resemblance of an individual be considered as the sole object to be aimed
at, the portrait painter will be apt to lose more than he gains by the
acquired dignity taken from general nature. It is very difficult to
ennoble the character of a countenance but at the expense of the
likeness, which is what is most generally required by such as sit to the
painter.

Of those who have practised the composite style, and have succeeded in
this perilous attempt, perhaps the foremost is Correggio. His style is
founded upon modern grace and elegance, to which is super, added
something of the simplicity of the grand style. A breadth of light and
colour, the general ideas of the drapery, an uninterrupted flow of
outline, all conspire to this effect. Next him (perhaps equal to him)
Parmegiano has dignified the genteelness of modern effeminacy by uniting
it with the simplicity of the ancients and the grandeur and severity of
Michael Angelo. It must be confessed, however, that these two
extraordinary men, by endeavouring to give the utmost degree of grace,
have sometimes, perhaps, exceeded its boundaries, and have fallen into
the most hateful of all hateful qualities, affectation. Indeed, it is
the peculiar characteristic of men of genius to be afraid of coldness and
insipidity, from which they think they never can be too far removed. It
particularly happens to these great masters of grace and elegance. They
often boldly drive on to the very verge of ridicule; the spectator is
alarmed, but at the same time admires their vigour and intrepidity.

Strange graces still, and stranger flights they had,
. . .
Yet ne'er so sure our passion to create
Ae when they touch'd the brink of all we hate.