PORTRAIT (n.)
TERM USED AS TRANSLATIONS IN QUOTATION
PORTRAIT (fra.)TERM USED IN EARLY TRANSLATIONS
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Titian was the best Colourer, perhaps, that ever was ; he Designed likewise very well, but not very exactly ; the Airs of his Heads for Women and Children are admirable, and his Drapery loose and noble ; his Portraits are all Master-pieces, no man having ever carried Face-Painting so far ; the Persons that he has drawn having all the Life and Spirit as if they were alive ;
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Chap. V, How to Paint a FACE in Oyl-Colours.
[…] let the party you are to draw sit before you in the Posture he intends to be painted, about two yards distant from you.
Then with a piece of Chalk pointed, draw the proportion of the Face upon the Cloth. with the place of the Eyes, Nose, Mouth, Ears, Hair, and whatsoever the posture affordeth the Eye ; here is no curiosity in this, only see that you keep a good decorum ; if you miss a good deal, the Colours will bring all to rights ; but I suppose you know already whether the design will make a Face proportionable to the party’s. And so of that no more.
Your Design being drawn in Chalk, take one of your Swans-quill-pointed-Pencils, and some of your lightest Colour, and begin with the lightest parts in the Face, as the heightning of the Forehead, […].
Then lay your faint Greenish shadows in convenient places, and where you see cause to moderate harder shadows ; but you must have a care you put not Green shadows where Red are required.
Thus all your faint or light beginnings being put in, take one of your Goose-quill-pointed-Pencils, or one of your Ducks quill-fitched and begin at the Eyes to shadow with Lake, because you may easily overcome it if it should chance to be wrong : I do not mean you should go all over the Face with Lake, but trace out these parts of the Face therewith, as the Eyes, Nose, Mouth, Compass of the Ear, &c. […].
At your Second sitting (for this is enough at once) begin again with your clean Pencils of such bigness as the piece you are to work upon does require. Then the party sitting in the same position, and at the same distance as before, the light also being the same, Observe well the party, and see what defects you find in the Work at your first sitting, and amend them ; then heighten or deepen your Shadows according as you see occasion.
This done, take a Goose-quill Bristle and put in the Hair about the Face, and rub in the greater Hair with the greater Bristle, and heighten it up with your Goose-quill Pencil.
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A Portrait is a sort of General History of the Life of the Person it represents, not only to Him who is acquainted with it, but to Many Others, who upon Occasion of seeing it are frequently told, of what is most Material concerning Them, or their General Character at least ; The Face ; and Figure is also Describ’d and as much of the Character as appears by These, which oftentimes is here seen in a very great Degree. These therefore many times answer the Ends of Historical Pictures. And to Relations, or Friends give a Pleasure greater than any Other can. [...] As Portraits Unknown are not Equally considerable with Those that are ; Tho’ upon account of the Dignity of the Subject they may be reckon’d in the first Class of Those where in the Principal End of Painting is not full Answer’d ; but capable however of the Sublime.
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And notwithstanding the Defects I have taken the Liberty to remark with the same Indifferency as I have observed the Beauties, that is, without the least regard to the Great Name of the Master, There is a Grace throughout that Charms, and a Greatness that Commands Respect [ndr : dans le portrait de la comtesse Dowager d’Exeter, par Van Dyck]; She appears at first Sight to be a Well-bred Woman of Quality ; ‘tis in her Face, and in her Mien ; and as her Dress, Ornaments, and Furniture contribute something to the Greatness, the Gause Veil coming over her Forehead, and the Hem of it hiding a Defect (which was want of Eye-brows,) is a fine Artifice to give more Grace. This Grace, and Greatness is not that of Raffaelle, or the Antique but ‘tis what is suitable to a Portrait ; and one of Her Age, and Character, and consequently better than if she had appear’d with the Grace of a Venus, or Helena, or the Majesty of a Minerva, or Semiramis.
