Part 14

One morning Thomas got up with the sun and went out into the garden to sketch. There was in the garden a wonderful pear-tree full of ripe pears, and the pears had been disappearing very mysteriously. While Thomas was making his drawings he saw a man's face appear suddenly above the stone wall. He quickly made a sketch of the face, and frightened the man before he could get away with the fruit. At the breakfast-table the young artist told his father what he had done and showed him the sketch. His father knew the man and sent for him. When the man was accused of stealing the pears he denied it, but when he was shown the picture Thomas had made of him he confessed that he had taken the pears.

Artists, like all of us, want to lay down rules for every one to follow who is doing their same kind of work. Sir Joshua Reynolds said, "The masses of light in a picture ought to be always of a warm, mellow colour--yellow, red, or yellowish white; and the blue, the grey, or green colours should be kept almost entirely out of the masses." Gainsborough did not agree with him. To show Sir Joshua that he was wrong Gainsborough painted pictures in blue and green. The famous "Blue Boy" alone proved that he was right. The boy has on a blue satin suit and he stands out-of-doors in green grass with green foliage and blue sky around him. When Sir Joshua saw Gainsborough's blue-green pictures he said frankly, "I cannot think how he produces his effects."

These two men were never good friends yet when Gainsborough was near death Sir Joshua Reynolds came to his bedside, and when Gainsborough died Reynolds was one of the pall-bearers.

THE SLEEPING GIRL

JAN VAN DER MEER OF DELFT (1632-1675)

I want you to know and love the Dutch pictures. The painters were called "little masters," simply because they painted small pictures for the homes. For the homes! The Dutch wanted pictures to hang on their walls; pictures they could live with. Now what do you think of the "Sleeping Girl"? Do you know I could live with that picture and feel that I always had something to make me happy? It is so homy. See how comfortable the girl is! Of course a good healthy girl has no business to be sleeping in the daytime, but we can forgive her now that van der Meer has caught her asleep and let us see her. Then look at that wonderful rug! Was ever anything so soft and velvety? If we knew about rugs we might tell its name and maybe its age.

Van der Meer had a way of catching people without their knowing it. He seems to have cut a piece out of the wall where he peeped in and painted what he saw. We are glad the girl left the door open into another room so that we can see the table and pictures and part of the window-frame. I think these things are reflected in a looking-glass.

Van der Meer painted only about forty pictures, and eight of those are in the United States. They are among our greatest art treasures.

ST. ANTONY AND THE CHRIST-CHILD

BARTHOLOME ESTEBAN MURILLO (1618-1682)

Many very curious legends are told of St. Antony of Padua, who died in 1231. He was a close friend of St. Francis (see "St. Francis and his Birds," page 76). One story says that one time he was preaching about the Savior when the child Jesus came and sat on his open Bible. It is this story that Murillo painted his picture to illustrate. Again and again Murillo has shown us St. Antony with the Christ-child, but never more beautifully than here. This is one of Murillo's greatest religious pictures.

Another story is told of St. Antony. One day he was preaching the funeral sermon of a rich young man when he exclaimed:

"His heart is buried in his treasure-chest; go seek it there and you will find it."

Sure enough when the friends of the rich young man opened the treasure-chest there was the heart, and no heart was found in the young man's dead body.

KING LEAR

EDWIN AUSTIN ABBEY (1852-1911)

The story of "King Lear" is one of the most pitiful of Shakespeare's play. It is about the thanklessness of children to a father. Old King Lear had three daughters--Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. He loved these daughters dearly and he believed that they loved him. As he grew old in life he thought he would divide his kingdom and property among them equally; then there would be no trouble about his wealth after he was dead. Of course he expected to make his home with them in turn as long as he lived. Naturally he went to Goneril, the eldest daughter, first. Very soon he found that he was not wanted. She had the money--her father's money--but why should she be troubled with her old father? He then went to Regan, his second child, but she too refused to make a home for him. The third daughter, Cordelia, loved her father dearly and wanted him to live with her that she might care for him in his old age. By a strange mishap the old father thought that Cordelia, his beloved child, was false to him. He wandered off on the heath in a fearful storm and at last found shelter in a hut where he thinks even his faithful dogs are against him. He cries out pitifully:

The little dogs and all, Tray, Blanche and Sweetheart, see they bark at me.

Abbey has painted the scene when the old king is leaving heart-broken, for he thinks Cordelia, the child he loves best, is deserting him. Cordelia, knowing how false her sisters are, is saying:

I know you what you are; And, like a sister, am most loath to call Your faults as they are named. Love well our father.

Abbey's story of "The Holy Grail" in the Boston Library is one of America's great series of paintings for wall decoration.

SUNSET IN THE WOODS

GEORGE INNESS (1825-1894)

Whenever you can, I want you to find out what the painter says about his own pictures. We feel very glad that George Inness told us about "Sunset in the Woods." He said in 1891: "The material for my picture was taken from a sketch made near Hastings, on the Hudson, New York, twenty years ago. This picture was commenced seven years ago, but until last winter I had not obtained any idea equal to the impression received on the spot. The idea is to express an effect of light in the woods at sunset."

What a wonderful glow he has on those trees beyond the big rock away back in the picture. And see the light on the trunk of the big tree near us. I believe the light is gradually disappearing as we look. Somehow we feel the birds are twittering as they go to bed and the flowers are nodding their heads, they are so sleepy. Soon it will be dark and the owl will screech and the night insects will buzz. Come, we must go home or we cannot see our way!

INDEX

Abbey, Edwin Austin, 98, 99

Angelico, Fra Giovanni, 38, 39