, many Monu- 
 ments adorn our Churches, admirably calcu- 
 lated to justify the trust, which appears to 
 be reposed in the Art, when admitted into 
 those holy mansions. Let us observe, if this 
 be the case in all. 
 
 The effects, which works in the Fine Arts 
 have the power of producing, and those which 
 they ought to produce, in order to further the 
 purposes of religious instruction, have been 
 already described : they are alike in both Arts. 
 The misapplication of that power in Painting, 
 is obvious, and has been pointed out and re- 
 probated : the misapplication of it in Sculp- 
 ture, is no less obvious, and no less worthy 
 of reprehension. Whatever representations 
 in works of that Art, shall be found to swerve 
 from the true objects of piety ; whatever 
 aiffect the mind in points which Religion does 
 not sanction, and tend to excite what she 
 strives to calm ; to inflame what she seeks to 
 extinguish — all such are erroneous and mis- 
 placed, in Temples of religious worship. — 
 What forbids us, then, to examine by this 
 test the Monuments in our Cathedrals; nqt
 
 264 EMPLOYMENT OF part III. 
 
 only such as have been erected by the af- 
 fection of individuals; but even those, which, 
 under the auspices of Parhament, transmit 
 to posterity the illustrious names of Heroes and 
 Statesmen, defenders and preservers of their 
 country ; whose virtuous labours the voices of 
 a grateful people consecrate to immortality. 
 Splendid as such memorials are, of what 
 nature are the records which they exhibit? 
 Are the impressions designed to be produced 
 by them, such as inspire resignation to a 
 Supreme Being; such as tend to calm the 
 heart, and remind us of the frail and fleeting 
 state of perishable substances ? Or do they 
 rashly attempt to blazon the proud and con- 
 tentious achievements of human strength ? Do 
 they show the triumphs of man over man ? 
 Do they present the elated mien of the con- 
 queror ? The sanguinary strife of armies ? 
 The desolating thunder of navies? Do they 
 awaken the love of worldly glory, ambition, 
 hostile resentment, and thus keep alive the 
 tumultuous passions of the breast? — Which, 
 we may ask, should occupy, which adorn, 
 the mansions of devotion ? Is it amidst ob»
 
 CHAP. II. PAINTING,&C. IN CHURCHES. 265 
 
 jects of the latter description, that the voice 
 of prayer should arise, or that the heart of the 
 suppliant can be cleansed ? Are not those 
 objects such, as piety, as resignation, as the 
 hope and view of a better world instruct us to 
 banish from our minds r — On such questions 
 must depend the propriety or impropriety of 
 the admission of Sculptural Records into our 
 Churches. 
 
 Within the solemn enclosure of religious 
 edifices, all records of action, not immediately 
 connected with religion, should be unknown. 
 The mind of the Christian, retired within 
 itself, and contemplating only the vanity and 
 insufficiency of worldly pursuits, must not 
 be roused from tranquil resignation, from 
 heavenly complacence and rest in God, by 
 the view of triumphs, either in arts or arms. 
 It is of small importance what is the victory, 
 or who the conqueror, whose laurels distract 
 the thoughts of the worshipper. If Nelson's 
 image occupy the area of St. Paul's Dome, 
 accompanied by Sculptures of his glorious 
 achievements, Nelson's presence is there ab- 
 surd and profane. If, in those consecrated
 
 2(56 EMPLOYMENT OF part itV. 
 
 (f ) bounds, we are to be reminded of that re- 
 nowned and inestimable Hero and Patriot, 
 let us be reminded only that the victor, whom 
 we admired, whom we loved, who was en- 
 dowed with talents, and blessed with opportu- 
 nities, to sustain the glories of his country, 
 was a temporary and brief agent of Heaven's 
 designs ; and that our defence is not mauy 
 
 I V^ however endowed, but God. Every object 
 within the holy mansions should inspire us 
 . with a like sentiment of humility, and of our 
 ;■ own nothingness. Glory should there be ap- 
 plied only to another state of existence. The 
 contemplative Christian should there bow 
 his whole heart to Heaven, and ever}' spark of 
 ambition and restless passion should be ex- 
 tinguished. — If Sculptors startle at argu- 
 'i ments perhaps applicable to a large portion 
 of publick works, let them ask themselves, 
 what would have been their judgment, if 
 Pictures, containing the heroic exploits of 
 warriors, had been chosen as the decorations 
 
 t { of Cathedrals? Had it been thought fit to 
 grant the same vote for the commemora- 
 tion of our Heroes, by the hand of the 
 
 i-^v*
 
 CHAP. 11. PAINTTNG,&C. IN CHURCHES. 267 
 
 Painter, as by that of the Sculptor, what 
 scenes of captivating splendour might our 
 Churches by this time have presented, in- 
 stead of such objects of religious solem- 
 nity, as should alone call the attention of 
 him who goes to worship! — A reflexion, 
 of itself sufficient to show the impropriety 
 of admitting into those seats of devotion, 
 works of Sculpture destined equally to pur- 
 poses of splendour. 
 
 But is there no advantage, then, to be 
 derived from records of an heroick kind ? 
 From a publick exhibition of examples of ac- 
 tive and intrepid patriotism, of brave con- 
 tempt of danger, of death met with cheer- 
 fulness for our country's sake ? Shall not the 
 heart be taught to glow with remembrance of 
 the Statesman's wisdom, of the Hero's un- 
 daunted firmness ; of life-exhausting valour ; 
 of comprehensive genius ? Where else shall 
 these useful lessons be learned, where else 
 impressed so strongly on the mind ? 
 
 These questions will be answered in the re- 
 maining consideration of publick opportu- 
 
 KITIES.
 
 '26s t.MrLOVMHNT OK P.»RT III. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 or THE EMPLOYMENT OF PAINTING AND 
 SCULPTIKE IN PALACES. 
 
 ** Sunt hie sua prxmia laudi." 
 
 It is not in vain, that the hononrs of the Arts 
 of Design [lave been advanced by the esta- 
 bhshment of a Royal Academy, and by tlie 
 encouracrenient arisinf; from works of monu- 
 mental record in Sculpture ; or that their 
 hopes have been strengthened by the munifi- 
 cence of the British Institution. Far less 
 would it be a vain acquisition to their cause, 
 if, insteati of the subordinate employment, for 
 the most part given to them by the nobility 
 of the kingdom, their higher and more ex- 
 tensive branches should obtain general admis- 
 sion to our Palaces, the last of the publick 
 opportunities hitherto mentioned ; under which 
 name may be considered not only the mansion
 
 CHAP. III. PAIXTIXG, &C. IN PALACES. 26"9 
 
 of the Sovereign, but also the two Houses of 
 Parliament ; and, after these, many of the 
 larger dwellings of the English nobility. 
 
 Our venerable Monarch has in this, as in 
 other instances of patronage, set an example, 
 not more deservedly admired, than unfortu- 
 nately unimitaled. 7he apartments at Buck- 
 ingham Mouse, and the Audience Chamber of 
 Windsor Castle, display events of liritish 
 history, glorious to Kngland. — What precludes 
 the Houses of I'arliarnent from adopting similar 
 adornments of their walls .' Are there wanting 
 in our history events of which the records 
 might justly live under their eye? Would the 
 Corridor lately built, be disfigured by a series 
 of Statues, presenting memorials of such men 
 as have left their renown to that Assembly r 
 The Statue of Pompey had its place witfiin the 
 .Senate House of Kome : why may not the 
 Worthies of onr land stand in equal honour* * 
 
 • " Saepe andivi Q. Maxumtim, P. Sdpioncm, praRterca civitaf'u 
 tuAttik prieclaros viroA miWUA Jta diorre,' com majonim iinagino 
 intiierentur, vehftrnf^ltiwime »ibi aiiiinum ari virtutern atrerwli. 
 Scilicet nori c«ram illam, ricqne fi^iraiii, tantarn vim in Mise 
 Labcre: u-d luemori^ rerum ^ciitanini cam (lammam cgrc^^ viri»
 
 270 EMPLOYMENT OF part hi. 
 
 It is remarkable, that while every petty Society 
 exhibits its Founders or its Directors, there 
 should be no Gallery of Portraits, either of 
 the Kings who have swayed, or the Statesmen 
 who have administered the Realm, A Gallery 
 of their achievements, and their virtues, would 
 claim still higher distinction. Nor, if the 
 authority of example be requisite, is prece- 
 dent wanting. Among the splendid people of 
 Uome, the triumphs of Messala in Sicily, 
 of L. Scipio in Asia, (as already mentioned,) 
 and of Sempronius Gracchus in Sardinia, 
 stood recorded by Painting in the Curia Hos- 
 tilia, the Capitol, and the Temple of Matuta *. 
 The palaces of our nobles furnish at present 
 a wide range of examples of the derelictioti of 
 family pretensions ; for what could more pro- 
 perly adorn the walls of their dwellings, than 
 memorials of such achievements of their pro- 
 
 jn pectore crescere, neque prius sedari, qiiam virtus corum famam 
 atque gloriatn adacquaveiit." — SAi.i.vsr,inPrcefat. Bell. Jugurth. 
 * " Sempronius quoque Gracchus, subacti Sardinia, formam 
 insulae, et in eii pugtiarum simulacra picta, in ^de Matris Ma- 
 tutae dicavit." — Livy. See the other examples, in Appendix, 
 No. 2.
 
 CHAP. III. PAINTING, &C. IN PALACES. 271 
 
 genitors, as have either formed, or increased, 
 the dignity of the station which they fill ? 
 Were our Painters employed on such subjects, 
 how many illustrious trophies of English cha- 
 racter would be indelibly impressed on the 
 people at large, which are now known only 
 within the circles of a single class*! 
 
 There are also instances, in which memo- 
 rials of this kind would hardly be thought to 
 form any other than appropriate portions of 
 national honours. What, for instance, could 
 be a more suitable accompaniment to the 
 estate lately given to the ennobled relations 
 of Nelson, than the Statue, or the Picture, 
 which affectingly represents the Hero expiring 
 in his Country's triumph ; the cause and grace 
 of their aggrandizement? Where should the 
 
 * Perhaps this is one of the points in wliich the Arts connect 
 themselves with the polilical advantage of the State. For might 
 not such records be attended with the most salutary effects, from 
 iuipressions produced by them on the minds of a very numerous 
 class of men in society ; among whom few, perhaps, arc able to 
 judge of the political combinations, which render the distinctions 
 of the higher ranks so valuable to our well-being ; but none of 
 whom would be made spectators of rewards given to merit, witli- 
 out feeling the propriety of (lie distinction?
 
 272 EMPLOYMENT OF part ill. 
 
 instructive record of liis glorious death be 
 more aptly sought by the Stranger, attracted 
 by curiosity, or the Briton, fired by emula- 
 tion, than within the walls of a palace, built 
 by the gratitude of the nation, for his de- 
 scendants ? 
 
 The uses of Painting * were not neglected 
 in the Palace of Blenheim, given by Queen 
 Anne to the Duke of Marlborough. The 
 ceiling of the Hall was covered by Thornhill 
 with allegorical allusions to the Conqueror, 
 and a series of tapestries displayed his succes- 
 sive Victories t- 
 
 When an edifice no less honourable shall 
 rise amidst the vows of his Country, to wel- 
 come home the Protector of Portugal, what 
 gift can be more gratifying to his bosom, than 
 
 * " Res in bello fortiter gestas, turn eloquentes homines saepe- 
 numero, turn Pictores exprimunt : illi sermone ornantes, hi tabuli* 
 dclineantes ; et utrique multos ad fortitudinem excitant." — 
 Basil. Homi/. See Junius. 
 
 t It is remarkable also, that in tliis Palace, one room, (the 
 magnificent apartment, 183 feet in length, now fitted up as a 
 library,) was originally designed to be a Picture Gallery ; a cir- 
 cumstance, which strongly indicates the favourable disposition of 
 the Sovereign donor to the Fine Arts.
 
 CHAP. III. PAINTING, &C. IN PALACES. 273 
 national records of his successes, and his 
 
 glory .? 
 
 One objection, it is true, has been strongly 
 urged against the employment of Painting in 
 memorials of publick importance, which, 
 though a consideration of inferiour moment, 
 deserves to be examined. The objection is 
 deduced from the want of durability in the 
 materials, employed by the Painter in the 
 practice of his art. 
 
 Although this is one of the many opinions, 
 which will cease to require refutation, when- 
 ever, by the introduction of Painting into our 
 great schools, the study of that Science shall 
 have imparted a general comprehension of the 
 subject, it may be necessary for the present 
 to remark, that the material components of 
 a Picture, nay, even some of the most fragile, 
 are proved by experience to have lasted 
 more than 1700 years — no inconsiderable 
 portion of human fame. The ground, on 
 which this assertion is founded, is open to all 
 inquirers ; it consists in the actual existence 
 of works of Painting, found at Herculaneum, 
 and executed, as is known from concurring 
 
 T
 
 1274 EMPLOYMENT OF PART III. 
 
 testimonies of history, at least as early as the 
 eightieth year of the Christian aera. 
 
 Pictures also of less frail materials, the oil 
 Pictures of Germany and Italy, have now en- 
 dured four hundred years, from the time of 
 the invention of that method of preparing 
 colours ; a period of trifling length, indeed, in 
 comparison with the former, but, from the 
 greater natural durability of the component 
 materials of these works, likely to surpass it 
 greatly in the course of time. The amount of 
 the years which these Pictures have already 
 lasted, (many wholly unimpaired,) is certain. 
 For how many more may they last ? 
 
 The perishable quality of certain hues, which 
 sometimes contribute to superiour lustre inPic- 
 tures, may, indeed, be insisted on with some 
 degree of reason. But this is a charge, which 
 will be very considerably alleviated by the 
 consideration, that the extreme freshness and 
 brilliancy of colours by no means occupies an 
 essential part of Painting, when regarded as aa 
 instrument of national record. The scenery, 
 the facts, the expression of character, may 
 remain, long after the passing charms of
 
 CHAP. III. PAINTING, 8CC. IN PALACES. 0,75 
 
 colour are extinguished ; and the moral uses 
 of the Art will thus continue unimpaired, in 
 spite of the decay of the more frail com- 
 ponents of its works*. 
 
 Yet, even supposing this charge of frailty 
 in the materials of Painting to be of essential, 
 unanswerable force — Grant that Pictures will 
 not endure for more than 1700 years, — or if 
 you will, not more than 400 years — Will you 
 refuse the passing compliment of four centuries^ 
 to the fame of the Hero, who has advantaged 
 your country ? — And to this plea is also to be 
 added another most powerful consideration 
 in favour of the duration of such records. 
 This is, the innumerable multiplication of them 
 by Engraving, now become the inseparable 
 attendant of Painting. Will a Nation refuse 
 
 * In the highly advanced state of Chymistry, and under its f 
 eminent Professor at the Royal Institution, great hopes may be 
 entertahied that Painlhig will, ere long, be rendered secure from 
 any material changes of colours. The decay, even of the lightest 
 parts, may then be little apprehended in such works of publick emi- 
 nence, on account of tjie just and deep sense that every Painter 
 would entertain of the Important intent, which they are designed 
 to answer, and to which he would use his utmost skill to accora' 
 modate his labours. 
 
 ( 
 
 cD
 
 27^ EMPLOYMENT OF TART lir, 
 
 to the Statesman, or the Hero, that wide 
 expansion of his name, which the sedu- 
 lous art of the Engraver will promote during 
 those centuries ? For instance, is the tribute 
 of respect, lately shown by a Painter and an 
 Engraver to the memory of Nelson, a trifling 
 or insignificant tribute ? At least five hundred, 
 perhaps five thousand rooms, by their means, 
 present the remembrance of a man, whose 
 memory the gratitude of the English Nation 
 would preserve for ever. And would to Heaven, 
 for the honour of England — of our country — 
 this tribute were the concession of the State, 
 rather than the enterprise of individuals! 
 
 " Be thine, Britannia, thine the nobler aim, 
 To live through long futurity of fame ! 
 To gain the wreaths that peaceful Arts bestow^ 
 Pow'r's proudest immortality below ! 
 In Time's decay, ere Albion's empire dies, 
 To leave her constellation in the skies. 
 Eclipse the glory of the world combin'd. 
 And give a fifth great epoch to mankind.'^ 
 
 Shee's Elements of Art. 
 
 There is an article in the " Supplementary 
 Regulations of the Academy of St. Petersburgh,
 
 CHAP. III. PAINTING, &C. IN PALACES. 9.77 
 
 A. D. 1802," so appropriate to this topick, 
 that it may aptly close the present chapter. 
 It is as follows : 
 
 " Our Sovereign declares it to be his plea- 
 sure, that the Academy shall propose, every 
 year, designs in Painting and Sculpture, on 
 subjects taken from the history of this coun- 
 try, in order to immortalize the memory of 
 such illustrious Russians as were pre-eminently 
 entitled to that honour ; or to recal some re- 
 markable event, which had contributed to the 
 good of the empire ; and that these produc- 
 tions of the artists, whether Pictures, Statues, 
 or Busts, shall be ranged in a Gallery, parti- 
 cularly allotted to this purpose in the Imperial 
 Palace, and consecrated to the Monuments of 
 national desert*." 
 
 * See Academic Annals of Painting, Sculpture, and Architec- 
 tare; publislied b^' authority of the Royal Academy, 1803.
 
 278 PATRONAGE OP part III. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ON THE POWER AND DUTIES OF A STATE, 
 RELATIVELY TO THE ARTS OF DESIGN. 
 
 " Quid mecum populus desiderat, audi." 
 
 The appropriate adornment of our halls, our 
 palaces, and our churches, justly forms a part of 
 those means, by which the national fame in 
 works of Painting and Sculpture may receive 
 increase, and the utilities of those Arts may 
 be established, under the favour of the State. 
 But, beyond these opportunities, desirable 
 as they are, there yet remains a farther effort 
 to be made, in order to correspond fully to 
 the claims, which the State of England may 
 be thought entitled to make on the powers of 
 the Arts, when taken under its protection. 
 The result of inquiry in the preceding pages.
 
 CHAP. IV. THE STATE. 279 
 
 has been, that the various measures, hitherto 
 adopted by us for the advancement of the Arts 
 of Uesisrn to their hig-hest decree, however 
 directed by taste or patriotism, have been in- 
 sufficient to complete the proposed end. On 
 the other hand, it is manifest to all, who have 
 reflected much on the subject, that, in order 
 to raise them to excellence, and to render them 
 beneftcial in the fullest extent of which they 
 are capable, some enlarged and predominant 
 direction of their powers to piiblick purposes^ 
 must be sought at the hands of the State*. 
 From the Stale, it must be repeated, from the 
 State alone, it can be sought ; for unless the 
 magnitude of the design be such as to place it 
 beyond the reach of any lesser influence, it 
 must inevitably fall back into the crowd of 
 puny and ineffective attempts, which have 
 
 * Tn a country in wliich llie Arts arc not yet boconic a subject 
 of study as profound as general. Historical Painting will never 
 flourish to any considerable extent, through the patronage of 
 mere individuals taken singly. It can only thrive through the 
 encouragement of the Nation in a body, or through the liberality 
 of the Sovereign, — Cos\ame of the Antients, by Thomas Hope, 
 Esq.
 
 280 PATRONAGE OF part in. 
 
 hitherto been made in England *. If any 
 adequate return is to be given for protec- 
 tion and favour, so loudly claimed for the 
 >pine Arts by their professors ; if the honour 
 and advantages of the State which protects, 
 and the Nation which encourages them, are to 
 receive increase from them, some constant and 
 connecting measure must be found, whereby 
 the ambitious exertions of the Artist, the fa- 
 vour of the Patron, and the interests of the 
 State, may all be collected in a single point ; 
 a point, in which the various aids and 
 achievements of every part may mutually 
 imite f. 
 
 There is strong ground to presume, that the 
 State is not only the power, which must ne- 
 cessarily sustain such an exertion in favour of 
 the Arts of Design, but (as the next chapter, 
 
 * See Northcote's Varieties on Art. History of the Slighted 
 Beauty. 
 
 Every lover of the Arts will learn with pleasure, that it is the 
 intention of the President of the Royal Academy to publish a 
 tract on the Patronage of Sovereigns. 
 
 t Towards this supposed point, whatever hints have been here 
 offered, respecting the decorations of our halls, our churches, an4 
 o»ir palaces, will be found to have been directed.
 
 CHAP. IV. THE STATE. 281 
 
 it is hoped, will tend to demonstrate) that it 
 is, itself, also the point here described, in 
 which the result of all the parts must con- 
 centrate. The lessons of the Academy may 
 accomplish the student; the British Institution 
 may provide for the wants of the proficient, 
 may present a Gallery of Pictures, all proofs 
 of English ability, and a thousand successive 
 Galleries may be added, without producing 
 any concentrated result, or erecting the tro- 
 phy of lasting fame, which is the present ob- 
 ject of solicitude to British artists ; without 
 securing the purposes of national advantage, 
 which are, at all times and in all things, the 
 object of solicitude to patriots of every 
 country. 
 
 Let us now, therefore, endeavour to inves- 
 tigate in what this connectiug measure may be 
 found to consist. The discussion may finally 
 not be fruitless ; as it appears unreasonable to 
 suppose, that a British Minister will continue 
 always inaccessible to publick sentiments of 
 patronage on this point. The argument, which 
 has been used to justify a delay of protection 
 to the Arts from the State, viz. that the re-
 
 282 PATRONAGE OF PART in. 
 
 quisitc expense of encouragement to them 
 would be ungraciously viewed by the Nation, 
 is a phantom, which will vanish at the glance 
 of the first Statesman, who looks it in the 
 face; and under the favourable aspect with 
 which they are at present regarded, this hope 
 may naturally be strengthened. AVill any one 
 believe, that, if the support desired formerly by 
 Mr. Opie's, and lately by Mr. Shee's, pro- 
 posal, were now brought forward for consider- 
 ation in the House of Commons, that it would 
 meet with opposition from any party ? Is it 
 fit to be surmised, that the late, the present, 
 or any Minister, would so far wrong even his 
 most strenuous opponent, as to cast on him 
 the imputation of wishing individually to pre- 
 vent the Art of Painting, or any other liberal 
 Art, from being duly cultivated in England ? 
 
 The people of England, like any other 
 people, feels for its own dignity, enjoys its 
 own glory, blushes for its own, disgrace. It 
 sighs and repines, when extravagant sums of 
 money are lavished on capricious projects of 
 useless and momentary designs ; but w hat 
 murmur has ever been heard, because the
 
 CHAP. IV. THE STATE. 283 
 
 Houses of our Parliament have been enlarged 
 and adorned; or Westminster Abbey repaired? 
 What sound of discontent has been uttered, 
 that the receptacles of the Museum have been 
 extended, or its treasures augmented ? or that 
 Somerset House boasts the labour and the 
 Science of the Architect? Has the Nation 
 repined at expense, when IMonuments have 
 been voted to its defenders ? Do the present 
 splendours of Carlton House become the object 
 of detraction? — The witticism of the French 
 Orator, who declared that we were a Nation 
 of shopkeepers, may be allowed with a smile, 
 because it contains no serious aspersion of our 
 character; but it would be an insult to the 
 people of England, collectively, and with re- 
 ference to national feeling, to be told, that it 
 prefers its wealth to its just and merited 
 honours. 
 
 At the same time it appears requisite, until 
 the cause of the Fine Arts shall have acquired 
 a stronger general interest, to propose for 
 them such a mode of progress, and such mea- 
 sures for their ultimate success, as may justly 
 have a tendency to conciliate favour from the 

 
 284 PATRONAGE OF part ill. 
 
 hand of power. And, to this effect, it is de- 
 sirable to ascertain the ground, on which the 
 British Government, once deigning to become 
 the mover, may most securely proceed towards 
 the desired purpose. 
 
