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| Avigdor Arikha Samuel Beckett 1970 etching British Museum |
Now he saw, advancing towards him over the grass, an indistinct mass. A moment later it was an old man, clothed in rags.
Who can this be, I wonder, said Arthur.
A penny for a poor old man, said the old man.
Arthur gave a penny.
God bless your honour, said the old man
Amen, said Arthur. Good-day.
I remember you when you was a boy, said the old man. I was a boy meself.
Then we were boys together, said Arthur.
You was a fine lovely boy, said the old man, and I was another.
Look at us now, said Arthur.
You was always wetting your trousers, said the old man.
I wets them still, said Arthur.
I cleaned the boots, said the old man.
If it hadn't been you, it would have been another, said Arthur.
Yer father was very good to me.
Like father like son, said Arthur. Good-day.
I helped to lay out this darling place, said the old man.
In that case, said Arthur, perhaps you can tell me the name of this extraordinary growth.
That's what we calls a hardy laurel, said the old man.
Arthur went back into the house and wrote, in his journal: Took a turn in the garden. Thanked God for a small mercy. Made merry with the hardy laurel. Bestowed alms on an old man formerly employed by the Knott family.
But this was not enough. So he came running to Watt.
This was the first time Watt had heard the words Knott family.
There had been a time when they would have pleased him, and the thought they tendered, that Mr. Knott too was serial, in a vermicular sense. But not now. For Watt was an old rose now, and indifferent to the gardener.
– Samuel Becket, from the Addenda to Watt (1953)
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| Henry Tonks Head of a young woman in profile before 1920 pastel British Museum |
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| Henry Tonks Head of a young woman (artist's model) before 1935 drawing British Museum |
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| Henry Tonks Head of a soldier before 1937 pastel Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge |
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| John Singer Sargent Study of a Sicilian peasant 1907 oil on canvas Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge |
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| James Kerr-Lawson Portrait of Paul Verlaine 1894 oil on canvas Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge |
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| Lawrence Alma-Tadema Portrait of Sir Herbert Thompson, Bart. 1877 oil on panel (painted onto the wooden cabin door of a ship) Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge |
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| Henri Fantin-Latour Head of a young girl 1870 oil on canvas Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge |
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| Dante Gabriel Rossetti Girl at a lattice 1862 oil on canvas Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge |
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| David Wilkie Studies of heads before 1841 drawing Yale Center for British Art |
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| John Flaxman Portrait of the sculptor Thomas Banks 1804 drawing Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge |
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| James Northcote Portrait of the sculptor Joseph Nollekens before 1823 oil on canvas Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge |
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| Charles Townley (collector) Bronze head from an antique statue of an athlete wearing a leather cap ca. 1788 drawing with watercolour British Museum |
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| Giuseppe Maria Crespi Girl with a cat before 1747 oil on canvas Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge |
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| Giuseppe Vittore Ghislandi Boy in red before 1743 oil on canvas Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge |
"I have set out the foregoing briefly and, I believe, in a not altogether obscure fashion, but I realize the content is such that, while I can claim no praise for eloquence in exposition, the reader who does not understand at first acquaintance, will probably never grasp it however hard he tries. To intelligent minds that are well disposed to painting, those things are simple and splendid, however presented, which are disagreeable to gross intellects little disposed to these noble arts, even if expounded by the most eloquent writers. As they have been explained by me briefly and without eloquence, they will probably not be read without some distaste. Yet I crave indulgence if, in my desire to be understood, I saw to it that my exposition should be clear rather than elegant and ornate. What follows will, I hope, be less disagreeable to the reader."
– Leon Battista Albert, from De Pictura (On Painting), originally written in Latin in Florence in 1435, edited and translated by Cecil Grayson and published by Phaidon Press in 1972