sing that we possess colors, vehicles, and science (as the
knowledge of foreshortening, perspective, and of the chiaro-scuro)
unknown to them, have as roundly asserted that they were far inferior to
the moderns in this branch, and that their pictures, could we now see
them in all their beauty, would excite our contempt. Much of this
boasted modern knowledge is, however, entirely gratuitous; the Greeks
certainly well understood foreshortening and perspective, as we have
abundance of evidence in their works, to say nothing of these being
expressly mentioned by Pliny, and that it is impossible to execute any
work of excellence without them. This erroneous opinion has sprung from
the ignorance and imperfections of _the old fathers_ of Italian art in
these particulars, and the discoveries and perfections of those more
modern. If the moderns possess any advantages over the ancients, it is
that chemistry has invented some beautiful colors unknown to them, the
invention of oil painting, and that illusion which results from a
perfect acquaintance with the principles of the chiaro-scuro; but even
here the mineral colors--the most valuable and permanent--were well
known to them; and if they had not oil colors, they had a method of
_encaustic painting_ not positively known to us, which might have
answered as good a purpose--nor are we sure they did not practice the
chiaro-scuro. Besides, the most renowned modern masters were more
celebrated in fresco than in oil painting, and the ancients well
understood painting in fresco.

In this, as in most other disputes, it may reasonably be presumed, that
a just estimation of both will be found between the extremes. In
comparing the paintings of the moderns with those of the ancients, it
may be fairly inferred that the latter surpassed the former in
expression, in purity of design, in attitude of the figures, and in
ideal beauty. The moderns have doubtless surpassed the ancients in the
arrangement of their groups, in perspective, foreshortening and
chiaro-scuro--and in coloring. For a further disquisition on this
subject, see Vol. I. p. 22, of this work, article Apelles.

NUMISMATICS.

Numismatics is the science which has for its object the study of coins
and medals, especially those struck by the ancient Greeks and Romans.
The word is derived from the Greek [Greek: nomisma], or the Latin
_numus_, _coin or medal_. Numismatics is now regarded as indispensable
to archaeology, and to