 Perhaps no effectual plan, laid with this view, 
 will be found to differ essentially from those 
 which have been, in various modes, before sug- 
 gested : the scope of the whole may be summed 
 up in the grant of a Chai'ter and contingent sup- 
 port, to an Establishment, under the avowed 
 sanction of the Parliament of Great Britain, 
 and amenable to its control ; whose declared 
 object shall be " the due direction of the Arts of 
 Design to publick utility, by the continual em- 
 ployment of British artists on works best suited 
 to that end, under the guidance of professional 
 men, subjected to such regulations, as have 
 been before proposed." 
 
 Such a plan, it is sufficiently evident, would 
 unite in itself two of the proposed points, viz. 
 the exertions of the Artists, and the favour of 
 the Patrons, who are here stated to be the 
 Parliament, and conceived as contributing 
 their influence to the success of the general
 
 CHAP. IV. THE STATE. 285 
 
 cause. The utmost advance of the Arts is, 
 therefore, secured ; but it is essential to the 
 present purpose to show, also, in what manner 
 a grant of such a nature would be connected 
 with the honour and advantage of the Nation, 
 soas to become of importance to the State itself. 
 Now, the interests of the State must lie in 
 giving that direction to the Arts, which is 
 most eminently conducive to their publick 
 utility. Sufficient grounds have been offered, 
 in the former parts of this work, for establishing 
 the profitable tendencies of the Art, and the 
 relative dependence of those profits on the 
 superiority of its higher branches, which are 
 here the subject of consideration. The most 
 effectual advance of the Arts must, then, 
 necessarily secure the most profitable result. 
 It remains to examine, whether the most ef- 
 fectual mode of directing them to eminence, 
 be that which is likewise most honourable to 
 the Nation, and consequently important to 
 the State in that view also. This topick will 
 form the contents of the ensuing chapter : 
 a topick the more interesting, as, by every 
 degree of elucidation that it acquires, some
 
 286 TATllONAGE OF, &C. PAllT III. 
 
 advance will be made towards that difficult, 
 but impoitatit discovery, before spoken of; 
 namely, at what points of contact the interests 
 of the Fine Arts may be proved to interweave 
 and blend themselves with the interests of the 
 State, so as to be entitled to thrive and grow 
 up with them. 
 
 It will appear from the examples of former 
 an-es, that the mode of employment, which 
 established the eminence of the Arts at various 
 periods in other countries, has uniformly been 
 that, in which the interests of the Government 
 were in all points connected.
 
 CHAP. V. CELEBRATED EPOCHS, &C. 289 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 OF THE CAUSES OF EMINENCE IN THE ARTS 
 OF DESIGN, IN THE CELEBRATED EPOCHS 
 OF FOREIGN STATES. 
 
 " Sutnma ubi res agitur, vis sunima requiritur Artis." 
 
 It appears to have been too generally sup- 
 posed that the favour of Princes constitutes 
 the uhimate success of the Pine Arts. Poets, 
 indeed, and Painters of the most powerful 
 minds, and, consequently, the most eminent 
 in fame, have known liow to separate the 
 essentia], from the accidental, concerns of their 
 Art. Horace's sentence, framed with equal 
 elegance and judgment, is deliberately placed 
 within the strict bounds of truth : 
 
 " Principibus placuisse viris non ultima laus est ;^' 
 
 Michael Angclo, though he strove to retain 
 the support, disdained to purchase the favour,
 
 290 CELEBRATED EPOCHS OF PART III. 
 
 of the Pontiff, whose patronage gave scope to 
 his immortal works. But servility and im- 
 perious want have filled so many tongues, and 
 so many pages, with expressions of adulation, 
 that our better judgment is sometimes over- 
 whelmed by them. Even the learned and 
 laborious Junius, to whose researches the 
 genuine claims of Painting are so much in- 
 debted, sums up the amount of its hopes and 
 glory in the smiles of Charles, in whose reign 
 he wrote, and to whom he dedicates his work. 
 — " Triumphat profecto, et porro triumph- 
 abit tanto Msecenate Pictura*." 
 
 Indispensably requisite as the smiles of 
 power at all times are to the success of the 
 Arts, it is less to the benevolence of the So- 
 vereign Patron, than to his discretion, in the 
 adoption of measures best calculated to secure 
 their advancement, that they can be indebted 
 for that triumph to which Junius alludes. It 
 might be severe, to assert that Painting would 
 not have attained its triumph under the 
 
 * Under so great a Patron, Painting triumphs, and will con- 
 tinue to triumph.
 
 CHAP. V. THE FINE ARTS. 289 
 
 accomplished Charles T., since the course of his 
 patronage was arrested by a premature death ; 
 but if the observations, which are about to be 
 offered, are founded in truth, it will be per- 
 ceived, that the utmost scope of his patronage 
 gave very faint indications of any measures, 
 which could have led the Arts of Design to 
 the summit of national fame. Yet never was 
 Sovereign more zealously attached to those 
 Arts, or more liberally inclined to their pro- 
 fessors ! But he does not appear to have 
 connected the favour, which he lavished on 
 them, with any interests of the State ; and it 
 will, perhaps, be found demonstrable from the 
 following rctlexions, that it is only by such a 
 combination, that the Arts have at any time 
 accomplished their own triumph, or swelled 
 that of the Power which patronized them. 
 
 Whoever calls under review the principal 
 aeras in the history of civilization, when se- 
 veral particular Nations have successively en- 
 joyed that species of celebrity, to vvhicli the 
 eminence of the Arts has been found to con- 
 tribute, will perceive that they are those oi' 
 
 V
 
 2i)0 CELEBRATED EPOCHS OF part hi. 
 
 Pericles and Alexander in Greece, of Leo X. 
 in Italy, and of Louis XIV. in France. Those 
 are fixed and determinate points of fame, in 
 the annals of the respective countries. What 
 value the Arts, which conspired to the cele- 
 brity of those moments, may hold in the 
 opinion of individuals, is comparatively in- 
 different, as long as it is vain to deny, that 
 they have borne their part in the formation of 
 some of the most splendid epochs of Grecian, 
 Italian, and French history. 
 
 But, it is most highly deserving of remark, 
 that the works of Art, executed during two of 
 the above-mentioned periods, although very 
 numerous, are scarcely more so than the ac- 
 cumulated collections of other countries, at 
 other periods. Venice and Holland possess 
 nearly (if not quite) as many; and the Venetian 
 school is of sufficient celebrity both in point of 
 quantity and quality ; yet no particular epoch 
 has been distinguished in either of those coun- 
 tries, as more immediately collecting in itself, 
 and more brightly reflecting back, the honour 
 of the State, as was the case in all the other 
 countries before named, where the triumph
 
 CHAP. V. THE FINE ARTS. QQ] 
 
 of the Arts appears to have contributed to fix 
 irrevocably the name and record of that 
 period of time, in which they themselves 
 reached their greatest eminence. The times 
 of Pericles, and of Alexander; the ages of 
 Leo the Xth, and Louis the XlVth, are 
 honourable and familiar appellations, given 
 (relatively to the history of those countries) to 
 certain terms of years, more generally (per- 
 haps more accurately) known by those titles, 
 than as the eighty-fourth to the eighty-seventh, 
 and the owe hundred and eleventh to the one 
 hundred and fourteenth Olympiads, or the first 
 half of the sixteenth, and latter of the seventeenth 
 Christian centuries. — To the above epochs it 
 may not be improper to add likewise the 
 notice of another distinct period, in which the 
 eminence of the Arts (although Painting was 
 not then the principal) seems to have en- 
 larged the fame of the State; viz. the age of 
 Augustus. 
 
 It has been generally observed, and is, no 
 doubt, true, that the distinguished characters, 
 who possessed the sovereignties of the respec- 
 tive countries, at the epochs above mentioned,
 
 292 CELEBRATED EPOCHS OF part III. 
 
 were magnificently bountiful to the possessors 
 of the various Arts which they encouraged ; 
 whence it has been inferred, that the names 
 which seem thus to have taken possession of 
 the fame of those ages, have been transmitted 
 and recommended to posterity, by the grateful 
 eulogies of those who enjoyed such ample and 
 consoling bounties ; and this latter circum- 
 stance may appear to account in some measure 
 for the celebrity annexed to the several pe- 
 riods here mentioned. 
 
 But, by examining the productions them- 
 selves, which those supposed eulogists have 
 left behind them, a much more important 
 feature is found to have distinguished the con- 
 duct of their illustrious patrons ; viz. a judi- 
 cious exertion of their influence, and a proper 
 direction of the talents of all such eminent 
 artists, as they were fortunate enough to find 
 under their patronage. It will appear, on in- 
 quiry into the nature of the various perform- 
 ances, which gave the peculiar splendour to 
 the aggregate of Arts at those times, that the 
 whole employment of the superiour artists 
 was vigorously directed to the most eminent
 
 CHAP. V. THE FINE ARTS. 293 
 
 purposes ; to the carrying on of such works 
 as were, respectively, demonstrative of the ac- 
 knozcledged pretensions, and fundamental renown 
 of the States themselves. Let us examine each ; 
 
 And first, the Athenians. — Religion, Hero- 
 ism, Publick Virtue, at Athens, were the vital 
 springs of the Republick. They formed the 
 basis of her power, and supported her eminent 
 pretensions to fame. — And what did the pub- 
 lick works, raised by Pericles, exhibit? Tem- 
 ples (as we know by records, and even by 
 present remains,) in honour of the Heroes, 
 who founded, and the Deities who protected 
 Athens; adorned with all that could immor- 
 talize and enhance the memory of their bene- 
 fits to mankind. Happily for England, our 
 own walls can furnish a specimen of the con- 
 tents of those temples. The heroic deeds of 
 Theseus; the contest of the Lapitha (under 
 his guidance) with the Centaurs; the proces- 
 sional rites of their religious sacrifices; the 
 sacred symbols of their tutelary Neptune and 
 Minerva. 
 
 For carrying into cflTect these purposes of
 
 294 CELEBRATED EPOCHS OF PART III. 
 
 national interest, the views of the Statesman 
 were happily seconded by the admirable 
 talents of the Sculptor, Phidias, which were 
 zealously called into their utmost exertion. 
 The Jupiter at Olympia, and the Minerva in 
 the Parthenon, filled Greece with religious 
 astonishment and renown *. 
 
 The spirit, lighted up by the patronage 
 and influence of Pericles, was universally dif- 
 fused throughout Greece. What were the 
 works of Euphranor, Praxiteles; — in short, 
 what were the works of every Grecian Artist 
 of superiour renown ? There is, of that whole 
 period, scarcely a statue or bas-relief any 
 where to be found, the object of which is 
 unconnected with the patriotism or the re- 
 ligion of the country ; and that the same ob- 
 servation may be made on many, if not most, 
 of their publick works in Painting, (though 
 all unfortunately lost to us,) the most ample 
 
 * See the full and dazzling description of both these Statues, 
 in Pausanias ; as also, in the same author, an account of the heroic 
 subjects painted by Pansenus, the brother of Phidias, in the 
 Temple of Jupiter Olynipius. — Book v, chap. 11.
 
 CHAP. V. THE FINE ARTS. QQS 
 
 accounts of Pausanias, both in Attica and other 
 provinces of Greece, will demonstrate. Ii is 
 sufficient to refer the reader to his travels*. 
 
 When we read accounts of works of this 
 nature, (and the profusion with which such 
 works were scattered, or rather regularly dis- 
 tributed, over the Grecian States, can only 
 be conceived from perusing the writer just 
 
 * See a short extract in Appendix, No. 4. 
 
 The accumulation of works of Art in Greece, from the time 
 of Phidias, was so great, that C. Caylus reckons, in Pausa- 
 nias's account, no less than 2827 statues, among which 33 were 
 colossal, and 32 equestrian in bronze; besides 50 bas-reliefs 
 of a large size ; and 24 bronze chariots, some drawn by two, 
 and some by four horses, with one or two persons within, all of 
 the size of the real subjects. " Eufin," he continues, " si I'on 
 corisidere que Pausanias n'a pas et6 dans toutes les villes de la 
 Grece, et si Ton joint a tous les grands morceaux, dont je 
 viens de parler, sept ccns treize temples, 6galement cit^s par le 
 meme auteur, sans compter les autels, les chapelles, les tresors des 
 provinces, les portiques, les trophees, les tombeaux, les rotondes, et 
 tous les monumens, dont les villes et les campagnes etoient om6es 
 avec profusion, on aura peine a croire, que le tems auqucl il a 
 fait ses voyages, ait ete precW^ de trois cens ans, employes par 
 les Remains a depouiller ce beau pays de ses principaux orne- 
 inens. II nous apprend lui-nieme, que Neron avoit emporte cinque 
 cens statues de la seule ville de Delphes." — Tom. ii. p. 108. lie- 
 cueil d' Antiquites.
 
 296 CELEBRATED EPOCHS OF Paut in 
 
 mentioned) — when we read such accounts, can 
 we hesitate in deciding, what was the cause 
 that has given so high and lasting an import- 
 ance to the Fine Arts of Greece ? INot surely 
 the dexterity and skill alone of the artists, great 
 as those unquestionably were; — had there been 
 no other cause, their fame might have been 
 as perishable, as the materials of which their 
 works were composed : not alone the celebrity, 
 derived from the liberal patronage bestowed 
 by the Grecian princes and people, on Artists 
 of every description. Painters, Sculptors, and 
 Architects ; — that fame had been as transient 
 as the moments of its acquirement. Was it 
 not rather the elevated dignity of character 
 in the State, directing the application of Arts, 
 so lovely in themselves, and so powerful in 
 their operations on the minds of the people, 
 unceasingly to the maintenance of the great 
 principle, on which the Republick of Athens, 
 and the glory of Greece, were founded*.' 
 
 * " Ce peuple de grands Artistes," saj'sC. Caylus/'conservoit 
 le veritable objct des Arts, celui de conduire ala vertu, etdecele- 
 brer la veritable gloire par les ouvrages, qui les associoient eux- 
 memes a I'honneur de leur pa_ys, et les conduisoient a. I'iinmor- 
 talite."— Vol. V. p. 129.
 
 CHAP.V. THE FINE ARTS. ^97 
 
 If we conceive that the cultivation of the 
 Arts, as the innocent amusements and relaxa- 
 tions of life, can give fame to a Nation, we 
 delude ourselves : the fame which they can 
 in that manner confer, is of a very subordinate 
 nature. The preponderating example of the 
 Greeks, is sufficient to demonstrate the fallacy 
 of such a conception, as well as to point out 
 the proper modes for their employment. The 
 Statues of Greece were raised, in the first 
 place, to her gods, and her religion. After 
 those, innumerable Graphic and Sculptural 
 records held forth to publick estimation and 
 gratitude. Heroes, Sages, and whatever other 
 characters might lay claim to the acknowledg- 
 ments of their country. At Athens, no man 
 could be great and obscure. Every example 
 of virtue and genius was consecrated to the 
 glory of the State, throughout all the various 
 pursuits of civic life. Not the Marlboroughs 
 and Nelsons alone of Greece enjoyed the 
 national honours of the Painters' and the 
 Sculptors' toil; but the Newtons, the Miltons, 
 the Johnsons, also, of that land became a part 
 of the publick fame. 
 
 It was this imposing combination, this
 
 i298 CELEBRATED EPOCHS OF part in. 
 
 splendid exercise of the power of the State, 
 assuming and appropriating to itself the re- 
 nown of all talents, all arts, all sciences, all 
 heroic achievements, whether of strength or 
 mentfil intellect, to be found among the whole 
 people, that surrounded it with such a varie- 
 gated crown of fame, and covered it with such 
 a blaze of glory. 
 
 Let us now turn to the second epoch. 
 
 The genius of Pericles having first discover- 
 ed, and his example pointed out, the means of 
 rendering the Arts contributive to the glory 
 of a State, the lofty mind of Alexander seized, 
 with no less felicity, the principle which had 
 guided the Athenian. His conduct appears, 
 if possible, even more peremptorily decided, 
 in reorard to the directioji of the Arts of De- 
 sign, to illustrate those points, which he fixed 
 as the principles of his reign. Glory, even 
 to the assumption of divine honours, as it 
 formed the highest object of his views, was 
 supported by every aid which it was within 
 the sphere of those Arts to bestow. His own 
 resemblance (Sanctissimi Regis Imago *,) was 
 
 * See Appendix, No. 1.
 
 «HAP. V. THE FINE ARTS. 299 
 
 to be formed by none but men of the most 
 eminent and perfect skill. Lysippus, Pyrgo- 
 teles, and Apelles, were alone to impart his 
 character to the world. His features were 
 to be engraven on the mind, only as they 
 beamed with the exalted ardour of the Hero, 
 and the youthful effulgence of the God*. — 
 In one picture the heroic youth brandished 
 his paternal thunders f; in another he led the 
 god of war captive and bound in chains to his 
 triumphal car J. In Sculpture, Lysippus 
 placed in his hand the spear of conquest, his 
 true and proper glory. In all, he sought 
 the aggrandizement of his character as a 
 Sovereign \\. 
 
 Nor yet did the glory of Alexander rest on 
 himself alone. As military achievements were 
 destined to be the support of his universal con- 
 
 * Appendix, No. 1. 
 
 t Pinxit et Alexandrum Magnum fulmen tenentem in Teraplo 
 £phesi£ Dianae. — Pliny. 
 
 J Fclibien. 
 
 II See Plutarch, who gives a farther explanation of tliis point. 
 The reasons to which he ascribes Alexander's choice of his Artists, 
 clearly show his views with regard to their works.
 
 300 CELEBRATED EPOCHS OF part HI. 
 
 quest, he was anxious to give immortality, by 
 the hands of his own Sculptor, to the Heroes 
 who had bled in his cause. Their Statues rose 
 in brass, accoutred in their own arms; and 
 the towns of Macedonia beheld their publick 
 honours *." 
 
 To this concentration of the powers of 
 Sculpture and Painting in the service of those 
 vital purposes of his reign and state, is owing 
 that portion of celebrity, which the time of 
 Alexander derived from the eminence of the 
 Fine Arts. 
 
 Let us next proceed to the consideration of 
 Italian, or rather i^ontifical, fame in the Arts. 
 The birth of Painting in Italy was marked by 
 the consecration of the infant to religion. 
 Devotion inspired and commanded its grow- 
 ing powers. Its works were pious offerings 
 of the humble at the altar of prayer. It 
 
 * See Arriiin's Expcdilion of Alexander. 
 
 In the action wliich ensued after he had passed the Granicus, 
 and in which the Persians were routed, twenty-five horsemen of 
 the Conqueror's army were killed. He gave immediate directions 
 for their Statues to be cast in brass by Lysippus : and they were 
 accordingly erected at Dio, a town of Macedonia.
 
 CHAP. V. THE FIXE ARTS. 301 
 
 aspired to no ambitious elevation ; it sought 
 no renown, but that of zeal and fidelity to the 
 Doctrines of Christ. 
 
 But no sooner had the Arts of Design, after 
 their revival at Florence, begun to promise 
 maturity, than the adoption of their powerful 
 subserviency and ministry to the principles 
 and purposes of the State, (a measure which 
 in Greece seemed to have been inspired by 
 the happiness of genius,) became a part of the 
 systematic policy of the Italian Governments. 
 The feudal honours of the petty Sovereigns, or 
 the prowess of their ancestors, furnished the 
 employment of Painters and Sculptors, but 
 chiefly the dexterous vigilance of the Court 
 of Rome hastened to avail itself of their 
 faculties. 
 
 The great basis of Pontifical powder in Italy, 
 was the triumphant doctrine of Papal Supre- 
 macy, operating through the channels of devo- 
 tion and ceremonial worship. No political 
 course was there open, as had been in Greece, 
 for heroism: a quality, in some measure incon- 
 sistent with that faith, which enjoins the ex- 
 tinction of hostile and warlike passions. As
 
 302 CELEBRATED EPOCHS OF part ill. 
 
 little scope was there for deeds of patriotism 
 and publick virtue, under a Government which 
 allowed of no tenets in its subjects, but those 
 of implicit subordination and submission. 
 
 Supposing, therefore, the Sovereigns of the 
 Roman State to be possessed of the same 
 desire as the Greeks, with respect to the ex- 
 ertions of the Fine Arts ; viz. that of apply- 
 ing and appropriating them to the service of 
 the State ; the change of form or mode, the 
 superficial difference which would appear in 
 the direction of the Arts under the Pontiffs, 
 is easily to be calculated. Let us see whether 
 it corresponds with our calculation. 
 
 Devotion, as has been said, had manifested 
 itself generally as a natural, as well as habi- 
 tual sentiment of the mind, in the employment 
 of the Arts, at their first dawning in Florence ; 
 but it was wholly without any determinate 
 view, in regard to the government of the 
 country, or to any other project of temporal 
 grandeur. On the full disclosure of their 
 powers, the Pontifical Genius seized the en- 
 gine of the Arts, and directed them to the 
 celebration of the Papal Supremacy. The
 
 CHAP. V. THE FINE ARTS. 303 
 
 Church, dedicated to St. Peter, the fountain of 
 their authority, rose in enlarged magnificence ; 
 and the walls of the Vatican Apartments, and 
 cielingoftheSistine Chapel, transformed Paint- 
 ing into the organ of the State. The great con- 
 nected system of Graphic allusion and inven- 
 tion, by which the Vatican rooms and chapel 
 were so admirably contrived, at once to adorn 
 the splendid state, and to support the ruling 
 principle, of the Roman Government, might 
 appear to have been partly devised by Kaf- 
 faelle Sanzio, and M. A. Buonarotti, since the 
 design was carried on by them uniformly 
 under the reigns of two successive Popes ; but 
 it is more rational to consider it as the sugges- 
 tion of Julius the lid. The splendid genius of 
 Leo the Xlh seems eagerly to have grasped and 
 adopted the invention, and (not without some 
 bias of personal vanity) to have promoted and 
 extended its execution to its utmost limits. 
 The plan of this Graphic policy, executed in the 
 Vatican Palace, has been noticed at large 
 in the papers of " The Artist*:" and the 
 
 » Vol. II. No. 14.
 
 304 CELEIHIATED EPOCHS OF paut III. 
 
 reader will find also a full and perspicuous 
 account of it in Mr. Fuseli's* Lectures, pub- 
 lished in 1801. It will therefore be sufficient 
 here to say, that at the command of Julius 
 the lid, and of Leo the Xth, appeared, in the 
 Pontifical Palace, from the pencils of Michael 
 Angelo, and Raffaelle, the history of the Holy 
 Faith, and of Revelation, portrayed through the 
 whole of their extensive progress, from the 
 first opening of their light on mankind, to the 
 supreme establishment of the Papal Hierar- 
 chy ; of a dominion built on the accordant 
 devotion of Nations and Sovereigns. 
 
 Hence it is evident, that, in that period, 
 which has enjoyed superiour celebrity, during 
 the course of sovereignty possessed by the 
 Roman Pontificate, the Arts, in the hands of 
 the greatest Masters of them, were not suf- 
 fered to wander at large unnoticed, and to 
 dissipate their powers on insignificant pur- 
 poses, but were enlisted and concentrated in 
 the sole service of the Power which fostered 
 
 * Professor of Painting in the Royal Academy.
 
