John Ruskin

61. The distinctions between schools of art which I have so often asked you to observe are, you must be aware, founded only on the excess of certain qualities in one group of painters over another, or the difference in their tendencies; and not in the absolute possession by one group, and absence in the rest, of any given skill.

(REYNOLDS)

FREDERIC G. STEPHENS

(HOBBEMA)

PAUL LAFOND

(CONSTABLE)

C.L. BURNS

(RAPHAEL)

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

(ANDREA DEL SARTO)

ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE

(VELASQUEZ)

THÉOPHILE GAUTIER

The Surrender of Breda, better known under the name of Las Lanzas, mingles in the most exact proportion realism and grandeur. Truth pushed to the point of portraiture does not diminish in the slightest degree the dignity of the historical style.

(LEONARDO DA VINCI)

JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

We will now turn to The Last Supper, which was painted on the wall of the refectory of St. Maria delle Gratie in Milan.

The place where this picture is painted must first be considered: for here the knowledge of this artist is focussed. Could anything more appropriate, or noble, be devised for a refectory than a parting meal which the whole world will reverence for ever?