NATURE (n.)

AARD (nld.) · INBORST (nld.) · NATUR (deu.) · NATURA (ita.) · NATURE (fra.) · NATUUR (nld.)
TERM USED AS TRANSLATIONS IN QUOTATION
NATURE (eng.) · NATURE (fra.) · NATUREL (fra.)
TERM USED IN EARLY TRANSLATIONS
NATURE (eng.) · NATURE (fra.)

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LINKED QUOTATIONS

9 sources
25 quotations

Quotation

Traveller,
           
Design is the Expressing with a Pen, or Pencil, or other Instrument, the Likeness of any Object by its out Lines, or Contours ; and he that Understands and Mannages well these first Lines, working after Nature still, and using extream Diligence, and skill may with Practice and Judgment, arrive to an Excellency in the Art.
                        Friend,
            Me thinks that should be no difficult Matter, for we see many whose Inclination carys them to Draw any thing they see, and they perform it with ease.
                       
Traveller,
            I grant you, Inclination goes a great way in disposing the Hand, but a strong Imagination only, will not carry a Painter through ; For when he compares his Work to
Nature, he will soon find, that great Judgment is requisite, as well as a Lively Fancy ; and particularly when he comes to place many Objects together in one Piece or Story, which are all to have a just relation to one another. There he will find that not only the habit of the Hand but the strength of the Mind is requisite ; therefore all the Eminent Painters that ever were, spent more time in Designing after the Life, and after the Statues of the Antients, then ever did in learning how to colour their Works ; that so they might be Masters of Design, and be able to place readily every Object in its true situation.
                        Friend,
            Now you talk of Nature and Statues, I have heard Painters blam’d for working after both.
                        Traveller,
            It is very true, and justly ; but less for working after Nature than otherwise. Caravaggio a famous Painter is blam’d for having meerly imitated Nature as he found her, without any correction of Forms. And Perugin, another Painter is blam’d for having wrought so much after Statues, that his Works never had that lively easiness which accompanies Nature ; and of this fault Raphael his Scholar was a long time guilty, till he Reform’d it by imitating Nature.

                        Friend,
            How is it possible to erre in imitating Nature ?
                        Traveller,
           
Though Nature be the Rule, yet Art has the Priviledge of Perfecting it ; for you must know that there are few Objects made naturally so entirely Beautiful as they might be, no one Man or Woman possesses all the Advantages of Feature, Proportion and Colour due to each Sence. Therefore the Antients, when they had any Great Work to do, upon which they would Value themselves did use to take several of the Beautifullest Objects they designed to Paint, and out of each of them, Draw what was most Perfect to make up One exquisite Figure ; Thus Zeuxis being imployed by the Inhabitants of Crotona, a City of Calabria, to make for their Temple of Juno, a Female Figure, Naked ; He desired the Liberty of seeing their Hansomest Virgins, out of whom he chose Five, from whose several Excellencies he fram’d a most Perfect Figure, both in Features, Shape and Colouring, calling it Helena.

Expression "Working after nature"

life

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → beauté, grâce et perfection
CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai

Quotation

Friend,
            I have heard Painters blamed for Finishing their Pieces too much : How can that be ?
                        Traveller.
           
Very well : For an over Diligence in that kind, may come to make the Picture look too like a Picture, and loose the freedom of Nature. And it was in this, that Protogenes, who was, it may be, Superiour to Apelles, in every part of Painting ; besides, was nevertheless Outdone by him, because Protogenes could hardly ever give over Finishing a Piece. Whereas Apelles knew, when he had wrought so much as would answer the Eye of the Spectator, and preserve the Natural. This the Italians call, Working A la pittoresk, that is Boldly, and according to the first Incitation of a Painters Genius. But this requires a strong Judgment, or else it will appear to the Judicious, meer Dawbing.

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai
EFFET PICTURAL → touche

Quotation

Traveller.
           
