Paintings appear to me more and more as framed enigmas, previously not only unsolved, but never seen by anyone as enigmas at all. Perhaps even I shall not solve them all, many of them are probably no longer to be solved, but I believe that I am on the scent of the nature of the enigma, namely the soul of the artist, which has moved him to paint the particular painting that he has painted and no other; to paint it in the way he has painted it and not otherwise. For everything is anchored in the soul: theme, composition, colour, ductus, everything. Quod sit demonstrandum.

Andrew Marbot, 1821