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To come to Portraits ; the Picture of an absent Relation, or Friend, helps to keep up those Sentiments which frequently languish by Absence and may be instrumental to maintain, and sometimes to augment Friendship, and Paternal, Filial, and Conjugal Love, and Duty.
Upon the sight of a Portrait, the Character, and Master-strokes of the History of the Person it represents are apt to flow in upon the Mind, and to be the Subject of Conversation : So that to sit for one’s Picture, is to have an Abstract of one’s Life written, and published, and ourselves thus consign’d over to Honour, or Infamy.
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In Portraits the Invention of the Painter is exercised in the Choice of the Air, and Attitude, the Action, Drapery, and Ornaments, with respect to the Character of the Person.
He ought not to go in a Road, or paint other People as he would choose to be drawn himself. The Dress, the Ornaments, the Colours, must be suited to the Person, and Character.
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In Portraits it must be seen whether the Person is Grave, Gay, a Man of Business, or Wit, Plain, Gentile, &c. Each Character must have an Attitude, and Dress ; the Ornaments and Back-Ground proper to it : Every part of the Portrait, and all about it must be Expressive of the Man, and have a Resemblance as well as the Features of the Face.
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Thus to raise the Character : To divest an Unbred Person of his Rusticity, and give him something at least of a Gentleman ; to make one of a moderate Share of good Sense appear to have a Competency, a Wise Man to be more Wise, and a Brave Man to be more so, a Modest, Discreet Woman to have an Air something Angelical, and so of the rest ; and then to add that Joy, or Peace of Mind at least, and in such a manner as is suitable to the several Characters, is absolutely necessary to a good Face-Painter : But ‘tis the most Difficult part of his Art, and the last attain’d ; perhaps ‘tis never so much as Thought of by Some : All that They aim at is to make such a Likeness of the Face as shall be Known immediately ; and that it be Young, Fair, and Handsome ; and frequently those for whom the Pictures are made Expect no more ; whether the Characters of Wisdom, or Folly be impress’d upon them it matters not. Accordingly we see Portraits which are perfect Burlesques upon the Minds of the Persons drawn ; a Wise Man shall appear with the Air of a Fop ; a Man of Spirit, and Wit, like a Smart, or a Pretty Fellow ; a Modest Ingenious Man like a Beau ; a Virtuous Lady as a meer Coquet.
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But the Face-Painter is under a greater Constraint in both respects than he that paints History ; Additional Grace, and Greatness he is to give, above what is to be found in the Life, must not be thrown in too profusely, the Resemblance must be preserv’d, and appear with Vigour ; the Picture must have Both. Then it may be said, that the Gentleman, or Lady makes a Fine, or a Handsome Picture : But the Likeness not being regarded, ‘tis not They, but the Painter that makes it ; nor is there any great Difficulty in making Such Fine Pictures.
I was lately observing with a great deal of Pleasure how the Ancients had succeeded in the three several ways of Managing Portraits : I happen’d to have then before me (amongst others) several Medals of the Emperor Maximinus, who was particularly remarkable for a long Chin : One Medal of him had That, but that the Artist might be sure of a Likeness he had Exaggerated it : Another had par’d off about half of it : But these as they wanted the Just Resemblance, so there was a Poverty in them ; they were destitute of that Life, and Spirit which the other had, where Nature seems to have been moore closely follow’d. In making Portraits we must keep Nature in View ; if we launch out into the Deep we are lost.
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Our poor and needy Life perceiving some casual Things to fall out prosperously, whilst it doth mistake and try, whilst it doth slip, reform and change ; hath out of this same assiduous Reprehension made up small Sciences of ARTS, the which it hath afterwards, by a continual Study, brought to some considerable Degree of Perfection. And therefore Ælian says, so Rude and Imperfect were the first Attemps of this ART, that to avoid the Danger of a Mistake, they were wont constantly to affix to their Works such a clear and discerning Character of distinction, as this is a Horse, an Ox, or a Tree, &c. And what higher Expectations can we derive from a Portrait, or Profile of a Face drawn from the Shadow upon a Wall ;