n the works of Turner of anything so faithful
and imitative of sunshine as the best parts of Cuyp; but at the same
time, there is not a single vestige of the same kind of solecism. It is
true, that in his fondness for color, Turner is in the habit of allowing
excessively cold fragments in big warmest pictures; but these are never,
observe, warm colors with no light upon them, useless as contrasts while
they are discords in the tone; but they are bits of the very coolest
tints, partially removed from the general influence, and exquisitely
valuable as color, though, with all deference be it spoken, I think them
sometimes slightly destructive of what would otherwise be perfect tone.
For instance, the two blue and white stripes on the drifting flag of the
Slave Ship, are, I think, the least degree too purely cool. I think both
the blue and white would be impossible under such a light; and in the
same way the white parts of the dress of the Napoleon interfered by
their coolness with the perfectly managed warmth of all the rest of the
picture. But both these lights are reflexes, and it is nearly impossible
to say what tones may be assumed even by the warmest light reflected
from a cool surface; so that we cannot actually convict these parts of
falsehood, and though we should have liked the _tone_ of the picture
better had they been slightly warmer, we cannot but like the _color_ of
the picture better with them as they are; while Cuyp's failing portions
are not only evidently and demonstrably false, being in direct light,
but are as disagreeable in color as false in tone, and injurious to
everything near them. And the best proof of the grammatical accuracy of
the tones of Turner is in the perfect and unchanging influence of all
his pictures at any distance. We approach only to follow the sunshine
into every cranny of the leafage, and retire only to feel it diffused
over the scene, the whole picture glowing like a sun or star at
whatever distance we stand, and lighting the air between us and it;
while many even of the best pictures of Claude must be looked close into
to be felt, and lose light every foot that we retire. The smallest of
the three seaports in the National Gallery is valuable and right in tone
when we are close to it; but ten yards off, it is all brick-dust,
offensively and evidently false in its whole hue.

Sec. 21. The power in Turner of uniting a number of tones.

The comparison of Turner with Cuyp and Claude