A word from the wise

A three-hour meeting aside, I've got nothing done today. But I'm heartened by the words of Edward Burne-Jones, the Victorian painter whose magnificent biography by Fiona MacCarthy I've just finished:
I get to work with reluctance at 10, wish I was dead at eleven, get hungry at 12, and all the rest of the day wish I was a gentleman and hadn't to paint.

His thing was deeply symbolic Arthurian-related art, stylistically reminiscent of the early Italian Renaissance. Here's King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid. He particularly liked painting kings surrounded by mystically fruity women…

Sadly, he wasn't all good. He once fired a maid for 'being ugly'.