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fol. 78v 'Of Truth of Space … Power of the Eye' (Pt II, Sn II, Ch V) (3.3 )
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10
15 Which <is> {are} the most important truths - the deceptive tone which the old*
masters exclusively aims at - or the space - aerial pers<*..*>pective - & fidelity of
detail . which <they> we now see - they sacrificed to their juggling. Which
for instance, is *
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fol. 79r 'Of Truth of Space … Power of the Eye' (Pt II, Sn II, Ch V) (3.338) *
a beauty only to be imitated by the mystery - yet infinity - of execution
which Turner only has conceived.
Now . if the reader will only do as I tell him - to prove all I have
said by close and unbiased observation of Nature & her imitators
5 I have said enough to prove beyond dispute - the superiority <in> of
Turner in this particular - to every landscape painter who ever
lived <The limit was In the course of my work . I shall have
reason to speak particularly of the *…* all - but I have only
to say at present - that> I mean none - ancient or modern - to
10 be excepted - <and that> whoever will take up any picture whatsoever
of any of them - and compare it with any <picture> of Turners ,
will be struck on the instant, and more and more impressed the
longer he looks - with the total absence ^ * of all that mystery & intricacy
(in the one , and the constant presence <of it> in the other , ) <l> through
15 which Nature invariably developes herself .
<Now> <We have> {Let me} finally <to> ask . ^ * < *Which is the most
important <of these>
truths - tone or intricacy - of which one we see - is possessed by
The old masters ^ {only} in a greater degree than by Turner - the other is
exclusively & totally Turners *…..* . Or in other words . which is >
20 the most important truth - in giving me a conception of St Marks
at Venice - that it should have exactly the <tone &> relief against
the sky - which it shares with every hovel & brick kiln in Italy -
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MW