Note 113 — FAITH THE LIFE OF ART. FROM AN ADDRESS BY CESARE CANTU BEFORE “THE ARCADIA.” TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN.

Cicero (De Oratore) says that Phidias, when sculpturing a Jove or Minerva, had no model from whom to copy. But in his own mind he set up a certain wondrous type of beauty which came to him by intuition, and, enwrapt in its contemplation, urged art and hand to produce its likeness. It is precisely “that fixed idea which comes into my mind” that Raphael spoke of.