ging to
subjects having this property of vastness, that will command more
attention than the same scene upon a small scale: but the mind must be
impressed with the fact, and must draw largely upon it for any emotion of
the sublime. It is therefore upon this principle that large portraits will
command from the multitude more applause than small miniatures; large
oil-paintings than small water-color drawings. The statues on the outside
of the Grecian temples were colossal, yet in their position they looked
small. Most of the works of Michael Angelo are so; but in consequence of
the distance at which they are seen, they lose greatly their power to
produce grand ideas, because in all cases the image formed upon the optic
nerve varies but little in its actual size; since the distance at which
things are viewed is in some degree regulated by the size: thus before a
large picture, you must station yourself at a relative distance, so as to
embrace the whole, while before the small drawing you must be within arm's
reach; or if a miniature portrait, it must be seen within a few inches,
thus making the mirrored picture on the eye vary but little in actual
size.

These few hints will readily account for the mortification experienced by
many artists who have painted exceedingly impressive pictures when they
are seen in the studios where they were executed, but when they are taken
into a large gallery or rotunda, seem lost and look insignificant, save to
the few of cultivated minds, who may take the trouble to approach within a
proper distance, and shut out all objects which interfere or intrude, and
which prevent a true appreciation of their merits. The knowing,
time-serving artists, who paint exhibition pictures, have long since
understood this law; and accordingly they paint up to what is called
'_exhibition-pitch_,' where brilliance and flashiness of color, with an
absence of detail, which might interfere with breadth of effect, are of
the first importance. Attention is also given to masses of light and
shade, that all the forms introduced in the picture may have their due
prominence; and a judicious balancing of warm and cool tints, by which
harmony is produced, and the eye prevented from being offended by its
evident exaggeration of the 'modesty of nature.'

TURNER may be instanced as the most successful in this style of painting,
which he has followed to such an extreme, that his pictures are now
attractive only at a great di