When we look at a very highly finished picture (so
called), unless we are in the hands of one who has attended
successfully to the considerations insisted on above, we feel as
though we were with a troublesome cicerone who will not let us look
at things with our own eyes but keeps intruding himself at every
touch and turn and trying to exercise that undue influence upon us
which generally proves to have been the accompaniment of concealment
and fraud. This is exactly what we feel with Van Mieris and, though
in a less degree, with Gerard Dow; whereas with Jean Van Eyck and
Metsu, no matter how far they may have gone, we find them essentially
as impressionist as Rembrandt or Velasquez.
For impressionism only means that due attention has been paid to the
relative importances of the impressions made by the various
characteristics of a given subject, and that they have been presented
to us in order of precedence.
Eating Grapes Downwards
Always eat grapes downwards--that is, always eat the best grape
first; in this way there will be none better left on the bunch, and
each grape will seem good down to the last. If you eat the other
way, you will not have a good grape in the lot. Besides, you will be
tempting Providence to kill you before you come to the best. This is
why autumn seems better than spring: in the autumn we are eating our
days downwards, in the spring each day still seems "Very bad.
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