mo] ANNUAL R_EGISTER, I769.

advanced,are arrived at that critical They muli therefore be told again period oflludy,on the nice manage- and again, that luoour i: only the ment of which their future turn of price efjq/lfame, and that whatever

talle depends.

At that age it is natural for them to be more captivated with what is brilliant than what is liiliti, and to prefer fplendid negligence to pain- ful atid humiliating cxacineis.

A facility in compofing, a lively, and what is called a mallerliv hand- ling the chalk or pencil, are, it muli be confelied, captivating qualities to young minds, and become of courfe the objects of their ambition; they endeavour to imitate thofe daz- zling excellences, which they will find no great labour in attaining. After much time fpent in thefe fri-

volous purfuits, the difficulty will be from 1/1: Iii/Z’.

tto retreat; but it will be then too late; and there is fcarce an infiance of return to fcrupulous labour, af- ter the mind has been relaxed and debauched by thefe delightful trifles. By this ufclefs dexterity they are excluded from all power of advanc- ing in real excellence. Whilfi boys, they are arrived at their utmofi per- feftion; they have taken the lha- dow for the fubllance, and make that mechanical facility the chief excellence of the art, which is only an ornament, and of the merit of which few but painters themlelves are judges.

But young men have not only this frivolous ambition of being thought

_ malierly inciting them on one hand;

but alfo their natural iloth tempting them on the other; they are terri- iied at the profpcct b<i0re them, of the tt-il required to attain exactnefs. '£ he,» with to lind lorne {hotter path to excellence, and hope to obtain the reward of etnirirnce by other means than thofe which the indifL

enfahie rules o: art have ‘i-refcribed.

Ibrirforce of genius may be, tbere i:

no ctr/y nzcl/xod of [Jecozning a good painter.

To be convinced with what per- fevering alliduity the moli eminent painters purfued their fiudies, we need only reflecl on the method of proceeding in their mofi celebrated works. When they had conceived a fubject, they firli made a variety of lketchea, then a finiihed draw- ing of the whole; after that, a more correft drawing of every feparate part, heads, hands, feet, and pieces of drapery; then they painted the picture, and after all re-tour/Jed i: The piéiures, thus wrought with fuch pain, now ap- pear like the effect of enehantment, as if fome mighty genius had flruck. them eff at a blow.

The fiudents, inllead of vying with each other which (hall have the reacliefl: hand, fhould be taught to

contend who ilhall have the‘ puny? and

mo]? cor-rec‘? OuIIKHE; inliead of liriv- in which ihall produce the bright- el tint, or, curioufly trifling, en- deavour to give the glofs of Huff's f0 as to appear real, let their am- bition be directed to contend, which {hall difpofe his drapery in the moll: graceful folds, which lhall give the moli grace and dignity to the hu- man ngure.

In none of the academies that I have vifited, do the [tudents draw ex- acily from the living models which they have before them. lt is not indeed their intention, nor are they direfiited to do it. Their drawings‘ reiembie tne mcdel only in the at- titude. They change the form ac-

_ Cortiint; t0 their vague and uncer-

and incite a dlawliig

lain ideas or beau-fr,