After the Death of Raphael and his Schollars (for, as for Michael Angelo he made no School) Painting seemed to be Decaying ; and for some Years, there was hardly a Master of any Repute all over Italy. The two best at Rome were Joseph Arpino and Michael Angelo da Caravaggio, but both guilty of great Mistakes in their Art : the first followed purely his Fancy, or rather Humour, which was neither founded upon Nature nor Art, but had for Ground a certain Practical, Fantastical Idea which he had framed to himself. The other was a pure Naturalist, Copying Nature without distinction or discretion ; he understood little of Composition or Decorum, but was an admirable Colourer.

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai

Quotation

The next thing to be considered in an Historical Piece, is the Truth of the Drawings, and the Correction of the Design, as Painters call it ; that is, whether they have chosen to imitate Nature in her most Beautiful Part ; for though a Painter be the Copist of Nature, Yet he must not take her promiscuously, as he finds her, but have an Idea of all that is Fine and Beautiful in an Object, and choose to Represent that, as the Antients have done so admirably in their Paintings and Statues : And ’tis in this part that most of the Flemish Painters, even Rubens himself, have miscarryed, by making an ill Choice of Nature ; either because the Beautiful Natural is not the Product of their Countrey, or because they have not seen the Antique, which is the Correction of Nature by Art ; for we may truly say that the Antique is but the best of Nature ; and therefore all that resembles the Antique, will carry that Character along with it.
                       
Friend,
            I remember, you reckoned it to me among the Faults of some Painters, that they had studied too long upon the Statues of the Antients ; and that they had indeed thereby acquired the Correction of Design you speak of ; but they had by the same means lost that Vivacity and Life which is in Nature, and which is the true Grace of Painting.

                        Traveller.
            ’Tis very true, that a Painter may fall into that Error, by giving himself up too much to the Antique ; therefore he must know, that his Profession is not tyed up to that exact Imitation of it as the Sculptor’s is, who must never depart from that exact Regularity of Proportion which the Antients have settled in their Statues ; but Painters Figures must be such as may seem rather to have been Models for the Antique, than drawn from it ;
and a Painter that never has studied it at all, will never arrive at that as Raphael, and the best of the Lombard Painters have done ; who seem to have made no other Use of the Antique, than by that means to choose the most Beautiful of Nature.

École flamande
École lombarde
RAFFAELLO (Raffaello Sanzio)
RUBENS, Peter Paul

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai
CONCEPTION DE LA PEINTURE → dessin
CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → antique

Quotation

An easie way to take the naturall, and lively shape of the leafe of any hearbe or tree, which thing passeth the Art of man to imitate with Pen or Pensill.


First take the leafe that you would have, and gently bruise the ribs and veines on the backe side of it, afterwards wet that side with Linseed-oyle, and then presse it hard upon a peece of cleane white paper, and so you shall have the perfect figure of the said leafe, with every veine thereof, so exactly exprest as being lively coloured, it would seeme to bee truly naturall, by this we learne, that Nature being but a little adjuvated or seconded with Art, can worke wonders.
Now for the farther information of such as are desirous of exemplarie instruction, I have set downe in order following the delineation of the proportion of such things as in my judgement seemed most necessarie for young beginners, and those in such easie demonstrations as for the most part they consist of equall squares, and require no more for their right understanding, then diligent observation, I might have filled a whole Booke of such like: but having considered that what I had done, was a sufficient ground for a farther procession, I thought fitting to leave each person to the exercise and practise of his best Invention.

