for a young

reason of the moisture wherewith at LXX.
The method
that age the brain abounds. * You of studies
will do well to begin with
geome- painter.
try, and after having made some pro-
gress in it, * set yourself on design- 510.
ing after the ancient Greeks: * and
cease not day or night from labour,
till, by your continual practice, you
have gained an easy habitude of im-
itating them in their invention, and in
their manner. *And when after-
Mox, ubi judicium emensis 'adole- wards your judgment shall grow
verit annis,
stronger, and come to its maturity
515. Singula quæ celebrant primæ exem-
with years,
it will be very necessary
plaria classis,
to see and examine one after the
Romani, Veneti, Parmenses, atque other, and part by part, those works 515.
Bononi,
which have given so great a reputa-
Partibus in cunctis pedetentim, at- tion to the masters of the first form
que ordine recto,
in pursuit of that method, which we
have taught you here above, and ac-
cording to the rules which we have
given you; such are the Romans, the
Venetians, the Parmesans, and the

Ut monitum suprà est, vos expendisse
juvabit.

cula summo
520. Ducta modo, veneresque habuit quas
nemo deinceps.

Quidquid erat formæ scivit Bona.
rota potenter.

Hos apud invenit Raphael mira- Bolognese. Amongst those excel-
lent persons, Raphael had the tal-
ent of invention for his share, by 520.
which he made as many miracles as
he made pictures. In which is ob-
served a certain grace, which was
wholly natural and peculiar to him,
and which none since him have been
able to appropriate to themselves.
Michael Angelo possessed power-
fully the part of design, above all oth-
ers. *Julio Romano (educated
from his childhood among the muses)
has opened to us the treasures of
Parnassus; and in the poetry of
painting has discovered to our eyes
the most sacred mysteries of Apollo, 525.
and all the rarest ornaments which
that god is capable of communicating
to those works that he inspires.
which we knew not before, but only

LXX. Ordo studi.

orum.

510. Signa antiqua super Graiorum ad-
discite formam;

Nec mora, nec requies, noctuque
diuque labori,

In geometrali prius arte parumpèr
adulti,

Illorum menti atque modo, vos
donec agendi

Praxis ab assiduo faciles assueverit

usu.

Julius à puero musarum eductus in
antris,
Aonias reseravit opes, graphicâque
poesi
Quæ non visa prius, sed tantùm au-
dita poetis,
525. Ante oculos spectanda dedit sacraria
Phoebi :
Quæque coronatis complevit bella
triumphis

Heroum fortuna potens, casusque by the recital that the poets made of

them. He seems to have painted
those famous wars "in which fortune
has crowned her triumphant heroes;"
and those other glorious events which
she has caused in all ages, even with
more magnificence and nobleness,
than when they were acted in the
world.

t

decoros,

Nobilius reipsâ antiqua pinxisse vi-
detur.

Clarior ante alios Corregius extitit, ampla 530. Luce superfusa, circum coeuntibus umbris, Pingendique modo grandi, et tractando colore

"The shining eminence of Cor-
reggio consists in his laying on am-
ple broad lights encompassed with 530.
friendly shadows and in a grand style
of painting, with a delicacy in the

LXXI Natura et experientia artem perficiunt.

LXXI.

It is a great means of profiting Nature and experience yourself, to copy diligently those exFerfect art. cellent pieces, and those beautiful designs: but Nature, which is present before your eyes, is yet a better mistress; for she augments the force and vigour of the genius, and she it is from whom art derives her ultimate perfection, by the means of sure 540. experience. * I pass in silence many things which will be more amply treated in the ensuing commentary.

And now, considering that all things are subject to the vicissitudes of time, and that they are liable to

volubilis ævi

Hæc ego, dum memoror subitura destruction by several ways, I thought
I might reasonably take the boldness
*to intrust to the muses (those love-
ly and immortal sisters of painting)
these few precepts, which I have here
made and collected of that art.

Cuncta vices, variisque olim peritura
ruinis,
545. Pauca sophismata sum graphica im-
mortalibus ausus
Credere pieriis, Romæ meditatus :
ad Alpes,
Dum super insanas moles, inimica-
que castra
Borbonidum decus et vindex Lodoi-
cus avorum,

Fulminat ardenti dextrâ, patriæque

resurgens

550. Gallicus Alcides premit Hispani ora
Leonis.

Plurimus inde labor Tabulas imi-
tando juvabit
Egregias, operumque Typos; sed
plura docebit

management of colours." And Ti-
tian understood so well the union of
the masses, and the bodies of col-
ours, the harmony of the tints and
the disposition of the whole together,
that he has deserved those honours
and that wealth which were heaped
upon him, together with that attri-
bute of being sirnamed the divine
painter. The laborious and diligent
Annibal Caracci has taken from all 535.
these great persons already men-
tioned whatsoever excellencies he
found in them, and, as it were, con-
verted their nourishment into his own
substance.

Natura ante oculis præsens; nam
firmat et auget

540. Vim genii, ex illâque artem experi-
entia complet.
Multa supercilio quæ Commentaria
dicent.

I employed my time in the study 545. of this work at Rome, while the glory of the Bourbon family, and the just avenger of his injured ancestors, the victorious Louis XIII. was darting his thunder on the Alps, and causing his enemies to feel the force of his unconquerable arms; while he, like another Gallic Hercules, born for the benefit and honour of his country, was griping the Spanish Geryon by 550. the throat, and at the point of strangling him.

OBSERVATIONS

ON

THE ART OF PAINTING.

CHARLES ALPHONSE DU FRESNOY.

OF