 CHAP. V. THE FINE ARTS. 305 
 
 them. The influence of that enlightened 
 period was felt for a long time afterwards 
 throughout Italy, and at various epochs 
 awakened the fame of particular districts. 
 Directed to their prescribed channels, Paint- 
 ing and Sculpture continued to excite devo- 
 tion, to animate faith, and to instil obedience 
 to the papal authority ; until, by the course 
 of natural events, they gradually sunk to decay, 
 and their once powerful efficacy was lost in 
 the mutual imbecility of the Pontiff and the 
 Artist.
 
 306 CELEBRATED EPOCHS OF part hi. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. 
 
 Let us now turn to France. France has en- 
 joyed an unquestioned epoch of high repute 
 in the Arts of polite learning — the Age of 
 Louis XIV. Let us see how far the eminence 
 of that age may be found to accord with the 
 ideas here thrown out. 
 
 The infancy of the Arts of Design in France 
 is less distinguished by any particular feature, 
 than in Italy. From a very early period they 
 had been proaiiscuously cultivated, as the oc- 
 casional talents of an artist, or the favour of a 
 patron, furnished opportunities ; and different 
 attempts were made to lay the foundation of 
 ihat celebrity, which they afterwards acquired. 
 Francis I., anxious to establish the glory of 
 his reign, called under his patronage the 
 various powers of genius, which adorned his
 
 CHAP. VI. THE FINE ARTS. 307 
 
 age. Leonardo da Vinci was received by him 
 with every honour that his merit could claim ; 
 but he arrived, only to expire in the arms of 
 the Monarch. Primaticcio was invited to fill 
 his place ; and to the exertions of that Painter 
 were added those of his rival, Rosso; among 
 whose works it is not unimportant to notice 
 the " Battles of Alexander," painted at Fon- 
 tainebleau. Other allegorical Pictures, also, 
 displayed the virtues of the Sovereign : but 
 the moment of epochal fame was not arrived ; 
 the distracted fortunes of Francis were ad- 
 verse, and the native talents of France as yet 
 insufficient, to its formation. 
 
 Wlien the admirable studies of Poussin, at 
 Rome, had procured him a just renown above 
 his contemporaries in Art, the lofty mind of 
 Richlieu beheld in him a legitimate source of 
 national honour, and every effort was used to 
 procure his return to his country. The letter 
 from the hand of Louis XIIL, full of every 
 expression of condescending regard and power- 
 ful interest *, seems to have determined his 
 
 • See Appendix, No. 2.
 
 308 CELEBRATED EPOCHS OF part III. 
 
 assent ; and he came home to superintend the 
 works, which were carrying on at the Louvre, 
 and other palaces, under the strict control of 
 M. de Noyers, then in charge of the publick 
 works. But the plans of ostentation, which 
 he was required to aid, were not suited to his 
 character and refined disposition. He shrunk 
 from splendour *, and sighed for the tranquil 
 solitude of his accustomed studies, to which he 
 finally returned; unfortunately for Painting, 
 at the moment when the genius of France was 
 preparing that combination, which filled the 
 reign of Louis XIV. with glory. Under the 
 auspices of that Monarch, the Arts, on a 
 sudden, found their powers concentrated by a 
 presiding influence, and directed to a single 
 point. 
 
 And what was that point ? 
 
 In the Government of France, (even amidst 
 all the various forms mider which it has of 
 late presented itself to the view of the world, 
 what may be considered as the real and fun- 
 damental basis of its power and grandeur, but 
 
 * An amusing anecdote is told by Felibien of Poussin, relative 
 to the simplicity of his manner of life. See Appendix, No. 4.
 
 ClIAP. VI. THE FIXE AKTS. 309 
 
 the unextinguishable spirit of despotic and 
 absolute monarchy ? — Accordingly, to what 
 were the labours of the French artists directed 
 by the enlightened administrators of the 
 splendid reign of Louis the Great, but to the 
 celebration of monarchal honours r The pa- 
 triotism of Athens, and the religious worship 
 of Rome, were here alike out of sight. Gloty, 
 the passion which the present ruler of France 
 has declared to be the governing passion of 
 Frenchmen, claimed the honours of the pen 
 and the pencil. The victories of Alexander 
 became, in the hands of Le Brun, mere tri- 
 butary emblems of the triumphs of Louis*. 
 The spirit which animated those two Sove- 
 reigns, (Alexander and Louis XIV.) was, in- 
 
 » 
 
 • It has been already mentioned that Le Brun was clwsen by 
 Colbert, to be the general Director of publick works. Tlic genius 
 of Le Brun sufficiently accounts for liis having obtained this 
 
 station : 
 
 " L'ordonnance pompeuse de ses ouvragcs," says a French 
 autlior, " convenoit aux penchans fastueux du Monarque, dont 
 il decoroit les Palais." 
 
 This circumstance is a proof, that the views, which influenced 
 the choice of the Minister, were consistent with the ideas here 
 effered.
 
 310 CELEBRATED EPOCHS OF p ART HI. 
 
 deed, in one instance, similar. The ** godlike 
 imitated state" was assumed by both ; and 
 Poets and Painters, Tiiiiotheus and Apelles, 
 Boileau and Le Brun, sang and painted " pre- 
 sent Deities." Versailles, the Thuilleries, the 
 Louvre, vied in the lustre of monarchal state. 
 In the Place de Victoire, the rival of Alex- 
 ander was deified in the proudest excellence 
 of Sculpture; in the ceilings of Versailles, 
 Painting lifted him to the skies. The Drama 
 joined in contributing its share of adulation to 
 power. These congenial operations of the 
 Arts,^ — congenial with the actual and funda- 
 mental principles of the Government, added 
 splendour to the power which they celebrated ; 
 and, while the most general respect was paid 
 to Science of every kind, the prevalence of an 
 uniform principle, through all the various 
 branches of the Arts, concurred to raise the 
 reign of Louis to that pre-eminence of cele- 
 brity, which it is acknowledged to possess 
 over all other periods in the ancient Monarchy 
 of France. 
 
 But the instance of another age has been 
 mentioned, (although less connected with
 
 CHAP. VI. THE FINE ARTS. 311 
 
 Painting). The JugusUin, no less eminent 
 than the former, as one of the epochs of 
 human civilization : and here, at the first view, 
 it may appear that the present arguments, 
 urged in behalf of the Plastic Arts, may stand 
 in some fear of being weakened; since the 
 reign of Augustus attained an equal distinc- 
 tion of fame, without furnishing employment 
 to Painters and Sculptors, whose works never 
 assumed any high rank in that country. But 
 the candid reader will recollect, that, through 
 the whole of this survey, (as well as in a for- 
 mer inquiry,) no imaginary superiority has 
 ever been claimed for Painting, over other 
 liberal Arts. One of the principal purposes 
 of the whole investigation has been, to en- 
 deavour to place it on that equal footing with 
 other Arts, on which it is entitled to stand*; 
 and it will be sufficient for the consistency of 
 the present argument, if it can be shown that 
 the Liberal Arts,'employed under the sanction 
 of the Emperor of Rome, (of whatsoever de- 
 
 • As much remains to be said on this subject in behalf of 
 Poetrj-, as of Painting. A great national encouragement of its 
 highest powers, is as desirable for one as for tlie other.
 
 312 CELEBRATED EPOCHS OF partiii. 
 
 scription they were,) were directed to the pur- 
 pose, that has been described. But, on this 
 head, the slightest recollections of classic stu- 
 dents will be sufficient to demonstrate the 
 point in question. They will readily bring to 
 their reflexion, that the Poem of the ^neid, 
 whose Author stands first in the roll of Au- 
 gustan refinement, is wholly directed to cele- 
 brate the foundation of an universal Sove- 
 reignty by military valour, — the vital principle 
 of Koman Sovereignty and greatness. The 
 language of Horace, when his compositions 
 take a political turn, is of the same nature*. 
 
 The rulers of those countries where the Arts 
 have risen to eminence at any distinguished 
 
 * " Latinum nomen, et Italas 
 
 Crevere vires, famaque et iniperi 
 
 Porrecta majestas ad ortum 
 
 Solis ab Hesperio cubili." 
 
 Ode XV. I. 4. 
 
 " O, qua sol habitabiles 
 
 Ulustrat oras, maxime principum," &c. &c. 
 
 Ode xiv. 1. 4. 
 
 " Dum Capitolium 
 
 Scandet cum tacita virgine Pontifex ;" 
 
 (as synoninious with the duration of the world.)
 
 CHAP. vr. THE FINE ARTS. 313 
 
 period, employed, in the service of their re- 
 spective States, those talents, which they 
 perceived already prepared for exertion around 
 them. Tliey neither attempted to force their 
 cultivation, or to alter their channel ; but they 
 availed themselves of the strength which they 
 had spontaneously gathered, by a vigilant and 
 animating direction of their powers. In 
 Greece, Pericles fostered the early efforts of 
 Architects, Sculptors, and Painters. The two 
 former classes he found more numerously filled 
 than the latter : accordingly Temples arose, 
 which astonished the eye of the beholder, and 
 Statues were raised, which dazzled his imagi- 
 nation. Painting attended in the train of the 
 sister Arts. Poetry, in the hands of the three 
 great masters of the Drama, had already cele- 
 brated the heroic fables and traditions of their 
 native country. History had also woven her 
 wreath for the brows of Athens, and moulded 
 the knowledge of the earth into a melodious nar- 
 rative of the invasions of Greece, and the pu- 
 nishment of her invaders *. It was during the 
 
 * See the Letter of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, to Cn. PoiHt 
 peius, usually prefixed to the Works of Herodotus.
 
 314 CELEBRATED EPOCHS OF part III. 
 
 power of Pericles in Athens, that Euripides 
 and Herodotus received the tribute of publick 
 honour. It remained for that great States- 
 man to seize the rising powers of Sculpture 
 and Painting, which were then springing for- 
 ward to view in Phidias. That eminently 
 gifted artist, and, through him, whatever Ar- 
 chitects and Painters rose, in his time, to 
 excellence, were engrossed to the service of 
 the Republick. The result of the whole com- 
 bination has been the glory of ages. 
 
 In the period of Macedonian predominance, 
 Poetry had declined, and Greece was destitute 
 of great Poets. The only Poet of note during 
 the reign of Alexander, was Philetus; and, 
 since he died about forty years after Alex- 
 ander*, it is probable that he could have been 
 little distinguished at that early period of life, 
 when alone he could have enjoyed the favour 
 of the Conqueror. The envy expressed by 
 Alexander, of Achilles, that he had had the 
 good fortune to be celebrated by such a Poet 
 as Homer, is a sufficient demonstration of the 
 
 * Blair'.s Chronology.
 
 ClIAP. VI. THE FINE ARTS. 315 
 
 purposes in which he would have engaged 
 Poetry, if he had found a Poet capable of 
 corresponding to his ambition. Sculpture yet 
 endured; and Painting had now acquired a 
 considerable ascendency Hence, Lysippus 
 and Pyrgoteles were employed and honoured ; 
 but Apelies triumphed in the smiles and 
 favour of his Sovereign. The ennobled Art 
 shone yet brighter from reaction ; and, from 
 the eminence, which crowned its distinguished 
 employment, under an all-powerful Monarch, 
 it bore, in after ages, the name of the favoured 
 Painter *. 
 
 The glory of the age of Alexander, as it 
 respects the Arts, is inferiour to that of Pe- 
 ricles, because the combination of talents, em- 
 ployed in honour of the Stale, was of less 
 extent ; and still more, because the vital prin- 
 ciple, or essential virtue of the State, to which 
 they were devoted, was of an inferiour nature. 
 
 In Rome, at the period of Augustus, Paint- 
 ing and Sculpture exhibited no original 
 powers. Their excellence was the effect of 
 
 • " Apelle^ redditus arte." — Martial. 
 
 " ApellejE cuperent te scribere cerae." — Statius.
 
 316 CELEBRATED EPOCHS OF PART m. 
 
 imitation of the Greeks, and their works, pro- 
 bably, were more frequently the productions 
 of adventitious artists of that nation, than of 
 Roman ones. But the Poets of Rome were 
 of a higher class ; and, while the former artists 
 decorated their chambers, or their palaces, 
 the latter were employed to illustrate the 
 grandeur of the Empire, and the transcendency 
 of imperial dignity *. The purposes of the 
 Plastic Arts were not, however, wholly turned 
 aside from the same path. The Statues of 
 Augustus and Livia stood in the insignia of 
 Roman Deities, and were so presented to the 
 homage of a subject multitude f. 
 
 In Italy, Painting and Sculpture had risen 
 
 « 
 
 * Not only the patronage of Augustus was directed to tins 
 object ; his caution also pointed the same way : 
 
 '* Augustus Caesar recitantes et benigne et patienter audivit ; 
 nee tantum carmina et historias, sed orationes et dialogos. Com- 
 poni taraen aliquid de se, nisi et serio, et a prajstantissimis offen- 
 debatur, admonebatque Praetores ne paterentur nomen suum 
 commissionibus obsolefieri." — Sueton. in Augusta, c. 89. 
 
 t Dio, 1. 43, relates also, that a Statue in brass of Julius 
 Caesar, standing on a globe, was, by a decree of the Senate, 
 placed in the Capitol, with an inscription on it, addressed a« to a 
 Demi-god.
 
 CHAP. VI. THE FINE ARTS. 317 
 
 in ecclesiastical trammels. They had early 
 acquired the grammar of the State doctrines ; 
 and the imperial genius of Julius II. claimed 
 the harvest of their studies and rising strength. 
 He called the youthful, and now immortal, 
 Raffaelle to the execution of the great works, 
 which he meditated in the Vatican — the dis- 
 play of Pontifical glory. He claimed, from 
 the hand of Michael Angelo, the honour of 
 immortality for himself and his reign. 
 
 Under his successor, Leo X.*, Painting con- 
 tinued to be the organ of refined ambition, 
 and Architecture united its triumphs ; for Ar- 
 chitecture then formed a part of the common 
 study of every great master in the Arts of 
 Design. 
 
 Poetry, though possessing sufficient celebrity, 
 
 • It is justly observed by Mr. Duppa, in his Life of Michael 
 Angelo, that although Leo X. has obtained for himself the glory 
 of the age, the splendour, which attended it, had been, in fact, 
 prepared in all points by Julius II. 
 
 A similar case appears in the age of Louis XIV. He reaped 
 a rich harvest from ground prepared by the preceding care of 
 Eichlieu.. 
 
 Such also may be said to have been the fortune of Alexander, 
 on his. succession to Philip's crown and ambition.
 
 318 CELEBRATED EPOCHS OF part in. 
 
 was not equally at hand to lend material aid. 
 The only Italian Poets of great note, during 
 Leo's Pontificate, were Ariosto, Sannazarius, 
 and Vida ; the two former belonging to dis- 
 tinct States, and one of them busily employed 
 in the service of his Prince, Yet Leo en- 
 deavoured to appropriate, in some measure, to 
 his reign the fame of Ariosto by the protection 
 of his works. Vida was eminently patronized, 
 and his Muse directed to the Chrisiiad*. Nor 
 were the elegant talents of Bembo, and other 
 literary men, neglected : they added graces to 
 the Court of Leo f. 
 
 France, always aspiring to universal pre- 
 eminence, called under her command, in the 
 person of Louis XIV ., ill the aids which Paint- 
 ing, Sculpture, Poetry, Architecture, and 
 Musick, could confer towards the increase of 
 national or monarchical glory. All were col- 
 
 * See the Life of Vida, prefixed to his works. Also, Appendix, 
 No. 4. 
 
 t A Poem was, about the same time, or rather previously to the 
 Paintings of Raffaelle, published by Lilio Gregorio Giraldi, pur- 
 porting to be a Hymn to St. Leo, but having, in fact, for its 
 subject, the Expulsion of the French from Italy. — See Roscoe's 
 Life of Leo X.
 
 CHAP. VI. THE FINE ARTS. 319 
 
 lected and united in the honours of the State, 
 and all conspired to swell the renown which 
 attends the age of that Sovereign. — If that 
 renown appear in any points nugatory, it is 
 owing to the inferiour rank of the talents, 
 which he tliere found fit for action. 
 
 The portion of renown, then, arising to the 
 several States which have been mentioned, 
 from the eminence of the Fine Arts, (and who 
 will deny that renown has arisen from them ?) 
 appears to have been wholly owing to the en- 
 lightened, powerful, and comprehensive direc- 
 tion given to them, os they were then existing, by 
 the respective Governments of those States. 
 The renown so acquired was also in proportion 
 to the extent of the talents employed, and to the 
 importance, or rank, of the vital principle of 
 the State which they were called to illustrate. 
 
 But, if this reasoning be just, or rather if 
 the examples, which have been adduced, be 
 matters of fact, the argument, which they 
 have been brought to support, appears to be 
 conclusive. The Arts are capable of pro- 
 moting the renown, and of illustrating the 
 vital principle of a State. In order fully to
 
 320 CELEBRATED EPOCHS OF PART 111. 
 
 call forth, and perfect their powers, to con- 
 nect them indissolubly with its own glory, 
 and from both causes to increase the bright- 
 ness of a Nation's annals, it is requisite that 
 the watchful genius of the State should in- 
 spire and concentrate their views. It is not 
 sufficient to pour down favour, encourage- 
 ment, money, on the indiscriminate practice of 
 professors, however numerous, however skilful, 
 however endowed with genius, or enlightened 
 by study. Employment, even the most pro- 
 fusely and magnificently given, will not effect 
 the desired purpose ; it will not produce the 
 combined exaltation of Painting and the 
 honours of the land ; the only true comple- 
 tion of the arduous task of patronage. 
 
 One remarkable example can be adduced 
 in testimony of what has been asserted. Wit- 
 ness the splendid and admirable series of 
 Paintings in the Luxembourg Gallery by Ru- 
 bens ! The exuberant richness of poetical 
 fancy, combined in that unrivalled work, with 
 the utmost power of Graphic execution, failed 
 to effect what the meaner compositions of 
 Le Brun had at least the honour of sharing :
 
 CHAP. VI. THE FINE ARTS. 321 
 
 they failed to distinguish the epoch of their 
 performance, for the obvious causejusthinted, 
 that the objects to which their facuhies of il- 
 lustration were directed, were not radically 
 connected with the essential principle of the 
 State. The stupendous work was the history 
 of an individual, rather than of a Sovereign. 
 
 The same great master's decoration of the 
 palace of Whitehall failed of distinguishing 
 his gera, from a cause, which is the exact con- 
 verse of the preceding. He there painted 
 the glories of a Munarch, in a State not 
 wholly monarchical. 
 
 The example before mentioned, of Nicolas 
 Poussin, the most eminent Painter that France 
 ever produced, is scarcely of less force. That 
 unwearied artist had rendered himself famous 
 at Rome by his enthusiastic study of the re- 
 mains of antiquity, and of the greatest masters 
 of Italy. He had painted Bacchanalians, Satyrs, 
 Nymphs, subjects of Roman and Grecian his- 
 tory ; when lie was invited to return to France 
 by Louis the XHlth, and lodged in his court. 
 But Richlieu, who itrmany other things was 
 
 Y
 
 322 CELEBRATED EPOCHS OF part hi. 
 
 paving the way for the farther glory of his 
 country, did not, in this instance, hght on the 
 path, which was afterwards discovered by the 
 sagacity of Colbert. The only publick work 
 (on record) on which Poussin was employed, 
 was " the Labours of Hercules ;" whether re- 
 ferrible to any action of the State or Sovereign, 
 is not apparent: and even this work he was 
 suffered to relinquish, and to return to his 
 favourite retreat amidst the Arts of Italy. 
 Although, therefore, he was incomparably the. 
 greatest Painter of his country, the celebrity 
 of the Arts became the meed of a succeeding 
 period of time. 
 
 It will presently be shown, that, for similar 
 reasons, the Galleries of Boy dell, Macklin, 
 Bowyer, although undertakings of great mag- 
 nitude, and temporary importance to Painting, 
 have failed of producing any lasting effect in 
 this country. 
 
 Towards the attainment, then, of united 
 honour and utility to the State, towards the 
 creation of t'/ioc/ffl^ distinction from the various 
 powers- of the Arts, it is indispensably neces-
 
 CHAP. VI. THE FINE ARTS. 323 
 
 sary to establish some great and publick scope, 
 to which they may be directed, congenial 
 with the nature of the people and of the 
 government, under whose eyes and auspices 
 the task is to be performed, and the glory to 
 be achieved.
 
 324 THE ARTS EMPLOYED PART lU. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE ARTS OF 
 DESIGN IN ENGLAND, FOR NATIONAL 
 PURPOSES. 
 
 • " Shall Britons, in the field 
 
 Unconquer'd, still the better laurel yield ?" 
 
 It appears, generally, that (in addition to 
 their employment in the service of religion,) 
 the most advantageous point to which the 
 Arts can be directed, — that point, in which 
 not their honour alone, but that of the 
 State itself , is found to concentrate, — is, the 
 celebration of the essential virtue, ox fundamental 
 strength, of the individual country in which 
 they are cultivated. It remains now to ex- 
 amine particularly, in what manner the labours 
 of our English artists shall be directed, when 
 that day shall come, of which so fair a dawn 
 has been disclosed — when the State of Britain
 
 CHAP. ril. IN NATIONAL PURPOSES. 326' 
 
 shall accept the triumph of its own Arts; when 
 the powers of Painting shall be no longer 
 scattered, and wasted on the mythological su- 
 perstitions, or heroic achievements, of former 
 ages, and foreign Nations, or on the fanciful 
 narrations and allegories of Poets of every 
 country, but shall be called on to illustrate, 
 from sources possessed by no other Nation, the 
 essential virtues of Britain. — In what path 
 shall the skill of the British Painter and 
 Sculptor be then directed.'' 
 
 But the subject here assumes a degree of 
 political hue. To define in what the essence 
 of England's high renown consists, to circum- 
 scribe her claims, or concentrate them in a 
 single object, is a task too arduous to be 
 lightly undertaken. Her claims to honour are 
 as numerous as the terms which denote the 
 several branches of mental worth. In science, 
 in valour, in policy, in domestic and social 
 virtue; in all of these exist as many distinct 
 sources of her renown. 
 
 To exclude from these chapters all discus- 
 sion foreign to the subject of the Arts, let this 
 political ground be regarded as left open. Let
 
 SQ6 the arts employed pauthi. 
 
 the arduous definition await the sentence of 
 that enhghtened Statesman, who shall fix the 
 destiny of the Arts in England ; and let us 
 for the present be content to assume, on sup- 
 position merely, two of the most obvious 
 points of England's superiour excellence ; on 
 which, as readily as on any others, her essen- 
 tial strength and power may he thought to 
 rest; and having assumed those, let us ob- 
 serve how far the scope, which they would af- 
 ford, might furnish ground for such a portion 
 of national celebrity in the Fine Arts, as may 
 justly stand a chance of rivalling the fame of 
 former epochs. — An experiment of this kind 
 will answer the following purpose. If the 
 points so assumed, afford a sufficient scope for 
 the powers of the Arts, to justify the hopes of 
 a successful rivalry on our part, should they 
 also prove to be the true and best points that 
 can be named, the plan is at once complete 
 and satisfactory ; if better points should be 
 suggested, the prospect of our triumphant 
 career will be strengthened. 
 
