whites and limpid blues, with here and there a dash of red to indicate a
scarf or sash--astonished his old teachers. Here were pictures painted in
an hour that outmatched any of the carefully worked out, methodical
attempts of the Academy! It was all life, life, life--palpitating life.

The sketches were shown, the men in power interviewed, and the city of
Barcelona ordered Fortuny to paint one large picture to be eventually
placed in the Parliament House to commemorate the victory of General
Prim.

As an earnest of good faith a remittance of five hundred dollars
accompanied the order.

The war was short. At the battle of Wad Ras the enemy was routed after a
pitched fight where marked dash and spirit were shown on both sides.

And so this was to be the scene of Fortuny's great painting. Hundreds of
sketches were made, including portraits of General Prim and various
officers. Fortuny set about the work as a duty to his patrons who had so
generously paved the way for all the good fortune that was his. The
painting was to be a world-beater; and Fortuny, young, strong,
ambitious--knowing no such word as fail--went at the task.

Fortuny had associated with many artists at Rome and he had heard of that
wonderful performance of Horace Vernet's, the "Taking of the Smalah of
Abd-el-Kader." This picture of Vernet's, up to that time, was the largest
picture ever held in a single frame. It is seventy-one feet long and
sixteen feet high. To describe that picture of Vernet's with its thousand
figures, charging cavalry, flashing sabers, dust-clouds, fleeing cattle,
stampeding buffalos, riderless horses, overturned tents, and