ARGUMENT. The Student recommended to visit the Schools of Italyfacilities afforded to the study of Art in that country, and the admiration in which the productions of Taste are held there-caution to beware of the enervating pleasures which have there so often subdued the vigour of Genius, and relaxed the powers of industry caution to beware of the fluctuation of Taste which results from the different objects pursued in different schools-influence of local prejudices upon Art-influence of precedent in matters of Taste-freedom of judgment recommended-fickleness of judgment condemned-exemplified in the character of Vibratio-the highest skill in the practical part of the Art insufficient, without the culture of the mind--no wreaths to be gained without knowledge and scienceignorance and presumption repelled by every Musecondemned by Taste to drudge in vulgar toils - the painter required to be skilled in representing all the varieties of action, passion, and character, in man—the study of history and poetry recommended Homer, Virgil, Milton and Shakespear alluded to-allusion to a few of the old masters who were most conspicuous for their general knowledge-Leonardo da Vinci-Raphael -Michael Angelo Julio Romano, and Rubensallusion to Sir Joshua Reynolds as a more modern illus. tration of the advantages of a highly cultivated mind in an artist-character of Reynolds, considered as the founder of the English School-influence of his genius upon the taste and reputation of his country, with an allusion to his loss of sight, and death. CANTO IV. Sic est; acerba fata Romanos agunt. HORACE. Epod. 7. SHOULD Fate allow, then seek in foreign skies Line 1. Should Fate allow, then seek in foreign skies]Although the pillage of Italy by the modern Mummius, must have deprived that country, of many of those attractions which rendered it interesting to the Connoisseur and the Artist, yet, the Author is not disposed to retract the advice which he has given in the text. The objects of Art in Rome, and other places, may be diminished by the depredations of insatiate ambition, but while the walls of the Italia, long with Art's chief honours graced, Tho' quite extinct the race of Genius there, 5 Vatican remain undivested of their ornaments by time, or barbarism, the ancient seat of the Cæsars must ever be the shrine of Virtù-the sanctified Mecca, to which, all the followers of Art will turn with devotion, and hope to make a pilgrimage before they die. Although the portentous comet of the day, has occasioned some derangement in the circles of Taste, as well as the systems of politics, and displaced both pictures and potentates in his pestilential course, yet, the greater stars of Art still remain undisturbed: Raphael and Michael Angelo, still shine in the Ausonian sky, eclipsing the collected lustre of the Louvre, and proclaiming the supremacy of Rome. That the principal productions of those great Artists have been allowed to remain in their present situation, must indeed, be wholly ascribed to the impracticability of removing them. If the Sistine Chapel could have been conveyed to Paris, by any means less miraculous, than those, which formerly transferred from Palestine, the chapel of our Lady of Loretto, there is reason to believe, that neither the prayers of Piety, nor the expostulations of Taste, would have had sufficient influence to retain it on the shores of the Tiber. As a School of Sculpture indeed, Rome must now be While, like her once proud temples, she appears Yet, tho' no more her ancient virtues shine, The grateful Arts still glow in her decline; 10 A friendly ray on Rome degenerate shed, content to yield the palm to Paris: the treasures which she retains, cannot be compared with those which she has lost: though rich and sparkling still are the jewels of her crown, the great brilliants are removed to the less majestic diadem of her rival. All the marbles of the ancients, from the best preserved and most colossal specimen of their skill, to the smallest and most mutilated fragment, cannot, in the eye of the Artist, compensate for the loss of the Apollo, the Venus, the Laocoon, the Hercules, the Antinous, the Meleager, the Torso, the Gladiator, and other celebrated works. In taste, there is no balancing the account between quantity and quality; the largest mass of mediocrity can never approach to the value of excellence. The painter, the architect, and the antiquary, may still triumph on their approach to the capital of the ancient world; but the Sculptor, who now passes the Louvre on his route to Rome, shews more of the curiosity than the sensibility of Taste, and may almost be said to leave his Art behind him. |