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CHAPTER V.

EFFECTS OF LIGHT RENDERED BY MODERN ART.

§ 1. Reasons for

I HAVE before given my reasons (Sect. II. Chap. III.) for not wishing at present to enter upon the discussion of particular effects of light. Not only are we incapable of rightly viewing them, or reasoning upon them, until we are acmerely at present quainted with the principles of the beautiful; but, naming, without examining the as I distinctly limited myself, in the present porparticular effects of light rendered tion of the work, to the examination of general by Turner. truths, it would be out of place to take cognizance of the particular phases of light, even if it were possible to do so, before we have some more definite knowledge of the material objects which they illustrate. I shall therefore, at present, merely set down a rough catalogue of the effects of light at different hours of the day, which Turner has represented: naming a picture or two, as an example of each, which we will hereafter take up one by one, and consider the physical science and the feeling together. And I do this, in the hope that, in the mean time, some admirer of the old masters Will be kind enough to select from the works of any one of them, a series of examples of the same effects, and to give me a reference to the pictures, so that I may be able to compare each with each; for, as my limited knowledge of the works of Claude or Poussin does not supply me with the requisite variety of effect, I shall be grateful for assistance.

§ 2. Hopes of the author for assist investigation of

ance in the future them.

The following list, of course, does not name the hundredth part of the effects of light given by Turner; it only names those which are distinctly and markedly separate from each other, and representative each of an entire class. Ten or twelve examples, often many more, might be given of each; every one of which would display the effects of the same hour and light, modified by different circumstances of weather, situation, and character of objects subjected to them, and especially by the

management of the sky; but it will be generally sufficient for our purposes to examine thoroughly one good example of each.

The prefixed letters express the direction of the light. F. front light (the sun in the centre, or near the top of the picture ;) L. lateral light, the sun out of the picture on the right or left of the spectator; L. F. the light partly lateral, partly fronting the spectator, as when he is looking south, with the sun in the south-west; L. B. light partly lateral, partly behind the spectator, as when he is looking north, with the sun in the south-west.

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L.....An hour before sunrise in winter. Violent Lowestoffe, Suffolk.

storm, with rain, on the sea. Light

houses seen through it.

F.....An hour before sunrise. Serene sky, with Vignette to Voyage of Co

light clouds. Dawn in the distance.

L.....Ten minutes before sunrise.

storm. Torchlight.

lumbus.

Violent Fowey Harbor.

F.....Sunrise. Sun only half above the horizon. Vignette to Human Life.

Clear sky, with light cirri.

F.....Sun just disengaged from horizon. Misty, Alps at Daybreak.

with light cirri.

F.....Sun a quarter of an hour risen. Sky cov- Castle Upnor.

ered with scarlet clouds.

L.F... Serene sky. Sun emerging from a bank Orford, Suffolk. of cloud on horizon, a quarter of an hour

risen.

L.F...Same hour. Light mists in flakes on hill- Skiddaw.

sides. Clear air.

L.F... Light flying rain-clouds gathering in val- Oakhampton.

leys. Same hour.

L.B... Same hour. A night storm rising off the Lake of Geneva.

mountains. Dead calm.

L.....Sun half an hour risen. Cloudless sky.
L.....Same hour. Light mists lying in the val-

leys.

Beaugency.

Kirby Lonsdale.

F.....Same hour. Bright cirri. Sun dimly seen Hohenlinden.
through battle smoke, with conflagra-
tion.

L.....Sun an hour risen. Cloudless and clear.

Buckfastleigh.

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L.B... Midday. Dead calm, with heat. Cloud- Corinth.

less.

L.....Same hour. Serene and bright, with Lantern at St. Cloud. streaky clouds.

L.....Same hour. Serene, with multitudes of Shylock, and other Venthe high cirrus.

L.....Bright sun, with light wind and clouds.

ices. Richmond, Middlesex.

F.....Two o'clock. Clouds gathering for rain, Warwick. Blenheim.

with heat.

F.....Rain beginning, with light clouds and Piacenza.

wind.

L.....Soft rain, with heat.

L.F... Great heat. Thunder gathering.

Caldron Snout Fall.

Malvern.

