Part 15 (1/2)

CLXXII

Let usexamine ths in the New Gallery and the Academy, which I have not seen this year, but whose every detail is faht stretches froround is a slab of grey into whose insensitive surface neither light nor air penetrates; or perhaps that most offensive portrait-painter's property, a sham room in which none of the furniture has been seen in its proper relation of light to the face, but has been muzzed in with slippery insincerity, and with an aure The face, in all but one or two portraits, will lack definition of plane--will be flat and flabby A white spot on the nose and high light on the forehead will serve for et a light which will help the observer to concentrate on the head, or give the head its full measure of rotundity--your eyes ander ai satin to the pattern on the floor, forgetful of the purpose of the portrait, and only arrested by some dab of pink ora somewhat irrelevant colour schereat constructive planes of things, for that ele, you will look in vain I ae Acadeet the values--that is, the inevitable relation of objects in light and shade that must exist under any circumstances--and not one atteht and shade which shall concentrate the attention of the spectator on the crucial point, and shall introduce these delightful effects of dark things against light and light against dark, which lend such richness and variety of tone and such vitality of construction to titian, Rembrandt, and Reynolds If we turn for a h's ”Baillie Fa the Terh's case the group is in ashadows on any of the faces, and none of the figures are used to cast shadows on other figures in the group; and yet as you look you see the whole light of the picture cul in the central head of the mother, the sides and bottom of the picture fade off into artificial shadow, exquisitely used, without which that glorious light would have been dissipated over the picture, losing all its effectiveness and carrying power See how finely he has understood the reticent tones of the man behind, and how adround is ht and shade In the Reynolds the shadowed figure on the left, and the shadows that flit across the skirts of the other two figures, and the fine relief of the dark trees, give a wonderful richness of design to a picture that is not in other respects of the highest interest

_C W Furse_

CLXXIII

Why have I not before now finished the miniature I promised to Mrs

butts? I answer I have not till now in any degree pleased myself, and now Iis the direct contrary to designing and historical painting in every respect

If you have not nature before you for every touch, you cannot paint portrait; and if you have nature before you at all, you cannot paint history It was Michael Angelo's opinion and is mine

_Blake_

CLXXIV

I often findwhy people are so frequently dissatisfied with their portraits, but I think I have discovered the principal reason--they are not pleased with themselves, and therefore cannot endure a faithful representation I find it is the same with myself I cannot bear any portraits of , where I have had the opportunity of coaxing thes

_Northcote_

LIGHT AND SHADE

CLXXV

Don't be afraid of splendour of effect; nothing istends to becos hts and the shadows as in reality Heads which are all in a half-tone flushed with colour froht, full of air and freshness; these should be a delight to paint

_Chasseriau_

CLXXVI

The first object of a painter is to make a simple flat surface appear like a relievo, and soround; he who excels all others in that part of the art deserves the greatest praise

This perfection of the art depends on the correct distribution of lights and shades called _Chiaro-scuro_ If the painter, then, avoids shadows, he lory of the art, and to render his work despicable to real connoisseurs, for the sake of acquiring the esteenorant ade of relievo

_Leonardo_

CLXXVII

Chiaroscuro, to use untechnical language and to speak of it as it is e at objects in an envelope of air Its aim is to create all the picturesque accidents of the shadows, of the half-tones and the light, of relief and distance, and to give in consequence more variety, more unity of effect, of caprice, and of relative truth, to forenuous and abstract, a method by which one shows objects as they are, seen close, the at suppressed, and in consequence without any perspective except the linear perspective, which results from the diminution in the size of objects and their relation to the horizon When we talk of aeriel perspective we presuppose a certain amount of chiaroscuro