When therefore we are to make a Judgment in what Degree of Goodness a Picture or Drawing is we should consider its Kind first, and then its several Parts. A History is preferrable to a Landscape, Sea-Piece, Animals, Fruit, Flowers, or any other Still-Life, pieces of Drollery, &c ; the reason is, the latter Kinds may Please, and in proportion as they do so they are Estimable, and that is according to every one’s Taste, but they cannot Improve the Mind, they excite no Noble Sentiments ; at least not as the other naturally does : These not only give us Pleasure, as being Beautiful Objects, and Furnishing us with Ideas as the Other do, but the Pleasure we receive from Hence is Greater (I speak in General, and what the nature of the thing is capable of) ‘tis of a Nobler Kind than the Other ; and Then moreover the Mind may be Inrich’d, and made Better.
Contenant la représentation de toutes sortes d'Animaux […]; avec leurs mesures, proportions, racourcissements, & Anatomie, le tout fait au naturel en trois sortes de représentations par plusieurs excellents Maistres. […]
CXXXII. Je n’ajoûteray point icy d’instruction particuliere pour une infinité d’autres Sujets, elle n’est pas necessaire, & ce petit Traite est déja moins succint que je me l’estoit proposé ; je diray seulement en general, que les Fruits, les Poissons, les Serpens, & toutes sortes de Reptilles, doivent estre touchez de la maniere des Figures, c’est à dire, hachez ou pointillez. Mais les oyseaux, & tous les autres Animaux, se font par Traits comme les Fleurs.