It has left us with tiny patches of overworked detail on a broad canvas of smudges.

To others, this was to overlook that in many of his lost causes he chose as a matter of strategy to paint on a broad canvas with a large brush.

And often — as here, again — such stories are painted on a broad canvas, the better to illustrate the theme at work across a whole culture or society.

Its stated aim was to describe the major processes and events of world history across a broad canvas and omit tiny details of, say, ruling families, minor battles etc.