Bartolomeo Carducci, who was employed in the service of the Spanish
court for many years, was expressing one day his admiration of a newly
finished picture by a brother artist, when one of his own scholars drew
his attention to a badly executed foot. "I did not observe it," replied
he, "it is so concealed by the difficult excellence of this bosom and
these hands"--a piece of kindly criticism that deserves to be recorded.