quote · Legacy record
God’s works—paint any one, and count it crime To let a truth slip. Don’t object, “His works Are here already; nature is complete: Suppose you reproduce her (which you can’t) There’s no advantage! You must beat her then.” For, don’t you mark? we’re made so that we love First when we see them painted, things we have passed Perhaps a hundred times nor cared to see; And so they are better, painted—better to us Which is the same thing. Art was given for that; God uses us to help each other so, Lending our minds out.
God’s works—paint any one, and count it crime To let a truth slip. Don’t object, “His works Are here already; nature is complete: Suppose you reproduce her (which you can’t) There’s no advantage! You must beat her then.” For, don’t you mark? we’re made so that we love First when we see them painted, things we have passed Perhaps a hundred times nor cared to see; And so they are better, painted—better to us Which is the same thing. Art was given for that; God uses us to help each other so, Lending our minds out.
Approximate author period: c. 1850 AD · industrial
Meaning not yet available
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Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Robert Browning
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Approximate author period: c. 1850 AD · industrial
author lifetime midpoint (1812–1889)
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- My Commonplace Book (third English edition,1921) (1921 AD)
Page 317 · printed citation: R. Browning (Fra Lippo Lippi). · compiler notes excluded
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.