masterliness

To those who suggest that an Old Master painting does not reveal its masterliness in a jpeg: you're wrong.

He abstracted from reality with early-modern masterliness: the slightly schematic trees in two urban landscapes recall early Mondrian.

A recreated one-room schoolhouse from an Indian reservation brought out the masterliness in the young boy who was visiting, as he sat in the teacher's chair and rang a bell.

- applying Corleoneisms everywhere; especially egregious: saying, slowly, pregnantly with intellect and masterliness, whenever skullduggery is an option, "Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer."

Certain arias, including "Must the winter come so soon" and "Do not utter a word," are deservedly famous on their own, but what makes "Vanessa" worth reviving is the sustained masterliness of the last act, culminating in a glorious quintet and a deeply haunting final tableau.