The Beauty, and Harmony of the Colouring gives Me a great Degree of Pleasure [ndr : dans le portrait de la comtesse Dowager d’Exeter par Van Dyck] ; for tho’ This is Grave and Solid, it has a Beauty not less than what is Bright, and Gay. So much of the Composition as is Good does also much Delight the Eye ; And tho’ the Lady is not Young, nor remarkably Handsome, the Grace, and Greatness that is here represented pleases exceedingly. In a Word, as throughout this whole Picture one sees Instances of an Accurate Hand, and Fine Thought, These must give proportionable Pleasure to so hearty a Lover as I am.

Many Painters have taken a Fancy to make Caricaturaes of People’s Faces, that is, Exaggerating the Defects, and Concealing the Beauties, however preserving the Resemblance ; the Reverse of That is to be done in the Present Case, but the Character must be seen throughout, or it ceases to be a Compliment ; ’Tis the Picture of Somebody else, or of Nobody, and only tells the Person how different He, or She is from what the Painter conceives to be Beauty.

PAINTING is indeed a Difficult Art, productive of Curious pieces of Workmanship, and greatly Ornamental ; and its Business is to represent Nature. Thus far the Common Idea is just ; Only that ‘tis More Difficult, More Curious, and More Beautifull than is Commonly Imagin’d.
‘Tis an entertaining thing to the Mind of Man to see a fine piece of Art in Any kind ; and every one is apt to take a sort of Pride in it as being done by one of his Own Species, to whom with respect to the Universe he stands related as to one of the Same Countrey, or the Same Family. Painting affords us a great Variety of This kind of Pleasure in the Delicate, or Bold management of the Pencil ; in the mixture of its Colours, in the Skilful Contrivance of the several parts of the Picture, and infinite Variety of the Tincts, so as to produce Beauty, and Harmony. This alone gives great Pleasure to those who have learn’d to see these things.

I own there are Beauties in Nature which we cannot reach ; Chiefly in Colours, together with a certain Spirit ; Vivacity, and Lightness ; Motion alone is a Vast Advantage ; it occasions a great degree of Beauty purely from that Variety it gives ; so that what I have said elsewhere is true, ‘tis impossible to Reach Nature by Art ; But This is not inconsistent with what I have been saying just now ; Both are True in different Senses. We cannot reach what we set [ndr : une erreur est notée dans l’errata présent au début de l’ouvrage : il s’agit du verbe see et non du verbe set] before us, and attempt to Imitate, but we Can carry our Ideas, so far beyond what we have seen, that tho’ we fall short of executing them with our hands, what we do will nevertheless excel Common Nature, Especially in Some particulars, and those very considerable ones.
When I say Nature is to be Rais’d, and Improv’d by Painting it must be understood that the Actions of Men must be represented better than probably they Really were, as well as that their Persons must appear to be Nobler, and more Beautifull than is Ordinarily seen. In treating a History a Painter has Other Rules to go by than a Historian, whereby he is as much Oblig’d to Imbellish his Subject, as the other is to relate it Justly.

The Contours must be Large, Square, and Boldly pronounc’d to produce Greatness ; and Delicate, and finely Waved, and Contrasted to be Gracious. There is a Beauty in a Line. in the Shape of a Finger, or Toe, even in that of a Reed, or Leaf, or the most inconsiderable things in Nature : I have Drawings of Guilio Romano of something of this Kind ; his Insects, and Vegetables are Natural, but as much above those of other Painters as his Men are : There is that in these things which Common Eyes see not, but which the Great Masters know how to give, and They Only.

And here I take the Sublime to be the Greatest, and most Beautiful Ideas, whether Corporeal, or not, convey’d to us the most Advantageously.
By Beauty I do not mean that of Form, or Colour, Copy’d from what the Painter sees ; These being never so well Imitated, I take not to be Sublime, because These require little more than an Eye, and Hand, and Practice. An Exalted Idea of Colour in a Humane Face, or Figure might be judg’d to be Sublime, could That be had, and convey’d to Us, as I think it cannot, since even Nature has not yet been Equall’d by the best Colourists ; Here she keeps Art at a Distance whetever Courtship it has made to her. In Forms ‘tis Otherwise as we find in the Antique Statues, which therefore I allow to have a Sublimity in them : And should do the same in regard to the same Kind, and Degree of Beauty if it were to be found in any Picture, as I believe it is not. Tho’ in Pictures is seen a Grace, and Greatness, whether from the Attitude, or Air of the Whole, or the Head only, that may justly be Esteem’d Sublime.

