"Sometimes the biter is bit; sometimes the artist who paints his sitters must himself sit.  And this is the case with me just now.  I am being done in clay, and then, cast in bronze by a well-known Italian sculptor during my enforced leisure.  I do my poor best - my appalling best - in Italian what time Signor Calastri’s clever fingers are making me realize my physical shortcomings as revealed in clay."