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CHARLOTTETOWN, P. E. ISLAND, MONDAY, JUNE 5, 1848.

[No. 44.

SBIGINAL LITERATURE.

OBSERVATIONS ON PAINTING, ADDRESSED TO A FRIEND. NO. IL.

Your enquiry gratifies me, by proving that you have not only read, but also considered, my former observa- tions on Painting. You are pleased to compliment the Sketch which I sent you, of my opinions, and require that one or two parts of it be made more distinct. In the first place, however, allow me to remind you of the very superior advantage possessed by Painters, in fully and concisely expressing theirmeaning; one stroke of the pencil, one application of the brush, and the intention of the Master stands clear, beyond the possibility of being mistaken ; but it is only by laborious minuteness of expression that a writer can hope to beso well under- stood, and even when he has _ succeeded, his success is but fleeting and transitory; the language in which he may write is constantly undergoing revolution, and the werds which he shall have used may alter their signi- fication within the compass of an ordinary lifetime ;—not so with Painting: Nature remains unchahged, and he who successfully appeals by his pencil to the best feelings of Humanity, will be understood and admired until this world shall “like the baseless fabric of vision leave not a wreck behind.”

You concur, you say, in my opinion as to the general divisions of the Art ; but you consider that placing Mor- land in the second or pleasing class is inconsistent with other parts of my theory: you think that because he has taken his subjects fromthe Stable, the Home- stead, and the Common, he can at best be no more than a judicious imitator. Oblige me by looking again at his performances, and I think you will observe that the Cart Horses, Cattle, and other details are always subservient to the general effect of the picture: a fracture in the paling is certain to appear just in the right place for admitting a stream of light upon Dobbin or his attendant, so as to produce the most agreeable

again to the canvas. His pictures are not more beauti- ful than they are various; they are sometimes finisied with the pastoral simplicity of Berghem, Potter or Rooss; they sometimes exhibit the grace and amenity of Lor- raine, orare characterized by the noble and sublime of Poussin’s style, er the wildness and melancholy of Salvator Rosa’s.”

As further instances, I may observe that the Cartoons of Raffaelle evince the same sublime spirit as the Poetry of Milton; the compositions of Claude may well be com- pared to the imperishable works of Vrigil; while pro- priety and chaste elegance are equally pleasing ina Poussin anda Cesar. Writing and Painting are, it is true, different languages or modes of expression, but the mind of the master is reflected alike by either. Dr. Young is believed tohave been the author of a paper in the Guardian, No. 86, of which we gladly avail ourselves ; he says, with great truth, that if we examine the prin ciples and causes of excellence in Poetry, and of different Poets, we shall find that they are the same prin- ciples and causes which have produced excellence in Painting, and different degrees of it in different Painters. Homer and Virgil, says Dr. Young, have each given usa description of the Horse in violent or spirited action :

“ Freed from his keepers,thus, with broken reins,

The wanton courser prances o’er the plains ;

Or inthe pride of youth o’erleaps his mounds,

And snuffs the females in forbidden grounds ;

Or seeks his watering in the well known flood,

To quench his thirst and cool his fiery blood ; He swims luxuriant in the liquid plain, And o’er his shouders flows his waving,mane ; | He neighs, he snorts, he bears his head on high, |

Before his ample chest the frothy waters fly.’ Porpr’s Homer. |

“ The fiery courser, when he hears from far The sprightly trumpets and theshouts of war,

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effect; the coats of the Cattle are not rough in the picture merely because they are so in Nature, but as

instruments for producing the picturesque in Art. Now)

here lies the difference between a Painter par excellence, and an Imitator; the one employs details to produce certain effects ; the other gives a place in his work to whatever he may happen to see before him while sketching. There is certainly a necessity for discrim- ination in selecting instruments in the rough from Nature, but it does not appear that Morland has in veneral evinced any want of this discrimination; there

Pricks up his ears, and trembing with delight, | Shifts pace, and paws, and hopes the promised fight ; On his right shoulder his thick mane reclined Ruffles at speed and dances in the wind; His horny hoofs are jetty black and round, His chin is double ; starting with a bound, He turns the turf, and shakes the solid ground. Fire from his eyes, clouds from his nostrils flow ; He bears his rider headlong on the foe.”

DrypeEs’s VIRGIL. |

These descriptions, being composed of external de- tails, such as the eyes, ears, nostrils, mane, and hoofs

is also a great and striking difference between the rural and the vulgar, between simplicity and coarseness ;

the first is frequently united with the highest refine-|

ment, but the Jast is the sure mark of a mind either

uncultivated or vitiated; we can discover nothing of

this in Morland; at least not in those works upon which his reputation is principally founded.

l am very partial to the observation of analogies ; they tend materially to assist the judgment in forming, as well as the memory in retaining correct ideas; and | now wish to point your attention to that analogy which exists between the arts of Painting and Poetry. I am much pleased to find my opinion supported by Gessner, who united in himself all the qualities which led to *xcellence both as a Painter and a Poet ; writing to a riend, he says, “J must observe, too, that Poetry is the ‘rue sister of Painting, and that the artist should not fail to study those delightful works of the Poets, which will improve his taste, refine and enlarge his ideas, and enrich his imagination with a store of the most beauti- ful imagery ; the poet and the painter draw from the “ame source ; both are governed by the same laws; an *xquisite sense of the truly beautiful in nature must

of the animal, present to the mind the same sort of image as Paul Veronese or Rubens could have presented to the eye ina painting. Let us now turnto the Book of Job, and read that sublime description of the Horse, given in the 39th chapter:

19. Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder ?

