Caravaggio

The greatest joy for me is to work. I have no other pleasure.

I will paint the face of a beggar as well as that of an emperor.

All work is good work if it is well done.

I have never chosen a subject from the antique, but always from nature.

I know nothing about painting, but I know how to paint.

I see a broom and a bottle, and I paint them.

I have no master but nature.

He said that he did not believe in ancient masters, nor in any other master, but only in nature.

I am a painter by nature, not by art.

I do not wish to be judged by what others have done, but by what I myself do.

One must paint what one sees, not what one imagines.

I have no fear of death, for I have lived.

He would not make so much as a single brushstroke without having the model before him.

He used to say that painting from life was the true and best way of painting.

I am a man of the world, and I paint what I see in the world.

I do not care for beauty, but for truth.

He was always ready to pick a quarrel or engage in a fight.

He was a very contentious man, and always had a sword at his side.

He would not let a day pass without sketching some figure from life.

I have no respect for those who paint without having seen.