To THE intro:: or"rtiE srr(Taaon.
Ilers.od eOill May :15. Sit—four jolt! lea is always open to ; awl as I h aye to complain of the injustice of your poweiful enurem n;taty the though the rumor). is
greatly indebted to its vigetrons upholding of el., pl ineiple of public encourage- went for the Arts, yet I should be deeply obliged if cep will permit me to ex- the cause of con,plaint to yoar readers.
It is an undoubted twat, that. aritlt Ilia exception of tin: portraits of RAEBI• for forty years after Itt.vN OLDS', t:ellth 11U whole-lensth was ever painted but stood on its toes.
Foreigners have long ridireled this absur lity in English art ; and in speaking- of our beautiful portrait-, gcnera;ly ended by standing on their tiptoes, and a '‘ imarquoi, resume, la alluding to LAW:: E NCE'S exhibition, as compared with ItEr Neves's, two years ago, in the Exhibition, I asscited this extramdinary fact ( nest-a:Sol LI. had the sense to attend di it); but finding Sit MA :; La a SD EE still persyvering,
I wrote the Times, la his leave to ask Sir l,ugwrD what reason lie had
for placing his figures on TIPTOE: ? ansaver accrued, for no reason could. I then explaiinsl the priecii:le. lie Times asserted I was dictating to men whom Me puldie mice preeblim,(1 my sup, ri,rs. I still be"ged inset thm ; and the nest day the Tim, s said they would tad: publish my proof, because it was an impertinent assumption of superiority over men w.'io were not my inferiers ! Now I appeal to yon, Sir, awl your readers, if the following evidence be an impertinent assumption, cr a sell. CV ident demonstration. A whole length figure, to be sten with ease, must be painted with reference to being pi teed at a distaEre from the eye of three tines the height of the figure.
'f be body, l> ion a species of upright pillar, is easily done; but the feet, being at an angle with the bay, are always mure or less foreshortened.
Front m !IF E to :11.N SSA e •I o, saints, angels, and apostles, were placed on their tiptoes, from ignormee of perspective. The principle is this.
The length of the Mot is made the base of a square ; the sole of the foot is drawn in the square; the square is put into perspective according to the dis- tat= from the eye, and the 10 ,t drawn in the perspective squine—the heel resting ea the distant pint, and ;lie toes on the front; and the foot will be correctly planed. Nothing in the world proves the want of a great central school of design, as
a.t. Lyons, so much as the fact, that La E Nt • F., great as lie was in the expres - sum of portrait, always placed his figures on their toe,. Now, Sir, is this au inqinthmt assertion of superiority, or a reasonable evi- dence of ignorance? Is it :lot time to expose what all the Continental schools lave lung ridiculed ? I ate not a boy in the art ; I have studied it deeply for thirty-one years. 3Iost of the greatest men now living have been instructed by me : viz. EAST- LAKE, the L A NDSEeltti, NCI:, Pi:Es:rice, and 11AILVEY, Ste. gce. ; and I think 1 have some right to say what Euripides said to the Athenians.
My object in writieg, short articles on Art in the newspapers, was to get at
the people, being convinced that articles by a practical artist must always have their weight. I have never in my life criticized the works of any Jiving indi- vidual; but here I am justified in alluding to Sir MAI:TIN SHE, —he is placed at the head of the art, and ought not to be an example of such proceedings. B. 11. 1.1AVDON..
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