"Last night she was a great artist. This evening she is merely a commonplace mediocre actress."
"Don’t talk like that about any one you love, Dorian. Love is a more wonderful thing than Art."
"They are both simply forms of imitation, remarked Lord Henry."
– Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. Dorian is highly critical of Sibyl’s performance as Juliet. He loves the "art" that Sibyl can create and the characters she can give life to, but not Sibyl the person. So when her art fails her and she becomes mere woman, Dorian sees no worth in her. When Basil berates Dorian, holding up love as more wonderful than art, Lord Henry dismisses both as unreal and just forms of imitation.