LETTEE XLVI. 



THE CONNOISSEUR IS DECEIVED. 



A MAN, with whom I was very intimate when 1 was an 

 inhabitant of cities, came to see me, and we conversed a great 

 deal upon our opposite tastes, and upon the things which 

 occupy and give interest to our lives. 



On his part, he takes no account of flowers, or trees, or the 

 heavens, or the moon, or men, or animals ; none of these can 

 interest him till after they have been reduced, flattened, dis- 

 figured, and traced upon canvas by means of colomB and a 

 brush. He gives a high price for the images of things which 

 in his eyes have no value ; he paid 9,950 francs for a picture 

 by Van Huysum. This picture represents a vase of flowers. 