That the Pleasure of Connoissance is a Virtuous, and a Useful one, and such a one therefore as is worthy the Pursuit of a Wise, and Good Man appears by what has been said heretofore. Wherein this Pleasure consists is what I am Now about to shew : Which will also serve as a Specimen of what may be done in other Instances, a Vast many of which I have observ’d are overlook’d and neglected as well as This :
What is Beautiful, and Excellent is naturally adapted to Please ; but all Beauties, and Excellencies are not naturally Seen. Most Gentlemen see Pictures, and Drawings as the Generality of People see the Heavens in a Clear, Starry Night, they perceive a sort of Beauty there, but such a one as produces no great Pleasure in the Mind : But when one considers the Heavenly Bodies as other Worlds, and that there are an Infinite Number of these in the Empire of God, Immensity ; and Worlds which our Eyes assisted by the best Glasses can never reach, and so far removed from the most distant of what we see (which yet are so far removed from us that when we consider it our Minds are fill’d with Astonishment) that These Visible ones are as it were our Neighbours, as the Continent of France is to Great Britain ; When one considers farther, That as there Inhabitants on this Continent tho’ we see them not when we see That, ‘tis altogether unreasonable to Imagine that those Innumerable Words are Uninhabited, and Desart ; there must be Beings There, Some perhaps More, Others Less Noble, and Excellent than Men : When one Thus views this Vast Prospect, the Mind is Otherwise affected than Before, and feels a Delight which Common Notions never can administer. So those who at Present cannot comprehend there can be such Pleasure in a good Picture, or Drawing as Connoisseurs pretend to find, may Learn to see the same thing in Themselves, their Eyes being once open’d ‘tis like a New Sense, and New Pleasures flow in as often as the Objects of that Superinduc’d Sight present themselves, which (to People of Condition Especially) very frequently happens, or may be procur’d, whether Here at Home, or in their Travels Abroad. When a Gentleman has learn’d to see the Beauties and Excellencies that are really in good Pictures, and Drawings, and which may be learnt by conversing with Such, and applying himself to the consideration of them, he will look upon That with Joy which he Now passes over with very little Pleasure, if not with Indifference : Nay a Sketch, a Scrabble of the Hand of a Great Master will be capable of administering to him a Greater Degree of Pleasure than those who know it not by Experience will easily believe. Besides the Graceful, and Noble Attitudes, the Beauty of Colours, and forms, and the fine Effects of Light, and Shadow, which none sees as a Connoisseur does, Such a one enters farther than any other Can into the Beauties of the Invention, Expression, and other Parts of the Work he is considering : He sees Strokes of Art, Contrivances, Expedients, a Delicacy, and Spirit that others see not, or very Imperfectly.
He sees what a Force of Mind the great Masters had to Conceive Ideas ; what Judgment to see things Beautifully, or to Imagine Beauty from what they saw ; and what a power their Hands were endued withal in a few Strokes, and with Ease to shew to Another what themselves Conceiv’d.

He that would rise to the Sublime must form an Idea of Something beyond all we have yet seen ; or which Art, or Nature has yet produc’d ; Painting, Such as when all the Excellencies of the several Masters are United, and their several Defects avoided.
The greatest Designers among the Moderns want much of that exquisite Beauty, in all the Several Characters, that is to be seen in the Antique ; the Airs of the Heads, even of Rafaëlle himself, are Inferiour to what the Ancients have done ; and for Grace to some of Guido : the Colouring of Rubens and Van Dyck falls short of That of Titian, and Coreggio ; and the best Masters have Rarely Thought like Rafaëlle, or Compos’d like Rembrandt. Let us then imagine a Picture Design’d as the Laocoon, the Hercules, the Apollo, the Venus, or any of these Miraculous remains of Antiquity : The Airs of Heads like what is to be found in the Statues, Busts, Bas-releifs, or Medals, or like some of those of Guido ; and Colour’d like the most Celebrated Colourists ; with the Lightest Pencil, and the most Proper to the Subject ; and all this Suitably Invented, and Compos’d ; Here would be a Picture ! Such a one a Painter should Imagine, and So set before him for Imitation.
Nor must he stop Here, but Create an Original Idea of Perfection. The Utmost that the Best Masters have done, is not to be suppos’d the Utmost ‘tis possible for Humane Nature to arrive at ;

in DA VINCI, Leonardo, A Treatise of Painting by Leonardo da Vinci. Translated from the Original Italian, and adorn'd with a great Number of Cuts. To which is prefx'd, The Author's Life ; Done from The last Edition of the French, London, J. Senex - W. Taylor, 1721., p. 79

in DA VINCI, Leonardo, A Treatise of Painting by Leonardo da Vinci. Translated from the Original Italian, and adorn'd with a great Number of Cuts. To which is prefx'd, The Author's Life ; Done from The last Edition of the French, London, J. Senex - W. Taylor, 1721., p. 41

in DA VINCI, Leonardo, A Treatise of Painting by Leonardo da Vinci. Translated from the Original Italian, and adorn'd with a great Number of Cuts. To which is prefx'd, The Author's Life ; Done from The last Edition of the French, London, J. Senex - W. Taylor, 1721., p. 80

in DA VINCI, Leonardo, A Treatise of Painting by Leonardo da Vinci. Translated from the Original Italian, and adorn'd with a great Number of Cuts. To which is prefx'd, The Author's Life ; Done from The last Edition of the French, London, J. Senex - W. Taylor, 1721., p. 91

in DA VINCI, Leonardo, A Treatise of Painting by Leonardo da Vinci. Translated from the Original Italian, and adorn'd with a great Number of Cuts. To which is prefx'd, The Author's Life ; Done from The last Edition of the French, London, J. Senex - W. Taylor, 1721., p. 91

in DA VINCI, Leonardo, A Treatise of Painting by Leonardo da Vinci. Translated from the Original Italian, and adorn'd with a great Number of Cuts. To which is prefx'd, The Author's Life ; Done from The last Edition of the French, London, J. Senex - W. Taylor, 1721., p. 110

in FRÉART de CHAMBRAY, Roland, An Idea of the Perfection of Painting: demonstrated from the Principles of Art, and by examples conformable to the observations , which Pliny and Quintilian have made upon the most celebrated pieces of Ancient painters parallel’d with some Works of the most Modern Painters, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Julio Romano and N. Poussin, trad. par EVELYN, John, London, Henry Herringman, 1668., OF THE REGULAR POSITION OF FIGURES, 5. Part, p. 20

in DE PILES, Roger et DU FRESNOY, Charles-Alphonse, The Art of Painting by C.A. DU FRESNOY with Remarks, trad. par DRYDEN, John, London, W. Rogers, 1695., 8

in DE PILES, Roger et DU FRESNOY, Charles-Alphonse, The Art of Painting by C.A. DU FRESNOY with Remarks, trad. par DRYDEN, John, London, W. Rogers, 1695., p.23

in DE PILES, Roger et DU FRESNOY, Charles-Alphonse, The Art of Painting by C.A. DU FRESNOY with Remarks, trad. par DRYDEN, John, London, W. Rogers, 1695., p.23

in DE PILES, Roger et DU FRESNOY, Charles-Alphonse, The Art of Painting by C.A. DU FRESNOY with Remarks, trad. par DRYDEN, John, London, W. Rogers, 1695., p.35

in DE PILES, Roger et DU FRESNOY, Charles-Alphonse, The Art of Painting by C.A. DU FRESNOY with Remarks, trad. par DRYDEN, John, London, W. Rogers, 1695., p.149

in DE PILES, Roger et DU FRESNOY, Charles-Alphonse, The Art of Painting by C.A. DU FRESNOY with Remarks, trad. par DRYDEN, John, London, W. Rogers, 1695., p.208

in BOUTET, Claude, The Art of Painting in Miniature: Teaching The speedy and perfect Acquisition of that Art without a Master. By Rules so easy, and in a Method so natural as to render this charming Accomplishment universally attainable. Containing I. The Difference between Painting in Miniature, and other Kinds of Painting. II. The Management of Colours in Draperies, Linnen, Lace, Furrs, &c. III. The Method of mixing Colours for Carnations ; for painting of Architecture, or any Building of Stone or Wood ; for Landskips, Terrasses, Water, Ruins, Rocks, &c. IV. The Art of Painting all Sorts of Flowers, with the proper Colours required to represent Nature to the highest Perfection. V. The various Methods of Painting. Translated from the Original French. The Fourth Edition. To which are now added, I. Certain Secrets of one of the greatest Italian Painters for making the finest Colours, Burnished Gold, Shell Gold, &c. II. Some general instructive Lessons for the Art of Drawing. And III. The Usefulness and Benefit of Prints, London, J. Hodges - J. James - T. Cooper, 1739., p. 54-55.

in DA VINCI, Leonardo, Trattato della pittura di Lionardo da Vinci, novamente dato in luce, con la vita dell'istesso autore, scritta da Rafaelle Du Fresne. Si sono giunti i tre libri della pittura, & il trattato della statua di Leon Battista Alberti, con la vita del medesimo, TRICHET DU FRESNE, Raphaël (éd.), Paris, Jacques Langlois, 1651., p. 7

in DA VINCI, Leonardo, Trattato della pittura di Lionardo da Vinci, novamente dato in luce, con la vita dell'istesso autore, scritta da Rafaelle Du Fresne. Si sono giunti i tre libri della pittura, & il trattato della statua di Leon Battista Alberti, con la vita del medesimo, TRICHET DU FRESNE, Raphaël (éd.), Paris, Jacques Langlois, 1651., p. 31

in DA VINCI, Leonardo, Trattato della pittura di Lionardo da Vinci, novamente dato in luce, con la vita dell'istesso autore, scritta da Rafaelle Du Fresne. Si sono giunti i tre libri della pittura, & il trattato della statua di Leon Battista Alberti, con la vita del medesimo, TRICHET DU FRESNE, Raphaël (éd.), Paris, Jacques Langlois, 1651., p. 31

in DA VINCI, Leonardo, Trattato della pittura di Lionardo da Vinci, novamente dato in luce, con la vita dell'istesso autore, scritta da Rafaelle Du Fresne. Si sono giunti i tre libri della pittura, & il trattato della statua di Leon Battista Alberti, con la vita del medesimo, TRICHET DU FRESNE, Raphaël (éd.), Paris, Jacques Langlois, 1651., p. 39

in DA VINCI, Leonardo, Trattato della pittura di Lionardo da Vinci, novamente dato in luce, con la vita dell'istesso autore, scritta da Rafaelle Du Fresne. Si sono giunti i tre libri della pittura, & il trattato della statua di Leon Battista Alberti, con la vita del medesimo, TRICHET DU FRESNE, Raphaël (éd.), Paris, Jacques Langlois, 1651., p. 40

in DOLCE, Lodovico, Dialogo della pittura di M. Lodovico Dolce, Intitolato l’Aretino. Nel quale si ragiona della dignità di essa Pittura, e di tutte le parti necessarie, che a perfetto Pittore si acconvengono: con esempi di Pittori antichi, e moderni: e nel fine si fa menzione delle virtù, e delle opere del divin Tiziano / Dialogue sur la peinture de Louis Dolce, intitulé l’Aretin. Dans lequel on traitte de l’excellence de la peinture, de toutes les qualités necessaires au bon Peintre, avec les exemples des Peintres anciens et modernes, à la fin on y parle du merite et des ouvrages du divin Titien, trad. par VLEUGHELS, Nicolas, Firenze, Michel Nestenus et François Moucke, 1735., p. 118

