Faldoni, parts 2752 - 2755

 2752. We hoped that Faldoni would attain the greatest achievement possible for someone working in that period: an entire paragraph all to himself in a book like Janson’s “History of Art.” But the truth is, Faldoni’s name cannot be found in any history of art no matter how obscure and the reason is because right at the point that he was about to begin to make a name for himself, his fate took a peculiar and unexpected turn. 

 2753. The disaster that struck Faldoni at this time was entirely the fault of the master painter and his vanity, and had to do with the mistake that Faldoni had pointed out concerning the confusion of the clothing of the figures in the recently completed mural. Nothing was done to correct this mistake because it was considered insignificant, but what the master painter began to do was to point it out himself to visiting dignitaries.

 2754. He would invariably point out this mistake only after a long period of lavish praise had been heaped upon him. After hearing from various voices how perfect his new painting was he liked to say in a mysterious way, “Yes, it is nearly perfect, but there is a mistake in it, can you find it.” 

2755. Yes, even a thousand years ago people were fond of looking for and finding mistakes in a finished painting. Once some mistake was found and pointed out, the artist had to come up with some adroit explanation to justify the mistake. Let me give you some examples.