A Treatise on Painting, by Leonardo da Vinci
1721
Senex and Taylor, London
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Universal Measures of Bodies, are only to be observed in the heights not in the breadths of Figures; it being one of the Wonders of Nature, that in all her infinite Productions, we never find any one, of what kind soever, precisely like another. You therefore, whose Business it is to imitate Nature, consider that Variety which she sets before your Eyes; and learn from her, to diversifie your Contours; avoiding withal, any thing Monsterous and Shocking, as Legs too long, Bodies too short, strait Breasts, long Arms, and the like; and indulging your self chiefly in the Jonctures and Thicknesses of Members; it being in these that Nature her self seems to affect the greatest Variety.