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai

Quotation

And it is obvious to any, that have any competent Talent in Painting, how impossible it must needs be, such rare and extraordinary Paintings as seems to emulate and challenge Nature herself in all her luxuriant Variety of Composures and Colour, should ever be express’d, or accomplish’d by the slender Assistance, only of those four Species of Colours  [ndr : white, yellow, red, black] ; and unless they were as comprehensive as the four Elements, out of which they tell us all Things do emerge ; […] yet it will come short of giving a full Answer to the Objection ; for, without Blew, the derivative Colours cannot be made up to furnish and compleat our Painters Palate ; and without this, how can it be imagin’d he [ndr : Apelle] was able to approach the Beauty of the Heavens in the glorious Representation of the Sky ? How could he ever expect to parallel the variegated and unparallel’d Complections of the glorious Gayeties of the Gardens ? In Absence of this, the Fields and sprightly Plants must loose their Verdure, and appear only in their Autumnal Dress ; and his Venus herself must fall short of what she was, for want of a Tenderness to express the Delicacy of her azured Veins.

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai

Quotation

BUT he, of all the PAINTERS, worthy of the highest Reputation, after the Death of Cimabus, was his Disciple Giotto, […] he became Famous for his excellent Skill in expressing the Affections, and all Manner of Gesture, so happily representing every Thing with such an identity and peculiar Conformity to the Original Idea, that he was said to be the true Scholar if Nature.

Conceptual field(s)

L’HISTOIRE ET LA FIGURE → expression des passions
CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai

Quotation

Now the Effects proceeding from Proportion are unspeakable, the Principal whereof, is that Majestie and Beautie which is found in Bodies, called by Vitruvius, EURITHMIA. And hence it is, that when behold a well-proportioned thing, we call it Beautiful, as if we should say, Indued with that exact and comely Grace, whereby all the Perfection of sweet Delights belonging to the Sight, are communicated to the Eye, and so conveyed to the Understanding.
But if we shall enter into a farther Consideration of this
Beauty, it will appear most evidently in things appertaining to Civil Discipline ; for it is strange to consider what effects of Piety, Reverence and Religion, are stirred up in mens Minds, by means of this suitable comeliness of apt proportion. A pregnant example whereof we have in the Jupiter carved by Phidias at Elis, which wrought an extraordinary sense of Religion in the People, whereupon the antient and renowned Zeuxis well knowing the excellency and dignity thereof, perswaded Greece in her most flourishing Estate, that the Pictures wherein this Majesty appeared were dedicated to great Princes, and consecrated to the Temples of the Immortal gods, so that they held them in exceeding great estimation ; partly because they were the Works of those famous Masters, who were reputed as gods amongt men ; and partly because they not only represented the Works of God, but also supplyed the defects of Nature : ever making choice of the Flower and Quintessence of Eye-pleasing delights.

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → beauté, grâce et perfection
CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai

Quotation

Albeit Dame Nature, the cunningest Work-Mistress of all others, doth ordinarily observe so great variety, in all her Workes, that each of her particulars differeth in Beauty and Proportion ; yet notwithstanding, we find by experience, that she is more industrious, In shewing her Art and Skill in some few most Beautifull creatures, whereupon I (insomuch as Art being the counterfeiter of Nature, must ever endeavour to imitate the most absolute things) intending to handle the proportion of a Woman mean not to spend much time in discoursing of the several proportions of all the Sorts of Women which Nature affordeth […].

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai
L’HISTOIRE ET LA FIGURE → proportion

Quotation

The Definition of Painting.


Painting is an Art which with proportionable Lines, and Colours answerable to the life, by observing the Perspective Light, doth so imitate the Nature of corporal things, that it not only representeth the thickness and tenderness thereof upon a Flat, but also their actions, and gestures, expressing moreover divers affections and passions of the Mind.

Conceptual field(s)

PEINTURE, TABLEAU, IMAGE → définition de la peinture
CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai

Quotation

Of the Vertue and Efficacy of Motion.


