THE 
 
 Perfect PAINTER: 
 
 O R } A 
 
 Compleat Hiftory 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Original, Progrels and Improvement of 
 
 PAINTING. 
 
 SHEWING, 
 
 1 DitLe A Al U ^\. E T !i elI c enCy , and UfefuInefs that 
 
 JJivme ART, to Thofe who are defirous of being 
 
 .is c»,S h ,h ' ™ 
 
 II. Plain Inftruttions to form a right Judgment of the 
 
 ssahSsg.y* ” d bL 1 «4£ 
 
 “iASSSS,- ssre t 
 
 By Jlov Degrees the Godlike Art advanc’d. 
 
 As Man grew folijh’d, picture was enhanc’d. 
 
 Dr ydenJ 
 
 LONDON; 
 
 Printed in the Year M.DCC.XXX* 
 (Price is, 6 d. Jink'd, t s. bound:) 
 
 
preta ce. 
 
 ^ ^ fitf Chapter will , I believe , ap~ 
 pear a fufficient Preface to the enfuing 
 Treatife. But as every Reader has a 
 natural Propenfity, or Inclination , to 
 mw fomethmg of a Writer . , to whom they are 
 itedfor an Entertainment of this Kind. To 
 mply with fuch their Curiofty, and to prove the 
 . Author not unacquainted with the Accompli [h- 
 ments requifite in f m h an Undertaking, I thought 
 p to give the following brief Account of his Cha- 
 
 r fr e j a H d ¥f Wn °f Li f e » * the Time he Com- 
 ffed the following Essay, / frail fay no- 
 
 thing of him from his Infancy, hill he arrived 
 
 at Tears of Maturity , but that his Extratlim 
 
 was from an honourable Family of Lynn-Regis, 
 
 m the County of Norfolk ; * which Time, by 
 
 the Advantage of a liberal Education , having 
 
 perfected his Studies at the Umverfay of Cam- 
 
 fcndge, he foou difcovtred a prmifng Genius, 
 

 
 The P R E F A c E. 
 
 ■-» sS IS. 13 "- 
 
 *r*t Umr A^~‘%Z z tL u 
 
 % Extafia. hut mu f 
 
 LrinJ SH,, Archma«<^tu hjh. 
 
 Us Travels conduced very much to Us 
 ^Improvement in that particular Science. Th 
 r 0 wn of Northampton, which was Re-built 
 Agreeable to Us Plan,atui purfuant to Us own Jh- 
 reflion, is a Teftimony fufficient to evince Us 
 MaZly Hand in that Noble Science tofucceed- 
 t!ir Ages. The Place of Us Nativity may like- 
 
 ntfJtottH sh,m d “ idt " l y. ff"S ■ g 
 
 Si, <4*» » ,h T,^2 
 
 Motives fufficient for its Publication. And all 
 fhe Merit lcanboafl , is the reflating fo valuable 
 a Manufcrip from Oblivion ; and if thereby ! may 
 
 deferve the thanks, or Approbation of the Reader, 
 
 it will (next to doing the Author Jufhce) be the 
 greatePi SatisfaPHoti to 
 
 The Edito r> 
 
 
A N 
 
 ESSAY 
 
 O N 
 
 > 
 
 Original Painting. 
 
 ♦§* 4 * 4 * 4 * *$*•$*‘§* 4 ' 4 * 4 * 4 4 4 4 4 * 4 * 4 4 ^ 4 * 4 * 4 * ^ 
 
 G H A P. I 
 
 0/ /&? Original of Painting in 
 General ; wherein is exhibited fome Pro- 
 babilities and Pretentions to its Inven- 
 tion before the Flood. 
 
 O make an Inveftigation of 
 the Firft Inventors of this 
 Noble Art, will prove an 
 Enquiry of no little Difficul- 
 ty, if we confider how far 
 we fhall of Neceffity be en- 
 forced to make a Re-fearch, and to look 
 
 B back. 
 
 / 
 
2 An Essay on 
 
 back, even into the Firft Periods of Time, 
 wherein it will appear obvious enough, how 
 that the far greater Share of the Impreffi- 
 ons and Charafters of Things and Aftions 
 of fo long a Date, muft of Neceffity be now 
 almoft eaten out and quite eraled, having 
 thus long lain underand been expofed to the 
 devouring and corroding Teeth of Time. , 
 
 And however, though fome lcatter d 
 Relifts of Memoirs may happily have efca- 
 ped this Calamity, and by fome Writers 
 been transferred to Pofterity. Yet fome of 
 them in their Relations (we can t but ac- 
 knowledge) have been lb uncertain and fa- 
 bulous, others lo abrupt and oblcure, and 
 moft of them either wholly palling by, or 
 difcourfuig of this Art only in trmfitu, it 
 can’t be expefted our Endeavours Ihould 
 proceed to any particular, or abfolute De- 
 terminations, but only what Probability of 
 Truth may realonably dilpence with. 
 
 Upon that Score we hope for Pardon, 
 if in this Chapter we Ihall not keep fo ftrift- 
 Jy within the Limits of this Art in par- 
 ticular, which we are forced fometime to 
 entrench upon the Confines of fome neigh- 
 bour A rts, relating to Sculpture and En- 
 graving, and referring to the Invention of 
 Letters, antick Images, Pillars, or Pagan 
 Deities of old S which now the Maturity of 
 thefe latter Ages has fo varioufly diftin- 
 
 guifhed 
 
Original Painting.’ _ ? 
 
 guiflied and diverfified ; of all which, yet in a 
 general Acceptation, we conceive Painting 
 to be comprehenfive and of near affinity to 
 and the introducing of which we can hardly 
 judge any Extravagancy, but rather (as we 
 fhall briefly endeavour to make it appear) 
 very applicable and confonent to our De* 
 pofition in hand. 
 
 For PiBura and Sculptura, in the Sence of 
 the Poets, were accountedTwins ; and as that 
 Worthy Author Mr. Evelyn , 
 joyning with them ArchiteBura, Id : a of Paint - 
 declares thofe Three illuftrious “ s ‘ 
 and magnificent A r t s fo dependent up^ 
 on each other, that they can no more be 
 feparated than the very Graces themfelves 
 who are always reprefented to us holding 
 Ffand in fiand, and mutually regarding 
 one another •, we may reafonably conjecture 
 that they were born together ; or however 
 that the Emergency, or Rife of the one 
 
 was not long previous to the Invention of 
 the other. 
 
 F o r if we take PiBura in a general Ac- 
 ceptation, and according to -the Definition 
 of Vitruvius, viz. Fit Imago ejus quod eft feu 
 ejfe poteft • It may be comprehenfive of not 
 only Painting but Sculpture , Plaftici and Mo- 
 faick Work, or any other Counterfeit, or 
 Similitude, of any created, or imaginary 
 Being whatfoever j and fo makes no eflen- 
 
 B % tial 
 
4 An E s s a y m 
 
 tial Difference at all between them, but 
 only rat tone tnateria, which is only in the 
 Mechanick and left noble Part oi the Aar, 
 they agreeing notwithftanding in the E/ffen- 
 tials, the more liberal and renned Accom* 
 
 pliihments of it. ^ - 
 
 But yet this is not all that de fauo y there 
 
 is fuch Affinity and Similitude between 
 thefe Two Arts*, but we may affirm ’tis 
 the Excellency alfo, and mutual Perfeftion 
 
 of each other to be fo : For as 
 Elements of g; r fj_ takes notice out 
 
 Architecture. ^ p[ m y y where defigning to di- 
 
 ftinguiffi, he handfomly interweaves them 
 together to our Purpofe, faying, l .at ri- 
 fture is beft when it ftandeth off as if it were 
 carved ; and Sulpture is beft when it ap- 
 peareth lb tender as if it were painted,, 
 And once more to urge the entire Con- 
 neftion of thefeTwo Arts togethei, we 
 dare with Confidence enough affirm, where- 
 ever we find a compleat Artist in Scul- 
 pture, he piuft alfo have a competent Ta- 
 lent of Knowledge in Painting; and 
 particularly more than meanly skilled in 
 the Art of ready Drawing and Defign- 
 ing, and have a fufficient Knowledge of 
 the Nature and Effeft of Light and Sha- 
 dows, which fmall Commencements, per- 
 haps, made up the compleat Char after of 
 not a few of the antient Heroes, whom 
 '■ ■" - ■ Pliny 
 
Original Painting. 
 
 Tliny does fo -ftudioufly, yet not undefer- 
 vedly celebrate. 
 
 Having made this neceflary Digrefe 
 lion to vindicate from Impertinency what 
 we may hereafter introduce concerning 
 Sculpture, Plaftick, &c. we lhall again re- 
 aflume our firft Purpofe, and with that 
 Worthy Author, Mr. Evelyn , before-men- 
 tioned, ealily confent and determine againft 
 that Opinion of Epigeries in Pliny, who de- 
 pofed, That this Art had its Being from 
 Eternity, becaufe it’s not Sence, and would 
 contradict the Invention, unlels his Sence 
 be of the Eternity of Days, the divine 
 Protoplaftes, God Almighty himfelf, who 
 taking fome of that virgin elementary Earth 
 which himlelf had firft created with his 
 own Hands, he framed the Mould of the 
 firft Man, and afterwards moft miraculoufly 
 infpired into him a living Soul. 
 
 A n d if we take Leave to introduce this,’ 
 we might alio bring in many more Inftan- 
 ces of the like Nature, performed by the 
 fame Hand of the Almighty Power, all 
 which we muft confefs to be far furpaffing, 
 and above the ultimate Attainments and 
 Dilquifitions of any created Being, becaufe 
 performed by a Miracle of the Divine Wife 
 dom, and fo fet far beyond the Comprehend 
 lion, or Imitation of Man. However, it may 
 derive much to the Honour of Pifture in 
 
 B 3 that 
 
6 An Essay on 
 
 that Godhimfelf, the true Prometheus , vouch- 
 faf ’d (as may be faid in feme Sence) to jjive 
 the Fir ft Example of this A r t. 
 
 A n d whence Gregorius calleth Man an 
 earthen Statue •, and Suidas relating to Adam 
 laid the fame was the firft Statue, the 
 Image named by God, after which all the 
 Art of Carving and Painting of Men re- 
 ceived her Dire&ions. 
 
 And thus as Adam , the Prototype, was 
 the firft moving Statue wrought by God, 
 lo Aot’s Wife, in her Transformation, was 
 the firft fix’d and immoveable one : Which 
 latter lnftance feems nearer to favour our 
 Purpofe. For as F. Junius out of Aur. Pru- 
 •denfius tells us of the miraculous Prelerva- 
 tion of that Figure, that it remained a long 
 time entire and compleat, in her Shape, 
 Coftielinefs, Attire, Ornaments, and in the 
 very Pofture, her Face looking backward, 
 retaining ftill the unchangeable Monument 
 of her antient Dilobedience. So that if we 
 could not produce earlier Proofs of the In- 
 vention of this A r t, this lafting Statue 
 might ferve fora fufficient Ground of Be- 
 lief, that the firft Imitation and Invention 
 of Images might eafily be derived from this 
 Handing Copy of Lot’s Wife. ' • fj 
 
 B u t befides that, this lnftance comes 
 not properly into this Chapter, we lhall 
 pretermit thofe and defeend and lee what 
 
Original Painting. *i 
 
 we can find amongft Men, and begin with 
 Protoflafior , our Father Adam, whom St. Au- 
 guftin affirms to be the Firft Inventor of 
 Letters and Sculpture \ and that there were 
 feveral Books about, bearing his venerable 
 Name, mentioned by Epiphanius, and Tho- 
 mas Aquinas alfo, in his Treatife De ente & 
 Effentia, fpeaks of a Volume of Plants de- 
 scribed and decyphered by Adam j all which 
 were fuppofed to be miraculoufly found out 
 and preferved by the Great Trifmegiftus i 
 which we have no Reafon to cont'radift’ 
 feeing alfo we have theTeflimony of SuidaL 
 who as Mr. Evelyn takes Notice is peremptory 
 in afcribing as was affirmed both Letters 
 and all other Sciences to. Adam, 
 
 m, arc. All which, if they may pafs • 
 for current Picture, may juftly boaft of its 
 Pre-eminence above other Arts in the 
 Honour of its early Invention, deriving 
 thus its Pedigree from the very Infancy of 
 the World. 
 
 However, to pafs by thefe Con- 
 jeftures, we need not travel far among the 
 antediluvian Patriarchs before we meet with 
 Enos the Son of Seth , and Grand-Child to 
 the foie Monarch of the World, the Patri- 
 arch Adam , who, as learned Rabbins re- 
 port, feeing that thole defcended of Cain 
 addiftea themfelves to Wickednefs, which 
 was Idolatry, erring from the Worfhip of 
 
 B 4 the 
 
g An Essay on 
 
 the true God, he defirous to reftrain them 
 and guide them again into the true Worihip, 
 made ufe of Symbols and Hieroglyphicks, 
 and by the Figures of Animals, Simples, 
 Brute Beafts, and other vilible Things which 
 fall under the Sence, he endeavoured to 
 draw them by Degrees to thole Things 
 which were invifible. 
 
 Which alfo feems to be implyed in what 
 we read in the 4th of Genefis, Then began 
 Men to call upon the Name of the Lord , which 
 Broughton interprets of the Beginning of Ido- 
 latry \ that Men then began to prophane 
 his Name. Or according to Rabbi Solamo, 
 to apply the Name of God to Stars and 
 Men : Or as the Supplement of Chronicles 
 • reporteth, That Enos was the firft that fra- 
 med certain Images to ftir up the People to 
 the Reverence and Fear of God, which ac- 
 cords well enough with the Opinion of Trif- 
 megiflus , cited by Leo Baptifia de Alberti, 
 where he depofes Pi&uram of Sculpturam una 
 cum Religione exortam, and gives this Realon, 1 
 Humanitas enim memor natures & Originis fud 
 jDeos ex fui vultus Jimilitudine fguravit , fo 
 that whether they were invented firft for 
 a Sacred, or Prophane, or Civil Ule, vve 
 lhall not much difpute the Queftion, while 
 in the mean Time they feem to grant the 
 Aflertion itfelf. 
 
Original Painting. <£ 
 
 , Mu c h about the fame Time, but upon 
 
 ■ a more remarkable and fignal Occalion, we 
 I have an Account out of Jofephus Cedrenus, 
 j of fome other Sculptures engraven on Two 
 , mighty Obelisks, erefted, as he affirms, 
 
 upon the Account of a Prophecy delivered 
 
 ■ to them from Adam, wherein he Ihould 
 ' foretel of two moft direful and univerlal 
 : Deftru&ions •, the one by F ire, the other 
 ‘ by Water : His Pofrerity thereupon at Jop- 
 pa reared two Pillars, one of Brick, the 
 
 I other of Stone whereon were engraven 
 1 their fideral and cceleftial Sciences ; the 
 1 latter of which flood Proof againft the fub- 
 ' verting and devouring Elements, and lafled 
 ! lome Thoufand of Years after the general 
 ! Deluge. 
 
 T h e like is reported of Zoroafier , (fup- 
 ! poled to be Cham) the Firft Inventer of Ma- 
 gick, engraving the liberal Arts on 
 : Fourteen Columns Seven whereof affirmed 
 ) to be of Brals, and the reft of Brick. And 
 : what ffiall we fay of all thofe Oracles and 
 < facred Sentences, infcribed diverforum me- 
 £ tailor um laminis , and fo left to Pofterity, 
 t : which long after, by Fran. Vatricius, were 
 fcolleded together to the M umber of 320, 
 
 , or of the antick Monuments, fetting forth 
 i the renowned Atchievements of the Patri- 
 ! archs of Old, recorded by Seth and Enoch 
 of which Tertullian, Suidas and others make 
 
 honourable 
 
to An E s s a y on 
 
 honourable mention ; and the Ethiopians boaft 
 themfelves to be the PoifeiTors of at this Day. 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, if 
 any fhould yet cbjeft againft the Probabi- 
 lity of this lo early Invention of thefe 
 Arts, in that the Search and Labour af- 
 ter other more neceffary Trades and Handi- 
 crafts, building of Tents and Places of Ha- 
 bitation ; improvement of Husbandry, and 
 providing of Neceffaries for Man’s Life • 
 that thele were abundantly enough to fur- 
 nilh all their Time, and might more than 
 duly employ all their Studies and Endea- 
 vours, and fo leave no room for the Search 
 of other more curious Arts; To all which 
 we fhall only anfwer, That we no fooner 
 read of Jabal , the Father of fuch as dwelt 
 In Tents and have Cattle, but the next 
 Verfe brings in Jubal, the Inventor of the 
 Harp and Organ ; and Tubd Cain , (fuppo- 
 led by lome to be Vulcan) Inftru&or of eve- 
 ry Artificer in Brafs and Iron. 
 
 All which, we prefume, may lerve to 
 evince that this Art was not wholly un- 
 known to the Patriarchs of Old ; and altho’ 
 we can’t abfolutely depofe that it was re- 
 vealed to Adam, and from him propagated 
 to his Pofterity •, yet we may without any 
 Jcruple determine thattheAntients had fome 
 Knowledge of it, and that it emerged to lome 
 competent Attainment before the Flood. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
Original Painting. h 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Of the Commencement c/Painting 
 immediately after the Flood , and from 
 thence down to the middle Ages ; toge- 
 ther with fome Account of the Hiero- 
 glyphicks and Sacred Paintings of 
 the Egyptians. 
 
 HAT Seeds of this Art were 
 planted before this great Catas- 
 trophe, we may prefume were 
 not all wafhed away, lome 
 whereof probably might have 
 been transmitted by Noah to the new World, 
 belides one Inftance before mentioned we 
 have of Enoch’s Pillar, engraven with Ima- 
 gery, which bore up under this direful Ca- 
 lamity, and flood a Monument to after 
 Ages of the glorious Undertaking of thole 
 mighty Men of Old. 
 
 H owever, the fore-named Cham , who 
 himfelf was a Witnefs of, and Aftor in 
 thele great Works above-cited, without 
 oubt, would be inftrumental in propagat- 
 ing 
 
1 3 Aft Essay oft 
 
 ing to his Pofterity all thele glorious A ri 
 and Sciences, in which he had fo fa 
 attained ; which feems to be confirmed it 
 what we find was praftifed by Ninus , one oj 
 his Pofterity ; who having performed the 
 Funeral of Belus his Father, called alfo 
 Nimrod , the Firft King of the Jffyrians^ te 
 allay the Sorrow of whole Death, and ii 
 fome mealiire to reftore lb great a Lof j 
 caufed his Image to be made, and gave Pr 
 vilege of Sanftuary to all Offenders that r f 
 lorted to it. 
 
 And alio by what we read of Mizy, 
 the Egyptian Pharoah, the Son of Chus, a j 
 Grand-Child of Cham, who, as Traditii 
 inform us, reared two mighty Column} 
 adorned with diverfe Figures and Engrave j 
 ings ; which Mr. Evelyn has taken Notice' 
 of; and becaufe the whole Paragraph fall; : 
 in with our Purpofe, we lhall put in hil 
 own Words ; to offer our Sence in air : 
 other Drels, were but to give you it i 
 worfe Language. 
 
 * H e brings in Adercurius 'Trifmegijl. i 
 e who as he acquaints us 300 Years after tl j 
 4 Flood, and long before Adofes , engrave 
 e his fecret and myfterious Things in Stow 
 e as himfelf reports, reforming what ha< 
 
 * been depraved by the wicked Cham ; fora 
 in Letters, fome in Figures and enigma' 
 
 ». Charafters ; luch happily, as wen 
 
 r ' 1 tholi 
 
 Ihh. C: 
 
Original Painting. i ? 
 
 4 thofe contain’d in the magnificent and 
 4 ftupendious Obelisks erefted by Miz,ra ytt 
 4 the firft Egyptian Pharoah , which being at 
 4 leaft Four Hundred Years before 2ldofes y 
 4 as the moft indefatigable Klrker has com- 
 4 puted, does greatly prefage their Anti* 
 
 4 quity to have been before that holy Pro- 
 4 phet. But not to put too much Strels 
 4 upon fuperanuated Tradition, this we are 
 4 lure is of Faith and without Controverfy, 
 
 * that in Mofes we have the Tables of Stone 
 4 engraven by the Finger of God himfelf j 
 4 where the Commandment is exprefs, even 
 4 againft the Abule of this very A r t, as 
 1 *• well as an Inflance of the Antiquity of 
 1 4 Idolatry, attefting that of Sculpture, Thou 
 ' 4 (halt not make to thy [elf any graven Image • 
 
 1 but this, which is the firft Writing which 
 
 I * we have Scripture to vouch for, doth yet 
 £ pre-fuppofe Engraving to have been of 
 4 much greater Antiquity •, what elfe were 
 4 the Teraphim, what the Penates of Laban 
 
 4 ftolen by Rachael, the Idols of Terah, or the 
 r Egyptian, &c. but we forbear to expatiate, 
 
 4 only that which is by Ben Syrak, lome- 
 1 4 where in Ecclefiafticus delivered, That the 
 
 I I Original of Idolatry was from Images, to* 
 
 1 4 preferve the Memory of the Dead, as in 
 
 ■ 1 procefsofTime, by the F latteries of Great 
 i 1 Men, it was turned to be an Objeft of 
 ’ Adoration, plainly inferring Graving to 
 have been elder than either. C And. 
 
4 'An Essay on 
 
 And to bring up the Rear to the Ho- 
 nour of P a i n t i n Oj in Contention with 
 them, both in Point of Priority, we have 
 , Epiphanius to vouch us, in his firft Booh con- 
 tra Harcfcs, where afcribing the niii. In- 
 vention of Images to Thara, the F aimer of j 
 Abraham, he affirms, that before his Days j 
 they had not graven Images of Wood, or; 
 Metal, but only Pictures of Men; which 
 plain Atteftation (if we may credit the Au- 
 thority, which on the other Hand, we have 
 no Reafon to contradict) fully vouches the 
 Antiquity of Pictures in compare both with 
 Idolatry and Sculpture, and feems clearly 
 to carry the Invention of Painting 
 
 Rill higher than either. 
 
 N either can we confent that the In- 
 vention of the latter Ihould any ways fuper. 
 fede, or abolifh, the PraRice of the former; 
 for long after that, and fometime before, 
 the Migration of the Jfraelites through the 
 Wildernefs into Canaan, the holy Prophet 
 received an exprefs Command from God 
 him lei f, for that Nation’s idolatrous Abufe 
 of the Art, that they fhould drive out 
 all the Inhabitants before them ; deftroy all 
 their Pictures, and all their moulten Images, 
 and quite pluck down all their High Places. 
 Where both Arts are fo diftinCtly taken, 
 Notice of, that we can’t but acknowledge 
 they were both particularly known to that 
 Nation, and practis’d among them. ‘But 
 
Original Painting. 15 
 
 ‘But to recover its Efteem again be* 
 
 * yond all Prejudice, however by others abu- 
 
 * fed, a3 indeed many of the beft Things 
 £ have been, it was (we know,) imputed for 
 
 * a lpiritual Talent in Baz,aliel and Aboliah , 
 1 who made lntaglias to adorn the Righ- 
 
 * Priefls Pe&oral ; and God himfelf vouch- 
 'fafed Two Exemplaries •, as we find the Pat- 
 tern of the Tabernacle which 
 
 was dilcovered and fhewn un- ^xod. 25. 40. 
 
 to Mofes upon Mount Sinai ; and alfo we 
 read of another Pattern of the Temple of 
 Jerufalcm , delivered unto Solo- 
 mon by his Father David, after 1 Chron • z8 - l 9 - 
 
 the Prefcript God had made with his own 
 Hand. 
 
 ‘Besides all which, we have faid 
 
 * how the j Egyptians reverenced it, as feem- 
 
 * ing to have ufed it before Letters, or ra- 
 ‘ ther their Hieroglyphicks (importing la- 
 
 * cied Sculpture) where thofe Elements by 
 which they tranfmitted to Pofterity what 
 
 * they efteemed moft worthy of record 9 
 
 * and. not (as fome have imagined) wrap’d* 
 
 ‘ U P hi thofe enigmatical Figures, the Se- 
 crets of their Arts, both Divine and 
 
 Secular : For 
 
 C 2 
 
 Nonctum 
 
J» Essay op 
 
 1 6 
 
 Nondum flumineas Memphis cmtexere biblos 
 JSfoyerat *, & [axis tantum volucrifq \ ferafi 
 Sculpt aq j fervabant magical animalia litiguas. 
 
