Vitruvius speaks of the consideration of the perfect human body and about how good sculptors and painters in order to make it give it a height of ten faces, and I say that according to them they have read and they say that this proportion is based on knowledge of measurement and that it happens that without it it is not possible to have proportion or consideration because those who are not cognizant of this do not count." - Meaning and context.">
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quoted by Liane Lefaivre and Alexander Tzonis, in The Emergence of Modern Architecture: A Documentary History from 1000 to 1810; Routledge, New York, 2004) p. 165
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Now, in order to claim some knowledge of painting, Vitruvius speaks of the consideration of the perfect human body and about how good sculptors and painters in order to make it give it a height of ten faces, and I say that according to them they have read and they say that this proportion is based on knowledge of measurement and that it happens that without it it is not possible to have proportion or consideration because those who are not cognizant of this do not count.

— El Greco

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Now, in order to claim some knowledge of painting, Vitruvius speaks of the consideration of the perfect human body and about how good sculptors and painters in order to make it give it a height of ten faces, and I say that according to them they have read and they say that this proportion is based on knowledge of measurement and that it happens that without it it is not possible to have proportion or consideration because those who are not cognizant of this do not count." in the context of "quoted by Liane Lefaivre and Alexander Tzonis, in The Emergence of Modern Architecture: A Documentary History from 1000 to 1810; Routledge, New York, 2004) p. 165" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "El Greco" (Quotes of El Greco: sorted chronologically, by date of the quotes of El Greco) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

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El Greco

About El Greco

Doménikos Theotokópoulos (Greek language: Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος, 1541–7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco (Spanish language for "The Greek"), was a painter, sculptor, and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. The nickname "El Greco" refers both to his Greek origin and Spanish citizenship. The artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek alphabet: Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος (Doménikos Theotokópoulos), often adding the word Κρής (Krēs, "Cretan"). El Greco is regarded as a precursor of both Expressionism and Cubism.