For a further explanation of this difference, see the Preface to
_Joseph Andrews_.[194]
[Illustration: CHARACTERS CARICATVRAS]
"In Lairesse; still more in Poussin; and most of all in Raphael;
simplicity, greatness of conception, tranquillity, superiority,
sublimity the most exalted! Raphael can never be enough studied,
although he only exercised his mind on the rarest forms, the grandest
traits of countenance.
"In Hogarth, alas, how little of the noble, how little of beauteous
expression, is to be found in this, I had almost said, false prophet
of beauty! But what an immense treasure of features, of meanness in
excess, vulgarity the most disgusting, humour the most irresistible,
and vice the most unmanly!"--Lavater's _Essays on Physiognomy_.
In this rhapsody there is some truth; but the philosopher of Zurich
should have recollected that Hogarth could not be expected to attain
what he never attempted. Sublimity exalted, simplicity angelic,
and the ideal grandeur of superior beings, he left to those who
delineated subjects which demanded such characters; and contented
himself with representing Nature, not as it ought to be, but as he
found it. That he had little reverence for the dreams of those who
portrayed imaginary beings, I have had occasion to remark; but that
he respected their waking thoughts is evinced in this print, where
the heads of three figures from Raphael's Cartoons are introduced
under the article character, in opposition to the fantastic
caricatures of Cavalier Chezze, Annibal Characi,[195] and Leonard
da Vinci: the last of whom, I am very sorry to see so classed; for
to his anatomical knowledge the late Dr. Hunter gave the strongest
testimony, by declaring his intention to publish a volume illustrated
by the designs of this artist, as anatomical studies.
I have often seen three engravings from the same picture, by an
Italian, an English, and a French artist, which, with a tolerable
correctness of outline, have in their general characters a
dissimilarity that is astonishing. Each engraver gives his national
air. The three heads from Raphael, at the bottom of this print, are
etched by Hogarth, and sufficiently marked to determine the master
from whence they are copied; but their grandeur, elevation, and
simplicity is totally evaporated.
With angels, apostles, and saints, he was not happy. In the group
placed above them he has been more successful. Hogarth was less of a
mannerist than almost any other artist; for though there are above
a hundred profiles, I discover no copy from another painter; no
repetition of his own works: they are all delineated from nature, and
the most careless observer must discover many resemblances: to the
physiognomist, they are an inexhaustible study.
This print was given as a subscription-ticket to the six plates of
"Marriage à la Mode."