Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 3.djvu/62

54 easily acquired, would have demanded a period of many years for its attainment. It is by no means to be denied, that he who is not early embued with just principles, or who has not entered from the first on that manner which he can be content to pursue, and who does not gradually obtain facility in the difficulties of the art, by means of experience, (seeking fully to comprehend every part and to confirm himself by practice in the knowledge of all,) will scarcely ever attain to perfection; or if he do attain it, must do so at the cost of much longer time and greatly increased labour.

At the time when Raphael determined to change and ameliorate his manner, he had never given his attention to the nude form, with that degree of care and study which the subject demands, having drawn it from the life only after the manner which he had seen practised by Pietro his master, adding nevertheless to all that he did, that grace which had been imparted to him by nature. But he thenceforth devoted himself to the anatomical study of the nude figure, and to the investigation of the muscles in dead and excoriated bodies as well as in those of the living; for in the latter they are not so readily to be distinguished, because of the impediment presented by the covering of the skin, as in those from which the outer integuments have been removed; but thus examined, the master learnt from them in what manner they acquire fulness and softness by their union, each in its due proportion, and all in their respective places, and how by the due management of certain flexures, the perfection of grace may be imparted to various attitudes as seen in difierent aspects. Thus also he became aware of the effects produced by the inflation of parts, and by the elevation or depression of any given portion or separate member of the body or of the whole frame. The same researches also made him acquainted with the articulations of the bones, with the distribution of the nerves, the course of the veins, &c., by the study of all which he rendered himself excellent in every point required to perfect the painter who aspires to be of the best: knowing, nevertheless, that in this respect he could