…art improves upon the human by a process of counterfeit substitution. The natural surface and color of the skin are replaced by a convincing, covering artificial imitation; the art adds dabs of lifeless filler to transform natural, individualizing irregularities into ideally proportioned and regulated, deindividualized perfection… if Pygmalion works the skin to become more real and alive, the praeceptor works it to become more ideal and ivory; if the one seeks to bring life to the surface, the other seeks to keep it behind the surface.

Downing E. “Anti-Pygmalion: The Praeceptor in Ars Amatoria, Book 3”, from Constructions of the Classical Body, ed. by James I. Porter. The University of Michigan Press, 1999. – P. 235–251. – P. 240