It is very rarely granted even to Nature herself to produce anything absolutely perfect in every part.

I certainly consider a great appreciation of painting to be the best indication of a most perfect mind.

Painting contains a divine force which not only makes absent men present, as friendship is said to do, but moreover makes the dead seem almost alive.

... the movements of the body reveal the movements of the soul.

Men are themselves the source of their own fortune and misfortune.

No art, however minor, demands less than total dedication if you want to excel in it.

Painting is possessed of divine power, for not only does it make the absent present, but also makes the dead almost alive.