her in a larger or a smaller
compass) to go into the details, so as to lose sight of the effect, and
decompound the face into porous and transparent molecules, in the manner
of Denner, who painted what he saw through a magnifying-glass. The
painter's eye need not be a microscope, but I contend that it should be
a looking-glass, bright, clear, lucid. The _little_ in art begins with
insignificant parts, with what does not tell in connection with other
parts. The true artist will paint not material points, but _moral
qualities._ In a word, wherever there is feeling or expression in a
muscle or a vein, there is grandeur and refinement too.--I will conclude
these remarks with an account of the manner in which the ancient
sculptors combined great and little things in such matters. 'That the
name of Phidias,' says Pliny, 'is illustrious among all the nations that
have heard of the fame of the Olympian Jupiter, no one doubts; but in
order that those may know that he is deservedly praised who have not
even seen his works, we shall offer a few arguments, and those of his
genius only: nor to this purpose shall we insist on the beauty of the
Olympian Jupiter, nor on the magnitude of the Minerva at Athens, though
it is twenty-six cubits in height (about thirty-five feet), and is made
of ivory and gold; but we shall refer to the shield, on which the battle
of the Amazons is carved on the outer side; on the inside of the same is
the fight of the Gods and Giants; and on the sandals, that between the
Centaurs and Lapithae; so well did every part of that work display the
powers of the art. Again, the sculptures on the pedestal he called the
birth of Pandora: there are to be seen in number thirty gods, the figure
of Victory being particularly admirable: the learned also admire the
figures of the serpent and the brazen sphinx, writhing under the spear.
These things are mentioned, in passing, of an artist never enough to be
commended, that it may be seen that he showed the same magnificence even
in small things.(5)

NOTES to ESSAY VII

(1) This Essay was written in January 1821.

(2) Losing gamesters thus become desperate, because the continued and
violent irritation of the will against a run of ill luck drives it
to extremity, and makes it bid defiance to common sense and every
consideration of prudence or self-interest.

(3) Some of the poets in the beginning of the last century would often
set out on a simile by observing, 'So