Emperor Karl V, once asked Michel Angelo what he thought of Albrecht Dürer. The great painter answered: “If I were not Michel Angelo, I would rather be Albrecht Dürer than Karl V.”
Unbiased Opinion
Count D., a collector and somewhat conceited connoisseur of paintings, had a landscape in his gallery which he considered a great masterpiece. He showed it to a celebrated painter, asking his opinion of it, with these words: “Several people to whom I have shown it insist that it is a copy, but I’m blessed if I don’t horsewhip the next fellow who says so. Now, my dear friend, I want you to give me your candid opinion of it!”
An Interesting Pose
A young man wished to have his portrait painted.
“How do you wish to pose?” asked the artist.
“With a book in my hand, reading aloud.”
Altruism
A critic once boasted in company, of the power of his pen, and said, among other bright things, that artists owed their fame to him, as he distributed it.