LVII

I wish to do something purely Greek; I feed my eyes on the antique

statues, I mean even to imitate some of them. The Greeks never

scrupled to reproduce a composition, a movement, a type already received

and used. They put all their care, all their art, into perfecting an

idea which had been used by others before them. They thought, and

thought rightly, that in the arts the manner of rendering and expressing

an idea matters more than the idea itself.

[Illustration: _Rubens_ THE CASTLE IN THE PARK _Hanfstaengl_]

To give a clothing, a perfect form to one's thought is to be an

artist ... it is the only way.

Well, I have done my best and I hope to attain my object.

_L. David._

The mind of the artist · 第 68 / 298 题