On the Power of Painting
“Painting possess a truly divine power in that not only does it make the absent present (as they say of friendship), but it also represents the dead to the living many centuries later, so that they are recognized by spectators with pleasure and deep admiration for the artist…. Through painting, the faces of the dead go on living for a very long time.”
“How much painting contributes to the honest pleasures of the mind, and to the beauty of things, may be seen in various ways but especially in the fact that you will find nothing so precious which association with painting does not render far mare valuable and highly prized.”
Alberti, On Painting (60)
