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| Jacob Binck after Jacopo Caraglio Vulcan in niche 1530 engraving Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Giacomo Franco (publisher) Sheet from drawing manual - Tumbling Children ca. 1580-1620 engraving British Museum |
"There are witnesses to confirm that Madame, the King's little daughter, playing with one of her maids, looked at her hand and, after counting the fingers, said in amazement, "What? You have five fingers just like me?" And she counted again to make sure."
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| Nicolas Braeu after Karel van Mander the Younger Apollo in niche 1598 engraving Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Sisto Badalocchio Laocoön statue-group at the Vatican 1606 etching Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
"La Fontaine heard someone express pity on the fate of the damned in hell fire, and said, "I like to think that they get used to it, and in the end are like fish in water.""
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| Palma il Giovane St John the Baptist in the Wilderness ca. 1611 etching Philadelphia Museum of Art |
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| Michiel Sweerts Figure lifting Bow ca. 1643-61 etching Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Frederick Bloemaert after Abraham Bloemaert Recumbent Figures ca. 1679-1700 engraving Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
"Almost the whole of history is nothing but a series of horrors. If tyrants detest it while they are alive, their successors seem willing to allow the crimes of their predecessors to be transmitted to posterity, to divert attention from the horror that they themselves inspire. In fact there is no longer any way of consoling the people except by teaching them that their forebears were as wretched as they are, or more so."
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| Jean Lepautre Half-length Figure, Heads, Hand ca. 1682-1706 engraving Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Carle Vanloo Title-page for portfolio of six Académie studies 1743 etching Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Carle Vanloo Académie with Two Figures enacting a Burial 1743 etching Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
"Someone said that to steal from the classics was piracy on the high seas, but that to pillage the moderns was to pick pockets at street corners."
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| Gilles Demarteau after Carle Vanloo Académie before 1776 etching Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Gilles Demarteau after Carle Vanloo Académie before 1776 etching Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Gilles Demarteau after Edmé Bouchardon Académie before 1776 etching Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
"Someone said to the mesmerist doctor Delon, "Well! M. de B––– died in spite of your promise to cure him." He answered, "You were not there. You did not follow the progress of the cure. He died cured.""
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| Lucian Freud Man Posing 1985 etching Tate, London |
– maxims and anecdotes are quoted from Products of the Perfected Civilization: selected writings of Chamfort, edited and translated by W.S. Merwin (New York: Macmillan, 1969)