It is generally confessed of all Men, that all such
Motions in Pictures, as do most neerly resemble the Life, are exceeding pleasant, and contrarywise those that which do farthest dissent from the same, are void of all gracious Beauty, committing the like discord in Nature, which untuned strings do in an instrument. Neither do these motions thus lively imitating Nature in Pictures, breed only an Eye-pleasing contentment, but do also performe the self same effects, which the natural do, for as he which laugheth, mourneth, or is otherwise effected, doth naturally move the beholders to the self same passion, of mirth or sorrow, so a picture artificially expressing the true natural motions, will (surely) procure laughter when it laugheth, pensiveness when it is grieved &c. […], All which points are (in truth) worthy of no less admiration then those miracles of the antient Musicians, who with the variety of their melodious harmony, were wont to stir Men up to wrath and indignation, love, warr, […]. 
But to return thither were I left, I am of Opinion that insomuch as these Motions are so Potent in affecting our Minds, when they be most artifcially counterfeited, we ought for our bettering in the knowledge thereof, to propose unto us the example of Leonard Vincent above all others : Of whom, it is reported, that he would never express any motion in a Picture, before he had first carefully beheld the Life, to the end he might come as neer the same, as was possible : whereunto afterwards joyning Art, his Pictures surpassed the Life.

Conceptual field(s)

L’HISTOIRE ET LA FIGURE → expression des passions
CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai

Quotation

Of Colouring and Shadowing of History in Limning, and also other Necessary Observations.


The differences between Limning Pictures to the Life, or History, are Infinite ; notwithstanding the same Colours that are used for one do also for the other. And to particularise but part of what may be well said upon this Subject, would be too tedeous, if not endless. The most Remarkable is most certainly in the Variety of Colouring of things according to their several Sexes and Ages ; and also of Invention of ordering and well Stelling. All things which are to be represented, are many times according to the Humour, Judgement, and Discretion of the Master. We see generally in the Practice of the best and most Famous Painters, that they that do follow the Life, do tie themselves strictly and precisely to follow what they see in the Life, to immitate it as near as possible ; yet in their Inventions they assume to themselves such a Gentile Liberty and Licence, both in Colouring and Ordering ; but not so far as to run into those Extremes as
Bartholomæus Spranger, Henry Goltzius, Abraham Blomart, and Outeawale, and several other Dutch Painters, run into about the Year 1588 ; for their Inventions at that time and Actions were so extravagantly strain’d and stretch to that degree beyond Nature, that made their Works seem to the Judicious Eye very Ridiculous, and contrary to Nature ; and at that time it was grown to such an Imposture or Mode, that he was counted no Master that could not strain his Actions in that extravagant manner. Which Mode was afterwards laid aside, and the Works that those Masters afterwards made were incomparably Good, by their Embracing more the Ancient Italian way of DESIGNING, which was more Modest, Gentile, and Graceful. So far they abused the Modest Licence, that so Graced the Admirable Works of Titian, Michael Angelo, and most of the Eminent Italians of that Age. And others have been as Extravagant in their Colouring. Which two Extremes may be both avoided by imitating that Divine Titian for Colouring, who was of all others esteemed the best.

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai

Quotation

Of Natural Guidances


The fifth thing in Good Drawing is, that every thing be done by
The Guidance of Nature ; that is, that nothing be exprest but what may accord and agree with Nature in every point. As if we were to design or draw a Man turning his Head over his Shoulder, I must not make him turn or wind more then Nature will admit, nor must any other Action be forced beyond the limits of Nature, neither should any thing be made to come short of Nature ; but Nature, though it is not to be strained beyond its certain bounds, yet it should be quickened to the Highest pitch of it. As if we were to express any man in any Violent Action, as in a Battel, either to strike, or to avoid the Stroke of his Enemy ; or as in Running, or Wrestling, or Leaping, or other Violent Actions : yet must none of these be drawn in a posture that cannot agree with the Motions of Nature, that is, which a Man cannot imitate with his Natural Body. And so for all things else whatsoever, Nature must be the Parent and Patern for all kind of Draughts.

