Kinds, and Parts of Painting which are Excellent; The Sublime therefore must be Marvellous, and Surprizing, It must strike vehemently upon the Mind, and Fill, and Captivate it Irrefiftably. As when Autumnal Rains, or Melted Snows I confine the Sublime to Hif tory, and Portrait-Painting; And These must excell in Grace, and Greatnefs, Invention, or Expreffion; and that for Reasons which will be feen anon. Michael Angelo's Great Style intitles Him to the Sublime, not his Drawing; 'Tis that Greatness, and a competent degree of Grace, and not his Colouring that makes Titian capable of it: As Correggio's F 2 Grace Grace, with a fufficient mixture of Greatnefs gives this Noble Quality to His Works. Van Dyck's Colouring, nor Pencil tho' perfectly fine would never introduce him to the Sublime; 'tis his Expreffion, and that Grace, and Greatnefs he poffefs'd, (the Utmoft that PortraitPainting is Juftly capable of) that fets fome of his Works in that Exalted Clafs; in which on That account he may perhaps take place of Rafaelle himself in That Kind of Painting, if that Great Man's Fine, and Noble Idea's carried him afmuch above Nature Then, as they did in Hiftory, where the utmost that can be done is commendable; a due Subordination of Characters being preserved; And thus (by the way) V. Dyck's Colouring, and Pencil may be judg'd Equal to that of Correggio, or any other Mafter. In Writing, the Sublime is confiftent with great Irregularity; nay that very Irregularity may produce that Noble effect; as in that wonderful Place in Milton. Headlong themselves they threw Down from the Verge of Heaven, Eternal Wrath Burnt after them to the bottomless pit. The laft Bad Verfe contributes to the Horrible Idea which is to be rais'd here; but if it did not, the Thought would be Sublime, not the Verfe: So in Painting the Sublimity of the Thought, or Expreffion may be confiftent with bad Colouring, or Drawing, and these may help to produce that fine effect; If they do not, That will make Them Overlook'd, or even Prejudice us in their favour; However 'tis not thofe Defects, but what is Excellent that is Sublime. Upon this occafion 'tis fit to Enquire (en paffant) Whether 'tis 'tis our Intereft to have fo Refin'd a Tafte in General, as to be pleas'd only with a very Few things, and which are Rarely to be found, which therefore Contracts our Enjoyments, whereas 'tis our business rather to Enlarge them. It will be readily suggested in Anfwer to this, That what is Loft upon account of the Number of our Pleasures, will be Gain'd in the Weight of them: The Queftion then will be, Whether the Noify, Tumultuous Pleasures of the Vulgar are not Equivalent to those which the moft Refin'd Wits tafte; that is, whether One Man is not as Happy, or Pleas'd (which is the Same thing) with an Uncommon, Diverting Accident at the Bear-Garden, or with a Bad Picture, as Another in confidering fome of the Nobleft Inftances of the Sublime in Rafaele, or Homer: The The Answer to which is very short, He is not; and that for the fame. Reason as an Oyster is not capable of the fame Degree of Pleasure as a Man. It will not follow however that upon the foot of the account One is more Happy than the Other, because that delicacy, and Acuteness of Mind which is fuf ceptible of the greatest Pleasure, is proportionably fo with respect to its Contrary: But the Competition is not now betwixt Enjoyment, and Misery, but One Pleasure, and Another. And thus it appears, that a Man is in no danger of diminishing his Happiness by Refining his Tafte. Hitherto I have been confidering the Goodness of a Picture as being done according to the Rules of the Art; There is another kind of Goodness, and that is, As the Picture, or Drawing Answers the Ends |