Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Here is an American anecdote:

Two not particularly scrupulous business men had succeeded, by dint of a series of highly risky enterprises, in amassing a large fortune, and they were now making efforts to push their way into good society. One method, which struck them as a likely one, was to have their portraits painted by the most celebrated and highly-paid artist in the city, whose pictures had an immense reputation. The precious canvases were shown for the first time at a large evening party, and the two hosts themselves led the most influential connoisseur and art critic up to the wall upon which the portraits were hanging side by side, to extract his admiring judgment on them. He studied the works for a long time, and then, shaking his head , as though there were something he had missed, pointed to the gap between the pictures and asked quietly: "But where's the Saviour?" (i.e. "I don't see the picture of the Saviour.")

No comments: