As ability goes, so goes our fortune.

The function of the painter is to render... the visible surface so that at a certain distance... and position it appears... like the body itself.

The Arts are learnt by reason and method; they are mastered by practice.

We must always take from nature what we paint and always choose the most beautiful things.

I will never tire of recommending the custom, practiced by the best architects, of preparing not only drawings and sketches, but also models of wood or any other material. These... enable us to examine... the work as a whole... and, before continuing any further, to estimate the likely trouble and expense.

When I investigate and when I discover that the forces of the heavens and the planets are within ourselves, then truly I seem to be living among the gods.

The greatest work of an artist is the history of a painting.