 Isticanus Lib. 3. 
 
 £ whence Tacitus calls them Antiquffima mo • 
 
 * momenta memortid humane imprcffa Saxis. 
 
 * Such as were alio the Horapolliwis nota y ai d 
 € all thole other venerable Antiquities ol 
 € this Nature, tranipofied to Rome out of 
 c Egypt, in no lefs than 42 prodigious Obe- 
 < lifks, of late interpreted by the induftnous 
 
 * Kir far, before cited. 
 
 B u t it would be too tedious to enume- 
 rate the many Infiances we could produce 
 of their enigmatical Sculptures engraven 
 021 Pillars^ Arches, Pyles, Obelisks other 5 
 reported in magnificent Pyramids, Sepul- 
 chres, Dormitories *, befides innumerable 
 ColofTes, Statues, Idols, Images, and Oia- 
 celar Deities of Old } all which do abun- 
 dantly atteft to the venerable Antiquity of 
 
 this renowned Art. 
 
 But we fhall pafs all thefe by, and take 
 leave to defeend a while into their Caves, 
 Uypogaasy or (as they are rend’red Erglifi) 
 Mummies, thofe facred Vaults, Conferva- 
 _ tories of thofe as facred Relids 
 
 yraP phiT a ~ °f their renowned Anceftors of 
 
 Old, which, according to Mr. 
 
 Gravis , 
 
Original Painting. i j 
 
 Graves, lie hid under the Brow of a conti- 
 nued Hill, fcituate about Four Miles from 
 Grand Cairo , and- adjoyning to the famed 
 City Memphis, or Babylon of Old j where 
 among thofe almoft infinite Number of de- 
 picted Hieroglyphicks, and myfterious 
 Paintings of their dead Bodies, we hope to 
 find fomething yet more exprefs and par- 
 ticular to our Purpofe 5 of which therefore 
 we ihall endeavour to give fome Ihort Ac- 
 count therein, relating to the Periods, both 
 of the Original and utter Abolifhment of 
 them. 
 
 I t was an Opinion always retained Sa- 
 cred among the Egyptians , that as long as 
 the Body after Separation, whether by Art, 
 or otherwife, remained entire and uncor- 
 rupt, fo long they held the Soul was oblig’d 
 to continue with it } but yet, not as a 
 quick’ning and animating Spirit, but only 
 as an Attendant and friendly Guardian to 
 it} hovering ftill over her divorcd Neft, 
 thereby Ihewing fome reluClancy thus to 
 leave and be .deprived of her former Habi- 
 tation } but when once the material Form 
 of the Body was diffolv'd, and the whole 
 Mafs again diiiipated and moulder d into 
 Duft, then the Soul flood wholly difingaged, 
 and was at Liberty freely to pafs into any 
 ocher Body: Which Opinion of theirs, Py- 
 thagoras probably borrowed of them, of 
 
 C 3 his 
 
1 8 An Essay on 
 
 his Met amp f ucofis of T ranfmigration 
 Souls. 
 
 This Belief of theirs excited them to 
 that over folicitous Care of prelerving fa- 
 cred and entire the dead Bodies of their 
 Relations \ and alfo in providing them Con- 
 ditories and Sepulchres, that might be as 
 lafting as their intrufted Relifts, and in 
 which they might remain fecure and un- 
 difturb’d from the Iniquities of Times and 
 Men. This alfo prompted, perhaps, the 
 antient Theban Kings to ereft thole {lately 
 Spherical Sepulchres, {landing by Siene and 
 Fhila , called Tumuli Mercuriales , fpoken of 
 by Mr. Craves out of Jdiodorus •, and after 
 the Glory of Thebes was once eclips’d, and 
 the Throne removed to Mer aphis, the fame 
 Opinions ftill accompanied, probably incited 
 thole P bar oaks there together with their 
 private Ambition and thirft after Glory, 
 to be at fo vaft Expences in building of 
 Piles, and rearing thofe Audacia Saxa Pyra- 
 midurn, as Statius calls them • and the Egyp- 
 tians of meaner Rank to fpare for no Colt in 
 cutting Hypogaas, thofe lubterranean Dor- 
 mitories in the Lybian Defarts • all which 
 they defigned for Manfions and Habitations 
 for their Bodies after this Ihort Life : and 
 it was in thefe Reconditories they hoped to 
 -live a glorious Memory of Virtue, and to 
 
 ha ve a mutual Converle with the Gods for 
 
 an. infinite Space- ' j s 
 
 **~** — ‘ ... 
 
Original Painting. is 
 
 1 v this therefore was their lole Expecta- 
 tion and Happinefs they look’d for in ano- 
 ther State, then we need not wonder that 
 they were fo folicitous in exquilitely adorn* 
 ing their Sepulchres, and fo ftudious in 
 contriving all thofe Hieroglyphick Paint- 
 ings and Gildings, with winch their Coffins 
 were lb curioufly beautified and depiCledj 
 and as Mr. Graves gives us the Particulars, 
 forae with the Figures of Dogs Heads, 
 others with Representations of Anatomies 
 and Diffeftions of Bodies, before their Em- 
 balming, with the Balfam Pots, and other 
 Inftruments of Chyrurgery about them : 
 Within, over the Body, were divers Wrap- 
 pers, fpread over with a chalky Salve, upon 
 which Cloaths were commonly portraied 
 the Pictures of thofe wound up therein, 
 with Colours that will never fade, or decay. 
 Upon the uppermoft Covering were Rib- 
 bons and Fillets, between which were Hie- 
 roglyphicks and Coeleftial Creatures ; upon 
 the Breaft was a kind of Breaft-Plate, made 
 with Folds of Linnen cut Scollopwife, rich- 
 ly painted and gilt •, aitd in the midft of it 
 was the Face of a Woman, with her Arms 
 expanded •, on each Side of them, at the 
 Two utmoft Ends, was the Head of an 
 Hawk fairly gilt, by which they reprefent- 
 ed the Divine Nature : Befides thefe, over 
 their Head, they had commonly portraied 
 
 the 
 
2 o An Essay on 
 
 the Image of their tutular God, with feve- 
 
 ral other exotick Charafters. 
 
 I n all which Grange Reprefentations, 
 befides what Ornament and Luftre they ad* 
 ded to the Coups, we may conjecture fome 
 of them contained the particular Memoirs 
 of the Virtues and noble Actions of the 
 Deceafed : In fome, perhaps, were wrap- 
 ped up many facred Sentences of their Pagan 
 Faith and Theology *, and in others, pro- 
 bably, lay hid certain Telefms and magi- 
 cal Incentations, to keep off evil Spirits, 
 and defend them from the Malice and Ini* 
 quityof’Men. 
 
 And thus we have a Ihort Narrative of 
 the whole Attainment of this A r t, with 
 the Occafion and Circumftances of its Ad- 
 vancement among the Egyptians ; all which 
 appears to be fo plain, that it would be 
 needlefs to produce Authority ; and, we 
 prefume, no Man doubts of the Truth of 
 it, that this Art, de fatto, was eminently 
 known to them, and for a long Time pra- 
 Chifed among them. 
 
 Bur to affert the Time when it firft 
 commenced is a Task of more difficult En- 
 quiry. The firft Example we read out of 
 Scripture of this Manner of Burial, we find 
 was praCtifed by Jofeph upon his Father 
 Jacob , who commanded his Servants, the 
 
 Phyficians, to embalm him ; and after him, 
 
 - 7 ' — “ upon 
 
Original Painting. ai 
 
 upon Jofeph himfelf, who both Living and 
 Dying in Egypt , the Text tells us. So Jofeph 
 died) being an Hundred and Ten Tears Old } and 
 they Embalmed him , and he was put in a Coffin , 
 but now whether the Solemnity was per- 
 formed in all thofe Circumftances of their 
 iacred Paintings and Hieroglyphicks before- 
 mentioned we can’t poilibly affert, unlefs 
 that Art was known to the great 1 rif- 
 megiflus , who lived above Three Hundred 
 Years before AA)/hf, andfoconfequently fome 
 Time before thefe Patriarchs, from whom 
 they acknowledged to have received ail 
 their Myfteries, and facred Arts and Sci- 
 ences. That of their enigmatical Engra- 
 vings, we don’t doubt, was pra&ifed long 
 before that which the Inftance of Mizxaims 
 Two Pillars makes clear r And as to the 
 
 * f 4 1 • 
 
 particular of Painting, Fltny_ m ins 
 
 35th Book of the firft Inventors of it, tells 
 us how the Egyptians boafted that the Art 
 was known and flourifhed among them for 
 above Six Thoufand Years, according to 
 their monft’rous Computation, before it 
 was tranflated to the Grecians \ which we 
 fhall neither endeavour to confute, nor cal- 
 culate the precife Time, or in what Pharoah^s 
 Reign their Account might probably fall 
 in with •, this only it may ferve to evince, viz. 
 the great Antiquity of it, having been long 
 
 praciifed among them Time out of Mind. 
 
 " ' ~ " How- 
 
 / 
 
22 
 
 An Essay on 
 
 H o w e v e r , though we can’t be lb 
 positive in averting the firft Pra&ifers of it 
 the Time and Period of its utter Extirpa- 
 tion among them is obvious enough, as 
 Mr. Ogilby in his Africa has obferved, vk, 
 That all the Bodies of the Egyptians that 
 were thus Embalmed, Adorned, and hiero- 
 glyphickly Chara&erized, and are found in 
 ■ftone Vaults under Ground, or in Pyramids 
 were buried there before the Expedition of 
 Cambyfes into Egypt t in the Year of the 
 World Three Thoufand Four Hundred 
 and Thirty, as appears in that Cambyfes af- 
 ter his Conqueft introducing his own Terfm 
 Manners, Rites and Cuftoms, baniihed, or 
 put to Death, without Mercy, the whole 
 Prieflhood of the Nation * whereby this 
 Mummies Way of Interring utterly failing 
 
 200 Years was quite laid afide, as annears 
 Old and from Herodotus ; thefe p&fts, ! 
 a ove ' fays he, only underftood thofe 
 Myfteries, which might not be taught, or 
 communicated to the People in common j 
 fo that in Effett the whole Science died. 
 
Original Painting. 
 
 The Enquiry after the Attainment of 
 Painting continued , referring to 
 the Knowledge and Practice of it in the 
 Time of the Trojans, before their fnal 
 Overthrow ; and alfo to the Antiquity of 
 the Painting of Shields and other Mili- 
 tary Enfgns. 
 
 HUS we have taken a Profpeft 
 of Egypt, where after many Wan- 
 derings in no lets than a double 
 Egyptian Darkneis, we have, at 
 length, out of the Allies of the Dead, and 
 even the very Bowels of the Earth made 
 (we hope) an ample and fatisfafrory Dif- 
 : covery of the admirable Attainment of the 
 Pencil among them. 
 
 Notwithstanding all which, we 
 dare not affirm the Vulgar had any Difco- 
 very of this A r t, that lacred Efteem 
 and Reverence, it obtained among them, 
 lo ftriftly forbidding any Communications 
 of it to any popular Enquiries, but lay 
 
 con- 
 
 \ ^ 
 
, An E s s a if m 
 
 concealed among the Priefthood alone oi 
 that Nation, and was wholly employed ir 
 the Service of their moft facred religious 
 Myfteries ■, ’tis obfervable not only in this 
 but in the precedent Inftances of othei 
 Nations, it has been an Attendant upon 
 their feveral Religions, and like the Ivy 
 embracing the Oak, as ibme. conjecture it 
 was born with it \ fo it has ftill accompani- 
 ed, and been a conftant Traveller with 
 through all the Stages of Time, arid Diver 
 fities of Nations. 
 
 The only Probability we have that this 
 Art might poffibly be employed in their 
 more civil and fecular Concerns. Here in 
 the Practice we find they had of Hiero 
 glyphifing their Thoughts, and what they 
 judged moft Worthy of Record, whether 
 Divine, or Secularj which Arts they 
 made ufe of before the Invention of Let 
 fers, before which they had no other Way 
 to tranfmit to Pofterity their feveral Inver, 
 tions and Acquifitions •, yet, however, in this 
 Kind, we find very (lender Proof of it, 
 particularly relating to P a i n t i n g, and 
 what Francis Junius tells us of thofe Dink- 
 mita Region Egyptiorum which were round 
 befet with the Figures of j4fps, wrought 
 with the Needle in diverfe Colours, had re- 
 ference ftill to their divine Secrets, and 
 contain’d fome myftical and facred Inter- 
 pretations. Out! 
 
Original Painting. 
 
 Only it may afford us the Confideration of 
 another fort of Painting not yet mention’d, 
 call’d Pittura, Textile, Embroidery, or thofe 
 Needle-work Painting, an Art of very early 
 Invention, wherein the Variety of human 
 Shapes , brute and inanimate Creatures 
 were all expreffed in lively Colours •, the 
 Glory of which Lucan feems to attribute to 
 the Egyptians , but more probably is of 
 right due to the Phrygians \ and for that 
 Reafcn the Embroiderers were call’d Phry- 
 gioncs , as Pliny tells us \ yet we find this 
 A r t was alfo known and prafrifed in 
 other Nations , although probably they 
 might derive it ftill from them. Such were 
 the Barbilcnica Texta among the Chaldeans ; 
 Vela Judaica among the Jews Clanrides 
 Militares among the Achaans and Vejl es 
 Attalica, from Attains King of Pergamus , 
 who to the further Glory of thefe Works, 
 introduc’d the adorning of them with Gold. 
 
 Not to omit what Homer tells us of 
 thofe kind of Pictures among the Trojans, 
 although Pliny is pohtive, and takes it for 
 granted, that during that fatal War, or 
 before, no Man knew what Painting 
 was. But then what lhall we fay to all 
 thofe coftly Works ( mentioned by the 
 Poet) wrought in Tapeftry by the Trojan 
 Dames, and particularly the Occurences of 
 the then prelent War between the Greeks 
 
 D and 
 
 1 
 
2 6 An Essay on 
 
 and 'trojans, with the feveral Rencounters 
 and other Gircumftances, the Commanders 
 all perfonated in lively Figures ; all which 
 was admirably performed by the Hand of 
 
 the fair Helena herfelf. 
 
 What elfe was meant by all thofe 
 Bucklers, Enfigns and Shields , engraven 
 and adorned with fuch variety of Figures, 
 particularly that of Minerva , beautified 
 with thofe feveral Figurations of Fear , 
 Anger, Fame, Wrath, Difcord, Contenti- 
 on, and in the mid ft of all the Portrait of 
 all th e terrible Head of Gorgon. 
 
 What fhall we fay of the Shield, alfo 
 of that famous Grecian Captain Achilles , il- 
 luftrated with fo luxuriant a Variety of 
 Invention, whereon in a glorious Manner 
 was portraied all the heavenly Bodies, Sun, 
 Moon and Stars, Planets, and all other 
 Coeleftial Spheres, the Terraqueous.G lobe, 
 the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea, unto 
 all which was added the skillful Practices 
 both of Peace and War. Vlyjfes we find 
 upon his Shield, had the Reprelentation of 
 a Dolphin and Typhon, breathing out 
 Flames of Fire. The Valiant Agamemtm 
 i n the Trojan War bore in his Shield a Lion 
 with this Epigraph, Terror hie eft hominm 
 eft cmi hunc gent eft Agamemnon . 
 
 T o all which we might yet fuper add 
 many more to the fame Purpole, but we 
 > ' ' forbea 
 
Original Painting. 27 
 
 forbear to expatiate, and ilis.ll lit mg . ip 
 only one Angle Inftance out of Virgil, which 
 is y qz more clear and abiuiUte than alt. 
 thole where we find ^/Eneas after his Ar- 
 rival’at Carthage, attending for the Queen 
 in the fumptuous Temple of Juno , where 
 his Eyes and Thoughts were foon taken up 
 upon the Splendors and Beauty of the 
 Place ; among which none had fuch a Share 
 in his Wonder, or furprized him more 
 than thofe excellent and memorable Paint- 
 ings, containing the entire Hiftory of his 
 Country’s fatal Overthrow by the Grecians , 
 with the renowned Aftions and Adventures 
 of thofe noble Captains on either fide, at 
 the Sight whereof the Poet tells us, 
 
 Conftitutit (Jr Lachrymans quit jam locus in'- 
 quit jichate , 
 
 Qua Regia in terrts nojlti non plena [aborts* 
 
 And how true and lively thefe were all 
 reprefented, we may eafily judge by that 
 Amazement and compaffionate Sorrow they 
 moved in him, which he reflected upon all 
 thofe Calamities and direful Difafters that 
 fo lately hefel his native Country and 
 Companions*, and of which, we find thele 
 Pi&ures gave him lo frefh. and lively a 
 Senfe, that his Eyes with a flood of Tears 
 foon gave abundant Teftimony to it. 
 
 D 2 $ lC 
 
An Essay on 
 
 2 % 
 
 Sic ait atq\ animum Pi Bur a pojjit inani 
 Mult a Gemens largoq\ hufneBdt flutnini 
 Vultunt . 
 
 And becaufe the whole Palfage will give 
 Satisfaction, take it as it’s rend’red Engtifh 
 by the incomparable Mr. Sandys , 
 
 For as on all the Rarities he gaz’d, 
 
 (The Queen expeftingj their Felicities, 
 
 I nd amulous Arts admiring, he his Eyes 
 Now fixt on Ilium s fatal Fights thro’ all 
 The World divulg’d the Grecian General. 
 Old Priamm fees, and Fern rAacides 
 Cruel to both, ftruck with fuch Sights as 
 thefe. 
 
 To Achates faid, what Place, what Region 
 So diftant where our Labours are un- 
 known } 
 
 — — Supprels thy Dread. 
 
 This faid, his Thoughts upon the Picture 
 fed. 
 
 His Heart with Sighs, his Eyes with 
 Rivers fraught. 
 
 For now he fees how they at Ilium fought. 
 Here fled the Greeks , the Trojan Youth 
 purfue ; 
 
 Bright helm’d Achilles , there the Phry- 
 gians liew. 
 
 * 
 
 Not 
 
Original Painting. 29 
 
 Kor far off Bhdfkt white Pavilion flood 
 Bjr cruel Diomed by Streams of Blood. 
 
 In dead of Night, furpriz’d, who bear 
 
 away 
 
 His Horfes to the Grecian Camp, ere 
 they 
 
 Of Zanthrn drank,or of Troy's Paftures fed. 
 Here Thoily’s difarm’d, and wounded fled, 
 Poor Boy, too weak to match Achilles 
 For ce * 
 
 Caft from* his Chariot by his frighted 
 irif o r 1 0 
 
 Yet holds his Reins, his Neck andTref- 
 
 fes trail’d, ; . 
 
 On purpl’d Earth his Spear the Dirt en- 
 
 grail’d, &c. 
 
 And ’tis no wonder good <^£neas his 
 Thoughts were lb bulled about theft; Oo- 
 jefts •, yet upon another Score if we may 
 give Credit to what Ovid tells us, 1 hat he 
 had a peculiar Genius to tnat A it r, and at 
 the Requeft of Calypfo, after their Over- 
 throw, him fell delineated and pain tea the 
 whole Siege of Troy, with tne Circumftances 
 obfervable in it. 
 
 * And if any will yet objeft and allege, i nan 
 all thefe were only Poetical Fiftions, and 
 Ornamental Parergees to the mam Subject, 
 and probably had no Foundation of Truth 
 
 P 3 111 
 
\ o An Essay on 
 
 in them \ as to that in Virgil we can’t fo 
 eafily confent that he lhould Romance in a 
 PafTage lb material, and tending nothing to 
 the Honour of his sAlnem, whom his Delign 
 was to make the Example of a compleat 
 Captain. But for Homer , all Writers agree- 
 ing that he flourished, • either during that fa- 
 tal War,or however, not long after, in point 
 of Poffibility, we fear it will prove dubi- 
 ous if we credit that receiv’d Axiom, Nihil 
 eft in intellect u quod non fuit prim infenfu. 
 Whether the Power of Imagination be able 
 to form an Idea of A s t. not yet invented, 
 and lb elegantly and amply defcribe it in 
 all thole Circumftances and Requifttes at- 
 tending upon it •, which yet at this Time, 
 or at the pitch ot Grecian Glory, when this 
 Art feem’d to be in its higheft Afcendant 
 and compleat Luftre, would be found a 
 Task intricate* enough to bufy, if not to 
 baffle tne Pencil of a Apelles himfelf. 
 
 And as to that Particular , whether 
 they were Embroider’d, Woven, Painted, 
 Engraven, or Embofs’d,’tis not much mate- 
 rial, any of them is enough to evince, 
 altho i ot the entire Art of P a i n t x n o, 
 
 that yet the Skill and- Attainment of ready 
 Draxvirg and Defigning, with many other 
 A'cccmplifhments of it, were fufficiently 
 known to them, and praftifed among them. 
 
 A N Dj 
 
Original Painting. 3 1 
 
 And yet not wholly to acquiefee and 
 lay down the Bucklers whilft we may feem 
 to appear fafe under the Prote&ion of fo 
 many Shields and Enfigns, which as fure 
 Traditions of antient Authors inform, were 
 not only variously chara&eriz’d, but alio 
 beautified with the Elegancy of Colours ; 
 all which we can bring in to our Defence, - 
 not only from the Praftice of the Israelites 
 in the Wildernefs, but alfo from the Ex- 
 amples of Co far antienter a Date, that they 
 feem to have manifefted this Truth, and 
 looked into the Antediluvian, as well as 
 this latter World •, and for lnftance, par- 
 ticularly that mentioned by Diodorus Siculus , 
 of Ofyris , Sirnamed Jupiter the Juft, and 
 Son to Cham, the curled Son of Noah ; call- 
 ed of the Gentiles, Jams •, who being banilh- 
 ed from the Tents of Sent and Japhet, to 
 feek fome remote Places to fettle in. To 
 that Purpofe he affembled a mighty Army, 
 in which Expedition, both himielf, his 
 Sons , Hercules , Macedon, and Anubis , and 
 others , had painted certain Signatures 
 upon their Shields, Bucklers, and other 
 Weapons : For Example, Ofyris bare on 
 his Shield a Scepter Royal, enfigned on 
 the Top with an Eye y Hercules a Lyon 
 Rampant holding a little Axe •, Macedon & 
 Wolf, and Anubis a Dog. 
 
 - And 
 
j 2 An Essay on 
 
 And if thefe Inftances feem not yet 
 fully to enforce the Probability of the 
 Trojans Acquifition of their Knowledge in 
 the Experiment of Colours, from the Ex- 
 amples of former Ages •, from whofe Copies 
 they might lo eafily have tranfcribed this 
 Art, vve have the Teftimony of Homer 
 himlelf • yet to add, who, as Pliny takes 
 Notice, has otherwife been fparing enough 
 of Speaking of Pictures and Colours, yet 
 lets us know what great Requeft that Red 
 Earth, call’d Rithrica , obtain’d among the 
 
 Trojans , by his ample Com- 
 mendations of thole * Ships * Such are call d 
 
 jl r>*ir QTflgV 
 
 that were fo admirably adorn- M ar«*4«tf- 
 ed and painted therewith. f t 
 
 N o t to pretermit what Andrew Favine , 
 in his Theatre of Honour, delivers concern- 
 ing Noah, who took for his proper Signa- 
 ture, or Device, a Lyon Rampant, in to- 
 ken of his Sovereignity •, and alio gave to 
 his Sons their feveral Cognizances and 
 Badges ; and not long after, we And the 
 Twelve Children of Ifrael receiving their 
 di ft in ft Enfigns from their Father Jacob. 
 Of all which, our Author, out of Martinus 
 Borhaus , undertakes to give us the feveral 
 
 Blazons of the particular, Fields and Char- 
 ges. 
 
 And yet to make the Teftimony more 
 ample, after this, in the Migration of the 
 
 Children 
 
Original Painting. 
 
 Children of Ifrael through the Wildernels 
 into the Land of Canaan, (which Chrono- 
 Jogers make to be about Twenty Years be- 
 fore the firft Foundation of Troy) we find 
 they receiyed a Command from God him- 
 felf, that Fslii Ifraelie quijque juxta vexdliim 
 / Hum cum /ignis fecundum domum majerum fuo- 
 rum cafira babento ; not only implying the 
 Four Standards of Judah , Reuben, Ephraim , 
 and Dan into which, Twelve Tribes were 
 colleded, and had their leveral Appoint- 
 ments ; under all which were depided and 
 diftinguilhed with feveral Colours, Signa- 
 tures and Forms, but alfo had reference to, 
 thole more particular Enligns of each Fa- 
 mily, which were born by them in Time 
 of War upon their Shields, Coat-Armours, 
 and other Habiliments 5 and to this Sence 
 Lyra upon the Place is affirmative % In/igna 
 propria funt in vefiibus (Jr Scutis quibus bellatores 
 tnuto fe cognofc unt & /uos ab adverfdries difir in « 
 puant j and thus from this lb antient Pra- 
 dice of Painting their Shields, other Na- 
 tions might happily become Imitators of 
 them ; and amongft them, not improbable, 
 the Old Germans , as we may not altogether 
 mlignilicantly colled from the Word Scyl- 
 *f r y 5 i n High Dutch , Teutonic h, lignifying 
 Fainting^ which if it be of the fame 
 Date with the reft of the Language, which 
 ls P re fumed to be as Old as Babel , no doubt 
 
 they 
 

 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 lip! 
 
 
 
 1 ft 
 
 
 ! f l!i 
 
 I !• 
 
 ?4 
 
 An Essay on 
 
 they had this Brattice among them-, for 
 both Scyldery and Scylder , a fainter, are 
 Derivatives, and taken from the Word Scyk, 
 a Shield ; which is yet retained in that 
 Sence, both among them and the inferior 
 German's at this Day. 
 
 CHAP, 
 
35 
 
 Original Painting. 
 
 \ - n 
 
 CHAP. IY. 
 
 More compendioujly of the Pretentions of 
 j ever a l other Nations , as ^kChineefes, 
 
 Grecians, Phasnicians, Tufcans, 
 &c. 
 
 F we think fit to travel as Far as 
 the Indies, we fhall find the 
 Kingdom, of China to be not 
 only (reported) of that great 
 Antiquity, over which their 
 Kings have fucceffively fwayed the SceDtre 
 in Peace, without Gonquefl, or Invaiion 
 for fome Thoufands of Years, but alfo by 
 Advantage of that Peace (the Nurfe of 
 Arts) and their peculiar Genius and Confti- 
 tutions, they have been ai wavs ereat Search* 
 ers into, and lucky Inventors of many won- 
 derful Arts and Sciences } and to mention 
 thofe two (fo well known)' of Painting and 
 Guns, both which they tell ushave been 
 u led among them I ime out of IWEind, which 
 we fb.aH not endeavour to vindicate but 
 take what is prefumed and acknowledged 
 
on 
 
 H 
 
 ! I- 
 
 26 An Essay 
 
 by all that thefe Arts were undoubtedly 
 known to them long before they were ever 
 prattifed in our European Nations ; which 
 if fo, there is Place for home Probability 
 from* a parallel Collett ion of the Rife aid 
 Progrefs of Arts; that many other curi. 
 ous inventions, and particularly thofeoi 
 Drawing and Painting in feveral Circiro 
 
 fiances appearing more obvious, and eafily 
 
 attainable. I fay, we can’t but conjeftun 
 they had an early Knowledge of them, 
 confequently that' they were prattifed a. 
 anong them long before they appear’d up. 
 on the Stage of this Quarter of the World, 
 Neither is it altogether immaterial to think 
 thofe Arts to be as Old as their Religion 
 itfelf; and confequently their Nation, 
 which (as reported) has ever entertain’d 
 Paganifin and Idolatry , and worlhipped 
 the Devils in divers Shapes, and have had 
 Images and Pittures or feveral, both h 
 and fhe Saints,' and their Charatters Re 
 corded in long Legands of their feveral 
 Lives ; befides an incomparable Sort ol 
 other Idols and Images, with which both 
 their Temples and Sepulchres at the Iblemc 
 Interment of their Corps were furnifhed 
 and adorned. The Reafon of which might 
 probably be taken from the fame Opinion 
 they entertain’d as Mr. Purchas relates with 
 the Egyptians of the Tranfmigration ol 
 
 Souls, 
 
 9 
 
Original Paint i n g. i j 
 
 Souls, therefore were they at fb great Ex- 
 pences in their Funeral Solemnities, and 
 particularly their Coffins were adorn’d 
 with all the Curiofity that Art could invent, 
 which that it might not be wanting in any 
 Thing, it was their Care and Study in their 
 Life to provide againft that Time, when 
 (as Maffeus acquaints us) they had this pe- 
 culiar Cuftom, after all other Ceremonies 
 performed, to burn upon the Graves of the 
 Deceafed many Papers painted with Men, 
 Cattle, and Provifion for their Ufe in the 
 next World. 
 
 And as they fell in with fome of 
 the Opinions of the Egyptians, fo al fo 
 were they skill’d in the Practice of fome of 
 their Hieroglyphicks, fome of which are flill 
 extant among their Writings and printed 
 Records, particularly one of great Anti- 
 quity at this Day to be feen in the V mean 
 Library in Rome, made up in various Folds, 
 befides many others in the Hands of the 
 Virtuofi , in all reprefenting Pictures , as 
 fome Landskips, Stories, and the like ; be- 
 iides, the Form of their Writings was in a 
 manner of the fame Nature, where every 
 Charafler contained not only Words, but 
 fome of them entire Sentences. 
 
 N o t to omit what is recorded in the 
 Difcoveries of Morocco, and other Parts of 
 the World, where ’tis alfo affirmed they 
 
 E Hiero- 
 
8 An Essay on 
 
 lieroglypMz’d their Thoughts, Hiftories 
 nd Inventions to Pofterity •, not much un* 
 ike the Egyptians) tho’ in lels durable and 
 permanent Matter. The fame alfb Jo, 
 Laeo affirms of the like Attainments, the 
 Acad&) and thofe of Neva Francia : So na- j 
 tural it feems and ufeful was tnofe Arts , 
 to the leaft civiliz’d Nations, that we fee 
 both Indies meet together to entertain and 
 embrace them •, and after the Example of 
 other Nations, have always employ’d them 
 in their moft Sacred and Myfterious Sub- 
 j e £ls. 
 
 A n d if (as we find) this A R t has thus 
 extended it felf even unto the utmoft Con- 1 
 fines, and difplay’d its Enfigns equally into 
 both the Indies , and remoteft Angies of the * 
 World, we can’t eafily prefume, m the ! 
 mean while , the intermediate Climates 
 were wholly ignorant in the like Attain- 
 ments but rather on the contrary (the 
 much earlier Plantation of which, allowing 
 a larger Time of maturing and growing up 
 into a Perfection of a more curious Acqui- 
 fitions,) that they had a more ample and 
 advantageous Difcovery of it •, and to in- 
 fiance particularly of Greece, a Country of 
 old, famous both for Arts and Arms, the 
 Theatre of all the Gallantry of human Ac- 
 chievements, whereof moft of the refined 
 .Wits of the World have a&ed their Parts, 
 
 * #«. __ 4 
 
Original Painting. 39 
 
 the Center of all Inventions and inge- 
 nious Accomplilhments •, fome Inftances out 
 of which more efpecially relating to this 
 Art, we have difcourfed in the laft Chap- 
 ter, in reference to the Trojans , which now 
 we fhall no further mention, but defcend 
 and endeavour more particularly to give 
 lome Account of their feveral Pretences, in 
 what Manner , and by whom this Art 
 was firft attained and emerged among them. 
 
 And here we fear we ihall find our 
 lelves at a Lofs, which we are forced to re- 
 jfearch into the Accounts of elder Times, 
 and the fabulous and fi&icious Relations of 
 the Poets of thofeAges, by whofe Pens the 
 Firft and Renowned Artifts ftand celebrat- 
 ed, where their more confufed and divided 
 Determinations feem to have left as great 
 a Diflatisfadion upon the World, as the 
 Obfcutity and utter Silence among other 
 Nations . 1 
 
 For lometimes we find the Honour of 
 this Art afcribed to Prometheus , who fome 
 make to be the Father, others the Son of 
 Deucalion , and (as LaClantius tells us) lived 
 in the Days of Jupiter, when Temples and 
 Idols began to be erefled, and were the 
 firft that ever made Statues •, and to that 
 Sence therefore is interpreted the Fiftion 
 of his Coeleftial Flame ftolen from A polio, 
 wherewith he infpired and gave Life to his 
 
 D 2 Images. 
 
4© dn E s i A t 6n 
 
 Images. To import no more than thatAftion, 
 lively Grace and Motion, which by his won* 
 derfulSkill he gave to all hisFigures, whereby 
 they might not improperly be laid to Live, 
 Move and Aft. Sometimes we find the 
 Honour devolved upon Dadalus, that fa. 
 me cl and renowned Artificer of Old, one 
 of fo univerfal and happy Addrefs, that 
 not only this, but many other ftrange and 
 wonderful Inventions have been alcribed to 
 him ; whence Opera D&dal&a became Pro- 
 verbical and applicable to any rare and ex* 
 traordinaryCuriofities : He flourilhed before 
 the Days of Homer , and Hands recorded by 
 the Poet for his Invention of thole ftrange 
 ..Automatons, or moving Statues, which (as 
 reported) came to the Battle of themfelves.j 
 B u t it would be too tedious to tell you 
 of Narciffus Dygmalion and others •, concern* 
 ing whom, lome have endeavour’d to inter- 
 pret their Fiftions in favour of this Art, 
 and would have bellowed the Honour of 
 the Invention upon them j but whatfoever 
 their Pretences may be, this is generally 
 agreed, that the Gracians receiv’d their firll 
 Knowledge of it from the Egyptians, and 
 (as reported) by means of the Pham clans, 
 in whofe Ships. Cadmus faling into Egypt, 
 brought back with him the Invention of 
 Letters, and all other Arts, among which 
 we may prefurne this of Painting 
 
 accompanied, 
 
 r 
 
Original PAINTING. 4 * 
 
 accompanied, an A r t that had for a long 
 Time flourilhed in that Nation ; altho* 
 they have not been lo Juft and Ingenious in 
 their Writings to make any Acknow- 
 ledgement of it ; but rather endeavoured 
 to ablcond the Glory of another Nation, to 
 take the Honour of the Invention to them- 
 
 —4 
 
 felves. 
 
 Neither, in the mean Time, were 
 the Phoenicians themfelves ignorant of it ; 
 for as Nat. Comes tells us, fpeaking of them. 
 Non folum in Numirmsttis fed etiam in PiSluris 
 domeflicis & in Navigiis Jumentorum Imagines 
 jAntiqui Pingere confueverunt ; to which is in- 
 terpreted the Fiction of the Bull, whereon 
 Europa was conveyed away, it being only 
 the peculiar Signature of that Ship, upon 
 the Prow, or Stern, whereof the Portrait of 
 the Bull probably was depicted. 
 
 Among all the celebrated Works of 
 the renowned Artifts of Old, among other 
 Nations, we meet with Writers have been 
 fo iilent herein, that we find but Two only 
 upon Record, whole Names are mentioned 
 by Pliny, Philocles an Egyptian, and one . 
 Gyges, a Lydian by Birth ; when (by a 
 ftrange coherence,) he would make to have 
 lived in Egypt, and there found out the 
 A a r, and afterwards to have travel’d in- 
 to Grace, and there given the firft Proof of 
 Painting and Limning among them. 
 
 E 3 An 0. 
 
A2 An E s s a y on 
 
 A d thus while they have endeavour’d 
 to conceal the Names, and fulfer Oblivion 
 to trample upon the Memory of the firft 
 Propogators of this Art among them, 
 thereby the eafier to transfer the Lawrel j 
 upon their own Heads, we lhall find they : 
 have as little agreed among themlelves, | 
 and their divided Interefts, has left us as 
 unfatisfied in their feveral Pretentions, as 
 they have jointly coucurr’d to pafs by and 
 leave obfcure the firft Authors and Com. 
 municators of this Art to them. For 
 fometimes they afcribe it to Cleanthes the 
 Corinthian, fomewhile to Tclephanes the Sycs- 
 man •, and as Theophrafim gives it to Polyps- 
 tm the Athenian , and if we give Credit to 
 Arifiotle, he tells us of one Pyrchus, or Ettchir, 
 that lived long- before any of them ; was 
 the Nephew of the fam’d Dadalus, and firft 
 praftifed this A r t in Grace. Pliny in this 
 Difficulty, knowing not what to determine, 
 feems jointly to give the Honour to no lefs 
 than thofe, viz.. Hygr&non, Dimas and Oba- 
 mas, who, as he declares, firft praftifed the 
 Monocrcmata, a fort of Piftures made with 
 only one Colour •, which Affertion of his 
 (from a Cohesion, not only of the natural 
 and elemental Simplicity of the Thing it* 
 felf, but alio from the remote Station in 
 the Account of Time, in which he places 
 the Authors themlelves : Whom he can’t 
 
Original Painting. 4? 
 
 but judge by all Congruity and Confequence, 
 to be of more Antiquity than Bularchus the 
 famous Painter, who lived in the Days of 
 Romulus and Candaules King of Lydia) we 
 can’t altogether difallow of. 
 
 And thus while the Grecians ftand at 
 odds and divided among themfelves a 
 Neighbour People from then an obfcure 
 Corner in Italy , feem to appear and fteal 
 away the Honour which they thought, per- 
 haps, no other were concern’d in but them- 
 felves *, for we find, as Leo. Baptifla de Albert , 
 tells us, Fuere quidam Antiquijftmi in Italia 
 Etrufci , pingendiArte omnium Teritijftmi , that 
 this Art was very antiently pra&ifed a- 
 mong the Tnfcans t who were a People of 
 Old, ftrangely Superftitious and given to 
 Idolatry ; whence their Name Tufcans, from 
 «5yW Sacraficing } and to confirm that, Tliny 
 gives us an Account of many ftrange little ■ 
 Antick Images o t their Gods among them, 
 which were afterwards brought to Rome, 
 and known by the Name of Fufcanica. 
 And more particularly a little after in his 
 Thirty Firft Book, fpeaking of them both 
 as to the Antiquity and Excellency of 
 fome of their Pictures, which were extant 
 in his Time. e There are to be feen flays 
 
 * he) at this Day at Ardea , within the Tem- 
 
 * pies there, many antick Piftures, more 
 . An tie 11 1 than the City of Rome\ and I 
 
 affure 
 
44 'dn Essay on \ f I 
 
 c affure you no Pictures came ever to my 
 
 * Sight, which I wonder fo much at, in that 
 < they continue fo long freih, and as if they 
 <■ were but newly made \ elpcially, confi. 
 « dering the Places where they are fo rui- 
 
 * nate, and lying open to the Injury of the 
 
 * Weather : In like Manner at Lanuvhn 
 c there remain yet two Pi&ures of the Lady 
 
 * Atalanta , and Queen Helena , clofe one by 
 4 another, painted naked, by one and the 
 
 * fame Hand •, both of them are for Beauty 
 
 * incomparable, and yet one of them may 
 
 * eaftly be diicovered to be a Maiden by her 
 
 * modeft and chafte Countenance •, which 
 
 * Pictures, notwithftanding the Ruins of the 
 4 Temple where they hand, are very little 
 
 * blemiihed, or defaced. . 
 
 Add to this what is analogous, and 
 may be inferred from their earlier Enter- 
 tainment, and advance in a near allyed 
 Art, viz., and that of Architecture, and 
 more particularly referring to the Five fe- 
 veral diftinguilhed Orders of Columns, of 
 all which, the T'ufcan is fufficiently known 
 to be the moft unpolite, and of the rudeft 
 Compofure \ and as to any Thing of hu- 
 man Acquirements, as it muft be acknow- 
 ledged, the more plain and imperfeft they 
 are, and dels removed from a native Sim- 
 plicity, the nearer they relate to the ftrfi 
 and weaker Attempts in that Kind ; fo com- 
 paratively, 
 
Original PainTiNG. 4$ 
 
 paratively, that this ruder Compofure of 
 the Tufcans may be more antient, and of an 
 earlier Invention than any of the other Grx- 
 i clan Orders \ and, moreover, that the Do- 
 rick , Ionick , Corinthian , &c. muft be pre- 
 1 fumed to have followed after, and gradually 
 I to have fucceeded one another ; and as the 
 1 Knowledge of the Art obtained further, 
 
 - fo ft ill refined upon each other, ’till at 
 length it arrived to the perfeft Beauty and 
 ; Elegancy of the Corinthian and Compofit. 
 
 ; T h u s, at length, we have made a Sur- 
 ; rey and feen how far the Pretences, as well 
 1 of other Nations, as the Gracians^ will ex- 
 1 t en d and amount to ; and now to fum up 
 1 all, lo many have been the Pretenders we 
 1 l| n d that have laid a Claim to this 
 Invention, that we can’t promile ablolute 
 j Satisfaction in this Enquiry ; neither can 
 ; ,ve hope to make any Determinations upon 
 i lo (lender an Account as we are forced to 
 day down. Therefore, leaving the further 
 Search to any that has a thirft to make a 
 ; more ftrift Enquiry \ we lhall only apply 
 as to the Art it felf^ in compare with 
 what has been recorded to the Honour of 
 the Great Gracian Poet, that 
 
 Septew Vrhes cert ant dt fiirpe infgnis Homeric 
 
 Seven 
 
1 i SH 
 
 i • 
 
 Ilf I ffjj 
 f ll' I 
 
 ' Hi: 
 
 ns; i ji [ill 1 1 
 
 if S 
 
 
 I j MM 
 
 I I iji 11 1 
 I :;! i ! 
 
 ! i i n 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 r-SI Ti 
 
 
 HIM 
 
 4 ? 
 
 'jitt Essay on 
 
 Seven Cities argu’d in an equal Strife, 
 
 For the Honour of Great Homers Birth and 
 
 Life. 
 
 Here we find not only particular Ci- 
 ties and Men, but as many Nations alio, 
 have equally contended and made their fc- 
 rious Pretentions to the firft Invention and 
 Birth-Place of this Akt; and have not a 
 little valued themfelves upon the Score ol 
 being reputed the firft Fathers and Propa- 
 gators of lo renowned and extraordinary 
 an Art as this was then not unworthily 
 efteemed* 
 
 CHAl 
 
 
 mmmm 
 
Original Painting. 48 
 
 C A A P. v. 
 
 Of the Progrefs ^Painting among 
 the Grecians, from its frfi Infancy , 
 with the fever al Steps and, Gradations 
 hy which it obtain’d, and at length ar- 
 riv’d to its highefi Afcendant , in the 
 Time of the renowned Apelles. 
 
 W H o E V E k, (as in the laft Chapter 
 *' ,u 3S difcoursd) was. the firft Author 
 of this Art, this we know, that 
 
 nothing Great can be invented and 
 
 fmiflted at the lame d ime y and as Arnobius 
 expiefies it, the Arts are not together 
 with our Minds fent forth out of heavenly 
 Places, but all of them are found out here 
 on Earth, and are in procefs of Time forged 
 foft and fair by a continual Meditation. 
 Our poor and needy Life perceiving lome 
 calual Things to fallout profperoufly, whilft 
 it doth miftake and try, whilfl it doth flip, 
 reform and change ; hath out of this fame 
 affiduous Reprehenflon made up fmall Sci- 
 ences of A a t s, the which it hath after- 
 wards. 
 
47 'An Essay on 
 
 wards, by a continual Study, brought to 
 fome confiderable Degree of Perfection, 
 And therefore <±&lian fays, fo Rude and Im. 
 perfeft were the fir ft Attempts of this Art,; 
 that to avoid the Danger of a Miftake, they | 
 were wont conftantly to affix to their Worts 
 fuch a clear and difcerning Character of j 
 diftinCtion, as this is a Horfe, an Ox, ora ■■ 
 Tree, &c. And what higher Expectations j 
 can we derive from a Portrait, or Profile 
 of a Face drawn from the Shadow upon a 
 Wall \ or when we find Gyges, whom Pliny 
 fometime calls the firft Painter, born in 
 Lydia, which, as he fays, was Tufcatiu , 
 went into Egypt, found out the Art there, 
 and all his Skill arrived only to fbme com- 
 petency of Defign, probably with a Coal, 
 or fbme fuch coarfe Material. From which 
 Sort of Picture they advanced not much 
 further, ’till fome competent Time after, 
 came Foligmtus, the firft that painted En» 
 cauftice, or by Fire ; which was not enam- 
 eling on Gold, but with hot glowing Irons, 
 to draw, or caft their Defign into Wood, 
 or Ivory, and poifibly to finifh with fome 
 flight Shadowing within 9 for before that, 
 as Card van Mander , in his Lives of the 1 
 Painters obferves, the Firft Pictures were 
 only drawn, andconfifted of Out-Lines only, 
 and therefore called Linearis Pittura. 
 
Original Painting. 49 
 
 The next Step they advanced was by 
 the Invention of Cleanthes and Thelephanes , 
 who fuper-added fome Finifhing within, 
 and filled their Out-Lines with one Colour, 
 which was only a Piece of Red Potlheard, 
 pounded and fine ground Firft found out, 
 and, as fome affirm, us’d by Callias the 
 
 Athenian . 
 
 And thence, as in the laft Chapter, they 
 were called Monocromata and to the A hi Tr- 
 ance of thefe came Higienontes , Dimas and 
 Charmas , who alfo made Faces with one 
 Colour only. 
 
 EV MAVRAS was the Firft that made 
 Diftinftion of Sexes, whereby theForm of a 
 Man was difcernable from that of a Wo- 
 man. 
 
 After him flourilhed Cimon of Cleonen , 
 who mightily improved upon thefe fmall 
 Attainments ■, and which they berore him^ 
 feemed only to crawl along the Shore in 
 
 fmall Shallops. 
 
 ■ % 
 
 Illi robor & es triplex, 
 
 Circa peffus erat , &c. 
 
 H e was the Firft bold and daring Man 
 
 that took Courage to adventure into the 
 
 Ocean of this Art, that made many 
 
 remarkable Difcoveries of the incognita 
 
 thereof, and left the Way open and 
 * p fairly 
 
5o An Essay on 
 
 fairly obvious to all his Followers ; for he 
 enriched it with fucha Variety of Embei- 
 lifhments , that in him firft it began to 
 have fbme Form ofitlelf, and arrive to a 
 competent Perfe&ion ; what in their Paint, 
 ings was Dead and Stiff, he gave Motion 
 and Life to by his Skill, that he attained to 
 in the Art of Fore-fhortenings, turning the 
 Faces of his Figures feveral Ways, either 
 looking Upward, Backward, or Downward' 
 and by his Knowledge in the various Mo- 
 tions of the Limbs and Joints, and Mu feline 
 of the whole Body, which he was the firfl 
 that attained and taught, what before ei- 
 ther they knew nothing at all of Drapery, 
 or, however, but fome very unpleafant, flat 
 and ftartch’d Way, he re£tify’d,and,as Plinj 
 tells us, taught a true and natural fort of 
 Drapery, and the proper Plaiting and Fold- 
 ings of all forts of Garments. 
 
 Up o n thole Inventions fucceediilg 
 Times ftiil improv’d, in which emerg’d par* 
 ticularly Alycon and Polignotm the Thracian ; 
 the latter of which is celebrated for Paint* 
 mg Women in gay and glorious Apparel, 
 with their Coverings and other Attireinents 
 of liindry and changeable Colours. It was, 
 tve find, of his In vention to paint his Fi- 
 gures with their Mouths open , making 
 tiiem fliew their Teeth, and in fhort repre- 
 leiited much Variety of Countenance, far 
 
 different 
 
Original Paintin g. $f 
 
 different from that rigorous and heavy 
 Look of the Vifage aforetime. His Ma- 
 fter-piece, or, however, that which had a 
 more efpecial Chara&er of Remark, was 
 his Table, which afterwards adorn’d the 
 Gallery of Pompey, of a Soldier upon a 
 Scaling-Ladder, with a Target in his Hand, 
 fo Artificially, or rather fortunately de- 
 fign’d , that it could not be determin’d 
 whether he was climbing up, or coming 
 
 ^°T h e next of Note that fucceeded him,' 
 and advanc’d ftill the Pencil into a higher 
 Reputation was Appollodorus of Athens, and it 
 was his Peculiar only to introduce into his 
 Paintings what was Choice and Rare, and 
 taught to exprefs the Favour and Beauty of 
 
 any Thing. 
 
 And thus when the Way was laid open 
 by the Difcoveries of thofe that went be- 
 fore and the Art much cultivated and 
 brought to fome Pitch of Maturity, appear- 
 ed the famous and renowned Zeuxis, to 
 whom Appollodorus publickly yielded the 
 Bays, and acknowledg’d in a Copy ofVer- 
 fes he had ftolen the Myftery of the A r t 
 from them all entirely to himfelf, and 
 fuch Efteem and Value had they for him 
 and his Art, that he was fought out^and 
 employed upon all great Occafions, and nis 
 Pieces efteemed and fold at an extraordi- 
 
 F 2 Jiary 
 
52 
 
 on 
 
 in op 
 
 An Essay 
 
 nary Value; lo that in procefs of Time he 
 arrived to that Wealth and Efiate, that he 
 relblved to work no longer for Money, but 
 frankly made Prefents of all his Pieces, fay. 
 g, that he valued them above Price. 
 
 T o make a recital of his Works, would 
 be a Thing too tedious, and not proper to 
 this Delign : I fhall only in (lance in fome 
 of the Chief, as his Penelope, wherein he 
 not only painted the outward Perfonage 
 and feature of the Body, but alfo expref- 
 fed mod lively the inward Affections and 
 Qualities of the Mind. His famous Wrefl. 
 Ier,or Champion, in which he pleafed him- 
 felt fo well , that he fubfc.ribed it with 
 fM/LWmToi 77V H WvJc-ZTCtA. 
 
 S o extraordinary he was in his A r t, 
 that Pliny could eafier tell 
 what little Points he was de« 
 festive in ^ then recount the 
 many Advantages and Excel- 
 lencies he was Matter of - 7 for 
 in other Refpefls he was fo 
 curious, that when he was to paint a Table 
 for the Argentines to adorn the Temple of 
 Juno Licinia , he would have the liberty to 
 fee all the Maidens in the City naked/out 
 of which he chole five of the faireft and 
 moft exaft: Feature and Proportion, and 
 
 xom thence to form one incomparable 
 Beauty,. ? \ .. - r fM 
 
 Lib . 3$. 9 ch . 
 Making his 
 Headandjoints 
 fomewhat too 
 large. 
 
 Con* 
 
Original Painting. 55 
 
 Contemporarie s with him, were 
 fimanthes, Androcydes and Parrafius ; the laft of 
 which was fo bold as to give an open Chal- 
 lenge to Zeuxis the Paffage of which Ren- 
 counter was pleafant, and lucceeded to the 
 Honour of both the Antagonifts \ tho’ in 
 point of the Victory in this Tryal, it was 
 yielded to Parrafius by Zeuxis himfeif, who 
 for the Teft of his Skill had brought upon 
 
 the Stage a Table whereon he had painted 
 Clutters of Grapes fo lively, that the Birds 
 of the Air were tempted down, and offered 
 to peck at them. Parrafius only had cun- 
 ningly, and fo artificially painted a Curtain 
 on his Table to cover and fecure his Choice • 
 Piece of Work underneath that •, when 
 Zeuxis faw it, confident on his own Side up- 
 on fo impartial Judgment, .as from the pure 
 Indication of Nature was given, and greedy 
 with Expectation, faid to Parrafius, Come 
 on, let us fee what you have got behind 
 your Cloath, with an unhappy Offer at the 
 fame time to draw the Curtain, faw both, 
 his Error, and the Viffory loft, for that he 
 had only beguiled the poor Birds, but Par- 
 rafius had deeeived.2fta.vb himfeif a prof els a 
 Artift. 
 
 The fame Zeuxis afterwards made a 
 remarkable Table, whereon he had painted 
 a Boy carrying a Basket of .Grapes, which.' 
 
 were fo lively, that he deceiv’d the Birds a . 
 
 4 p - , fecond; 
 
«j 4 '4# E s s a y on 
 
 fecond time, but that return’d upon him 
 with a pretty fevere Refleftion, for that he 
 had painted the Boy no better, who then 
 would certainly have affrighted and lecur’d 
 thofe Creatures from attempting any Thing 
 upon the Grapes. 
 
 A s for Tarrafm, before-mention’d, as 
 he had the fortune to obtain the Succefs 
 over Zeuxis y fo was alio a Man of real De- 
 ierts and Accomplifhments, for he improv- 
 ed the A R x in many Points y he was exaff 
 in Symetry, and the juft Meafures and Pro- 
 portions of the Parts y obferved well the 
 various Geftures and Politions of the Coun- 
 tenance y the firft that ftudied the curious 
 couching and laying the Hairs of the Head 
 in order, the lovely Grace and Beauty a* 
 bout the Mouth •, he firft exaftly expreifed, 
 and by confeifion of all Painters that faw 
 his Work, he won the Prize and Praife 
 from all, in concluding the Profiles and Ex- 
 tremities of his Lineaments, which is a 
 very material Pointy and a Matter of con- 
 fiderable Difficulty in this Art; for as to 
 the Proportion, Attion and Geftures, Co- 
 louring and Finifhings within, and fome 
 other Accomplifhments, Things worthy and 
 highly commendable , many, before him 
 were^Mafters of, but to finifh, or fhadow 
 off the Profile well, to round the Extremi- 
 s.i$s. to fail into themfelves, as if they fha- 
 dow ed, 
 
/ 
 
 Original Paihtik g. 55 
 
 dowed fomewhat behind, and yet Ihew’d 
 that which they feem’d to hide y this lo 
 curious and inexplicable a Point, was at 
 that Time a more than ordinary Attain- 
 ment, and a peculiar Felicity in this re- 
 nowned Pdrrafim, and had the Honour of it 
 afcribed to himfelf alone by Zenocratas and 
 Antigonm , two Writers of this A r t about 
 that Age. 
 
 T h e r e are many rare Paintings of his 
 mention’d by Pliny , as the witty Piece, his 
 Damon Athenienfium. The common People 
 of Athens., wherein he admirably reprefent- 
 ed the various and different Natures and 
 Difpofitions of a giddy Multitude, asWrath- 
 ful, Unjuft, Unconftant, and at the lame 
 time, Gentle, Exorable and Pitiful *, Haugh- 
 ty, Glorious, Proud, and at the fame Time 
 Humble, Lowly and Submifs •, all which 
 Varieties and Contradiftions he reconciled 
 in this one Table. Then his Piece of Ar- 
 chigallus , fo admir’d by Tiberius afterwards, 
 who efteem’d it at Sixty Thoufand Sefler- 
 tiums , and preferv’d it in his own Bed- 
 Chamber , with his- boafted Portrait of 
 Hercules , who, as Parrajlus would perfuade, 
 vouchfafed himfelf to appear and lit to him 
 while he drew him to the Life in his mo,ft 
 exaft Proportions and Features. 
 
 But 
 
 / 
 
 
5 6 An Essay on 
 
 But after all this it feems, he was out* 
 done at laft in his Piece of Ajax, and the 
 awarding the Armour of Achilles to Vlyffes. 
 by Timantes of Samos, in a Painting of the 
 fame Subjeft, who was a Man of an excel- 
 lent fine Wit and Invention, and the Au- 
 thor of that famous Piece of Jphigema, fo 
 celebrated and harangu’d by the Orators of 
 thofe Times, wherein portraying the poor 
 Lady at the Altars Feet, and thofe about 
 her with mighty dejefted and lorrowful 
 Countenances,, bewailing the inftant Death 
 of this young Princefs and her Uncle Me- 
 nelaus above the reft, labouring ftill under 
 a greater Meafure of Sorrow and Lamen- 
 tation ;by this Time he had out-done him- 
 fe If, and fpent all the Signs and outward Ex- 
 preftxons of the heavieft Compunction and 
 Sorrow that his Art could invent; and 
 being yet to Portray her own Father Aga- 
 memnon, his Fancy happily fuggefted tohim 
 to reprelent his Face cover’d with a Veil, 
 as not being able to expreis fo extraordi- 
 nary a Grief above the reft, as it mufi 
 needs be conceiv’d he had to fee his own 
 Daughter Sacrificed , and guiltlefs Blood 
 lpilt. ] 
 
 Another ingenious Example of his 
 Wit, was a fmall Table of his ‘Cyclops, ly- 
 ing a Sleep, where, to ih. ew in that fmall 
 
 Compafs, fuch a Giant-like Bignels. hede- 
 
 ; ■ vis’d; 
 
 
Original Painting. 
 
 vis’d to introduce a Company of little 
 fportirig Satyrs with long Rods , taking 
 the Meafure of his Thumb : But to inftance 
 no more, this was obfervabie of him, that 
 in his Works there was ever fome hidden 
 Thing to be underftood, and more to be 
 conceiv’d than was painted ; and tho’ in his 
 Pictures was ihown as much Art as could 
 be , yet his Wit ever went beyond his 
 Art. 
 
 About this Time flourilh’d ArejHd.es , 
 whofe Excellency lay in expreffing the Paf- 
 lions and Affections, and decyphering all 
 ' the Virtues and Vices, and as particularly 
 appear’d by that Piece of his of the Indul- 
 gent Mother, mortally wounded in the Bo- 
 dy, and a fucking Infant hanging at the 
 fame Time upon her Breaft, where, uncon- 
 i’ cern’d for her own Life, fhe exprefs’d a 
 ■ wonderful Reluflancy, and ftrange Strife 
 within her in regard to the Infant, as loath 
 ; to deny it Food, and unwilling to give it 
 ; the Breaft, for fear of deftroying it with 
 ; her Blood, which mingled with her Milk, 
 iftued forth in great abundance. This Ta- 
 ble was dear to Alexander , and carried 
 1 along with him to Pella \ his Works were 
 of fuch efteem, that King Attalus gave a 
 Hundred Talents for one Piece, and Six 
 Thoufand Seftercies for another. 
 
 There 
 
<;8 An Essay on 
 
 There were many other Artifts ex- 
 cellent in feveral Mafteries, near tbatTime, 
 of whom we fhall give you a more fuccind 
 Account ; as Pyricus only famous for coun- 
 terfeiting all bale Things, as earthen Pit- 
 chers, a Scullery of Rogues together by the 
 Ears, Swine tumbling and wallowing in the 
 Mire , &c. whereupon he was furnamed 
 Rupographus. 
 
 DEMON could paint the Genus and In- 
 clination of Men,' and Nicomachus was fa- 
 mous for making Wreftlers. 
 
 P AV S 1A S, who was fuppos’d to have 
 fome Skill in the way of Frefco , was excel- 
 lent for the Relief and Railing his Figures, 
 efpecially in Black and White, that the 
 Beholder thought his Table was really em- 
 boffed, and in fome Places broken and hoi- 
 low. 
 
 EVPHRANOR of Iftmus made his Fi- 
 gures large, and of a Coloffaan Greatnefs, 
 and was the firft that could reprefent the 
 State and Majefty of a Ring. 
 
 N1C1AS was commended for Portraits 
 of Women, for prefpeftive and forelhort- 
 ening, and laid a great Share of his Skill 
 and Commendation, in that his Paintings 
 were fufficiently height’ned and deepened; 
 he refuled for one Angle Piece of King Pm* 
 lomy Sixty Talents. 
 
 So 6$ 
 
 V 
 
Original Painting. 50 
 
 Soon after thefe Times flourilhed Eu- 
 pompus Matter to Pamphilus , Matter to the 
 Gi eat Apelles^ who painted many admired 
 Pieces, and whofe Fame brought Lyfrnus 
 over from Syconia to fee and learn lome- 
 thing of his Skill, who, after fome Con- 
 verfe, and among other Queftions, asked 
 him what Matters he follow’d, or what 
 Patterns he painted by, he return’d him no 
 prefent Anfwer, but carrying him into the 
 Market-place, full of Men, Women and 
 Childien, to±d him, thole were the Patterns 
 and Examples he made ufe of in all his 
 Works •, with which Anfwer Lyfippus re- 
 turn’d well fatisfied and inform’d : He 
 
 gain’d luch a Love and Authority among 
 them, that of the two Kinds of Piftures 
 Helladicum the Greekijh } and AJiaticum y they 
 for his Sake introduc’d a new Divifion and 
 parted the Greekifh into two, he being by 
 
 Birth a Sycontan y into lomck , Sy conick . and the 
 At tick. 
 
 A f t^e r him fucceeded his Scholar Pam- 
 plnlus of Macedonia , the firft that improv’d 
 himfeif, and the Art, by his Study of good 
 Literature, and efpecially in Arithmetick 
 and Geometry • without which, he was of 
 Opinion it was lmpoffible to be a perfeft 
 and compieat Painter. His Authority fo 
 far prevail d, that by a ftrift and perpetual 
 01 , the States' of Greece ordain’d, that all 
 
 Gentlemens 
 
60 An Essay on 
 
 Gentlemens Sons, and Freeborn, Jhould 
 go to the Painting School, and there be 
 taught Firft, above all Things, the Art 
 Diagrafhice : That no Slave fhould have 
 that Privilege, or under a Penalty be taught 
 by any the -A r t, or Myftery of Painting ; 
 and that it ihould be accounted and rang’d 
 in the firft Degree of the liberal Sciences, 
 He taught none under a Talant for Ten 
 Years. To whom Mclanthus and Apelles him- 
 felf were Pupils upon thole Terms. 
 
 And thus we fee when the Countenance 
 of States and Kingdoms by publick Autho- 
 rity of many Edi&s and Sanctions , had 
 raifed the Reputation of this Art, above 
 all mean, beggarly, or mechanick Conftrudi- 
 ons or Reprehentions •, when the ingenious 
 Artifts vvas not only fet above a common 
 Contempt, but remov’d far beyond at eafe 
 from any necellitous Compliance, to work 
 fortrifling or illiberal Rewards, as would 
 hardly find him Bread, and in fuch a Con- 
 dition as would deprefs the nobleft Minds; 
 when Time and Encouragement, and the 
 cherifhing Influence of fo many worthy Fa- 
 thers and Favourers had ripen’d this A R t, 
 and advanc’d it to a Growth of high Re- 
 putation • and laftly, when mutual Emu- 
 la tion, a Thirft of Glory, and long Expe-, 
 rience, had labour’d and refined it to a great 
 Deg ree of Perfection, Eft in rebus bumM 
 
• Original P A i n T I n 6. 4i 
 
 quodam prodire tenus , & definitus crefcendi 
 modus , quem Apelles arte fua incluftt. It re- 
 ceiv’d at length its full and final Accom- 
 plilhment in the Pencil of the Great Apelles , 
 who gave the laft Hand to it, and in whom 
 (as Hiftory tells us) it was not in its highefi: 
 Afcendent, both Art and Artist being 
 indulg’d in the Bofom offo great 
 f a Monarch and Maecenas, that + -Alexander 
 
 none after could be able to give * e reat ' 
 a greater Countenance, or Encouragement. 
 
 
 G 
 
 C HA P 
 
 . 
 
6 2 An Essay on 
 
 ' *\ 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Of the highefi Degrees of Perfect on that 
 AArtc/Painting attained 
 to in the Days of Apelles, and fome 
 others , who were Contemporaries with 
 him. i I; 
 
 E may prefume now we are got 
 to the Top of the Hill, if we can 
 give Credit to Pliny, who, fpeak- 
 ing of the Growth and Perfection 
 ot this A r t, referring particularly to Apel- 
 les, tells us, as a Preleminary to this Account 
 of him, that he furpals’d all that ever went 
 before, or came after him, Et nemopofiu 
 inventus ePl qui artem ultra provixerit. He was 
 born in 1 1 2 Olympiad after the building of 
 Rome 420 Years, and 324 before Chriil. 
 Strabo fays in Ephefus, and from thence came 
 into Syconia, and there puthimfelf a Pupil 
 to Pamphilus. 
 
 And now upon a Review back of fo ma* 
 ny ieveral Excellencies and Mafleries in 
 this A r t, as are above* recited, one would 
 
 imagine 
 
Original Paintin g. 6$ 
 
 imagine there were no Place left for higher 
 Attainments, and Apelles himfelf was fo 
 ingenuous to own fo great a Proficiency 
 therein, as might feem to add Confirmation, 
 while in the Difpofition, or Ordinance, he 
 modeftly yielded to Amphion •, in the Mea- 
 fures, or Proportions, he fubfcribed to 
 Afchepiodorus and of Protogenes was wont to 
 fay, in all Points he was equal to him, if 
 not above him $ but after all, there was yet 
 one Thing wanting in them all, which was 
 in ft ar omnium , or, however, the Beauty and 
 Life of all, which he only afcribed, and 
 was proud in being the foie Matter of him- 
 felf, viz., his Venus by the Greeks , named 
 xAP is a certain peculiar Grace, fome- 
 times called the Air of the Picture, refuiting 
 from a due Obfervation and Concurrence 
 of all the effential Points and Rules requifite 
 in a compleat Picture, accompany’d with 
 an unconftrained and unaffected Facility 
 and F reedom of the Pencil, which togethe r 
 produced fuch a ravittiing, a pleafant Har- 
 mony, ; that made their Works leem to be 
 performed by lome divine and unfpealcable 
 Way of A r t \ and which (as Fr. Junius, 
 expreffeth it) is not a Perfection of A r t", 
 proceeding meerly from Art, but rather 
 a Perfection proceeding from a confummate* 
 
 A R T, 
 
 : ,fnr; ‘iv* *?jV! p v 
 
 - iA G 2 
 
 H E N C 1 
 
a&4 Afo Essay on 
 
 Hence it was that Julies admiring the 
 Wonderful Pains and Curiofity in each 
 Point in a Picture of Protogenes’ s Painting 
 yet took Occalion from thence to repre- 
 hend him for it as a Fault quod, nefcivitm- 
 vum tollere de tabula , implying, that a heavy 
 and painful Diligence and Affectation, are 
 deftru£tive of that Comelinefs, Beauty and 
 admired Grace, which only a prompt and 
 prolperous Facility proceeding from a 
 .found Judgment of A n t, can offordunto 
 us. 
 
 Betw e e n thefetwo great Artist s 
 there happened a famous and celebrated 
 Contention, occaiioned by the Fame of Pro- 
 togenes’’ s Works, whom Apelles had then 
 never feen ; nor any of his Paintings, and 
 therefore from an Emulation being excited 
 to the further Knowledge and Acquaint- 
 ance of fo worthy a Competiter, took 
 Shipping for Rhodes , where coming to his 
 Shop, found only an old Woman at Home, 
 who told him Protogenes was gone into the 
 City, and withal defired to know his Name, 
 that fhe might acquaint her Mafter who had 
 asked for him •, upon that , Apelles , feeing a 
 &rge Table in tjie Shop, took, a Pencil in 
 bis Hand and drew in a Colour a curious 
 /?ne and a fmall Line quite through it, fay- 
 ing to the Woman, tell thy Mafter that he 
 who drew this Line enquired for him, and 
 
 
Original P A I N T I N G. 6$ 
 
 fo went his Way. Protogenes foon after re- 
 turning Home, and the old Woman gi- 
 ving him account what had palled, he no 
 fooner took notice of the Curiofity of the 
 Hand, but prefently guelfed who had been 
 there j and laid Apelles is come to Town, 
 forhe was confident it was impofiible any, 
 but he, could do the like •, and upon that, 
 took a Pencil, and, with a different Colour, 
 drew within the fame a Line fmaller then 
 the Former, bidding the Woman, if the 
 Perfbn came again, to ask for him in his Ab~ 
 lence, that Ihe fhouid Ihew him what he 
 had done } and tell him, that there was 
 the Man that he enquired after \ it vvas not 
 long before Apelles cam e to the Shop the 
 fecondTime infearch of his Friend, where 
 abalhed at firft to fee himfelf thus outdone 
 and overcome, took again the Pencil, and 
 with another diftinft: Colour, drew a third 
 Line within the fecond, fo exquifitely fine 
 and curious, nullum relinquens fuhtUltati locum , 
 which when Protogenes law, he confeffed he 
 had met with his Match and Mafter both ; 
 and therefore impatient to lee the Man, 
 ran to the Haven to find him out and give 
 him a Welcome fuitable to his Merit: 
 This Peice was mutually agreed between 
 them, to be left thus naked for a Wonder to 
 Pofterity, omnium fed artificum prdtipuo rnird- 
 
 culo , it was afterward tranflated to Komt\ 
 
 G 3 and 
 
66 
 
 Ah Essay 
 
 on 
 
 and preferved in Cafar’s Palace within the 
 Palatine* Hill, ’till it perilhed together with 
 the Houfe by F ire. 
 
 W’E have been more particular in. the 
 Relation of this famous Piece, becaufe a 
 D ; t u „ large Difpute hangs upon it ; 
 
 Ch. 10. anc ^ t ^ e ^ ate Commentator up- 
 on our Author, Ludov . Demon* 
 tloflusy fee ms very much offended at the 
 generally received Acceptation of the Story 
 of this noble Contention • and would not 
 by any Means admit that this Tryal of Skill 
 was about the Subtilty of Lines •, for, as he 
 fays, with a good Share of Truth in the 
 main, in a coloured Picture, or Painting 
 there is fb little Ufe of Lines, that the very 
 Appearance of any is juftly reproveable \ 
 for the Extremities fhould be loft and con- 
 founded in the Shadows, and ought to go 
 off without any Thing of the lead Stiffnefs, 
 or Sharpnefs of a Line. 
 
 ,Ne lTHE# will he admit it in Draw- 
 ings, or Defigns, with the Coal, or Pen, 
 for that in thofe the true Artist never 
 regarded fo much the pinenefs, or Courle- 
 nefs of his Touches } but only how and 
 where they ferved beft to exprefo the pro- 
 per Shadowing and Railing of his Draught 
 according to the Life •, and brings in for 
 luftance many Drawings of the celebrated 
 Mafters of his Time, which he had leen of 
 
 Mich. 
 
Original Painting. 6y 
 
 Mick Angelo Bonoroti , Raphael de Vrhin 
 Salviati, ' Polydore, and the Great Titian's 
 where his Obfervation does not take Notice 
 that any have in the leaft affefted the 
 Nicety of curious Lines. 
 
 And therefore this Opinion , in his 
 Sence being juftly enough exploded for 
 there Realons, in the Explanation of his 
 own Notion, which he labours to convince 
 us m the Truth of, he diftinguilhes all the 
 Colours m a Picture m reference to the dif- 
 ferent Modification of the Light upon Bo- 
 dies into three Sorts, or rather Degrees, 
 Light, Splendor and Shadow • in the Light 
 the Colour is Deluted, in the Shadow Sa- 
 turated , and in the Splendor only the 
 Species of the Colour is truly difcern’d * 
 this Splendor he calls alfo the Tone, car- 
 * rying fo near an Analogy with the Sence of 
 it in Mufick, where it comprehends the 
 fhthonge, the Intervals, the Place of the 
 Voice, and the Tenor - all which he ap- 
 plies to the Meaning of this Splendor, or 
 one in Painting : To thefe three foregoing 
 Degrees of Colour, he adds a fourth Thing 
 incident, call’d the Harmoge, which is the 
 Commixture, or the curious and infenfible 
 i anhtion of the three Degrees of Colours i 
 and this, in the Opinion of our Author, is 
 the Interpretation of the famous Conteft 
 about the Sciffure and Interfettion of Lines; 
 
68. M Ess ay o» 
 
 of which, when Jpelles had given a Specimen, 
 and Protogenes had feem it, Artcm agnovit 
 fed negligentiam Jrtificis notavit, and there* 
 fore took another Pencii, and what was 
 left fomewhat too hard and unpleafant in 
 the Union of the Colours, he corrected and 
 made more tender, ’till Jpelles again return- 
 ing by the Interpolation of another Colour, 
 gave it fuch a Finifhing, as left no Place for 
 any further Attempt. 
 
 This leeming {drain’d Opinion, Claudius 
 Salmatim controverts again, and endeavours 
 to refiore to the literal Sence and Signifi- 
 cation of the Words of the Relation, telling 
 us what Pliny affirm’d he had out of the 
 Greek and Latin Commentaries, and out of 
 fuch Authors as not only writ of Painting, 
 but were (fome of them) excellent Painters 
 themfelves, as Jpelles, Melantbitu and Pro- 
 togenes relates to the Story, who writ two 
 Books of the Art of P a i n t i n g, and 
 of Figures, with many others who could 
 not be prefumed to give any occafion of 
 Miftake to Pliny •, and further, he would 
 eftablilh and fet up the Agreeablenefs and 
 Congruity of theUfeof Lines in the beft 
 of Paintings, from that fort of Pitture pe- 
 culiarly call’d Linearis Piftura which not 
 only exprefs’d the Profiles and Circurnfcrip- 
 tions of the Figure, but their Practice was 
 alio, intus linens fpargere , from the Phra- 
 
Original Painting. 69 
 
 fings and conftant Ufe of feveral Terms of 
 Art *, for what elfe can be employ’d by Li- 
 neamenta, the Lineaments of a Face, or 
 Figure , by Apelles’s Nulla dies fine line a t 
 which became Proverbial, and as the Poet 
 varies, it. 
 
 Nulla dies abeat quin linea duEla fuperft. 
 
 Hor. 
 
 Befidesthis, the Phrafe r&upd Uhw the 
 Greeks apply to Painters, and y&.$m , 
 from whence y&ufh , properly fignify- 
 ing to Paint, ypj.'pdi s Painters, and ygfuy.3. 
 a painted Work ■, and of Apelles, Venus left 
 unfinifli’d at his Death, Quintilian fays, Non 
 repertum fcilicet qui prafcriptas ab Apelle tineas 
 poffet abfohere ; with forne other Arguments 
 and Conclufions drawn from them. But , 
 after all, we have Salmatius's Acknowledg- 
 ment, he was no Painter himfelf, and fo 
 might be unjuftly too fevere upon his Ad- 
 yerfary, while he was fo little acquainted 
 in the Nature of the Subject himfelf; and 
 ’tis not altogether clear, that all thefe fe- 
 veral Phrafings do fo much deftroy the 
 Foundation of his Thefis, as they are re- 
 concilable and agreeable to it. For the 
 Lineans Piftura was in the Infancy of Paint- 
 ing, or rather but a Rudiment, or Introduct- 
 ion to it } by which it ftept up to a more 
 
 mature 
 
jo An Essay on 
 
 mature Attainment, and lo no inforcing 
 Argufnent could be drawn from thence : 
 And as to thole Phrales which he would 
 have countenance the Neceffity and Excel, 
 lency of Lines in Painting, it might be only 
 the Poverty of the Language, that for want 
 of more apt Words, was forc’d to make 
 ule of improper, or however. Terms not 
 lb full and comprehenfive as fometimes the 
 genuin Sence and Nature of the Subject led 
 to ; and fo conlequently neither ought, or 
 could always be underflood in a litteral Ac* 
 ceptation } and which Advantage our Au- 
 thor has here taken hold on in his Explica- 
 tion of the Riddle and Difpute about Lines. 
 Thus having taken notice of this fmart En- ' 
 gagement, with Tome few Remarks on ei- 
 ther Side of the way, being a Stranger to 
 both, fhall leave the Controverfy fairly to 
 be fought out and determin’d by better 
 Judgments, and return to our proper Place 
 again. . 
 
 This Interview of thele two great Ar- 
 tists fucceeded with fo much Satisfaction, 
 as begot a real and lafting Friendfhip be- 
 tween them ; a Temper too much wanting, 
 and to be wifhed in the Artists of this 
 our Age \ who out of Self-conceit, Jealouly, 
 and a falfe Emulation, by Endeavours of , 
 Detraction, vainly feek to build a Repu- 
 tation upon the Ruin of one another : Here 
 
Original Painting. 
 
 Apelles finding and owning a real Defert 
 and Merit in Protogenes , far above the Efti- 
 mation he had obtain’d among the Rhodians 
 or Value they had fet upon his Works he 
 bought all the Pieces he had by him finifli’d 
 at that time at a very confiderable Rate, 
 and gave him Fifty Talents for them, which 
 when the Rhodians underftood, and ima- 
 gining Apelles bought them with defign to 
 fell again for his own (by this Glofs and 
 Vernilh of Reputation) they were turn’d to 
 Admire, and to have his Perfon and Paint- • 
 ings in high Efteem and Veneration. 
 
 Thus as Apelles would let a juft Value 
 on other Mens Works, fo he was not for- 
 ward to over-value his own, and was fo far 
 removed from any Conceit of himfelf, and 
 of that gentile and facetious Humour, that 
 he would take well any Man’s juft Correct- 
 ion of his Works; upon which depends that 
 
 common Story of the Shoemaker, who, fa- 
 ting notice or a Picture Apelles had expoled 
 to View, found fault with the Shoe, which 
 Apelles owning, correCied, and let out the 
 next Day ; when the Shoemaker came a- 
 gain, and proud that his Admonition had 
 taken Place, took upon him to quarrel with 
 fomething about the Legs, at which A- 
 plles, fomewhat concern’d, ftepping from 
 behind the Table, bids him meddle no fur- 
 ther than with Shoes ; which afterward 
 
 came 
 
 r 
 
n 2 An Essay w I 
 
 came into a Proverb, Ne futar ultra crept. 
 
 dam. . . , 
 
 Many other diverting Stones, and ad- 
 mirable Paintings of this A rtist, Pliny gives 
 us a copious Account of, of which, to make 
 a full Rehearfal, muft be tedious to the 
 Reader, therefore we fhall only feleft out 
 fome choice Inftances , and give a briei 
 Account lomewhere, and dhew how dear 
 this admirable Painter was to the Great 
 Alexander , and what a generous Refped 
 and Complaifance he vouchfafed toward; 
 him and his A r t •, as not to mention the 
 frequent Vifits he made to his Shop, anc 
 familiar Intercourfe held between them ? 
 for it feems his Converfation was as charm 
 Jng as his Works, particularly when he re- 
 ceiv’d his Commands to paint the Pifture o 
 the Royal Concubine Campafpe all naked 
 who was' not only Choice and Singular a- 
 bove the reft in the King’s Affeftions, but 
 an admirable Beauty alfo. Here he was pre 
 lently lb captivated, that the unufal ipana- 
 gement of the Pencil, and fome other filent 
 Methods and Circumftances, loon fpake 
 that which his Tongue durft not pre fume 
 to offer r, whereupon Alexander perceiving 
 the bent of his Inclinations, immediately 
 gave and furrendered her up wholly and 
 frankly to him, thereby gaining a greater 
 .Conqiieft than that of the World j and. tho 
 
 ■L v j-. f 
 
P A i'n T I N G. 
 
 Cafar would not endure an Equal , nor 
 Pompey a Superior ; this Conqueror could 
 not only fulfer a Rival in the beft of his 
 Affe&ions, but furrender and lay them at a 
 Painter’s Feet : From this Lady, ’tis pre- 
 fum’d by fome, he painted his Ferrn, Emer- 
 gins Emm , known by the Name of Anadya- 
 nunc, a moft admirable Painting, after- 
 wards convey’d to Rome , and dedicated by 
 Auguftus in the Temple of Julius Cafar his 
 Father, enrich’d with an Epigram of Greek 
 Verfes , and {lands celebrated with this 
 Diflick of Ovid, 
 
 \ t \ 
 
 Si verier cm Cdis nunquam pinxijfet Apelles , 
 
 Mecca fub aquoriis ilia lateret aquis. 
 
 S o many Portraitures of King Alexander , 
 he drew, that our Author thinks it endleis 
 to recount •, whereof one was holding a 
 Thunderbolt and Light’ning in his Hand, 
 fo wonderfully exprels’d, that both feem’d 
 to {land out from the very Table \ and of 
 which Painting himfelf was wont to fay, 
 there were two Alexanders , one invincible 
 
 by Philip , who was awVnr©-, A’VoW©-. 
 the other painted by Apelles, 
 which was aft inimitable y Twenty 
 Talents of Gold was his Reward for his 
 Angle Pifture, which foon after was tranf- 
 lated to Ephcfus , to adorn theTempie of Diana. 
 
 H • T v/ o 
 
74 -A n Essay on 
 
 T w o other Counterfeits of Alexan 
 he drew, the one reprefenting a Warri 
 and the other a Conqueror, wherein ; 
 King appeared mounted on a triumph 
 Chariot, with a poor Captive lying Me 
 cled before him at his Feet. Thefet 
 Tables the Emperour Auguftus dedicai 
 and fet up in the raoft confpicuous PI; 
 in his Forum , ’till Claudius Cafar thinki 
 it more for the Honour of Auguftus to ha 
 had his own there, without any regard 
 the facred Painting, erafed the twoFac 
 of Alexander , and put in that of his Pre< 
 celfor in his Stead. 
 
 There was yet another of his cc 
 dueled by the fame Hand, which Alexam 
 could not be prevailed withal to think it 
 nearly refembled him as the reft ; ’till bei 
 expos’d to the View at a Window, Bucepl 
 lus was brought forth, <who, upon Apprcac 
 at the firft Sight thereof (according as 
 was praHifed when his great Mailer mour 
 ed his Back) fell down upon his Kne< 
 demonffrating thereby (to the Surprize 
 the Spe&ators, and re-eftablifhment of 
 higher Reputation to the Artist) th 
 it was not only a true Antitype and Coj 
 of the Likenefs, but of the Life alfo. 
 
 T o range with this, we have a li 
 Inftance, wherein he was vindicated by ti 
 pure and unbyaffed Inftinft of ration 
 
 Creature 
 
Original Painting. 75 
 
 Creatures, to whom he appealed from the 
 Sentence of fome corrupted Judges and 
 Umpires, in a Tryal of Skill between him 
 andfomebold Oppofers, who had challenged 
 him in the Painting of an Horfe, where the 
 Pictures one by one being produced before 
 living Creatures of the fame Species, they 
 hood unconcerned ’till Apelles brought forth 
 his Horfe, which Valer. Max. rather fup- 
 pofes was a Mare •, at the Sight whereof, 
 there was fuch a general Neighing and 
 Rejoycing, as if they had met with one of 
 their own Species and Society •, and which 
 gave a fufficient Confutation aud Vindica- 
 tion of the great Excellency of our Artist 
 againft all his daring Antagonifts. 
 
 And thus, as it appears, he painted 
 thofe Things which others could not attain 
 to. So TPliny tells us he feemed to paint 
 thofe Things which could not be painted, 
 Cracks of Thunder, Fialhes of Fire and 
 Light’ning, Thunderbolts and the like •, 
 all which fort of Piftures went under Names 
 almoft as hard to fpeak as they were to 
 paint, j Brontes, Aflrape, Ceraunnobolos, 
 
 I t is reported of him by Appion the 
 Grammarian , quoted by Pliny, that he had 
 that admirable Faculty and Dexterity in 
 t drawing Piftures fo lively, and near refemb- 
 ling the Perfons they were defign’d for, that 
 no Manner of Difference, or Deviation could 
 
j6 Ah E s s a y an 
 
 be remark’d ; and that a certain Phifu 
 •wiener, upon a nice Obfervation therer 
 Hvas able to give as direct and politive 
 Judgment, could as eality from thence c 
 cypher the Nature arid Inclinations of t 
 Perfons, and foretel all future Events a 
 Pailagcs, as well as from the Original itfe' 
 but not to comment here, however, this 
 certain in Painting by the Life, he h 
 that uni v.e rial Vogue and P re- eminent 
 above any in his Time, as made Alex am 
 the Great to avoid the promifcous Defii 
 meats of unskilful Hands, and to deliver t 
 true Image of his Royal Perfon fafe 
 Pofterity, lulemly ordain’d that none fhcu 
 prelume to carve his Effieges, lave Pyn 
 tiles , to call: it but Lyfippus , not any to pai 
 his Pidlure but the Great /if dies alone, 
 
 Edtdo <vetuit ne quis fe prater Afellcm 
 Finger et , ant alius Lyjippo due e ret ara y 
 Fort is Alextwdri vultum Simulant i a; 
 
 H(>r. Epiil. lib. 2.ch. 
 
 Another Excellency and Knack < 
 Ingenuity he was Mafter of, in an Artifici; 
 Concealment of the Defects and Blemiflu 
 of Nature, rendering them not fo confp 
 cuous and apparent as they really wen 
 and varniflxing thofe Graces and little Beat 
 
 tie 
 
Painting. 77 
 
 ties he found, making them ftill fhow to a 
 better Advantage, and not much unlike the 
 gentile Artisans of this our Age ; without 
 doubt he was a little praftifed in the Arts 
 of a CourtFlattery ,that condufted his Pencil 
 with fuch an agreeable Air, and kind Infi- 
 nuation, as more commended his Ait and 
 Ingenuity, then deft roy’d and took off any 
 Thing from the Likenefs, or Refemblance, 
 of the Counterfeit : Relating to this is the 
 Portrait he drew of King Antiochm , who 
 had fuffered the Lofs of an Eye, and was 
 fomewhat blemilh , d on that fide ot his 
 Face he deviled to draw him upon the 
 Profile, and that Part of his Face turned 
 away from the- Sight, that thereby what 
 was wanting in the Pi chare might be im- 
 puted rather to the Painter, then to the 
 Perlon whom he there r ep relented. 
 
 However gracious this out Painter 
 (as above related) was with Alexander and 
 his Followers, it feems he could never pur- 
 chafe any Favour of Prince Ptolemy, aitei- 
 wards King of Egypt, and upon whole Coaft, 
 during his Reign there, Apelles unfortuna-. 
 telv being forced by Storm at Sea, lande 
 at Alexandria, where fome ot the Brethren 
 of the Pencil imagining his Delign to fettle 
 ♦ there, and fo become an Eclips to then 
 Credit, contriv’d with one of the Kings 
 Servants, to give him a kind Invitation t® 
 
 tt 2 *n0 
 
y8 A Ess ay w 
 
 the Court from the King’s efpecial Com- 
 mand, whether (ready to embrace fo happy 
 an Opportunity of Reconciliation) he im- 
 mediately reforted *, but, contrary to his 
 Expectation, inftead of a gracious Smile, 
 he found a fevere Countenance in the King, 
 with a (harp Check for daring to approach 
 his Pretence, demanding who had lent for 
 him ; whereat Jpolks , not a little a ft on i fil- 
 ed, wholly ignorant of the Perfon’s Name, 
 and not finding him out among any there 
 prefent, thus put to his Shifts, catch’d up 
 a Cole and began to delineate his Picture 
 upon the Wall, whereat the King immedi- 
 ately took Knowledge of the Perfon, and 
 by this alone Apelles obtain’d his Acquit- 
 ance from the Anger of the King, and the 
 Malice of his envious Competitors. 
 
 B e f o r e we leave this eminent Mafler, 
 we cannot but take notice what Pliny in two 
 feveral Places, has, with pretty pofitive 
 Affurance afferted, that in all the ftupen- 
 dious Paintings of this Artist above- 
 cited , he made ule of but four Colours 
 only, which were, White, Yellow, Red 
 and Black •, his White Tripoli of Melos \ for 
 Yellows, Ohre of Athens ■. for Reds, red Okre 
 and Syncpye q f Pantos , and for Black, ordinary 
 Vitrial, or Shoemakers Black. And here* 
 we might enter into a large Field of Dil- 
 <ourfe about the various Completions, Na- 
 tures- 
 
Original Painting. jq 
 
 tures and Diftinftions of Colours, but lhall 
 rather leave that to a more proper Place 
 hereafter, and only make fame fhort Remarks 
 upon this Affertion of our Author, which to 
 the Reafon of any Man, confidering how 
 irreconcilable it feems to declare it felf to 
 all thole wonderful and extraordinary Ef- 
 fects produced thereby, it muft appear no 
 lefs then a clear and manifeft Contradiction 
 in itfelf ; or more modeftly, lome milled or 
 traditionary Miftake in our Author ; for in 
 another Place himfelf tells us (befides the 
 other Black above-mention’dj Apelles was 
 the firft that invented to make Black of 
 Ivory, or the Tooth of an Elephant burnt, 
 which was call’d Elephantinum , and gives us 
 the Particulars of ieveral other Colours 
 both Natural and Artificial, found out and 
 tiled among the Greeks , which we are necef- 
 farily led to affirm, mull be in thofe Periods, 
 when the Art was in her higheft Perfect- 
 ion, and that (with an unanimous Voice 
 and Conlent acknowledged ) was, 1 may 
 fay, not only in the Time , but in the 
 Pencil of this our Great Apelles. And it is 
 obvious to any, that have any competent 
 Talent in Painting, how impoffible it muft 
 needs be, fuch rare and extraordinary Paint- 
 ings as feems to emulate and challenge Na- 
 ture herlelfinall her 'luxuriant Variety of 
 Compofures and Colour, fhould ever he ex- 
 
 prels’d 
 
go An Essay on 
 
 prefs’d, or accomplifh’d by the flender Af- 
 fiftance, only of thofe four Species of Co- 
 lours^ and unlefs they were as comprehen- 
 five as the four Elements, out of which 
 they tell us all Things do emerge ; fuch is 
 the Variety of Nature and Luxuriancy in 
 the almoft infinitely various Beauties that 
 affet, and are the Objet of our Sight, 
 without abetter Furniture } fuch Perfeft- 
 ions was utterly unattainable \ and altho’ 
 we lliould allow the largeft Extent and La- 
 titude , taking them for four Generals , 
 comprehending all that are Neighbouring 
 to, or may be by any Participation, or 
 Compofition produced of them ; yet it will 
 come fhort of giving a full Anfwer to the 
 . Objection j for, without Blew, the derivative 
 Colours cannot be made up to furniih and 
 compleat our Painters Palate ; and without 
 this, how can it be imagin’d he was able to 
 approach the Beauty of the Heavens in the 
 glorious Reprefentation of the Sky ? How 
 could he ever expet to parallel the varie- 
 gated and unparallel’d Completions of the 
 glorious Gayeties of the Gardens ? In Ab- 
 sence of this, the Fields and fprightly 
 Plants muft loofe their Verdure, and ap- 
 pear only in their Autumnal Drefs \ and 
 hisVenus herfelf muft fall fhort of what 4 
 fire was, for want of a Tendernefs to ex- 
 prefs the Delicacy of her azured Veins. 
 
 Besides 
 
Original Painting. 8 s 
 
 Besides all this, our Author in ano- 
 ther Place affirms, fuch was the Beauty 
 and Brightnefs of his Colours, that leaf!: 
 the Luftre fhould too much dazzle and of- 
 fend the Sight, he had one peculiar and 
 extraordinary Invention of a curious (and 
 J our Author would have it a black) Varnifh, 
 fo finely tempered and driven over the 
 whole Work, that it not only took off that 
 Inconvenience, but Secured and guarded id 
 from the Injury of Wet and Dirt, or any 
 Filthinefs whatfoever. 
 
 But we Shall conclude all that was fur- 
 ther remarkable in this our Painter, 
 with that laft Table of his left unfiniflied, 
 another Venus Anadtamene , intended for the 
 Inhabitants of the Illand of Cofor Lango, in 
 which he deligned to exceed his former, 
 and to give the highefc Proof and Effort of 
 his Skill and Art, that, perhaps, ever the 
 World had feen, but he was unhappily pre- 
 vented by an untimely Death, which feem- 
 ed to envy fuch Perfection •, and none after 
 were ever found that durft attempt, or 
 undertake the Finifhing of it, which turned 
 to the Glory of the Workman, and great- 
 er Veneration of the Work, Add to this 
 what is oblervable, and that our Artist 
 had in common with all excellent Artificers, 
 whofe Pictures, thus left Imperfect, have 
 always been held in a more facred and 
 
 higher 
 
An Ess A y on 
 
 higher Eftimation than any that had re- 
 ceived a corapleater Finilhing ; As to In- 
 fiance Arifiides his Iris, Nychomachus his 
 Tyndarides , Tycomachus his Medea \ all which 
 Relifts of Painting carrying along with 
 them that monumental Charafter in the 
 remaining naked Lineamets, whereof be- 
 ing plainly legible, not only the Beauty 
 and Force of an undifguiled Defign, but 
 the very Thoughts and Intentions of the 
 departed Artist, we are naturally in- 
 clin’d, in the Sence of fo unhappy a Pre- 
 vention, to fuch a Tendernels and foft 
 Regard that ftill commends the Work the 
 more, and are thereby extreamly con- 
 firained to love and admire both it and 
 the Hand that perifhed under it. 
 
 Some of the moft eminent Contempo- 
 raries with Apelles, were the fore-mentioned 
 Protogenes , Afclepiotorus, Nichomachus and 
 Arifiides , the famed Theban, who had an 
 Excellency in expreffing the Paflions and 
 Affeftioris of the Mind, and the very Con- 
 ceptions and Perturbations of the Soul ; and 
 of which we have a Angular Inftance in 
 that Table of his, reprefenting the Con- 
 queft of a Town by Force, wherein was 
 introduced the Pbrtrait of an Infant, by 
 many Windings, endeavouring to recover 
 the Breaft of its indulgent Mother, juft 
 dying of a mortal Wound received in that 
 
 Part 
 
Original Painting. 8? 
 
 Part of the Body wherein the Conjuncti- 
 on of a dying Palfion, and living Affeftir 
 on, were both eminently apparent toge- 
 ther, with a ftrange ReluHancy and Con- 
 cernment ; fearing, when hie was Dead 
 through a miftaken Nourilhment, her Babe 7 
 ftould fuller any Injury, or deftroy itfelf 
 by fucking of her Blood : This Table was 
 dear to Alexander the Great, tranilated from 
 Ikebes, and carried along with him to adorn 
 his native City Pella. , 
 
 The fame Ariftides painted the Coun- 
 terfeit. of a Battle between the Greeks and 
 hr[irns\ in which Table he brought in no 
 lels than a Hundred Figures • for every 
 one of which, he was to have by Agreement, 
 of Mmfon, the Tyrant, Ten Minas ; he por- 
 traied the Running of Races in Chariots, 
 with Four Wheels, fo lively, that a Man 
 would chink he faw and could difcover them 
 turning about. And as to his Piece of his 
 utnble Supplicant, he painted him fb na«. 
 turally , making his Petition, and perfuing 
 itfoearnefily that he leern’d to cry with 
 an au dab!e Voice from the Picture : Thefe 
 were fome cf his admir’d Works, which 
 were in fuch high Efteem, that King At- 
 taus gave a Hundred Talents for one Piece, 
 
 > Six 1 houfand Seftercies for another. 
 
 NIC HO- 
 
$4 An E s s a y on 
 
 N 1C H 0 M AC HVS wasSon and 
 Apprentice to Arifiodemus , whole moll: con- 
 ftderable Works were his Pluto’s ravilhing 
 of Proferpm , preferv’d in the Chapel of 
 Minerva, in the Capitol ; together with his 
 Portrait of Vi&ory, conducing a Trium- 
 phant Chariot into the Heavens : His Ap- 
 polio and J Diana ■, his Vlyjfes, and the mon- 
 ft’rous Mermaid Scylla, confecrated in the 
 Temple of Peace ; his Excellency lay in a 
 h: range' prompt Readinefs of Invention, and 
 in a wonderful dexterous Swiftnels and Ce- 
 lerity of Pencil, beyond all others in work- 
 ing and finilhing of his Peices. 
 
 A SC LE P J 0 D 0 RV S Hands cele- 
 brated before in the judgment , and by 
 Conceffion of Apelles himfelf for his fingular 
 Skill in oblerving the Symetry and juft Pro- 
 portions ; he painted for Mnafon, King of 
 Elatean, the Twelve principal Gods, and 
 receiv’d for every one of them Three 
 Hundred Pounds of Silver. 
 
 PROTOGENES was a Man that a 
 long time lay under the common Fate of 
 many excellent Artizans ■, the hard Cir* 
 cumftances of a poor and neceftitons Con- 
 dition ; of which ajfo another inci- 
 dent Occafion is afcribed, his exceeding 
 liuaious, intentive and endlefs Curiofity in s 
 his Works • for which Thing only (as above 
 recited) he Hands mark’d with a gentle 
 
 Reproof 
 
Original Painting. 8$ 
 
 Reproof by Apelles. Little Encouragement, 
 a long Time, it feems he met with, which 
 forced him to the meaner Compliances of 
 painting Ships and Gallies, which they 
 partly colleft from this following Inftance, 
 when he was afterward thought worthy to 
 appear, and to be employed in painting the 
 Portico leading to the Temple of Minerva . , 
 in the moft confpicuous Place of the City j 
 where in the Story of the famous Paralus 
 and Hemionis he performed to Admiration,' 
 yet he difdained not to remind them of his 
 former Praflice and the fmall Beginnings 
 of his A k t, exemplifying it by fome 
 Parerga s of little Gallies and long Barks 
 in the feveral Borders and Freezes of the 
 Structure, which alfo ferved as a Foil to 
 fet olf and commend the Excellency of his 
 prelent Attainment and Performances. 
 
 Bur among all his Works the moft fam- 
 ed Table that ever he painted 
 was his Jaiyfai which fo much 
 furprized ' Apelles , that he 
 confeffed it to be the fineft in 
 the World, fince dedicated in 
 Rome within the Temple of 
 Peace ; upon which his 
 Thoughts and Endeavours 
 were fo ftrongly intent, that 
 (as ’tis reported) to avoid the Temptation 
 of too liberal Repaft of Wines and choicer 
 
 I Delicacies 
 
 Son of Cere a* 
 phus , a famous 
 Hunter, who 
 built a City 
 in the Ifland 
 of Rhodes , 
 whence he had 
 his Name. 
 Strabo lib . 14. 
 
26 An Essay on 
 
 Delicacies that were apt any Ways to cloud, 
 or dull the Spirit of his Fancy y he confined 
 him fe If all the while to the fevere Diet of 
 fteeped Lupines only, which contented him 
 for Meat and Drink both •, and to the End 
 that after and long diftant Ages might 
 fee and admire his Works when others of 
 that Nature were become ruinous and pe- 
 riled, leaving nothing but a Tranicript of 
 Tradition to commend them to Pollen tv, 
 he had that peculiar Invention to add a 
 Term of no lels then four Lives to all his 
 Paintings •, for to prevent the Envy of inju- 
 rious and deftruftive Time, Pliny tells us, he 
 charged particularly this fifture with four 
 Grounds of Colours, lb artificially couched 
 one under another, that when one was de- 
 cayed a lecond fhould fucceed, and lb on 
 ’till the Laft, and every one emerge as fair 
 and beautiful as the firft Befides all this., 
 yet another accidental Excellency there 
 was in this Piece in the Portraiture of a 
 Dog, where it feems both wonderful Art 
 and Fortune met together *, for when he had 
 finifhed the whole Proportion with great 
 Diligence and extreamly to his own Satif- 
 faflion, he was as much troubled and diffa- 
 tisfied about a much lefs meterial Circum- 
 ftance of Painting the Froth at his 
 Mouth, altering, amending, adding, ta- ’ 
 king away, and often wiping out all, and 
 
Original Painting. 87 
 
 yet with no Hopes of any better Succefs, 
 ’'till weary at length, in an extream Anger 
 and Difpair, flinging the Spunge, charged 
 with the Colours he had wiped off, at the 
 unhapy Place that had given him all this 
 Trouble, to a Miracle it feems arole fuch an 
 unexpected ProduOr, fuch an unlooked for 
 happy fortuitous Succefs, that left fo natural 
 a Finifhing of the Froth as was beyond 
 what all his labouring and diligent Intention 
 could ever attain unto. And after this Exam- 
 ple, they tell us Nealee , a Painter, proved 
 the Experiment, with the like Succefs, in 
 exprefling the Froth and Foam from the 
 Mouth of a Horfe. 
 
 T his Table of Jalyfus and his Dog 
 flood a Ranfbm and a Security for the 
 whole City of Rhodes , when King Demetri- 
 us had a fair Opportunity of ftorming, and 
 deftroying it by Sword and Fire •, yet he re- 
 fufed to embrace it, and could not fuffer the 
 leaft Hoftility, or any Ravage to be com- 
 mitted, leaff that adored Miftrefs of his 
 Affeftions fhould fuffer any Difhonour, or 
 perifh in the promifcuous Confuiion of the 
 common Calamity. 
 
 During all the flrift Siege of this 
 Place, Protogenes (as an Archimedes, on the 
 like.Occafion, bufying himfelf in his mathe. 
 
 1 2 maticaj 
 
 * 
 
 Ki»ns» 
 
8B An E s s a y on 
 
 matical Schemes in the Sand) was lo little 
 concerned, that in a fma.ll retiring place, 
 without the Walls of the City, incircled 
 within the Camp of the Enemy, maugre 
 all the Noile of Armies, Drums and Trum- 
 pets, was as ftudious and dole at his Bufi- 
 nefs as under the fereneft Calm of a fecure 
 Peace •, which the King wondering at when 
 he underftood, fent for him, demanding 
 how lie could have that Confidence in the 
 Midft of fuch apparent Hazard. Readily 
 anfwered, that he knew Demetrius ’ s Defign 
 was only againft the Rhodians, and had no 
 Quarrel (he was fure) to good Arts and Sci- 
 ences ! And the Subject he was upon, and 
 employed in, during this Conjun&ure, 
 feemed to make good his Affurance in this 
 Aftertion to the King j while in Head of 
 fbme dilfaftrous and' melancholy Compo- 
 fure, as we might reafonably Conjefture, 
 it was a Defign of a much contrary Nature, 
 a lporting Satyr playing and diverting him- 
 lelf upon a Pair of Bag-Pipes } this Piece 
 he himfelf entitled and gave the Name ««• 
 ■mVo/J/j©-. one relating, or repoling himfelf 
 from any Labour, or ftudious Concern- 
 ment. > ] 
 
 Extreamly plealed it teems the 
 King was with the Deverlion and Enjoy- ■ 
 ment of this our Painter, often frequenting 
 
 and 
 
Original Painting. Eg 
 
 and vifiting him at his Cell, hoping a flxort 
 Time would make him Matter of the Place 
 and give him the Enjoyment and Poffeffion 
 of his fo facred and defired Works within 
 the Confinement of the Walls, which he 
 thought of Value and equal Purchace* with 
 all hisToyls of War, and fuperior to all 
 his other Enjoyments in Peace at Home. 
 
 Some few of his Works more ftand" 
 recorded by Pliny , and indeed it feems he 
 was no extempore Painter, but whatever Sub- 
 jeft he was engaged upon, it was with a 
 previous Study and Caution undertaken* 
 and with exaft Diligence and Labour, and 
 a ttrifl: Examination gone through and finfli- 
 ed •, fuch were his Tlepomenns , King Antigo ~ 
 tiusj Alexander the Great, and the God P an 7 
 and Ph&ftion the Mother of Ariftotle the fa- 
 med Philofbpher \ but this Chapter has 
 been already too prolix, we Avail therefore 
 conclude with one remarkable Pittance* 
 which may ferve for Matter of Conduct, 
 if not of Reproach to this our Age, namely, 
 that he had that ftrange bent of Inclination 
 and Affeftion to the A R t, that nothing 
 could give him any Satisfaction, but a Dii- 
 quifition and a Refearch into the very Bow- 
 els and Secrets of it, nor any Thing put an 
 End to his feverer Scrutiny that fell ihort of 
 an abfolute and confummate Perfection *, the 
 
 I eatiree 
 
«o An E s s a y on 
 
 entire Attainment whereof he valued above 
 the certain Oppotunity he had of obtaining 
 a Mafs of Wealth and Riches, difreguard- 
 ing any Pyramid of Glory, or Immortality 
 of a Name whole Superftru£lure was en- 
 deavoured upon any weaker Balls, or 
 JF oundation. 
 
 C H A P.. 
 

 Painting. 
 
 9 * 
 
 
 C H A F. VII. 
 
 4 
 
 Of the State of the A < t from the fore- 
 going Periods , through the Declenfion of 
 the Graecian Empire, and its / ranfla- 
 tion to the Romans ; and fnally 3 its 
 Decadence among them. 
 
 H E Quarrels and Contentions of 
 the Succeffors of Alexander about 
 the Divifion of the Grecian Mo- 
 narchy, more than probably had 
 alfo an. influence upon Arts, and very 
 much difcompoled the Tranquility of their 
 Progrefs ; for we find after the old Stock 
 was clean worn out, there fprung up again 
 but a (lender Supply, both as to the Num- 
 ber, and to the Excellencies and Perfe&ions 
 of the Art itfelf. 
 
 To Range every Artisan in his due 
 Order of Time (they being to promifeoudy 
 * bandied by Authors) ’tis as little material as 
 , poffible ; however, we fliall make fome En- 
 deavour, with as near a regard to that as 
 may be, and take leave to begin 
 with Pcrfeus , the Difciple of Perfeus ' 
 
 * 
 
02 An E s s A y on 
 
 Apelles, a Perfon of an admirable Temper, 
 and of very good Skill, and a lingular In-. 
 dull: ry and Wit, an excellent T raft of rhe 
 whole A k t, which he dedicated to his 
 Matter , but in his Practice, it feems, he 
 came not only fat fhort of him, but was 
 inferior to Zeuxis too. 
 
 Next him we may bring 
 in Nicophanes, vvhofe Paintings lC 0 P- a ^s. 
 had not only a good Grace, and a polite 
 Touch, but were alfo accompanied with 
 Force : He was a Man of a ready and lively 
 Air •, he applied his Studies particularly to 
 Antiquities, in fearching out, and endea- 
 vouring to preferve the Memory of any 
 Thing that was Excellent in that Kind j 
 and when he met with any old decay’d 
 Paintings of the antient Matters, he apply’d 
 himfelf, either to the copying of them, or 
 (with an Endeavour) to reftore the Tables 
 themfelves, in fomc meafure, to their Ori- 
 ginal Luftre, and in all what was of his 
 own Oefign and Invention ^ his aim was to 
 reprefent therein both a Loftinefs and a 
 Gravety : In general, Pliny gives^him this 
 Charafter, that few were comparable to him 
 m his i ime. 
 
 AT HEN 10 AT of Marena, .. . 
 
 Difciple of Glaucion , was a Man / mm ' 
 of very good Skill, an d tho’ his Way of 
 Colouring feem’d ibmewhat dry, and not 
 
 altogether. 
 
Original Painting. 9$ 
 
 altogether io agreeable (he not affecting the 
 Gaudery of Colours) yet his Works were 
 throughly Painted, and he maintain’d the 
 full Vigour and Strength of his Lights and 
 Shadows, which, with his unwearied En- 
 deavours, and Re-fearch after every Thing 
 that was Excellent and Worthy of his 
 Knowledge in the Art, render’d him 
 equal in Efteem with Paufim and Nicias, and 
 had he not unhappily died in his Youth, in 
 the Opinion they had of him, he had be- 
 come a mod excellent and extraordinary 
 Man. 
 
 CR EC 1 D E S was a good 
 Painter*, and render’d himfelf rea es ' 
 very Famous, but it was more to be aft 
 fcrib’d to the haughty Temerity of his 
 Temper, and a radii Attempt, then to the 
 exquifite Perfection of his Work •, for being 
 entertain’d by Queen Stratonice, Wife to 
 Antiocku. s', but not with all the Teftimony 
 of that Efteem which he thought his Merits 
 might challenge, he painted a Table where- 
 in he expos’d that Princefs in an unfeemly 
 Pofture and Application with a fordid Fi- 
 fherman, with whom it was a Jealou r y fhe 
 was fometfrnes too Converlant - , and having 
 publickly fet it up in the Haven of Ephejus , 
 took SanCtuary in. a Veflel ready to tail, 
 -and fo efcaped, leaving that as the Mark 
 
 of a Revenge for his conceiv’d Affront. 
 
 But 
 
94 ' An E s s a y on 
 
 But this had not that EffeCt upon the Queen 
 as he expeCted, who utterly flighting the 
 malicious Defign of the Man (finding the 
 Painting itfelf to be fo well and curioufly 
 handled) rather chofe to let it there remain 
 expos’d to the View of all Spectators, than 
 to commit to the F lames a Picture of that 
 Elegancy and Perfection. 
 
 TIR R1CHVS was one 
 that bulled himfelfabout little , irncbm. 
 Things, and all mean and inferior SubjeCts, 
 as of Herbs, Flowers, Beafls, InfeCts, Tra- 
 defmens Shops, and other liich like, as 
 have no Guft of any noble Idea, for which 
 he was Surnam’d Rhyparographus. 
 
 SERA P 10 N, on the other c 
 hand,, was for Pictures of a Colof- '- era i ton - 
 faan Stature, fuch as their Shops and Stalls, 
 were not big enough to contain •, his 
 Excellencies were feen in Painting mighty 
 Tents, Stages, Theaters and Pageants, but 
 for a Face, or the Figure of a Man, or Wo- 
 man, he durft never attempt to make an 
 Eflay. On the other fide Diony - 
 fim was good for nothing elfe, . lon JJ m - 
 and therefore was commonly call’d Antbro- 
 pograpbus. 
 
 C R E S 1C 0 LV S was one _ . , 
 of the Dilclples of Apelles , be- reftcous. 
 
 came famous for one Piece above all th p , 
 reft, wherein he had reprefented a wanton 
 
 Story 
 
Original Painting. 9^ 
 
 Story of Jupiter among the Goddeffes in his 
 Night-Coif, groaning and crying out as a 
 Woman in Labour for their helping Hand, 
 who kindly aiiifted in the Office of a Mid- 
 wife, untill he was lately deliver’d of the 
 God Bacchus. Many other Painters there 
 was about thefe Times, of whom, betides 
 their Names, we find no great matter of 
 
 any peculiar Eminence afcrib’d to them ; of 
 
 feveral of which therefore (in favour of the 
 Reader/ to avoid the Prolixity of a tedious 
 Difcourfe, and yet to pay fome Tribute to 
 their Memory) we ihall take a tranfient 
 View as we go along •, as Callicles , 
 who altogether practis’d in fmall. Calltcles > 
 Calaces in the fame, and alio in Calaces. 
 larger Paintings of Perfpeftives, 
 upon the Ceilings of the Theaters &e. 
 Antiphilus , by Birth an Egyptian , . 
 
 of whole Hand feveral Pieces Antiphilus. 
 
 of Work hand recorded ; as that of King 
 Alexander , and Philip his Father, with the 
 Goddets Minerva , Prince Bacchus , Hip- 
 politvs , afrighted at a monfterous Bull let 
 looi'e upon him. His Gryllus, being a Fool, 
 or Antick compleatly dreft } whence all 
 luch Pi&ures lines of that Nature took 
 their Name. Crefidemus was 
 taken notice of for that Piece Cre fi demus - 
 of the Siege! of Ochalia , wherein the City 
 was taken by Hercules /And put to the Sword, 
 
 and 
 
o6 An E s s A y on 
 
 Oriplaus. and Flame. Onftolaus was the 
 Son of Paujias, and deri'erv’d a 
 Mecbopba- jsj ame among the beft of the 
 
 nes ‘ antient Painters. Mechopbms 
 
 too was the Difcipie of Pnufias, and com- 
 mended for a very good and curious Work- 
 man, and only ftands reproved for ufmgtoo 
 much of one particular Colour, call’d Ochre 
 
 Si l . Socrates is remembered for 
 Socrates. tbat excellent Piece of MSfeuk- 
 
 this, accompanied with his three Daugh- 
 ters, Hygea , Eglea and PatiacM. 
 Ludius . The Workman that painted the 
 
 Plot as. 'femple of Juno at Ardea, deferv’d 
 fo well, as they enfranchifed him free Bur- 
 gefs of that City, and honour’d him with 
 this Infcription let up in the midft of his 
 Works, 
 
 JDignk digna locct piSluris concelebravit , 
 Regina Junonis Supreme convagis Tempi um y 
 Mu rccus Ludius Elotas zAdiolia Oriundus 
 Quern nunc & fojl femper eb artem Arden 
 laudat. 
 
 A RT E M 0 N ftands cele- 
 
 Artemon. brated for thg p iaure of the 
 
 Story of the Lady Danae , whom, being 
 found floating a drift at Sea by feme ro- 
 ving Pyrates, who not daring to attempt 
 their Prize, he admirably represented them 
 
 ' ' gazing 
 
Original Painting. 97 
 
 pazing on her Beauty with a Wonder and 
 Aftonilhment } but his yet more extraor- 
 dinary Piece, was that in the Galleries of 
 OUavia, of Hercules afcending up into Hea- 
 ven from the Mountain Oeta, where he was 
 receiv’d into the Society of the Gods, with 
 a full and general Approbation. 
 
 A f t e 11 thefe we fliall take leave to in- 
 troduce fbme of the Romans, whofe very 
 Name and Example are fufficient to give 
 a Reputation to the Art, and to fhow 
 alfo, that they, as well as the Greeks, had a 
 Refpeft and honourable Efteem . F 
 for it-, for Quintus Fabius we fJ, U 
 meet with (whole Family was 
 one of the Nobleft in Roms , and after had 
 thefurname of Pi Bores') not only with his 
 own Hands painted the Wails or the 1 em- 
 ple of Salus , but alfo fubfcrib'd thereon 
 Ouintus Fabius Pinxit. 
 
 ^POMPONIVS ATTICVS Pmponius > 
 a Man of Angular Wifdom, and 
 fo much beloved of Cicero after he had 
 compos’d a Poem of fundry Devices, beau- 
 tified the fame with Pictures of his own 
 drawing.- 
 
 Marcvs v a ler ius M. Valerius . 
 
 MESS A L A, a Noble- 
 Man of Rome, made a large Taoie or tne 
 Story of that Battle in Scicily , wherein him- 
 felf had defeated the Carthaginians , an- 
 
 K. Kmg 
 
9 S An Essay an 
 
 King Hiero, and cauled it to be fet up 
 in the Gallery of the Court of HoSli. 
 lius. 
 
 I n the Days of Cafar Dittator, flour ilh’d 
 
 Timmacbus. 7l T ma f h “ s > \ famine, 
 
 and painted for that Empe- 
 ror a Table of Ajax and Medea , for which 
 Attick Talent he paid him no lefs than 
 boo Deniers Ro- Eighty Talents, and imme- 
 
 man ' diately caufed them to be 
 
 ■ hung up in the Temple of Ferns Genetrix, 
 His Ore fees, and Jpbigenia in 7‘auris , were 
 commended with feme other Paintings of 
 his, but were all exceeded by his G organs 
 Head upon the Shield of Minerva. 
 
 And now we come to Auguftns , from 
 whole Time it was that this A r t in Greece 
 began not only to degenerate, but in a man- 
 ner, to be quite deftroy'd •, for befides , 
 that Rome now becoming the Seat of a 
 mighty Empire, the People of Greece , equal- 
 ly, with many other Kingdoms, being Vaf- 
 ins, and in fubjeftion to that Power, they 
 were fbon difpoyPd by the fucceeding 
 Princes of whatever was rare, or excellent 
 •among them • and not only the Paintings of 
 the beft Mafters they could meet with," but 
 Obelislcs, Coloifes, and whole Colonies of 
 hratues, were foon tranfported and carried 
 away, not only as Trophies of their Vifto- 
 nes, but to adorn and enoble their own 
 
 City, 
 
Ludius. 
 
 : tginai Painting. 99 
 
 City, now become the great Metropolis of 
 the World. - 
 
 And now having thefe Examples be- 
 fore them to inftruCt, and the flourifhing 
 Eftate of the Empire to incite and eftimu- 
 late, we cannot but think their Endeavours 
 and Inventions muft be let at Work in E- 
 mulation of the fame Attainments *, but 
 yet by what we meet with in Pliny, and 
 other Authors, we can’t find they ever ar- 
 riv’d to the Perfections of their Noble Fore- 
 runners and Examplers. 
 
 0 n e of principal Note that flourilh’d 
 in the Reign of Auguftus, was 
 Ludius, celebrated for the Inven- 
 tion of Painting Landskips , wherein he 
 fucceeded very well, and Ihew’d a great Va- 
 riety of Invention in reprefentation of Pro- 
 fpeCts both by Sea and Land ; of Cities, 
 and particularly Structures, and Defigns of 
 Architecture •, in Views of Forefts, Rivers, 
 Plains, Walks, Huntings, Parrades, Grot- 
 toes, Fountains; with all the various Forms 
 and ACtions of Birds, Beafts and Men, ap- 
 propriate and accommodate to each par- 
 ticular Circumftance, together with many 
 other incident Occurrences, of which this 
 SubjeCt furnilhes with a copious Variety •, 
 and of all thefe, he was the fir ft we meet 
 with that made the Application, and painted 
 upon the Fronts of their publick and private 
 
 K 2 Buildings 
 
ioo An Essay os 
 
 Buildings along the Streets, and upon their 
 Walls, both without Doors and within. 
 
 ARE L L IV S hands com- 
 Arelhus. meiK j e( j f or a good Painter in the 
 
 Time of the lame Aupuftus, but it deems he 
 
 came from his Hand, were only the Relera- 
 blarces and Copies taken from his feveral 
 
 Miftreffes. 
 
 After this, we meet with few, either 
 Artist s, or Painting s, only what 
 flirty takes notice of in the 1 ime of Nero, 
 of a monfProus Pi flu re that he command- 
 
 ed to be drawn of him lei f upon a Cloth, One 
 Hundred and Twenty Foot high, which 
 was alfo finiihed and erefted in the Garden 
 
 of Marius, without any record of the 
 Workman, or Quality of the Work, and 
 was not long after, together with feveral 
 adjacent Houfes, con fum’d with Lighten- 
 ing. 
 
 , From hence downward, we find little 
 or no Record of any that Painted in Rome, 
 t he Memories as well as the Works of thole 
 Times, being wholly loft, and there re- 
 maining nothing of Antiquity of that Na- 
 ture, excepting a poor Fragment of a Frier, 
 which we find brought from the City Adrian, 
 a fcrap to be feen in St. Gregories : What is , 
 yet left among t{ie Ruins of the Terms of 
 
Original Painting. iqi 
 
 Titus , and that Freiae reprefenting a Mar- 
 raige which is to be feen in the City of Aldro- 
 
 hr undine. 
 
 But yet in the ruinous Face of thefe 
 ReliCts which remain vifible to this Day in 
 Rome, there appear the Chara&er of an an- 
 tient Beauty, and they ferve as a fufficient 
 Teftimony to evince a very good Attain- 
 ment of the Pencil, and of an Arrival to an 
 Idea of a Perfection in a Meafure compara* • 
 ble to that we find and admire in the anti- 
 ent Statues of thofe Times. 
 
 And what afterwards was the Succefs 
 of this Art we may ftill rationally colled 
 from a parrallel Progrefs of the other, which 
 as we find was in its higheft Perfection in 
 the Days of Auguftus Caligula, Claudius Nero, 
 fo from thence down to the Reign of Como- 
 dus and Pertinax , it in feme Meafure dege- 
 nerated •, and from Sevens, or however, 
 from the Time of Adrian it greatly decay- 
 ed ; for probably in that Emperor’s Reign 
 it might receive lome Renafcence again, 
 being not only, a Patron and Maecenas of 
 all Arts, but (as fome Writers tells) was 
 an excellent Painter himfelf ; and lor the 
 other fifter Art, that mighty Column 140 
 Foot high, may bear fome Proof, which he 
 • erefted to the Memory of his Predeceffor 
 Trajan ■, and upon which, under the Coloffdan 
 Statu e of that Emperor, which crowns 
 
 , K 5 • the 
 
 V 
 
io2 An Essay on 
 
 the Pillar he caufed to be carved and en- 
 graven in Baffo relievo all his Victories over 
 the Parthians, Dacians, Germans, &c. Which 
 is this Day to be feen, and Hands commended 
 for the Sufficiency and Ability of the 
 Performance in that Art. 
 
 But after this, and what was before 
 recorded, (as Mr. Evelyn takes notice,) 
 there was fcarce any. who left either Name, 
 or Work, famous to Pofterity : For befides 
 that, the Monarchy was foon broken and 
 difordered •, the latter Empire became lefs 
 curious, rich and magnificent •, fo as even in 
 the Time of great Conjiantine itfelf, Arts 
 began manifeftly to degenerate all which 
 their Coines and Medals fucceflively will 
 lerve in a great Meafure to confirm, but 
 when afterwards the Goths and Saracens had 
 broken in upon the Roman Empire, and 
 made thofe horrid Devaftations , they were 
 then, in a Manner, utterly loft •, as theRe- 
 liques which they left in Statuary, Sculp- 
 ture, A rchitefture, Letters, and all other 
 good Arts do yet teftify. 
 
 C H A B. 
 
 
Original Painting. 
 
 io 3 
 
 C H A P. VIII. 
 
 Of the Rife and Emergency again of this 
 
 Art in Italy, until it received its 
 compleat Attainment among them ; to- 
 gether with fome Intimations of Endea- 
 vours in the Period foregoing, and du - 
 
 Empire itfelf beginning to be difquieted 
 .and miferably infefted, not only by the Irr- 
 curfions of the bordering Saracens, but of 
 the remoter Goths and Vandals, we can hard- 
 ly expect an Art of that tender Conftituti- 
 on, whofe Rife and Progrefs are chiefly ow- 
 ing to a peaceful and flourifhing Govern- 
 ment, fhould in this Circumftance of Af- 
 fairs ever emerge, much lefs arrive to any 
 Excellency of Attainment. 
 
 ring that long Interval , of its Appear- 
 ance and Revival again, 
 
 o 
 
 IPTfi® now unhappily labouring under 
 
 H E Condition of Chriflendom 
 
 then Emperors , and the very 
 
 I « A a ^ ' 
 
 After 
 
io4 Essay on 
 
 After Ibme Time it was entertain’d 
 (it feems) with a kind Look from Ibme Part 
 of the Chriftian World, and that not without 
 Endeavours to give it a Sanction, by the 
 introduction of Holy KeliCts, Images and 
 Pictures into their Churches and confecrat- 
 ed Places, in Memory of fuch Saints and 
 Martyrs as fuffer’d for the Sake of the 
 Truth, afcribing to them a certain Venera- 
 tion, and looking upon them as advantage- 
 ous Helps and Affiftances in their Devo- 
 tions *, and for the Authority of this, they 
 would pretend no lets than an Apoftolical 
 Inftitution, and that a pofitive Canon in 
 the Seventh Council call’d at Antioch , com- 
 manded Images of Chrift, &c. to be fub- 
 ftituted in the room of Heathenilh. Idols ; 
 but there appears lb little Foundation for 
 the Truth of this, that the Quaere lies upon 
 the Council it felf, or, however, upon this 
 Article, whether it was not altogether ima- 
 ginary ; and nothing but a mere Forgery : 
 And what a late Author of the Roman Per- 
 fwalion would give us for a Reafon, for the 
 non-oblervance of this Injunction in the 
 early and primitive Times, feems. more like 
 a piaufible • Infmuation to ellude, than an 
 Argument of any real Force to Support ; 
 telling us that one great Obftruftion of the 
 Introduction of Pictures and Images into 
 their Churches, was the great Abomination 
 
 they 
 
/ 
 
 Original Painting. 105 
 
 thev had of the Heathen Idols, which were 
 not then wholly abolish’d, or, however, the 
 ill Savour of them not clear out of their 
 Remembrance. 
 
 This afterwards we find, that when 
 they had obtain’d fo far as to bring- in and 
 let them up in lbine particular Places, it 
 prov’d the Rife of a lafting and unhappy 
 Controverfy in the Church, being as vigo- 
 rously oppos’d by the Eaftern Greeks , as it 
 was favour’d and embrac’d by thofe of the 
 Weft. 
 
 T h e flrft Contention concerning them, 
 we find broke out in the Reign of the Em- 
 peror Philip Bardanes, about the Year 71 1, 
 who appear’d fo vigoroufly in oppofition to 
 them, that, together with John the Patriarch 
 of Conftar/tinofle y he caus’d Several to be 
 defac’d and demolish’ d but this was fo ill 
 
 refented by Pope Con Pan tine, that he im- 
 ■ mediately not only Excommunicates, but 
 deprives him of his Sovereignity for Here- 
 
 fy, and would not fo much as f offer the 
 Emperor’s Piflure on his Coin. Soon alter 
 this, in the Reign of Leo Ifaurus , the Quar- 
 rel againft Images was again reviv’d and 
 profecuted with Violence, that upon Pain 
 of Death it was injoyn’d, whoever had any 
 Pictures, or Images, of our Saviour, the 
 Virgin Mary y or other Saints, Should bung 
 
 them into the Market-Place in Conftantinofle, 
 
 where 
 
io 6 An Essay on 
 
 where (together with the reft taken out of 
 the Churches) they were all publickly burnt. 
 And this Fate befel foon after to all the 
 reft, by a ftri£l Command in all his Domi- 
 nions- and to juftify thefe Proceedings, he 
 fummons a Council in the Eaft, who con- 
 cur with him, and approve and confirm the 
 demoliftiing of them. But Pope Gregory 
 the Second , not at all relilhing thefe 
 Ufages, draws together a Convocation of 
 near a Thoufand Biftiops and Prelates, 
 wherein he not only confronts and deftroys 
 all his Decrees, but thunders out Anathe- 
 mas and Excommunications againft the 
 Emperor, depofes Him, and abfoives his 
 Subjects from any Allegiance to him 5 caufes 
 moft of the States of Italy and Spain to re- 
 volt from _ him , and bind themlelves by 
 Oath to his Obedience ^ by which all his 
 Intereft and Authority in the Weft was for- 
 ever after loft •, notwithftanding this, Con (l an- 
 tine the Fourth his Son, profecuted the Quar- 
 rel with the like Zeal of his Father, and had 
 for his Pains the like Rewards from Pope 
 Patd the Fir ft. 
 
 A b out the Year 780, the Crown de- 
 volving upon Conflantine the Fifth ("being at 
 that time a Child) the Emprefs Irene, his 
 Mother, took upon her the Management 
 oi the whole State, and was fo far a Fa- 
 vourer .of the Proceedings of the Pope, con- 
 
 I 
 
Original Painting. io ~ 
 
 cermng Images, that immediately the fc- 
 co nd Nicene Council 1 was call’d, in which 
 the Reflitution of Images was intirely con- 
 firm’d, the Relifts broken and demoliih’d 
 by Leo Ifaurus , order’d every where to be 
 reftor’d and let up again, by Seven Aftions 
 and Twenty Two Canons. I mage- breakers 
 were condemn’d for Hereticks ; and for 
 the Interpretation of what fort of Refpeft 
 they intended fhould be paid, and what 
 Difference they made between the Imase 
 and the Thing which it reprefents, this 
 Diftick (attributed to the Council) will in 
 fome meafure Ihew. 
 
 1 - ' * ; 
 
 | Id dew eft quod Imago docet fed non dem ipfe } 
 Hancvidaai fed merit e colas quod cernis in ip fa. 
 
 From all the foregoing Procedure we 
 
 .may obferve this, That when the Conftan- 
 tine's and Theodofians , and other Chriftian 
 
 ■ Emperor s, had taken upon them the Pro- 
 tection of the Church, as well as the Go- 
 vernment of the Empire, and the Intro- 
 duction of Images was once admitted, there 
 was found fome Perfons that impioy’d their 
 flender Talents in furnifliing them with 
 Sculptures and Paintings ; but they were 
 fuch (it feems) as were confiderable for no- 
 
 ■ thing , fave their being Remarks of the 
 Piety of thole Princes } but then after the 
 
 decadence 
 
 \ x 
 
on 
 
 Entretien fur 
 les Vies & fur 
 les Outrages 
 des plus beni 
 Feint eur$ * 
 
 IQ g An Essay 
 
 decadence of the Roman Empire, Italy fell 
 under fuch Troubles, and fo great Agita- 
 tions, that the mile rable Efiate to which it 
 was to often reduc’d, afforded no Time for 
 o-ood A a ts ('the only Fruits of Peace) 
 
 at all to grow up and arrive 
 to any Maturity. And as 
 Monfieur Philibien, in a pa- 
 pathetical Condolement, for 
 thofe Times, has it. How 
 great a Lofs is that of Agfes, 
 during which Rome faw not any Thing but 
 Wars and Difafters, and People moft bar-. 
 barous come from all Quarters of the 
 World to make cruel Invafions upon her 
 Land , overturn the Monumnents of her 
 antient Grandure, and put all to the Sword 
 and Flame * when Armies fo numerous of 
 the Goths and Vandals, like a Torrent, over- 
 flowing, ravage all the Country, and there 
 flill remain’d as Seeds of Divifion, whereof 
 all her Neighbours were the moft her 
 Enemies. 
 
 When Painting receiv’d her fe« 
 cond Birth, Italy was ftill under the fame 
 Calamities •, for in the Year 1239, Milkn it 
 felf, with many other Cities in Tufcany, at 
 the Inftigation of Pope Gregory the Ninth, 
 were in aftual Arms againlfc the Empeior, 
 Fredrick the Second, under a fpecious Pre- ! 
 
 text of Liberty, and the Bilhops laying 
 
 afide 
 
 
Original Painting. 109 
 
 afide their Allegiance, feiz’d and poflefs’d 
 themfelves of feveral other Cities ; which 
 Proceedings of theirs fo provok’d the Em- 
 peror, that, in a fhort time, he came upon 
 them with two mighty Armies by Sea and 
 Land, giving the Command of the firft to 
 his Son Lawrence, whom' he had declar’d 
 King of Sardinia ; with the other he enter’d 
 himfelf into Italy, where the Milanefe felt 
 the firft Effefls of his Anger, laying defo- 
 late all the Country about ; and his Army 
 daily increafing by the Succours of many 
 Neighbouring Princes (jealous of the grow- 
 ing Power of the Pope) he ruin’d all the 
 other Cities that flood in Oppcdkion to 
 him. 
 
 GREGOR T, thus feeing the Affairs of 
 the Emperor proceed fo advantageoufly, 
 prefently ferves upon him his Ecclefiaftical 
 Cenfures , Excommunicates and Banifhes 
 him out of Italy for an Hereticlc ; but be- 
 caufe lie well enough fuv thole fort of 
 Arms alone were not able to hinder his 
 Progrefs, he has recourfe to the Venetians 
 for their Affiftance ■, in which he gave them 
 great Affu ranees of Victory and Advanta- 
 ges, and intercedes at the fame time alfo 
 with the French King. 
 
 This was the War between the Pope 
 and the Emperor, that p rov’d the Occafion 
 of fo much Mifchief in Italy } by which, 
 
 L - not 
 
no An Essay on 
 
 not only many Cities were entirely ruin’d, 
 but thofe alfo that efcap’d the Sword, or 
 Flame, remain’d, fill’d with fo great Dif. 
 cords and Divifions, that the Inhabitants 
 were every Day upon their Guard, and up 
 in Arms ready to Kill and Maffacre one an- 
 other •, and from hence it was thole two 
 horrible Factions took Birth of the Papal 
 Guclfs, and the Imperial Gibellines, which 
 lafted more than Two Hundred and Sixty 
 Years, and were ftill the further Occafion 
 of greater Perturbations and Miferies in 
 
 that Country. 
 
 But not to engage further in the Par- 
 ticular of thefe Quarrels ; ’tis enough to 
 fatisfie us in what diftratted Condition of 
 Things Italy hood about the Year 1240, 
 when Cimabus came into the 
 
 Cvnabus. YVorld, who being born to efta- 
 
 blifh the Art of P a 1 n t 1 n g, before 
 the Diforders and Wars , were banifh’d, 
 took his Birth during the Time of the moft 
 grand Diftraflions that ever that Country 
 law, or was affiifted with. 
 
 A s he was the firft of P a 1 n t e r s 
 that brought to Light fo illuftrious an A rt, 
 fo, with Reafon, we may call him the Ma- 
 iler and Father of all thofe that fucceeded 
 him: He himfelf was of a noble Family 
 of Florence ; his Parents fuppofing him to 
 have a Genius proper for the Sciences, put 
 
 him 
 
Original Painting. m 
 
 him under Matters to learn the firft Rudi- 
 ment ; but it Toon appeared his Mind was 
 not fo much inclin’d to the Study of Litera- 
 ture, as to the Re-fearch v of Arts, which 
 plainly difcover’d it fell by the many Scrib- 
 bles and Draughts, with which he ever 
 fill’d all his Books } and, as he advanc’d in 
 fears, finding infenfibly more Delight and 
 Facility in Defigning, he would take Occa- 
 fion from his Books, often to fleal a Vifit 
 to certain Grecian Painters, which forae of 
 the Nobility of Florence had lent for to 
 paint the Church of St. Maria Novella. 
 
 And here (before we proceed any fur- 
 ther in the Life of this Painter) we 
 may take an occalion on Equiry into the State 
 of the Art, and the Quality of thofe Artists j 
 hat came from Greece , both having, in our 
 Difcourle, .been fuppos’d and look’d upon 
 for a long Time, as loft and abolifh’d among 
 them *, and to this it may be anfwer’d, ’tis 
 true, they were the Succeflbrs of the fa- 
 mousCrrelPAiNi Eas ; but with the like Dif- 
 ference between the PeiTons, as we find 
 between the then deplorable Eftate of the 
 Country , and the flour i filing Condition 
 hereof in the Time of Zeuxis and Apelles ; 
 the fe latter Painters being only the mifer- 
 tble Remains of thofe great Men. In the 
 mean time (as if there had been a Fatality 
 n the Thing, that Italy could not be pol- 
 
 L 2 fetted 
 
/ 
 
 1 12 An Essay on 
 
 
 
 feffed of this Art, but by Means of the 
 Greeks) they were the Men that introduc’d 
 it a fecond Time, and who, from the Year 
 1013, in Florence , and feveral other Places, 
 wrought leverai Pieces of P a i n t 1 n g and 
 Mofaick Work but after fo raw and rude 
 a Guft, that their degeneracy herein would 
 perfuade us they were but a baftard Of- 
 fpring, and their deform’d Defigns, fill’d 
 up with fuch a difagreeing Mixture of Co- 
 lours, would make us think the A r t, be- 
 come now Old, began to dote, and return 
 again to its Cradle however, fuch was 
 the Ignorance of thofe Times, that they 
 wanted not Admirers, and they were of 
 Ufe for Examples to the Italians afterwards 
 to learn by^ and to advance the Art upon 
 
 thole poor Rudiments.' 
 
 But to return again to our Subjeft, the 
 Pareuts of Cimabus , we find indulging him 
 in his peculiar Inclination, together with 
 the Acquaintance he had gotten with thofe 
 Painters, he foon attain’d their Manner of 
 Defign, and Mixture of Colours, which, 
 however rude and imperfeft, by his Appli- 
 cation, receiv’d a confiderable Polifh and 
 Advance j and tho’ it was not by his Hand 
 that Painting acquired that Perfeftionit 
 afterwards attained to, yet it is to him we 
 owe the Glory of its Recovery from its 
 aiighty Decadence •, for the Manner of Ad- 
 
 drefs 
 
Original Painting. i i j 
 
 drefs in all his Works, appear’d lb eXraor- 
 dinary, in Companion of what the Ages 
 foregoing could produce, that having pain- 
 ted a Madona for the Church of St. Maria 
 de Novella , the whole People of Florence 
 accompanied it in a folemn pompous Pro- 
 cellion, with the Noife of Trumpets, and 
 other mufical lnftruments, from his Houle 
 to the Place defigned for its Reception. 
 
 .About this Time Charles of Anjou, 
 Crown’d King of Scicily and Jerufalem, by 
 the Pope, and coming loon after to Florence , 
 the Magiftrates thought they could not, in a 
 more fuitable Refpeft Regale him, then by 
 offering a Sight of Cimabus' , s Works, and 
 particularly that Table he had then under 
 Hand, which being painted in a Place out 
 of the City, he had cholen purely for his 
 more Retirement from any Noife and Di- 
 flurbance, and no Body had yet feen it, 
 
 • fuch Multitudes follow’d the King, as not 
 only lefc the City almoft deftitute, but 
 gave Occafion of fuch Joy to the People of 
 the Suburbs, at the Sight of fo numerous a 
 Train, that for ever after they nam’d the 
 Place II borgo Allegri- 
 
 M any other Pieces he painted, which 
 were bought up at extraordinary Rates , 
 and difpoled of in feveral Places of France 
 and Italy. Some Pictures he painted by the* 
 Life, which, till that Time, had not been 
 
 L 3 feen 
 
f 1.4 An Essay on 
 
 feen among them \ and we may afcribe to 
 himlelf the Invention of Painting in 
 Frefco, which he praftifed upon the Fronts 
 of feveral Houfes in Florence •, lome where- 
 of Card Van Mander mentions, remaining 
 tobefeen in his Time, but much decay’d 
 and perifh’d : He dy’d Anno 1300, in the 
 Sixtieth Year of his Age, and had for his 
 Epitaph this following Diflick. 
 
 | 
 
 Credidit ut Cimabm Pi Slur ee Cafira tenere 
 
 Sic remit } verum nunc tenet Afira Poll. 
 
 About this Time the Italians were 
 again beholden to the Creeks in the Commu- 
 nication of another Sort of Picture call’d 
 Mofaick Work} of which,, not having as 
 yet had occafion to take notice , we fhall 
 . here inter pole with fome brief Account 
 thereof. 7 o the Latins it was known by ' 
 the Kama of Mofaicum , or Alujtrum Opus } 
 and by the Greeks or 4# < poStVjTSl 7TSLgy. 
 
 a concinnitate cb elegant ia, It is, in- 
 deed, an A r t, we may look upon, as in 
 ibme Senfe, lubordiriate to Painting, with 
 an Emulation to imitate it in all the Va- 
 riety of Defign, Figures, Colours, Lights, 
 and shades-, but with Materials, not only 
 of a wonderful Beauty , but of a much J 
 more permanent and enduring Nature, fuch 
 a&bhejls, Gold, Glajs, Pebbles, Ivory, and 
 
 Pieces 
 
Original Painting. ne 
 
 Pieces of variegated Marbles, which with 
 a mighty Induftry and Curiofity, were all 
 Cut, Form’d, Tin&ur’d Anneal’d Enam- 
 mel’d, Gilt, Glaz’d, or Burnifli’d,’ and, by 
 a wonderful Application, fitted to compole 
 the Figures of Birds, Beads, Flowers and 
 Men; and, in Ihort, to reprefent almoft 
 any Thing that Painting itfelf could pre- 
 tend to.; and of this for Inftance among 
 many others, that might be produc’d St. 
 Mark’s Church at Venice , particularly re- 
 mains to this Day as a glorious Example. 
 But who were the firft Inventors, or whe^ 
 ther it was conftantly praftifed down to the 
 Period above-mention’d, we meet with no 
 clear Account in Authors ; 
 and Pliny tells us, that the 3°- 2 f- 
 Sort of Pavements call’d Tejfilata , or Vermi- 
 culata , had their Original in Greece , or an 
 A r t much laboured after the way of 
 Pidure, and that this icon after received 
 fome alteration by the Superindu&ion of 
 another Sort called Lithojlrcta ; but both the 
 Terms and Defcription do not feem much 
 to diflinguifh them, for he tells us the fa- 
 mous Workman in this Kind was 
 one Sofas, who, at Pergamas , ^°f us - 
 wrought a very rich Pavement in the com- 
 mon Hall, wherein, with divers little co- 
 lour’d Stones , he had counterfeited the 
 Scraps of broken meat and Bones dung 
 
 * about. 
 
n6 An Essay on 
 
 about, as if careleily left, or neglected to 
 be fwept away \ from whence this Place 
 was ca ll’d Afaroton Oecon , or the unlwept 
 Houfe : Befides this Humour, he introduc- 
 ed upon the Floor feveral Pidgeons, fup. 
 pos’d to be invited thither by the many 
 fcatter’d Crumbs', among which was a Dove 
 drinking ( reported ) of wonderful Art , 
 wherein aifo the Reflation of her Plead 
 and Body upon the Water was admirably 
 reprefented. 
 
 Among the Romans the fame Pliny tells 
 us this Sort of Work was brought into Pra- 
 ctice in the Time of Claudius and Nero ; 
 where, fpeakingof the Efteem that Paint- 
 ing had obtain’d before this new Inven- 
 tion fprung up, he tells us how much it 
 was honour’d by Kings and whole States, 
 and that only thole were thought Enobl’d 
 and Imortaliz’d whom Fainteks vouch- 
 fafed to commend by their Workmanihip 
 to Pofierity , but now the Marble and Por- 
 phiry had blemilh’d its Luftre , and the 
 gilded Walls and polilhed Works of Mar- 
 ble, engraven and fet after the Manner of 
 inlaid Work , and marquotry of divers 
 Pieces, refembiing Men, Beafts, Flowers, 
 &c. had fo much taken their Eyes, and got 
 the uni vex fa 1 Vogue, that Painting 
 feem’d but a Handmaid to this upftart Mi- 
 ftrefs. 
 
 F AtllNO 
 
Original Painting. hj 
 
 Falling down from thefe Periods, we 
 meet with -little or no mention of the Pra- 
 ctice of this Art, ’till we come to the 
 Time of Cimabut- again , where we find 
 Andrea Taffi, a Florantine , in E- 
 mulation of him, made fome en- * rea 
 deavours in that Art-, but, after fome 
 time being at Venice where Ap- . 
 
 ... - . I • _ Aj-ppOllOTllUS . 
 
 tollomm, a Grecian, was working rr 
 in St, Mark's Church in Mofaick , he became 
 fb pleas’d with that Way for the perma- 
 nency and durablenefs of the Materials, 
 that, for the future, he applied himfelt 
 wholly to it • and having in a fhort Time 
 contracted a F riendlhip with Apollonius y he 
 prevails with him to go to Florence , where 
 he obtain’d of him the Secret ot ennealing 
 the feveral TinCtures, and enattimeiing the 
 little Pieces of Stone and Glafs together, 
 with the proper Temper of the Cements to 
 conjoin and fix them. Thefe two after- 
 wards traveled together, and perform’d fe- 
 veral Pieces of Work in Rome , Florence , and 
 Tifa y which were not a little admir’d of 
 that Age, being the beft Productions hi- 
 therto of that kind. Tajfi died Aged 81, 
 Anno 1294. 
 
 And now we find the Examples 01 
 thefe Artists, with the great Encou- 
 ragement and Careffes they met with, had 
 fo univerfally infpired the Florantines, with a 
 
ii § An Essay on 
 
 Gad do Gaddi . 
 
 Love and a Defire after the Attainment of 
 theie Art s, that we prefently* encounter 
 a whole Throng of Followers, that emerge 
 almofl at the fame Time •, among fome of 
 
 the Principal we fhall take 
 notice of Gad do Gaddi, who 
 was an intimate Friend of Cimabus, and pra- 
 ftified his Way, but was efpecially Excel- 
 lent in Mofaick Work, which he wrought 
 with a better Judgment than any before 
 him, and won thereby lo confiderable a 
 Fame, that he was lent for foon after to 
 Rome, Anno 1308, the Year after the Fire, 
 and burning of the Church of St. John La- 
 terane, and the Palace of Pope Clement the 
 Fifth - whence (after having given fuffi. 
 cient Proofs of his Skill, and been Weil re- 
 warded for it) he return’d back into Jufcany , 
 where he died Anno 1312. 
 
 ' Margaritone. MARGARITONE, 
 
 born at Arez.z.o, having ren- 
 d’red himlelf confiderable, was imploy’d 
 by Pope Urban the Fourth, to paint feveral 
 Tables in the Church of Sc. Peter’s in Rome \ 
 and afterwards upon the Occafion of Gregory 
 the Tenth (in his Return from Lions) com- 
 ing to Arez.z,o, where he died and was buri- 
 ed. The Aretines chole this Painter to con- 
 duft the Building o \ his Tomb in the great 
 Church, upon which he fet the Statue of 
 the Pope in Marble, and embellifh’d feveral 
 
 Tables 
 
Original Painting. no 
 
 Tables of Painting in the Chapel where it 
 flood : He* was the fiift that deviled the 
 laying Gold, and burniihing it upon Bole 
 Jrmomacki and to make a Ground of a fort 
 of Size for Pi&ure T ables that Ihould never 
 decay, Thus after having perform’d ieve- 
 ral Paintings (which were all according to 
 the Greehjh Manner) a many Pieces in Frefco 
 or in wet Lime, and all with a great and 
 Angular Induffry ; he died Aged 77 and 
 had bellowed on him this Epitapth, 
 
 Hie jacet Hie bonm pi Slur a Mar garit onus 
 Cut requiem dominus tradat ubiq\ pins . 
 
 Giotto. 
 
 But he, of all the P a 1 n t e r s, wor- 
 thy of the higheft Reputation, after the 
 Death of Cimabus , was his Difciple 
 Giotto , born at Vefpignano i a Village 
 Fourteen Italian Miles from Florence , the 
 Son of an Husbandman, and by his Father 
 fet to keep Sheep ; in which Employment 
 Cimabus fiift met with him, and found him, 
 at the fame time, exerting the Ideas of his 
 native Fancy, and drawing the Picture of 
 oneot his Sheep upon the Sand, or a Tile- 
 Shed, with a Coal, 4 or feme fuch courfe 
 Material, upon which he conceiv’d fuch an 
 Opinion of the natural Inclination of the 
 young Lad, that he immediately apply’d 
 hirrdelf to his Father for his Confent^to 
 
 take 
 
1 20 An Essay on 
 
 take him along with him to his Houle, and 
 inftruft him in the Rudiments of the Art; 
 wherein, after afhort Time, he became fo 
 mighty a Proficient, that he not only equal- 
 led, but furpafled his Mafter, quitting that 
 rude Manner of Practice of the Greeks, and 
 Cimabus, and other Painters before 
 that Time ; and was the firft that introduc’d 
 a modern Art and true way of painting 
 Portraits by the Life ; which, _ except 
 what Cimabus attempted in that Kind, was 
 a Thing they were unaquainted with for 
 many Ages before ; and not only in this 
 Particular, but in the whole A a t he gave 
 early Prefages of his future Attainments ; 
 which afterward receiving a due Accom- 
 plifhment, he became Famous for his ex- 
 cellent Skill in expreffing the Affeftions, 
 and all Manner of Gefture, fo happily re- 
 prefenting every Thing with fiuch an iden- 
 tity and peculiar Conformity to the Origi- 
 nal Idea, that he was faid to be the true 
 Scholar of Nature. 
 
 For a little Illuftration of this Cha- 
 racter, we fhall give you a Specimen of 
 fomething of his Hand done at deep, a 
 City of 'Umbria , in the Cloyfters or St. 
 Francis , where the Body of that Saint lies 
 buried ; there, among other rare Things 
 of his Invention, is to be feen a Monk kneel-' 
 ing before che Portrait of Obedience, who 
 
 putteth 
 
V 
 
 Original Painting. 121 
 
 puteth a Yoak about his Neck, he holding 
 up both his* Hands to Heaven, and She lay- 
 ing her Fore-finger upon her Mouth, caft- 
 eth her Eyes toward the Picture of our 
 Saviour, from whofe Side is fhown flowing 
 a full Stream of Blood •, on her other Hand 
 fland Wifdom and Humility, denoting 
 where Obedience is, they are always in 
 Attendance, and affifting in the Perform- 
 ance of every good Work : On the other 
 fide is a Hiftory, wherein is reprefented 
 Chaftity {landing upon aftrong and high 
 Rock, as not to be won, or moved by the 
 Power of Kings, tho’ they feem to offer 
 Crowns, Scepters and Palms : By her is 
 placed Penance, with all the Severity of 
 her Difcipline, driving away the amorous 
 Cupids ^ and at her Feet lies Purity, ex- 
 preffed by a Child wafhing it felf in a chri- 
 ftal Stream. Not far from thefe ftandeth 
 Poverty barefoot, treading upon 1 horns , 
 an angry Cur barking at her, and Children 
 contemning and abuflng her •, this Poverty 
 you fee there married to St. Francis, by our 
 Saviour jovning their Hands. In another 
 Place you meet with the fame St. Francis 
 again in a Pofture of Prayer, wherein fuch 
 ftrange Devotion and inward Affe&ion is 
 expreffed in his Countenance, that it de- 
 itaineththe Beholder with a Angular Admi- 
 ration. 
 
 After 
 
 M 
 
122 An Essay on 
 
 After having finifhed thofe , and 
 many others with the like Applaufe } and 
 returning towards Florence , he wrought in 
 Diftemper Six Hiftories, reprefenting the 
 Patience of Job, wherein were many ex- 
 cellent Figures } among others, the Po- 
 iiures and Countenances of the Meflfengers 
 bringing the Ibrrowful News unto him , 
 were not to be mended, and, indeed, every 
 Thing elle therein met with fuch a great 
 and deierved Applaufe, that the Fame 
 thereof prefently ran through all Italy \ in- 
 lomuch, that Pope Benedict the Eleventh, de- 
 figning the Decoration of St. Perm’s Church, 
 by the Fland of fome excellent Matter, 
 lent a Gentleman, with exprefs Order, to 
 go to Florence to inform himfelr concerning 
 Giotto , and the Quality of his Work, of 
 which he had already heard fuch Fame : 
 who, taking his Journey by Siena, ftill en- 
 quiring, as he went, for the beft Matters, 
 took a Draught of fomething from every 
 one of them, to carry back to the Pope, to 
 choole which he beft approv’d of^ at length, 
 coming to Florence in a Morning betime, he 
 went to the Shop of G/orro, defiring, as he had 
 of others, to give him fome Specimen of 
 his Painting to Ihew his Holinefs : Now 
 Giotto , being of a merry Humour, prefently 
 took a Sheet of Paper, and, in a Teeming 
 carelefs Manner, his Elbow fix’d to his Side, 
 
Original Painting. 125 
 
 nth a Pencil , defcribes fuch an exa& 
 Circle as with a pair of Compaffis could 
 lotbe’drawn truer, which, with a Smile, 
 delivering to the Courtier, faid, 7 ’here is my 
 Draught •, but he imagining himfelf abus’d, 
 (aid t °Is this all ? To which Giotto reply’d, 
 
 ! t is all , and more than enough, and bid 
 dim put it among the reft, and he did not 
 jueftion but it would diftinguilh itTelf ac- 
 cordingly •, which when the Pope , with 
 others of judgment, faw it, and heard the 
 Manner how carlefty he did it, he admir’d, 
 and gave it the Pre-eminence above all the 
 reft } this afterward was lo much taken nor 
 tice of and admir’d , that it became a 
 Proverb in Italy , As round, as Giotto s 
 Ciydc * 
 
 Upon this, being fent for to Rome, 
 he painted there many excellent Pieces, 
 and received from the Pope many Honouis 
 and liberal Rewards *, among others, he 
 made a Madona on a Wall, which, after- 
 wards being to be pull’d down, they were 
 fo curious of this Painting, that, with great 
 Care and Labour, it was cut out fquare, 
 cramped and faften’d together with Irons, 
 and translated into fome other Place. In 
 the Portico of St.Peters he ihew’d his Talent 
 in Mofaick Work, reprefenting St. Peter, 
 and fome other of the Apoftles,. in a Ship, 
 which was in danger oi drowning, whete 
 
 M 2 their 
 
j 24 dn Essay oh 
 
 their Aftions and Geflures were expreffed 
 full of Fear, with other fuitable Behaviours 
 of Fifhermen in fuch Extreamity. He 
 wrought at Avigtion tor Pope Clement the 
 Fifth, where, and in many other Places in 
 France, , having left many celebrated Works, , 
 he returned home, Anno 1316, replenished 
 with Honour and Gifts. After which, he 
 was im ployed by Robert King of Naples, for 
 whom there, in the Cloyfter of the Church 
 of St. Clare , he made many Hiftories of the 
 Old and New Teftament, with the whole Hi- 
 ftory of the Revelations \ wherein, ’tis laid, 
 his Invention was admirable, receiving fome 
 confiderable Improvement by the Converfe 
 and Affiftance of his ingenious Friend 
 Dantes the Poet. 
 
 The King was not only pleas’d with 
 the Excellency of his Pencil, but alio with 
 his Wit and facetious Society, which oc- 
 cafxon’d to afford him frequent Vifits, and 
 to fit with him fome Hours together while 
 he was at Work. 
 
 Among fome of his witty Jefls, once 
 the King Paid to him, I will make thee fore- 
 mojl Man of my Court : 1 believe it , quoth 
 Giotto, and that 1 think is the Reafon why l am 
 laid in the Porter’s Lodge at your Court Gate • 
 Another time the King faid to him, If / 
 Was as you , Giotto, the Weather is fo exceeding 
 
 hot j I would leave off Painting for awhile ■ To 
 
 which 
 
Original Painting. 125 
 
 which Giotto repiy’d, Sir , if I was as you, I 
 would indeed do fo. Another T rnie being at 
 work in the great Hall, the King merrily 
 requeued him to paint him out his King- 
 dom ' upon which he prefently went _ to 
 work’ and drew the Pitture of an Afs with 
 a Saddle on his Back, and fmelling at ano- 
 ther new Saddle that lay before him at his 
 Feet as if he had a mind to that rather 
 than the other on his Back, and upon each 
 Saddle a Crown and a Septer : 1 he King 
 demanding what he meant tnereby, Giotto 
 repiy’d, Such is your Kingdom and Subjects, de- 
 firinf new Lords daily . 
 
 Tn his Return to Florence, he made very 
 many rare Pieces by the Way, invented , 
 many excellent Models for Building, be- 
 fides feveral other Works in Sculpture ,, 
 Plaiftick, &c. the City of Florence not on- 
 ly nobly Rewarded him, but gave him and 
 his Pofterity a Penfiou of an Hundred 
 Crowns a Year, which was a Sum not in- 
 
 confiderable at that Time. 
 
 H F. died, generally lamented, in tne 1 ear 
 1336, being Sixty Years Old, and leaving 
 many Difciples behind him 3 he was buried 
 at Florence , and had this following Epi- 
 taph bellowed on him by Angelins Politi- 
 
1-2(5 An E s s a y on 
 
 Ille ego fum per quam piBura extinBa revixit 
 Cui quam. reBa manus tarn fuit & facilis * 
 Native & deer at no fir a quod defuit arti. 
 
 Plus licuit null'i pingere ne & melius \ 
 Mir arts * Tunis egregiam jacro are fonantem 
 Hac quoque de modulo crevit ad aftra meo ■ 
 JDenique fum Jottus y quid opus fuit ille referre 
 Hoc nomen longi car minis in far erit. 
 
 * The Model cf the Steeple tf the Chief Church 
 At Florence , 
 
Original Painting. T2 - 
 
 For the Satisfaction of the Curious, and 
 as this Ess a y is an Introduction to 
 the Hi ft or y 0/ Painting to the 
 Time of C imabue, 1 {hall beg leave to 
 prefix a Chronological Account of the 
 Painters ft nee that 'Time, as ta- 
 ken by the ingenious Mr. Richard Ton 
 at the End of his EJfay on the Theory of 
 Painting. Printed Anno 1 7 1 5 . 
 
 10 VANN I CIMABVE , 
 the Father of Modern Painting* 
 born 1240, liv’d at Florence , died 
 
 1300. 
 
 Giotto, born 1276, liv’d at Florence , died 
 J33S- 
 
 John Van Eyck, or John of Bruges, Inventor 
 of Painting in Oil, An. I410, born 1370, 
 died 1441. 
 
 Giovanni 
 
12 8 An Essay on 
 
 Giovanni Bellini., born 1422*20, liv d at Venice, 
 died 1 5 x i2« 
 
 Gentile Bellini) born 1421, liv’d at fW, 
 went to Conftan. died 1501. 3 
 
 Luca Signorella de Cortona, born . 1 439? liv d 
 
 at feveral Places in Italy, died 1521. 
 
 Leonardo da Find, born 1445? livd at Flo- 
 rence ) died 1520. 
 
 Pietro Perugino, born 1446, liv’cl at Florence , 
 Siena , died 1524- 
 
 Andrea Mantegna , Graving invented in his 
 Time, and by him firft pra&ifed, born 
 1 4^ t , liv’d at Mantua , Rome , died 1517* 
 
 Fra* Bartolomeo di S* Marco , born I4^P> hv d 
 at Florence , died 1517' 
 
 Timoteo Fite daVrbino , born 1470, liv’d at 
 Urbin, Rome , died I 524* 
 
 Albert Durer, born I470, liv’d &t Nuremberg, 
 died 1528. 
 
 Michelangelo Buonaroti , born 1 474 * I) liv ’ d 
 at Florcvce 7 Rome } died 1563-4* 
 
 Giorgione 
 
Original Painting* 129 
 
 Giorgione da Caftel Franco, born 1477, liv’d 
 at Venice, died 1 5 1 1 . 
 
 TitianoVi'celli da Cadore, born 1477-80^ liv’d 
 at Venice, died 1576. 
 
 Andrea delSarto } born 1478, liv’d at Florence 
 died 1530. 1 
 
 Pellegrino da Modona , born liv’d at * 
 
 Rome , Modena , died 
 
 Bddajfar Perunni da Siena, born 148(5 liv’d 
 at Rome , died 1 5 36. 
 
 Rafaelle Sancio da ZJrbino, born 14835 liv’d at 
 Florence , Rome , died 1 5 20, 
 
 Mechermo da Siena, call’d al fo Dominico Bee - 
 cafumi , born 1484, liv’d at Rome , Siena , 
 died, r S49 . 
 
 Sebafliano del Piombo , born 1485, liv’d at 
 
 Venice , Rome, died 1547. 
 
 « 
 
 Bacelo Bandinelliy born 1487, liv’d at Rome, 
 died 1559. 
 
 Gio. Antonio Rcg'dlo, call’d Licinio da Pardenone, 
 born 1484, liv’d at Venice^ Friidi, died 
 1 540. 
 
 France fco 
 
ijo An Essay on 
 
 France fco Trimat iccio , Bolognefe , Abbate di 5 
 Martino, born 1 490, liv’d at Bolog. Man 
 tua, France , died 1550. 
 
 " I 
 
 Giulio Romano . , born 1492, liv’d at Rome 
 Mantua , died 1546. 
 
 Maturino, born Jiv’d at died 
 
 15*7* ' ; | |'|| 
 
 Antonio Allegri da Correggio , born 1473-94 
 lived at Lombardy , died 1 534-1 3. 
 
 Lucas van Leyden , born 1494, liv’d at lew 
 Countries , died 1533. 
 
 Jacopo da Pontormo, born 1 494, lived at F/u 
 rmre, died 15 59. 
 
 Polidoro da Caravaggio , born 1 492“ 5 , livei 
 at Rome, Naples, Mejfma, died j 543 • 
 
 M° Florentine, born 1495, lived at Florence 
 Rome, France , died 1541. 
 
 Martm Hemskerck, born 1498., lived at Hoi 
 land, died 1574. 
 
 Baptifla Franco V metiano detto il Semoleo , born 
 
 lived at Rome , Florence , ZJrbin 
 Venice, died 1561. 
 
 Hans 
 
Original Painting. i 31 
 
 Hans Holbein , born 1498, lived at Switzer- 
 land, London, died 1554. 
 
 Torino del V iga, born 1 «joo, lived at Florence, 
 Rome , died 1547. 
 
 Girolamo da Carpi, born 1 501, lived at Bo- 
 logna, Modena, Ferrara , Rome , &c. died 
 
 1556. 
 
 Vgo da Carpi, he firft invented Printing with 
 two Plates of Wood, then with three, 
 in Imitation of Drawings. 
 
 Franc. Mazzuoli Tarmeggiano , born 1 504 , 
 lived at Rome, Parma, died 1 540. ' 
 
 Giacomo Palma il Vecchio, born 1508, lived 
 at Rome, Venice, died > 55 *- 
 
 Daniele Ricciarelli da V ilterra 11 Sodoma Bald. 
 Feruzziy born 1 509, lived at Rome, Flo- 
 rence , died 15 66. 
 
 Franc efco Saluiati y Francefco de Rojjiyhovn 1 5 1 o, 
 lived at Florence 3 Rome 7 Vt mice 3 died 
 1563. 
 
 Jacopo Ponte da Baffano il Vecchio , born 1 5 1- 
 4 09, lived at Baffano^ Venice^ died 1592. 
 
 Don 
 
t 
 
 c 
 
 152 An Essay on 
 
 Don Giulia Cl onto, born 1511-498, lived 
 Rome, died 1 578. 
 
 Pirro Ligorio, born 
 
 Rome, died about 1573. 
 
 lived at Naples 
 
 Giorgio Vafario,- born 1511, lived at Pif, 
 Bologna , Florence , Venice ,, Naples, Romt 
 &c> died 1 574’ 
 
 Park Bor don, born 15 12-13, lived at Venice, 
 France, died 
 
 Giacomo Robufii Tintoretto , born I 512, lived 
 at Venice, died 1594. 
 
 Giov. Porta , after Gittfeppe Saluiati, bon 
 1516-35, lived at Venice, died 1585. 
 
 Sir Anth. More of Vtrecht, born 1519, livY 
 at Italy , Spain , Flanders , England, died 
 
 1575. 
 
 Francis Floris, born 1 % 10, lived at Antwerp 
 died 1570. 
 
 Paolo Format 0, born 1 522-40, lived at Ve- 
 rona, Mantua , died 1606= 
 
 - I tjf 
 
 Pellegrino Tebaldi, born 1522, lived at Bo log 
 Rome, Mil. Mad . died 1592. 
 
 Andres 
 
Original Painting. 155 
 
 Andrea Schiauone, born 1522, lived at Venice, 
 died 1582. 
 
 luca Cangiafi, or Cambiafo , born 1527, lived 
 at Genoa, Spain j died 1583. 
 
 Federico Barocci, born 1528, lived at Vrbin~, 
 Rome , died 1612. 
 
 'irolamo Aiutiano da Brefcia , born 1528, 
 liv’d at Rome, died 159°* 
 
 ’addeo Zuccaro , born 1529, lived at Rom, 
 died 1656. 
 
 Bartolomeo Paferotto , born lived at Rome, . 
 died 
 
 Paolo Calliari Veronefe , born 1533, lived aC 
 Venice, died 1588. 
 
 Frederica Zuccaro, born 1 540-43^ lived at 
 Rome, Erance, Spain , England, died 1 609* 
 
 Martin de Vos, born 1540, lived at Antwerp, 
 died 1604. 
 
 Giacomo Raima Giouane, born 1544, Uved at 
 Venice, died 1628. 
 
 N 
 
 Raul 
 
134 A Essay ® 
 
 Laul by d, born i 1 5 o } lived at Antwerp 
 Rome, died 1622. 
 
 \ 
 
 ' Tk 
 
 9 
 
 Raffaelimo da Reggio di Modena, born i<o 
 lived at Rome, died 1580. 33 ’ 
 
 Lodouico Caracci. born 1 
 Rome , died 1619. 
 
 5 5 5, lived at Bologna, 
 
 1 AntomoLempefla , born 1555, lived at R 
 died 1630. 
 
 ome. 
 
 Agoftino Carracci, * born 15-57, H ve d at So . 
 logna, Rome } Parma, died \ 6 oi 
 
 s 
 
 Lodouico Cigoli, or Ciucli , born 1559, lived 
 at Florence, Rome, died 1613. * 
 
 * Annibale Carracci , born 1 560, lived at Bo- 
 logr.a, Rome , died 1509. 
 
 Giofeppe Cefa-ri d’Arpino, Can. Giofeppino, born 
 1560, lived at Rome, Naples, died 1640. 
 
 Jean Rothamar , called Rottenhamer , born 
 
 * y ^4 } lived at Venice, Bavaria , died 
 1004* ' ' ' 
 
 Cm \ France fco Vanni, born 
 Siena, died 1615, 
 
 1568, lived at 
 
 i 
 
 Michelangelo 
 

 Original Painting. 1^5 
 
 Michelangelo Amerigi Caravaggio , born 1 569, 
 lived at Rome, Naples , 'As alia, died 1609. 
 
 fyn Brueghel , call’d Fluwsden , or Velvet 
 Brueghel , born I 569, lived at 
 died 1625. 
 
 Ventura Salinbene, born lived at Rome, 
 
 &c. died 
 
 Adam Eljheimer , born 1574, lived Sit Rome, 
 died about 1 5 10. 
 
 Guido Rem, born 1575, lived at Bologna ,, 
 Rome , died I $4 2. 
 
 Sir Peter Raul Rubens, born 1577, lived at 
 Antwerp, died 1640. 
 
 Francefco Albani, born 1 578, lived at Bo- 
 logna, Rome , died 1660. 
 
 r 
 
 Giofeppe Ribera Spagnoletto , born lived at 
 Naples, died 
 
 \ 
 
 Dominico Zampieri, called Dominichino, born 
 1581, lived at Bologna, Rome, Naples, 
 died 1641. 
 
 ^ * 
 
 Cm* Giov. Lanfranco , born 1581, lived at 
 Rome, Parma, Naples, died 164,7. 
 
 N 2 
 
 Simon 
 
 I 
 

 i$6 An E s s a y on 
 
 .%'s* • 
 
 Simon Fouet , born 1 582, lived at Rome , Pan 
 died 1641. 
 
 Ant, Carracci , call’d il Gobbo, born leg: . 
 * lived at Rome, died 1 6 i 8. 
 
 Giov, Franc, Barbieri dstto il Guercino da Cent/ , 
 , born 1590, lived at Rome, Bologna die f 
 1666. 
 
 Nicolas Poutfin, born 1594, lived at Rome . 
 
 died 1665* 
 
 Pietro Berettini da Cortona , born 1 5 96, lived 
 at Rome, Florence , died 1669. 
 
 Mario NuzzJ di Fieri, born \ 599, lived < 
 Rome, died 1672. 
 
 Sit Anthony Fan Dyck, born 1 599, lived at 
 Antwerp, Italy , London, died 1641* 
 
 Gafpero Dughet, which he chang’d for P outfit, 
 born r <5 co, liv’d at Rome, died 166$* 
 
 Michelarig. Cerquoz.zi , delle Battalie , bor 
 iff 00, lived at Rome, died 1660, 
 
 Benedetto Cafliglione, Genoefe, born 
 Rambled in Italy, died 
 
 Claud ? 
 
 r r 
 

 
 Original Painting. 
 
 Claude Gilley de Lorrain, born 1600, lived at 
 'Rome , died 1682* 
 
 Andrea Ouche, altos Sacchl, born 
 at Rome , died 
 
 liv’d 
 
 Rembrandt van Rheyn , born 160S, liv d at 
 Hollandy died 1668. 
 
 Adriaen Brouwer, born 1 608, lived at Ant* 
 •werp, died 1638. 
 
 GiacomaCortefi, Jefuita detto il Borgqgnone , born 
 1609, liv’d at London, died 1672. 
 
 Mr. Sam. Cooper, born 1610, liv’d at Lon- 
 don, Oxford, died 1 647. 
 
 Mr ,-Wil. Dob fin, born 16I0, lived at Rome, 
 died 1670. 
 
 « # 
 
 Michelangelo Pace, call’d . di Camptdoglio, born 
 liv’d at died 
 
 Jbr. Diepenbec, born 161I, liv’d at Rome, 
 died 1648. 
 
 Pietro Tefta, born 1614, liv’d at Rome, died 
 1673. 
 
 Salvator Kofa x bom ■ liv’d at died 
 
 — Hi; 
 
 
An Essay om 
 . Filippo La-ura, born i6i 5, liv’d at 
 died 1694. 
 
 Carlo T>olce 3 born 1617, liv’d at Paris, died 
 1^55. 
 
 Euftache le Sueur , born 1617, liv’d at Louden 
 died i 5 o 8 > 
 
 Sir Peter Lely , born 1619, liv’d at Rom 
 Sweden , Paris } died 1673. 
 
 Sebaftien Bourbon, born 162,0, liv’d at Pan 
 died 1690, 
 
 
 > . 
 
 r 
 
 Charles le Brun 3 born 1.524-5 > liv’d at Rom 
 died 1 713. 
 
 Gcrolo Maratti 3 born 1626, liv’d at Rem- 
 Florence, Naples , Madrid , died 1694. 
 
 Luca Giordano , call d Luca fa Prefto. bor 
 liv’d at died 
 
 Giro Fjerri , boro, ' liv’d at died