in DOLCE, Lodovico, Dialogo della pittura di M. Lodovico Dolce, Intitolato l’Aretino. Nel quale si ragiona della dignità di essa Pittura, e di tutte le parti necessarie, che a perfetto Pittore si acconvengono: con esempi di Pittori antichi, e moderni: e nel fine si fa menzione delle virtù, e delle opere del divin Tiziano / Dialogue sur la peinture de Louis Dolce, intitulé l’Aretin. Dans lequel on traitte de l’excellence de la peinture, de toutes les qualités necessaires au bon Peintre, avec les exemples des Peintres anciens et modernes, à la fin on y parle du merite et des ouvrages du divin Titien, trad. par VLEUGHELS, Nicolas, Firenze, Michel Nestenus et François Moucke, 1735., p. 178

in DOLCE, Lodovico, Dialogo della pittura di M. Lodovico Dolce, Intitolato l’Aretino. Nel quale si ragiona della dignità di essa Pittura, e di tutte le parti necessarie, che a perfetto Pittore si acconvengono: con esempi di Pittori antichi, e moderni: e nel fine si fa menzione delle virtù, e delle opere del divin Tiziano / Dialogue sur la peinture de Louis Dolce, intitulé l’Aretin. Dans lequel on traitte de l’excellence de la peinture, de toutes les qualités necessaires au bon Peintre, avec les exemples des Peintres anciens et modernes, à la fin on y parle du merite et des ouvrages du divin Titien, trad. par VLEUGHELS, Nicolas, Firenze, Michel Nestenus et François Moucke, 1735., p. 184

in DOLCE, Lodovico, Dialogo della pittura di M. Lodovico Dolce, Intitolato l’Aretino. Nel quale si ragiona della dignità di essa Pittura, e di tutte le parti necessarie, che a perfetto Pittore si acconvengono: con esempi di Pittori antichi, e moderni: e nel fine si fa menzione delle virtù, e delle opere del divin Tiziano / Dialogue sur la peinture de Louis Dolce, intitulé l’Aretin. Dans lequel on traitte de l’excellence de la peinture, de toutes les qualités necessaires au bon Peintre, avec les exemples des Peintres anciens et modernes, à la fin on y parle du merite et des ouvrages du divin Titien, trad. par VLEUGHELS, Nicolas, Firenze, Michel Nestenus et François Moucke, 1735., p. 196

in DOLCE, Lodovico, Dialogo della pittura di M. Lodovico Dolce, Intitolato l’Aretino. Nel quale si ragiona della dignità di essa Pittura, e di tutte le parti necessarie, che a perfetto Pittore si acconvengono: con esempi di Pittori antichi, e moderni: e nel fine si fa menzione delle virtù, e delle opere del divin Tiziano / Dialogue sur la peinture de Louis Dolce, intitulé l’Aretin. Dans lequel on traitte de l’excellence de la peinture, de toutes les qualités necessaires au bon Peintre, avec les exemples des Peintres anciens et modernes, à la fin on y parle du merite et des ouvrages du divin Titien, trad. par VLEUGHELS, Nicolas, Firenze, Michel Nestenus et François Moucke, 1735., p. 178

in DOLCE, Lodovico, Dialogo della pittura di M. Lodovico Dolce, Intitolato l’Aretino. Nel quale si ragiona della dignità di essa Pittura, e di tutte le parti necessarie, che a perfetto Pittore si acconvengono: con esempi di Pittori antichi, e moderni: e nel fine si fa menzione delle virtù, e delle opere del divin Tiziano / Dialogue sur la peinture de Louis Dolce, intitulé l’Aretin. Dans lequel on traitte de l’excellence de la peinture, de toutes les qualités necessaires au bon Peintre, avec les exemples des Peintres anciens et modernes, à la fin on y parle du merite et des ouvrages du divin Titien, trad. par VLEUGHELS, Nicolas, Firenze, Michel Nestenus et François Moucke, 1735., p. 260

in DU FRESNOY, Charles-Alphonse, De arte graphica liber, Paris, Nicolas Langlois, 1668., 6

in DA VINCI, Leonardo, Trattato della pittura di Lionardo da Vinci, novamente dato in luce, con la vita dell'istesso autore, scritta da Rafaelle Du Fresne. Si sono giunti i tre libri della pittura, & il trattato della statua di Leon Battista Alberti, con la vita del medesimo, TRICHET DU FRESNE, Raphaël (éd.), Paris, Jacques Langlois, 1651., p. 54

