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Show CONCLUSION. 527 anachronisms and errors of all kinds. They have depicted matrons, each looking like a Lais ; and placed the - head of an Adonis on the brawny shoulders of a Hercules. They have given the attitude of a Virginius at the moment of sacrificing his daughter, to the wisest of men when receiving the poisoned cup. They have expressed the calm courage of a martyr by the despair of an ordinary man surrounded by tortures. A s the Ballet-master should copy the beauties of painting, so he ought to avoid its defects; more particularly those that we have just noticed, which are in such bad taste as to render them unpardonable. W e should know how to select and imitate our models with propriety ; especially if they are not productions of the art which we profess. The Campi, the Gatti, the Procaccini, and almost all the painters of Lombardy of the last age, and also their imitators in France, seem to have modelled themselves upon the poetry of Lucan. The manner of this poet, his descriptions, and his images appear to have contributed to the formation of their talent, and the perfection of the style which they adopt. They must first have studied the principles of their art in the works of Michael Angelo and Tintoretto, and the manner of these great artists led them by degrees to the imitation of the poet we have mentioned, and such other authors as were the most mannered and gigantic in their compositions. Michael Angelo frequently exaggerates, and those who attempt to follow his path, without possessing his genius and bold execution, must frequently fail. This has been the case with several of the painters of whom I have just spoken ; they carried the mannerism of Michael Angelo further than he did himself; they exaggerated his faults without equalling him in his good qualities. They abandoned themselves to the inspirations of the poet of Cordova; hence they exhibited outrageous |