WOMAN IN ART
Thus does one canvas portray a chapter in history, and the character, taste, and extravagance of a woman who made a monetary and moral bankrupt of her family, her country, and her influence as mother and queen.
Two self-portraits of Mme. Lebrun are in the same gallery, the familiar one with the large hat and sparkling eyes, the other as she playfully caresses her little daughter. Her portrait of the Baroness de Crussol is one of her most attractive works, because of its absolute ease and the sweet naturalness of expression. The texture of accessories equals or rivals that of the Flemish masters, as does the color and technique. Velvet, satin, fur, and the wealth of hair escaping from the broad brim of the hat, are exquisite, while the pose—sitting sideways in an upholstered chair, an arm resting on the back—is perfectly natural as she looks over the right shoulder. The parted lips assure you that she is really speaking to you, or to the painter at the easel.
The charm of the picture is, and doubtless was the charm of the Countess. The secret of Mme. Lebrun's success was the fact that she painted characteristics and that illusive something we call charm, that being as individual as eyes and hair, although indescribable; a gift of spirit that enables an artist to catch the spirit of another, her own being the animating genius.
Such was the great gift that signalized Raphael above other fifteenth century painters. In the later centuries we see that such spirit was beginning to brighten and quicken other gifted souls.
That other portion of the fairies' prophecy also came true, for the art of Mme. Lebrun took her to all the capitals of Europe, and seemed to lengthen her life and art to the span of ninety-three years.
Before that span was rounded out, however, another artist was born to add glory to France. We are not told that she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but surely the first thing Rosa Bonheur grasped must have been a crayon. She was a painter from childhood, with the gift that enabled her to catch the spirit of animal life which she really loved, no less than their manifold actions. Parentally and by gift of the genii at her birth, the child was blessed in being la Bonheur, for a sweet disposition and good fortune were life-long blessings to her.
Her mother was of noble birth, her father a born artist, but handicapped by circumstances, disappointed aims and ambitions. Thinking to do better for his family in Paris, he moved there from Bordeaux where their four children were born; but even in Paris he found the same conditions of "little
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