William Morris Hunt's "Talks on Art:" Miscellany

"Still Life with Onions" by N.C. Wyeth

"There is force and vitality in a first sketch from life which the after-work rarely has. You want a picture to seize you as forcibly as if a man had seized you by the shoulder. It should impress you like reality.  Velasquez and Tintoretto could do this like no one else - not Titian even, whose work was beautifully modeled and colored, but had not this quality of instantly seizing and holding the attention."

"I saw a man walk by. I have an impression in my brain of that man. I did not scrutinize him. I am not sure that he took steps exactly two feet and a half long. That had nothing to do with the impression. In your sketches keep the first vivid impression. Add no details that shall weaken it."

"Work as long as you know what to do. Not an instant longer!"

"Nothing remains of a nation but its poetry, painting, sculpture and architecture."

"Continually walk away from your work, and see if your representation realizes your idea of the subject."

"Strike frankly and strong from your convictions, and your faults will be much more easily corrected; for they will be the more evident."

"When an inexperienced person discourages you by not liking your work, ask yourself how many dollars you would give for his opinion."

"Keep this in mind, that it is the definite, individual character of an object which makes beauty."

"The effect of light is what makes things beautiful. Light never stops to find beauty." 

(Excerpts from W.M. Hunt's "Talks on Art.")