“Be sure from nature never to depart;
To copy nature is the task of art.
The noblest poets own her sovereign sway,
And ever follow where she leads the way.”

— Christopher Pitt

Book II, p. 69
Vida's Art of Poetry (1725)

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Christopher Pitt 18

English poet 1699–1748

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“Be sure, from nature never to depart;
To copy nature is the task of art.”
Praeterea haud lateat te nil conarier artem, Naturam nisi ut assimulet, propiusque sequatur. Hanc unam vates sibi proposuere magistram: Quicquid agunt, hujus semper vestigia servant.

Marco Girolamo Vida (1485–1566) Italian bishop

Book II, line 455
De Arte Poetica (1527)
Context: Be sure, from nature never to depart;
To copy nature is the task of art.
The noblest poets own her sovereign sway,
And ever follow where she leads the way.

“Science, like art, is not a copy of nature but a re-creation of her.”

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“I obey nature, I never presume to command her. The first principal in art is to copy what one sees.”

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“The author had not followed the precedents of any other artist, nor has he been able to copy Nature itself.... He who departs from Nature will surely merits high esteem, since he has to put before thee yes of the public forms and poses which have existed previously in the darkness and confusion of an irrational mind..”

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“The idea that art copies nature is a fatal misconception. Art has always operated against nature and for reason.”

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“The best art, and the only art which will ever lead to great results, must have for its basis the interpretation of beauty in nature.”

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