Star.
London, England, 1818-03-11 00:00:00

ROYAL ACADEMY.

Mr. Fusati, the Professor of Painting, delivered
his Third Lecture on Thursday evening.
It was entirely upon chiaro-scuro, and back-grounds.
—The literal sense of this compound word is well
known. In its contracted sense it is applied to a
single figure only ; and in its most extensive, to a
composition. The use of the chiaro-scuro is to give
substance to form, place to figures, and to create
space. It is legitimate or spurious ; when the former,
it is the assistant of expression, form, and character ;
when the latter, a palliative for them. Of every sub-
ject unity is the soul ; unity, therefore, is inseparable
from chiaro-scuro : the next requisite to chiaro-seuro

is truth. Mere light and shadow, as seen commonly
in nature, are not legitimate chiaro-scuro ; it is the
business of art to arrange, by fixing one central light
from which all others must emanate like rays. The
most extraordinary, the most astonishing effects of
light and shadow, when directed by comprehensive
genius, become legitimate chiaro-scuro. The most
natural, without it, is spurious. It was remarked,
that chiaro-scuro sprung from LEONARDO-DA VINCI,
and the degree of doubt, and even censure, with
which the use of it was then received, was very ex-
traordinary; only one member of the Tuscan school
adopted it, and it was afterwards suffered to dwindle
to evanescense. The Roman School never adopted
it ; no principle of it is to be traced in any of the
works of RAPHAEL ; it was the school of colour,
Venice, which paid implicit obedience to its mandates.
There it first appeared with GIORGIONE. Several
fine works of the Masters of this school were com-
mented upon ; for exemplification, particularly the
Peter Martyr and St. Lawrence of TITIAN, and the
celebrated awful picture of TINTORETTO ; where the
expression of twilight, eclipse, or what precedes a
storm, an earthquake, a hurricane, displays all the
11 powers of chiaro-scuro.—ln the pictures of PAoLo
VERONESE, on account of that gaiety of mind which
ever led him to represent large assemblies, chiaro-
scuro is in a great measure absorbed in variety of
colours. But the highest summit of perfection in
light and shadow was to be found in CORREGIO de-
sign, composition, and colour, were all subordinate
to his chiaro-scuro : he expanded its powers through
heaven and earth. The Professor gave a mastzrly
character of ConREGIO. The rest of the Lecture was
occupied by observations upon back-grounds; it
would be tedious to follow him with any degree of
minuteness. The great advantage POUSSIN'S pictures
derive from them, and their total neglect by RA-1
PHAEL and MICHAEL ANGELO, were observed.—
A picture might become sublime and pathetic, by
an appropriate back-ground ; by this, also a sublime
and pathetic picture might become more interesting.
The figure of a female, seated on a rock, would ex-
press little more than insipidity; the genius of REY-
NOLDS had elevated its character, by the contrast of
a boisterous ocean in the back-ground. The genius
of REYNOLDS, likewise, in the figure of a female
contemplating the moon upon the lucid waters, had,
amalgamated elegance with sympathy and desire--
In the course of the observations upon the back-
grounds, it was remarked, that the Apollo a Belvi-
dere and Jupiter, of PHIDIAS, were never formed for
a room, and that we might very frequently discover
how far an artist had penetrated his subject., by his
choice of scenery.

Among the numerous establislunettu for the culti-
vation of genius, may be recommended to our readers
as truly worthy of notice, the Salton of Arts, in Old
Bond-street. Some very excellent specimens of an-
cient and modern artists are there to be met with.

EFFECTS 0, NITRE OE WOUNDb.--IF is the common
practice of farriers and others to introduce nitre into
wounds, to prevent mortification, as they call it ; but
it cannot be too generally known, that this substance
introduced into the body by the vascular system, ope-
rates as a poison, and seldom fails of effecting death.