one will dispute a statue being as much still life as fruit, flowers, a gallipot, or a broken earthen pan. It must, indeed, be acknowledged, they do not seem ashamed of the title, for their figures are frequently so executed as to be as still as a post. Posture and drapery, as it is called, is usually supplied by a journeyman, who puts a coat, &c. on a wooden figure, like a jointed doll, which they call a layman, and copies it in every fold as it chances to come; and all this is done at so easy a rate, as enables the principal to get more money in a week than a man of the first professional talents can in three months. If they have a sufficient quantity of silks, satins, and velvets to dress their laymen, they may thus carry on a very profitable manufactory, without a ray of genius. There is a living instance, well known to the connoisseurs in this town, of one of the best copiers of pictures, particularly those by Rubens, who is almost an idiot.* Mere correctness, therefore, if in still life, from an apple or a rose, to the face, nay, even the whole figure, if you take it merely as it presents itself, requires only an exact eye and an adroit hand. Their pattern is before them, and much practice, with little study, is usually sufficient to bring them into high vogue. By perpetual attention to this branch only, one should imagine they would attain a certain stroke ;quite the reverse,-for, though the whole business lies in an oval of four inches long, which they have before them, they

* [Hogarth may possibly allude to Ranelagh Barret, who, I learn from Mr. Walpole, was thus employed; and, being counte.. nanced by Sir Robert Walpole, copied several of his collection, and others for the Duke of Devonshire and Dr. Mead. He was indefatigable,-executed a vast number of works,—succeeded greatly in copying Rubens,—and died in 1768: his pictures were sold by auction in the December of that year. J. IREland.]

are obliged to repeat and alter the eyes, mouth, and nose, three or four times, before they can make it what they think right. The little praise due to their productions ought, in most cases, to be given to the drapery man, whose pay is only one part in ten, while the other nine, as well as all the reputation, is engrossed by the master phiz-monger, for a proportion which he may complete in five or six hours; and even this, little as it is, gives him so much importance in his own eyes, that he assumes a consequential air, sets his arms a-kimbo, and, strutting among the historical artists, cries,"How we apples swim !"

For men who drudge in this mechanical part, merely for gain, to commence dealers in pictures is natural. In this also, great advantage may accrue from the labour and ingenuity of others. They stand in the catalogue of painters, and having little to study in their own way, become great connoisseurs; not in the points where real perfection lies, for there they must be deficient, as their ideas have been confined to the oval; but their great inquiry is, how the old masters stand in the public estimation, that they may regulate their prices accordingly, both in buying and selling. You may know these painter-dealers by their constant attendance at auctions. They collect under pretence of a love for the arts; but sell, knowing the reputation they have stamped on the commodity they have once purchased, in the opinion of the ignorant admirer of pictures, drawings, and prints; which thus warranted, almost invariably produce them treble their original purchase-money, and treble their real worth. Unsanctioned by their authority,* and unascer

[In part of this violent philippic, Hogarth may possibly glance at Sir Joshua Reynolds, whom it has been said, but I

tained by tradition, the best preserved and highest finished picture (though it should have been painted by Raphael), will not, at a public auction, produce five shillings; while a despicable, damaged, and repaired old canvas, sanctioned by their praise, shall be purchased at any price, and find a place in the noblest collections. All this is very well understood by the dealers, who, on every occasion where their own interest is concerned, are wondrously loquacious in adoring the mysterious beauties! spirited touches! brilliant colours! and the Lord knows what, of these ancient worn-out wonders; but whoever should dare to hint that (admitting them to be originally painted by Raphael) there is little left to admire in them, would be instantly stigmatized as vilifying the great masters; and to invalidate his judgment, accused of envy and self-conceit. By these misrepresentations, if he has an independent fortune, he only suffers the odium; but if a young man, without any other property than his talents, presumes boldly to give an opinion, he may be undone by his temerity; for the whole herd will unite, and try to hunt him down.

Such is the situation of the arts and artists at this time. Credulity-an implicit confidence in the opinions of othersand not daring to think for themselves, leads the whole town into error, and thus they become the prey of ignorant and designing knaves.

With respect to portrait painting, whatever talents a professor may have, if he is not in fashion, and cannot afford to

think unjustly, he envied. In Sir Joshua's very early pictures there is not much to envy; they gave little promise of the taste and talents which blaze in his later works. J. IRELAND.]

C

hire a drapery-man, he will not do; but if he is in vogue, and can employ a journeyman, and place a layman in the garret of his manufactory, his fortune is made; and as his two coadjutors are kept in the back-ground, his own fame is established.

If a painter comes from abroad, his being an exotic will be much in his favour; and if he has address enough to persuade the public that he had brought a new discovered mode of colouring, and paints his faces all red, all blue, or all purple, he has nothing to do but to hire one of these painted tailors as an assistant, for without him the manufactory cannot go on, and my life for his success.

Vanloo, a French portrait painter, being told that the English were to be cajoled by any one who had a sufficient portion of assurance, came to this country,* set his trumpeters to work, and by the assistance of puffing, monopolized all the people of fashion in the kingdom. Down went at once *,-*, -*,—&c. &c. &c. painters who, before his arrival, were highly fashionable and eminent; but by this foreign interloper were driven into the greatest distress and poverty.

By this inundation of folly and fuss, I must confess, I was much disgusted, and determined to try if by any means I could stem the torrent, and by opposing end it. I laughed at the pretensions of these quacks in colouring, ridiculed their productions as feeble and contemptible, and asserted that it required neither taste nor talents to excel their most popular performances. This interference excited much enmity, because, as my opponents told me, my studies were in another way. You talk, added they, with ineffable con

* [Vanloo came to England, with his son, in 1737. WALPOLE'S ANECDOTES.]

tempt of portrait painting; if it is so easy a task, why do not you convince the world by painting a portrait yourself. Provoked at this language, I one day, at the Academy in St. Martin's-lane, put the following question: Supposing any man at this time were to paint a portrait as well as Vandyke, would it be seen or acknowledged, and could the artist enjoy the benefit, or acquire the reputation, due to his performance?

They asked me, in reply, if I could paint one as well? and I frankly answered, "I believed I could." My query as to the credit I should obtain if I did, was replied to by Mr. Ramsay, and confirmed by the president and about twenty members present: "Our opinions must be consulted, and we will never allow it." Piqued at this cavalier treatment, I resolved to try my own powers, and if I did what I attempted, determined to affirm that I had done it. In this decided manner I had a habit of speaking, and if I only did myself justice, to have adopted half words would have been affectation. Vanity, as I understand it, consists in affirming you have done that which you have not done,-not in frankly asserting what you are convinced is truth.

A watchmaker may say, "The watch which I have made for you, is as good as Quare, or Tompion, or any other man could have made." If it really is so, he is neither called vain, nor branded with infamy, but deemed an honest and fair man, for being as good as his word. Why should not the same privilege be allowed to a painter? The modern artist, though he will not warrant his works as the watchmaker, has the impudence to demand twice as much money for painting them, as was charged by those whom he acknowledges his superiors in the art.

Of the mighty talents said to be requisite for portrait