The frequent exhibition of works of approved merit, in the excellence of which we may with safety confide, thus places a test in every one's hand, by which to try the merits of modern art. The collision may prove severe, but it is a salutary medicine, and the only one that can purify and elevate the art. In every point of view, there fore, we must commend this means of improvement, even when viewed in its narrowest sphere, as creating that taste which seeks for its gratification in purchasing the works of our modern .artists, and thereby creating a powerful stimulus to emulation. In costly furniture, and in the splendid decorations of our houses, we are, perhaps, not exceeded by our continental neighbours ; but with them the taste for pictures turns the chief amount of what is bestowed on embellishment towards that channel. Were the fashion of our country in this respect to take a turn, and to send some portion of that wealth towards the en couragement of art, the effect would prove of incalculable advantage : the genius, we are persuaded, exists, and wants but the impetus to rouse its energies.
There is another circumstance materially injurious, in this country, to a general diffusion of taste for the fine arts, or feelings of cordial good will towards their inter ests, arising from the disgust occasioned by a sort of of fensive pedantry, prevalent among those who have had a few opportunities of seeing good pictures. They detail their superficial dogmas and criticisms, with a degree of confidence which occasions the art itself to be undervalu ed; and the acquirements contemned as frivolous and un profitable, which tend to generate such flimsy cant. With our neighbours, where the means of information are alike familiar and open to all, the well informed classes of so ciety are generally sufficiently conversant with the sub ject, to preclude the opportunity of any such vaunting pedantry. Neither are they exposed to the offensive jar gon of technicalities, under which so much superficial pretension is often hid. The whole art of picture know ledge, and all the gratification to be derived to those pos sessing that knowledge, from the contemplation of the finest works of art, would seem, according to a very pre valent idea, to centre in the important scrutiny of fixing the originality of the work, or of degrading it to the in significance of a copy, however masterly the performance may be. This is the experimentum crucis by which all pretensions to taste or acquaintance with the art must, in the opinion of some, stand or fall. In an historical point of view, we grant the indispensible necessity of precision in this particular, to enable us to draw a correct estimate of the progress of art under all its circumstances and vicissitudes. But as bearing upon a correct taste, and susceptibility of the pleasures to be derived from the fine arts, we consider it of the same character as that sort of black-letter pedantry which so often assumes the guise of literature.
There are several writers on the subject of painting, such as Richardson, Lanzi, Turnbull, and others, who give rules by which to distinguish original pictures from copies ; and there are no doubt a few particular indica tions, sufficiently known to those who have ever made pic tures the subject of their attention. But, in general, then: is nothing more vague and uncertain; nor can we speak with decision as to the original character of a picture, without great practical knowledge of the art, perfect ac quaintance with its history, and with the history of the artists themselves. To a person so qualified to judge,
rules become quite as unnecessary as they are unavailable to a person deficient in such points of knowledge. And we generally find that the persons most capable of judg ing are those most cautious of pronouncing; as experience shews that it is a matter in which we must confine our pretensions within very narrow bounds. Many instances have occurred, where the painters themselves have been deceived with regard to their own works, mistaking the copy for the original. And, in the collections of some of the first and most skilful artists, many copies have been found, of the originality of which they had passed their lives in the fullest confidence. It is very common to de spise all copies, as a sort of base coin which we view with a degree of repugnance often exceedingly misapplied; we are perhaps at first struck with the beauties of a picture, and weigh its merits with a just appreciation ; but, rouse our suspicions of its originality, and all its beauties vanish in a moment, while innumerable faults supply their place. And, on the contrary, the picture we may have passed over as unworthy of remark, may be made to burst upon us in all its glory, by simply applying the talisman of a celebrated name.
Among the connoisseurs of Italy, there is very little of this sort of pedantry observable ; they know that there arc very few collections, however choice, which do not con tain copies that pass for originals, and perhaps are not of inferior merit. It often occurs, that where there are se veral pictures of the same subject, the question of origi nality has for ages remained a matter of doubt, notwith standing the most acute scrutiny; and the best judges in Italy do not seem to consider their knowledge as at all compromised, by expressing ignorance of the hand, while they bestow unreserved praise on the work itself. This sort of verbal criticism, (if we may apply that expression,) is in general but the subterfuge of ignorance and conceit ; it requires no talent, and rests upon the mere mechanical address which familiarity in any art supplies; which ena bles the proficient to recognise the hand of the artificer, without being at all susceptible to the feelings or genius which inspired the work. \Ve are apt to criticise and to pick out faults and imperfections in the works of art, be fore we have learnt to discover and judge of their beau ties, which is an acquirement that ought certainly to pre cede the office of censuring. But these points of com plaint would speedily disappear, were the means afforded of inducing a more general diffusion of taste for the fine arts, and a greater degree of attention to their advance ment. Had the great works of literature and science been withheld, or of difficult acquisition, we doubt if our fame in these matters would have stood so pre-eminent as it does; and there is every reason to suppose that equal facilities with respect to the fine arts would have been at tended with similar effects. Nature may prepare the germ of genius, and must supply the necessary aptitude, but it is the facilities of study, and the stimulus to emula tion, which alone can bring it to bear fruit.