And He Who Does Not Know Himself

The Spectator, As He Walks The Gallery, Will Stop, Or Pass Along. To Give A General Air Of Grandeur At First View, All Trifling, Or Artful Play Of Little Lights, Or An Attention To A Variety Of Tints Is To Be Avoided; A Quietness And Simplicity Must Reign Over The Whole Work, To Which A Breadth Of Uniform And Simple Color Will Very Much Contribute.

The First Degree Of Proficiency Is, In Painting, What Grammar Is In Literature, A General Preparation For Whatever The Student May Afterward Choose For More Particular Application. The Power Of Drawing, Modeling, And Using Colors, Is Very Properly Called The Language Of The Art.

A Mere Copier Of Nature Can Never Produce Anything Great.

Martial Music Has Sudden And Strongly Marked Transitions From One Note To Another Which That Style Of Music Requires; While In That Which Is Intended To Move The Softer Passions, The Notes Imperceptibly Melt Into One Another.

But Young Men Have Not Only This Frivolous Ambition Of Being Thought Masters Of Execution, Inciting Them On The One Hand, But Also Their Natural Sloth Tempting Them On The Other. They Are Terrified At The Prospect Before Them, Of The Toil Required To Attain Exactness. The Impetuosity Of Youth Is Disgusted At The Slow Approaches Of A Regular Siege, And Desires, From Mere Impatience Of Labour, To Take The Citadel By Storm. They Wish To Find Some Shorter Path To Excellence, And Hope To Obtain The Reward Of Eminence By Other Means, Than Those Which The Indispensable Rules Of Art Have Prescribed.