THE PRINCIPLES

SIXTH LESSON

Whatever one might be in the world, no matter how skillful, one cannot effectively judge anything related to Art in general unless they have a deep understanding of Drawing and have learned it in all its parts. No one, therefore, can pass judgment on a painting or decide if the painter has followed all the rules unless they themselves know what those rules entail. It is, in my view, folly for certain curious individuals, who consider themselves knowledgeable, to amass all sorts of artworks with incredible fervor without knowing what they are buying—whether it is gold or copper, a horse or a donkey—and to sometimes pay a hundred ducats for a painting worth less than ten because they are not in a position to judge its value. The world is filled with such people whose ignorance is hidden, and who judge a painting only by the colors that strike the eye, without being able to delve deeper. While their waywardness brings no benefit to the Art, it also brings no harm. Therefore, Hoogstraeten is not far from the truth when, in his Notice to the Reader, he makes the same remark, expressing it thus: "Thus," he says, "this introduction will be very useful to all who love painting, even if they are not experts. It will prevent them from being duped in purchasing various works since they will be able to assess them for what they are worth without regard to the names of the famous painters attributed to them, as many have a high opinion of miserable pieces based on someone's claim that they are done by such or such a famous painter. To value something immensely and to mistake it for a masterpiece, seeing nothing beautiful or exquisite in it, is certainly a laughable curiosity."

Furthermore, it should be noted that to define visible objects, one should always measure with their eyes the distance between one part and another. To steady the hand, it is essential to learn the proper way to hold charcoal or a crayon, which involves holding it between the thumb and second finger, supported by the tip of the middle finger, which should be slightly bent. Charcoal has always been traditionally used for drawing, but since the pencil came to our knowledge, it seems to me that it is cleaner and better suited for marking; in addition, if it's of good quality, pencil marks can be easily erased with bread crumb. Despite this, I believe that charcoal is better suited for beginners and pencil for those who have advanced a bit.

The most important aspect of all Drawing is to start with good outlines, and this requires great attention. Some, for example, who have a statue to copy, begin with the head, finishing everything related to it, and then complete the rest of the figure from top to bottom. This method often fails, whether they've made the head too large or too small, resulting in a composition with disproportionate parts that do not align with the original; this happens only because they've not properly observed the distances discussed earlier. Those who have a good desire to learn should remember, in everything they need to define, to distinguish firstly in its different parts, measuring distances with their fingers or crayon without a compass, and judging by eye, which gradually becomes accustomed to accuracy and becomes our main guide, as I have insinuated more than once. Thus, when you have copied the following example in the manner I teach, and have thoroughly understood this method, everything else will become easy.