"'A mere transcript of nature' is one of the stock phrases of the art critic, and of many artists of a certain school. The precise meaning attached to it puzzles us; were it not always used as a term of reproach, we should believe it the highest praise that could be bestowed upon a picture. What adds to our perplexity is that the phrase is generally applied by the critic to work which has nothing in common with nature about it: and is used by artists who themselves have never in their lives painted a picture with the simplest values correct, as though transcribing nature to canvas were a stage in the painter's development through which they had passed, and which was now beneath them. The critic must have but a very superficial acquaintance with nature who applies this term, as is frequently done, to work in which all the subtleties of nature are wanting. We have heard of pictures in which no two tones have been in right relation to one another, in which noisy detail has been mistaken for finish, and the mingling of decision and indecision in fine opposition - the mysterious lost and found, the chief charm of nature - has been utterly unfelt, described as 'transcripts of nature' Those artists who use the phrase, adopt it as a convenient barricade behind which they may defend their own incompetence." - T. F. Goodall.

Da Vinci

All photographers would do well to lay these remarks to heart. Instead of it being an easy thing to paint "a mere transcript of nature," we shall show it to be utterly impossible. No man can do this either by painting or photography, he can only give a translation, or impression, as Leonardo da Vinci said long ago; but he can. give this impression truly or falsely.