DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51520#0014
your dear oddities. I have, however, but one
brain, and this is how I think, and as I think I
must write. Be assured, however, that my
unabashed levity does not prevent me from
admiring the artist as much as the man. If I
speak about matters which none knows except
your personal friends it is because I wish to
paint your portrait, to let the world see what
my friend is like, and my reasons for liking
him. I cannot do this by telling your opinions
or ideas, you have none, you never had any,
and never will. Abstractions do not interest
you ; you like the concrete, and it would
never occur to you to consider in what church
one of your pictures should be hung if you
were to paint a religious picture ; nor whether
your beautiful women inspire chaste thoughts.
You are one of those admirable beings without
a religion, without a morality, content to live,
liking things as they go by ; nor do you bother
too much, as many another does, about the
material side of painting, which is the right
canvas to use—the rough or the smooth ?
whether turpentine or paraffin oil is the better?
You have never debated long on the interest-
ing subject of round or flat brushes, nor on the
thumb as an instrument superior to the brush,
nor on the palette knife as one superior to
both. You are just a simple fellow with a
gift for painting, and I remember how, when
you went to Paris with Furze, your description
of the journey made us all laugh : you had the
toothache and Furze talked all the time. You
brain, and this is how I think, and as I think I
must write. Be assured, however, that my
unabashed levity does not prevent me from
admiring the artist as much as the man. If I
speak about matters which none knows except
your personal friends it is because I wish to
paint your portrait, to let the world see what
my friend is like, and my reasons for liking
him. I cannot do this by telling your opinions
or ideas, you have none, you never had any,
and never will. Abstractions do not interest
you ; you like the concrete, and it would
never occur to you to consider in what church
one of your pictures should be hung if you
were to paint a religious picture ; nor whether
your beautiful women inspire chaste thoughts.
You are one of those admirable beings without
a religion, without a morality, content to live,
liking things as they go by ; nor do you bother
too much, as many another does, about the
material side of painting, which is the right
canvas to use—the rough or the smooth ?
whether turpentine or paraffin oil is the better?
You have never debated long on the interest-
ing subject of round or flat brushes, nor on the
thumb as an instrument superior to the brush,
nor on the palette knife as one superior to
both. You are just a simple fellow with a
gift for painting, and I remember how, when
you went to Paris with Furze, your description
of the journey made us all laugh : you had the
toothache and Furze talked all the time. You