--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I have read that the ancients, when they…" description: "\"I have read that the ancients, when they had produced a sound, used to modulate it, heightening and lowering its pitch without departing from the rules..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db2/antonio-canova-100477_ancients_i-have-read-that-the-ancients-when-they_2995936.png" --- # I have read that the ancients, when they had produced a… ![“I have read that the ancients, when they had produced a sound, used to modulate it, heightening and lowering its pitch without departing from the rules of harmony. So must the artist do in working at the nude.” quote by Antonio Canova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db2/antonio-canova-100477_ancients_i-have-read-that-the-ancients-when-they_2995936.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db2/antonio-canova-100477_ancients_i-have-read-that-the-ancients-when-they_2995936.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/db2/antonio-canova-100477_ancients_i-have-read-that-the-ancients-when-they_2995936.png) > “I have read that the ancients, when they had produced a sound, used to modulate it, heightening and lowering its pitch without departing from the rules of harmony. So must the artist do in working at the nude.” [Antonio Canova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonio-canova/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Ancient musicians modulated sound within harmonic rules; similarly, artists must work the nude, balancing form and harmony without breaking aesthetic principles **In simple terms:** Artistic practice requires harmony and disciplined modulation like music Key Takeaway Balance form and harmony in artistic creation Themes art harmony discipline classical art music theory Mood analytical inspired Type art treatise historical commentary When to use this quote - painting - sculpture - design - music composition - visual arts education Key Concepts aesthetics historical art theory creative process Questions to Reflect On - How does harmony guide your creative work? - What limits does strict form impose? A Different Perspective Historical analogy may not suit modern avant‑garde art ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ancients](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ancients/) [Ancients Produced](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ancients-produced-4731454/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Departing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/departing/) [Harmony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/harmony/) [Peace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peace/) [Produced Sound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/produced-sound-3167601/) [Rules Harmony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rules-harmony-4731455/) [Sound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sound/) [Sound Used](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sound-used-537549/) [Used](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/used/) ## Related quotes > [I've never been able to arouse any interest in myself for digitally produced sound, and so the computer turns me off.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-tudor/i-ve-never-been-able-to-arouse-any-interest-in-myself-for-digitally/) [David Tudor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-tudor/) > [“Don't live by your own rules, but in harmony with nature”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/don-t-live-by-your-own-rules-but-in-harmony-with-nature/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [In the early '80s, my sound - especially that mysterious kind of synthesized sound that was used so much - every relatively cheap TV…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giorgio-moroder/in-the-early-80s-my-sound-especially-that-mysterious-kind-of/) [Giorgio Moroder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giorgio-moroder/) > [There was a time I was around those fan boats that go across swamps, and the fans had a really rich, multi-textural sound. So…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bonobo/there-was-a-time-i-was-around-those-fan-boats-that-go-across-swamps/) [Bonobo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bonobo/) > [We're all about exploring new sounds, so we don't have any limits whatsoever about how we go about finding them. We do tend to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christian-karlsson/we-re-all-about-exploring-new-sounds-so-we-don-t-have-any-limits/) [Christian Karlsson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christian-karlsson/) > [We had always used found sound, but we had always used it in an analogue way. And it was the early days of using…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-mallinder/we-had-always-used-found-sound-but-we-had-always-used-it-in-an/) [Stephen Mallinder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-mallinder/) > [Both Iraq and Syria are a fissile mixture of ethnicities and religions thrown together after Versailles by departing French and British imperialists and only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/both-iraq-and-syria-are-a-fissile-mixture-of-ethnicities-and/) [Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/) > [My fellow critics and I may occasionally fault a movie for departing, in detail or in spirit, from its literary source, but the grousing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-o-scott/my-fellow-critics-and-i-may-occasionally-fault-a-movie-for-departing/) [A. O. Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-o-scott/) > [ \[Books\] will visit you at your convenience, whether you are lonesome or not, on rainy days or fair. They propose themselves as either transient… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifton-fadiman/books-will-visit-you-at-your-convenience-whether-you-are-lonesome-or/) [Clifton Fadiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifton-fadiman/) > [The Death of the contemporary forms of social order ought to gladden rather than trouble the soul. Yet what is frightening is that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-herzen/the-death-of-the-contemporary-forms-of-social-order-ought-to-gladden/) [Alexander Herzen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-herzen/) > [“Sometimes in life, we reach a right place by departing from a wrong port with a wrong ship!