Part 9 (1/2)
The early pictures, in all ages, either le statues,--a cold continuity of outline, and an absence of foreshortening The first move in advance, and that which constitutes their pictorial character, in contradistinction to sculpture, is an asse the various for the of the various shapes, as we often perceive in a first sketch of a work, where the eye of the spectator chooses, out of the reeable to his taste
The next step to i the work a more natural appearance, is the influence of shadow, so as to make the outlines of the proround less harsh and cutting, and consequentlyThe application of shadoever, not only renders works of artand retiring to objects represented upon a flat surface--thus keeping the to the laws of aerial perspective--but enables the artist to draw attention to the principal points of the story, and likewise to preserve the whole in agreeable forio was the first who carried out this principle to any great extent; but it was reserved for Reenius, to put a limit to its further application Breadth, the constituent character of this mode of treatment, cannot be extended; indeed, it is said that Rehths in obscurity and softness, though it renders the re portion more brilliant, yet costs too reatest poetry of the art, in contradistinction to the severe outline and harsh colouring of the great historical style
COMPOSITION
To arrive at a true knowledge of the inventions and compositions of Rembrandt, it is necessary, in the first instance, to examine those of Albert Durer, the Leonardo da Vinci of Germany The inventions of this extraordinary s of art, notwithstanding the Gothic dryness and fantastic forures
The folds of his draperies are more like creased pieces of paper than cloth, and his representation of the naked is either bloated and coarse, or dry and ant characteristics of a German romance, and are totally destitute of aerial perspective; yet, with the exception of the character of the people and scenery of Nureant in his forms than the founder of the Florentine school, and had he been educated in Italy, he in all probability would have rivalled Raffaelle in the purity of his design In his journal, which he kept when he travelled into the Netherlands, he e for those he expected in return, and it is hly The s, both on copper and wood, which were spread over Gerree, the style of coly we see many points of coincidence in the coreater insight into thethan either Leonardo da Vinci or Albert Durer ever thought of; one alone,--viz aerial perspective, seems to h Durer invented several instru lineal perspective, his works exhibit no atte the indistinctness of distant objects To Rubens, Germany and Holland were indebted for this essential part of the art, so necessary to a true representation of Nature This great genius, in his contemplation of the works of titian and others, both at Venice and in Madrid, soon emancipated the art of his country from the Gothic hardness of Lucas Cranach, Van Eyck, and Albert Durer; but notwithstanding his taste and knowledge of what constituted the higher qualities of the Italian school, the irregular coures found in the early German compositions remained with him to the last His works are like a melodrama, filled with actors who have no settled action or expression allotted thereat composers, the persons introduced are limited to the s of the interest, if I inally from the Greeks, of whose sculptures the Roree On the other hand, this looseness of arrangement, and what h Germany, but infected the schools of Venice; witness the works of Tintoret and Paul Veronese, in which the expression of the countenance absolutely goes for nothing, and the whole arrangement is drawn out in a picturesque point of view, ratify the eye of the spectator
Noith all these infectious examples before him, Rembrandt has done much to concentrate the action, and reduce the nuure in the history Witness his ”Salutation of the Virgin,” in the Marquis of Westendered fron of Albert Durer His strict application to nature, while it enabled hi combinations of his predecessors, led hi froeable with so but a transcript of the woure in the historical compositions of titian and Paul Veronese, and the Fornarina of Raffaelle is present in his most sacred subjects; those, therefore, who accuse Reht with equal justice draw an invidious coh Dutch Inand sentiment, and in his study of natural simplicity approaches Raffaelle nearer than any of the Flemish or Dutch painters Of course, as a colourist and ht and shade, he is all powerful; but I allude, at present, to theof his subjects on this head