 The first of the two points here proposed to 
 be assumed, in union with our pure religion, is
 
 CHAP. VII. IN XATIOXAL PURPOSES. 39,7 
 
 the wisdom of eoual laws, constituting 
 what is denominated the Freedom of the Emr- 
 lish Constitution ; the second, is the extent of 
 our COMMERCE, maintaining and supporting 
 our pohtical eminence under the influence of 
 the former. These are intended to be here 
 considered as the presiding agencies, under 
 FJeaven, of British grandeur and happiness. 
 It would be foreign to the purpose, for the 
 reasons just given, to enter into any defence 
 of the choice here made. Hypothesis requires 
 pretext onl}^ not proof: but tliat the first- 
 named of those «o-?«r«e5 may be not unjustly 
 viewed in the awful character here attributed 
 to it, the assent of all our hearts will testify; 
 and if we venture to form a deduction from 
 the hostile aim of the most sagacious foe with 
 whom England ever had to contend, the latter 
 may appear to possess a nearly equal claim to 
 our veneration. 
 
 Let us next, and equally for the sake of ex- 
 emplification only, suppose a Senate House, 
 llegal Palace, or any other great publick 
 edifice, already subsisting, or hereafter to be 
 built, bearing in its front the united symbols
 
 328 THE ARTS EMPLOYED PAUT III. 
 
 of EQUAL LAWS, and COMMERCE. Our ima- 
 gination can readily figure these presidencies, 
 portrayed in tlie vestibule, or enthroned in 
 the centre of the edifice. — In the farther cele- 
 bration of them by the powers of the Arts of 
 Design, will there be found so ample a sphere 
 of exertion, as would make it appear probable 
 that the attempt might achieve that eminence 
 of fame in Art, which is here the object of our 
 inquiries ? 
 
 Let us examine this point. 
 
 The accomplishment oi Freedom, in the esta- 
 blishment of Equal L(ms, is the history of Eng- 
 land and Iter People, exemplified in all their 
 various struggles and successes, in pursuit of 
 that greatest of all social blessings. The at- 
 tainments of Commerce embrace the history of 
 eve7'y other known region of the globe. 
 
 To hold up to view the wisdom and virtuous 
 spirit, which have combined in the institution 
 of equal lazes ; to show the blessings, to which 
 the dispensation of them gives hourly birth ; 
 to paint other shores, and other hemispheres, 
 deriving those blessings from England, as from 
 the parent source, or soliciting them from her
 
 CHAP. VII. IN NATIONAL PURPOSES. 329 
 
 hand, as from an acknowledged benefactress ;— 
 to develop the annals of commerce, to record 
 the grateful memory of those benefits, which it 
 is instrumental in diffusing over the world; to 
 display the enlargement of the Sciences, which 
 it imparts from clime to clime, and which it 
 elevates by the mutual communications of re- 
 mote intelligences ; to crown with posthumous 
 or present fame, the heroes who defend the 
 comforts which mankind enjoys by its means; 
 — heroes, who have bled for the land on which 
 its gifts are the most profusely showered ; to 
 transmit to posterity the Statesmen, who have 
 wisely propped its efforts, sustained its pro- 
 gress, and at length rendered its eminence on 
 Britain's shore the unrivalled object of envy; 
 — these, and more, would form the scope and 
 privilege of the Plastic Arts, in the construc- 
 tion and adornment of an edifice, dedicated, 
 under Heaven, to equal laws, and com- 
 merce. 
 
 The range of professional skill, in such an 
 edifice, would be as far superiour to that which 
 the publick undertakings of every other 
 Nation have possessed, (the Atiienians only
 
 330 THE ARTS EMPLOYED part III. 
 
 and always excepted,) as, it is to be hoped, the 
 philosophic genius of English Art will one 
 day show^ itsell" in all its several departments. 
 The history of our constitutional Freedom, 
 whether viewed in its civic or martial achieve- 
 ments, is the triumph of all that is dear to 
 the heart of man. In the civic, from the brave 
 and patient Alfred, redeeming not more by 
 valour, than by wisdom, his native soil from 
 foreign oppression and desolation ; from the 
 Patriot Barons, inflamed with the holy ar- 
 dours of liberty, yet 
 
 " instead of rage 
 
 Deliberate valour breatliing;" 
 
 and demanding the guarantee of English free- C^ ) 
 
 dom in our Magna Charta; to W^illiam, shel- '/ 
 
 tering the olive of religious and civil peace, / 
 
 and to the dauntless civic associations, in our \^^ 
 
 own day, dissipating the menaces of invasion r' 
 and anarchy ; — in the martial achievements, 
 from the exploits of 
 
 " Uther's son 
 
 Begirt with British and Armoric knights;" 
 
 through the heroes of Cressy and Agincourt :
 
 CHAP. VII. IN NATIONAL PURPOSES. 331 
 
 to the fields of Blenheim, to Nelson, purging 
 the seas from hostile navies, and Wellington, 
 chasing the spoiler from the realms of an in- 
 sulted ally : — all such epochs of our fame, in V~ 
 whatever manner represented, whether b}' his- 
 torical composition, unmixed or mixed*, by 
 symbolical allusion, by portrait, or by alle- 
 gory ; all are themes and subjects fit to 
 exalt the fancy of the Artist, and to fix the 
 glory of the land. 
 
 The histor}' of commerce is less lofi\', but 
 it is still m.ore extensive than that of Freedom. 
 It contains memorials, the most valuable and 
 most interesting, of the world, and of man- 
 kind. It presents to view, not only the heroic, 
 the martial, the ambitious prowess of men, 
 but their domestic enjoyments also and refine- 
 ments; their peaceful triumphs, their abodes, 
 their agriculture, their pastures, their manu- 
 factures, their studies, their learning, their 
 arts. Every shore that has been visited by 
 the navigator, every treasure that has been 
 brought to his home, is here the object of 
 
 • See Artist, Vol. II. No. 1.
 
 332 THE ARTS EMPLOYED paut III. 
 
 record. Every benefit that has been derived 
 to mankind, every good that has been com- 
 municated, every varied wealth that has been 
 imported, increases the claim of his country 
 to renown. And what praises can be recorded 
 of Commerce, which do not enrich the fame 
 of England * ? The Commerce of England is 
 become the general link of human intercourse : 
 her glory, in this point, is incorporated with 
 the diffusion of social comforts, — the aids of 
 health, the ministers of happiness. 
 
 Taking into a just view the inevitable 
 imperfections of all human structures, and 
 comparing the present with the past, we 
 may fairly ask, what more splendid spec- 
 tacle of virtuous prosperity can be pre- 
 sented, than the combination of the scenes 
 
 ** " To the instrumentality' of Commerce alone, the British Em- 
 pire is most peculiarly indebted for its opulence and grandeur ; 
 its improvements in arts and knowledge, and, in general, for the 
 great bulk of its solid comforts and conveniences." 
 
 " England owes all her grandeur to Commerce." — Voltaire, uT 
 Siecle de Louis IX. ^■ 
 
 ,j^~ Edward the Illd was our first Monarch, who encouraged Com- 
 
 merce. From his time the History of England is that of Com- 
 
 V* 
 
 \i merce. — Anderson's Preface to the History of Commerce,
 
 GHAP. VII. IN NATIONAL PURPOSES. 333 
 
 here supposed? No roll of brighter na- 
 tional glory shall surely be opened, until 
 some happier Nation shall arise, whose fun- 
 damental strength and virtue shall rest on 
 a nobler basis than our own. 
 
 As far, then, as the scheme which has been 
 here proposed, is in unison with the objects 
 sought for ; viz. the elevation of the Arts of 
 Design in England, and their due subserviency 
 to national honour, by devotedness to religion, 
 and by the celebration of the essential prin- 
 ciples and strength of the State ; a central 
 point would be thus formed, in which the 
 interests of the State and the Arts of Britain 
 are combined. Tlie two points assumed, 
 as those on which the renown of England 
 may be supposed to rest, are, as before 
 stated, by no means considered as indis- 
 putably to be preferred. But, in any farther 
 pursuit of the question, one caution may 
 be mentioned as necessary. With whatever 
 happier discernment, in a political light, 
 other points may be found, let this refer- 
 ence be constantly borne in mind ; that a 
 principal part of the object in view is the
 
 334 THE ARTS EMPLOYED, &C. paut HI. 
 
 choice of such characteristic features of our 
 national eminence, as afford a due range for 
 the full powers of the Arts ; in which respect, 
 it may be difficult to surpass the copiousness 
 of the two points here named, embracing 
 equally every branch of Art.
 
 CHAP. Vlll. PUBLICK MONUMENTS. 335 
 
 CHAPTER Vlir. 
 
 ON PUBLICK MONUMENTS. 
 
 " Quaeque coronatis compievit bella triunipliis 
 Heroum fortuna potens, cususque decoros." 
 
 FUESN'OY. 
 
 It is now time to revert to the topick post- 
 poned at the end ot'a former chapter ; viz. the 
 consideration of the grand monumental records, 
 decreed by our Parhament to the memory of 
 illustrious characters. 
 
 The justice and propriety of such publick 
 memorials need not here be spoken of. They 
 stand as indelible expressions of national gra- 
 titude ; a virtue eminently demonstrative of 
 civil refinement, and in no small measure de- 
 pendent on it ; and they offer, like the repre-
 
 336 PUBLICK MONUMENTS. PART III. 
 
 sentations of the Tragic Muse, eternal admo- 
 nitions to the heart, 
 
 " To make mjinkind, in conscious virtue bold, 
 Live o'er the scene, and be what they behold." 
 
 But, honourable as those memorials are, both 
 to the dead and the living, it has been shown 
 to deserve a question, whether the same pro- 
 priety, which directs their being raised to such 
 renowned characters, equally prevails in their 
 being placed in the buildings, in which they are 
 generally erected. And this question has been 
 shown to depend on the relative nature of the 
 buildings themselves, and the monuments 
 placed in them. If the sentiments excited by 
 the latter, are such as coincide with the views 
 of the former, and assist the general impres- 
 sions intended to be conveyed by them, they 
 are their proper ornaments: if otherwise, 
 they cease to be so. These observations 
 led to a difficulty, peculiarly affecting the 
 situation of monumental records of publick 
 characters in our churches. The Sculptor, 
 appointed to execute any one of these, feels
 
 CHAP. vni. PUBLICK MONUMENTS. 337 
 
 the necessity of illustrating the exploits of the 
 Hero, whose renown is intrusted to his care; 
 and he is at the same time directed to place 
 his work in Westminster Abbey or St. Paul's. 
 The incongruity of such directions was partly 
 shown from the nature and design of places 
 of divine worship. Let us now see whether 
 publick monuments are not, in another view 
 also, so far misplaced in those situations, as 
 to give rise to a question respecting their 
 publick utility. 
 
 The reasonableness of admitting a doubt on 
 this head, will appear from examining the 
 purposes for which monuments in our cathe- 
 drals have been erected. These appear to be, 
 principally, two. First, to transmit to poste- 
 rity, with marked distinction, the names and 
 memories of those men, who have eminently 
 served their country ; and, secondly, to excite, 
 by such honourable records, the emulation of 
 succeeding times, and raise up other Heroes, 
 in the place of those whom the Nation has lost. 
 Such are, obviously, the purposes of publick 
 utility, which our monuments are designed to 
 answer: but it is likewise obvious, that theiv 
 
 z
 
 338 PUBLICK MONUMENTS. part iTl. 
 
 proportion of publick utility must depend on 
 the following material points ; 1st. The degree 
 of impression produced by them ; 2d. The 
 correspondence of their effects with tlie de- 
 sign of their erection. 
 
 With respect to the degree of impression 
 produced by them, there are two circum- 
 stances, which, though they do not render 
 national memorials in our churches altogether 
 useless, detract greatly from the power of 
 their effect. The first is, that they are seen 
 with difficulty, or seldom seen ; the second, 
 that they are promiscuously mixed with me- 
 morials of comparatively unimportant cha- 
 racters, of whom it must for ever remain 
 doubtful, whether their virtue, or merely their 
 decease, entitled them to the insertion of their 
 names in so dignified a place ; and who yet 
 there partake the honours of publick record, 
 equally with the highest and greatest of our 
 national benefactors. 
 
 This latter objection appeared so forcible in 
 the eyes of a late celebrated Statesman and 
 Minister of England, the Marquis of Lans- 
 downe, that in his " Observations," submitted
 
 CHAP. VIII. PUBLICK MONUMENTS. 339 
 
 to the friends of the Philanthropist, Howard, 
 in 1791, on the subject of erecting a monu- 
 ment to his memory in St. Paul's Cathedral 
 by subscription, he proposed among the 
 " Publick Points," which he considered as de- 
 sirable to be obtained, 
 
 " To commence a selection of characters ; which 
 can alone answer the purpose of rewarding 
 past, or exciting future virtues ; and the want 
 of which selection makes a publick monument 
 scarcely any compliment*." 
 
 The restrictions, adopted by the Dean and 
 Chapter of St. Paul's, (probabl}' in consequence 
 of Lord Lansdowne's suggestion,) as to the 
 characters of those, to whom monuments are 
 permitted to be raised in that cathedral, pro- 
 vide a prudent guard in this respect. In other 
 churches, (agreeably to the just view of the 
 subject taken by the noble writer,) under their 
 present regulations, publick monuments are 
 deficient in the primary object of their erec- 
 tion ; because, although they obviously trans- 
 mit to posterity the names of the deceased, 
 
 • See Appendix, No. 4.
 
 340 rUBLICK MONUMENTS. PART Hi. 
 
 they do not stand distinguished from the com- 
 mon mass of funereal records. 
 
 With regard, in the next point, to the cor- 
 respondence of the tendency and consequent 
 effect of publick memorials, when placed in 
 churches, with the second purpose of their 
 erection, viz. the excitement of kindred minds to 
 acts of glory ; objections subsist, partly on the 
 ground just stated, of the promiscuous assem- 
 blage of monuments in churches, confounding 
 eminence with insignificance : the Hero, who 
 feels it sweet to die for his country, pants also 
 to leave a name distinguished from the com- 
 mon herd of men by every circumstance of 
 honour. They subsist partly also on another 
 ground, which was stated, in considering the 
 proper direction of the powers of Art in 
 churches. The scope of the Sculptor, in me- 
 morials strictly conformable to the tenour of 
 religious impressions, is of too confined a limit, 
 to tend in any great degree to general excite- 
 ment of the mind ; and, even were such a range 
 to be allowed him, as would exceed that due 
 bound, the representations of glorious achieve- 
 ments must incite to rivalry by kindling pas-
 
 CHAP. Vlll. PUBLICK MONUMENTS. 341 
 
 sions, which gradually lose their force, and 
 finally subside in religious contemplation. 
 Impressive as the view of memorials raised by 
 national gratitude, must ever be, on the breast 
 capable of feeling the impulses of honour, the 
 tone of mind, necessarily induced by the scene, 
 in which those memorials are at present placed^ 
 is of all others the least calculated to add 
 strength or efficacy to that impression * ; and 
 it will surely appear little less than an errour 
 in judgment, to choose for the scene of ex- 
 citement to glory, that place in which glory 
 must necessarily bear the least proportion of 
 weight in the mind. The Christian Patriot, 
 
 * I have often reflected with surprise, on the custom of 
 bringing military standards, taken from an enemy in battle, to 
 the altar, laying them on it, and afterwards appending them 
 over the aisles of the church. This ceremony might be regarded 
 as appropriate, if the war in which the standards were taken, 
 were waged for the sake of faith ; such, as I hope apd trust, / ^ *■ 
 
 will never be waged again by rational creatures ; but, as far as 
 it has any other motive, when, for instance, it regards merely 
 the possession of greater or narrower territory by this or that 
 Nation, it becomes difficult to conceive on what grounii the 
 triumphs of war are to be considered as proper objects pt , j 
 
 devotional thoughts. V.,-^ 
 
 ^
 
 342 PUBLICK MONUMENTS. PART III. 
 
 it is true, contemplates the Martyr in his 
 Country's cause, as taking his flight from this 
 world with the most hopeful views of reward ; 
 but the worldly honours, which it is the chief 
 intention of these monuments to bestow, come 
 in for no share of his regard or attention. 
 What are the glories which he beholds ? The 
 visions of fancy ; the charms of a moment ! 
 He compares them with the blessed immor- 
 tality, to which the humblest may aspire 
 equally with the greatest; to which the paths 
 of peace and solitude lead equally — perhaps 
 more securely — with the elevated, but here 
 unenvied, career of ambition and renown. 
 
 But, in proportion as objections arise against 
 the probable eiTects of honorary memorials, 
 placed in our churches, does it not become 
 obvious, that they would be appropriately 
 transferred to an edifice, of such a descrip- 
 tion as has been hinted in the foregoing chap- 
 ter, and of which they would form a distinct 
 and essential feature ? Here, the splendid 
 efforts of Sculptural Art, the honourable testi- 
 monies of the Sculptor's prowess, would stand 
 the requisite ornaments of the building and
 
 CHAP. VIII. PUBLICK MONUMENTS. 343 
 
 the scene; here, the votes of our Parhament 
 would be justly and adequately fulfilled, and 
 the end, for which they were passed, most 
 effectually accomplished. Every surrounding 
 and accompanying object would conduce to 
 awaken the sense of publick glory and publick 
 duty. The flame of patriotism would be lighted 
 up in the hearts of youth, by the assembled 
 honours of their precursors in renown ; no 
 intrusive reflexion would enter to allay its 
 ardour. All would seem most worthy (for 
 what on this earth could be more so?) of the 
 young aspirant's utmost wish, his labour, his 
 ambition. The Sculptor will here, with as 
 much propriety, display to view the energies 
 which spring into action under the forethought 
 of the Statesman's counsel, and the glories of 
 the Hero's triumph over prostrate armies, as 
 he will at another time, and with other views, 
 in the solemn ailes of devotion, exhibit their 
 worldly extinction *. The aids of mythological 
 
 * Tl)is idea seems to liave been (however rudely expressed) in 
 the original intention of monuments in clmrches. The earliest 
 monumental figures are all recumbent. They were, or were de- 
 signed to be, the image of the deceased, as deceased; decorated,
 
 344 PUBLICK MONUMENTS. part hi. 
 
 invention, the various modes of auxlliar ima- 
 gery, which form the main resources of Sculp- 
 tural Poetry, will here be no longer uncon- 
 genial to our feelings, and all the numerous 
 personages of allegorical fiction, with which 
 our churches are in danger of being so pro- 
 fanely filled, will be employed to elevate the 
 imagination, without alarming the faith, of 
 the spectator. 
 
 perhaps, as ceremonies or circumstances directed, for burial. 
 However illustrious the life had been, the tomb presented only 
 the memorial of death. And this practice appears to be in 
 perfect unison with the sentiments which I have ventured to 
 express, respecting funereal records of every kind. The utmost 
 scope, allowed to the pious fervour of imagination, was the 
 raising the hands in the attitude of prayer. 
 
 But from a natural love of variety, and perhaps, as the church 
 became more closely connected with the political state of tlie 
 country, a greater latitude, allowed to fancy, introduced, in a 
 series of years, some innovations iru the original conception of 
 those memento mori's. In the reign of Elizabeth, this liberty 
 began to display itself in partial elevations of the figure ; some- 
 times resting on one elbow, if a single figure ; or, if two together, 
 taking each other's hand. — The next advance of what was then 
 calJed Art, was the raising the figures on their knees : this had 
 still the air and expression of devotion. — Finally, taking leave of 
 devotional humility, the Hero rose on his legs, or mounted in 
 the air J and the exhibition of worldly passions was opened.
 
 CHAP.vin. PUBLICK MONUMENTS. 345 
 
 With the more restricted labours, and, as 
 it were, insulated art of the Sculptor, the 
 Painter's powers of extensive detail, before 
 described, would here aptly go hand in hand. 
 The menace of the Hero " under brows of 
 dauntless courage," will be explained by de- 
 lineations of the conquests, in which he flew 
 to overthrow his country's foes. The trophies, 
 which deck the Statue's pedestal, will find 
 their comment in the eventful scenes of His- 
 tory, which the range of the Painter's work 
 will fix on the mind. The records of national 
 desert and fame will thus be in all points 
 satisfactory and complete. Here the Hero 
 will exult in victory ; here the Patriot will 
 feel, that to obtain death for his country is 
 the brightest of human rewards. The glories 
 of the illustrious dead will live in immortal 
 splendour, and the profitable lessons, which 
 their lives were designed to teach, will be 
 stamped on the bosoms of their countrymen, 
 from age to age, till England herself shall be 
 no more*. 
 
 * It Las been before hinted, that memorials of such Heroes 
 jnight appropriately form a portion of tiie bounty bestowed by
 
 346 PUBLICK MONUMENTS. part m. 
 
 Such are the general outlines of the result, 
 which might be expected from the Patronage 
 of the State, and publick direction of the Arts 
 of Design. The greatest national utility, of 
 which they are capable, would incessantly be 
 derived from them. Their influence on com- 
 mercial industry would be maintained in the 
 highest, and extended to the utmost, degree. 
 The dignified character of our country, and 
 of our national happiness, would be illus- 
 trated and descend to posterity, in the re- 
 cords of cultivated genius; commemorating 
 in the most beneficial manner, as in the 
 brightest examples, those virtues, which, 
 transmitted from race to race, have shown 
 themselves deserving of our publick honours ; 
 inculcating the reverence of religion, and 
 obedience to equal laws ; manifesting the bles- 
 
 the State upon their families. How would the honour of such a 
 gift be doubled, if the Picture, so possessed, were known to be 
 the transcript of a work publickly dedicated, by order of a 
 grateful State, to national virtue and renown !
 
 CHAP.VIII. PUBLICK MONUMENTS. 347 
 
 sings of friendly and peaceful union among 
 the distant Nations of the globe, linked and 
 civilized by Commerce ; and demonstrating 
 at once the happy excellence of a land so 
 adorned, and the various duties which con- 
 spire to its support. The Arts of Design, 
 moving in their proper sphere, would thus give 
 value to the labours of industry, and teach a 
 never dying, never silent lesson of patriotism : 
 the whole of their united powers would be 
 placed in the hands of the State, and employed 
 in its service.
 
 348 REVIEW. 
 
 REVIEW, AND CONCLUSION. 
 
 It may be thus sufficient to have offered 
 hints, which a farther prosecution of inquiry 
 by others may mature and amend. It remains 
 to take a short review of the whole design 
 suggested in the foregoing pages. 
 
 The pubHck advantages accruing from the 
 Arts of Design, have been considered both in 
 their splendour and their utility. 
 
 The high esteem and encouragement of the 
 Arts in other countries have been shown to 
 have arisen, not from a mere desire of osten- 
 tatious refinement, but from considerations of 
 publick utility of a very high kind; from their 
 promotion of industry, and their influence on 
 the religious opinions of the people. The 
 favourable sentiments, entertained respecting 
 them in Greece in particular, have been de- 
 monstrated by the authorities of various 
 writers : by what modes they were rendered
 
 UEViEW. 349 
 
 serviceable to the Governments of that Coun- 
 try, as well as to the several other States in 
 which they have been eminently employed, 
 has also been examined ; and a reference has 
 thence been attempted to the methods best 
 suited to our own land. 
 
 Since the revival of the Arts in Italy, they 
 have been shown to have had an intimate 
 connexion with the prosperity of several States 
 in Europe, by their influence on manufactures 
 and commerce ; and this is a point, in which 
 even the most essential interests of Design, in 
 the cultivation of its highest provinces, will 
 be readilv acknowled2;ed to connect them- 
 selves with the interests of the State in Eng- 
 land, from the following considerations, which 
 have been offered : 
 
 It appears consistent with the interests of 
 our State, after the example of many others, 
 that in order to give the fullest activity to tbe 
 commercial industry of the country in its 
 manufactures, the decorative taste, derived 
 from the Arts of Design, should be imparted 
 to its labours. 
 
