Leonardo da Vinci Art Quotations

The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.

The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.

A beautiful body perishes, but a work of art dies not.

There are three classes of people: those who see, those who see when they are shown, those who do not see.

The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.

Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master.

Study the science of art and the art of science.

Do not imitate one another's style. If you do, so far as your art is concerned you will be called a grandson, rather than the son of Nature.

No one should ever imitate the style of another because, with regard to art, he will be called a nephew and not a child of nature.

O painter, take care lest the greed for gain prove a stronger incentive than renown in art, for to gain this renown is a far greater thing than is the renown of riches.

He only moves toward the perfection of his art whose criticism surpasses his achievement.

We, by our arts may be called the grandsons of God.

O sleepers! what a thing is slumber! Sleep resembles death. Ah, why then dost thou not work in such wise as that after death thou mayst retain a resemblance to perfect life, when, during life, thou art in sleep so like to the hapless dead?

Those who become enamoured of the art, without having previously applied to the diligent study of the scientific part of it, may be compared to mariners who put to the sea in a ship without rudder or compass and therefore cannot be certain of arriving at the wished for port.

First study the science, and then practice the art which is born of that science.

I love this site. It was lovingly hand-shaped it. Your soul transformed this into this art. It was perfect. I have tried to create another equal to it... but to no avail, so I will just have to paint the Sistine Chapel.

The art of procreation and the members employed therein are so repulsive, that if it were not for the beauty of the faces and the adornments of the actors and the pent-up impulse, nature would lose the human species.

One painter ought never to imitate the manner of any other; because in that case he cannot be called the child of nature, but the grandchild. It is always best to have recourse to nature, which is replete with such abundance of objects, than to the productions of other masters, who learnt everything from her.

How painting surpasses all human works by reason of the subtle possibilities which it contains.

After painting comes Sculpture, a very noble art, but one that does not in the execution require the same supreme ingenuity as the art of painting, since in two most important and difficult particulars, in foreshortening and in light and shade, for which the painter has to invent a process, sculpture is helped by nature. Moreover, Sculpture does not imitate color which the painter takes pains to attune so that the shadows accompany the lights.

In fact, whatever exists in the universe, in essence, in appearance, in the imagination, the painter has first in his mind and then in his hands ... it lies in his power to create them . . .

O neglectful Nature, wherefore art thou thus partial, becoming to some of thy children a tender and benignant mother, to others a most cruel and ruthless stepmother? I see thy children given into slavery to others without ever receiving any benefit, and in lieu of any reward for the services they have done for them they are repaid by the severest punishments.

Now do you not see that the eye embraces the beauty of the whole world? It counsels and corrects all the arts of mankind... it is the prince of mathematics, and the sciences founded on it are absolutely certain. It has measured the distances and sizes of the stars it has discovered the elements and their location... it has given birth to architecture and to perspective and to the divine art of painting.

Principles for the Development of a Complete Mind: Study the science of art. Study the art of science. Develop your senses- especially learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.

What is fair in men, passes away, but not so in art

Art is the queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world.

Art lives from constraints and dies from freedom.

In life beauty perishes, but not in art.

Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.

A good painter has two main objects to paint, man and the intention of his soul. The former is easy, the latter hard as he has to represent it by the attitude and movement of the limbs.

Beauty perishes in life, but is immortal in art.

The painter has the Universe in his mind and hands.

A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light.

Art is never finished, only abandoned.