The Painter's Mind as a Mirror
Study science before practice; make the mind universal like a mirror
This page gathers four short chapters on the discipline of study. The painter's mind must continually transform itself to match each notable object before it, making rules that weigh place, circumstance, and light and shade. One should study the science first and the practice that springs from it after, learning by rule and noting the differences among the limbs of animals and their joints. The final and longest chapter likens the painter's mind to a mirror that takes on the colour of whatever it observes, urging the painter to become a universal master by gathering choice things seen throughout the countryside.
On this page
The mind must transform to match each object
The painter's mind must continually transform itself into as many discourses as there are figures of notable objects appearing before it, halting upon each to note it and to make rules upon it, considering the place, the circumstances, and the lights and shadows.
Study science first, and by rule note the limbs and joints
Study first the science, then follow the practice born of it. The painter should study by rule, leaving nothing that he does not commit to memory, and observe what difference there is among the limbs of animals and their joints.
The painter's mind should be like a mirror
The painter's mind should be like a mirror, which always takes on the colour of the thing it has for its object and fills itself with as many likenesses as there are things set before it. To be good he must be a universal master able to counterfeit every quality of the forms nature produces, gathering as he goes through the countryside a bundle of choice things selected from among the less good.