Recalling the Observation of Works of Art

Summary

If you wish to pass judgment on works of art, then first look beyond that which draws praise by its diligence and hard work, and pay attention to what has been produced by understanding. For diligence can be in evidence without talent, and this is also noticeable where diligence is lacking. An image created very laboriously by a painter or sculptor can as such be compared with a book produced laboriously. For just as writing in a learned way is not the greatest art, so an image that has been thoroughly painted in a fine and smooth way is no proof of a great artist. And the unnecessarily accumulated passages from books that were mostly never read are to a written work what the indication of every small detail is to an image. This observation will ensure that you are not astonished at the laurel leaves on the Apollo and the Daphne by Bernini, nor at the net on a statue in Germany by Adam the Elder. Thus no distinguishing features that have been produced by diligence alone enable one to recognize or differentiate the ancient from the modern.

Pay attention to whether the master whose work you are observing has thought it out himself or only imitated others, whether he recognized the primary aim of art, which is beauty, or created according to forms with which he was familiar, and whether he worked like a man or played like a child.