Wm to H'ry, Nov. 6, 1892. Age: 50

W^m, in Venice, has not lost his passion for art, even if his taste is changing:

"I find the Academy less splendid than I had remembered it, and altogether get a sort of impression that the Venetian pictures wear less well than those of the florentine sort.  Gio[vanni] Bellini and the earlier ones are the most immortal -- the trail of world, flesh, devil, chic, and conscious ability lying too thick over the others."

Pala di St. Giobbe, Giovanni Bellini, c. 1487
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice