If to a little child or to his cook were revealed what he saw, it or she would have been able to peel the wrappings off what was seen.

And the most experienced and adroit painter could not by mere mechanical facility paint anything if the lines of the subject were not revealed to him first.

Besides, he saw that if it came to talking about technique, it was impossible to praise him for it.

In all he had painted and repainted he saw faults that hurt his eyes, coming from want of care in taking off the wrappings--faults he could not correct now without spoiling the whole.

And in almost all the figures and faces he saw, too, remnants of the wrappings not perfectly removed that spoiled the picture.