ned,
just as much as if it had been daubed in with a blacking-brush: the
introduction of the internal parts and texture only added delicacy and
truth to the general and striking effect of the whole. Surely a number
of small dots or lines may be arranged into the form of a square or
a circle indiscriminately; the square or circle, that is, the larger
figure, remains the same, whether the line of which it consists is
broken or continuous; as we may see in prints where the outlines,
features, and masses remain the same in all the varieties of mezzotinto,
dotted and lined engraving. If Titian in marking the appearance of the
hairs had deranged the general shape and contour of the eyebrows, he
would have destroyed the look of nature; but as he did not, but kept
both in view, he proportionably improved his copy of it. So, in what
regards the masses of light and shade, the variety, the delicate
transparency and broken transitions of the tints is not inconsistent
with the greatest breadth or boldest contrasts. If the light, for
instance, is thrown strongly on one side of a face, and the other
is cast into deep shade, let the individual and various parts of the
surface be finished with the most scrupulous exactness both in the
drawing and in the colours, provided nature is not exceeded, this will
not nor cannot destroy the force and harmony of the composition. One
side of the face will still have that great and leading distinction of
being seen in shadow, and the other of being seen in the light, let the
subordinate differences be as many and as precise as they will. Suppose
a panther is painted in the sun: will it be necessary to leave out the
spots to produce breadth and the great style, or will not this be done
more effectually by painting the spots of one side of his shaggy coat as
they are seen in the light, and those of the other as they really appear
in natural shadow? The two masses are thus preserved completely, and
no offence is done to truth and nature. Otherwise we resolve the
distribution of light and shade into _local colouring._ The masses, the
grandeur exist equally in external nature with the local differences of
different colours. Yet Sir Joshua seems to argue that the grandeur, the
effect of the whole object, is confined to the general idea in the mind,
and that all the littleness and individuality is in nature. This is
an essentially false view of the subject. This grandeur, this general
effect, is indeed alwa