 It appears consistent with the interests of
 
 350 UEVIEW. 
 
 our State, that, in order to give the full value 
 to that taste and ornament, which are bene- 
 ficial to commercial industry, the higher pro- 
 vinces of Design, which are the sources of 
 those benefits, should be diligently cultivated, 
 and professional exertions in them, as far as 
 may be, perfected. 
 
 It appears consistent with the same in- 
 terests, that, in order to preserve the value of 
 those higher pursuits undiminished, and to 
 maintain their full power of communicating 
 superiour taste through various subordinate 
 channels, every measure, dictated by reason 
 and experience, should be employed to pre- 
 serve the primary provinces of Design in their 
 utmost purity ; while at the same time, in 
 order to improve to the utmost every branch 
 of industry, all the subordinate channels should 
 be diligently kept open for the diffusion of 
 taste in manufactures : and that, for these 
 purposes, the two provinces of Design, the 
 Historic (or Poetic), and the Decorative, should 
 be kept wholly unmixed ; the Art continuing 
 to be cultivated in the higher department to 
 its utmost scope, with no other view than to
 
 REVIEW. 351 
 
 its own perfection, and, in the subordinate 
 one, courted and invited with no less eager- 
 ness, to every branch of manufacture and 
 trade. 
 
 The just value of the Arts of Design has 
 been shown to consist in their power of im- 
 parting virtuous pleasure ; their power of 
 giving splendour to a Nation ; their power of 
 strengthening and diffusing moral and re- 
 ligious impressions ; and their power of aiding 
 and enhancing various manufactures. 
 
 And it has been shown, that when cultivated 
 in the manner most conducive to these valu- 
 able uses, they have also another use, viz. a 
 political one, which although questionable as 
 to its magnitude, is undeniable as to its exist- 
 ence. It consists in their power of converging, 
 under national direction, to a point, in which 
 they assist the action of the State, so far as is 
 consistent with their limited organs. 
 
 It has also been shown, that every great 
 plan, which has raised the Arts to eminence, 
 has been carried on, under the superintendence 
 of professional men of distinguished merit ; 
 that it has been under such direction, and such
 
 3o!2 REVIEW. 
 
 superintendence, that they have at various 
 times acquired superiour celebrity; and that, 
 as far as the real and ultimate excellence of 
 Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, is con- 
 cerned, every plan which is not sanctioned by 
 the support of the Government, and not con- 
 ducted by professional guidance, under just 
 regulations, will necessarily be found inef- 
 fectual. 
 
 The comprehensive view of the whole, as a 
 political object, leads to this conclusion ; Na- 
 tional direction conducts the Arts to eminence : 
 eminence, consisting in the superiour cultiva- 
 tion of their higher provinces, tends to the 
 refinement of taste ; strengthens moral in- 
 terest; and produces numberless subordinate 
 channels of decorative Art, which are trans- 
 ferred to Commerce, and result in wealth. 
 
 But it has been farther shown, from ob- 
 servation of historical facts, that the most 
 powerful means of accomplishing professional 
 exertion, and maintaining in purity the higher 
 provinces of Design, consist in that mode of 
 cultivation of the Arts, which most tends to 
 increase by their powers the mass of national
 
 REVIEW. 353 
 
 splendour. In examining this point, it has 
 appeared, that every instance of the proper 
 employment of artists, on subjects of pure Art, 
 (whether in History, Religion, or Poetic 
 conception,) contributes in some degree to 
 promote the advantages derived from De- 
 sign ; those advantages (agreeably to the re- 
 mark just made) being most promoted, when 
 the powers of the Arts are employed in the 
 prosecution of some great plan under pub- 
 lick direction. And, on a similar examination 
 of facts, it has been shown, that, of such 
 plans, (devised at various times,) those most 
 result in national splendour, which involve an 
 illustration of the essential principles, or virtue, 
 of the respective Governments, and tend at 
 once to display and enforce them. 
 
 The writer, therefore, of these pages will be 
 found to have contended ; That the Arts of 
 Design have been, and deserve to be, culti- 
 vated in their higher provinces, as a source 
 both of virtuous pleasure and refinement, and 
 of national wealth and revenue; 
 
 That they have not been, and will not be, 
 
 A A
 
 354 REVIEW. 
 
 productive of those advantages, of either kind, 
 unless they are duly cultivated ; 
 
 That they have never been duly cultivated, 
 unless under the direction of the State; 
 
 That the protection of them by the Govern- 
 ment of England, uniformly extended to them 
 through a long period of time, has been in- 
 terrupted by inevitable causes; and that it is 
 hio-hlv desirable that it should be restored to 
 
 them. 
 
 That the channel, by which any State can 
 with the greatest degree of certainty conduct 
 them to the ends above mentioned, is that, in 
 which they also acquire a political interest 
 with the State, as exemplified in the various 
 epochs of national celebrity in other countries. 
 
 From all these considerations it results, that, 
 however distant the two points may at the 
 first view appear to be, the national splendour 
 of the Fine Arts, and their national utility, 
 are one and the same ; and that the magnifi- 
 cence, which appears to dazzle the judgment 
 by its extreme of liberal protection aflforded 
 to their higher pursuits, is both directly and
 
 REVIE^\^ 355 
 
 ultimately tending to augment the wealth of 
 the Government and the Nation. 
 
 The necessary means towards the advance- 
 ment of the Fine Arts in England, and the 
 accomplishment of the benefits to be derived 
 from them, have been subsequently stated 
 to be ; 
 
 1st. The enlargement of the sources of pro- 
 fessional instruction, and the full accomplish- 
 ment of youthful artists, by every aid ihat 
 education can bestow. 
 
 2d. The arrangement of stations of prefer- 
 ment, and accompanying employment of emi- 
 nent artists, in publick works. 
 
 3d. The direction of the Arts, under a due 
 subserviency to Religion, to a plan congenial 
 with the principles, and connected with the 
 honours of our State ; affording a sphere of 
 action adequate to the utmost exertions of 
 perfected talent*. 
 
 * It is probable that these points would, on trial, be found to 
 form the greater part, and perhaps the whole, of the task incum- 
 bent on the State ; for, with regard to that class of Art which 
 most readily and properly communicates with trade, the active 
 state of commercial industry will make it scarcely necessary for 
 the hand of power to put it into action.
 
 356 REVIEW. 
 
 The first of those three measures it has been 
 proposed to forward, by increasing the stores 
 and opportunities of Academical instruction, 
 and by extending it to such general acquire- 
 ments, as constitute the usual advantages of 
 youths in our schools ; in addition to which, 
 the admission of Design into the rank of 
 Liberal Studies at our Universities, has been 
 considered as not only offering the best means 
 of assisting the requisite studies of the Art, 
 and securing it from being deteriorated, but 
 also as likely to be attended with farther ad- 
 vantages, from the effects which would pro- 
 bably be produced on the general classes of 
 students. ' 
 
 For the second measure, the principal vacant 
 buildings of publick importance have been 
 named, and the propriety pointed out of con- 
 necting publick works, or records of Painting, 
 with the honours conferred by the State. 
 
 To effectuate the last measure, has been 
 hinted the concentration of the powers of the 
 Arts, under the authority of the State, in the 
 celebration of our essential strength and re- 
 nown, (here supposed to cons'isi in equal Laws,
 
 REVIEW. 357 
 
 and Commerce,) and the continual employment 
 of successive Painters, Sculptors, and Archi- 
 tects, in the decoration of an edifice dedicated 
 to that purpose. 
 
 A combination of the powers of the Arts in 
 the manner here proposed, would at once put 
 an end to the singular anomaly, at present sub- 
 sisting in the conduct of the State towards the 
 two separate branches of Painting and Sculp- 
 ture, and wholly precluding the publick uses 
 of one of them. 
 
 It will also be evident, on the slightest re- 
 flexion, that, in the range of so extensive a 
 scope of Painting, (including works in churches 
 and palaces*,) would be found those stations of 
 honourable employ, of which the profession 
 was before stated to be destitute, (see Part I.) 
 What might be the definite arrangements of 
 such employ, it is not necessary at this mo- 
 ment to examine. If the elections to such 
 
 • It does not follow as in any wise necessary, that such an em- 
 ployment as the great plan above proposed should supersede other 
 similar measures on a lesser scale. — For instance, Galleries de- 
 voted to particular subjects, might be added to the general employ 
 of Art.
 
 36S REVIEW. 
 
 stations were made from among the members 
 of the Royal Academy, they would connect 
 the honours of that body with such eminent 
 rewards, as in other publick ordinances are 
 found best calculated to second the purposes of 
 patronage ; or even, if the election fell on 
 other artists, (supposing others to be found 
 more deserving,) the objection of deficiency, 
 in the rewards of the profession itself, would 
 be equally removed, as its advantages would 
 still on the whole tally with those of other 
 liberal professions. 
 
 Whoever is convinced, that such methods 
 would be essential and effectual means of rais- 
 ing the name of the English school to an equal 
 glory with those of Athens, Rome, and Paris; 
 that by these means a large body of men, at 
 this moment emulously striving to elevate the 
 character of English talent, would be at once 
 fully employed, and fitly rewarded; and that 
 publick wealth and honour would be produced, 
 by their concurring in one great national pur- 
 pose, — a purpose no less than that of fixing a 
 distinguished epoch of British civilization ; — 
 whoever is thus persuaded, will not be startled
 
 REVIEW. 359 
 
 at the ffrant of a far more considerable sum 
 than has yet been solicited, either formerly 
 by the Koyal Academy, or lately by the 
 British Institution, for the attainment of pur- 
 poses of such obvious importance*. Sums 
 so expended, will be regarded as forming a 
 share of that tribute which the State holds it 
 a part of its duty to pay to the Hero or the 
 Statesman. They will be considered as paid 
 for the engraftment of the Arts on the natural 
 stock of our political constitution, and the ap- 
 propriation of their fruits to the use of the 
 State. 
 
 But it may be farther remarked, with re- 
 spect to the expense of such an application of 
 the power of the Arts to the purposes of the 
 State, that it would probably be found, on ex- 
 periment, that the admixture of honour, which 
 must necessarily accompany employment in 
 
 * The employment of individuals selected for the execution of 
 great worksofpuhlick ornament and patriotic commemoration, is 
 certainly the exercise of Patronage, which appears to be the most 
 worthy of a great and enlightened people ; which is the most splen- 
 did and permanent ; and which, under judicious management, must 
 always be the mobt encctual.— Sulk's Letter to the President 
 and Directors of the British Institution.
 
 360 REVIEW. 
 
 works of this nature, would very considerably 
 decrease the necessity of large pecuniary re- 
 muneration. It appears, from Dr. Adam 
 Smith's reasoning, in his " Wealth of Na- 
 tions *," that the honours paid to Literature 
 by the publick provision for education of lite- 
 rary Students in our Universities, and other 
 regulations in their favour, have a tendency to 
 render their labours cheap ; and in fact, gene- 
 rally speaking, do so render them. 
 
 But, in the plan here proposed, the weight of 
 honour is doubled. Artists, first provided with 
 publick instruction, and afterwards employed 
 on works of publick importance, would not fail 
 to feel, that honour comes in for a very large 
 portion of theii reward. Competition would 
 be great, and labour consequently cheap, as 
 in the instance of Literature. — ^ In the present 
 state of things, the greater part of the artists 
 of our days have broken their way through 
 humble and difficult circumstances. Arrived 
 at eminence, what wonder if they are tempted 
 to secure emolument in return for their labours, 
 
 * Vol. i. p. 200. octavo edit.
 
 REVIEW. 361 
 
 where emolument is all they have to strive for? 
 But open to them the paths of honour — open 
 to them stations of promotion from profes- 
 sional merit — connect them with the State of 
 the country, show them the scope where they 
 may be as useful as they are ornamental to 
 their Nation — argument is superfluous — 
 try the result. 
 
 In the proposal which has been suggested, 
 of a grand publick edifice, one objection has 
 been hitherto obvious, of a magnitude insur- 
 mountable in the existing circumstances of 
 the country. No idea of use or occupancy 
 has been annexed to a building of more than 
 ordinary expense, which has been considered 
 only as an object of siglit. — It is time to add, 
 that such an objection may wholly vanish, 
 whenever it shall come into the contemplation 
 of the State to construct a palace adequate to 
 the dignity of England's Sovereign. It might 
 be indecorous to urge too far any ideas, which, 
 on the present subject, naturally connect them- 
 selves with supposed existing views; but it 
 may, without reserve, be asserted, that such a 
 palace would very fitly embrace a consider-
 
 362 CONCLUSION. 
 
 able part of the objects here in question; and 
 that, whatever may be its most sumptuous 
 decorations, the Ruler of our land can no 
 where reside with greater splendour, than 
 amidst the mental wealth of his own country. 
 
 Under what auspices the opportunity of 
 establishing the epoch of our national cha- 
 racter in Painting shall be disclosed in 
 Britain, (whether consistently with similar or 
 superiour plans to those which have here been 
 offered,) will appear a natural object of anxiety 
 to those who think the Arts important to a 
 Slate. The afflicting dispensation of Provi- 
 dence, which bows us down in sorrow for the 
 sufferings of our venerable Monarch, forbids 
 us to indulge a hope, that the final glory of 
 English Painting may be attached to the re- 
 cords of his name ; but the benevolence which 
 opened and sheltered, and the parental solicit- 
 ude which has unremittingly watched, the 
 paths of the returning Muse, will not pass 
 away and be forgotten. The Founder of the
 
 CONCLUSION. 36$ 
 
 Royal Academy, and the Patron of the British 
 Institution, stands secure of immortal incense 
 from the altars of " grateful science." 
 
 The hour of national torpor is past, when it 
 could yet be said, that no English Gallery had 
 been opened to receive the works of English 
 Artists. The enlightened munificence of in- 
 dividuals has taken away that reproach. What 
 is there to prevent a confidence, that the time 
 cannot be far distant, when the honourable, 
 and no less profitable, purposes of the Arts 
 shall be restored to their just publick esteem? 
 
 Mr. Barry, in his Letter to the Dilettanti So- 
 ciety, has ingeniously distinguished the effects 
 of different kinds of Patronage. He considers 
 the patronage of an individual as subject to 
 the underminings of jealousy and envy. That 
 one man, of whatever power or station, should 
 labour with sincerity to promote the fame of 
 another, at the risk of remaining himself the 
 inferiour character, he considers as too high a 
 reach for human virtue, and therefore prefers 
 the patronage of a bodi/ of men, who of course 
 cannot entertain sentiments of individual ri-
 
 364} coNCLusioisr, 
 
 valry with the object of their joint support. 
 Severe as this remark is on the frailty of our 
 nature, and in particular instances unjust, 
 let us allow it to have weight for a moment. 
 — Under those apprehensions, then, the ex- 
 alted union of the British Institution will 
 naturally attract our attention. But what 
 body of men, what Institution, what Directors, 
 what Patrons, shall we place in competition 
 with a British Parliament? What protection 
 shall we equal to that, which their decrees 
 may afford, passed under the sanction of an 
 APPROVING KULER ? The great patriotic 
 movement of the Parliament before noticed, in 
 respect to the Publick Monuments, gives full 
 assurance of the wisdom which would direct 
 every exertion of its Patronage. 
 
 The voice of national sentiment already 
 declares, that England ought not to see with 
 supine contentment the Arts running a com- 
 mon course over her soil. She ought to raise 
 their cultivation to the highest standard. The 
 respect due to our character as a people, to 
 the feelings of our own breasts, demands the
 
 CONCLUSION". 365 
 
 exaltation of every branch of knowledge in 
 our country, to a level with all that the world 
 has ever witnessed. 
 
 To attempt that height in their own pecu- 
 liar province, the Arts of Design await the 
 encouraging mandate of the State : to attain 
 it, there are these essential means ; 
 
 Let the knowledge of Design be generally diffused : 
 Educate Painters honourably to themselves : 
 Employ them honourably to their Country. 
 
 APPENDIX.
 
 APPENDIX. NM. 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 IJ)i0torical OBjctracw, 
 
 AND 
 
 OTHER PASSAGES, 
 
 IN 
 
 THE WORKS OF VARIOUS AUTHORS, 
 
 REFERRED TO 
 
 IN THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 APP.
 
 APPENDIX. N I. 
 
 1. EXTRACTS RELATIVE TO THE PERSECUTION' OF 
 PAINTING AND SCULPTURE IN ENGLAND. 
 
 (licferred to in p. 10.^ 
 
 i HE sudden transition whicli Painting experienced 
 in England, from the state of high esteem in which 
 the favour of Henry VIII. maintained it, to the neg- 
 lect into which it sunlc immediately after his death, 
 in consequence of the proscriptions issued against the 
 greater part of its works, is the most important cir- 
 cumstance in the history of English Art. 
 
 That Monarch, findi)ig the period, in which he 
 reigned, distinguished by the fame of the great Italian 
 and German Painters, had endeavoured to attract the 
 most celebrated Masters of their Art into his King- 
 dom. He invited to his court PiafFaelle, Titian, and Hol- 
 bein ; the last of whom became a resident in London. 
 Although unable to prevail with the former two, he still
 
 4 EXTRACTS, &C. REFERRED TO APP. NO. I. 
 
 persisted in his favour towards thein ; and procured 
 from Raft'aclle the Picture of St. George, afterwards 
 possessed by the King of Spain; and, from Titian, 
 two Pictures now in the Gallery of the Marquis of 
 Stafford*. Holbein was lodged in his palace, and 
 employed in various historical works. It appears 
 also, that, like the other Sovereigns of his time, 
 Henry was desirous of calling into action the uti- 
 lities of the Art; for we find in Walpole's Anecdotes 
 of Holbein, vol. i. that " he invented patterns for 
 goldsmiths' work, for enamellers and chasers of 
 plate; Arts much countenanced by Henry VHI.;" 
 and that he made also " designs for weapons, hilts, 
 ornaments, scabbards, sheaths, sword-belts, buttons 
 and hooks, girdles, hatbands, and clasps for shoes, 
 knives, forks, salt-cellars and vases, all for the 
 King." 
 
 When the scandal of delusions practised by the 
 
 / priests in our churches, by means of painted images, 
 
 i had roused the censure of ecclesiastical reform. 
 
 Henry appears, in all his acts, to endeavour carefully 
 
 to separate the legitimate respect for Statues and 
 
 Painting in churches, from the idolatrous worship 
 
 |i which had been thus excited by interested hypocrites 
 
 * Sec Account by West in Academic Annals, 1804-5.
 
 APP.NO.I. IN THE INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 towards them * : His sentiments, with regard to the 
 admission and use of Statues and Pictures in churches, 
 are fully expressed in liis first injunctions, as Head of 
 the Church of England, in 153St, and in a publi- 
 cation called, " A Necessary Doctrine and Erudition 
 
 * " III the Constitution for the Clergy, establislied by the 
 Coavocation m 1536, the 6th article enjouis, that Images 
 shall be preserved in churches, but all worship is to be referred 
 to God."— Ra PIN. 
 
 t Several passages in this injunction explain the expression 
 used in Stowe's statement of the Art of Paintuig, when he speaks 
 of the abuses and deceits used by Painters, (quoted in a note in 
 p. 7, c. i. of the Introduction) ; as ma3' be collected also from 
 Rapin in the following passage in the reign of Henry VIII.: 
 
 " What conduced most to recover jieople from their super- 
 stitious fondness for religious liouses, was the discovery of the 
 frauds committed there with respect to Relichs and Images. 
 Had the business been only the debaucheries of tlie friars and 
 nuns, it might have been sufficient to make strict inquiry and lo 
 punish the guilty. But for the pious frauds, as they are called, 
 it would hardly be thought, hut thai the whole society was 
 concerned. The Khig, therefore, took care publickly to expose 
 the counterfeit relicks, and the springs by which the Images of 
 our Saviour, the Virgin Mary, &c. were made to move, which 
 was looked upon by the ignorant multitude as the effect of divine 
 power. These frauds being thus detected, wliatever had served 
 to engage the people in superstition, was by the King's order 
 publickly burnt." — TvvuAM.'i Rapin. 
 
 L^
 
 6 EXTllACTS, &C. REFERRED TO 
 
 APP. NO. 
 
 " for any Christen Man, set furthe by the Kynge's 
 " Majestic of England," (printed in May 1543). 
 
 The following passages there occur in the exposition 
 of the Second Commandment, wherein a full direction 
 is given for setting up Images in churches, " to be as 
 bokcs for unlerned people to put them in remembrance 
 of those sayntes, of whom they may learne exaumples 
 of fayth, humilitie, charitie, pacicnce, temperaunce, 
 and of all other theyr virtues and gyftes of God." 
 
 " As for an exaumple, the image of our Saviour 
 hangeth on the crosse in the roode, or is payntcd on 
 clothes, wallcs, or wyndowes, as an open boke, to the 
 intent that besydes the exaumples of virtues, which 
 we may learn of Chryste, we may be also many wayes 
 provoked to remember his payncfull and crucll pas- 
 sion, and also to consyder ourselves, when we beholde 
 the same image, and to condenine, and abhorre our 
 synne, which was the cause of his so cruell death *." 
 
 His letter to Cranmer, in 1542, is to the same 
 effect t." I 
 
 In conformity with those sentiments, Henry con- 
 tinued to the last to protect the Works of Art in the j 
 churches from the indiscriminate zeal of the re- d 
 formers : but the rein having once been given to Ico- ^, 
 
 * Fox's Martyrs. t Ibid.
 
 APP.no. I. IN THE INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 noclastic fury, it could not lightly be checked ; and 
 in the beginning of the reign of Edward VI. a letter 
 of the Protector, and Lords of Council, addressed to 
 the same Archbishop of Canterbury, runs thus : 
 
 " Considering therefore that almost in no place of 
 this realm is any sure quietness, but where all Images 
 be clean taken away and pulled down already, &c. ; 
 we have thought good to signifie unto you his High- 
 ness' pleasure, with the advice and consent of us the 
 Lord Protector and the rest of the Councell, that im- 
 mediately on the sight hereof, you shall not only give 
 order that all the Images, remaining in any church 
 or chapel within your diocese, l)e removed and taken 
 away, but also by your letters signifie unto the rest 
 of the Bishops within your province, this, his High- 
 ness's pleasure for the like order, to be given to them, 
 &c.*" 
 
 Nor was even this strict charge thought sufficient. 
 It was followed by a statute in 1549, iu which is the 
 following article : 
 
 " And be it further enacted, by the authority afore- 
 said, that if any person or persons, of what estate, 
 degree, or condition soever he, she, or they be, body 
 politick or corporate, that now have or hereafter shall 
 have in his, her, or their custody, any books or wri- 
 
 • Fox's Martyrs.
 
 / 
 
 8 EXTRACTS, 8LC. REFERRED TO app. NO, l. 
 
 tings of the sorts aforesaid, or any images of stone, 
 timber, alabaster or earth, graven, carved, or painted, 
 which heretofore have been taken out of any church 
 or chapel, or yet stand in any church or chapel, and 
 do not, before the last day of June next ensuing, 
 deface and destroy, or cause to be defaced and destroy- 
 ed, the same images and every of them, and de- 
 liver or cause to be delivered, all and every the 
 same books, &c. to the mayor, &c. &c. shall, after 
 the said last day of June, (being thereof lawfully con- 
 vict,) forfeit and lose to the King our Sovereign Lord, 
 for the first offence XX s., and for the second offence 
 shall forfeit and lose, (being thereof lawfully convict,) 
 iv/,, and for the third offence shall suffer imprison- 
 ment at the King's will*." 
 
