 |
| Jost Amman Kneeling Drummer 1578 woodcut Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig |
-c1640-etching-and-engraving-Staatliche-Graphische-Sammlung-Munich.jpg) |
| Jérôme David after Claude Vignon Tamarlane (Timur) ca. 1640 etching and engraving Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich |
 |
| Joseph Krafft Portrait of a Lady 1823 oil on canvas Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel |
 |
| Moritz Michael Daffinger Portrait Study of Countess Potocka ca. 1840 drawing Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna |
 |
| Rembrandt Self Portrait with Plume 1638 etching Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna |
 |
| Jan van Nickelen Portrait of Prince Carl von Hessen Kassel 1719 oil on canvas Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel |
 |
| Antonio Tempesta Cyrus Major (illustration to Ariosto's Orlando Furioso) 1597 etching Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden |
 |
| Anonymous German Artist Landsknecht ca. 1550 woodcut (excised from printed book) Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel |
 |
| Hans Rudolf Manuel Deutsch Landsknecht 1547 woodcut and letterpress Graphische Sammlung, Zentralbibliothek Zürich |
 |
| Jan Gossaert Armoured Warrior ca. 1508 drawing Städel Museum, Frankfurt |
 |
| Hendrick ter Brugghen Reveler 1627 oil on canvas Alte Pinakothek, Munich |
 |
| Gerrit van Honthorst Violinist making a Rude Gesture ca. 1624 oil on canvas Schloss Weissenstein, Pommersfelden |
-c1610-etching-Graphische-Sammlung-Albertina-Vienna.jpg) |
| Jacques Bellange Melchior (one of the Three Wise Men) ca. 1610 etching Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna |
 |
| Derby Porcelain Factory Britannia ca. 1765 porcelain Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge |
 |
| Hans Makart Viennese Woman Praying 1880 oil on panel Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna |
 |
| Anonymous South American Artist Birds and Flowers ca. 1650-1700 feathers mounted on woven gut panels, wooden frame with turned wooden handle Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge |
The biographer of Velázquez, Palomino, reports that the artist painted with especially long brushes to keep his distance from the canvas and adds that his portraits are unintelligible from close quarters but miraculous when seen from afar.
The studio talk about the two manners is well summed up by the Venetian painter Boschini. In his poem of 1660 he contrasts the diligente with the manieroso, foreshadowing the difference between Canaletto and Guardi. "The work of industry can be achieved by any painter who has patience, love, and a good eye; but to achieve the manner or touch of Paolo, Bassano, Palma, Tintoretto, or Titian – by God, that is something to drive you mad."
The posthumous preface of one of Boschini's guidebooks enlarges upon the importance which an understanding of the styles of these masters has for the connoisseur and links the idea of the authentic touch with the traditional notion of sprezzatura. "Even the painters who painted softy, particularly Titian, ended up with some brushstrokes in the highlights and shadows, setting down their work with bravura to remove the impression of effort they had employed on the painting; hence when such brushstrokes cannot be discerned, especially in the heads, the work should be regarded as a copy, for he who imitates the work with much attention will produce a labored thing."
– E.H. Gombrich, Art and Illusion: a Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation (Princeton University Press, 1960)