FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68  
69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   >>   >|  
tly by the trim state of her room,--by the hour-glass on the table,--by the evident use of all the books she has, (well bound, every one of them, in stoutest leather or velvet, and with no dog's-ears,) but more distinctly from another picture of her, not asleep. In that one a prince of England has sent to ask her in marriage: and her father, little liking to part with her, sends for her to his room to ask her what she would do. He sits, moody and sorrowful; she, standing before him in a plain house-wifely dress, talks quietly, going on with her needlework all the time. A work-woman, friends, she, no less than a princess; and princess most in being so. In like manner, is a picture by a Florentine, whose mind I would fain have you know somewhat, as well as Carpaccio's--Sandro Botticelli--the girl who is to be the wife of Moses, when he first sees her at the desert well, has fruit in her left hand, but a distaff in her right.[2] "To do good work, whether you live or die," it is the entrance to all Princedoms; and if not done, the day will come, and that infallibly, when you must labour for evil instead of good. _Fors Clavigera_ (Sunnyside, Orpington, Kent, 1872). FOOTNOTES: [2] More accurately a rod cloven into three at the top, and so holding the wool. The fruit is a bunch of apples; she has golden sandals, and a wreath of myrtle round her hair. THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS (_RUBENS_) EUGENE FROMENTIN Many people say _Antwerp_; but many also say _the country of Rubens_, and this mode of speech more exactly expresses all the things that constitute the magic of the place: a great city, a great personal destiny, a famous school, and ultra-celebrated pictures. All this is imposing, and our imagination becomes excited rather more than usual when, in the centre of the _Place Vert_, we see the statue of Rubens and, farther on, the old basilica where are preserved the triptychs which, humanly speaking, have consecrated it. The statue is not a masterpiece; but it is he, in his own home. Under the form of a man, who was nothing but a painter, with the sole attributes of a painter, in perfect truth it personifies the sole Flemish sovereignty which has neither been contested nor menaced, and which certainly never will be. [Illustration: THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS. _Rubens._] At the end of the square is seen Notre Dame; it presents itself in profile, being outlined by one of its lateral f
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68  
69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Rubens

 

statue

 

painter

 

princess

 
picture
 

DESCENT

 

pictures

 

personal

 

school

 

imposing


famous
 

celebrated

 
destiny
 
country
 

RUBENS

 

EUGENE

 
FROMENTIN
 

myrtle

 
wreath
 
apples

golden

 

sandals

 

people

 

expresses

 
things
 
constitute
 

speech

 

Antwerp

 

basilica

 

contested


menaced

 
perfect
 

personifies

 

Flemish

 

sovereignty

 
Illustration
 

outlined

 

profile

 
lateral
 

presents


square

 

attributes

 

farther

 
excited
 

centre

 

masterpiece

 

triptychs

 

preserved

 

humanly

 

speaking