It is common to cry out against the idea of not copying nature servilely, as the only legitimate end of painting ; but this does not exclude the power of selecting that part, and those scenes in nature, that are most worthy of con templation It is the base taste of the Dutch school that makes them reject whatever is dignified in our nature, in mait.r to offer to our admiration the lowest scenes of life. There are, no doubt, peculiarities in the mariners of the Dutch, and let their artists have the full share of praise for an animated representation, whether within doors or without, of the every-day occupations and handicrafts, as well as of the holiday playing, fighting, and drinking of the common people But we are not to suppose that we have in this a picture of society in Holland, far less a ge neral view of human lite, which ought to be the painter's theme as well as the poet's. The society of Holland is as capable to furnish subjects upon which genius might be worthily exercised, as any country of the world, were it practicable to apply the narrow principles of the taste pre valent in that country to general histoi y, or to elevate the mean view they have taken of human character, so as to be compatible with dignity. When we hold up the mir ror to nature, we must not forget that some skill is re quired to direct it aright ; that all is not equally worthy of contemplation ; and that there are many things per fectly natural which are better kept out of sight. Broad facts are often offensive. NVe feel disposed, when such are presented as claimants for our admiration, to visit the odium of the subject on the painter's head, who offends our eyes with the sight of them. Neither vulgar wit nor waggery can ever redound to a painter's praise : they may i succeed in exciting a momentary smile ; but we despise the artificer of the joke who thus debases the dignity of his art.
Considered, however, merely as specimens of art, no one can deny that the Dutch paintings are in many re spects admirable. . So true are they to the colouring of nature, so dexterous is the manipulation, and so correct is the grouping and dispositions of light and shade, that if a true copy of nature were all that was aimed at, the Dutch school may with justice be said to have attained it in that walk of life it has chosen to select. They have the merit of perfect success in the humble style of distinction sought for, that is of precision and high finishing, and under circumstances purposely selected to display their extraordinary facility in the management of light and shade. Their candle-light scenes are very usual efforts of dexterity, in which a strong confined light shoots like a meteor through pitchy darkness with admirable truth and effect.
The objections we have ventured to make to subjects that usually meet with such unqualified admiration in this country, are not so applicable to landscape ; and here we consider the Dutch artists as eminent in the skilful repre sentation of such scenery as their country afforded. No thing can be more delicious than the canal scenery of Van goyen or Cuyp, the limpid crystal of the water, repeating every form and colour of the busy boating and passing sail it bears on its bosom.; the old dreadnought tower, with its massive walls and weather-beaten visage pro jected on the light and vapoury sky, and the dexterous pencilling of the tufted bank, is making the most of the subject. But the scenery of Holland is, from its situa tion, devoid of dignity, variety, or any of the grand and imposing features of nature in general ; and, accordingly, its painters make no attempt to convey these sentiments.
We admire the vapoury atmosphere of their fenny sea coast scenes; the dexterity and truth with which the waves, hurrying forward from their low and distant horizon, seem to swell upon the sight, and threaten to overflow the pic ture ; and the misty forms of vessels that seem to embrace both elements, as they are borne through the scene. But still it is but one note, and however melodious, we cannot but sigh for some relief to the monotony, some of that in finite variety that supplied the glorious scenery of Claud de Lorraine, Poussio and Titian.
It is the want of subject, however, and not of art ; for such beauties as fell under the observation of the Dutch landscape painters are admirably represented They have an air of individual locality, and topographic truth, that adds much to their value ; for, like the freedom of an ori ginal, there is a charm about a real bona fi le scene from nature, which no composition, however classical or epic, can equal In historical painting, composition is of course inherent in the nature of the subject, and constitutes its most difficult and important requisite, as the painter has seldom if ever the means of actually seeing the subject he proposes to portray ; but in landscape. which has for its i object the scenery of nature, ever before our eyes, m measurably varied, and so uniformly beautiful, we cannot enter into the merit of composition which we conceive must ever fall short of the reality it endeavours to imitate. The patchwork of shreds from different scenes in nature, however artificially woven into one imaginary whole, and however well executed, is but a dream, and, as such, of inferior interest to the reality. But this stamp of reality, which we appreciate so highly in the painters of the Dutch school, is often degraded by the meanness of the objects upon which it is employed. When we are called upon to admire the masterly efforts of skill, by which the colours seem melted and blended together by mutual at traction, and without the intervention of human touch, we feel a sort of repugnance to observe such talent wasted on the tortuous leafing of an ignoble cabbage ; the slippery slimy mass of a skate. where its hideous countenance is not omitted to be brought into distinguished observance ; or on the disgusting appurtenances of a butcher's shop. Those subjects, the sight of which in reality we would in cline to turn from with aversion, are surely an injudicious selection for the purpose of painting, and a degradation of the art. The talent with which they are represented ren ders them in Let so much the more repugnant to the feelings of the observer It was during the course of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that the most distinguished masters of this school flourished : the Hemskirks, the old and the young, both admirable in their style; and Martin H emskirk, who fol lowed the Italian taste, and was called Martin Tadesco ; Bloemart, Both, and Metzu, the harmony of whose colour ing is so much admired ; Breenberg, who added the deli cacy of Dutch pencilling to a more dignified description of subject, as Poelemburg did in landscape. He was often assisted by Berghem in his figures. The works of Berg hem are very highly and very deservedly prized for his landscape subjects, with cattle and figures. He sometimes painted subjects of a higher class, of which there is an instance in the collection of the Collonna Palace at Rome, of an Annunciation to the Shepherds, which he treated with great skill and beauty.