On the Painter's Judgment; Peril of the Portrait Specialist
Chapters 57-58: work must be surpassed by judgment, and the concave-mirror trap of loving only the human face
A page of Leonardo's Treatise on Painting continuing a thought on distraction, then opening chapter 57, On the Painter's Judgment: wretched is the master whose work outstrips his judgment, while the true artist's work is always surpassed by his judgment. Chapter 58 argues that specialists in lifelike portraiture are the worst composers of narrative scenes, because concentrating all one's love on a single part starves the whole. Leonardo likens such a narrow talent to a concave mirror that gives immense heat only over a tiny area.
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Chapter 57: work must be surpassed by the artist's judgment
Leonardo states that the master whose finished work exceeds his own critical judgment is in a wretched state, while the artist moving toward the perfection of the art is the one whose work is always outstripped by his judgment. Judgment, in other words, must run ahead of execution. It is the standard by which the painter measures his own shortfall.
The portrait specialist and the concave mirror
Leonardo observes that those who best portray faces from life are the poorest composers of narrative scenes, because nature has disposed them to one thing and all their love goes to it, abandoning the universal for the particular. He compares such a concentrated talent to a concave mirror that, gathering the sun's rays into a small place, yields immense heat over a tiny area. Such painters love nothing in art but the mere face of man and esteem no other part.