Many authors have taken the trouble to point out with precision the chronology of its progress, the exact steps by which painting advanced through every stage of dis covery from the first rude essay to the highest achieve ments of the art. This first step they determine to have been the outline of the object to be represented, accord ing to the mode of proceeding in the present advanced state of the art. Now, the outline is far from being the simplest process of drawing, and is the probable refine ment of a much more clumsy and laborious proceeding, by an ill-defined shadow, or rude daubing of colours. But before the interchanges of commerce had begun to take place, the various facilities which the different coun tries had individually the means of furnishing, the nature of their climates, government, and superstitions, besides a thousand other circumstances, most in every case have contributed to render the first efforts of painting as vari ous as they are now uncertain. In the humid and stormy climate of the north, we find the early Scandinavians trans mitting the intended records of their history in the huge monumental stones, which are more a record of the impe rishable nature of the substance of the monument itself, than of the motive of its erection ; while the drier climates of Egypt, Ilindostan, and Mexico, led their inhabitants to paint the deeds of arms, and chronicle the various revolu tions of their country, in rude figures and emblems, daub ed upon the sides of caverns, and the smooth surface of their rocks.
It will be sufficient for our purpose, to give a brief sketch of the earliest efforts of the art among those na tions of antiquity which hold the most distinguished place in history ; and in prosecuting this inquiry, we shall find that the westward march of science is not belied by the history of the fine arts. We must, therefore, turn to the east, in order to explore the source which has progres sively flowed through the various regions of the civilized world, and seems still to bear on in its tendency to dawn in the west, as its li ;ht grows feebler and expires in the east. In none of the Asiatic countries, however, does paint ing ever seem to have attained the rank of an art ; it was but a trade, and a poor trade, subservient to the more dignified calling of the potter, the weaver, or the unclean ministers to the obsequies of the dead. From generation to generation, the same grotesque figures and ornaments were painted on the potter's wares, the same imaginary flowers and whimsies, seemingly without meaning; the carpet-maker sought the brightest colours, and blended them into the form of many-headed dragons, and carica tures of natural forms, both animate and inanimate. The representation, whether good or bad, added no value to the material ; the colours were there, and provided they were bright, and fancifully disposed, nothing farther was sought for. Such is the unvarying and servile adherence to an cient practice, which pervades the habits of eastern na tions, and precludes all chance of improvement or change, that we have little trace whereby to distinguish the history and progress of the arts they practised. We are not without specimens of great antiquity, and of very re markable character ; but the probable Tra of their execu tion (were the discovery of any importance) remains utterly impenetrable; as no semblance of truth can be ex tricated from the fanciful and exaggerated chronology of these nations.
As to the Chinese, they seem, from time immemorial, to have possessed works abounding in singular dexterity of manipulation, without either taste or ingenuity in the design. No people ever exhibited the power of imitation in greater perfection, or showed less talent for invention or improvement cf any kind. We cannot but admire the acquirements of that ancient race, whoever they were, which conferred upon the Chinese the knowledge of al most every art, which their inventive powers appear to tally unequal to have discovered for themselves; but we owe them gratitude for the faithful and scrupulously ac curate preservation of whatever they were taught. For it
is truly surprising to observe, how absolutely strangers the Chinese seem to be to any spark of creative genius, even in its limited quality of endeavouring to improve upon any borrowed acquirement. The French, who are far from an inventive people, though surrounded by na tions in whom this quality is eminently conspicuous, eagerly take up the inventions of their English or German neighbours, at the same time they strive to make some improvement upon it, or to produce some little change, enough, at least, to still the cravings of their own vanity. If they cannot so far succeed by altering the semblance as to give a colour to their claiming the merit of the inven tion altogether, it is satisfactory to them at least to be able to say, " Que nous y aeons ajoute le sentiment ;" as happened lately when they borrowed the invention of the kaleidoscope, and added some fanciful ornaments.
With regard to the Chinese, there is no reason to sup pose that the lapse of centuries, even of some thousand years, has operated the slightest difference on this most imperturbable nation. They are vain of their own imagi nary importance and glory, and seem to feel an utter con tempt for every thing beyond the walls of the celestial empire. The ardour of improvement can have no stimu lus, where every thing, as it is, is presumed perfect ; hut how admirably conceived must the original principles of that government have been, which succeeded in moulding an extensive nation to such a surprising stability of pur pose ! Their division into casts, and the obligation im posed upon every one to follow the same trade, from fa ther to son, through the interminable series of ages, is one great cause both of the uniformity of their workman ship in every Tra, and likewise of the dexterity of execu tion. The familar use of their implements of trade be comes a second nature; and that mechanical expertness implanted in childhood, grows up to perfection without the intervention of intellect, like the natural exercise of our limbs, which seems to take place quite independent of mind, and may be carried to any conceivable degree of dexterity. No vivacity of temper disturbs the patient perseverance of the Chinese : he plods on with precision, and such a perfect command of the simple implements of his work, as if they were a mere extension of the natural organs of his body ; executing works which all the me chanics of Europe would be incapable of producing. Their paintings, accordingly, possess a remarkable deli cacy of pencilling, with an utter ignorance of grace, com position, or perspective. The artists among them are held in no estimation, and seldom attempt any thing be yond the regular patterns for rocks, trees, and figures. They display a most unaccountable dereliction of every thing like proportion ; nature is represented in preposter ous attitudes and shapes ; the figures appear in whimsical masquerade, with a solemnity and gravity of deportment, even where their employment seems to indicate a playful mode, that is truly ludicrous. Chinese artists have occa sionally been trained under the direction of the foreign factories of Macao, and sent to travel in China for the pur pose of drawing the scenery and costume. Some of these performances which we have seen are rather of a superior cast ; but in so far as they excel their native artists, they cease to be Chinese. The same observation is applicable to those works descriptive of Chinese scenery and manners, which have been sent to Europe by the Jesuits and Mis sionaries. In modelling and statuary, the Chinese exhibit the same dexterity of workmanship, but their works have little merit except as specimens of the grotesque; their choice of subjects being generally either the monstrous many-armed deities of their mythology, as hideous as fancy can conceive, or the lumbering bundle of drapery under which their representations of the human figure are hid.