QuoteQuest“Painting is poetry which is seen and not heard, and poetry is a painting which is heard but not seen. These two arts, you may call them both either poetry or painting, have here interchanged the senses by which they penetrate to the intellect.”
Verification
AttributedRecorded by a reliable secondary source; exact wording may differ.
Listed with a citation on Wikiquote. Attribution is source-supported, not independently verified.
Live wording check · 2026-10-22
Painting is poetry which is seen and not heard, and poetry is a painting which is heard but not seen. These two arts, you may call them both either poetry or painting, have here interchanged the senses by which they penetrate to the intellect. Citation: A Treatise on Painting (1651); "The Paragone"; compiled by Francesco Melzi prior to 1542, first published as Trattato della pittura by Raffaelo du Fresne (1651) Listed on https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci (CC BY-SA)Read evidence
Source
- Title
- Wikiquote: Leonardo da Vinci
- Type
- Wikiquote (CC BY-SA) · Secondary source
Cite this source
Vinci, Leonardo da. (n.d.). Wikiquote: Leonardo da Vinci. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci
Check citations against your institution's style guide; some details may be missing.
Provenance: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci