"The true artist... is never satisfied to merely reproduce his own impressions, or even his liveliest fancies; he will use them; but they will be recreated, purged of their dross, and reproduced in a form adequate to the revelation of his idea of the perfection of beauty. In so doing, he will be loyal to nature and truth; for that also is a law of art; he will also obey the imperious technical laws of form; yet the highest worth of his work will be derived from the ideal which he impresses on the finished product. It is this principle... which underlies the long controversy between the three leading 'isms of art—impressionism, realism (or naturalism), and idealism. In the somewhat tedious dispute between the representatives of these theories the fact has often been obscured that they are only three different ways of interpreting the final purpose of art, its universal value, its perfection. ...each contains an essential element of the whole truth; though when taken by itself each is an exaggeration."