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai

Quotation

Puisqu’il est constant que les figures antiques renferment non seulement tout ce qu’il y a de plus beau dans les proportions ; mais qu’elles sont encore la source des graces, de l’élegance, & des expressions : c’est une étude d’autant plus nécessaire qu’elle conduit au chemin de la belle verité. Il faut s’y exercer sans avoir égard au tems qu’elle exige pour la bien posseder : car puisque l’Antique est la regle de la beauté, il la faut dessiner jusqu’à s’en former une juste & forte idée, qui serve à bien voir la Nature […]
Comme le plus bel exemple que nous ayons dans cette conduite, est celle qu’a tenue Raphaël dans ses Ouvrages, il est bon de les dessiner en même tems, afin qu’il nous serve de guide dans l’heureux mélange qu’il a fait de l’Antique & de la Nature.

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai
CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → beauté, grâce et perfection

Quotation

Nor do we barely see this Variety of Natural Objects, but in Good Pictures we always see Nature Improv’d, or at least the best Choice of it. We thus have nobler and finer Ideas of Men, Animals, Landscapes, &c. than we should perhaps have ever had ;

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai

Quotation

There is some Degree of Merit in a Picture where Nature is Exactly copy’d, though in a Low Subject ; Such as Drolls, Countrey Wakes, Flowers, Landscapes, &c. and More in proportion as the Subject rises, or the End of the Picture is this Exact Representation. Herein the Dutch, and Flemish Masters have been Equal to the Italians, if not Superior to them in general. What gives the Italians, and Their Masters the Ancients the Preference, is, that they have not Servilely follow’d Common Nature, but Rais’d, and Improv’d, or at least have always made the Best Choice of it. This gives a Dignity to a Low Subject, and is the reason of the Esteem we have for the Landscapes of Salvator Rosa, Filippo Laura, Claude Lorrain, the Poussins ; the Fruit of the two Michelangelo’s, the Battaglia, and Campadoglio ; and This, when the Subject it self is Noble, is the Perfection of Painting : As in the best Portraits of Van-Dyck, Rubens, Titian, Rafaëlle, &c. and the Histories of the best Italian Masters ; chiefly those of Rafaëlle ; he is the great Model of Perfection !

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai

Quotation

And here I take the Sublime to be the Greatest, and most Beautiful Ideas, whether Corporeal, or not, convey’d to us the most Advantageously.
By Beauty I do not mean that of Form, or Colour, Copy’d from what the Painter sees ; These being never so well Imitated, I take not to be Sublime, because These require little more than an Eye, and Hand, and Practice. An Exalted Idea of Colour in a Humane Face, or Figure might be judg’d to be Sublime, could That be had, and convey’d to Us, as I think it cannot, since even Nature has not yet been Equall’d by the best Colourists ; Here she keeps Art at a Distance whetever Courtship it has made to her.
In Forms ‘tis Otherwise as we find in the Antique Statues, which therefore I allow to have a Sublimity in them : And should do the same in regard to the same Kind, and Degree of Beauty if it were to be found in any Picture, as I believe it is not. Tho’ in Pictures is seen a Grace, and Greatness, whether from the Attitude, or Air of the Whole, or the Head only, that may justly be Esteem’d Sublime.

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → merveilleux et sublime

Quotation

However I will here make him [ndr : au lecteur] an Offer of an Abstract of what I take to be those by which a Painter, or Connoisseur, may safely conduct himself, [...] Lastly, Nature must be the Foundation, That must be seen at the Bottom ; But Nature must be Rais’d ; and Improv’d, not only from what is Commonly seen, to what is but Rarely, but even yet higher, from a Judicious and Beautiful Idea in the Painters Mind, so that Grace and Greatness may shine throughout ; More, or Less however as the Subject may happen to be.

