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

Nothing overshadows truth so much as authority.

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

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.

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

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

The picture will have charm when each color is very unlike the one next to it.