Fuseli says,--”Reenius of the first class in whatever relates not to form In spite of thethe spell of his _chiaro-scuro_, such were his powers of nature, such the grandeur, pathos, or simplicity of his coement to the meanest and most homely, that the best cultivated eye, the purest sensibility, and the most refined taste, dwell on them equally enthralled Shakspere alone excepted, no one combined with so much transcendent excellence so many, in all other men unpardonable, faults,--and reconciled us to theht and shade, and of all the tints that float between theed his pencil with equal success in the cool of dawn, in the noon-day ray, in the livid flash, in evanescent twilight, and rendered darkness visible Though made to bend a steadfast eye on the bolder phenomena of nature, yet he kne to follow her into her calave interest to insipidity and baldness, and plucked a flower in every desert None ever, like Reive importance to a trifle If ever he had a master, he had no followers; Holland was not made to co of the advantage of a low horizon, he says:--”What gives sublimity to Rembrandt's Ecce hoh corandeur the limits of its scenery Its form is a pyramid, whose top is lost in the sky, as its base in tu croho inundate the base of the tribunal, we rise to Pilate, surrounded and perplexed by the varied ferocity of the sanguinary synod to whose reripe he surrenders his wand, and fronation of innocence in Christ, and, regardless of the roar, securely repose on his countenance Such is the grandeur of a conception, which in its blaze absorbs the aboar to be mentioned Had the materials been equal to the conception and composition, the Ecce hoht and shade, or his spell of colours, would have been an assehth Discourse, speaking of the annoyance the mind feels at the display of too eneral observations, which belong equally to all arts, to ours in particular In a composition, where the objects are scattered and divided into ued, fro where to find the principal action, or which is the principal figure; for where all are er of neglect The expression which is used very often on these occasions is, the piece wants repose--a hich perfectly expresses a relief of the mind from that state of hurry and anxiety which it suffers when looking at a work of this character On the other hand, absolute unity, that is, a large work consisting of one group or ht only, would be as defective as an heroic poem without episode, or any collateral incidents to recreate the mind with that variety which it requires An instance occurs to me of two painters (Rembrandt and Poussin) of characters totally opposite to each other in every respect, but in nothing ht and shadow Reroup, and exhibits little e quantity of shadow: if he has a second mass that second bears no proportion to the principal Poussin, on the contrary, has scarcely any principle ures are often too much dispersed, without sufficient attention to place theroups The conduct of these two painters is entirely the reverse of what eneral style and character, the works of Poussin being as uished for simplicity as those of Reht proceed froreat a desire to avoid the ostentation of art with regard to light and shadow, on which Rembrandt so much wished to draw the attention; however, each of them ran into contrary extremes, and it is difficult to deter equally distant from the demands of nature and the purposes of art”
This unity is observable in the coures are eht and shade are interrupted as little as possible; and it is only in his earlier works, such as those now in the Munich Gallery, where this isolated light is carried to extravagance In roups, but a repetition of the principal lights; also a greater breadth of half-tint
”Composition,” says Reynolds, ”which is the principal part of the invention of a painter, is by far the greatest difficulty he has to encounter Every man that can paint at all, can execute individual parts; but to keep these parts in due subordination as relative to a whole, requires a coenius than perhaps any other quality whatever” Now Reree At the revival of painting in Italy, the compositions consisted entirely of subjects taken froht and a primitive simplicity upon the artists; these qualities were, however, in a great h the Venetian and German schools, where either the love for pictorial effect or the introduction of catholic cereeenius of Rubens spread this infectious th, in the hands of the painters of s scenes, historical subjects, even of a sacred character, became quite ridiculous Yet, with all these exaar taste around hiraded by mean representation than many of the best of the works of the Venetian and Flen of Christ and his Disciples at Eure in which is certainly more refined than the Christ either in the pictures of titian or Rubens of the same subject; in fact, the idea of it is taken from the Last Supper, by Raffaelle, (the Mark Antonio print of which he ure to Leonardo da Vinci; and if ere to trace back, I have no doubt we should find that the Milanese borrowed it froress of painting much of the primitive simplicity and uniformity preserved in the best works of the Italian school It was only when coh the prolific minds of such artists as Paul Veronese, Tintoret, and Rubens, that it was made subservient to the bustle, animation, and picturesque effect of their works When we find, therefore, any remains revived in the pictures of Rear and low cast, we can only ascribe it to the taste