I have also been working on the large canvas for a few months. and it has turned into a cavalry charge, which I hope for sure to be able to exhibit i… - George Hendrik Breitner

In the works I paint [now] I can't see any guarantee that I shall make progress.. ..while better skilled people [artists] - even though their work does not seem so good at the moment - can move forward much more easily. (translation from the original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek)

Do you know what I really need to make a well-finished painting? 2 years at Gérome or somebody like him, working in the studio.. ..because that is the only way to become a good painter. That whole business.. then a small watercolour than a little painting and finally when I have earned so much that I could study, I have become too old and too miserable. (translation from the original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek)

version in original Dutch (citaat van Breitner's brief, in het Nederlands:) Wees zoo goed en meld me per omgaande, met teekening en uitleg, hoe ik een [foto]-camera kan maken. - zooals ik toen bij jou gezien heb.