Salvator Rosa exhibited a clever picture, the work of an amateur by
profession a surgeon, which had been rejected by the academicians of St.
Luke. The artists came in crowds to see it; and by those who were
ignorant of the painter, it was highly praised. On being asked who had
painted it by some one, Salvator replied, "It was performed by a person
whom the great academicians of St. Luke thought fit to scorn, because
his ordinary profession was that of a surgeon. But (continued he), I
think they have not acted wisely; for if they had admitted him into
their academy, they would have had the advantage of his services in
setting the broken and distorted limbs that so frequently occur in their
exhibitions."