Whatever I am in Art I owe to these men.

I have something of the manner of each and all of them; but they all said that I had also a manner of my own, and that it was conspicuous.

They said there was a marked individuality about my style--insomuch that if I ever painted the commonest type of a dog, I should be sure to throw a something into the aspect of that dog which would keep him from being mistaken for the creation of any other artist.
Secretly I wanted to believe all these kind sayings, but I could not; I was afraid that my masters' partiality for me, and pride in me, biased their judgment.

So I resolved to make a test.

Privately, and unknown to any one, I painted my great picture, "Heidelberg Castle Illuminated"-- my first really important work in oils--and had it hung up in the midst of a wilderness of oil-pictures in the Art Exhibition, with no name attached to it.