not suppose to have been the places where the choicest works of arts were placed."

Premising thus much, concerning the impropriety of judging of the Roman schools of painting in general by the specimens discovered at Pompeii, we proceed to notice some of the existing remains of art in that long buried city. Examples are found, in great number, of the walls of apartments being painted in a fanciful manner, and sometimes the method employed by the artist is very singular. The picture, though not in an ill state of preservation, and though to be seen at a convenient distance, is quite undistinguishable on a nearer approach. Sir W. Gell describes a painting of this kind in a chamber near the entrance of the Chalcidium. At a certain distance a town, a tent, and something like a marriage ceremony, might be perceived; but which vanished into an assemblage of apparently unmeaning blots, so as to entirely elude the skill of the artist who was endeavouring to copy it at the distance of three or four feet. Another picture of the same kind was visible in the chamber of the Perseus and Andromeda. An entire farm-yard, with animals, a fountain, and a beggar, seemed to invite the antiquary to a closer inspection, which only produced confusion and disappointment, and proved that the picture could not be copied, except by a painter possessing the skill and touch of the original artist. A house of the minor class, yet remarkable for the paintings with which it was adorned, was visited by Mayois in 1812. He copied two of them, and shortly after that time the plaster detaching itself from the wall, they fell, and were destroyed. The subject of one of them was taken from the Odyssey, and represents Ulysses and Circe, at the moment when the hero, having drunk of the charmed cup, draws his sword and advances to avenge his companions. The goddess, terrified, makes her submission at once, as described by Homer, while her two attendants fly in alarm. Circe uses the very gesture of supplication so constantly described by Homer, as she sinks on her knees, extending one hand to clasp the knees of Ulysses, with the other endeavouring to touch his beard. house called Casa Carolina, because it was excavated in the presence of Queen Caroline, the paintings were found in good preservation, though they have rapidly decayed since that period. Two of them are engraved in Sir W. Gell's work. One of them is explained to be either Diana and Endymion, or Venus and Adonis. A youth, whose head is encircled with rays of light, is sitting down holding two spears; a female figure of great beauty is approaching him, and between them is Hymen with his torch and palm-branch. The female is rather scantily dressed, but richly ornamented with ear-rings, necklace, armlets, and bracelets. The other picture represents Perseus and Andromeda after the hero has slain the monster. He holds behind him something like a skull, which is probably intended for Medusa's head, and his double-pointed sword lies beside him on the ground. Andromeda is in full costume, and wears a white tunic, with a blue peplum or large wrapper.

In a

| divided by a drapery about breast-high, and of a sort of dark bluish-green, like the tent itself. Behind this stand several warriors, the golden shield of one of whom, whether intentionally or not on the part of the painter, forms a sort of glory round the head of the principal hero. It is probably the copy of one of the most celebrated pictures of antiquity. When first discovered, the colours were fresh, and the flesh particularly had the transparency of Titian. It suffered much and unavoidably, during the excavation, and something from the means taken to preserve it, when a committee of persons qualified to judge, had decided that the wall on which it was painted was not in a state to admit of its removal in safety. At length, after an exposure of more than two years, it was thought better to attempt to transport it to the studii at Naples, than to suffer it entirely to disappear from the wall. It was accordingly removed with success in the summer of 1826, and it is hoped that some remains of it may exist to posterity." In the same house is a representation on a white ground of the combat between the Greeks and Amazons. Some of the female warriors are in chariots, some on horses, and they are armed with bows, shields, and battle-axes. They are clothed in blue, green, and purple draperies, and are represented in violent action. The men are distinguished by wearing helmets, while the women have the head bare. These figures are more remarkable for their spirited composition, than for accuracy of drawing. A very beautiful production ornaments a chamber in this house, called, from the subject of the picture, the chamber of Leda. Pictures of Venus and Cupid, of Ariadne, and of the sacrifice of Iphigenia, also serve to increase the interest attached to this dwelling.

