Painting is so obviously an imitative art, that we need seek no other reason for its origin than that which is here assigned by Aristotle. The attemp.s which are made by savages in this way, or in the kindred art of sculpture, are, in fact, so rude and barbarous, that they have nothing else to recommend them than the imper fect resemblance which they exhibit to the works of na ture. It is only in periods of refinement that the arts of design address themselves to the finer emotions of the heart, and exhibit a faithful copy of the finest propor tions and colourings of nature, of the delicate touches of passion, and expressions of sentiment. Thee arts are then more than imitative, and, when capable of such superlative excellence, the painter, or statuary, may be allowed to have arrived at the rank of a creator.
The claim of poetry and music to be called imitative arts, is not by any means so apparent ; and this charac ter can be only partially applied to them. It may be proper here to inquire, in what respect they really are imitative arts, and how far painting excels them in this particular ; as such an inquiry will serve better than any thing else to point out the characteristic differences, and peculiar excellencies of each of these arts, and to suggest the probable causes of their origin. In this enquiry we shall take the learned Mr Harris for our guide. See his Discourse on Music, Painting, and Poe try.
1. Painting is capable of imitating whatever can be represented by figure and colaur. Of this nature arc all kinds of inanimate and vegetable matter; such as flowers, fruits, buildings, and landscapes; the various tribes of animals, such as birds. beasts, herds, and flocks; also certain motions and sounds peculiar to each species of animal, when accompanied with configura tions which are obvious and remarkable. Instances of this kind are the flying of birds, the galloping of horses, the roaring of lions, the crowing of cocks. And the reason is, that though to paint motion or sound be im possible, yet the motions and sounds here mentioned, having au immediate and natural connection with a cer tain visible configuration of parts, the mind, from the view of this confrguration, conceives, insensibly, that of Which it is the sign; and thus, by a sort of fallacy, the ' sounds and motions themselves appear to be painted. Homer, in the account of Achilles's shield, describing the picture of a bull seized by' two lions, says of the bull : o 'k p,xxeci 145,t4vx.k5 bverre ; " he, bellowing loudly, was dragged along." Where Eustathius, commenting on this bellowing,. says, f.:/5 r C/XVU.271 he (the bull) made plain, in the picture, by his attitude."
Again, painting is capable of imitating the human body, in all its appearances of male, female, young, old, handsome, and ugly ; and in all its attitudes, as lying, sitting, standing, Scc. It can imitate the natural sounds \peculiar to the human species, such as crying, laughing, hollowing, &c. because these. are all expressed by pe culiar configurations ; all' the energies, passions, and affections of the soul, which are, in any degree, more intense or violent than ordinary; for these all produce some visible effects upon the body; such as a particular redness or paleness of the countenance ; a particular modification of the muscles, or a particular attitude of the limbs; also all actions and events, which are com pleted by a short and self-evident succession of in cidents; or wilich appear to take place in the instant of time to which the situation of the figures in the pic ture refer.
Moreover, a picture may represent an extended ac tion, if it be one of which the incidents arc during the whole succession the same, or similar. Such, for ex ample, as a storm at sea ; of which the characteristic incidents may be nearly all included in foaming waves, a dark sky, ships out of their erect posture, and men hanging upon ropes: Or a battle, which, from begin ning to end, presents nothing but bloodshed, fire, smoke, and disorder. A sea-fight, and a land-battle of cavalry, were subjects recommended by the celebrated painter Nicias, who inculcated upon his fellow-artists the im portant doctrine often too little regarded, that the sub ject itself is as much a part of the painter's art, as the poet's fable is a part of poetry. (Demet. Phal. p. 53. edit. Oxf.) However numerous the circumstances be, which are comprehended in an action, they may he justly represented by painting; if they thus concur in the same point of time (for painting is not bounded in extension as it is in duration,) and the greater the va riety of a composition, if it be consistent with unity, the greater also is the beauty and perfection. Those actions which are generally known, such as remarkable histori cal events, are the fittest for painting ; because the spectator's memory can supply both the previous and the subsequent, to that point or instant which the pic ture represents. So necessary is it to attend to this re quisite, that it may be justly questioned, whether the most celebrated subjects, borrowed by painting from history, would have been any of them intelligible through the medium of painting only, supposing history to have been silent, and to have given no additional in formation.