Moore, George: Reminiscences of the Impressionist painters (Dublin: Maunsel, 1906)

did not tell us how Furze had talked, but how
easy it is to imagine it—the Venetian school,
Corot’s vision, Whistler’s dandyism. We all
envy your simplicities, and it seems to me that
I can hear you telling the deputation which
the Academy sent—or was it a single indivi-
dual was sent to ask you to allow your name
to be put down on the list?—I can hear you
saying that you thought on the whole you
would prefer that your name shouldn’t appear,
So the long-eared beasts of the picture-dealer’s
stye came to you ? Well, well. They came
grunting round your feet, but there was no
spurning, just a cheery refusal ; and I am sure
you must have felt uneasy if the interview was
prolonged, for the model was waiting. If you
had let your name go down on the list you
would certainly have been the next Acade-
mician ; but how would that have helped you ?
You have won your reputation in spite of the
Academy. To go over to it now would have
been unwise, the Academy cannot help you ;
but that is not the point that I would wish to
make. I am interested in your refusal, not on
account of its wisdom, but because it was like
you. There is something very touching, very
winning in single-heartedness, in unity of con-
duct, in men who are themselves and nothing
but themselves, and no one was ever more him-
self than you, my dear Steer. Never have I
been able to detect a change since the evening
I met you twenty years ago when Sickert
introduced us ; Sickert’s friends always like