The house of the female dancers in the street of Herculaneum, is remarkable for the beauty of its paintings. Among them are four elegant figures of female dancers, from which the house receives its name. Another represents a figure reposing on the borders of a clear lake, surrounded by villas and palaces, on the bosom of which a flock of ducks and wild fowl are swimming. The Fullonica, or scouring-house, had its walls adorned by a very interesting series of paintings, where the various processes connected with fulling and scouring cloth are admirably illustrated. The house of the tragic poet, and the houses of the great and little fountains, excited a great sensation at the time of their discovery, not so much for their extent, as on account of the beauty and richness of their decorations. In the former dwelling was found a painting that has been esteemed one of the most beautiful specimens of ancient art that has descended to modern times. The subject is Achilles delivering Briseis to the heralds. It is thus described by Sir W. Gell:-"The scene seems to take place in the tent of Achilles, who sits in the centre. Patroclus, with his back towards the spectator, and with a skin of deeper red, leads in from the left the lovely Briseis in a long and floating veil of apple-green. Her face is beautiful, and, not to dwell upon the archness of her eye, it is evident that the pouting of her ruby lip was imagined by the painter as one of her most bewitching attributes. Achilles presents the fair one to the heralds on the right; and his attitude, his manly beauty, and the magnificent expression of his countenance, are inimitable. The tent seems to be

At the north-east angle of the Forum, stands an edifice called the Pantheon, which contains several paintings worthy of notice. The designs are well composed and the colours brilliant. One of the most interesting is, that of a female artist, holding in one hand an oval white palette, apparently of silver, in the other, brushes tinged with several colours. Her five fingers appear to grasp the palette, through as many holes perforated in the metal. The paintings, for the most part, consist of architectural compositions of long aërial columns, vistas seen through doorways, showing the ornamented ceilings, a variety of figures and borders of flowers generally painted in dazzling colours, among which, bright vermilion, jet black, deep crimson, azure blue, and bright yellow, prevail to form the ground. A variety of mixed tints are added to these, which consist principally of light greys, pink, purple, and green. In the centre of compartments formed by the arabesques, historical subjects are painted. The subject of one is the return of Ulysses in disguise to Ithaca, and his meeting with Penelope, as recorded in the nineteenth book of the Odyssey. The picture represents the queen inquiring of the supposed mendicant stranger for tidings of Ulysses. She is clothed in a violet coloured robe, and a white mantle, or perhaps a species of veil. She holds the materials for spinning in her hands. Ulysses has a white tunic, and a yellow chlaymis or pallium. The attendant Eurynome is also represented. The distinguishing characteristic of this painting is said to be its total absence of affectation. There is not that strong effect of light and shadow employed in modern painting, for though the picture is shaded it is only to a depth that might exist in the open air. The following remarks of Sir W. Gell, made in connection with the painting we refer to, are interesting and important:-"It is of consequence to preserve everything which can convey to us the concep tions which the ancients themselves formed on the subjects connected with poetry and history, before dress and manners had undergone that complete change which took place soon after the general introduction of Christianity. By collecting the materials which Pompeii and Herculaneum have already furnished, and may hereafter supply, we shall probably, ere long, have the means of forming editions of the writers of antiquity, and decorating our classical and mythological dictionaries with figures and illustrations which the ancients themselves might have approved, but which have hitherto been attempted in vain."

In the house of the Questor, otherwise called the house of the Dioscuri, or sons of Jupiter, there are some excellent paintings of figures, among which we may notice that of Jupiter seated on his throne, and crowned by Victory, attired in her usual flying drapery and with S.C. on her shield. The figure represented in our frontispiece a.s represents Victory, but differs materially from that of which we have just spoken. It is conjectured that the

genius of Rome may possibly be intended by this elegant figure, as the globe in her hand my understood to signify. The trophy in her left hand proves the goddess to be of Roman, and not of Grecian invention. The globe does not bear any representation of oceans or continents, but is merely marked with a few indistinct touches.

From the preceding account it will be evident, that although the faults of the paintings at Pompeii taken as a whole may be numerous, as it respects accuracy of perspective and other important particulars, still there is sufficient beauty in many of the groups and single figures, to make these remains of ancient art important to those who wish to study the grouping and composition of the ancients, and to render them worthy of their most attentive consideration.