20. Can’st thou make him afraid as agrasshopper f the glory of his nostrils is terrible.

21. He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength : he goeth on to meet the armed men.

eth he back from the sword.

23. The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield.

24. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rege. neither believeth he that it isthe sound of the trumpet.

25. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth

appearing in a prose translation, and of being expressed

more truly poetical than either of the two preceding descriptions ; and it has been well observed that this

‘irect each in the choice of every objectand image in-

superiority in the sacred poet results from his making

troduced into his work.” Speaking ofthe Poet Thor-|all the beauties of his imagery flow from an inward son, Gessner proceeds: “I have found in the writings!principle in the creature he describes, and not from of this great Master, descriptions which might have|external details; he gives us an ideal conception of been copied from the works of the most eminent Paint-|such spirit and vivacity as no exact and servile descrip- ers,and which the artist might with ease transpose|tion can attain to; thus far Dr. Young, With respect to

Homer and Virgil, the writer of the Book of Job stands in the same relation which Raffaelle and Michael Angelo bear to the best Venetian and Flemish Paint- ers.

It may appear almost a piece of injustice towards Homer and Virgil that I compare their works with the Sacred Writings, dictated by the inspiration of the Su- preme Being; but the comparison certainly affords a striking instance in favour of my assertion, that the ideal beauty essential to the higher walks of Painting is also requisite in those of Poetry:* neither is this analogy confined to the higher or ennobling division of Art, for the soft pathos and exquisite harmony of Ovid alsd cha- racterize Titian; the turgid style and cumbrous orna- ments of Statius find a parallel in Rubens ; while Juvenal and Dean Swift may confess a formidable rival in Ho- garth. In the imitative class, both judicious and servile, numerous parallels occur to me; but in most cases the parties are still living; Bavius and Mevius are soon for- gotten when they are no more, and J refrain from making any remarks which might displease some of those who are stil! amongst us; the past age becomes as it were the property of the present, to criticise at pleasure with- out bias or partiality; but it is not in our nature to ex- ercise the same cool and dispassionate judement upon our contemporaries.

The pursuit of this analogy forms one of the very many considerations which I should think must tend to

‘endear the Art of Painting to all men of enlarged ideas land liberal education. It is for those whom Providence

has blessed with competence, to step forward and raise

ithe depressed genius of their country, and to emulate the

judicious liberality of a Pericles, a Macenas, a Leo, and a Medici, to whose fostering aid we may justly attribute those unrivalled works of art which graced their severa! eras, and which our best modern professors have been proud to ownas models. The patronage of the fine arts is an employment worthy of the highest rank, the most eminent talents, and the purest patriotism ; he who provides his fellow men with even an innocent amuse- ment cannot be said to have lived in vain, much less then can we decry the pursuits of him who is instru- mental in elevating the human mind abeve all gross and vicious objects, and fitting it to enjoy those high and intellectual pleasures which alone are worthy of its

*There is little doubt that Virgil, Silvius Italicus, Lacan, and other Roman Poets, had read the Book of Job, some of their descriptions being mere plagiarisms from it. ‘Take, for instance, the expression, “he swalloweth the ground,” and compare it with the two following :

“ CARPERE prata fuga.” VIRGIL.

“

Campumque volatu Cum RAPUERE, pedum vestigia queras.” SiLvivs Iraricvs. Lit is, indeed, an invidious task to censure our cotempora- ries, but not so to praise living merit, whether in our own or any othernation. The attention of every lover of Art is now

“2. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted ; neither turn-| directed towards Bavaria—a country which, in the encourage-

ment and cultivation of intellectual enjoyments, very decidediy takes precedence of modern Italy. The Palaces and Public Buildings of Munich are designed by the classic taste of Von Klenze, and ornamented by the magnificent frescoes of Julius Schnou ; her gardens, planned by Sckell, are filled with those rare and beuatiful plants for which the indefatigable Martins

the battle afar off, the thunder of the Captains, and the shout-}).55 ransacked the globe ; such men as these reflect the truest ing. and highest honour upon the king and the country capable of

‘The above extract, under all the disadvantage of|appreciating them. It is worthy of notice, that the frescoes at the Palace of the King of Bavaria, illustrate in a continued

in phrase series the great national Legend of Germany, the famous “‘ Nic- in phraseology peculiar to one part of the world, is yet far Melungen Lica.” Perhaps, when British Artists seatch the his

‘ory of their own country, they may find subjects equally wor- thy of their canvas, and possessing a greater degree of popuiar interest than cm easily be attained by other means.

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