stars at diverse heights above us; and in the same manner other
innumerable effects to which sculpture cannot attain.

39.

Sculpture lacks the beauty of colours, the perspective of colours; it
lacks perspective and it confuses the limits of objects remote from the
{100} eye, inasmuch as it represents the limits of objects that are
near in the same way as those of distant objects; it does not represent
the air which, interposed between the eye and the remote object,
conceals that object but as the veils in draped figures, which reveal
the naked flesh beneath them; it cannot represent the small pebbles of
various colours beneath the surface of the transparent waters.

[Sidenote: To the Painter]

40.

And thou, painter, who desirest to achieve the highest excellence in
practice, understand that unless thou build it on the solid foundations
of nature, thou shalt reap but scant honour and gain by thy work; and
if thy foundation is sound, thy works shall be many and good, and bring
great honour to thee, and be of great profit.

41.

When the work exceeds the ideal of the artist, the artist makes scant
progress; and when the work falls short of his ideal it never ceases to
improve, unless avarice be an obstacle.

42.

He is a poor disciple who does not surpass his master.

[Sidenote: Counsels]

43.

He is a poor master whose work is exalted in his {101} own opinion, and
he is on the road to perfection in art whose work falls short of his
ideal.

44.

Small rooms or dwellings help the mind to concentrate itself; large
rooms are a source of distraction.

45.

The painter should be solitary, and take note of what he sees and
reason with himself, making a choice of the more excellent details of
the character of any object he sees; he should be like unto the mirror,
which takes the colours of the objects it reflects. And this
proceeding will seem to him to be a second nature.

[Sidenote: The Painter in his Studio]

46.

In order that the favourable disposition of the mind may not be injured
by that of the body, the painter or the draughtsman should be solitary,
and especially when he is occupied with those speculations and thoughts
which continually rise up before the eye, and afford materials to be
treasured by the memory.

If thou art alone, thou wilt belong to thyself only: if thou hast but
one companion, thou wilt only half belong to thyself, and ever less in
proportion to the in