th this comparatively sensual style.

Tintoret, Paul Veronese, and others of the Venetian schools, seem to have
painted with no other purpose than to be admired for their skill and
expertness in the mechanism of painting, and to make a parade of that art
which, as I before observed, the higher style requires its followers to
conceal.

In a conference of the French Academy, at which were present Le Brun,
Sebastian Bourdon, and all the eminent artists of that age, one of the
academicians desired to have their opinion on the conduct of Paul
Veronese, who, though a painter of great consideration, had, contrary to
the strict rules of art, in his picture of Perseus and Andromeda,
represented the principal figure in shade. To this question no
satisfactory answer was then given. But I will venture to say, that if
they had considered the class of the artist, and ranked him as an
ornamental painter, there would have been no difficulty in answering: "It
was unreasonable to expect what was never intended. His intention was
solely to produce an effect of light and Shadow; everything was to be
sacrificed to that intent, and the capricious composition of that picture
suited very well with the style he professed."

Young minds are indeed too apt to be captivated by this splendour of
style, and that of the Venetians will be particularly pleasing; for by
them all those parts of the art that give pleasure to the eye or sense
have been cultivated with care, and carried to the degree nearest to
perfection. The powers exerted in the mechanical part of the art have
been called the language of painters; but we must say, that it is but
poor eloquence which only shows that the orator can talk. Words should
be employed as the means, not as the end: language is the instrument,
conviction is the work.

The language of painting must indeed be allowed these masters; but even
in that they have shown more copiousness than choice, and more luxuriancy
than judgment. If we consider the uninteresting subjects of their
invention, or at least the uninteresting manner in which they are
treated; if we attend to their capricious composition, their violent and
affected contrasts, whether of figures, or of light and shadow, the
richness of their drapery, and, at the same time, the mean effect which
the discrimination of stuffs gives to their pictures; if to these we add
their total inattention to expression, and then reflect on the
conceptions and the l