Anecdotes of Painters, who Have Resided Or Been Born in England: With Critical Remarks on Their ProductionsLeigh and Sotheby, 1808 - 327 pages |
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acquired affiftance afterwards alfo alſo anecdotes artiſt Barry beft beſt catalogue chiefly chofen circumftance colouring confequence confiderable confidered death decorations defign defire died Dilettanti Society diſtinguiſhed drawings employed England Engliſh engraved eſtabliſhment etchings executed exhibited exhibitor faid fame fatirical fchool fecond fent fettled feveral fhort fhould finiſhed firft firſt fituation fize fmall fome fometimes foon ftands ftudents ftudied ftyle fubjects fuccefs fuch fufficient fuperior fupported furvive gentleman guineas hiftorical himſelf honour houfe houſe inftitution inftructions Italy lady laft landſcape laſt latter London Lord mafter Majefty manner merit mezzotinto mezzotinto print moft moſt muſt native neceffary obferved obtained occafion octavo painter Paul Sandby perfon picture painted poffeffed poffeffion portrait painter practifed prefent premium productions profeffion publiſhed pupil purpoſe racter refided refpectable reprefented Rome Royal Academy ſeveral Sir Joshua Reynolds ſmall Society ſtudy thefe themſelves theſe thofe thoſe uſe vifited Walpole Weft whofe whole-length Wilfon
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Page 197 - Here Reynolds is laid, and, to tell you my mind, He has not left a wiser or better behind ; His pencil was striking, resistless, and grand ; His manners were gentle, complying, and bland ; Still born to improve us in every part, His pencil our faces, his manners our heart...
Page xxvii - Those who set their performances to general view, have too often been considered the rivals of each other ; as men actuated, if not by avarice, at least by vanity, and contending for superiority of fame, though not for a pecuniary prize. It cannot be denied or doubted, that all who offer...
Page 133 - When I first knew him he lived at Bath, where Giardini had been exhibiting his then unrivalled powers on the violin. His excellent performance made Gainsborough enamoured of that instrument; -and conceiving, like the servant-maid in the Spectator, that the music lay in the fiddle, he was frantic until he possessed the very instrument which had given him SO much pleasure; but seemed much surprised that the music of it remained behind with Giardini!
Page 83 - Apollo, who appears in the sky, with his bent bow, and that those figures should be considered as the children of Niobe. To manage a subject of this kind, a peculiar style of art is required : and it can only be done without impropriety or even without ridicule, when we adapt the character of the landscape, and that too, in all its parts, to the historical or poetical representation.
Page 83 - Poussin, to achieve it. In the picture alluded to, the first idea that presents itself is that of wonder, at seeing a figure in so uncommon a situation as that in which the Apollo is placed ; for the clouds on which he kneels have not the appearance of being able to support him...
Page 306 - Harvest-home or Thanksgiving to Ceres and Bacchus; the third, the Victors at Olympia; the fourth, Navigation, or the Triumph of the Thames; the fifth, the Distribution of Premiums in the Society of Arts; and the sixth, Elysium, or the State of final Retribution. Three of these subjects are poetical ; the others historical.
Page 83 - ... and that too, in all its parts, to the historical or poetical representation. This is a very difficult adventure, and it requires a mind thrown back two thousand years, and as it were naturalized in antiquity, like that of Nicolo Poussin, to achieve it.
Page 301 - That the series of pictures illustrating in their design the Progress of Human Knowledge, and the Advancement of useful and elegant Arts, from a very early period to the present, is a work of great execution and elassical information, and must be deemed a national ornament, as well as a monument of the talents and ingenuity of the artist.
Page 86 - But that we may not seem desirous of concealing the defects in this artist's productions, we must observe, that Wilson, in the executive part of his works, was rather too careless, a defect which increased in the decline of his life, and that his foregrounds were at all times too much neglected and unfinished.
Page 124 - ... more than he found it. As he was painting his way back to London, in his own...