and genius of this great painter In the design just mentioned, the idea of the Disciples, as if struck with astonish forth of the divinity of Christ, is admirably conceived As the heads are taken from the people of his country, they of necessity partake of the character of the people This cannot be justified, though it is excusable Reynolds, on this head, speaking of the ennobling of the characters in an historical picture, says, ”How reat style exacts from its professors to conceive and represent their subjects in a poetical manner, not confined to mere matter of fact, may be seen in the Cartoons of Raffaelle In all the pictures in which the painter has represented the apostles, he has drawn thenity as the hu Yet we are expressly told in Scripture they had no such respectable appearance; and of St Paul in particular we are told by himself that his _bodily_ presence was _mean_ In confor: it ought to be called Poetical, as in reality it is” He further adds, ”The painter has no otheran idea of the ht does generally, though not always, iure to sentiment and situation which all men wish, but cannot command” As I cannot defend the mean appearance of the disciples, neither shall I exculpate our great artist frorand a subject; we can only excuse hi the practice of his predecessors titian, in his celebrated picture, has not only introduced a dog, but a cat also, which is quarrelling with the former for a bone under the table To this love for the introduction of animals into their coreatest painters ruity has been pointed out over and over again by the writers on art, it is still clung to as ure In one of the sketches by the late Sir D Wilkie for his picture of ”Finding the Body of Tippoo Saib,” he had introduced two dogs, and only obliterated thes were considered unclean by the people of the east, and therefore it was an iapatam While I am upon this subject, it may not be amiss to refer to one of the authorities who censures this practice Fresnoy says, in his poe,”
”Nec quod inane, nihil facit ad reens potiora tenebit Ornamenta operis”
”Nor paint conspicuous on the foremost plain, Whate'er is false, impertinent, or vain”
MASON
[Illustration: CHRIST AND HIS DISCIPLES AT EMMAUS]
On this rule, Reynolds remarks--”This precept, so obvious to common sense, appears superfluous till we recollect that souilty of a breach of it; for--not to mention Paul Veronese or Rubens, whose principles as orna aniht think necessary to contrast or er wonder why the poet has thought it worth setting a guard against this impropriety, e find that such reatest and round mean and frivolous circumstances Such improprieties, to do justice to the more modern painters, are seldom found in their works The only excuse that can be e when it was the custom to mix the ludicrous with the serious, and when poetry as well as painting gave in to this fashi+on”
Many of the compositions of Rereatest sensibility and feeling For exas of the ”Burial of Christ,” and the ”Return frohtness, ory as the old Greek, who, having a house to sell, carried in his pocket one of the bricks as a saiven them
It is worth while to compare the ”Entombment” with the same subject by Raffaelle, in the Crozat Collection The whole arrangement is treated in the finest taste of the Italian school The other design has been always a favourite with the ad character of the youthful Saviour is ad her on her tiring journey, looking in her face with an expression of affection and solace; while she is represented with downcast eyes, fatigued and ”pondering in her mind” the import of the words he had addressed to her, ”How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?” And even here we can al before the group, is looking back, giving a bark of joy at their having found the object of their solicitude The background is conceived in the finest spirit of titian
These are the touches of nature that, like the expressions of our own ih dressed in e, reach the innermost sensibilities of the human heart
[Illustration: THE ENTOMBMENT]
[Illustration: THE RETURN FROM JERUSALEM]
The character and costume of the people, as well as the scenery of those subjects taken froation both by artists and writers upon art; for although the events related in the New Testament are not of so ancient a date as those of the heathen writers, yet the mind seems to require that the style should be neither classic nor too strictly local Hence, though the costume represented in the Venetian pictures is no doubt nearer the truth than that made use of by Raffaelle and other Italians, it fails to carry us back to ancient and pri Christian subjects arebeen made the foundation of those works afterwards produced by the great restorers of painting, have gained a hold upon our ideas, which, if not impossible, is yet difficult to throw off As the late Sir David Wilkie travelled into the East with the express purpose of painting the subjects mentioned in Scripture in more strict accordance with the people and their habits, it ive the