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| Jascob Jordaens Head of a man before 1678 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
"In a discussion of how human beings come to take pleasure in the wrong things, Julius Caesar Scaliger (1576) points out that the intelligent man will take pleasure in a perfect painting even though he knows that it is a work of fiction. He will prefer a beautiful image to a precise likeness of nature. Art in this does better than nature: the symmetria (due proportion, harmonious form) with which men were originally endowed has been corrupted by many events in their history. But nothing prevents the sculptor from rendering features prominent or the reverse, from adding, removing, turning (or bending), rearranging. For my part, says Scaliger, I think this: 'not a single body – except for the first man and that other who is the true God – was ever made so ingeniously by nature as he can today be created by the well-taught hands of an artist.'"
– editor's note to Book One (chapter one) 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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| Moses ter Borch after Rembrandt Woman reading ca. 1660-61 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Jan Lievens Young woman reading mid-17th century etching Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Willem Basse Woman reading ca. 1633-72 etching Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Willem Drost Woman reading ca. 1650-55 etching Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Frederick Bloemaert after Abraham Bloemaert Woman reading ca. 1670-1706 engraving Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Mozes van Wtenbrouck Self-portrait before 1646 etching Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Rembrandt Portrait of Johannes Wtenbogaert 1635 etching Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Rembrandt Portrait of Jan Cornelis Sylvius 1633 etching Rijkmuseum, Amstserdam |
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| Rembrandt Self-portrait with hat 1631 etching Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Hendrik Goltzius Courtesan 1606 drawing Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Hendrik Goltzius Bust of an angel 1609 drawing Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Peter Lely Order of the Garter portrait study ca. 1663-71 drawing Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Peter Lely Order of the Garter portrait study 1663-71 drawing Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |