which possesses neither form nor colour in itself and which no eye is capable of beholding i never saw the want of atmosphere more striking than in a picture full of it was intended to illustrate the fable of the adorned in borrowed but the was only to be found upon examination for there were three nearly as large as life crowded into a moderate sized painting and two of them having tails expanded the was literally covered with feathers these it is true were beautifully executed and had the piece been called a picture of s feathers it might have been admired but there was a total absence of some of the most essential parts of a and the eye turned away with weariness or disgust while the mind the poetry of painting formed as to the meaning of the painter with a single idea in describing this picture my mind very naturally to one in the same exhibition almost immediately opposed to it in but still more so in character it was if i recollect right by one of the and represented a sunset upon a level beach the sky was still glowing with all the gorgeous tints of evening but the sun was not visible and there was neither nor wave nor to reflect his light all was a complete flat gilded with his beams and the sea and the shore were alike but the artist acquainted with the principles of mind as well as matter had not forth this mere flat to brave the consequent contempt of mankind he had wisely given to his picture a of interest without wliich it must have been a complete blank we have before observed that whatever is beautiful or sublime does not create intense sensations of pleasure without some link of human fellowship either real or imaginary so the painter of this picture had placed in the middle distance or rather in the of his piece two human beings whose tall shadows fell behind them on uie ground they might be consulting about the tides or travellers resting by the way or poets gazing on the golden sky their dress and appearance revealed nothing nor was it of consequence that they should they were human and that was enough imagination could supply the rest and people that glowing scene with all the images familiar or fantastic that wait upon the sun s decline it was the perfect harmony of this picture which made tht charm so irresistible � the illusion so complete and whenever the delight or the beauty of landscape painting is considered harmony must be acknowledged to be the basis upon which both are founded it ib that the external aspect of nature perpetual contrast both in form and but this very contrast is in harmony with the whole for our ideas of beauty are chiefly derived from the principles which the external world and amongst these we may reckon it not the least important that there can be no brilliant light deep shadow in speaking of the pleasure derived from painting i have found in necessary to make frequent use of the word a word which might unquestionably be to many other sources of human gratification but in reference to the illusion to which we willingly and necessarily submit ourselves in order to find greater pleasure in the productions of the pencil it may not be to offer a few remarks in this place those who have never studied the art of painting are not aware how much we are indebted for the pleasure we receive from it to a natural process which takes place in the mind of the the painter who has no brighter materials than red and yellow clay to work with can ro dispose them as to represent the splendour and of a summer sunset upon which we gaze till our eyes are almost dazzled with the of those burning beams in the centre of his piece he places the glowing of day smiling his brightest before he sinks to rest upon his couch of crimson clouds on either side are trees whose foliage is bathed in the same golden hues and if managed they will form a vista in excess of light while the whole is by a group of panting cattle some of them holding down their heads as if in the very of patient endurance while their tails are curled about in every possible variety of posture to show with what they are ofi the of insects whose busy and hum is almost loud enough to be heard on first asking why the little spot of yellow paint which represents the sun looks so much more brilliant in the picture than on the we are told it is the of the different of light which thus the brightness of the centre but let the same colours be placed without any regard to form in the same order on the and we behold nothing but a heap of paint upon we might gaze till without being dazzled it is because we know that that particular appearance of the sun the sky the earth the trees and the cattle is in reality the invariable accompaniment of intense heat bo on perceiving the same appearance in a picture we persuade ourselves that it i the poetry of life is there if in the same scene and with precisely the same colours the artist should represent the violence of a gale of wind or � of the cattle hut in the same situation and with the same colours he should place a tree a cottage with its roof covered with snow and a miserable half starved man vainly endeavouring to fold a blanket round his shivering limbs there is no eye that would feel the same difficulty in gazing on the picture no mind either of man or woman that would be able while contemplating such a scene to undergo the process of 