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| Abraham Bloemaert Landscape with Prophet Elijah in the Desert ca. 1610-20 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Caesar van Everdingen Vertumnus and Pomona ca. 1650 oil on canvas Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
"Some things though they are very pleasing in their severall parts," sayth Quintilian, "yet doth not the whole accord with the parts." A picture therefore may very well be commended for the excellencie of Invention, Proportion, Colour, Life, Disposition, and yet want that comely gracefulnesse, which is the life and soule of Art. These five heads, handled immediately before, do not suffer themselves to be severed; one alone will not serve; no more will two, or three, or four of them: they must go all joyntly hand in hand; if there bee but one wanting, it is to small purpose that wee should busie our selves over-much about the rest. The consummation of a picture consisteth chiefely therin, that these five heads concurring, and lovingly conspiring, should breath forth a certain kinde of grace most commonly called "the aire of the picture," which in it selfe is nothing else but a sweet consent of all manner of perfections heaped up in one piece: the best collection of the best things.
Like divers flours, whose divers beauties serve
To deck the earth with his well-coloured weed,
Though each of them his privat form preserve,
Yet joyning forms, one sight of beauty breed
sayth a noble and famous Poet [Sir Philip Sidney, in the Arcadia]. Seeing then that a witty invention doth gently allure our minde, a neat proportion doth readily draw our eyes, a convenient colour doth pleasingly beguile our phansie, a lively motion doth forcibly stirre our soul, an orderly disposition doth wonderfully charme all our senses; how shall not that picture have great power over our mind and spirits, in the which all these perfections are most sweetly united into one?"
– from Book Three (chapter six) of The Painting of the Ancients by Franciscus Junius, first published in English in 1638 – edited by Keith Aldrich, Philipp Fehl and Raina Fel for University of California Press, 1991
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| Werner van den Valken Portrait of a Goldsmith 1617 oil on panel Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Rembrandt Portrait of a Boy 1633 oil on panel Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Frans van Mieris Pictura (Allegory of Painting) 1659-60 oil on copper Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Jacob Adriaensz. Backer Portrait of Johannes Wtenbogaert 1638 oil on canvas Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Paulus Moreelse Portrait of a Woman before 1638 oil on panel Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Ferdinand Bol Woman at a window ca. 1645 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Jan Steen Self-portrait ca. 1670 oil on canvas Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Caspard Netscher Portrait of Mary Stuart, Princess of Orange 1683 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Ludolf Bakhuizen Portrait of Anna de Hooghe, the painter's fourth wife ca. 1693-1708 oil on canvas Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Jan Steen The Doctor's Visit ca. 1660 oil on panel Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Aert van der Neer Night Landscape with River ca. 1650 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Nicolaes Berchem Hunting Party at rest among Herders 1660s oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Gerrit Adriaens Berckheyde Ratshuis in Amsterdam 1670 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |