Previous Page Close Next Page

fol. 73r   [fol. 72v is blank] 	'Of Truth of Space … Power of the Eye' (Pt II, Sn II, Ch V)    (3.331, 335)  *
      
      
      
      
     blinds -     All would have been there - not as such -  not like corn .
     nor blinds nor tiles - but a confusion of yellow and black & white
     spots and strokes - out of which would have arranged itself the
     general impression of Truth & life .
 5   (<T>Now take one of Turners distances -  I don't care a straw which -
     drawing or painting  -   small or great  -  done thirty years
     ago - or for last years Academy - as you like - )    say that of
     It is chiefly with respect to the middle distances that the
     old painters made this capital error .   they never <*..*> made
10   you feel that however near an object was - there was always
     a great deal in it which you could not see -   They drew all
     clearly - & consequently - <only> {not} the thousandth part of what nature
     shows  .    But in their real distances -  when they were compelled
     to represent mystery - there is often a great deal of clever blending
15   and variety of nothing  .     Berghems distance in the cattle piece
     & fountain in the Dulwich gallery is a <good> {fair} instance of what
     they could do in this way  .  full of change & playing colour - but
     nothing seen -     But ever here - they fall into the opposite
     error -   here they represent really nothing -    It is a distance  -
20   satisfactory enough to the eye -  but suggestive of nothing  .    There
     is no character in the touches - none of the <changeful> expressiveness
     by which nature keep [sic] up the interest & variety even of what she most
      

Previous Page Close Next Page

MW