SPIRIT (n.)
TERM USED AS TRANSLATIONS IN QUOTATION
ESPRIT (fra.)TERM USED IN EARLY TRANSLATIONS
ESPRIT (fra.)FILTERS
LINKED QUOTATIONS
Quotation
Several Observations, in drawing a Head after the Life
And because the greatest difficulty, and principal parts of this Art consist in some part in drawing the lively Resemblance of a Face, therefore I thought it very necessary to add this as a further Direction to draw any Face after the life. Therefore if you will draw any Face after the life, that it may resemble the party you draw it after ; take notice in the First place of the Physiognomy or circumference of the Face, whiter it be round or long, Fat or Lean, Big or Little, […], then you must diligently and judiciously observe and discern all the Gentle Master Touches, which gives the Spirit and Life to a Face, and discovers the Grace or Disposition of the Mind, wherein lieth the whole Grace of the Work, and the Credit of the Artist, you may easily discern a smiling Countenance in the Corners of the Mouth, when they turn up a little ; […] ; there are also some touches about the Eyes and Mouth which you must diligently observe, which gives the Spirit and Life to a Face.
Conceptual field(s)
Quotation
It is reported then that Michael Angelo upon a time gave this observation to the Painter Marius de Scina his Schollar, that he should alwayes make a Figure Pyramidal, Serpent like, and multiplyed by One Two and Three, in which precept (in my Opinion) the whole Mystery of the Art consisteth, for the greatest Grace and Life that a Picture can have, is, that it express motion ; which the Painters call the Spirit of a Picture. Now there is no Form so fit to express this Motion, as that of the Flame of Fire, which according to Aristotle, and the other Philosophers is an Element most active of all others, because the Forme of the Flame thereof is most apt for Motion, for it hath a Conus or sharp Point wherewith it seemeth to divide the Aire that so it may ascend to his proper Sphere, so that a Picture having this forme will be most beautifull.
Conceptual field(s)
Quotation
Of the Necessity of Motion.
The order of the place requireth, that I should consequently speak of Motion it self, namely with what Art the Painter ought to give Motions best fitting his Pictures, which is nothing else but a correspondency to the nature of the proportion of the forme and matter thereof, and herein consisteth the whole spirit and life of the Art, which the Painters call sometimes the fury, sometimes the grace, and sometimes the excellency of the Art, for hereby they express an evident distinction between the living and the dead, the fierce and the gentle, the ignorant and the learned, the sad and the merry, and (in a Word) discover all the several passions and Gestures which Mans Body is able to perform, which here we term by the name of Motions, for the more significant expressing of the Mind by an outward and bodily demonstration, so that by this means inward motions and affections may be as well, (or rather better) signified as by their speech, which is wrought by the proper operations of the Body, […].
Now the perfect knowledge of this motion, is (as hath been shewed) accounted the most difficult part of the art, and reputed as a divine gift. Insomuch, as herein alone consisteth the comparison between Painting and Poetry, for as it is required in a Poet, that besides the excellency of his wit, he should moreover be furnished with a certain propension and inclination of will, inciting and moving him to versity, (which the antient called the fury of Apollo and the Muses) so likewise a Painter ought, together with those natural parts which are required at his hands, to be furnished with a natural dexterity and inborn flight of expressing the principal motions, even from his cradle ; otherwise it is a very hard (if not impossible) matter, to obtain to the absolute perfection of this Art.
Conceptual field(s)
Quotation
Giorgione was of the School of Venice, and the first that followed the Modern Tuscan way ; for having by chance seen some things of Leonardo da Vinci, with that new way of strong Shadows, it pleased him so much, that he followed it all his Life time, and imitated it prefectly in all his Oyl Paintings : he drew all after the Life, and had an excellent Colouring ; by which means he gave a Spirit to all he did ; which had not been seen in any Lombard Painter before him.
DA VINCI, Leonardo
École lombarde
GIORGIONE (Giorgio da Castelfranco)
Conceptual field(s)
Quotation
Friend,
This puts me in mind of the moving part of Painting ; which is, the stirring of the Affections of the Spectator by the Expression of the Passions in the Piece ; and methinks this might well be called a part of Painting.
Traveller.
It is Comprehended under that of Invention ; and is indeed the most difficult part of it, as depending intirely upon the Spirit and Genius of the Painter, who can express things no otherwise than as he conceives them, and from thence come the different Manners ; or, as one may call them, Stiles of Painting ; some Soft and Pleasing, others Terrible and Fierce, others Majestick, other Low and Humble, as we see in the STILE of POETS ; and yet all Excellent in their Kinds.
Conceptual field(s)
Quotation
And thus too it is seen that Drawings (generally speaking) are Preferrable to Paintings, as having those Qualities which are most Excellent in a Higher Degree than Paintings generally have, or can possibly have, and the Others (excepting only Colouring) Equally with them. There is a Grace, a Delicacy, a Spirit in Drawings which when the Master attempts to give in Colours is commonly much diminish’d, both as being a sort of Coppying from those First Thoughts, and because the Nature of the Thing admits of no better.
Conceptual field(s)
Quotation
Coppies made by a Master after his Own Work are discoverable by being well acquainted with what that Master did when he followed Nature ; These shall have a Spirit, a Freedom, a Naturalness which even He cannot put into what he Coppies from his Own Work, as has been noted already.
Conceptual field(s)
Quotation
The Prints Etch’d by the Masters Themselves ; such as those of Parmeggiano, Annibale Caracci, and Guido Reni, (who are the Chief of those of whom we have Works of This kind) are Considerable upon the Same Account ; not for the Handling, but the Spirit, the Expression, the Drawing, and other most Excellent Properties of a Picture, or Drawing ; tho’ by the Nature of the Work they are not equal to what they have done in Those ways of Working.