A. THIS reflection is humbling; let us look for a fecond caufe. [k] Seneca obferves, "That naked bodies, as they be"tray their imperfections, so they give a "full exhibition of their beauties:" Each of these effects tends to the improvement of defign, Cloathing on the contrary, difguifes beauty, and gives a protection to faults. The [] Greeks, it is known, almost ever reprefented their figures naked. But the Romans, whose character was military, dreffed theirs in armour. That art which challenges criticifm, muft always be fuperior to that which fhuns it. We are told by Pliny, [m] "That Praxiteles had [k] Nuda corpora, vitia fi qua fint, non celant, nec laudes parum oftentant. Lib. iii. Ep. 6. [Græca res eft nihil velare; at contra, Romana ac militaris, thoracas addere. Plin. lib. xxxiv. c. 5. [m] Duas fecerat Veneres Praxiteles, fimulque vendebat; alteram velata fpecie, quam ob id quidem made made two ftatues of Venus, which he "fold at the fame time; the one clothed; "which, for that reafon, was preferred by "the people of Cos: Thofe of Gnidus "purchased that which was rejected. The "reputation of thefe ftatues was widely "different; for by this laft Praxiteles en"nobled Gnidus." We may conceive then that the Greeks had the fame advantage over the Romans, that the naked Venus had over the clothed: This advantage holds ftill more strongly against the moderns; who, borrowing their characters and fubjects from a chafte religion, are not only forced in decency to clothe their figures; but often, by propriety, to make that clothing of the coarseft materials. Hence it is, that we often fee a Saint bending under a load of drapery, and the elegant form of a prætulerunt Coi; rejectam Gnidii emerunt: Immensâ differentiâ fame; illo enim figno Praxiteles nobi litavit Gnidum. Lib. xxxvi. c. 5. E nun nun overwhelmed in the blanketting of her order. If paint fometimes reprefents to us the naked body of a Chrift, it is either ftretched on a crofs, or disfigured by fufferings; whilst the virgin-mother is hooded to the eyes, and the beauties of the Magdalen are abforbed in velvet. The refult of this habit is evident, when our firft artifts come to design the nud; a comparison of Raphael's figures, in the incendio di Borgo, with the Laocoon or Gladiator, would have much the fame effect, as that of a Flemish coach-horse with an Arabian cour fer. B. Ir may be offered in this place, that as our fubjects feldom admit the nude, we are not fuch great fufferers by a neglect of it. A. BUT this negligence has the worst effects, even where it feems ptotected; for we we find, that our painters are much more happy in the difpofition and caft of their draperies, than in the correctness of their defign; and Raphael would not be fo much praised, for giving us, in his clothed figures, a fair expreffion of form and proportion, were not the contrary of this the general character of our painters. These reflections have carried me fomewhat wide of my fubject; I must return to it. THE defign of the ancients is distinguished by an union in the proportions, a fimplicity of Contour, and excellence of character. Of the firft I have faid as much as I might do, without venturing too far into the mechanic of the art: But as I have only hinted at the others, fome more particular remarks may not be improper. There is no one excellence of defign, from which we receive fuch immediate pleasure, as from a gracefulness of action: If we obferve E 2 obferve the attitudes and movements of the Greek ftatues, we fhall mark that carelefs decency, and unaffected grace, which ever attend the motions and geftures of men unconfcious of obfervation. There [n] is a prodigious difference, between those movements which flow from nature, and thofe which are directed by art. THE ancients knew this well; and hence followed that fingular fimplicity which characterises their works: For, though at times, as in the Venus of Medicis, and daughters of Niobe, they rife to an affumed gracefulness; and even profefs a defire to please; yet this is confin'd to fo fimple a contour; it is fo little above the measure of ordinary action, that it appears less the effect of study, than the natural result of [2] Paulùm intereffe cenfes, ex animo omnia, Terent. And. act. iv. fcene 5. |