L.....Thunder breaking down, after intense Winchelsea.

heat, with furious wind.

L.....Violent rain and wind, but cool.

L.F...Furious storm, with thunder.

Llamberis, Coventry, &c.

Stonehenge, Pæstum, &c.

L.B...Thunder retiring, with rainbow. Dead Nottingham.

calm, with heat.

L.....About three o'clock, summer. Air very Bingen.

cool and clear. Exhausted thunder

clouds low on hills.

F.....Descending sunbeams through soft clouds, Carew Castle.

after rain.

L.....Afternoon, very clear, after rain. A few Saltash.

clouds still on horizon. Dead calm.

F.....Afternoon of cloudless day, with heat.

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F.....Within a quarter of an hour of sunset. Dater Hora Quieti.

Mists rising. Light cirri.

L.F...Ten minutes before sunset. Quite cloud- Durham.

Tumultuous spray of illu- Solomon's Pools. Slaveship.

less.

F.....Same hour.

mined rain-cloud.

with illumined cirri.

F. .Five minutes before sunset. Sky covered Temeraire.

Napoleon Various vignettes.

L.B... Same hour. Serene sky. Full moon ris- Kenilworth.

ing.

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F.....Sun setting. Detached light cirri and clear Amboise.

air.

L.....Same hour. Cloudless. New moon.

Troyes.

:

L.F...Same hour. Heavy storm clouds. Moon- First vignette. Pleasures

rise.

of Memory.

L.B... Sun just set. Sky covered with clouds. Caudebec.

New moon setting.

L.B... Sun five minutes set. Strong twilight, Wilderness of Engedi. with storm clouds. Full moonrise.

Assos.
Montjan.

Pyramid of Caius Cestius.
Chateau de Blois.
Clairmont.

L.B... Same hour. Serene, with light clouds.
L.B...Same hour. Serene. New moon.
L.B... Sun a quarter of an hour set. Cloudless.
L.F... Sun half an hour set. Light cirri.
F.....Same hour. Dead calm at sea. New moon Cowes.

and evening star.

F.....Sun three quarters of an hour set. Moon Folkestone.
struggling through storm clouds, over
heavy sea.

NIGHT.

Torch- St. Julien. Tours.

F.....An hour after sunset. No moon.

light.

F.....Same hour. Moon rising. Fire from fur- Dudley.

naces.

.F....Same hour, with storm clouds. Moon Nantes.

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.Ditto. Full moon. Clear air, with delicate Towers of the Hevé.

clouds. Light-houses.

.Ditto, with conflagration, battle smoke, and Waterloo.

storm.

.Ditto. Moonlight through mist. Build- Vignette. St. Herbert's

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.Ditto. Full moon with halo. Light rain- St. Denis.

clouds.

.Full moon.

Perfectly serene. Sky cov- Alnwick. Vignette of Ri-
alto, and Bridge of Sighs.

ered with white cirri.

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SECTION IV.

OF TRUTH OF EARTH.

of the earth, and

in art.

CHAPTER I.

OF GENERAL STRUCTURE.

By truth of earth, we mean the faithful representation of the facts and forms of the bare ground, considered as entirely divested of vegetation, through whatever disguise, or under whatever modification the clothing of the landscape § 1. First laws of the organization may occasion. Ground is to the landscape painter their importance what the naked human body is to the historical. The growth of vegetation, the action of water, and even of clouds upon it and around it, are so far subject and subordinate to its forms, as the folds of the dress and the fall of the hair are to the modulation of the animal anatomy. Nor is this anatomy always so concealed, but in all sublime compositions, whether of nature or art, it must be seen in its naked purity. The laws of the organization of the earth are distinct and fixed as those of the animal frame, simpler and broader, but equally authoritative and inviolable. Their results may be arrived at without knowledge of the interior mechanism; but for that very reason ignorance of them is the more disgraceful, and violation of them more unpardonable. They are in the landscape the foundation of all other truths-the most necessary, therefore, even if they were not in themselves attractive; but they are as beautiful as they are essential, and every abandonment of them by the artist must end in deformity as it begins in falsehood.

That such abandonment is constant and total in the works of the old masters, has escaped detection, only because of persons generally cognizant of art, few have spent time enough in hill

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