_Lycinus_ was not only, as appears from Horace, an eminent Barber; but
said, by some, to have been created a Senator by Augustus, on account of
his enmity to Pompey.
466.--ON NATURE'S PATTERN TOO I'LL BID HIM LOOK, AND COPY MANNERS FROM
HER LIVING BOOK.]
_Respicere examplar vitae, morumque jubebo_ doctum imitatorem, _& veras
hinc ducere voces._
This precept seeming, at first sight, liable to be interpreted as
recommending _personal imitations_, De Nores, Dacier, and the Author of
the English Commentary, all concur to inculcate the principles of Plato,
Aristotle, and Cicero, shewing that the truth of representation (_verae
voces_) must be derived from an imitation of _general nature_, not from
copying _individuals_. Mankind, however, being a mere collection
of _individuals_, it is impossible for the Poet, not to found his
observations on particular objects; and his chief skill seems to consist
in the happy address, with which he is able to _generalize_ his ideas,
and to sink the likeness of the individual in the resemblance of
universal nature. A great Poet, and a great Painter, have each
illustrated this doctrine most happily; and with their observations I
shall conclude this note.
Chacun peint avec art dans ce nouveau miroir,
S'y vit avec plaisir, ou crut ne s'y point voir.
L'Avare des premiers rit du tableau fidele
D'un Avare, souvent tracé sur son modéle;
Et mille fois un Fat, finement exprimé,
Méconnut le portrait, sur lui-méme formé.
BOILEAU, _L'Art Poet_. ch. iii.
"Nothing in the art requires more attention and judgment, or more of
that power of discrimination, which may not improperly be called Genius,
than the steering between general ideas and individuality; for tho' the
body of the whole must certainly be composed by the first, in order to
communicate a character of grandeur to the whole, yet a dash of the
latter is sometimes necessary to give an interest. An individual model,
copied with scrupulous exactness, makes a mean stile like the Dutch; and
the neglect of an actual model, and the method of proceeding solely from
idea, has a tendency to make the Painter degenerate into a mannerist.
"It is necessary to keep the mind in repair, to replace and refreshen
those impressions of nature, which are continually wearing away.
"A circumstance mentioned in the life of Guido, is well worth the
attention of Artists: He was asked from whence he borrowed his idea of
beauty, which is acknowledged superior to that of every other Painter;
he said he would shew all the models he used, and ordered a common
Porter to sit before him, from whom he drew a beautiful countenance;
this was intended by Guido as an exaggeration of his conduct; but his
intention was to shew that he thought it necessary to have _some model_
of nature before you, however you deviate from it, and correct it from
the idea which you have formed in your mind of _perfect beauty_.
"In Painting it is far better to have a _model_ even to _depart_ from,
than to have nothing fixed and certain to determine the idea: There is
something then to proceed on, something to be corrected; so that even
supposing that no part is taken, the model has still been not without
use.
"Such habits of intercourse with nature, will at least create that
_variety_ which will prevent any one's prognosticating what manner
of work is to be produced, on knowing the subject, which is the most
disagreeable character an Artist can have."
_Sir Joshua Reynolds's Notes on Fresnoy._