The Paragone: Painting's Complaint and the Praise of the Eye
Painting excluded from the liberal arts; the eye as prince of the sciences
The transcribed prose opens with painting's lament at being shut out of the liberal arts, though it is a true daughter of nature and attends to infinite things nature never made. Section [28], the conclusion between poet and painter, argues that painting is worth as much more than poetry as sight surpasses the other senses, since anyone would sooner lose hearing, smell and touch than sight, and the blind man is like one buried alive. The leaf ends in a rising praise of the eye as head of astrology, maker of cosmography, prince of mathematics, and measurer of the heights and magnitudes of the stars. No drawing appears; only Melzi's fair-copy text.
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Painting's lament and the conclusion between poet and painter [28]
Painting is made to complain that writers wrongly excluded it from the liberal arts, though it is nature's true daughter and reaches to infinite things nature never created. Section [28] concludes that painting exceeds poetry as much as sight, the nobler sense, exceeds the others, since a man would rather keep sight than hearing, smell and touch.
The eye as head of the sciences
The closing praise calls the eye the head of astrology, the maker of cosmography, the counsellor and corrector of all the human arts, and the prince of mathematics whose sciences are most certain. It credits the eye with measuring the heights and magnitudes of the stars and discovering the elements and their locations.