| John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919. |
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| NUMBER: | 9442 |
| AUTHOR: | Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547–1616) |
| QUOTATION: | He has done like Orbaneja, the painter of Ubeda, who, being asked what he painted, answered, “As it may hit;” and when he had scrawled out a misshapen cock, was forced to write underneath, in Gothic letters, “This is a cock.” 1 |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. iii. |
| BIOGRAPHY: | Columbia Encyclopedia. |
| | Note 1.
The painter Orbaneja of Ubeda, if he chanced to draw a cock, he wrote under it, “This is a cock,” lest the people should take it for a fox.—Jarvis’s translation. [back] |
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