 To these acts of prohibition succeeded, in 1559, an 
 *' Injunction given by the Queene's Majestie, as well 
 to the clergye as to the laitie of this realme, in the 
 fyrst yeare of our Sovereygne Lady Queene Eliza- 
 bethe;"two articles of which run thus: 
 
 " 23. Also that they shall take awaye, utterly ex- 
 tyncte, and destroy all shryncs, coverynge of shrynes, 
 all tables, candlestykes, tryndalles, and rolles of 
 waxe, pictures, payntinges, and all other monuments 
 of fayned miracles and superstycion, so that there 
 
 * Statutes at Large.
 
 APP.NO.I. IN THE INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 remaine no memorie of the same, in walles, glasses, 
 wyndowcs, or elsewhere within their churches and 
 houses," &c. 
 
 " 35. Item, that no persons kepe in their houses 
 any abused images, table, pictures, paj-ntinges. and 
 other monuments of fayned miracles, pilgrimages, 
 ydolatry or superstycion *." 
 
 In the convocation held by the Archbishops, in the 
 13th of the same reign, among other canons, this for 
 taking down and defacing idolatrous Pictures and 
 Images was one. The canon (ISth) runs, " That the 
 churchwardens shall see the church kept clean ; the 
 Holy Bible to be in the churchps; and the holy ho- 
 milies, lately set forth against rebellion ; and all 
 roodlofts, wooden crosses, pictures of false and feigned 
 miracles, and all other relicks of superstition destroy- 
 ed and demolished ; the walls of the churches to be 
 new-whited, and sentences of Holy Scripture to be 
 written upon them in great letters!." 
 
 The exercise of this power in the hands of church- 
 wardens, during a time of religious controversies, may 
 be easily imagined. The charge of new-whiting the 
 churches was a sweeping commission, that left no 
 compromise. The homily against idolatry had also 
 
 ' Injunction, &c. 4to. 1559. t State Triah.
 
 
 10 EXTRACTS, &C. REFERRED TO app.no. I. 
 
 j)articular reference to the Pictures on the walls of 
 I churches. 
 
 Nor was the practice of destruction confined to the 
 above-mentioned depositaries of religious judgment. 
 " In the Queen's time," says the Attorney General, 
 in a State Trial, 8 Car. I. " many went abroad, of 
 their own heads, to break down Crosses, Images, and 
 Pictures of all sorts." This violence proceeded to 
 such excess, that a proclamation became at length 
 necessary, stating that, " Whereas many violent per- 
 sons have of late, of their own authority, gone about to 
 deface the walls and glass windows of churches ; and 
 in their violence have pulled down tombs and monu- 
 ments of noblemen and gentlemen deceased, to their 
 dishonour, and to the breach of our peace ; therefore 
 a strict commandment is given, that all men forbear 
 to break the Pictures set upon tombs or graves, and 
 not to break the Pictures or Pourtraitures of the no- 
 blemen or others in churches, church-walls, windows, 
 &c. nor any Images whatsoever, without the advice 
 of the ordinary, or the advice of the Queen's Majesty, or 
 her Council," &c. Given 44 Eliz* 
 
 The Queen's proclamation, although it might sup- 
 press particular violences and regulate the actions of 
 men of rational opinions, did not abate the popular 
 prejudices against the unfortunate Arts of Design. 
 
 * Slate Trials.
 
 APP. NO. r, IN THE INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 " I undertake," says a witness at the same trial, 
 " there are some spirits now, that, if they had been 
 alive in Solomon's time, would have gone nigh to have 
 done violence to the cherubims : God knows what 
 would have become of them !" — State Trials. 
 Proceedings against Henri/ Sherjicld, Esq. for breaking 
 a painted church window. 8 Car. 1. 1()32. 
 
 Under such persecution, the Arts were not able to 
 maintain their ground. Their professors sunk into 
 poverty. It is probable that few adventurers were 
 found to supply their places, and the field was there- 
 fore left open to the occasional speculations of foreign 
 Artists. \y 
 
 2. PASSAGES, &C. RELATIVE TO GENERAL TUITION 
 IN PAINTING, AMONG THE GREEKS. 
 
 (Referred to in j). 25.^ 
 
 Pfeifieri, Antiquitatum Grwcarum Gentilitiwn, 
 lib. ii. cap. 6S. 
 
 " Tandem etiam a Grxcis Pictura in Artium 
 liberalium numcrum est accepta, licet paulo serius. 
 Factum ncmpe id est initio, autoritate Pamphili 
 Macedonis, qui Apellis fuit praeceptor, quemadmo- 
 dum testatur Plinius."
 
 12 EXTRACTS, &,C. REFERRED TO app. NO. !• 
 
 Alexandui ab Alexanduo, Genialium Dierum, 
 lib. ii. cap. 25. 
 
 " Sicut Pingendi Ars primum Sicyone, mox per 
 omnem Grzeciam, tanti fuit studii, ut pueros inge- 
 nues picturam, tanquam prEecipuam liberalium 
 Artium, in primis edocerent raagistri ; perpetuo inter- 
 dicto, ne ad illam mancipia admitterentur : indoc- 
 tusque et omnium postremus habebatur, quisquis hu- 
 jus Artis nescius aut expers foret." 
 
 Plinii, Naturalis Historice, lib. xxxv. cap. 10. 
 
 " Pamphilus, A pellis Preceptor, Macedo natione ; 
 sed primus in Pictura omnibus Uteris eruditus, pra- 
 cipu^ Arithmetice et Geometrice, sine quibus negabat 
 Artem perfici posse; docuit neminem minoris talento, 
 annis decern: quam mercedem et Apelles et Melan- 
 thius ei dedere. Et hujus autoritate effectum est, 
 Sicyone primum, deinde et in tota Graecid, ut pueri 
 ingenui ante omnia Diagraphicen, hoc est, Picturam 
 in buxo, docerentur; recipereturque Ars eain primum 
 gradum liberalium. Semper quidem honos ei fuit, 
 ut ingenui cam exercerent : mox ut honesti : perpetuo 
 interdicto, ne servitia docerentur. Ideo neque in 
 hie, neque in Toreutice, ullius, qui servient, opera 
 celebrantur."
 
 APP.NO.I. IN THE INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 Remark. — The circumstance of the publick regu- 
 lation in favour of Painting, mentioned by Pliny in 
 the foregoing passage, has appeared to be of so very 
 considerable importance to the cause of the Fine 
 Arts, that almost every writer on the subject seems 
 to have thought it worth relating in his own way. 
 Several report it as an edict, said to have been is- 
 sued by Alexander the Great : others, with apparent 
 reason, attribute it to the Magistrates of Sicyon, 
 before the reign of Alexander: while the Painter 
 himself, Pamphilus, has sometimes the credit of hav- 
 ing enacted a law for the purpose there stated, as if 
 he had been one of the Legislators of Athens. — 
 Junius, in his De Picturd Vetenim, has strengthened 
 his relation, by the following remark on a passage in 
 Varro, concerning Painting : — " Non est ergo, quod 
 quis arbitretur, solos Grascos banc in educandis liberis 
 viam institisse, cum ex hoc Varronis loco liqueat, 
 Romanorum quoque antiquioribus banc liberoruni 
 suorum institutionem nequaquam displicuisse. Paulus 
 cert^ iEmilius (at quantus ille vir !) liberis suis non 
 Sophistas modo et Rhetores, sed Sculptores etiam ot 
 Pictores Magistros addidit. — Plutarch, m Paulo 
 /Emilio." 
 
 To this he adds the advice of Galcfi, in his Exhor- 
 tatio ad Pcrdiscendas Artes ; where Painting and
 
 14 EXTRACTS, &C. REFERRED TO APr. NO, I. 
 
 Sculpture arc added to the list of those liberal studies, 
 the pursuit of which he recommends as useful to life. 
 
 Junius then continues, by considering an initiatory 
 study of the Fine Arts, or rather of the Art of Paintina 
 in particular, as the touchstone employed by the 
 Greeks for the trial of youthful capacity : " Etenim 
 pueri Grascorum, a^tate adhuc tenera primum Artis 
 limcn ingressi, manifestam statim qualiscunque indo- 
 lis spem prodebant, atque ex ek spe aut ad alias 
 Artes traducebantur, si 7ninus hdc arte capi viderentur, 
 aut in arte feliciter inchoata constanter persevera- 
 bant." — Lib. ii. cap. 2. 
 
 The interpretation of Junius is confirmed by the 
 following passage: " Ha?c Ars (Pictura) excoli cum 
 coepta esset, tandem in Artium liberalium numerum 
 est recepta, et tanti fuit studii, ut pucros inf^enuos 
 picturam tanquam prjecipuam liberalium Artium 
 imprimis cdocerent Magii,ln."—Antiquitat. Attic. 
 lib. iv. cap. 10. 
 
 APIETOTEAOYS. nOAITIKfiN. 
 
 To H. Kf^aA y. 
 
 'Eart 6i Ti-fix^cc a-^iSov a, -Trxi^evnv eiuBaa-i, yptx.ixfA.a.TX, 
 nui yvi^vxrm.'nv, xxt f/i.ova-niyii)' x-ai rirxpTov, e'viot ypxCpixriv' 
 Tijf fxii/ ypxi/,i/.xrtxYjv KXi ypx(pi>iriv, uk; ;)^p>)i7tj«ot;; ^[(^(i Tov
 
 APP.no. I. IN THE INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 3. RELATIVE TO THE EDICT OF ALEXA5fDEIl, CON- 
 CERNING PICTURES AND STATUES OF HIMSELF. 
 
 Plinii, Nat. Hist. lib. vii. c. 37. 
 
 " Hie Imperator (Alexander) edixit, ne quis ipsum 
 alius qukm Apellcs pingeret; quam Pyrgotcles scul- 
 peret ; quam Lysippus ex a^re duceret; quaa artes 
 pluribus inclaruere exemplis." 
 
 Lib. XXXV. cap. 10. 
 
 " Ab alio [quam ab Apelle] pingi so vetuit inve- 
 
 terato edicto." 
 
 Apuleii, Florida. 
 
 " Alex.andro illi, longti omnium excellentissimo 
 regi, cui ex rebus actis et auctis cognomcntum Magno 
 inditum est, placuit, ne istc unus eam gloriam acTeptus 
 sine laude unquam nominaretur. Nam solus il con- 
 dito aevo, quantum hominum mcmoria extat, inexu- 
 perabili Imperio Orbis auctus, Fortund sud major 
 fuit; succcssusque ejus amplissinios et provocavit ut 
 strcnuus, et aequiparavit ut meritus, et superavit ut 
 melior, solusque sine a^mulo clarus ; adio ut nemo 
 ejus audeat vel spcrare virtutem, vel optarc fortunam. 
 Ejus igitur Alexandri multa sublimia facinora, et 
 praeclara cdita fatigaberis admirando, vel belli ausa, 
 vel domi provisa. Sed cum primis Alexandri illud 
 praeclarum ; quod imaginem suam, quo certior poste-
 
 16 EXTRACTS, &C. REFERRED TO apP. NO. 1. 
 
 ris pioderctur, noluit a multis artificibus vulgd 
 contaminiiii, sed edixit universe orbi suo, ne quis 
 effigiem regis temere assimilaret aere, colore, csela- 
 mine: quin solus earn Polycletus [Lysippus] sere 
 duceret, solus Apelles coloribus delinearet, solus 
 Pyrgoteles crelamine excuderet. Prseter hos tres, 
 multo nobilissimos in suis artificiis, si quis uspiam 
 reperiretur alius sanctissimze imagini regis raanus 
 admolitus ; baud secus in eum, quam in sacrilegum, 
 vindicaturus. E6 igitur omnium metu factum, so- 
 lus Alexander ut ubique iniaginum summus esset : 
 utque omnibus statuis, et tabulis, et toreuraatis idem 
 vigor acerrimi bellatoris, idem ingenium maximi 
 herois, eadem forma viridis juventae, eadem gratia 
 relicinie frontis cerneretur. 
 
 Valerii Maximi, lib. viii. cap. 11. 
 
 " Quantum porro dignitatis a Rege Alexandre 
 tributum Arti existimamus! qui se et pingi ab uno 
 Apelle, et fingi a Lysippo tantummodo voluit." 
 
 nAOYTAPXOT nEPI THS AAESANAPOY TYXHS 
 HAPETHr, Xoy. B. xe(p. ^.
 
 APP. NO. r. IN THE INTRODUCTION, 17 
 
 IMEPIOY TOY SO^ISTOY. 
 
 IIoRATii, Epist. ad Augvstnm, lib, ii. ep. 1. 
 
 " Rexille 
 
 Edicto veluit, ne quis se, priEtcr Apcllem, 
 Pingeret, aut alius Lysippo duceret eera 
 Fortis Alexandri vultum simulantia. — 
 Judicium subtile videndis Artibus." 
 
 CiCERONis, Epist. ad Lucceium, lib. v. ep. 12. 
 
 " Neque autem ego sum ita demens, ut me sempi- 
 ternae gloriae per eum commeiidari velim, qui non 
 ipse quoque in me commendando propriam ingcnii 
 gloriam consequatur. Neque enim Alexander ille 
 gratiae causa ab Apelle potissimum pingi, et a Lysippo 
 fingi volebat ; sed quod illorum Aitem, cum ipsis, 
 turn etiam sibi gloriae fore putabat," 
 
 APP.
 
 18 EXTRACTS, &C. REFERRED TO APP. NO. I. 
 
 4. Relative to the Publick JForks of Athens, carried 
 on under the direction of the eminent Sculptor, 
 Phidias, during the Administration o/* Pericles. 
 
 nAOYTAPXOY nEPIKAHS. 
 
 riveyiiB, fA.iyW'n' oi To7q aMoK ly.Tc'Kri^iv «!/Spw7ro»?, fjidvov o\ 
 Tn EXhxCi jj.cifTVfsif fy.y) •/LUT0Ci\^i6deaBa.t Tnv Xiyoj/.ir/iv 
 
 a.]iu^yil/.xruv Kxr(x.<;y.ivri," 
 
 " 'E.o'ioxay.iv 5v o FlEpixA^; tov o^j/,ov, oti ou, 
 
 Tov ttoXe/ao)', Etf TaDra r^nv iwoftotv TDinrnv «t/T??, a^ uv 
 do^x fj.iv yiyvf)j/,huv oc.\oio<;, ev'ropiat ot yivof^ivuv stoI/jlu 
 •!ra,^ir»h TrccvTo^cnrrii; i^yaaioci (pcivii^yii;, xa« "TTOiKiXuv 
 j^psiwv, a* •TrSis'a.v fxiv tiy^vriv tyupiiaon, "jroiiyctv ^l yfitot, 
 
 " AfaCiSitvoiiTwi' OS Twi/ epyuii, v'TTtpYj^uvuv j/.iv [/.iyi^et, 
 
 t'9!-6f&a>»,s<7-&ai T-/)» ^r,j/,nipy'iciiv rv) KaKKiTS)(^v\oc, fjLctMa-Tcc. 
 caf(:x.acrioi' ijf to Tap^o; oiv yap SKarov uovro woAAatf 
 d^iad'op^^ai; x«» yiXik'uxk; fjt.o'Kiq liii teAo; u^h^ia-Boii, roivrx 
 vaiiTX uia; ax^i? woAiTsia? EXa//.te«i/E Tijif avvrihuuv
 
 APP. I»0. 1. IN THE INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 p^povon Iv oK'iyu yivifA-ivx .y.a,h>.n /iaek ya^ 'iy.a.T^'n i^^v<i -hv 
 T8TE a.c.^oAov, axft>5 os H-^X?^ '''''' "'fOO'ipaTov lr» y.a.t 
 vmpyov , aTw^ e7ra^■9•e< tk xaivoTJ}? af» aStKroi/ vTro t5 
 j{pov« ^»aT55p5<ra ri* oiJ/H', LiTTtp aliSaXe? irvitjf^a, xat 
 
 TTaKTa ^6 ^tETTre y.a* wxviuv eTris^xoTro; r;v avTw ^Eid'iaf, 
 
 ipyuv' Tov />i£v yap ix.ciTO[ji,7reaov Ueip^evuvx KaX^^xp«r»J? 
 tleya^iro x»« "Iktivo;, to 5'' £» 'EXEt^^rn T£^£^>?g^ol' i;p|«To 
 fXEK Ko'poi^o? oJxoJo/xErv, X«l TB? ETT* E^aipH? XJOVaf e'$>IX£> 
 
 aro?, za» TOK ETTtri'^iotj I'rriL^iv^iv' a.TroBxiiOin'og at ram, 
 Mirce.yivr,S o SwetioJ, to ^ixt,uy.cc y.xi mi ccvu vaovccS 
 ETTEr^fE • TO yotroAoy £7r* Ta 'AvaxrOpS svjoyJKrig ,o XoAap- 
 yeiif i-KOfv^uae ' to ^e Max-pof ti^yji^, ict^i a Sw>f^aT-/;j 
 axa<7ai (^-/icriv uirol liar,yrnj.ivn yvuifjLfiv IlEpiKXEaf, ijpyoXa- 
 
 C>j<7E K-ciXhiytPocTiiq. To ^''^d'EUiv, T? f/Xv 'uroS atx^io-ti 
 
 vroXviODOv xxi "KoXlT^hov, ti? o £p£'4/« TFEfiy.MnS xa« 
 xaTavTEf EX iiAiKf y.opv(py,i -tt tiro ivifjihov, ilttOnx ?k£ya<7» 
 yEvEO-Sai xa* ^\fj.r,ixa. Tris ^uai'hiuS (TKvivtis, £7r»raTS>T0j 
 x«» TBTw riEpixXEaf •••••• T» ^t n^oTTtlAata t?? axpowo- 
 
 ^Ewj E|£ipya«rS») /:>ifv tf TTEvlaElIa, Mvt^crjxXsaj ap;i(^il£X- 
 
 Tovai/loj. ^'e <l>E»Ji«f Ei'^ya^Elo /w.ei' Tr,j Sia to 
 
 Vfiva-av iooS, y.cc) TBra ^»!jW.tBp705 e> tij r''/>>''7 £»"«' 
 yfypaTTlai. 
 
 * This Statue is said, by sonic writers, to have been 39 feet in 
 heiglit.
 
 «0 EXTRACTS, &C. Apr. NO. r. 
 
 Great as the authority is of Grecian exam- 
 ple, in favour of the importance to which the Arts 
 of Design lay claim, it is by no means the most 
 antient. The following passage will show, that the 
 Egyptians (in many parts of Art the instructors of the 
 Greeks), although under more restricted notions, yet 
 considered the Arts as possessed of such high and 
 powerful influence, that the modes of Painting and 
 Statuary, permitted in the State, became a subject 
 of their legal ordinances for the regulation of morals 
 in their youths : 
 
 y.cntoTOjAiiv, ovo ETTU'OEiv «AA aTTa >j to. Trarpia. 
 
 HAATi^NOS NOMfiN, P^oy. ^!:;'t. 
 
 A far higher Authority may be named. Had not 
 the Arts appeared of very elevated importance 
 to the inspired writer of the Book of Genesis, what 
 could have given a place in his very succinct account 
 of the first ages of mankind, to the name of Tubal 
 Cain, and to a record of his skill in one of the pro- 
 vinces of Design ?
 
 APPENDIX. N^II. 
 
 PASSAGES IN AUTHORS, REFERRED TO IN 
 PART I. 
 
 1. RELATIVE TO THE ESTEEM OF THE ARTS 01' 
 DESIGN AMONG THE ROMANS. 
 
 Plinii, Natural Hist, lib. xxxv. cap. 4. 
 
 DE PICTURA APUD IIOMANOS. 
 
 (Referred to in p. 62.^ 
 
 " Apud Romanos quoque honos mature huic Arti 
 contigit. Siquidem cognomina ex ek Pictorum trax- 
 erunt Fabii clarissimai gentis, princcpsque ejus cog- 
 nominis ipse jEdem Salutis pinxit anno Urbis Con- 
 ditae ccccl., quae pictura duravit ad nostram memo- 
 riam, aede Claudii principatu exust^. 
 
 " Proxime celebrata est in Foro Boario JEdc Hercu- 
 lis, Pacuvii Poetae pictura. Postea non est spcctata 
 honestis manibus. 
 
 " Dignatio autem artis prascipua Roma; increvit a 
 M. Valerio Max. Messal^, qui Princcps tabulam pic-
 
 2'i _ PASSAGES IN AUTHORS, app. NO. U. 
 
 turae praelii, quo Carthaginienses et Hieronem in Si- 
 ciliA. devicerat, proposuit in latere Curiae Hostiliae, 
 anno ab U. C. quadringentesimo nonagesimo. Fecit 
 hoc quidem et L. Scipio, tabulamque victoriae suae 
 Asiaticae in Capitolio posuit. 
 
 " Sed prEecipuam auctoritatem fecit public^ tabulis 
 Cjesar Dictator, Ajace et Medea ante Veneris Gene- 
 tricis aedem dicatis. 
 
 " Post eum M. Agrippa, vir rusticitati propior 
 quam dcliciis. 
 
 " Super omnes, Divus Augustus in Foro sue cele- 
 berrini^ in parte posuit tabulas duas, quae belli pic- 
 tam faciem habent et triumphum. Idem Castores et 
 victoriam posuit, et quas dicemus sub artificum men- 
 tione, in Templo Cfesaris Putris. Idem in curi^ quo- 
 que, quam in Comitio consecrabat, duas tabulas im- 
 pressit parieti," 
 
 One of these two last-mentioned Pictures was the 
 work of Nicias, and the other of Philochares ; and 
 Pliny then adds, on the subject of the latter : 
 
 " Immcnsa, vel unam si quis banc tabulam aestimet, 
 potentia artis, cum, propter Philocharem, ignobilis- 
 simosalioqui Glaucionem filiumque ejus Aristippum, 
 Scnatus Populusque Romanus tot saeculis spectet. 
 
 " Posuit et Tiberius Caesar, minime comis Imperator 
 in templo ipsius Augusti, quas mox indicabimus." 
 Lib, XXXV. c. 8. " Lysippus fecit distringentem se,
 
 aPP.no. ir. REFERllED TO IN PART I. 23 
 
 quem M. Agrippa ante thermas suas dicavit, mire 
 gratum Tiberio Principi ; qui non quivit sibi tempe- 
 rare in eo, quamquam imperiosue sui inter initia prin- 
 cipatus, transtulitque in cubiculum, alio ibi signo sub- 
 stitute : cum quidem tanta populi Romani contumacia 
 fuit, ut magnis theatri clamoribus reponi apoxyomenon 
 flagitaverit, Princepsque quamquam adamatum, re- 
 posuerit." 
 
 Lib. XXXV. cap. 11. " Cydiae tabulam Argonautas 
 H-S XLiv. Hortensius Orator mercatus est, eique 
 ^dem fecit in Tusculano suo." 
 
 Lib. xxxiv. c. 8. " In raentione Statuarum est et 
 una non praetereunda, licet auctoris incerti, juxta 
 Rostra, Herculis tunicati Eleo habitu Romae, torv& 
 facie sentienteque supreme in tunic^. In h&c tres 
 tituli ; L. LucuUi Imperatoris de manubiis : alter, 
 pupillum Luculli filium ex S. C. dcdicasse : tertius, 
 T. Septimium Sabinum ^Edilem curulem ex privatoin 
 publicum restituisse. Tot certaminum tantceque dig- 
 nationis simulacrum id fuit." 
 
 2. LETTER ADDRESSED TO NICOLAS POUSSIN, (while 
 
 ON HIS STUDIES AT ROME,) BY LOUIS XIIX. K. OF 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 (^Mentioned in p. 140.) 
 
