He that would be a painter must have a natural turn thereto.
Love and delight therein are better teachers of the Art of Painting than
compulsion is.
If a man is to become a really good painter he must be educated thereto
from his very earliest years. He must copy much of the work of good
artists until he attain a free hand.
To paint is to be able to portray upon a flat surface any visible thing
whatsoever that may be chosen.
It is well for any one first to learn how to divide and reduce to
measure the human figure, before learning anything else.
_Dürer._
L
The painter requires such knowledge of mathematics as belongs to
painting, and severance from companions who are not in sympathy with
his studies, and his brain should have the power of adapting itself to
the tenor of the objects which present themselves before it, and he
should be freed from all other cares. And if, while considering and
examining one subject, a second should intervene, as happens when an
object occupies the mind, he ought to decide which of these subjects
presents greater difficulties in investigation, and follow that until it
becomes entirely clear, and afterwards pursue the investigation of the
other. And above all he should keep his mind as clear as the surface of
a mirror, which becomes changed to as many different colours as are
those of the objects within it, and his companions should resemble him
in a taste for these studies; and if he fail to find any such, he should
accustom himself to be alone in his investigations, for in the end he
will find no more profitable companionship.
_Leonardo._