He is a strange fellow." "He is ambitious, at any rate." "No small matter for the future artist.

What he eagerly begins has a very grand and promising aspect; but it shrinks in the execution.

His mind seizes and appropriates what he desires to represent, at a single hasty grasp...." "Rather too vehement, I should think." "No fault at his age.

What he possesses makes me less anxious, than what he lacks.

I cannot yet discover the thoughtful artist-spirit in him." "You mean the spirit, that refines what it has once taken, and in quiet meditation arranges lines, and assigns each color to its proper place, in short your own art-spirit." "And yours also, Sire.