DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.73714#0088
88
THE WORKS OF
il How can one know if a child has the ne.
cessary dispositions for painting?
A. Is he has more sense than vivacity, one
may conceive good hopes.
^, What age ihould the beginner be of?
A. The more tender, the more proper to
begin, for from four years he may learn some-
thing; and then it will be easier for him to ac-
quire a precilion of sight, as his organs will not
have contracted any particular habit.
^ And is he began later, could he ever be a
good painter?
A. Undoubtedly; but it would cost him much
more trouble: for he must necessarily have em-
ployed the preceding time in something, which
must take up some part os his memory, and pre-
vent him from learning painting with the same
facility.
^ Nevertheless, have there not been eminent
painters, who have begun their studies at an
advanced age?
A. Yes. But the greatest men have all learn-
ed painting from their most tender infancy.
Raphael was son to a painter, who perhaps made
him begin painting as soon as reason appeared in
him. Titian began when a child. Michael Angelo
handled the marble at twelve. Correggio having
lived only forty years, left so great a number os
excellent works that they could not have been
done in haste, and he must necessarily have begun
to work very early. It is however true, that
some good painters have begun later; but if they
succeeded on account of their extraordinary abili-
THE WORKS OF
il How can one know if a child has the ne.
cessary dispositions for painting?
A. Is he has more sense than vivacity, one
may conceive good hopes.
^, What age ihould the beginner be of?
A. The more tender, the more proper to
begin, for from four years he may learn some-
thing; and then it will be easier for him to ac-
quire a precilion of sight, as his organs will not
have contracted any particular habit.
^ And is he began later, could he ever be a
good painter?
A. Undoubtedly; but it would cost him much
more trouble: for he must necessarily have em-
ployed the preceding time in something, which
must take up some part os his memory, and pre-
vent him from learning painting with the same
facility.
^ Nevertheless, have there not been eminent
painters, who have begun their studies at an
advanced age?
A. Yes. But the greatest men have all learn-
ed painting from their most tender infancy.
Raphael was son to a painter, who perhaps made
him begin painting as soon as reason appeared in
him. Titian began when a child. Michael Angelo
handled the marble at twelve. Correggio having
lived only forty years, left so great a number os
excellent works that they could not have been
done in haste, and he must necessarily have begun
to work very early. It is however true, that
some good painters have begun later; but if they
succeeded on account of their extraordinary abili-