 " Cher et bien aime, nous ay ant ete fait rapport 
 par aucuns de nos plus specieux serviteurs, de I'es- 
 tirae que vous vous etes acquise, et du rang que
 
 24 PASSAGES IN AUTHORS, APP. NO. II. 
 
 vous tenez parmi les plus faraeu.x et les plus excellens 
 Peintres de toute ritalie; et desirant, h I'imitation de 
 nos predecesseurs, contribuer autant qu'il nous sera 
 possible h rornement et decoration de nos Maisons 
 Royales, en appellant aupres de nous ceux qui ex- 
 cellent dans les Arts, ct dont la suffisance se fait rc- 
 marquer dans les lieux ou ils semblent les plus 
 cheris, nous vous faisons cette lettre, pour vous dire, 
 que nous vous avons choisi et retenu pour I'un de 
 nos Peintres ordinaires, et que nous voulons dorena- 
 vant vous employer en cette qualite. A cet effet 
 notre intention est, que la presente repue, vous ayez 
 h. vous disposer de venir par deca, ou les services que 
 vous nous rendrez seront aussi consideres, que vos 
 oeuvres el votre merite le sont dans les lieux ou vous 
 4tes, en donnant ordre au Sieur de Noyers, Conseiller 
 en notre Conseil d'Etat, Secretaire de nos Comman- 
 demens et Surintendant de nos Batimens, de vous 
 faire plus particulierement entendre le cas que nous 
 faisons de vous, et le bien et avantage que nous avons 
 resolu de vous faire. Nous n'ajouterons rien a la 
 presente que pour prier Dieu qu'il vous ait en sa 
 sainte garde. Donne h, Fontainbleau le 15 Janvier, 
 1639." 
 
 The offers which M. de Noyers was commissioned 
 to make, are contained iu his letter to Poussin in the 
 following terms :
 
 APP.Ko.Ii. REFERRED TO IN PART I. 25 
 
 " Afin de faire connoitre restimc que le Roi fai- 
 soit de votre personnc, et des autres hommes rares et 
 vertueux comme vous,je vous fis ecrire ce que je vous 
 confirmc parcelle-ci, qui vous scrvira de premiere as- 
 surance de la promcsse que Ton vous fait, j usque a 
 ce qu' k votre arrivee je vcus mette en main les Bre- 
 vets et les Expeditions du Roi ; que je vous envoyerai 
 mille ecus pour les frais de votre voyage; que je 
 vous ferai donncr mille ecus de gages par chacun an, 
 un logement commode dans la Maison du Roi, soit 
 au Louvre, a Paris, ou a Fontaincblcau, i\ votre 
 choix ; que je vous le fcrai meubler honnetement pour 
 la premiere fois ; que vous y logcrez si vous vouloz, 
 cela etant a votre choix ; que vous ne peindrez point 
 en plafond, ni en voutes, et que vous ne screz oblige 
 que pour cinq annees, ainsi que vous le desirez, bicn 
 que j'espere, que lorsquc vous aurcz respire I'air dc 
 la Patrie, difficilement/le quittercz vous. 
 
 " Vous voyez maintenant clair dans les conditions 
 que Ton vous propose, et que vous avez desirees. 11 
 reste k vous en dire une seule, qui est que vous ne 
 peindrez pour personnc, que par ma permission ; car 
 je vous fais venir pour le Roi, non pour les particu- 
 liers." 
 
 « De NotERs." 
 " Ce 14 Janvier, 1639."
 
 16 
 
 PASSAGES IN AUTHORS, app, NO. II. 
 
 3. ON THE CHARACTER OF GILPI^T. 
 (Bef erred to in p. 169.^ 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 " You have so frequently requested me to give my 
 sentiments on the worlcs, &c. of my late relation, 
 Mr. Gilpin, that I feel a contrition that gets the better 
 of any obstacle, and makes me venture upon a task to 
 which I feel myself quite unequal. 
 
 " In his character as a man, there was an amiable 
 sweetness that was known to all who met him in the 
 world ; and it is both painful and pleasing to declare, 
 that he did not, like many showy characters, lay that 
 aside when he entered his own house: on the con- 
 trary, he was every thing tliere that he appeared in the 
 world ; and, I believe, he liad no fault that was not 
 in some way accessary to his goodness. 
 
 " As an Artist, the publick are in possession of his 
 works, and must know as much of him as I can tell, 
 and more, in proportion to their ability to see them. 
 I must confess, that I consider his best works as un- 
 rivalled : they give you completely that idea ex- 
 pressed in one of the Lectures of our Prince of Painters; 
 they show you that his hand was taught « to snatch 
 the grace beyond the reach of Art." He could com- 
 mand the most extravagant actions of Nature, or 
 equally sink her productions in repose.
 
 app.no. II. KEFERRED TO IN PART I. 27 
 
 " His works did not stand in need of that beauty 
 which frequently disguises ignorance and imbecility, 
 that meretricious glitter of pencil and colour which 
 gives equal interest to fruit and flowers, or to any other 
 subjects which please the eye of those caught by mere 
 show : but his animation consisted in a just propor- 
 tion and propriety of action; giving each figure its 
 most graceful impression. — Figures so chaste in the 
 outline, that a Sculptor might embody the form : a 
 fine abstract idea of Nature, such as we behold in the 
 antique. This is my opinion of Mr. Gilpin's powers 
 of Art: but how his magic was performed, no record 
 is left; it is fled with that vital flame in which it 
 existed. 
 
 " Industry may accomplish something like propor- 
 tion; but to give the living principle to proportion, is 
 reserved for a chosen few ; and our Artist stood high 
 in that rank : it is a quality like electricity, not to be 
 analyzed; and it is no where to be found, till it blazes 
 forth of itself. 
 
 " These are my unconstrained thoughts : if you 
 should make any use of them, ia the way of publi- 
 cation, pray omit my name, as the observations 
 would have more force in any other." 
 
 " I am, dear Sir, &c. &c." 
 » G. G." 
 " Sept, 14, 1812."
 
 APPENDIX. N^III. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS, &C. REFERRED TO IN 
 PART II. 
 
 ON THE ESTIMATE OF PAINTING AND SCULPTURE 
 AMONG LITERARY STUDENTS. 
 
 1 HE species of distinction, mentioned in the second 
 chapter of Part II,, as likely to conduce to an emi- 
 nent advance in the higher provinces of Painting, was 
 first hinted in a former " Inquiry into the Requisite 
 Cultivation of The Arts in England." It has since 
 been stated in a forcible manner, by an Artist of 
 poetical celebrity-; and, notwithstanding the plea- 
 santry of some observations made on his statement, 
 in a periodical publication conducted by the late 
 Mr. Cumberland, it is difficult to assign any reason- 
 able ground of objection to the proposition contained 
 in it, on the subject now mentioned. If it be de- 
 
 * See Notes in Shke's Elements of Art.
 
 APP, NO. III. OBSERVATIONS, &C. 29 
 
 monstrable, that Painting is capable of the high moral 
 purposes, which are allowed on all sides to be its 
 proper objects, and which it therefore either does ef- 
 fect or might effect; on what ground can it be denied, 
 that, in the present view of the importance and re- 
 finement of this Nation, (now contending for emi- 
 nence of rank throughout the globe,) Paintinfr 
 may justly claim to have its portion of culti- 
 vation assigned to it, among other liberal Arts in 
 our Universities ? If Design, as a science, enters into 
 every useful purpose of life, what precludes its ad- 
 mission to the general stock of knowledge, diffused by 
 the Universities? Perhaps, if it were there ranked 
 among other studies of science, as Botan);^, Chymistry, 
 &:c. it would take its most useful station ; and the 
 particular claims of the Fine Arts might be afterwards 
 considered. But I have proposed to advert briefly 
 in this place, to the probable influence, which the admis- 
 sion of the Fine Arts into the studies of our Univer- 
 sities would have on the minds of students in general. 
 In order to gain attention on such a subject, it is first 
 requisite to show, in what manner the disesteem, which 
 has been conceived for the study of them, is merely 
 incidental to the existing circumstances with respect 
 to them. 
 
 To ascertain this proposition, let the ingenuous 
 votaries of learning, who fill our Colleges, put this
 
 30 OBSERVATIONS, &c. app. NO. III. 
 
 simple question to themselves. Suppose that the pre- 
 sent lectures on any one science — on Botany, for 
 instance, Chymistry, or Mineralogy — were abolished, 
 and that no notice whatever were taken of any such 
 science in the course of publick education, " What 
 would then be their general conception or estimation 
 of that science? or what interest would they feel in 
 the acqusition of any knowledge respecting it?" 
 
 Will it be to assume too much, to say, that, although 
 there might (and probably would) be found, at all 
 times, some men of minds naturally inquisitive, 
 who would in such a case be little less informed than 
 at present, on the subject of the sciences just mention- 
 ed, far the greater portion of general students would be 
 content to rest exempt f/om the pains of acquiring 
 any very particular information concerning them ; 
 and would continue in the same state with regard to 
 them, during the rest of their lives, as at present 
 with regard to Painting ? For, would they conceive 
 a knowledge of them at all deserving the care, or 
 necessary to the general reputation, of a scholar, 
 when they found that the Universities of Learning, 
 established by the State, did not so consider them ? — 
 Such exactly is the predicament, in which the Art of 
 Painting is presumed to stand. The former branches 
 of science have been presented to the attention of the 
 student, by their forming a portion of the objects of
 
 APP.no. III. REFERRED TO IN PART II. 31 
 
 established liberal study; and he therefore conceives 
 some degree of instruction in them to be at once 
 becoming his situation, and necessary to his just 
 comprehension of them. The Art of Design, on the 
 contrary, remains unauthorized and unnoticed ; and 
 he, of course, conceives it to be unconnected with 
 any duty of attention on his part, as being out of the 
 class of studies requisite to liberal education. 
 
 But if it be true, that the greater number of students 
 in our Universities are, in general, unacquainted with 
 Painting and indifferent respecting it, because it is 
 not set before them as an object of study, there is as 
 little reason to doubt, that were the case otherwise, 
 were it presented for their consideration, they would 
 not fail to feel the same interest concerning it, and 
 thence to acquire the same knowledge, (or at least the 
 same comprehensive view,) of its nature and proper- 
 ties, as they now are enabled to collect of other 
 branches of science. Established as the sciences of 
 Botany, Chymistry, and Mineralogy are in the Uni- 
 versities; supported by Professorships, and forming a 
 partof publick liberal education; to be grossly ignorant 
 of them is considered as disgraceful, and would be 
 mortifying even to many youths at College, not par- 
 ticularly addicted to the study of either. Indeed 
 there are probably very few, whom this useful feeling 
 of the mind would fail to excite to some degree of
 
 32 OBSERVATIONS, &,c. app.no.iii. 
 
 acquaintance with them. But the knowledge of those 
 sciences is at least as abstruse, and, in many instances, 
 as much detached from common studies, as that of 
 the Art of Painting. 
 
 No further argument, therefore, is necessary, to 
 prove, that, by giving a place to Painting among the 
 other studies of the Universities, an insight into the 
 Art would be acquired by the general order of 
 scholars in those establishments. 
 
 But it is necessary also to show, that the students 
 would by the same means acquire a Just feeling of 
 the Fine Arts; and, in this point, the same method 
 of analogical reasoning may be properly continued, 
 as best calculated to bring the subject home to the 
 bosom of the student himself. 
 
 There has been an opinion familiarly received by 
 many men of general cultivation, that they are, with- 
 out other study, sufficient judges of Painting : that, pro- 
 vided they have had numerous opportunities of seeing 
 pictures, they can at all times accurately distinguish, 
 and appreciate, the various merits of the Art. 
 Numerous have been the complaints of Painters on 
 this topick ; and, though they would not properly find 
 a place in these pages, there is little reason to think 
 that they have been made altogether without just 
 cause. If the testimony of those complainants is to 
 be credited, such self-appointed judges arc too often
 
 APP.no. III. REFERRED TO IN PART II. 33 
 
 destitute of a just feeling of the Art. Let us see with 
 what degree of reason such an inference is drawn. 
 
 Let us again then inquire of one who has gained, 
 by the present opportunities of publick tuition, a com- 
 petent acquaintance with the sciences above men- 
 tioned, of Chymistry, Botany, or Mineralogy. In 
 the supposed case, that the cultivation of either of 
 those sciences were now to be abolished in the Uni- 
 versities, in what degree would he conceive that an 
 ordinary student, in schools where that science was 
 no longer taught, would there obtain an adequate 
 knowledge of it? Also, in what other manner would 
 he believe it requisite to obtain such knowledge? 
 Would he be induced to admit that the walking 
 through a Chymist's laboratory, or a Botanist's con- 
 servatory, would be of itself sufficient to render any 
 man a competent judge, by what means the powerful 
 influences of those sciences are exerted, or what are 
 the comparative merits of their productions? Is it 
 not fairly to be suspected, that be has obtained too 
 just a feeling of the nature and extent of the sciences 
 in question, to assent to such a proposition 1 And 
 that he would be as greatly surprised at any one's 
 imagining, that a proper judgment could be formed 
 in them without particular study, as the Painter often 
 is, at the too common opinion of the facility of 
 obtaining the power of judgment in his Art ? 
 
 APP. <^
 
 34 OBSERVATIONS, &C. APP. HO. III. 
 
 Here again, then, it appears, that to substitute 
 the name o{ Painting for that of either of the branches 
 of knowledge above mentioned, is all that is requisite. 
 Instruction in the general principles, and familiar 
 intercourse with the particular students of the Art, 
 would give to the general student those just views of 
 the difficulty and the powers of Design, which he 
 now attains of Botany, Chymistry, or Mineralogy. 
 He would perceive that his acquisition of knowledge 
 in if, either as a Science or an Art, must be propor- 
 tionate to his study of it: and on these grounds, I 
 conceive, must always be built, what is called 2t.just 
 feeling of any Art whatsoever. 
 
 The youth, whom such methods and such oppor- 
 tunities would not furnish \vith that just feeling and 
 general knowledge of the Art of Painting, which every 
 liberal scholar should possess, may freely be allow- 
 ed to seek inspiration with the Virtuoso, to wander, 
 at distance from home, through enchanted realms, 
 and fly from school to school, until, by sufficient 
 length of road, he has been (as some Author has not 
 unhappily expressed it) jolted into a thorough knoic- 
 iedge of the Art of Fainting. 
 
 Lest, however, the novelty of the proposed esta- 
 blishment should wear the odious appearance of inno- 
 vation, let me be allowed to cast a glance on the
 
 app.no. III. REFERRED TO IN PART 11. 35 
 
 various Professorships, as tliey have been gradually 
 instituted in our venerable Seats of Learning*. 
 
 o 
 
 CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 The earliest appointments of Professorships are in 
 Divinity, Margaret, and Regius. The first founded 
 in 1502. 
 
 The Professorships of Civil Law, Hebrew, and 
 Greek, followed the two former, in 1540. All the 
 above, with the exception of the first, are appoint- 
 ments of Henry the Eighth. 
 
 The Professorship of Physick is also stated in 1540. 
 
 The Patronage of the Sovereign was imitated by 
 Sir Thomas Adams in 1(j32, in the appointment of a 
 Professor in Arabick. 
 
 Next, by H. Lucas, Esq. who founded a Profes- 
 sorship of Mathcmaticks in l663 : and 
 
 Afterwards by I. Knightbridge, D. D. who ap- 
 pointed a Casuistical Professor in l683. 
 
 In the beginning of the next century, 1704, the 
 Plumian Professorship of Astronomy was appointed. 
 
 * I am apprehensive tliat the following lists may be found, in 
 some pKjints, inaccurate, owing to the difficulty of collecting the 
 authentic documents. The mistakes, however, I tru?t, are of 
 no important magnitude.
 
 36 OBSERVATIONS, 8CC. app.no.iix. 
 
 In 1707, tbe University established a Professorship 
 of Anatomy : and, 
 
 A few years afterwards (1713), that oi Chymistry: 
 followed, 
 
 In 1724, by that oi Botany. 
 
 In the same year (1724), the Professorship of 
 Modern History was founded by George the First. 
 
 A second Professorship oi Astronomy, the Lowndian, 
 was founded in 1749- 
 
 A third Professor in Divinity (Norrisian), was ap- 
 pointed in 1768. 
 
 A Professor of Natural Philosophy (Jacksonian), in 
 1783. 
 
 A Professorship in Con/mon Law was founded by 
 the University in 1788. 
 
 A Professorship of Mineralogy in 1 808. 
 
 To these are to be added the appointment of 
 Publick Orator; that of 
 
 Christian Advocate, founded by the Rev. I. Huler, 
 in 1792; and also of 
 
 The Travelling Bachelors (for two years), founded 
 by W. Worts, Esq. 
 
 The Professorship of Musick appears of uncertain 
 date; probably a very early one, on account of the 
 very necessary services of Musick in all great Eccle- 
 siastical Establishments.
 
 APP.NO.Iir. REFERUED TO IX PART II. 37 
 
 OXFORD. 
 
 The first Professorship isi Divinity (Margaret), was 
 appointed in 1502. 
 
 The second (Regius), was founded by Henry VIII, 
 in 1535; afterwards renewed in 1540; and confirmed 
 in 1546; together with the four Professorships of 
 
 Hebrew, 
 
 Greek, 
 
 Civil Law, 
 
 Medicine. 
 
 In 1619, the Professorships of Astronomy and 
 Geometry were founded by Sir Henry Savile, Knight. 
 [The great Architect, Sir Christopher Wren, was the 
 fourth Professor in the latter Science.] 
 
 In 1620, the Professorship of Natural Philosophy, 
 founded by Sir William Sedley, Knight. 
 
 In 1621, the Professorship of Moral Philosophy, by 
 Thomas Whyte, D. D. and Prebendary of St. Paul's. 
 
 In 1622, the Professorship of History, by the 
 learned Camden. 
 
 In 1624, the Professorship of Anatotny, by Richard 
 Tomkyns, Esq. 
 
 In 1626, the Professorship of Mustek (or the Musi- 
 cal Praxis J, by Heather, Doctor of Musick in 
 
 the University.
 
 38 
 
 OBSERVATIONS, &C. APP. no. III. 
 
 In 1636, the Professorship of Arabick, by Laud, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury: also, 
 
 The Lord Almoner's, of the same. 
 
 In 1669, the Professorship of Botany, by Henry, 
 Lord Danvers. 
 
 In 1700, of Experimental Phi- 
 losophy. 
 
 In 1707, of Poetry, founded by 
 
 the University. 
 
 In 1724, 
 
 History. 
 
 In 1758, 
 
 In 1783, 
 
 In 1793, 
 
 In 1795, 
 
 guage. 
 
 (Regius) of Modern 
 
 In 1803,- 
 
 (Vinerian) Common Lav:, 
 
 of Clinical Medicine. 
 
   (Regius) of Botany. 
 
 of the Anglo-Saxon Lan- 
 
 r oi Anatomy, 
 
 (Aldrich's)< Medicine, 
 
 ^Chymistry . 
 To these is to be added the appointment of a Puhlick 
 Orator, in 1564, by general consent of the Convo- 
 cation. 
 
 After this view of the numerous appointments by 
 which the wisdom of our Universities has judged it 
 requisite to disseminate learning through the kingdom, 
 let us inquire what presumption may be attributed to 
 a proposal for establishing a Professorship in Design,
 
 app.no. HI. REFERRED TO IN PART II. 39 
 
 or Painting? It appears to have been a proceedintr 
 highly consonant to good sense, in all the founders 
 of the various Professorships, that, as they greatly 
 valued some particular Science or Art, they endea- 
 voured to perpetuate the cultivation of it, by attach- 
 ing it, in a distinguished manner, to the authorized 
 studies of one or other of the great Institutions of 
 Learning in the realm. What can be more consistent 
 with reason, or patriotism? What more honourable 
 to the State ? 
 
 Docs any ground appear for supposing it absurd to 
 say, that the additional study of the Principles of 
 Design would be an honourable increase of the useful 
 litores of those venerable Repositories of Knowledge ? 
 or any for supposing it proper to say, that it should 
 not be admitted ? 'Ihere is surely nothing to be found 
 in the name of University, to indicate the prohibition 
 of any increase of general studies, provided they be 
 of a rank worthy of protection and cultivation. Let 
 us look at this point also. 
 
 It is true that, for the most part, in the list of the 
 studies of our Universities, the established Professor- 
 ships have for their object cither the diffusion of 
 knowledge derived from researches into the intrinsic 
 stores of Nature, or the laborious depths of scholastic 
 learning. Of the former description arc Physick, 
 Anatomy, Chymistry, Botany, and Mineralogy: of 
 the latter, Divinity, Civil and Common Law, the
 
 40 OBSERVATIONS, &c. app, uo. in 
 
 Antient Languages, History, and Casuistry. In com- 
 parison with these, although as a Science, Design might 
 merit to be ranked in the former class; Painting, con- 
 sidered as a Fine Art, appears to have more of the 
 nature of a factitious than a real study; and to be, 
 in that respect, unworthy of being solemnly associated 
 with them. But the severity of this test will not place 
 it at an equal distance from other Professorships, 
 established in the same Universities. What shall we 
 say of Musick and Poetry? These, surely, are 
 merely liberal Arts, holding a similar claim with the 
 Art of Painting. Wherefore should not the Students 
 of every liberal Art enjoy equal advantages for the 
 prosecution of their studies? That Painting has not 
 hitherto been thought worthy to partake of the com- 
 mon privileges, is no argument in the present moment, 
 when its Professors have justly risen to esteem ; or, 
 if it be, the argument may be deprecated or refuted, 
 by the same mode of defence that was employed by 
 the learned Dr. Trapp, in his opening Lecture on the 
 appointment of the First Professorship of Poetry: 
 
 " Metura mihi incuti non diffiteor, cogitanti qukm 
 sit in arduo provinciam inire novam prorsus et iiitac- 
 tam, et nullius antecessoris vestigiis insistere. Nam 
 cum reliquas omncs, quotquot ubivis gentium coluntur, 
 disciplina2, in florentissima hac, et toto orbe celeber- 
 rimd, Academia, prfeceptis atque institutione jam- 
 dudum excultae sint et elaborataj; sola Poesis tanquam
 
 APP. NX). III. REFERRED TO IN PART II. 41 
 
 ncglecta et despectui habita, ante hunc diem scholas 
 desideravit. 
 
 " Falluntur, si qui Pocticam Scholis abU-aatam 
 volunt, tanquam eflVeenata luxuriantem licentia, ct 
 nulla doctrinae norma efforniandara. Jnest quidem 
 illi furor, at furor divinus; a ratione non deflcctens, 
 sed ornatiorem cam et sublimiorem efficiens. Inest 
 etiam ignis, at incendio non similis, sed igni potius 
 isti, ex quo constant orbes coelestes; qui flammae suje, 
 simul et fulgori, conjunctum habct certum cursus 
 ordinem, et motu licet rapidissimo, servata tamen 
 lege, circuravolvitur. Dari igitur disciplinam illi, 
 omnino convenit. Et hoc munere quid concinnius, 
 quid elegantius cxcogitari potuit? Quid dignius 
 quod accipcrct excukissima Academia, \cl quod 
 homo Aulicus donaret?" — Orat. Inaugural. 
 
 But it appears by no means certain ihat it is neces- 
 sary to contend, in this instance, for a patronage 
 altogether new in idea. I am informed by a Member 
 of the University, well known for his love of the Fine 
 Arts, that a desire to cultivate Painting, in the man- 
 ner here supposed, was strongly felt about a century 
 ago, and was sanctioned by the high authority of Sir 
 Isaac Newton. It was then suggested, that the Art, 
 so established, might constitute a distincty'acw/^j/ ; in 
 which, of course, no Student could have assumed 
 any degree, without being previously entitled to the
 
 42 OBSERVATIONS, &C. APr.Ko.iii, 
 
 first subordinate ones, in the general studies of the 
 University. 
 
