It
Falls A Long Way Short, However, Of A Good Italian Votive Picture:
But It Has The Advantage Of Moving.
I knew of a little girl once, rather less than four years old,
whose uncle had promised to take her for a drive in a carriage with
him, and had failed to do so.
The child was found soon afterwards
on the stairs weeping, and being asked what was the matter,
replied, "Mans is all alike." This is Giottesque. I often think
of it as I look upon Italian votive pictures. The meaning is so
sound in spite of the expression being so defective - if, indeed,
expression can be defective when it has so well conveyed the
meaning.
I knew, again, an old lady whose education had been neglected in
her youth. She came into a large fortune, and at some forty years
of age put herself under the best masters. She once said to me as
follows, speaking very slowly and allowing a long time between each
part of the sentence; - "You see," she said, "the world, and all
that it contains, is wrapped up in such curious forms, that it is
only by a knowledge of human nature, that we can rightly tell what
to say, to do, or to admire." I copied the sentence into my
notebook immediately on taking my leave. It is like an academy
picture.
But to return to the Italians. The question is, how has the
deplorable falling-off in Italian painting been caused?
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