And with all Michael Angelo's instinct for
grandeur, if he had not been equally lucky in regard to models, he
could never adequately have expressed that genius. It is impossible
to give vitality to the painting of any head unless the artist has
nature before him; this is why no true judge of pictures was ever
deceived as to the difference between an original and a copy. It
stands to reason that in every picture of a head, howsoever the
model's features may be idealised, Nature's own handiwork and
mastery must dominate.
Here Cyril gently took the magazine from Wilderspin's hand, but did
not silence him. 'As I told you in Wales,' said he to me, 'I had an
abundance of imagination, but I wanted some model in order to realise
it. I could never meet a face that came anything nigh my own ideal of
expression as the purely spiritual side of the beauty of woman; and
until I did that I knew that I should achieve nothing whereby the
world might recognise a new power in art. In vain did I try to
idealise such faces as did not please me.
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