But to educate the painter to perfection, in order that he can obtain all the praises of which we have spoken, at the moment when several thoughts still remain that I think ought not to be completely neglected in these commentaries, let us report them in the briefest way possible.

It is the task of the painter to delimit and depict with lines and colors on a surface any assigned bodies to such a point that – given a certain distance and a certain position of the centric ray – painted things that you see appear, each [at the same time], prominent and very much like the assigned bodies.(1) The purpose of the painter is to obtain from a work praise, favor, and approval more than riches, a [feature] that he will certainly gain provided his painting will capture the eyes and hearts of the observers and, above all, will make [hearts] palpitate. We have said on what conditions these things can take place when we first spoke about composition and reception of light. But I wish that the painter, in order that he be able to obtain all these [conditions] in the best way, is firstly a man both honest and educated in the praiseworthy arts.(2) In fact, everyone knows how honesty – more so than admiration of every activity or art – is valid to gain the benevolence of the people.