404

And, skill'd remoter distances to keep,
Surrounds the outline pale in shadows deep;
While on the front the sparkling lustre plays,
And meets the eye in full meridian blaze.
True Colouring thus in plastick power excells,
Fair to the visual point her forms she swells,
And lifts them from their flat aërial ground
Warm as the life, and as the statue round.
* In silver clouds in ether's blue domain,
Or the clear mirrour of the watry plain,
If chance some solid substance claim a place,
Firm and opaque amid the lucid space,

Jam signata minùs confusa coloribus aufert:
Anteriora quidem directè adversa, colore
Integra vivaci, summo cum lumine et umbra
Antrorsum distincta refert, velut aspera visu ;
Sicque super planum inducit leucoma colores,
Hos velut ex ipsâ naturâ immotus eodem
Intuitu circum statuas daret inde rotundas.

› Densa figurarum solidis quæ corpora formis Subdita sunt tactu, non translucent, sed opaca

* XXXII. Dense and opaque bodies with translucent

ones.

410

295

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• XXXII. Corpora densa et opaca translucentibus.

Rough let it swell and boldly meet the sight,

Mark'd with peculiar strength of shade and light;

There blend each earthly tint of heaviest sort, 415
At once to give consistence and support,
While the bright wave, soft cloud, or azure
sky,

Light and pellucid from that substance fly.
2 Permit not two conspicuous lights to shine
With rival radiance in the same design ;
But yield to one alone the power to blaze
And spread th' extensive vigour of its rays,

420

In translucendi spatio ut super aëra, nubes,
Limpida stagna undarum, et inania cætera debent 305
Asperiora illis prope circumstantibus esse;

Ut distincta magis firmo cum lumine et umbra,
Et gravioribus ut sustenta coloribus, inter
Aërias species subsistant semper opaca :
Sed contra, procul abscedant prelucida, densis
Corporibus leviora; uti nubes, aër, et undæ.

a

* Non poterunt diversa locis duo lumina câdem In tabulâ paria admitti, aut æqualia pingi :

2 XXXIII. There must not be two equal Lights in the Picture.

310

* XXXIII. Non duo ex cœlo Lumina in tabulam æqualia.

2

There where the noblest figures are display'd; Thence gild the distant parts, and lessening fade: As fade the beams which Phœbus 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 sculptor'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.
Lends only light to mark, but not display

ray

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

430

315

320

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:

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;

Corpora sed circum umbra cavis latitabit oberrans ;
Atquè ita quæretur lux opportuna figuris,
Ut late infusum lumen lata umbra sequatur.
Unde, nec immeritò, fertur Titianus ubique
Lucis et umbrarum normam appellâsse racemum.

445

326

• Purum album esse potest propiusque magisque

remotum:

330

b XXXIV. Of White • XXXIV. Album et

and Black.

Nigrum.

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

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

455

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

332

Lux fucata suo tingit miscetque colore Corpora, sicque suo, per quem lux funditur, aër. * Corpora juncta simul, circumfusosque colores 35 Excipiunt, propriumque aliis radiosa reflectunt. & Pluribus in solidis liquidá sub luce propinquis, Participes, mixtosque simul decet esse colores. Hanc normam Veneti pictores ritè sequuti,