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day had as a consequence much fine drawing, it
made coins defy gravity, standing on the table as
if in the act of falling. To say this was lifelike must
have been satisfying to the master, it gave depth,
pungency.
But all the while the picture escaped notice — partly because of the perspective. Or if noticed it was for the most part because one could see "the birds pecking at the grapes" in it.
Meanwhile the birds were pecking at the grapes outside the window and in the next street Bauer- meister Kummel was letting a gold coin slip from his fingers to the counting table.
The representation was perfect, it "said some- thing one was used to hearing" but with verve, cleverly.
Thus perspective and clever drawing kept the picture continually under cover of the "beautiful illusion" until today, when even Anatole France trips, saying : " Art — all lies ! " — today when we are beginning to discover the truth that in great works of the imagination A CREATIVE FORCE IS SHOWN AT WORK MAKING OBJECTS WHICH ALONE COMPLETE SCIENCE AND ALLOW INTELLIGENCE TO SURVIVE — his picture
