Identifier: treatiseonpainti00burn (find matches)
Title: A treatise on painting : In four parts ... The whole illustrated by examples from the Italian, Venetian, Flemish, and Dutch schools
Year: 1837 (1830s)
Authors: Burnet, John, 1784-1868
Subjects: Painting
Publisher: London : James Carpenter
Contributing Library: Getty Research Institute
Digitizing Sponsor: Getty Research Institute

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dts closeattention to nature soon led him to expand his principle; for example, heperceived the flame of a candle exceeded in brightness every thing roundit in a tenfold ratio, which could be expressed only by darkening thewhole, and leaving the light in a spot, and thereby extinguishing itsinfluential effect: but if the candle itself was hid, the appearance of everyobject under its influence was not only more easily given, but the effectof the whole became more deceptive and natural. His extending of thelight through the picture gradually became more enlarged; and even hisdeepest shadows are illuminated by streaks of red or rich brown runninginto theni^ which (from his principal light being of a warm tone) keep upa connexion without destroying the breadth of light and shade. In Fig. 1 of this Plate, Christ restoring the Daughter of Jairus, wehave a principle upon which many of his pictures are constructed, viz. aray of light falling into an apartment, and received upon a light object
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LIGHT AND SHADE IN PAINTING. 15 which, as in nature, reflects back the rays, and illuminates the surroundingobjects, giving- thus his principal light the properties of light itself. Theshadows of all objects receiving such direct rays, we sometimes seestrongly defined, as is the case in nature, and indeed we often findRembrandt placing objects for the express purpose of producing suchshadows, which gives an appearance of truth to the whole effect; at othertimes we find the shadows swallowed up in the splendour of the light, asif afraid of disturbing its breadth. Sometimes we find his strong light,his strong dark, and his hot and cold colours, all focused at one point;and at other times his darks employed to clear up the middle tint, andhis strongest colours made the means of uniting his light with the shade.In short, whatever was his practice, he seems always to have had someend to accomplish, and when we find him departing from what would bethe effect in nature under such circumstanc

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