Giove?' ... asked Capar.

'No _sir_!... I run dead against classic art: it's a drug. I tried my
hand at it when I first came to Rome. Will you believe me, I never sold
a picture. Why that very painting'--pointing to the Borgia--'is on a
canvas on which I commenced The Subjugation of Adonis.'

'H'm! You find the class of Middle Age subjects most salable then?'

'I should think I did. Something with brilliant colors, stained glass
windows, armor, and all that, sells well. The only trouble is,
ultramarine costs dear, although Dovizzelli's is good and goes a great
ways. I sold a picture to an Ohio man last week for two hundred dollars,
and it is a positive fact there was twenty _scudi_ (dollars) worth of
blue in it. But the infernal Italians spoil trade here. Why, that fellow
who paints Guide's Speranzas up there at San Pietro in Vineulo is as
smart as a Yankee. He has found out that Americans from Rhode Island
take to the Speranza, because Hope is the motto of their State, and he
turns out copies hand over fist. He has a stencil plate of the face, and
three or four fellows to paint for him; one does the features of the
face, another the hand, and another rushes in the background. Why, sir,
those paintings can be sold for five _scudi_, and money made on them at
that. But then what are they? Wretched daubs not worth house-room. Have
you any thoughts of purchasing paintings?'

Caper smiled gently.... 'I had not when I first came to Rome, but how
long I may continue to think so is doubtful. The temptations' (glancing
at the Borgia) 'are very great.' ...

'Rome,' ... interrupted the artist, ... 'is the cradle of art.'