SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS’S DISCOURSES.
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the accomplishment of their idea of perfection[1]. On the contrary, he who recurs to nature, at every recurrence renews his strength. The rules of art he is never likely to forget; they are few and simple: but Nature is refined, subtle, and infinitely various, beyond the power and retention of memory; it is necessary therefore to have continual recourse to her. In this intercourse, there is no end of his improvement: the longer he lives, the nearer he approaches to the true and perfect idea of Art.”—Vol. II. p. 108.
- ↑ He had been before speaking of Boucher, Director of the French Academy, who told him that “when he was young, studying his art, he found it necessary to use models, but that he had left them off for many years.”