in DE PILES, Roger, De l'art de peinture de Charles Alphonse Dufresnoy, Paris, Nicolas Langlois, 1668., p.96

in DU FRESNOY, Charles-Alphonse, De arte graphica liber, Paris, Nicolas Langlois, 1668., p.18

in DA VINCI, Leonardo, Des vortreflichen Florentinischen Mahlers Lionardo Da Vinci Hoch-nützlicher Tractat von der Mahlerey, BÖHM, Johann Georg (éd.), Nürnberg, Johann Georg Böhm, 1724., p. 54

in DA VINCI, Leonardo, Des vortreflichen Florentinischen Mahlers Lionardo Da Vinci Hoch-nützlicher Tractat von der Mahlerey, BÖHM, Johann Georg (éd.), Nürnberg, Johann Georg Böhm, 1724., p. 125

in DA VINCI, Leonardo, Des vortreflichen Florentinischen Mahlers Lionardo Da Vinci Hoch-nützlicher Tractat von der Mahlerey, BÖHM, Johann Georg (éd.), Nürnberg, Johann Georg Böhm, 1724., p. 125

in DA VINCI, Leonardo, Des vortreflichen Florentinischen Mahlers Lionardo Da Vinci Hoch-nützlicher Tractat von der Mahlerey, BÖHM, Johann Georg (éd.), Nürnberg, Johann Georg Böhm, 1724., p. 125

in DA VINCI, Leonardo, Des vortreflichen Florentinischen Mahlers Lionardo Da Vinci Hoch-nützlicher Tractat von der Mahlerey, BÖHM, Johann Georg (éd.), Nürnberg, Johann Georg Böhm, 1724., p. 153

in DA VINCI, Leonardo, Des vortreflichen Florentinischen Mahlers Lionardo Da Vinci Hoch-nützlicher Tractat von der Mahlerey, BÖHM, Johann Georg (éd.), Nürnberg, Johann Georg Böhm, 1724., p. 55

in DU FRESNOY, Charles-Alphonse, Kurtzer Begriff Der Theoretischen Mahler-Kunst, trad. par GERICKE, Samuel Theodor, Berlin, Johann Michael Rüdigen, 1699., 14

in DU FRESNOY, Charles-Alphonse, Kurtzer Begriff Der Theoretischen Mahler-Kunst, trad. par GERICKE, Samuel Theodor, Berlin, Johann Michael Rüdigen, 1699., p.36

in LE COMTE, Florent, Het konst-cabinet der bouw- schilder- beeldhouw- en graveerkunde, of inleiding tot de kennis dier fraaije weetenschappen, vervat in der schilderyen, stand-beelden en prenten, trad. par LOBEDANIUS, Arnoldus, Utrecht, Arnoldus Lobedanius - 1745, 2 vol., p. 37

in LE COMTE, Florent, Het konst-cabinet der bouw- schilder- beeldhouw- en graveerkunde, of inleiding tot de kennis dier fraaije weetenschappen, vervat in der schilderyen, stand-beelden en prenten, trad. par LOBEDANIUS, Arnoldus, Utrecht, Arnoldus Lobedanius - 1745, 2 vol., p. 41

in DE PILES, Roger, Beknopt verhaal van het leven der vermaardste Schilders : met Aanmerkingen over hunne werken, trad. par VERHOEK, Joannes, Amsterdam, Balthazar Lakeman, 1725., p. 9-10

in DU FRESNOY, Charles-Alphonse, De arte graphica liber, Paris, Nicolas Langlois, 1668., p.17

in DU FRESNOY, Charles-Alphonse, De arte graphica liber, Paris, Nicolas Langlois, 1668., p. 26

in DU FRESNOY, Charles-Alphonse, Kurtzer Begriff Der Theoretischen Mahler-Kunst, trad. par GERICKE, Samuel Theodor, Berlin, Johann Michael Rüdigen, 1699., p.26

in DU FRESNOY, Charles-Alphonse, Kurtzer Begriff Der Theoretischen Mahler-Kunst, trad. par GERICKE, Samuel Theodor, Berlin, Johann Michael Rüdigen, 1699., p.26