СНАР. Of Judg ment. grandeur in vast outlines and unusual pos tures. 52. Titian's expression of character is always feeble; Rubens's generally coarse; and Rembrandt's ridiculously low and mean, though admirably just and natural conscious of his deficiency in anatomical science, and precision of outline, he cautiously avoided all objects that might lead him to attempt elegance of form, or grace and dignity of character; at the same time that his sound judgment and accurate observation pointed out the true expression of the temper and affections of the mind, both in the countenances and gestures of such figures, as were within his reach; and his unrivalled skill in the use of colours enabled him to exhibit it with a degree of exactitude and energy, which scarcely any other painter has ever attained. 53. The principles of excellence in painting are so distinct from those of sculpture, that the highly elevated character of general or ideal nature, so appropriate to the perfection of the latter, is, perhaps, scarcely compatible with that of the former; which, being a more complete imitation of its objects, requires a stricter adherence to their individual peculiarities. In sculpture, we have only the forms and lines of expression; so that a statue is, in itself, but an abstract imitation; and, conse quently, is employed to the greatest advantage in exhibiting abstract nature; but, in painting, we have also the glow of animation; and the hues, as well as lines, of passion and affection; wherefore, as less is left to the imagination, the tone of imitation must be brought down nearer to a level with the individual objects, with which it will be compared, and by which it will consequently be judged, 54. In this respect, the difference between sculpture and painting is similar to that, which has been already remarked, between epic and dramatic poetry. In the picture and upon the stage, the imitation being immediately addressed to the organ of sense, and entirely dependent on its evidence, requires in many cases, and admits in all, a stricter and more detailed adherence to the peculiarities of common individual nature, than either of the sister arts will ever allow. Many of our most affecting tragedies are taken from the events of common life; and, in them, the personages appear upon. the stage in the common dresses of the times in laced coats, cocked hats, &c.; but no beauty of verse nor felicity of description could make us endure such things in epic narration. In the same manner, some of the most interesting and affecting pictures, that the art has ever produced, are taken from similar events, and treated in a similar style; such as СНАР. III. Of Judg ment, CHAP. III. Of Judge ment. Mr. West's General Wolfe, Mr. Westall's Storm in Harvest, and Mr. Wright's Soldier's Tent; in all of which the pathos is much improved, without the picturesque effect being at all injured, by the characters and dresses being taken from common familiar life. But, in sculpture, this could not be borne; that art never having made any impression, or excited any sympathy by exhibiting common individual nature. Even in their portraits, the sculptors of the fine ages of Greece always took the liberty of enlarging the features, and invigorating the expression, of whatever kind it happened to be; and if they employed dra-. pery, it was always of that particular sort, which is peculiarly appropriated to the art, and which may therefore be properly called sculpturesque drapery. 55. Horace's advice of preferring the characters and fictions of the Iliad to those of common nature or history, as the materials of tragedy, seems to me very ill adapted to the principle of modern drama; how well soever it may have suited the splendid musical exhibitions of the Greek theatre. The vast and exalted images, which are raised in the mind, by the pomp of heroic verse, and the amplification of heroic fiction, shrink into a degree of meanness, that becomes quite ridiculous, when reduced to the standard of ordinary nature, and exhibited in the person of a modern actor. The impression, which the sight of Achilles, on the French stage, first made upon me will never be effaced: a more farcical and ludicrous figure could scarcely present itself to my imagination, than a pert smart Frenchman, well rouged, laced, curled, and powdered; with the gait of a dancing master, and the accent of a milliner, attempting to personate that tremendous warrior, the nodding of whose crest dismayed armies ; and the sound of whose voice made even the war horse shudder, Thẹ generality of the audience, indeed, never having viewed the original through the dazzling and expansive medium of Homer's verses, thought only of the lover of Iphigenia; and were, of course, as well satisfied with Mons. Achille, as with any other amorous hero, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage. In this, as in other instances, the habitual association of ideas makes the same object contemptibly ridiculous to one, and affectingly serious to another. In this country, however, the cha racters of the Iliad and Odyssey have been so generally known since Pope's splendid translation, that no tragedy has been popular, in which they have been introduced; and, I believe, Thomson's Agamemnon is the only instance of their being brought 1 pon the stage. CHAP. III. Of Judg ment. CI P. III. Of Judg ment. 56. Horace drew his rules and instructions from the practice of the Greek theatre; where the actors were so disguised by masks and cothurni; and the whole performance so much more remote from ordinary nature, than the modern drama, that incongruities of this kind were less prominent and offensive. The most eminent, too, of the Greek tragedians changed and perverted the characters of the Iliad and Odyssey, when they brought them upon the stage; as appears from the Ulysses and Menelaus in the plays of Sophocles and Euripides, still extant; which are gross caricatures of the same characters in the Homeric poems. was probably, from some caricature of this kind, that Horace took the portrait of Achilles, which he recommends to dramatic writers*: for it is extremely unlike the hero of the Iliad; who is, indeed, impiger, iracundus, acer; active, irascible, and eager: but so far from renouncing or denying any of the established rights and institutions of law, morality, or religion, that he is a steady and zealous observer of all-pious to his gods, dutiful to his parents, hospitable and polite to his guests, kind and generous to his subjects, faithful and affec "Si forte reponis Achillem; Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer, It Jura neget sibi nata, nihil non arroget armis." |