Page 1032 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

bad. He knew that a great deal of attention and care was
necessary in taking off the coverings, to avoid injuring the
creation itself, and to take off all the coverings; but there
was no art of painting—no technique of any sort—about

it. If to a little child or to his cook were revealed what he
saw, it or she would have been able to peel the wrappings
off what was seen. And the most experienced and adroit
painter could not by mere mechanical facility paint
anything if the lines of the subject were not revealed to
him first. Besides, he saw that if it came to talking about
technique, it was impossible to praise him for it. In all he
had painted and repainted he saw faults that hurt his eyes,
coming from want of care in taking off the wrappings—
faults he could not correct now without spoiling the
whole. And in almost all the figures and faces he saw, too,
remnants of the wrappings not perfectly removed that
spoiled the picture.
‘One thing might be said, if you will allow me to make
the remark...’ observed Golenishtchev.
‘Oh, I shall be delighted, I beg you,’ said Mihailov with
a forced smile.
‘That is, that you make Him the man-god, and not the
God-man. But I know that was what you meant to do.’

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