Mrs. Callcott mentions the discovery of two very beautiful specimens of antique painting, found in a vineyard near Rome in 1823, which seem to corroborate her opinion that the pictures scattered through the Italian provinces were generally inferior to those belonging to Rome itself or the immediate neighbourhood. One of these was the half figure of a boy, with a double flute; broad in colour and effect, and round and fine in form, somewhat resembling one of the Venetian frescoes, particularly those of Paul Veronese. The other was a Ganymede, very beautiful in form, and remarkable for the effect of light and shadow. The light in this painting is described as falling principally on the body of Ganymede in the centre, and illuminating the blue sky on the left; but a low light stone altar is placed on the right to balance it. Over the altar an eagle with outstretched wings is dark, and the shadow is continued behind the lower part of the figure of the boy by a purple mantle.

SECTION VII. MATERIALS EMPLOYED IN THE PAINTINGS OF THE ANCIENTS.

The antients painted principally upon wood, of which we find the larch, the cornel, the cedar, the cypress, the holly, the sycamore, and the box-tree, mentioned by ancient writers. The boards or tablets were prepared with a thin ground of chalk and size of some kind. Linen cloth or canvass was also employed to paint upon, but we have no direct evidence of its use before the reign of Nero. Parchment, ivory, and plaster were the other materials. With respect to the pigments employed by the ancients, the greater number are employed still. It is commonly believed that only four colours were known in the time of Apelles, and that these were white and black, and red and yellow ochres. This belief is founded on an expression in Pliny to that effect, but when we find Pliny himself describing the Venus Anadyomene of Apelles, as rising from a green or azure ocean, under a bright blue sky, we are at once undeceived on this point. Other authors lead us to the conclusion, that so many and so beautiful were the ancient pigments, that it is doubtful whether modern science has given us any advantage in this respect. In the Egyptian catacombs, long before the time of the great painters of Grecce, blues and greens are as commonly found as yellows and reds. And we know that in the time of Moses, scarlet, red, blue, and purple, were the colours employed in the furniture of the ark of the covenant, and the vestments of the priests.

Of the white colouring matters, the ceruse, or white lead of modern painters, was known to the ancients, but could not have been so valuable to them, unless they had some oils, or vehicles of that nature, wherewith to apply it, for it turns black when used in water or fresco painting. A natural earth from Egypt, Crete, and Cyrene, was much valued; a very fine pigment was also made of chalk ground with the white glass of which rings and other ornaments were made, and therefore called annulare. The finest description of lime was used, repeatedly washed, and beaten, and then formed into cakes which were dried in the sun.

The Romans divided colours into two classes, florid and grave, and we may adopt this division in speaking of the ancient pigments. The florid colours were the more valuable, and appear to have been cinnabar, minium, armenium, purpurissum, indicum, ostrum, chrysocolla.

Vermilion, called in its rough state cinnabar, is the most brilliant and valuable red, and appears to have had something of a sacred character in the estimation of the Romans, since the first duty of a censor, in entering upon his office, was to paint Jupiter's face with vermilion, and the faces of all the gods were adorned in a similar manner. Theophrastus tells us, that Callias, an Athenian, calcined

it, and brought it to its very fine colour. Minium, or red lead, is often confounded with native cinnabar, but is decidedly inferior in quality, and blackens on exposure to light and air, unless secured by strong varnishes. Armenium, purpurissum, indicum, or indigo, and ostrum, were different shades of blue, the first being the splendid colour now called ultra-marine. Theophrastus says that one of the kings of Egypt invented the method of making the beautiful Armenian blue, so precious, that kings sent presents of it to each other. The lapis lazuli, from which the colour is obtained, is found in Siberia and on the borders of Persia, as well as in China, where the preparation of the colour has long been known. Some of the ancient imitations of this beautiful colour were composed of earth, boiled with woad, or indigo. Several lumps of a deep blue substance, found in the baths of Titus, were analyzed by Sir Humphrey Davy, and were found to be a frit made by means of soda, and coloured with oxide of copper. Powdered and mixed with chalk, they produced tints exactly corresponding with the blues still preserved on the walls of the same baths. Indigo was introduced into the West from India, not long before Pliny's time, and was immediately adopted for shadows and strong lines. All the ancient greens examined by Davy, proved to be combinations of copper, and there is every reason to believe that the native chrysocolla was carbonate of copper. The name of chrysocolla (gold-glue), was probably derived from the green powder used by goldsmiths as solder, into which copper entered.

