person of the epoch of Charles III.



BASHKIRTSEFF, MARIE. Born in Russia of a noble family. 1860-84. This
remarkable young woman is interesting in various phases of her life, but
here it is as an artist that she is to be considered. Her journal, she
tells us, is absolutely truthful, and it is but courteous to take the
story of her artistic career from that. She had lessons in drawing, as
many children do, but she gives no indication of a special love for art
until she visits Florence when fourteen years old, and her love of
pictures and statues is awakened. She spent hours in galleries, never
sitting down, without fatigue, in spite of her delicacy. She says: "That
is because the things one loves do not tire one. So long as there are
pictures and, better still, statues to be seen, I am made of iron." After
questioning whether she dare say it, she confides to her readers: "I
don't like the Madonna della Sedia of Raphael. The countenance of the
Virgin is pale, the color is not natural, the expression is that of a
waiting-maid rather than of a Madonna. Ah, but there is a Magdalen of
Titian that enchanted me. Only--there must always be an only--her wrists
are too thick and her hands are too plump--beautiful hands they would be
on a woman of fifty. There are things of Rubens and Vandyck that are
ravishing. The 'Mensonge' of Salvator Rosa is very natural. I do not
speak as a connoisseur; what most resembles nature pleases me most. Is it
not the aim of painting to copy nature? I like very much the full, fresh
countenance of the wife of Paul Veronese, painted by him. I like the
style of his faces. I adore Titian and Vandyck; but that poor Raphael!
Provided only no one knows what I write; people would take me for a fool;
I do not criticise Raphael; I do not understand him; in time I shall no
doubt learn to appreciate his beauties. The portrait of Pope Leo X.--I