How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #4
Your business is not to catch men with show,
With homage to the perishable clay,
But life them over it, ignore it all,
Make them forget there's such a thing as flesh.
Your business is to paint the souls of men. (183-187)
The Church looked at the job of painting as to somehow capture the souls of men. Art's only function is to direct the human gaze higher, to the spiritual plane, that heavenly realm that awaits people after death. The flesh is unimportant.
Quote #5
And my whole soul revolves, the cup runs over,
The world and life's too big to pass for a dream,
And I do these wild things in sheer despite,
And play the fooleries you catch me at,
In pure rage! (250-254)
Having to suppress his true desires—to paint what he wants to in order to convey the true beauty of human physicality and the everyday world—takes a toll on Bro Lippo. He rages, and pretends to play "fooleries," all because he's being forced to pass by the world in order to focus his eyes on the "dream" (the spiritual afterlife). He'd much rather be recording the beauty of the world and its immensity.