Zanoni by Edward Bulwer-lytton

Tu vegga o per violenzia o per inganno Patire o disonore o mortal danno. "Orlando Furioso," Cant. xlii. i. (Thou art about, either through violence or artifice, to suffer either dishonour or mortal loss.)

It was a small cabinet; the walls were covered with pictures, one of which was worth more than the whole lineage of the owner of the palace. Oh, yes! Zanoni was right. The painter IS a magician; the gold he at least wrings from his crucible is no delusion. A Venetian noble might be a fribble, or an assassin, -- a scoundrel, or a dolt; worthless, or worse than worthless, yet he might have sat to Titian, and his portrait may be inestimable, -- a few inches of painted canvas a thousand times more valuable than a man with his veins and muscles, brain, will, heart, and intellect!