Could We Teach Taste Or

Style In Painting Is The Same As In Writing; A Power Over Materials, Whether Words Or Colors, By Which Conceptions Or Sentiments Are Conveyed.

However Minutely Labored The Picture May Be In The Detail, The Whole Will Have A False And Even An Unfinished Appearance, At Whatever Distance, Or In Whatever Light It Can Be Shown.

You Are Never To Lose Sight Of Nature; The Instant You Do, You Are All Abroad, At The Mercy Of Every Gust Of Fashion, Without Knowing Or Seeing The Point To Which You Ought To Steer.

I Wish You To Be Persuaded That Success In Your Art Depends Almost Entirely On Your Own Industry; But The Industry Which I Principally Recommend Is Not The Industry Of The Hands, But Of The Mind.

From A Slight, Undetermined Drawing, Where The Ideas Of The Composition And Character Are Just Touched Upon, The Imagination Supplies More Than The Painter Himself, Probably, Could Produce. And We Accordingly Often Find That The Finished Work Disappoints The Expectation That Was Raised From The Sketch.