Let the painter composing narrative pictures take pleasure in wealth and variety, and avoid repeating any part that occurs in it, so that the uniqueness and abundance attract people to it and delight the eye of the observer. I say that a narrative painting requires (depending on the scene), wherever the eye falls, a mixture of men of diverse appearances, of diverse ages and dress, combined together with women, children, dogs, horses, buildings, fields, and hills.

Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!

The painter strives and competes with nature.

The desire to know is natural to good men.

Learning is the only thing that never disappoints us.

The light and heat of the universe comes from the sun, and its cold and darkness from the withdrawal of the sun.

The senses are of the earth, the reason stands apart from them in contemplation.