A JOURNEY ΤΟ FLANDERS AND HOLLAND, IN THE YEAR MDCCLXXXI.* AT Ostend, where we landed, July 27, 1781, there are no pictures, and even Bruges affords but a scanty entertainment to a Painter: however, there are a few, which, though not of the * Our author, accompanied by Philip Metcalfe, Esq. left London on Tuesday, July 24, 1781, went to Margate, and embarked there for Ostend; proceeded from thence to Ghent, Brussels, Antwerp; Dort, the Hague, Leyden, Amsterdam, Dusseldorp, Aix-la-chapelle, Liege; returned to Brussels again, from thence to Ostend; landed at Margate, and arrived in London Sunday, Sept. 16. To Mr. Metcalfe he intended to have dedicated his account of this Tour, but he had only written the following introductory paragraphs: "I send you, put together in as much order has first rank, may be worth the attention of a traveller who has time to spare. the little time I can spare from my business will permit, the Notes that I made abroad on the pictures that we saw together, I present them to you as properly your due; for if I had been accompanied by a person of less taste, or less politeness, they probably would not have been made. The pleasure that a mere dilettante derives from seeing the works of art, ceases when he has received the full effect of each performance; but the Painter has the means of amusing himself much longer, by investigating the principles on which the Artists wrought. To whichever of your good qualities I am to attribute your long and patient attendance, while I was employed in examining the various works which we saw, it merits my warmest acknowledgements. Nor is it an inconsiderable advantage to see such works in company with one, who has a general rectitude of taste, and is not a professor of the art. We are too apt to forget that the art is not intended solely for the pleasure of professors. The opinions of others are certainly not to be neglected; since by their means the received rules of art may be corrected; at least a species of benefit may be obtained, which we are not likely to derive from the judgement of painters, who being educated in the same manner, are likely to judge from the same principles, are liable to the same prejudices, and may sometimes be governed by the influence of an authority which perhaps has no foundation in nature." M. BRUGES, BRUGES. In the Cathedral.-The high altar; the Adoration of the Magi, by Segers. This picture is justly considered as one of the best of that painter's works. The part which first obtrudes itself on your attention is one of the kings, who is placed in the front: this figure, notwithstanding its great fame, and its acknowledged excellence in many respects, has one great defect; it appears to have nothing to do with the rest of the composition, and has too much the air of a whole-length portrait. What gives it so much this appearance is, the eyes looking out of the picture; that is, he is looking at the person who looks at the picture. This always has a bad effect, and ought never to be practised in a grave historical composition, however successfully it may be admitted in ludicrous subjects, where no business of any kind, that requires eagerness of attention, is going forward. SEGERS, |