A Hand-book of the History of Painting

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J. Murray, 1846 - 377 páginas
 

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Página 7 - The best in this kind are but shadows ; and the worst are no worse, if imagination amend them.
Página 273 - The works of David Teniers jun. are worthy the closest attention of a painter who desires to excel in the mechanical knowledge of his art. His manner of touching, or what we call handling, has, perhaps, never been equalled. There is in hia pictures that exact mixture of softness and sharpness which is difficult to execute.
Página 139 - I do not exaggerate when I particularize this print as the most important work which the fantastic spirit of German Art has ever produced. The invention may be ascribed unreservedly to the imagination of the master. We see a solitary Knight riding through a dark glen ; two demons rise up before him, the most fearful which the human breast can conceive — the personification of thoughts at which the cheek grows...
Página 238 - Rubens in my possession : he never afterwards had so brilliant a manner of colouring ; it kills every thing near it. Behind are figures on horseback, touched with great spirit. This is Vandyck's first manner, when he imitated Rubens and Titian, which supposes the sun in the room : in his pictures afterwards, he represented the effects of common daylight : both were equally true to nature ; but his first manner carries a superiority with it, and seizes our attention, whilst the pictures painted in...
Página 192 - Holben's, thinking to have bought it by the help of Mr. Pierce for a little money : I did think to give 200/. for it, it being said to be worth 1000/.; but it is so spoiled that I have no mind to it, and is not a pleasant though a good picture.
Página 60 - The draperies of the three on a gold ground, especially that of the middle figure, could not be improved in simplicity or elegance by the taste of Raphael himself. The three heads . . . are not inferior in roundness, force, or sweetness, to the heads of L. da Vinci, and possess a more positive principle of colour.
Página xxvi - ... principles observed by the Greeks ; first, to make themselves thoroughly acquainted with the common forms of nature, and then, by selecting and combining, to form compositions according to their own elevated conceptions. This is the principle of true poetry, as well as of painting and sculpture. Homer and Shakspeare had probably never seen characters so strongly marked as those of Achilles and Lady Macbeth ; at least, we may safely say, that few of their readers have, and yet we all feel that...
Página xxx - VS mi scrive; ma nelle sue parole riconosco l'amore che mi porta; e le dico che per dipingere una bella, mi bisognerebbe veder più belle; con questa condizione, che VS si trovasse meco a far scelta del meglio: ma essendo carestia e di buoni giudici e di belle donne, io mi servo di certa idea che mi viene alla mente.
Página 247 - This is perhaps the first picture of portraits, in the world, comprehending more of those qualities which make a perfect portrait, than any other I have ever seen...
Página 73 - I suppose the seven pre-eminent angels : the Virgin and St. John the Baptist on each side, and then the Apostles ranged in the usual manner. " In the lower half of the picture stands St. Michael, clad in golden armour, so bright as to reflect in the most complete manner all the surrounding objects. His figure is slender and elegant, but colossal as compared to the rest. He seems to be bending earnestly forward, a splendid purple mantle falls from his shoulders to the ground, and his large wings are...

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