He learned more from Pater and he was the friend and intimate of Burne-Jones long before he knew Whistler.

I quite agree with your remark that he had "no joy in conflict" and no doubt he had little or no knowledge of the technique of Art in the modern expert's sense.
[There never was a greater master of controversy than Whistler, and I believe Wilde borrowed his method of making fun of the adversary.

Robert Ross's second point is rather controversial.

Shaw agrees with me that Wilde never knew anything really of music or of painting and neither the history nor the so-called philosophy of art makes one a connoisseur of contemporary masters.

F.H.] Page 94.