student his opinions In his Journal, he says--”After seeing with great attention the city of Jerusalem and the district of Syria that extends from Jaffa to the river Jordan, I aenius of Scripture painting to work upon It is true the great Italian painters have created an art, the highest of its kind, peculiar to the subjects of sacred history; and in some of their exaination, have come very near all the view of Syria could supply The Venetians, (perhaps from their intercourse with Cyprus and the Levant,) titian, Paul Veronese, and Sebastian del Pioiven the nearest appearance to a Syrian people Michael Angelo, too, froht some of his prophets and sybils to reseeneral, though the aspect of Nature will sometimes recall the finest ideas of Leonardo da Vinci and Raffaelle, yet these masters still want reat deal of matters quite contrary to what the country could furnish These contrarieties, indeed, are so great, that in discussions with the learned here, I find a disposition to that kind of change that would soon set aside the whole systeo too much upon the supposition that the manners of Scripture are precisely represented by the present race in Syria, it is too sweeping to be borne out by e actually know At the same time, there are so many objects in this country so perfectly described, so incapable of change, and that give such an air of truth to the local allusions of Sacred Writ, that one can scarcely iine that these, had they been known to the painters of Italy, would not have added to the i to take fro of the Sacred Writings, it s must be confined to narrative, to description, to precept--and these are no doubt so strong as to supply to a piousthat can be desired; but if these are to be represented, as certainly they have been, by those of an art who have not seen Syria, it is clear some other country, Italy, Spain, or Flanders, will be drawn upon to supply this, and the reader of Scripture and the admirer of art will be alike deluded by the representation of a strange country in the place of that so selected and so identified as the Land of Proraphically described from the first to the last of the inspired writers”
These reree What is quoted from Reynolds, in a former part, shows that a licence is indispensable; and yet, without destroying the apparent truth of the subject,facts, have taken such hold of our ideas that they cannot with safety be departed froin, as given by Raffaelle and Coreggio--we recognise them as if they had been painted from the persons theard to the scenery, e of, always guarding against a topographical appearance that, by its locality,the spectator back into distant periods of ti this part of the subject, which refers to Rembrandt's powers of cons, which staenius in this depart the Sick,” ”Ha,” and the ”Death of the Virgin”
CHIARO-SCURO
From the position we are now placed in, surrounded by the accumulated talent of many centuries, it is easy to take a retrospective view of the progress of art; and it is only by so doing that we can arrive at a just estie in which they lived, and this seems mainly to have been achieved by a close observance of nature As in philosophy the genius of Bacon, by investigating the phenoht and dissipated the learned dogmas of the school of Aristotle, so in sculpture the purity and simplicity of the forms of Phidias established a line of demarcation between his oorks and those of the formal, symmetrical, and dry sculpture of his predecessors Sculpture, till then, lay fettered and bound up in the severity of Egyptian Hieroglyphics Likee perceive the genius of Michael Angelo and Raffaelle setting aside the stiffness and profile character existing in the works of Signorelli and Masaccio In Venice, titian erasp of Giovanni Bellini In Gerreat translator of art out of a dead language into a living one, to use a metaphor, and into one that, like music, is universal Previous to Rembrandt, the pupils of Rubens had thrown off every affinity not only to Gothic stiffness, but even to that degree of regularity of composition which all classes of historical subjects require Independent of Rubens and his pupils, we find Rereat advances made in natural representations of objects by Adrian Brauwer, (several of whose works, by the catalogue given of his effects, were in his possession;) therefore, as far as transparency and richness, with a truthfulness of tint, are concerned, Brauwer had set an example But in the works of Rembrandt we perceive a peculiarity entirely his own--that of enveloping parts in beautiful obscurity, and the light again eht partially seen through dee masses of undefined objects in darkness This principle he applied to compositions of even a complicated character, and their bustle and noise were sed up in the stillness of shadow If breadth constitutes grandeur, Rembrandt's works are exemplifications of mysterious sublimity to the fullest extent This ”darkness visible,” as Milton expresses it, belongs to the great founder of the school of Holland, and to him alone