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Gentleman's Magazine 1843 part 2 p.467
sense, too bitterly, the impotence of the hand, and the
vainness of the colour to catch one shadow or one image of
the glory which God has revealed to him. He has dwelt and
communed with Nature all the days of his life; he knows her
now too well, he cannot palet over the material littleness
of her outward form; he must give her soul, or he had done
nothing, and he cannot do this with the flax, and the earth,
and the oil," &c.
Now, the question will arise if, after all this novelty of
remark, this ingenuity of reasoning, this profuse display of
examples and illustrations, this elaborate richness of
description and imagery, the author has proved his point,
and established the superiority of the modern school of art
over the ancient? The first objection that will naturally
arise in the general mind will be, that, if he is right, not
only the common and public taste has been in error, but even
those who have written scientifically on the subject, our
guides and teachers, have been as wanting in knowledge as
ourselves. Many minute investigations have been made into
the peculiar excellenece and characteristic merits of the
old painters, and detailed descriptions given of their works
by Reynolds, and Fuseli, and Opie, and other learned
professors of the art among our compatriots, not to speak of
works of authority and excellence in other countries; yet
the language of praise and admiration is almost the only one
that has reached our ears. We have been directed to those
illustrious artists as the very models of excellence, whom
we may endeavour to imitate, but never hope to excel; and we
certainly have few intimations given of those defects which
are now for the first time so broadly and boldly laid before
us. We naturally ask, has the author detected what escaped
the practised eye of Reynolds, or eluded the vigilant and
acute penetration of West and Fuseli? It may be so - we
respect authority, but never blindly follow it, - yet he who
thus advances such startling opinions, and throws down at
once the gauntlet of defiance, must be prepared to find the
public mind slow to believe, and unwilling to abandon the
guidance of those whom thay have long looked up to with
respect and confidence, and whose decisions have been
confirmed by the consenting voice of time. Secondly, we
should require an appeal to the respective works of the
rival masters, - an actual comparison drawn from
observation, - we should place the landscapes of Claude and
Poussin beside those of Turner, so that the eye of the
spectator might contemplate their respective merits. We
should let his mind receive the full impressions they
suggested, penetrate the principles on which they were
composed, and apply the effects they produced to the objects
which painting has in view; we should tell him to dismiss
and forget the glowing descriptions and too partial
comparisons he has read in this volume, and turn from the
visionary splendour of the writer's page to the real colours
and composition before him, and then practically form his
own decision. We confess, that, to our minds, we should be
prepared to believe that what has pleased so many and so
long, has not pleased on insufficient grounds; nor should we
be ready to admit at once the broad distinctive line drawn
by our author between the works of M. Angelo, Rafaelle, and
the historical painters, and those of later schools in the
same country, because we think we could point out the
different links of resemblance between theirs and other
works that have one by one, in successive periods of time,
by insensible changes, united one to the other, till we
could find the germs of Poussin's manner and style in
some of the slightest sketches of the Roman or Florentine
school. We should not be unwilling to allow the great genius
which Turner has displayed in his art,
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