Date: 1780, 1781, 1788

"Two passions there by soft contention please, / The love of martial Fame, and learned Ease: / These friendly colours, exquisitely join'd, / Form the enchanting picture of thy mind."

— Hayley, William (1745-1820)

Date: 1781

"Which, like a skilful artist, goes to work upon the materials furnished by the senses; comparing selecting, analysing, and abstracting; till by placing them in different points of view their fitness, relations, and dependencies are seen."

— Rotheram, John (1725–1789)

Date: 1781

"But the difference is much greater between the ideas of sense, the materials upon which the mind first begins its work, and the truths produced by its operations, than between the rough marble, and the statue formed by the skill of PHIDIAS."

— Rotheram, John (1725–1789)

Date: 1781

"Let matter then be allowed to furnish the first materials; the enlightened mind, which by its operations upon these discovers truth, and pursues it through all its distant connections, must have powers as far superiour to that which gave the first impression, as PHIDIAS is superiour to the marble."

— Rotheram, John (1725–1789)

Date: 1792

"When we trust to the picture, that objects draw of themselves on the mind, we deceive ourselves. Without accurate, and particular observation, it is but ill-drawn at first: the outlines are soon blurred: the colours, every day grow fainter; and at last, when we would produce it to any body, we a...

— Gilpin, William (1724-1804)

Date: 1792

"They bade retentive memory on their mind / Impress each image, in distinctive lines / That mock'd erasure."

— Polwhele, Richard (1760-1838)

Date: 1792

The Roman senators "ne'er essay'd to steal into the heart, / By painting to the feelings"

— Polwhele, Richard (1760-1838)

Date: 1792

The Roman senators did "Not shew the mental portraiture itself, / By gradual art, thro' fancy's calmer light. / Pure passion dwells not on description's hues"

— Polwhele, Richard (1760-1838)

Date: 1792

"Beyond the woody Tamar, fancy trac'd; / And, as she spread the glowing tint, it seem'd / No fairy picture: for young hope reliev'd / With golden rays each figure fancy drew"

— Polwhele, Richard (1760-1838)

Date: 1794

"If our recollection or imagination be not a repetition of animal movements, I ask, in my turn, What is it? You tell me it consists of images or pictures of things. Where is this extensive canvas hung up? or where are the numerous receptacles in which those are deposited? or to what else in the a...

— Darwin, Erasmus (1731-1802)