Page:Anecdotes of painters, engravers, sculptors and architects, and curiosities of art (IA anecdotesofpaint01spoo).pdf/120

 containing encomiums such as few painters deserve.

"Such are thy pictures, Kneller! such thy skill, That nature seems obedient to thy will, Comes out and meets thy pencil in the draught, Lives there, and wants but words to speak the thought."

KNELLER'S WIT.

The servants of his neighbor, Dr. Radcliffe, abused the liberty of a private entrance to the painter's garden, and plucked his flowers. Kneller sent him word that he must shut the door up; whereupon the doctor peevishly replied, "Tell him he may do any thing with it but paint it." "Never mind what he says," retorted Sir Godfrey; "I can take anything from him but physic." He once overheard a low fellow cursing himself. "God damn you, indeed!" exclaimed the artist in wonder; "God may damn the Duke of Marlborough, and perhaps Sir Godfrey Kneller; but do you think he will ever take the trouble of damning such a scoundrel as you?" To his tailor, who proposed his son for a pupil, he said, "Dost thou think, man, I can make thy son a painter? No, God Almighty only makes painters." He gave a reason for preferring portraiture to historical painting, which forms an admirable bon-mot, for its shrewdness, truthfulness, and ingenuity. "Painters of history," said he, "make the dead live, and do not begin to live till