'
'I never exhibited in the Academy,' continued Wilderspin, without
heeding the interruption, 'I never tried to exhibit; but, thanks to
the dear friend I have mentioned, I got to know the Master himself.
People came to my poor studio, and my pictures were bought from my
easel as fast as I could paint them. I could please my buyers, I
could please my dear friend, I could please the Master himself; I
could please every person in the world but one--myself. For years I
had been struggling with what cripples so many artists--with
ignorance--ignorance, Mr. Aylwin, of the million points of detail
which must be understood and mastered before ever the sweetness, the
apparent lawlessness and abandonment of Nature can be expressed by
Art. But it was now, when I had conquered these,--it was now that I
was dissatisfied, and no man living was so miserable as I. I dare say
you are an artist yourself, Mr. Aylwin, and will understand me when I
say that artists--figure-painters, I mean,--are divided into two
classes--those whose natural impulse is to paint men, and those who
are sent into the world expressly to paint women.
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