And as the painter, by bringing together in one piece those

beauties which are dispersed amongst a great variety of

individuals, produces a figure more beautiful than can be found in

nature, so that artist who can unite in himself the excellences of

the various painters, will approach nearer to perfection than any

one of his masters.

He who confines himself to the imitation of an individual, as he

never proposes to surpass, so he is not likely to equal, the object

of imitation. He professes only to follow, and he that follows

must necessarily be behind.

We should imitate the conduct of the great artists in the course of

their studies, as well as the works which they produced, when they

were perfectly formed. Raffaelle began by imitating implicitly the

manner of Pietro Perugino, under whom he studied; so his first

works are scarce to be distinguished from his master's; but soon

forming higher and more extensive views, he imitated the grand

outline of Michael Angelo. He learnt the manner of using colours

from the works of Leonardo da Vinci and Fratre Bartolomeo: to all

this he added the contemplation of all the remains of antiquity

that were within his reach, and employed others to draw for him

what was in Greece and distant places. And it is from his having

taken so many models that he became himself a model for all

succeeding painters, always imitating, and always original.

If your ambition therefore be to equal Raffaelle, you must do as

Raffaelle did; take many models, and not take even him for your

guide alone to the exclusion of others. And yet the number is

infinite of those who seem, if one may judge by their style, to

have seen no other works but those of their master, or of some

favourite whose manner is their first wish and their last.