 How far the necessary avocations of a Painter, in 
 his peculiar Art, might have allowed him to devote a 
 sufficient portion of time to literary study, to attain 
 those previous honours, may (as already remarked) 
 be questioned. And, of course, it may be called in 
 question, whether those previous steps should be held 
 indispensably necessary for him, or whether he might 
 claim a portion of the indulgence exercised towards 
 the Graduate in Musick, who is suffered to take his 
 degrees without confinement to the general rules of 
 study. But no such indulgence to Painting seems 
 likely to have been adopted at the period just men- 
 tioned, had the regulation been then carried into 
 effect. 
 
 In whatever manner such a plan might, on reflexion, 
 be admitted, there needs no hesitation in stating, that 
 the appointment of at least a single Exhibition for 
 Painters in either of the Universities, appears to be 
 deserving of experiment: and when the requisite 
 expense of such an appointment is compared with the 
 bounties of the liberal Institution, to whose zeal these 
 pages have so often referred, it is impossible not to 
 feel a wish that the adoption of the measure may 
 originate in that Patriotick Establishment.
 
 APPENDIX. N°IV. 
 
 PASSAGES AND OBSERVATIONS REFERRED TO 
 IN PART III. 
 
 PICTURES IN THE HALLS OF SEVERAL COMPANIES 
 IN LONDON. 
 
 ? (Referred to in p. 2550 
 
 i. HE Hall of the Barber-Surgeons' Company has a 
 work of Holbein, the subject of which is Henry VHI. 
 delivering the Charter to the Company. In the Hall 
 of the Company of Stationers, is a Picture by West, 
 of Alfred dividing his loaf with the Pilgrim; with 
 other Pictures. 
 
 The Company of Ironmongers lately purchased a 
 Picture by Northcotc, at the sale of the Shakspcare 
 Gallery, " The Entrance of Bolingbrokc, with his 
 prisoner Richard H. into London." It possesses also 
 a Statue of Edward IV. in armour. 
 
 At Goldsmiths' Hall are two Pictures, in which
 
 44 PASSAGES AND OBSERVATIONS app. NO. iv. 
 
 St. Dunstan is represented, in one, conversing with 
 the Virgin Mary, and in the other, taking the Devil 
 by the nose with his pincers. 
 
 Apothecaries' Hall contains an historical Picture of 
 the landing of William III. At Curriers' HaW, Brewers' 
 Hall, &c. are several small, indifferent Pictures; 
 and one or two other Companies also possess Pictures 
 of inferior note. 
 
 In Bridewell Hall, besides the work by Holbein, 
 there is a large Picture, representing Queen Anne 
 going in procession to St. Paul's, after the victory of 
 Oudenarde. — Malcolm's Londinium, 
 
 ON WORKS OF PAINTING IN CHURCHES. 
 
 (Referred to in p. 259.) 
 
 The propriety of admitting works of Painting into 
 our Churches, has not only been the subject of for- 
 mer disputes, but is still regarded with very different 
 sentiments and opinions. The state of the question 
 among the Christian Church in England is remark- 
 able. By Roman Catholicks, Pictures are every 
 where welcomed; by the Established Church, they
 
 aPP.no. IV. REFERRED TO IN PART III. 45 
 
 are neither wholly approved, nor wholly rejected ; by 
 the Presbyterians and Dissenters in general, they are 
 rigorously excluded. 
 
 Is there no rationale on this point ? no safe ground, 
 on which Painting may take its stand ? 
 
 A Church, preaching the Spirituality of the Gospel, 
 rejects all shadowing of its doctrines by sensible 
 images. Devotion, which should be pure and ab- 
 stracted, is supposed to receive an alloy from the 
 intrusion of earthly forms. Any attempt, therefore, 
 to represent the Supreme Being, even if it were not 
 absurd on the ground of impossibility, would be in 
 the higiiest degree prejudicial to the mind, by dis- 
 sipating and distracting its powers from the sole con- 
 templation of its spiritual object. But, the repre- 
 sentations also of Christ as man, of Saints, of Angels, 
 &c. are thought to produce a danger to feeble minds, 
 apt to be led astray from the arduous task of seeking 
 essential virtues, to the more easy one of admiring 
 visible objects and actions : in consequence of which, 
 the effort of the soul relaxes by degrees, aod adora- 
 tion is transferred from the real object to the ap- 
 parent. 
 
 The exaltation of fancy, it is true, may loo often 
 be mistaken for devotion. Musick, even more strongly 
 than Painting, is apt to produce this illusion. " When
 
 46 PASSAGES AND OBSERVATIONS 
 
 app.no. IV. 
 
 swelling organs lift the rising soul," and when to 
 imagined " Sounds of heav'nly harps" the rapt adorer 
 
 " dies away. 
 
 Or melts in visions of eternal day," 
 
 it is probable that the spirituality of religion is cir- 
 cumscribed within very narrow limits in the mind. 
 
 But is it not probable also, that the thoughts, which 
 are thus easily led astray, to fix on outward and 
 sensible images, would have been, in all cases, very 
 feebly directed to the inward invisible essence ? Indo' 
 lence is here the real object of censure, which requires 
 the correction of the Preacher. The great powers of 
 attracting the mind can be no argument against the 
 employment of either Art in the service of Religion. 
 For if, for instance, such powers of attraction be con- 
 sidered dangerous in graphic representations, how 
 much greater must have been the danger arising from 
 the actual living presence of holy characters ? And 
 if the great Judge of human hearts chose, himself, to 
 assume the form of humanity, does there appear suffi- 
 cient ground for our prohibiting the representations 
 of his human form, in commemoration of the various 
 acts of goodness and beneficence which distinguished 
 the series of his days on earth ? 
 
 If it be still insisted, that in the actual scene or
 
 APP. MO. IV. REFERRED TO IN PART III. 47 
 
 circle of worship, no objects whatever should call oft" 
 our attention from the worship of the Creator in spirit, 
 and if we should assent to the exclusion of Pictures 
 and Sculptures oi historical facts; yet, even then, will 
 it be said that there arc not images of a higher reach 
 which may be admitted, without wanting defence? 
 Supposing that the walls of a place of worship, filled 
 by the most rigid of Christian sects, were at once 
 opened, and that the worshippers perceived themselves 
 surrounded by myriads of adoring spirits; would de- 
 votion be diminished ? The first surprise might na- 
 turally interrupt the thoughts for a moment ; but the 
 continuance of the vision would certainly be allowed 
 to strengthen, not decrease, the fervour of the soul. 
 The representation, then, of angels in the act of adora- 
 tion, may, it seems, securely accompany the assem- 
 blage of human beings for the like purposes of worship. 
 Such other allusive imagery, as may in the same 
 manner be found to combine either with the act or 
 design of worship, will stand on similar ground. 
 
 But grant the total exclusion of Painting from the 
 actual, immediate scene of prayer, what objection 
 shall we bring against the admission of Pictures to 
 other and larger portions of our Churches? 'I'hc ser- 
 vice of the Church is performed, for instance, at St. 
 Paul's, within the chancel. What if the whole in- 
 terior of the remaining parts of the Cathedral were 
 filled with the history of Christ's life? Could there
 
 48 PASSAGES AND OBSERVATIONS app. NO. IV. 
 
 be any better introduction to the scene of Christian 
 adoration ? 
 
 Arguments of this nature may be allowed to affect 
 equally the Churches or Chapels of every sect of 
 Christians. But it is evident that none of the objec- 
 tions hinted at above, have any force in the contem- 
 plation of the Government ; since it gives permission 
 to place Pictures on the very altar, the spot (if any 
 may be so distinguished) peculiarly appropriated to 
 holy thoughts and spiritual adoration. 
 
 The general exclusion of Painting, therefore, from 
 our Cathedrals, appears, on the part of the State, not 
 a compliance with religious principles, but an omis- 
 sion of patronage to an Art, allowed to be properly 
 employed in the service of Religion. 
 
 EXTRACT TROM PAUSANIAS, RELATIVE TO THE 
 NUMEROUS WORKS OF SCULPTURE AXD PAINT- 
 ING IN GREECE. — Attica, chap. iii. 
 
 {Referred to in p, 295.) 
 
 10 01 ya^wii KecajitEJxo?, to ftti/ ovo[ji.x «%£» 
 
 ftTTO IjpUO^ K.tfCCl/.OV, AtOKfCTOf T£ tlvui KUi AoiciotiV)^ KXi 
 
 Tsra \tyoyAvti' irgunri oe IcTiv Iv oi^ix y-aXov^Avri s-a» 
 tea?i?iEO?' EySa xaSi^sk Sacri>>£L'; hiuvaixv Uf^uv otO)(yi*, 
 •/.ecKovf^ivriv hcc<;i7\iiixv' T«^T^!J sVfr* Tw K.ipa.jji.u rrii r«a^
 
 APP. NO. IV. REFERRED TO IN PART III. 49 
 
 xai ^eoovgct HjMf pa K/^aXov" b» xa^^^s-ov yevoatvov, (pot^tv 
 viro Hfji-epcci; epa-<;BeKri/ii «p7ra?-&»iKxi, xai oi Wiiroa yE>£;yfln 
 ^a/SocTa" xa« ^t^Xaxa Ittoitis-e tow vaou" wXijcioii de t?5 
 roai^, K.6vuv fVlxE xa» Tt/^ioSeo; ^ko; Ko^wvo?" xa» taftAEu; 
 KvTTciwi' Efayopatf, o? xxi rent; Tpmpsi? Taj Ooinj-iraf 
 iTTca^t TTccca, Qucri\iciii 'AfTu^ec^a d'oS^i'at Kovwu. EvraDSa 
 iriixE Zivg ovoiJi,xQ6iA.evoi tXft/Sepio?. Sroa os 07ri;y£> 
 iijy.o^ofjLi)Ton •yooc.^a.i i^avaoc. ©sof? ouof/.ce, HO-T^Sfxhsi' ett* 
 « Tw TOip^w Tw TTEpatu, 0t)<TEv? Eft yiypcc.fji.fji.ivoi, xa» drjfio- 
 xpaTia TE xa* J?j«.o5' ^jjXoT Je ri yfoi(prj, ©r,a-tae, tlvon tov 
 tLoi,TO(,T^aa,)ira. 'ASr/vaioi; i^icrov TroXtTE't/EO-cai. 
 
 " IvTat'Sa lr» yeypeciA-ixivov y.a.1 to TTEpt MavTicEiav 'aS)i- 
 »aiwr spyo¥, o't fon^JjfTovTt; AaitEoai/Aono*? E9r£f<.^-j>)^a»* 
 t» ^6 T^ ycx^ri, Tuv iTTTttUi tfi f^ayrtt ev -n yvupiuuirccroi 
 FpuMo? T£ Sevo(pZvToi; in ToTj 'ASrivaiotj, xak xaTa tj!» 
 iVttoii t*)* Boiuriav Ewafxivwvoa? o 0>;Caro;' TotyT*? Ta; 
 ypa(pa,<; 'Ev^pa,niip (ypa.-4>'i> A^rjuaiot?. 
 
 These few lines may serve as a specimen of the 
 treasures of Art in Greece, and of their political ap- 
 plication. 
 
 APP.
 
 50 PASSAGES A^D OBSERVATIONS apP. KO. XV. 
 
 EXTKACTS FROM OBSERVATIONS BY THE LATE 
 MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE ON PUBUCK MO- 
 NUMENTS. 
 
 (Referred to in p. S3Q.) 
 
 " In complimenting or commemorating any great 
 character, expense is a secondary consideration. All 
 works of Art please or displease in proportion as taste 
 and judgment prevail over it. In Architecture, the 
 greatness of the mass sometimes imposes, even where 
 the structure is barbarous; but, in Sculpture, the 
 mass becomes an intolerable enormity, where it is not 
 highly executed and imagined ; which, in a groupe of 
 figures, implies the Arts to have attained the utmost 
 degree of perfection. In the case of Monuments this 
 is the more true, as a mere massy Monument, com- 
 posed of common allegory, may be raised to any 
 body, whose will or whose posterity may direct the 
 payment for it, without creating any interest, and 
 often without being at all understood. Besides, the 
 publick is in general grown cold to allegory, even in 
 Painting ; where, nevertheless, it is much more sup- 
 portable than in Statuary. The great object, where 
 a character admits of it, should be to produce those 
 sensations, which resemLilances of exalted characters 
 never fail to do, even in persons most experienced in 
 
 V
 
 APP. NO. IV. REFERRED TO IN PART III. 51 
 
 the human character ; and at the same time create an 
 association of ideas, which may tell themselves in ho- 
 nour of the persons intended to be remembered. 
 
 " The proposal for erecting a Monument to the late 
 Mr. Howard suggests these reflexions. If they have 
 any foundation, it will be difficult to find an occasion 
 so proper, and so free from objection, to enforce and 
 carry them into eflfect ; as, besides continuing his 
 likeness to posterity by a single Statue, three publick 
 points may be obtained ; which, combined all to- 
 gether, must reflect the highest honour on his me- 
 mory ; namely, 
 
 " 1st. To reser%-e St. Paul's, the second building in 
 Europe, and the first in Great Britain, from being 
 disfigured or misapplied in the manner of Westminster 
 Abbey. 
 
 " 2dly, To assist the Arts most essentially, by 
 advancing Statuary, which may be considered as the 
 first, because it is the most durable, among them. 
 
 " 3dly. To commence a selection of characters, 
 which caH alone answer the purpose of rewarding past 
 or excitmg future virtues ; and the want, of which 
 selection makes a publick Monument scarcely any 
 compliment. 
 
 " The selection might be made subject, in the fi»-sl 
 instance, 
 
 " I . To the King's Sign Manual ;
 
 52 PA SSAGES AND OBSERVATION S,&,C. app.NO.it. 
 
 " 2. The vote of either House of Parliament; 
 
 " 3. The vote of the East India Company; 
 
 " 4. The ballot of the Royal Society; 
 
 " 5. The sense of any profession, taken under such 
 regulations, as may be deemed most unexceptionable ; 
 
 " 6. The same as to artists, men of letters, or 
 other descriptions, subject to proper regulations. 
 
 "The subscription and the vote must be a sufficient 
 check upon all the latter description. 
 
 *' Upon the same reasoning, some spot might be 
 reserved for eminent foreigners, who are very properly, 
 while living, associated to the Royal Society and 
 other learned Bodies. 
 
 " But none ought to be admitted in consequence of 
 the wish, or sole opinion of families or individuals. 
 
 " It might, perhaps, be thought proper to leave it to 
 the Royal Academy, to form a general plan ; and 
 they might class the several descriptions, allotting 
 places to each." 
 
 "1791. "L." 
 
 Hints designed to promote Benejicence, Tem- 
 perance, and Medical Science, by John 
 Coakley Lcttsom, M. and LL. D. vol. ii. 
 p. 217.
 
 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 
 
 INFLUENCE OF PAINTING ON MANUFACTURES. 
 
 The following anecdote may be deserving of men- 
 tion. 
 
 A Prussian artist of respectability, having lately 
 visited England, and bringing me letters from the 
 Royal Academy at Berlin, I took the opportunity of 
 inquiring of him the state of the Arts in that capital. 
 lie replied, that the most remarkable circumstance 
 respecting them, was, the effect which the encourage- 
 ment given to thcni during latter years had produced 
 on manufactures; in which the improvement was so 
 great, as to have excited his wonder, on his return 
 after an absence of some years at Rome. The im- 
 provements, he said, were such, as had prepared the 
 artisans to ansv/er greater demands of trade, than the 
 present circumstances of Prussia could give scope for.
 
 34 OBSERVATIONS, &C. APP. NO. IIJ. 
 
 Here again, then, it appears, that to substitute 
 the name oi Paititing for that of cither of the branches 
 of knowledge above mentioned, is all that is requisite- 
 Instruction in the general pi'inciples, and familiar 
 intercourse with the particular students of the Art, 
 would give to the general student those just views of 
 the difficulty and the powers of Design, which he 
 now attains of Botany, Chymistry, or JNIineralogy. 
 He would perceive that his acquisition of knowledge 
 in it, either as a Science or an Art, must be propor- 
 tionate to his study of it: and on these grounds, I 
 conceive, must always be built, what is called &Just 
 feeling of any Art whatsoever. 
 
 The youth, whom such methods and such oppor- 
 tunities would not furnish with that just feeling and 
 general knowledge of the Art of Painting, which every 
 liberal scholar should possess, may freely be allow- 
 ed to seek inspiration with the Virtuoso, to wander, 
 at distance from home, through enchanted realms, 
 and fly from school to school, until, by sufficient 
 length of road, he has been (as some Author lias not 
 unhappily expressed it) jolted into a thorough know- 
 ledge of the J it of Painting. 
 
 Lest, however, the novelty of the proposed esta- 
 blishment should wear the odious appearance of inno- 
 vation, let me be allowed to cast a glance on the
 
 app.no. III. REFERRED TO IN PART II. 35 
 
 various Professorships, as they have been gradually 
 instituted in our venerable Seats of Learning*. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 The earliest appointments of Professorships are in 
 Divinity, Margaret, and Regius. The first founded 
 in 1502. 
 
 The Professorships of Civil Law, Hebrew, and 
 Greek, followed the two former, in 1540. All the 
 above, with the exception of the first, are appoint- 
 ments of Henry the Eighth. 
 
 The Professorship of Phi/sick is also stated in 1540. 
 
 The Patronage of the Sovereign was imitated by 
 Sir Thomas Adams in l632, in the appointment of a 
 Professor in Arabick. 
 
 Next, by H. Lucas, Esq. who founded a Profes- 
 sorship of Mathcmaticks in l663 : and 
 
 Afterwards by \. Knightbridge, D. D. who ap- 
 pointed a Casuistical Professor in l683. 
 
 In the beginning of the next century, 1704, the 
 Plumian Professorship of Astronomy was appointed. 
 
 * I am apprehensive tliat the following lists may be found, in 
 some points, inaccurate, owing to the difficulty of collecting the 
 authentic documents. The mistakes, however, I trust, are of 
 no important magnitude.
 
 56 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 
 
 Massimi was much shocked at this circumstance, 
 and expressed great concern on the occasion, assuring 
 Poussin,that he ' extremely pitied his situation, in not 
 having a single servant to wait on him :' " And I, 
 Monseigncur," replied Poussin, " pity yours much 
 more, in having so many." 
 
 VIDA DIRECTED TO "WRITE THE POEM OF 
 THE CHRISTIAD. 
 
 (Referred to in p. 3180 
 
 " Leo X. Pont. INIax. cum ad so allatum Vidse 
 carmen, quo ludicrum Scacchicc prtelium describitur, 
 accurate lectitasset; hominis ingenio, et scribendi 
 tum facilitate tum dignitate affectus, persanct^ affir- 
 mavit, Ilunc ilium esse, quern summis votis diu ex- 
 petivisset, cujus sublimi et eleganti stylo Christi 
 res gestai, miras et insignes, nonnuUis jam tentatze, 
 sed parum luculenter exprcssas, carmine celebrari 
 ])ossent ; easque ut vcrsibus attingerct, atque inchoarct, 
 liortatu suo perfecit." — DeVita ttScriptis^l.W. VidjE. 
 
 The Poet yielded to Leo's solicitation, and com- 
 menced his work, which was not, however, finished
 
 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 57 
 
 till the Pontificate of Clement VII. But so little 
 conscious was he of the purpose for which he was 
 directed to this undertaking, that at the end of his 
 work he inserted a kind of apology for it in the fol- 
 lowing terms : 
 
 QUISQUIS ES, 
 AUCTOR TE ADMONITUM VVLT 
 SE NON LACDIS ERGO OPUS ADEO 
 PERICULOSUM CUPIDE 
 AGGRESSUM, VERrjM EI 
 HONESTIS PROPOSITIS PRiEMIIS 
 A DUOBUS SUMMI8 
 PONTT. DEMANDATUM SCITO 
 LEON X. PRIUS, MOX CLEM. VIX. 
 AMBOB. EX ETRUSCOR. MEDVCUM 
 CLARI65. FAMILIA, CUJUS 
 LIBERALITATI 
 ATQUE INDUSTRIE 
 H.€C itTAS 
 LITERAS AC BONAS ARTES 
 QVS. PLANE EXTINCT* ERANT 
 EXCITATAS ATQUE 
 EEVIVISCENTES DEBET: 
 ID VOLEBAM NESCIUS NE ESSES.
 
 58 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 
 
 PUOHIBITIOJs'S OF WORKS OF PAINTING. 
 
 Besides the injunctions, which were issued against 
 Painting and Sculpture immediately after the Re- 
 formation, the following Orders of the Parliament, 
 during the contests in the reign of Charles I., are found 
 in the Journals of the Commons ; July 23, l645. 
 
 " Ordered, that all such Pictures there (York 
 House), as have the representation of the second person 
 in the Trinity upon them, shall be forthwith burnt. 
 
 " Ordered, that all such Pictures there, as have 
 the representation of the Virgin Mary upon them, 
 shall be forthwith burnt." 
 
 The authority of the Protector, a few years after- 
 wards, was luckily interposed to prevent the literal 
 execution of these votes. 
 
 ^Valpole relates an anecdote of the same period, 
 which he calls a comical instance of the humour of 
 those times : " One Bleese," says he, " was hired for 
 half-a-crown a day, to break the painted glass win- 
 dows of the Church of Croydon." 
 
 The various edicts against Painting, and particu- 
 larly those of the Convocation held by the Archbishops 
 in Elizabeth's reign (as mentioned in Appendix, No. 1.) 
 in which the churches were ordered to be nexv whited, 
 suggests a conjecture, that many old Paintings may 
 
 cp
 
 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 59 
 
 yet exist under the cover of white washes, plaister, 
 &c. 
 
 The singular discovery of the old altar in the chapel 
 of New College, Oxford, in 17S9, may perhaps serve 
 as authority for such conjectures. Other instances 
 also, I believe, have occurred. 
 
 EDUCATION OF PAINTERS IN ITALY. 
 
 Among the Italian Painters who enjoyed advan* 
 tages of education, I have instanced a very few ; but 
 there is a general observation to be made regarding 
 them, which tends to strengthen the arguments in 
 favour of the benefits derived from instruction. 
 
 The subjects which were chosen for Pictures in 
 Italy, were chiefly, (if I may not say wholly,) of a 
 religious description ; and the learning which was 
 requisite for the thorough understanding of all that 
 Painting was there employed to execute, was of 
 course confined to the compass of a single province. 
 An Italian Painter, thoroughly instructed (as, in 
 whatever rank of life, he would hardly fail to be) in 
 the events connected with the Christian worship, might 
 be considered, as far as that subject extended, as a 
 man of learning, and a scholar.
 
 60 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 
 
 BRITISH INSTITUTION, 
 
 Since the observations made, in the second part of 
 this publication, on the progress of the British Institu- 
 tion, the Directors have purchased a Picture of 
 " Elijah Raising the Dead Child to Life," by Mr. 
 M^estall; and a Picture of" Christ Healing the Blind," 
 by Mr. Richter. 
 
 I have omitted to mention that the Institution has 
 also purchased, for its School, a large Historical Pic- 
 ture by Paul Veronese. 
 
 N. B. Of the Authorities quoted in the Notes and 
 Appendixes, the greater part is given in the original 
 languages, to avoid the errours, so frequently aris- 
 ing from translation. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 J. MOVES, PRINTER, 
 Oreville Street, Hatton Garden, LobHpm. 
 
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