There where the noblest figures are display'd;

Thence gild the distant parts, and lessening fade : As fade the beams which Phoebus from the - East 425

Flings vivid forth to light the distant West,
Gradual those vivid beams forget to shine,
So gradual let thy pictur'd lights decline.
The sculptur'd forms which some proud
Circus grace,

In Parian marble or Corinthian brass,

Illumin'd thus, give to the gazing eye
Th' expressive head in radiant Majesty,
While to each lower limb the fainter ray
Lends only light to mark, but not display :

430

Majus at in mediam lumen cadet usque tabellam
Latius infusum, primis qua summa figuris
Res agitur, circumque oras minuetur eundo:
Utque in progressu jubar attenuatur ab ortu
Solis, ad occasum paulatim, et cessat eundo;
Sic tabulis lumen, tota in compage colorum,
Primo à fonte, minùs sensim declinat eundo.

Majus ut in statuis, per compita stantibus urbis,
Lumen habent partes superæ, minus inferioris;
Idem erit in tabulis; majorque nec umbra, vel ater
Membra figurarum intrabit color, atque secabit:

315

320

So let thy pencil fling its beams around,

435

Nor e'er with darker shades their force con

found.

For shades too dark, dissever'd shapes will give,

And sink the parts their softness would relieve:
Then only well reliev'd, when like a veil
Round the full lights the wand'ring shadows

steal;

440

Then only justly spread, when to the sight
A breadth of shade pursues a breadth of light.
This charm to give, great Titian wisely made
The cluster'd grapes his rule of light and shade.

b

White, when it shines with unstain❜d lustre

clear

May bear an object back, or bring it near;

445

Corpora sed circum umbra cavis latitabit oberrans; 325
Atque ita quæretur lux opportuna figuris,
Ut latè infusum lumen lata umbra sequatur.
Unde, nec immeritò, fertur Titianus ubique
Lucis et umbrarum normam appellâsse racemum.
• Purum album esse potest propiusque magisque

remotum:

330

b XXXIV. Of White and

e XXXIV. Album et Ni

Aided by black it to the front aspires,

That aid withdrawn it distantly retires;
But black unmix'd, of darkest midnight hue,

Still calls each object nearer to the view. 450

d

* Whate'er we spy thro' colour'd light or air,

A stain congenial on their surface bear,
While neighb'ring forms by joint reflection give
And mutual take the dyes that they receive.

e

But where on both alike one equal light 455 Diffusive spreads, the blending tints unite. For breaking colours thus (the ancient phrase By Artists used) fair Venice claims our praise:

Cum nigro antevenit propiùs; fugit absq. remotum ; Purum autem nigrum antrorsum venit usque propin

quum.

Lux fucata suo tingit miscetque colore

Corpora, sicque suo, per quem lux funditur, aër. f Corpora juncta simul, circumfusosque colores 335 Excipiunt, propriumque aliis radiosa reflectunt. 8 Pluribus in solidis liquidâ sub luce propinquis, Participes, mixtosque simul decet esse colores. Hanc norman Veneti pictores ritè sequuti,

d XXXV. The Reflection of Colours.

e XXXVI. The Union of Colours.

f XXXV. flectio.

Colorum Re

8 XXXVI. Unio Colo

rum.

She, cautious to transgress so sage a rule,
Confin'd to soberest tints her learned school;
For tho' she lov'd by varied mode to join 4611
Tumultuous crowds in one immense design,
Yet there we ne'er condemn such hostile
hues

As cut the parts or glaringly confuse;
In tinsel trim no foppish form is drest,
Still flows in graceful unity the vest;

And o'er that vest a kindred mantle spreads,
Unvaried but by power of lights and shades,
Which mildly mixing, every social dye,
Unites the whole in loveliest harmony.

465

470

(Quæ fuit antiquis corruptio dicta colorum,) Cùm plures opere in magno posuêre figuras,

340

Nè conjuncta simul variorum inimica colorum
Congeries formam implicitam, et concisa minutis
Membra daret pannis, totam unamquamque figuram
Affini, aut uno tantùm vestire colore,

Sunt soliti; variando tonis tunicamque, togamque,
Carbaseosque sinus, vel amicum in lumine et umbra
Contiguis circum rebus sociando colorem..

VOL. III.

345

" When small the space, or pure the ambient

air

Each form is seen in bright precision clear;
But if thick clouds that purity deface,

If far extend that intervening space,

There all confus'd the objects faintly rise, 475
As if prepar'd to vanish from our eyes.
Give them each foremost part a touch so

bright,

That o'er the rest, its domineering light

May much prevail; yet, relative in all,

Let greater parts advance before the small. 480

k Qua minus est spatii aërei, aut quà purior aër, Cuncta magis distincta patent, speciesque reservant: 350 Quâque magis densus nebulis, aut plurimus aër 1 Amplum inter fuerit spatium porrectus, in auras Confundet rerum species, et perdet inanes.

Anteriora magis semper finita, remotis Incertis dominentur et abscedentibus, idque More relativo, ut majora minoribus extent.

355

h XXXVII. Of the Interposition of Air.

i XXXVIII. The Rela tion of Distances.

k XXXVII. Aër interpositus.

1 XXXVIII. Distantiarum "Relatio.