Grace is what is intellectually pleasing. It is a concept that covers a broad range of things, because it also extends to all actions. Grace is a gift from heaven, but not like beauty, for heaven grants only the promise of it and the capability of achieving it. It is developed through education and reflection, and can become part of nature in those with the capacity for it. It cannot be forced in any way and is free of any labored wit, but it requires attentiveness and diligence, and naturalness in all actions, in which it reveals itself according to the talent of each person, helping him to rise to a suitable level of ease. It is effective in simplicity and in the calmness of the soul, and is obscured by wild fury and stirred up feelings. All human doings and actions are made pleasant by it, and in a beautiful body it exerts great power. Xenophon was gifted with it, but Thucydides did not seek it. The merit of Apelles and Correggio in modern times consisted of it, but Michelangelo did not attain it. However, the works of antiquity were generally endowed with it, and it can also be recognized in mediocre works.

The identification and assessment of grace in human beings and in imitations of them in statues and paintings appear to vary, because many do not find something objectionable in this context that would be displeasing to them in real life.