 It’s magic, one can’t understand how it’s done: thick layers of colour, applied one on top of the other, each one filtering through from underneath to create the effect. At times, it looks as though the canvas has misted over from someone breathing on it; at others, as though a thin film of water has landed on it…. Close up, everything blurs, goes flat and disappears. From a distance, everything comes back to life and reappears. (1763 [AT: 604])