I wish to tell you, Francisco d'Ollanda, of an exceedingly great beauty
in this science of ours, of which perhaps you are aware, and which, I
think, you consider the highest, namely, that what one has most to work
and struggle for in painting, is to do the work with a great amount of
labour and study in such a way that it may afterwards appear, however
much it was laboured, to have been done almost quickly and almost
without any labour, and very easily, although it was not. And this is a
very excellent beauty. At times some things are done with little work in
the way I have said, but very seldom; most are done by dint of hard work
and appear to have been done very quickly.
_Michael Angelo._