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.

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