Fuseli, on the whole, was liked as Keeper. It is true that he was often
satirical and severe on the students--that he defaced their drawings by
corrections which, compared to their weak and trembling lines, seemed
traced with a tar-mop, and that he called them tailors and bakers,
vowing that there was more genius in the _claw_ of one of Michael
Angelo's eagles, than in all the _heads_ with which the Academy was
swarming. The youths on whom fell this tempest of invective, smiled; and
the Keeper pleased by submission, walked up to each easel, whispered a
word of advice confidentially, and retired in peace to enjoy the company
of his Homer, Michael Angelo, Dante, and Milton. The students were
unquestionably his friends; those of the year 1807 presented him with a
silver vase, designed by one whom he loved--Flaxman the sculptor; and he
received it very graciously. Ten years after, he was presented with the
diploma of the first class in the Academy of St. Luke at Rome.