It Is Vain For Painters...

Nothing Can Come Of Nothing; He Who Has Laid Up No Materials Can Produce No Combinations.

I Do Not See In What Manner Practice Alone Can Be Sufficient For The Production Of Correct, Excellent, And Finished Pictures. Works Deserving This Character Never Were Produced, Nor Ever Will Arise, From Memory Alone.

By Close Inspection... You Will Discover The Manner Of Handling The Artifices Of Contrast, Glazing, And Other Expedients, By Which Good Colorists Have Raised The Value Of Their Tints, And By Which Nature Has Been So Happily Imitated.

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.

All The Gestures Of Children Are Graceful; The Reign Of Distortion And Unnatural Attitudes Commences With The Introduction Of The Dancing Master.