First, by its design; that is, when the story is clearly told; when we readily see what the actors are about, and knowing the story, are enabled to allot to each figure its rank and personality. Raphael has this talent in a high degree, though by introducing two stories, or two different points of time, he sometimes confuses the subject. There are two stories in his Transfiguration, each of which forms a perfect design by itself, but they are not so satisfactory when we consider them unitedly. It is said that Raphael’s figures show not only their actual, but their past positions, the garments, where the figure is in motion, retaining something of their previous set.
Secondly, by its composition. When the figures and their accessories are so formed, and so disposed, as to form an agreeable whole.
Thirdly, by its drawing, i. e., the correct imitation of nature.
Fourthly by its beau ideal. This is different from drawing, because it depends upon the choice of subject. One artist may draw common-place forms, and such as he usually sees, with perfect exactness; a second may know how to select the most beautiful; a third, by a careful examination of what constitutes the excellence of each part, and the harmony and perfect correspondence of one part with another, may improve even on the most beautiful existing figures. Nature is as much the guide to this last, as to the two others; but a finer taste and more perfect knowledge, that indefinable something which we call genius, enables him to see and to correct the defects which exist even in the finest forms. Every part is perfectly natural, and the whole is so too, because it is what Nature always seems to intend to produce in her most perfect works, but at which she never completely arrives. The mere drawing of these three may be equally good, but the third alone possesses the beau ideal. The Belvidere Apollo is an excellent illustration of the beau ideal. Of a thousand men whom you meet in the streets without remarking them as deformed, you will not perhaps find one so defective in some points as the Apollo. Defects which are not noticed in the statue, because it has no motion; any change of position would expose them: this is defective drawing. Of a thousand times a thousand you will not find one who even approximates to it in beauty. The finest drawing may exist without beau ideal, but every defect in drawing is also a defect in the beau ideal. The artist has fallen short as nature falls short, but he errs more grossly.
Fifthly, Expression; both of passion and character; not in the heads only, but in the whole form, and in the attitudes.
Sixthly, Clair-oscur. When the parts are well relieved by the shades and shadows, and appear free from the canvass.
Seventhly, Colour. Colouring and composition mutually enhance the other’s value.
This arrangement, though very convenient for the purposes I have mentioned, is perhaps, a little too mechanical. The highest pleasure in viewing pictures arises from the expression of mind; an expression not confined to any one of these, but influencing each, and all of them. The painter, like the poet, must bear you on his wings at his own will, and you must resign yourself to him, in order to feel and enjoy the utmost pleasure which his productions communicate; but after you have once experienced this sort of pleasure, it may be both prolonged and enhanced by a careful examination of the elements which produce it.
After all these preliminaries, we will now enter the museum; for though I would not, even if I were better able, undertake the task of description, I shall not myself be contented without endeavouring to communicate some impression of my own feelings on viewing it repeatedly. Like Rome itself, after all we have heard of the immense quantity of objects of curiosity, and as much as we are prepared to admire some of the most beautiful of them, we are still lost in astonishment when we are really on the spot, and walk through the extended galleries, or from one magnificent saloon to another, and find all filled with wonders.
We first enter into a gallery above a thousand feet long, divided into two parts by small contraction. The first of these is occupied by inscriptions; and fragments of architecture and ornament. Among the latter objects, some, which have been brought from Ostia, are of first-rate excellence, and from a certain similarity of style between them and those found in the Forum of Trajan, are perhaps of the design of Apollodorus, and consequently of the time of Trajan. This is rendered more probable by our knowledge, that considerable edifices were erected at Ostia under that emperor. Here also are some curious little fountains, like children’s playthings, if they were not of marble; such as were used to refresh the private apartments of the Romans. In the second part is the Museo Chiaramonte, containing also various fragments, but possessing many fine busts and statues.