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai

Quotation

The Face is admirably well Drawn [ndr : du portrait de la comtesse Dowager of Exeter, par Van Dyck]; the Features are pronounc’d Clean, and Firmly, so as ‘tis evident he that did That conceiv’d strong, and Distinct Ideas, and saw wherein the Lines that form’d Those differ’d from all others ; there appears nothing of the Antique, or Raffaelle-Tast of Designing, but Nature, well understood, well chosen, and well manag’d ; the Lights, and Shadows are justly plac’d, and shap’d, and both sides of the Face answer well to each other.

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai

Quotation

ALL that is done in Picture is done by Invention ; Or from the Life ; Or from another Picture ; Or Lastly ‘tis a Composition of One, or More of these.
The term Picture I here understand at large as signifying a Painting, Drawing, Graving, &c.

Perhaps nothing that is done is Properly, and Strictly Invention, but derived from somthing already seen, tho’ somtimes Compounded, and jumbled into Forms which Nature never produced : These Images laid up in our Minds are the Patterns by which we Work when we do what is said to be done by Invention ; just as when follow Nature before our eyes, the only difference being that in the Latter case these Ideas are fresh taken in, and immediately made use of, in the other they have been reposited there, and are less Clear, and Lively.

So That is said to be done by the Life which is done the thing intended to be represented being set before us, tho’ we neither follow it Intirely, nor intend so to do, but Add, or Retrench by the help of preconceiv’d Ideas of a Beauty, and Perfection we imagine Nature is capable of, tho’ ‘tis Rarely, or Never found.
We [ndr : présence du déterminant « a » à cet endroit du texte, mais est à supprimer, voir l’errata au début de l’ouvrage] say a Picture is done by the Life as well when the Object represented is a thing Inanimate, as when ‘tis an Animal ; and the work of Art, as well as Nature ; But then for Distinction the term Still-Life is made use of as occasion requires.

life

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai

Quotation

The Ideas of Better, and Worse are generally attached to the Terms Original, and Coppy ; and that with good reason ; not only because Coppies are usually made by Inferiour Hands ; but because tho’ he that makees the Coppy is as Good, or even a Better Master than he that made the Original whatever may happen Rarely, and by Accident, Ordinarily the Coppy will fall short : Our Hands cannot reach what our Minds have conceiv’d ; ‘tis God alone whose works answer to his Ideas. In making an Original our Ideas are taken from Nature ; which the Works of Art cannot equal : When we Coppy ‘tis these Defective Works of Art we take our Ideas from ; Those are the utmost we endeavour to arrive at ; and these lower Ideas too our Hands fail of executing perfectly : An Original is the Eccho of the Voice of Nature, a Coppy is the Eccho of that Eccho.

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai
PEINTURE, TABLEAU, IMAGE → statut de l'oeuvre : copie, original...

Quotation

PAINTING is indeed a Difficult Art, productive of Curious pieces of Workmanship, and greatly Ornamental ; and its Business is to represent Nature. Thus far the Common Idea is just ; Only that ‘tis More Difficult, More Curious, and More Beautifull than is Commonly Imagin’d.
‘Tis an entertaining thing to the Mind of Man to see a fine piece of Art in Any kind ; and every one is apt to take a sort of Pride in it as being done by one of his Own Species, to whom with respect to the Universe he stands related as to one of the Same Countrey, or the Same Family. Painting affords us a great Variety of This kind of Pleasure in the Delicate, or Bold management of the Pencil ; in the mixture of its Colours, in the Skilful Contrivance of the several parts of the Picture, and infinite Variety of the Tincts, so as to produce Beauty, and Harmony. This alone gives great Pleasure to those who have learn’d to see these things. To see Nature justly represented is very Delightfull, (supposing the Subject is well chosen) It gives us pleasing Ideas, and Perpetuates, and Renews them ; [ndr : le terme Pleasing doit être ajouté ici, cf l’errata présent au début de l’ouvrage] whether by their Novelty, or Variety ; or by the consideration of our own Ease, and Safety, when we see what is Terrible in themselves as Storms, and Tempests, Battels, Murthers, Robberies, &c. Or else when the Subject is Fruit, Flowers, Landscapes, Buildings, Histories, and above all our Selves, Relations, or Friends.
Thus far the Common Idea of Painting goes, and this would be enough if these Beauties were seen, and consider’d as they are to be found in the Works of the Best Masters (whether in Paintings, or Drawings) to recommend the Art. But This is such an Idea of it as it would be of a Man to say He has a Graceful, and Noble Form, and performs many Bodily Actions with great Strength, and Agility, without taking his Speech, and his Reason into the Account.

