The Birthday Party, parts 3859 - 3862

3859. So the sculptor finished the painter’s story, because he had heard it all before many times. He went on to point out that the story was actually an amalgamation of two separate stories; the first was about a person named Aristotele Fioravanti, who was an Italian engineer who was falsely accused of counterfeiting and fled to Russia.

3860. The second story was about one Postnik Yakovlev who was said to have been blinded by Ivan the Terrible after completing Saint Basil’s Cathedral in the Kremlin. “Neither of these stories have anything to do with the architect Salvino, who was neither Jewish or Italian, and was born in Piskov, and whose mother was a serf, and whose father was a landowner,” said the sculptor.

3861. Everything the painter said was wrong, and everything the sculptor said was true, nevertheless, the result of the conversation could have been the beginning of a happy and fruitful friendship between the two artists. Instead the result was the opposite.

3862. As a result of their conversation the painter developed a loathing for the sculptor and it was simply because the sculptor chose to use a condescending and patronizing tone when he corrected the story. This superior tone was not necessary, but it is irresistible to certain types of people in a discussion.