Sensation is rude and false unless _informed_ by intellection; and,
however delicate be the touch in obedience to remote gradation, yet
knowledge of the genus necessarily invests the representation with
perspicuous and truthful relations that ignorance could not possibly
have observed. Hence--Paint what you see; but know what you see.
_Only paint what you love in what you see_, and discipline yourself to
separate this essence from its dumb accompaniments, so that the accents
fall upon the points of passion. Let that which must be expressed of the
rest be merged, syncopated in the largeness of the _modulation_.
Boldly dare to omit the impertinent or irrelevant, and let the features
of the passion be modulated in _fewness_.
Not a touch without its meaning or its significance throughout the
courses. There is no disgrace, but on the contrary, honour, be the
touches never so few, if studied. By determined refusal to touch
vaguely, and with persistence in the slowness of thoughtful work, a
noble style may be at length obtained: swift as sublime.
_Edward Calvert._