med
whether he thought that a master ought to aim at working slowly or
quickly. "I will tell you plainly what I feel about this matter. It is
both good and useful to be able to work with promptitude and address.
We must regard it as a special gift from God to be able to do that in
a few hours which other men can only perform in many days of labour.
Consequently, artists who paint rapidly, without falling in quality
below those who paint but slowly, deserve the highest commendation.
Should this rapidity of execution, however, cause a man to transgress
the limits of sound art, it would have been better to have proceeded
with more tardiness and study. A good artist ought never to allow the
impetuosity of his nature to overcome his sense of the main end of
art, perfection. Therefore we cannot call slowness of execution a
defect, nor yet the expenditure of much time and trouble, if this be
employed with the view of attaining greater perfection. The one
unpardonable fault is bad work. And here I would remind you of a thing
essential to our art, which you will certainly not ignore, and to
which I believe you attach the full importance it deserves. In every
kind of plastic work we ought to strive with all our might at making
what has cost time and labour look as though it had been produced with
facility and swiftness. It sometimes happens, but rarely, that a
portion of our work turns out excellent with little pains bestowed
upon it. Most frequently, however, it is the expenditure of care and
trouble which conceals our toil. Plutarch relates that a bad painter
showed Apelles a picture, saying: 'This is from my hand; I have just
made it in a moment.' The other replied: 'I should have recognised the
fact without your telling me; and I marvel that you do not make a
multitude of such things every day.'" Michelangelo is reported to have
made a similar remark to Vasari when the latter took him to inspect
some frescoes he had painted, observing that they had been dashed off
quickly.

We must be grateful to Francis of Holland for this picture of the
Sunday-morning interviews at S. Silvestro. The place was cool and
tranquil. The great lady received her guests with urbanity, and led
the conversation with highbred courtesy and tact. Fra Ambrogio, having
discoursed upon the spiritual doctrines of S. Paul's Epistles, was at
liberty to turn an attentive ear to purely aesthetical speculations.
The grave and elderly Lattanzio Tolomei added the