John Brown，1810—1882，was born in Lanarkshire，Scotland，and graduated at the U-niversity of Edinburgh.His father was John Brown，an eminent clergyman and the author of several books.Dr.Brown's literary reputation rests largely upon a series of papers contributed to the “North British Review.”“Rab and his Friends，”a collection of papers published in book form，is the most widely known of all his writings.

“Pray，Mr.Opie，may I ask you what you mix your colors with？”said a brisk dilettante student to the great painter.“With brains，sir，”was the gruff reply—and the right one.It did not give much of information；it did not expound the principles and rules of the art；but，if the inquirer had the commodity referred to，it would awaken him；it would set him agoing，athinking，and a-painting to good purpose.If he had not the wherewithal，as was likely enough，the less he had to do with colors and their mixture the better.

Many other artists，when asked such a question，would have either set about detailing the mechanical composition of such and such colors，in such and such proportions，rubbed up so and so；or perhaps they would （and so much the better，but not the best）have shown him how they laid them on；but even this would leave him at the critical point.Opie preferred going to the quick and the heart of the matter： “With brains，sir.”

Sir Joshua Reynolds was taken by a friend to see a picture.He was anxious to admire it，and he looked it over with a keen and careful but favorable eye.“Capital composition；correct drawing；the color，tone，chiaroscuro excellent；but—but—it wants—hang it，it wants—that！”snapping his fingers；and，wanting “that，”though it had everything else，it was worth nothing.

Again，Etty was appointed teacher of the students of the Royal Academy，having been preceded by a clever，talkative，scientific expounder of aesthetics，who delighted to tell the young men how everything was done，how to copy this，and how to express that.A student came up to the new master，“How should I do this，sir？”“Suppose you try.”Another，“What does this mean，Mr.Etty？”“Suppose you look.”“But I have looked.”“Suppose you look again.”

And they did try，and they did look，and looked again；and they saw and achieved what they never could have done had the how or the what （supposing this possible，which it is not，in full and highest meaning）been told them，or done for them；in the one case，sight and action were immediate，exact，intense，and secure；in the other，mediate，feeble，and lost as soon as gained.

譯文　TRANSLATION

約翰·布朗（1810一1882），出生于蘇格蘭拉納克郡，畢業(yè)于愛丁堡大學(xué)。他父親老約翰·布朗是著名牧師、作家。布朗最著名的作品為論文集《拉布和他的朋友們》。

“求求您，奧佩先生，您能告訴我您用什么調(diào)色嗎？”一個自信滿滿的業(yè)余愛好者問那位大畫家?！坝媚X子，先生?！边@是畫家的回答——突兀而中肯。這句回答沒有給出很多信息；也沒有闡述繪畫的原理與規(guī)則；但是，如果提問者有所謂“腦子”，那么這番話就會令他警醒，使他進(jìn)步，促進(jìn)他思索，感悟繪畫的妙旨。如果他沒有足夠的腦子，那他還是離色彩、美術(shù)越遠(yuǎn)越好。

在被問及這一問題時，很多別的藝術(shù)家要么不厭其煩地解說色彩的成分以及調(diào)制的比例和方法；要么他們會向提問者演示他們?nèi)绾握{(diào)色——這種方法比較好，但還不是最好的；而且即便如此，卻仍會使提問者未達(dá)一間。奧佩則偏愛一語破的：“用腦子，先生?！?/p>

一次，一個朋友帶約書亞·雷諾茲爵士去看畫。他急于欣賞畫，待他細(xì)致、敏銳而又贊賞地反復(fù)看了幾遍后，說：“構(gòu)圖精巧，用筆工致，色彩、色調(diào)、明暗對比堪稱完美；不過，不過，它沒——掛起來，嗯，它沒神韻?！彼蛄藗€響指。沒有神韻，即使別的都一應(yīng)俱全，也是枉然。

艾迪再次被任命為皇家美術(shù)學(xué)院的教師，他的前任聰明而又健談，總在嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)?shù)亟庹f著美學(xué)原理，樂于告訴這群年輕人每件事該怎么做，如何臨摹，如何表現(xiàn)。一個學(xué)生走到這位新老師面前，“先生，我該怎么辦？”“自己試試。”老師說?！斑@是什么意思，艾迪先生？”“自己看看。”“可是我看過了?！薄霸囍倏纯础！?/p>

學(xué)生們真的試了，看了，而且看了又看；而他們看到并且完成的一切，是他們從前無法企及的，如果僅僅教他們或向他們演示方法和原則；讓學(xué)生自己去試、去看，所見所行都是直接、準(zhǔn)確、強(qiáng)烈、穩(wěn)定的；而只學(xué)習(xí)方法與原則，所見所行則是間接、模糊、隨得隨失的。