The following brief notes on a few wonderful creations of the brush will be perused with general interest:

Quentin Matsys, the Dutch painter, painted a bee so well that the artist Mandyn thought it a real bee and proceeded to brush it away with his handkerchief.

Parrhasios painted a curtain so admirably that even Zeuxis, the artist, mistook it for real drapery.

Zeuxis, a Grecian painter, painted some grapes so well that birds came and pecked at them, thinking them real grapes.

Apelles painted Alexander's horse Bucephalus so true to life that some mares came up to the canvas neighing, under the supposition that it was a real animal.

Velasquez painted a Spanish admiral so true to life that when King Felipe IV entered the studio, he mistook the painting for the man, and began reproving the supposed officer for neglecting his duty, in wasting his time in the studio, when he ought to have been with his fleet.

Apelles, being at a loss to paint the foam of Alexander's horse, dashed his brush at the picture in a fit of annoyance, and did by accident what his skill had failed to do.

The same tale is told of Protogenes, who dashed his brush at a picture, and thus produced "the foam of a dog's mouth," which he had long been trying in vain to represent.