Part 57 (1/2)

_A Man._ Velasquez painted a Spanish admiral so true to life that when King Felipe IV. entered the studio he mistook the painting for the man, and began reproving the supposed officer for neglecting his duty in wasting his time in the studio, when he ought to have been with his fleet (1590-1660).

_Accidental effects in painting._

Apelles, being at a loss to paint the foam of Alexander's horse, dashed his brush at the picture in a fit of annoyance, and did by accident what his skill had failed to do (about B.C. 334).

The same tale is told of Protog'enes, who dashed his brush at a picture, and thus produced ”the foam of a dog's mouth,” which he had long been trying in vain to represent (about B.C. 332).

_Painters_ (_Prince of_). Parrhasios and Apelles are both so called (fourth century B.C.).

=Painters' Characteristics.=

ANGELO (_Michael_): an iron frame, strongly developed muscles, and an anatomical display of the human figure. The aeschylos of painters (1474-1564).

CARRACCI: eclectic artists, who picked out and pieced together parts taken from Correggio, Raphael, t.i.tian and other great artists. If Michael Angelo is the aeschylos of artists, and Raphael the Sophocles, the Carracci may be called the Euripides of painters. I know not why in England the name is spelt with only one _r_.

CORREGGIO: known by his wonderful foreshortenings, his magnificent light and shade. He is, however, very monotonous (1494-1534).

CROME (_John_): an old woman in a red cloak walking up an avenue of trees (1769-1821).

DAVID: noted for his stiff, dry, pedantic, ”highly cla.s.sic” style, according to the interpretation of the phrase by the French in the first Revolution (1748-1825).

DOLCE (_Cario_): famous for his Madonnas, which were all finished with most extraordinary delicacy (1616-1686).

DOMENICHI'NO: famed for his frescoes, correct in design and fresh in coloring (1581-1614).

GUIDO: his specialty is a pallid or bluish-complexioned saint, with saucer or uplifted eyes (1574-1642).

HOLBEIN: characterized by bold relief, exquisite finish, force of conception, delicacy of tone, and dark background (1498-1554).

LORRAINE (_Claude_): a Greek temple on a hill, with sunny and highly finished cla.s.sic scenery. Aerial perspective (1600-1682).

MURILLO: a brown-faced Madonna (1618-1682).

OMMEGANCK: sheep (1775-1826).

PERUGINO (_Pietro_): known by his narrow, contracted figures and scrimpy drapery (1446-1524).

POUSSIN: famous for his cla.s.sic style. Reynolds says: ”No works of any modern have so much the air of antique painting as those of Poussin”

(1593-1665).

POUSSIN (_Gaspar_): a landscape painter, the very opposite of Claude Lorraine. He seems to have drawn his inspiration from Hervey's _Meditations Among the Tombs_, Blair's _Grave_, Young's _Night Thoughts_, and Burton's _Anatomy of Melancholy_ (1613-1675).

RAPHAEL: the Sophocles of painters. Angelo's figures are all gigantesque and ideal, like those of aeschylos. Raphael's are perfect human beings (1483-1520).

REYNOLDS: a portrait-painter. He presents his portraits in _bal masque_, not always suggestive either of the rank or character of the person represented. There is about the same a.n.a.logy between Watteau and Reynolds as between Claude Lorraine and Gaspar Poussin (1723-1792).