But He Seems To Have Had Too Much
Phlegm To Strike Off The Grand Passions, Or Reach The Sublime
Parts Of Painting.
He has the serenity of Virgil, but wants the
fire of Homer.
There is nothing in his Parnassus which struck me,
but the ludicrous impropriety of Apollo's playing upon a fiddle,
for the entertainment of the nine muses. [Upon better information
I must retract this censure; in as much, as I find there was
really a Musical Instrument among the antients of this Figure, as
appears by a small statue in Bronze, to be still seen in the
Florentine Collection.]
The Last Judgment, by Buonaroti, in the chapel of Sixtus IV.
produced to my eye the same sort of confusion, that perplexes my
ear at a grand concert, consisting of a great variety of
instruments: or rather, when a number of people are talking all
at once. I was pleased with the strength of expression, exhibited
in single figures, and separate groupes: but, the whole together
is a mere mob, without subordination, keeping, or repose. A
painter ought to avoid all subjects that require a multiplicity
of groupes and figures; because it is not in the power of that
art to unite a great number in one point of view, so as to
maintain that dependence which they ought to have upon one
another. Michael Angelo, with all his skill in anatomy, his
correctness of design, his grand composition, his fire, and force
of expression, seems to have had very little idea of grace.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 444 of 535
Words from 118779 to 119034
of 143308
