He had a smile to make Correggio sigh in his grave. This leads, in the end, to Mr. Kaplan's remarkable interpretation of The Portrait of a Lady as an allegory of James's passion for his brother William. We might even consider ourselves fortunate that the task fell to Mr. Kaplan, who is both a better scholar and a better writer than most of the converts to this school of interpretation. But the great difference now is that his work is all there and available to refute these facile assaults on his art, and it was to that end, after all, that he devoted his life to art. Which brings us a good deal closer to his spirit and his achievement on this anniversary than all the pages than are now devoted to some imaginary amatory allegories.
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