The austere colours were more numerous than the florid. Of the red earths, Sinopis, brought from the city of Sinope in Pontus, was much esteemed. The red grounds at Pompeii and elsewhere were made with this colour. It is now sold in our shops as Armenian bole, and is used in some manufactures. There was a red colour used by the ancients especially to represent blood, and from their account of it, they were evidently ignorant or its origin. They described it as produced by the mixed blood of elephants and dragons in their deadly fights. This is probably the same substance still called dragon's blood, the resin of the Dracono dreco of Linnæus. Sandaracha was a substance found in gold and silver mines, varying between red and yellow. There was also a paler sort of sandaracha, which, with orpiment, or sulphuret of arsenic, and the several ochres, made up their different yellows. The Attic and Gallic ochres were pale, but many of those found in the hills near Rome were darker, and their tints were still farther deepened by burning. Several of the ochres when burnt assume a reddish hac. The blacks used by the ancients appear to have been the soot collected from burning such substances as resin or pitch. Black was also obtained from a peculiar earth, and from the blood of the cuttle fish. Atramentum was the name given to the best kinds of black-Kalcanthon, to the vitriolic black, only used for staining wood. Two kinds of blue were formed with a sand procured in Egypt, Scythia, and Cyprus, which was dyed with the juice of herbs. These blues were called respectively caeruleum and lomentum.

In concluding our notice of this subject we employ the language of Sir Humphrey Davy:-"It appears that the Greek and Roman painters had almost all the same colours as those employed by the great Italian masters, at the period of the revival of the arts in Italy. They had indeed the advantage over them in two colours, the Vestorian or Egyp tian azure, and the Tyrian or marine purple.

"The azure, the red and yellow ochres, and the blacks, are the colours which seem not to have changed at all in the ancient fresco paintings. The vermilion is darker than recently made Dutch cinnabar, and the red lead is inferior in tint to that sold in the shops. The greens in general are dull. Massicot and orpiment were probably among the least durable of the ancient colours.

"If red and yellow ochres, blacks and whites, were the colours most employed by Protogenes and Apelles, so are they likewise the colours most employed by Raphael and Titian in their best style. The St. John and Venus in the gallery at Florence, offer striking examples of pictures in which all the deeper tints are evidently produced by red and yellow ochres, and carbonaceous substances."

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GAINSBOROUGH AND HIS WORKS. II.

LIKE the Dutch artists, Gainsborough was devoted to the representation of the rural features of his own country. His figures, mostly those of country people, are in general conspicuous objects in his pictures. In the National Gallery are his two well-known pictures, the "Watering-Place" and the "Market Cart." The former represents in the foreground a piece of still water, at which some cows are drinking, and children playing among rocks, with tall trees overshadowing. feeling of rural tranquillity is well preserved in this picture: the subject, though simple, is well calculated to exhibit the skill and character of the artist; and the effect results mainly from the contrast of bright lights and deep shadows. The tone of colouring is, however, by some thought to be heavy, and the details not well

made out.

The

An idea of the second picture, the "Market Cart," may be conveyed by the frontispiece to our present article. We see a road overgrown with bushy trees; two country girls are seated upon a cart, loaded with turnips and other vegetables; two lads are walking, and other figures enliven the back-ground. The tone of this picture is highly rich and harmonious. According to Dr. Waagen,

It pleases the eye by a warmth of colouring which is peculiar to Gainsborough, yet the tone of the figures is very false, the handling affected and slight, the colouring much broken. What a difference between such a picture and an old Dutch one,-for instance, an Isaac Ostado treating a similar subject! How pithy and solid is his execu tion! how rounded and accurately characterized every individual object, yet without neglecting the harmony of the

whole.

We are, however, inclined to think that there is more justice in the general remarks of Sir Joshua Reynolds, who says :-

A novelty and peculiarity of manner, as it is often a cause of our approbation, so likewise it is often a ground of censure; as being contrary to the practice of other painters, in whose manner we have been initiated, and in whose favour we have perhaps been prepossessed from our infancy, for, fond as we are of novelty, we are upon the whole creatures of habit. However, it is certain that all those odd scratches and marks, which on a close examination, are so observable in Gainsborough's pictures, and which even to experienced painters appear rather the effect of accident than design this chaos, this uncouth and shapeless appearance, by a kind of magic, at a certain distance assumes form, and all the parts seem to drop into their proper places, so that we can hardly refuse acknowledging the full effect of diligence, under the appearance of chance and hasty negligence. That Gainsborough himself considered this peculiarity in his manner, and the power it possesses of exciting surprise, as a beauty in his works, I think may be inferred from the eager desire which we know he always expressed, that his pictures at the Exhibition should be seen near as well as at a distance.

