Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/367

Rh without being exactly of the rule is directed by the rule, and is capable of existing without causing confusion or disturbing the order, which last demanded a rich variety in invention, ever ready for all points, with a certain perception of beauty, even in the most trifling accessories, which amply secures the order and adds a higher degree of ornament. In proportion, there was still wanting that rectitude of judgment which, without measurement, should give to every figure, in its due relation, a grace exceeding measurement. In drawing, the highest eminence had not been attained; for although the arm was made round and the leg straight, there was yet not that judicious treatment of the muscles, nor that graceful facility, which holds the medium between suffering them to be seen but not displaying them, which is apparent in the life: the masters, on the contrary, had, in this respect, something crude and excoriated in their practice, producing an efiect that was displeasing to the eye and which gave hardness to the manner. This last wanted the grace which imparts lightness and softness to all forms, more particularly to those of women and children, which should be represented with as much truth to nature as those of men, but with a roundness and fulness, never bordering on coarseness, as may sometimes happen in nature, but which in the drawing should be refined and ennobled by the judgment of the artist. Variety and beauty in the vestments were also wanting, with many other rich and multiform fancies. The charm of colouring, namely, the diversity of buildings, the distance and changeful character of landscape; for although many did begin—as, for example, Andrea Verrocchio, Antonio del Pollaiuolo, and many still later—to give more study to their figures, to improve the drawing, and to increase their similitude to nature; they had, nevertheless, not succeeded fully, although they had attained to greater firmness, and were proceeding in a direction tending towards the right path. That this last assertion is true may be seen even by a comparison with the antique, as is proved by the figure of Marsyas, of which Andrea Verrocchio executed the legs and arms for the palace of the Medici, in Florence: but there is still Avanting a certain delicacy of finish, and that ultimate charm of