The explanation is quite simple. I wished to be near my mother.

Frederic Leighton to James McNeill Whistler: 'My dear Whistler, you leave your pictures in such a sketchy, unfinished state. Why don't you ever finish them?' James McNeill Whistler to Frederic Leighton: 'My dear Leighton, why do you ever begin yours?

The world is divided into two classes - invalids and nurses.

The masterpiece should appear as the flower to the painter - perfect in its bud as in its bloom - with no reason to explain its presence - no mission to fulfill - a joy to the artist, a delusion to the philanthropist - a puzzle to the botanist - an accident of sentiment and alliteration to the literary man.

For art and joy go together, with bold openness, and high head, and ready hand - fearing naught and dreading no exposure.

The explanation is quite simple. I wished to be near my mother.

It takes a long time for a man to look like his portrait.