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The photographic news
- Bandzählung
- 12.1868
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- 1868
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- Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
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- Bandzählung
- No. 514, July 10, 1868
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Zeitschrift
The photographic news
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Band
Band 12.1868
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- Titelblatt Titelblatt I
- Kapitel Preface III
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- Register The Index To Volume XII 619
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328 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. [July 10, 1868 The title of the book is “ The Art of Painting in all its Branches, Methodically Demonstrated by Discourses and Plates, and Exemplified by Remarks on the Paintings of the Best Masters, and their Perfections and Oversights Laid Open. By Gerald de Lairesse. Translated by John Frederick Fritsch, Painter.” This book was written long before Rey nolds, Gainsborough, and those famous painters who revived the art of portraiture became known to the world. This is what the translator says of his author and his book ; he might have been talking satirically of photographic art teaching in ourown day :—" The author’s known abilities and great reputation in Holland have justly recommended him to the esteem of the most knowing there, I thought it very proper to make him speak English; and the rather (to use his own reason) for that, though many excellent authors have written on painting, yet, in bulk, they seem rather to cry up the art and the artist than lay down solid rules for attainment. To which I may add, that those authors are mostly useless to an Englishman, and few or none copious enough to answer general purpose; nor at best are of general service in England, where fresh and fair nature is preferred before the brown and warm colouring of some other countries, especially Italy, where the best books have been written on the subject. But principally for that I think nothing has been published here so learned, full, and com plete, and so well explained by plates and examples as the author will bo found to be ; nor, perhaps, wherein por traiture (a branch which England mightily affects, sur passing in this particular their mural decorations, which, in the judgment of the judicious, would better have been left blank walls) is so copiously handled.” Passing by some hundreds of pages on pencilling, beauty, ordonnance or composition, colouring, landscapes, &c., let us extract some sentences from Book vii. “ Of Portraiture.” the subject we have in hand. Since we meet with no presidence in the art, nor pretend to insist on ceremonies, we shall treat of things as they occur to us, and as clearly and profitably as possibly. As in music and singing, a good ear is requisite, so in portraiture it is impossible to excel without a good eye; such an one, I mean, as is governed by sedate and sober sensation, and not by self-love and passion. Next, we must bo thoroughly judicious in the graceful choice of light, and the place where the person is to sit, that the face may appear to the best advantage; and then the body is to be dis posed to the most natural and becoming posture. As for the choice of light, in order to apply it most advantageously for the benefit of either sex, it is certainly a matter of great moment, since the fair sex commonly partake of more delicacy and grace than men, so they must have a light as beautiful and agreeable as their persons. But our author is heterodox here. He says : “ I think those masters have made the best pieces who have chosen a front-light.” He should have been painter to Queen Eliza beth. In continuation of the subject of light and shade he mentions some things that should be avoided by those who imitate M. Adam-Salomon. We see that many, without difference, be the figure in full propor tion or in little, give the touches under the nose so black and dark that it seems as if a black beetle were proceeding thence; whereas it is certain, and nature teaches it, that when the light falls strong on the nose, the nostrils and their ground-shades can never appear so black; and yet some think they have done great feats in using force and strength, and will do it even in a fair and tender face, and no bigger than the palm of the hand, although the deepest black should not have force enough to shade the other objects of a darker colour, such as hair, a cloak, or other garment: by which sort of management the face seems to jump out of the frame, and to desert the wig, hair, and garment. We must not so understand when we teach that the face must have the main light; we mean only that all ought to keep due order, that it may look natural. On dress, accessories, and the managemant of the sitter, we have the following capital remarks, which are as applic able to photography as to painting. There will be noticed a curious vein of satire throughout. He is rather hard on the ladies. Self-conceit and self-love seem natural to all, but especially to the female sex, who, whether their pictures are drawn on their own accounts or through the desire of others, imagine they deserve much homage; nor stops it here, for although they may possess a tolerable share of beauty, yet that is not satisfactory enough, they must be flattered, and their pictures painted in the most beautiful light; and unhappy is the painter who abates but half a drachm of such a beauty. For these reasons the master is obliged to have a principal regard to light and shade; but to the light chiefly, since it is well known that nothing gives greater’ offence to ignorant people than shades, and still more when they are strong and broad; they believe they speak to the purpose in objecting: ‘ Well, how can it be possible that my neck and cheek should have such large shades, when I daily con sult my glass and find my skin all of a colour and white ? ’ and then the painter is blamed. But are not such reasons weak and absurd ? It is evident that backgrounds contribute very much to the charm ing grace of objects ; nay, I dare say, that the decorum mostly de pends thereon; and though many imagine that a black or dark ground always becomes a portrait, yet it is no rule, since, as before has been said, each individual object requires a particular background ; besides, if such things were to be taken for rules, the art would smell too much of an handicraft. It may not be foreign to our main design to put the artist in mind of the application and right use of such materials as may enrich a portrait and make it look the more noble. This is so great a point in portraiture that when well known we need never be at a stand through the misshape or defects we often meet with in the disposition of a portrait, and which sometimes must not be hid, since we have often means enough for obviating them with seeming reason, and without forcing nature; as a long and narrow face may be helped by a hood or other head-dress ; a thick and too round a face by the contrary; a figure too lonesome may be embellished by such things as are proper to it, which serve not only for ornament and grandeur, but also to express the sitter’s lustre and virtue ; but care must be taken that the figure of the sitter, as the principal object of the piece, fill up the major part of it, either by a spreading sway of the posture, or by the addition of some proper by-work, by which means it will have a good effect. Some persons may bo too long and sharp-nosed, or too hollow-eyed; for such, a low light is most proper; but when it is otherwise, an high light. In this manner a judicious master ought to help the defects of nature, without adding to or taking anything from them; yet, to the sorrow’ of impartial masters, the contrary is too often seen, for with many portrait painters their work is better known by their particular manner than the sitter by his picture. I think, also, that the common and useful dress of a person is a great addition to likeness; for no sooner is the dress altered but the look does the same, and shows itself either more or less pleasing and agreeable. Some painters keep in their room for the use of all their sitters, be it he or she, without discrimination, certain pieces of cloth and velvet, by which they imitate the Roman manner ; but thereby the persons represented become more or less unknown. The following is capital advice :—■ The painter should likewise discover and know’, as much as pos - sible, the nature and temper of the person sitting, and in what cir cumstance lies his favourite pleasure; that he may, when sitting, be entertained with talk pleasing to him, and his air thereby kept steady and serene, and his posture natural and easy; avoiding every thing tending towards sorrow or frightful relations; for these are apt to ruffle the mind and so to decompose the face that it cannot easily be got right again; but if the sitter himself do, by his talk, discover his own bent, the painter ought to humour him to the last,' whether it be jocose or moderate, without exaggeration or diminu tion, yet with such a variety as not to prove tiresome and make the face alter. But to return to the original matter: I must warn the artists not to give in too much to what is common, or humour ignorant people so much as not to reserve to themselves some liberty of doing what they think proper for the sake of reputation. Surely this cannot be strange advice; for a master who prefers money before art has no more dangerous rock to split on, since the ignorant multitude usually insist to be drawn according to their own whims. One says to a good master: " Draw me thus, or thus ; let me have one hand on my breast, and the other on a table; ’ another must have a flower in his hand, or a flower pot must be by him ; another must have a dog, or other creature, in his lap; another will have his face turned this or that way ; and some who would be drawn in the Roman manner must be set off by a globe or cloak on the table, whether such ornaments be proper or not. On mentioning the Roman manner, I find that it signifies a loose airy undress, somewhat savouring of the mode, but in nowise agreeing with the ancient Roman habit. This is admirable and true. The fine gird at the " Roman” manner is capital. In the author’s day it was the custom to have portraits and statues habited in classical costume, with, perhaps, the addition of the immense “ Duvilliers ” wigs of the period, an absurdity that West, greatly daring and against the advice of his brother artists, broke through for the first time in his “ Death of Wolfe.” This manner of trying to make the sitter look a much finer fellow than he
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