horror, praise; by them we approve, condemn, refuse, admit, fear, ask, express our joy and grief, our doubts, regrets, pain, admiration. In a word it may be said, as the hands are the organs of speech to the dumb, that they contribute not a little to speak a language intelligible to all nations, which is that of painting.

Flowers, fruits, birds, beasts.—In drawing objects of this description few directions can be given; the proper course for the pupil to follow being to copy carefully the best prints or drawings he can procure. In drawing the figure of a horse, for example, he should begin with the forehead and draw the nose, the upper and under jaws, and stop at the throat; then he will go to the top of the head and form the ears, neck, back, and continue the line until the body be completed; next are to be drawn the breast, legs, and fect; and last of all the figure is finished with the proper shading. To render the representation complete, a small sketch of landscape or scenery should be added, suited to the place or country of the animal represented.

Landskapes, Buildings, &c.-Of all the branches of drawing this is the most useful and entertaining, as it is what every person may have occasion to execute at one time or another in the course of his life. To be able on the spot to take the sketch of a fine building, or a beautiful prospect, of any curious production of art, or uncommon appearance of nature, is not only a very desirable accomplishment, but a very agreeable amusement. Rocks, mountains, fields, woods, rivers, cataracts, cities, towns, castles, houses, fortifications, ruins, machinery, or whatever else may present itself to view on a journey, or in travels, by sea or land, at home or in foreign countries, may thus be brought home and preserved for future use, either in business or conversation: on this branch of art therefore the pupil ought to bestow more than ordinary pains.

In representing a building the pupil is, 1. to begin with

the right side, that the hand may not hide any part in the operation: 2. after drawing the outline, the windows, doors, niches, &c. are to be sketched: 3. sometimes it is necessary to draw vertical and horizontal lines to represent the divisions of the bricks or stones in the wall; the horizontal lines are carried across the whole breadth of the building, but the vertical extend only from one horizontal to another: 4. in shading the walls, if they be of stone that part which is exposed to the light reflects it very strongly, and should therefore have little or no shade.

In landscape the student must be particularly attentive to the distances of objects, upon which the beauty of the piece chiefly depends: he must habituate himself to judge of distances and measure them by the eye, especially in sketching from nature, where no artificial helps can be applied. He should, in copying from nature, choose his station on some gentle elevation where he may have a wide view and an extended horizon: he must next divide his paper or drawing board into three equal divisions from the top to the bottom, and also into a convenient number of equal divisions from the one side to the other; dividing in his mind the prospect before him into similar portions. Then let him lay down upon the middle division those objects immedi ately before him, next those towards his left hand, and lastly those towards his right; observing that he change not the situation of his body, nor move from his place until the whole draught be finished.

Many varieties of opinion have been given as to the extent of view from right to left which ought to enter into a landscape: the necessity of turning the head in taking a view should be avoided; for a view should comprise no greater extent than the eye can conveniently contemplate at one coup d'ail or glance of the eye. To fix upon the angle of view, that is the angle formed at the eye of the spectator by rays proceeding from both extremities of the prospect, is

perhaps

.

perhaps impossible, different subjects requiring different manners of representation. Some writers on perspective and drawing have laid it down as a rule that the extent of the picture should never exceed the distance of the eye from the picture, so that the triangle formed by the picture and the rays from each extremity meeting at the eye would be isosceles, having its base equal to its perpendicular altitude, in which case the angle of view at the eye would be 63§ degrees: other authors prefer a smaller angle down to 45 degrees and probably these two quantities may be considered as the limits of the angle of view.

It was observed in speaking of perspective that objects subtend a greater or less angle at the eye in proportion to their distance from the spectator: hence it becomes necessary that in a landscape the nearest objects should, cæteris paribus, be represented the highest, and the more remote gradually lowering proportionably to their distance. Objects must also be shown less and less distinct as they recede from the eye, so that the most distant mountains or other objects will seem to be blended with the surrounding sky. Lights and shades must all fall in the same way, and objects moved by the wind, as ships, trees, must show its effects as proceeding from the same point of the heavens; in trees the slender branches must bend more than the strong arnis or the trunk, and tall young saplings more than aged sturdy oaks. In representing the sky the nearest clouds must be placed towards the top of the picture, as if over the spectator's head, and be more strongly marked and shaded than those more remote; and the farther the clouds are removed from the observer the lower must be their situation in the picture, the fainter must be their shades, until they mingle with the horizon where they become invisible.

Water in drawing assumes very different appearances: when calm and still it strongly reflects the light, and therefore has little or no shade, which to preserve the contrast is

reserved

reserved for the objects inclosing its margin: when violently agitated it is to have some very deep broken shades in imitation of waves; and other parts dashing against rocks, ships, or other objects, have a shade contrasted of black and white, to represent the foam produced by the agitation.

PAINTING-He who imagines the whole art of painting to consist in the dextrous management of colours, and of light and shade, has formed a very imperfect notion of the art. The success of some men who have risen to eminence, although in a great measure unacquainted with the other parts of painting, by no means warrants hasty unqualified attempts on the part of the beginner. The painter ought in some sense to be well informed in many of the most important branches of knowledge: but the following are indispensable, viz. anatomy, perspective, sacred, civil, and fabulous history, and a careful observation of the different appearances of objects as they appear in their natural state. To insist upon the necessity of an accurate study of anatomy would be superfluous; the authority and the example of the greatest masters are sufficient to enforce the prosecution of this subject. He who is unacquainted with the forms and positions of the several bones which support and govern the human form, and who knows not the situations and offices of the several muscles by which the bones are moved, will never be able accurately to describe or represent the various appearances produced on the surface of the body by their motions; in delineating which, however, consists a main part of the painter's art. Perspective claims an equal share ef attention with anatomy; the latter enables the artist to express the human body in all situations and circumstances; the former teaches him to give objects their respective outlines according to their relative situations respecting the observer and each other: for the outline of any object drawn upon a plain surface is nothing more than such an intersection of the visual rays proceeding from the extremities of the

object

object to the eye, as would appear on a plate of glass put in the place of the canvass or paper upon which the object is to be drawn; the surface of the painting may therefore be considered as nothing more than a glass through which we discover the natural object on the opposite side. Hence the situation of an object beyond the glass or plane of representation being given, its figure on the glass depends entirely on the situation of the observer before that plane, that is to say, on the rules of perspective. The theory of perspective being only an application of certain geometrical principles, an acquaintance with geometry becomes indispensable to the artist who would found his theory on sure and certain grounds. Optics, or the theory of vision, light, and colours, must appear to be absolutely requisite to instruct the painter in determining the degree in which his objects are to be illuminated or darkened, in order to imitate the natural original; by this study he will learn the proper method of throwing his shadows, and acquire an insight into what, in the technical language of the art, is termed chiaro oscuro, Italian words, signifying light and dark. In studying nature, as exhibited in the objects around him, the young painter must not imagine he should adopt a servile manner of copying them for painting is not only to be considered as an imitation producing deception or illusion in the mind of the spectator, but in many respects as offering an image rather of what ought to be than what is the precise appearance of any individual object. The image must therefore contain nothing discordant with or contrary to what is observed in nature, but it must at the same time exhibit a judicious and tasteful selection of the most agreeable parts of natural objects. In giving a general representation of the human figure, no painter would think of representing a man or woman in sickness, deformity, or the decrepitude of old age; on the contrary, he would if possible introduce into his composition the most agreeable and dignified ideas compatible

with