Before resuming our memoir of his life we will distinctly notice one other painting of Gainsborough, and that a remarkable one: it is entitled "the Blue Bov." This is the portrait of a youth in a blue dress, and it is now in the gallery of the Marquis of Westminster. It has a natural elevation of look, and great ease of attitude, but the cerulean splendour of the boy's coat is at first somewhat startling. This picture owed its origin to a dispute between Gainsborough and other artists. Gainsborough's object was practically to disprove the opinion of Sir Joshua Reynolds, that the predominance of blue in a picture was incompatible with good colouring; and in spite of the blue dress, our artist succeeded in producing a harmonious and pleasing effect. in truth there are," says Waagen, "in the cool shades of colours in which blue acts the chief part, very tender and pleasing harmonies, which, however, Sir Joshua, with his way of seeing, could not much approve. The Blue Boy is besides greatly distinguished for spirit and careful solid painting."

"And

Reynolds used to say that Gainsborough could copy Van Dyck so exquisitely that at a certain distance the copy could not be distinguished from the original, or any difference be observed between them. He thought Gainsborough's manner to be peculiarly his own, and one which produced great force and effect: one day, while examining a picture of his with considerable attention, he said, "I cannot make out how he produces his effect."

As Gainsborough's circumstances improved, he felt himself enabled to indulge his peculiar tastes. He was not greatly attached to reading, but considered himself to be well read in the volume of nature, and that that was learning sufficient for him. He did not therefore much covet the intercourse of literary men, but yet he was fond of company, and passionately so of music. He esteemed a good musician as one of the first of men, and a good instrument as one of the noblest works of human skill. He in consequence devoted much of his leisure to fiddles and rebecs: he collected numerous instruments, and received at his table musical professors of all descriptions, except bagpipers. He admired Giardini and his violin,-Abel and his viol-de-gamba, -Fischer and his hautboy, and was delighted with a strolling harper who came from the Welsh mountains to Bath. Music was with him at all times a favourite topic of conversation, and during his leisure he practised by fits and starts on his numerous instruments, and his performance is said to have been worthy of praise.

One of Gainsborough's acquaintances in Bath was Wiltshere, the public carrier, a kind and worthy man, who loved the artist and admired his works. In one of his landscapes the painter wished to introduce a horse, and as the carrier had a very handsome one, he requested the loan of it for a day or two, and named his purpose: the carrier saddled and bridled it, and sent it as a present. Upon this the artist painted the wagon and horses of the friendly carrier, put his whole family and himself into it, and sent it well framed to Wiltshere, with his best respects. This picture is considered to be a capital performance. While our artist resided in Bath, but exhibited his pictures in London, Wiltshere was annually employed in the removal of his paintings, and constantly refused to accept money for his services, but being a great lover of the art, he would ask and obtain a small picture of the painter, according to the amount of carriage performed. Several of these pictures still remain in the family of the carrier, and their value is justly appreciated.

When settled in London, Gainsborough engaged in portraiture and landscape painting with fresh feeling and increasing success. He had a fine house and gallery in Pall Mall, and, though Sir Joshua was then high in favour, yet there was room for another, who, to just delineation of character, added a force and a freedom which approached, and sometimes rivalled, Van Dyck. The splendour of his colours was permanent, and to all his performances he imparted an air of truth.

A conversation or family piece of the king, the queen, and the three royal sisters, was much admired, as also were some sketches of the Duchess of Devonshire; but Gainsborough declined to send to Chatsworth a painting of her Grace, because he felt that "her dazzling beauty, and the sense which he entertained of the charms of her looks and her conversation, took away that readiness of hand and hasty happiness of touch which belonged to him in his ordinary moments."

Gainsborough never attached his name to any of his productions, and very seldom the date. One of his own chief favourite compositions was the "Cottage Girl with her Dog and Pitcher," which is, as Cunningham remarks, a happy and well-considered scene.

Such a picture is well calculated to illustrate the following spirited observations of the above-named

writer: