Page:Thoughts on art and life.djvu/155

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vised the whole figure of man according as it has Advice thought fit that it should be, either with long or a short and turned-up nose, and thus it has determined its height and figure; and so powerful is the intellecft that it gives motion to the arms of the painter and causes him to reproduce himself, since it appears to the spirit that this is the true method of portraying man, and he that does otherwise is in error. And should this spirit find any one who resembles its body, which it has formed, it loves it and becomes enamoured with it, and for this reason many men fall in love and marry wives which resemble themselves, and often the children which are born of the issue resemble their parents.

76.

The painter should portray his figure according to the measurements of a natural body, which shall be of universal proper proportions ; in addition to this he should measure himself and see in which part his own figure varies greatly or less from the aforesaid pattern of excellence, and when he has ascertained this he should try his utmost to avoid the defects which exist in his own person in the figures he portrays. And know that thou must contend with all thy might against this fault inasmuch as it is a defect which originated with the intellect; because the

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