Work of Art

PRESENTATION

RAFFAELLO (Raffaello Sanzio) , La pêche miraculeuse, 1515 - 1516, gouache et huile sur carton, 320 x 390, London, Victoria & Albert Museum, ROYAL LOANS.2.

Quotation

A Painter is allow’d sometimes to depart even from Natural, and Historical Truth.
Thus in the Carton of the Draught of Fishes
Rafaëlle has made a Boat too little to hold the Figures he has plac’d in it ; and this is so visible, that Some are apt to Triumph over that great Man, […] ; but the Truth is, had he made the Boat large enough for those Figures his Picture would have been all Boat, which would have had a Disagreeable Effect ; […].

Quotation

A Painter is allow’d sometimes to depart even from Natural, and Historical Truth.
Thus in the Carton of the Draught of Fishes
Rafaëlle has made a Boat too little to hold the Figures he has plac’d in it ; and this is so visible, that Some are apt to Triumph over that great Man, […] ; but the Truth is, had he made the Boat large enough for those Figures his Picture would have been all Boat, which would have had a Disagreeable Effect ; […].

Quotation

‘Tis observable that tho’ Tasso says only Erminia cuts off her hair, Poussin was forc’d to explain what she cut it off withal, and he has given her her Lover’s Sword [ndr : Poussin, Herminie et Tancrède]. We don’t at all question but there will be those who will fancy they have here discover’d a notorious Absurdity in Poussin, it being impossible to cut Hair with a Sword ; but though it be, a Pair of Scissars instead of it, though much the sitter for the purpose, had spoil’d the Picture ; Painting, and Poetry equally disdain such low, and common things. This is a Lycence much of the same kind with that of Raffael in the Carton of the Draught of Fishes, where the Boat is by much too little for the Figures that are in it ; or with the Laacon, who is naked, whereas being a Priest in his Sacerdotal Office, he must have been suppos’d to have been clad : But we need not tell you, Sir [ndr : ce passage est la retranscription d’une lettre de Richardson, père et fils, à un « gentleman at Rotterdam »], why those Noble pieces of Painting, and Sculpture were so managed.

Quotation

A Painter is allow’d sometimes to depart even from Natural, and Historical Truth.
Thus in the Carton of the Draught of Fishes
Rafaëlle has made a Boat too little to hold the Figures he has plac’d in it ; and this is so visible, that Some are apt to Triumph over that great Man, […] ; but the Truth is, had he made the Boat large enough for those Figures his Picture would have been all Boat, which would have had a Disagreeable Effect ; […].

Quotation

‘Tis observable that tho’ Tasso says only Erminia cuts off her hair, Poussin was forc’d to explain what she cut it off withal, and he has given her her Lover’s Sword [ndr : Poussin, Herminie et Tancrède]. We don’t at all question but there will be those who will fancy they have here discover’d a notorious Absurdity in Poussin, it being impossible to cut Hair with a Sword ; but though it be, a Pair of Scissars instead of it, though much the sitter for the purpose, had spoil’d the Picture ; Painting, and Poetry equally disdain such low, and common things. This is a Lycence much of the same kind with that of Raffael in the Carton of the Draught of Fishes, where the Boat is by much too little for the Figures that are in it ; or with the Laacon, who is naked, whereas being a Priest in his Sacerdotal Office, he must have been suppos’d to have been clad : But we need not tell you, Sir [ndr : ce passage est la retranscription d’une lettre de Richardson, père et fils, à un « gentleman at Rotterdam »], why those Noble pieces of Painting, and Sculpture were so managed.