The Great, and Chief Ends of Painting are to Raise, and Improve Nature ; and to Communicate Ideas ; not only Those which we may receive Otherwise, but Such as without this Art could not possibly be Communicated ; whereby Mankind is advanced higher in the Rational State, and made Better ; and that in a Way, Easy, Expeditious, and Delightful.
The business of Painting is not only to represent Nature, but to make the Best Choice of it ; Nay to Raise, and Improve it from what is Commonly, or even Rarely Seen, to what never Was, or Will be in Fact, tho’ we may easily conceive it Might be.

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai
PEINTURE, TABLEAU, IMAGE → définition de la peinture

Quotation

I own there are Beauties in Nature which we cannot reach ; Chiefly in Colours, together with a certain Spirit ; Vivacity, and Lightness ; Motion alone is a Vast Advantage ; it occasions a great degree of Beauty purely from that Variety it gives ; so that what I have said elsewhere is true, ‘tis impossible to Reach Nature by Art ; But This is not inconsistent with what I have been saying just now ; Both are True in different Senses. We cannot reach what we set [ndr : une erreur est notée dans l’errata présent au début de l’ouvrage : il s’agit du verbe see et non du verbe set] before us, and attempt to Imitate, but we Can carry our Ideas, so far beyond what we have seen, that tho’ we fall short of executing them with our hands, what we do will nevertheless excel Common Nature, Especially in Some particulars, and those very considerable ones.
When I say Nature is to be Rais’d, and Improv’d by Painting it must be understood that the Actions of Men must be represented better than probably they Really were, as well as that their Persons must appear to be Nobler, and more Beautifull than is Ordinarily seen. In treating a History a Painter has Other Rules to go by than a Historian, whereby he is as much Oblig’d to Imbellish his Subject, as the other is to relate it Justly.

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai

Quotation

I. POLYGRAPHICE is an Art, so much imitating Nature, as that by proportional lines with answerable Colours, it teacheth to represent to the life (and that in plano) the forms of all  corporeal things, with their respective passions.
II. It is called in general in Greek
Χρωματινη, in Latine Pictura, and in English the Art of Painting.
III. It is sevenfold (to wit) in
Drawing, Engraving, Etching, Limning, Painting, Washing and Colouring.
IV. Drawing is, that whereby we represent the shape and form of any corporeal substance in rude lines onely.
V. It consists in proportion and passion, as it hath relation to motion and situation, in respect of Light and Vision.
VI.
Sanderson saith, This Admirable Art is the Imitation of the surface of Nature in Colour and proportion, 1. By Mathematical demonstration, 2. By Chorographical description, 3. By shapes of Living creatures, 4. And by the forms of Vegetables, in all which it prefers Likeness to the life, conserves it after death, and this altogether by the sense of seeing.

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai
PEINTURE, TABLEAU, IMAGE → définition de la peinture

Quotation

Yet although in Things at Distance, we must go by the Rationall Proportion in Perspective, and in things near by the Natural ; yet we must not so observe the Natural, but regard must be had to the Grace of the Picture.
            For the Power of
Painting, not only extends it self, to the Imitation of Nature, but sometimes to the Correcting of it : rendring Things more pleasing to the Eye, then they are of themselves.

Conceptual field(s)

CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → beauté, grâce et perfection
CONCEPTS ESTHETIQUES → nature, imitation et vrai