Most of the world would be surprised to know how few of our thoughts are really original with ourselves. What we write and say is, for the most part, a kind of mosaic interweaving of ideas and recollections gathered together out of other people’s talk or books. The combination and rearrangement of them is about all we can call our own. When a man does really evolve an original thought out of his own mind, it is the exception, rather than the rule. It is usually the fruit, either of patient study, or of fresh and vivid experience.
Cornelia Seward Canfield Portrait by John Peter Frankenstein
c. 1830-1835
Oil portrait on canvas of Cornelia Seward Canfield (1805-1839) sister to Sec. William Henry Seward. Painted by German Artist John Peter Frankenstein, John Peter Frankenstein (1816-1881) was a mostly self-taught portrait painter. He quickly became a famous portrait painter and sculptor and worked mostly in Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and New York.
