"Aligny was there [in Barbizon], and Diaz, and Rousseau, and Rousseau's instructions on the palette were the 'point de départ' [starting-point] of the real talent of Diaz, for colour. At this period [after 1836] the fine studies of the 'Grand Refusé' (Rousseau) were a revelation to the quondam painter [Diaz! of porcelain, who had been struggling, all alone, to purge himself of the traditions of the 'peinture' of the 'apothecaries' gallipot, and the chocolat cup.. .Diaz was conquered immediately by Rousseau, and his admiration for him remained for ever, the conviction and the religion of all his life."