 As a worshipper of beauty , whether it be seen in a weed , a flower , or in that most interesting form to humanity , lovely woman , in intense admiration of it and its Almighty Author , if at any time I have forgotten the boundary line that I ought not to have passed , and tended to voluptuousness , I implore His pardon ; I have never wished to seduce others from that path and practice of virtue , which alone leads to happiness here and hereafter ; and if in any of my pictures an immoral sentiment has been aimed at , I consent it should be burnt ; but I never recollect being actuated in painting my pictures by such sentiment . That the female form , in its fulness , beauty of colour , exquisite <unk> , may , by being portrayed in its nudity , awake like nature in some degree an approach to passion , I must allow , but where no immoral sentiment is intended , I affirm that the simple undisguised naked figure is innocent . " To the pure in heart all things are pure . " 
