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APPENDIX II
It is very fortunate that in the fragment of Mason's MSS., published
lately by Mr. Cotton in his "Sir Joshua Reynolds' Notes," [Footnote:
Smith, Soho Square, 1859.] record is preserved of Sir Joshua's feelings
respecting the paintings in the window of New College, which might
otherwise have been supposed to give his full sanction to this mode of
painting on glass. Nothing can possibly be more curious, to my mind,
than the great painter's expectations; or his having at all entertained
the idea that the qualities of colour which are peculiar to opaque
bodies could be obtained in a transparent medium; but so it is: and
with the simplicity and humbleness of an entirely great man he hopes
that Mr. Jervas on glass is to excel Sir Joshua on canvas. Happily,
Mason tells us the result.
"With the copy Jervas made of this picture he was grievously
disappointed. 'I had frequently,' he said to me, 'pleased myself by
reflecting, after I had produced what I thought a brilliant effect of
light and shadow on my canvas, how greatly that effect would be
heightened by the transparency which the painting on glass would be
sure to produce. It turned out quite the reverse.'"
Content of APPENDIX II [John Ruskin's essay: The Two Paths]
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