Star.
London, England, 1817-01-11 00:00:00

ROYAL AcAnEmn

Thursday evening, Mr. Fusco delivered an intro..
ductory discourse to his course of Lectures upon
Painting ; the following is the substance
That process which distinguished the restoration of
the Ails among the Greeks, distinguished it among
the Italiens. It was the process of clature. Religion
established die Arts among the &talents ;
Reli-
gion and Commerce the Moderns were indebted for
them; Religion gave them nobleness and sublimity
of style. Poetry had, in all ages, arrived at its sue -
mit of perfectisn, but Painting attained excellence
only at particular and few periods. It was to Scalp-
tare we principally owe the restored n of this art, let
it was by imitating the as refuves of the Antienta is
farmed the conception.
Commencing with Leonardo da Vinci, as the first
artist that lived of considerable reputation, Mr. Fuseli
remarked, that his universality of style, the striking
character of his pictures, were proves bial ; though be
was lull of energy, he had not power to follow that
grace which 1w courted s his pictures abounded with
character.....eheracter was his grand study; the form
and besides of his figures might be referred wetter('
nom of which be was the supposed Giber.
With respect to Michael Angelo, the principles, the
stamina of his works, were the stamina of Nature; .he
had united magnificence of style and perspicuity of
form; his works were universally grand, his ilea' wise
and sublime; hiss figures were without exception be.
ynnd the human species; it was he alone that had ex-
emplified in his works a true conception of the beam
ideal. His subjects were su daring that they seemed
the productions of youthful inebriety, yet the ine.
briety of a superior and wonderful mind; lie
burst upon the world like an ()lie:fed sun ; pro.
orrery rocked him in the cradle; character ennobled
his limbs; he knew that such a hand, such a foot,
was characteristic that belonged to such a body; thus
through the individual pails of his figures was a per-
fect modem and agreement. Character wit also the
grandobjeet of Michael Angelo, it reigned throughout
his works ; his strokes, and even the marks of his pen
were powerfully characteristic. If Angelo made the
'figures of his gods too stern, those of Raphael are by
far too affable. With respect to the Litter's concep-
tion of ideal female beauty, we are told he implicitly
folloWed a model he had formed in his own mind,
rather than an exaggeration of those of Michael
Angelo. The various Madonna ise has painted—Mary
Magdalene even to the hands, feet, and extremities,
perfectly possesses the true character of a women in
love. Angelo produced figures of a generic rage—
Raphael formed beings strongly expressive of human
wants.

Titian, in his pictures of Cain and Abel, Abraham
and Isaac, David and Go'WI, by his daring fortsbort-
enings, and by his beauti4il unison of colour, had
shewn that he possessed tvzry thing that was neces-
sary to form a good painter ; his other pictures were
in no respect equal to these; throughout his Aggro;
there was more elasticity than muscle. Soft transi-
lions from the convex to the concave, were the style
of Correggio.—C•alegio did not possess a true idea
of the sublime; twr the beauties of his works he was
beholden to c!•iaru-scuro, which he had often made
serviceable even in concealing bad drawing. Angelo
lived to see the style he bad given birth to, propagated
by the. Venetian anti Tuscan Schools. Parmagmio
contrasted his style betwecen the character of Angelo
and the grace ri Corregio : however, I e often c trried
the contrast to the boundaries of ridicule. Lewis
Carracci and his cousins, towards the decline of the
arts is the 16th century, attempted to (Nubia the
various styles of the most' celebrated artists. To
refer to the sister art for the results to be expected
;Torn such a union,, we might consider a production,
composed of the works of Shakespeare, Addison, Con-
ureve, and many others, jrunbled nether by Nicho-
las Rowe; what good effort could he expected to be
produced from such A mixture of causes ? With re-
spect to the merits of Caracci, be was the ;motor of
that solemn hue so often recornmenc'ed, ..nJ so wel
dapted to accompany the historic style. His pupils
were inferior to h. rn ; and froM this artist pain ill con.'
Hatted to decline till it again dwindled into obscurity.