qually struck by both: we see nothing like either: and we admire
the execution while we have no conception of the manner in which it is
performed. The strength and heightening are alike admirable in each, and
the consummate sweetness only to be rivalled by the expressive strength
of the colouring. In the conduct and finish of their pieces, both have
done wonders; and as the pictures of Corregio are so equal in their
several parts, that, though the labour of years, they seem to have been
finished in one day, so that the longest characters of this actress are
so uniform throughout, that it is evident there are no careless
absences, no false extravagances in any part, but that the whole is the
resemblance of one temper actuated, though under various circumstances,
by one passion.
In Mrs. Pritchard one sees revived the extensive powers of Hannibal
Carrache: while we pursue her through the varied forms she assumes we
cannot but acknowledge the character of Corregio, the fire of Titian,
and the dignity of Raphael; this lady, of all the players, as that
master of all the painters, comes nearest the character of a universal
genius.
Woodward strikes the judicious eye with a strong resemblance of Paul
Veronese: he has all the vivacity and ease of that great painter, and
fully equals him in his fancy for the singular and the shining in his
draperies; but, as he shares his beauties, he is not without his faults.
His composition is sometimes improper, and his design always incorrect;
but with these blemishes, however, his colouring is so well calculated
to catch the eye, that he never fails to strike at first sight, and
makes so happy an impression on the generality of an audience, that they
never perceive what is deficient.
Though the last, not the least in my esteem, Macklin shall be produced;
nor must those who judge superficially, be surprized when they see me
call forth for his parallel Michael Angelo. It must be confessed of this
great painter, that the choice of his attitudes was, though never
unjust, not always pleasing: that his taste in design was not the most
minutely fine, nor his outlines the most elegant; that he was sometimes
extravagant in his conceptions, and bold even to rashness in his
execution: perhaps the player of the parallel inherits some tincture of
these faults; but to compensate, he has all his excellencies. He knows
the foundation of the art better than them all: he designs, if less
beautifully tha
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