To John Hall Wheelock
Via Santo Stefano Rotondo, 6
Rome. February 27, 1951
In clearing away an accumulation of papers in my desk, I have come upon a letter of yours about the painter Wood’s portrait of me. I had forgotten this letter, and hope I did not leave it unanswered in my preoccupied state of mind. I agree with you entirely about that portrait. It represents me as you might come upon me on a sultry day, and is painted in a realistic way, but coarsely. I much prefer the drawing by Lipinsky, which I believe has been submitted to you with the same commercial hopes. I won’t say that it looks like (although Cory says it does) but it gives an intellectual version of me that perhaps comes nearer to the reality than to the appearance. Only it makes the escape from the flesh more difficult and painful than my philosophy absolutely finds it. I am more Epicurean than that, although not piggish, perhaps, as Epicureans are supposed to be. Besides, spiritual things entertain me, and the quarrels men have about them seem to me needless.
From The Letters of George Santayana: Book Eight, 1948-1952. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008.
Location of manuscript: Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Libraries, Princeton NJ