ART AND ARTISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2665, 12 April 1905, Page 76

ART AND ARTISTS.

ANGELS OF STUDIOS.

— Women Artists Kmploved as Pos-er* For Religious Pictures. —

Posing for religious pictures is a business quite apart from the sitting for the artistic figure, and there are four models in N-cw York who make a specialty, of posing for artists and sculptors whose subjects are distinctly religious. For several years Miss Jectsie Williams has posed for various Madonnas. She is a young- woman of r.o g:eat beauty, but her face ha the soft, sympathetic expression which artists find it to be difficult to seem'e. Misj Williams posed for F. S. