And all
the while he acquired every sort of accomplishment and dexterity,
cross-examining artists, scholars and artisans of all descriptions,
down to the cobblers, about the secrets and peculiarities of their
craft. Painting and modelling he practiced by the way, and especially
excelled in admirable likenesses from memory. Great admiration was
excited by his mysterious 'camera obscura,' in which he showed at one
time the stars and the moon rising over rocky hills, at another wide
landscapes with mountains and gulfs receding into dim perspective, and
with fleets advancing on the waters in shade or sunshine. And that
which others created he welcomed joyfully, and held every human
achievement which followed the laws of beauty for something almost
divine. To all this must be added his literary works, first of all
those on art, which are landmarks and authorities of the first order
for the Renaissance of Form, especially in architecture; then his Latin
prose writings -- novels and other works -- of which some have been
taken for productions of antiquity; his elegies, eclogues, and humorous
dinner-speeches. He also wrote an Italian treatise on domestic life in
four books; and even a funeral oration on his dog. His serious and
witty sayings were thought worth collecting, and specimens of them,
many columns long, are quoted in his biography.
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