I thought it a sorry abortion

As for my lithographs - the one of the fellow sitting on a basket cutting his bread is a failure. When I transferred it to the stone the upper half got all blurred - I have been able to remedy the worst part with the scraper. Yet you will see that there are things in it which prove one can work vigorously with this process and express the nature of materials, as for instance the basket, the trousers and the muddy boots. And though at first I thought it a sorry abortion, I have become somewhat reconciled to it since then, and if I were to start over again, I should do it in the same vigorous way - with a background.

To Anton von Rappard, from The Hague, 4 February 1883, Letter R20
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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