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/sometimes-in-life-we-reach-a-right-place-by-departing-from-a-wrong/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [Being consistent meant not departing from convictions already formulated; being a leader meant making other persons accept these convictions. It was a narrow track,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessamyn-west/being-consistent-meant-not-departing-from-convictions-already/) [Jessamyn West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessamyn-west/) > [When we struggle for human rights, for freedom, for dignity, when we feel that it is a ministry of the church to concern itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-we-struggle-for-human-rights-for-freedom-for-dignity-when-we/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Consider the core of the mind to be a wagon, with will-power to be carried about in it. Push it to a place where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/takuan-soho/consider-the-core-of-the-mind-to-be-a-wagon-with-will-power-to-be/) [Takuan Soho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/takuan-soho/) > [Elevated locations imply elevated purposes, even in American cities departing as radically as Los Angeles does from the traditional planning patterns of the Eastern…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-filler/elevated-locations-imply-elevated-purposes-even-in-american-cities/) [Martin Filler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-filler/) ## More by Antonio Canova > [So must the artist do in working at the nude.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonio-canova/so-must-the-artist-do-in-working-at-the-nude/) [Antonio Canova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonio-canova/) [Explore all 2 Antonio Canova quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonio-canova/) ## More Ancients quotes > [“Et peut-être la posterité me saura gré de lui avoir fait connaître que les Anciens n’ont pas tout su. ( And perhaps, posterity will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-de-fermat/et-peut-tre-la-posterit-me-saura-gr-de-lui-avoir-fait-conna-tre-que/) [Pierre De Fermat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-de-fermat/) > [And perhaps, posterity will thank me for having shown that the ancients did not know everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-de-fermat/and-perhaps-posterity-will-thank-me-for-having-shown-that-the/) [Pierre de Fermat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-de-fermat/) > [The ancients understood the regulation of power better than the regulation of liberty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-dahlberg/the-ancients-understood-the-regulation-of-power-better-than-the/) [Edward Dahlberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-dahlberg/) > [The ancients said: Hulk to be whole.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laozi/the-ancients-said-hulk-to-be-whole/) [Laozi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laozi/) > [“One makes a great error if one believes there are 'ancients.' 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Free to exploit the vast realm of the simpleand the natural,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-grillparzer/why-must-ancients-and-provided-the-same-talent-be-better-than-modern/) [Franz Grillparzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-grillparzer/) > [The ancients had a term in the mystical tradition called the Akashic Records, which was suggestive that nature didn't lose it's experience, that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-mitchell/the-ancients-had-a-term-in-the-mystical-tradition-called-the-akashic/) [Edgar Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-mitchell/) > [Some are so very studious of learning what was done by the ancients that they know not how to live with the moderns.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-penn/some-are-so-very-studious-of-learning-what-was-done-by-the-ancients/) [William Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-penn/) > [We could learn a lot from the ancients, and we should go back there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-stone/we-could-learn-a-lot-from-the-ancients-and-we-should-go-back-there/) [Oliver Stone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-stone/) > [The finest and most beautiful ideas on morals and manners have been swept away before our times, and nothing is left for us but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/the-finest-and-most-beautiful-ideas-on-morals-and-manners-have-been/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [Nothing truly convincing - which would possess thoroughness, vigor, and skill - has been written against the ancients as yet; especially not against their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/nothing-truly-convincing-which-would-possess-thoroughness-vigor-and/) [Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-wilhelm-friedrich-schlegel/) > [By comparing what we know today with what the ancients appear to have known we can guess at the kinds of wine they drank.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alec-waugh/by-comparing-what-we-know-today-with-what-the-ancients-appear-to-have/) [Alec Waugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alec-waugh/) [Browse all 73 Ancients quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ancients/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I have read that the ancients, when they had produced a sound, used to modulate it, heightening and lowering its pitch without departing from the rules of harmony. 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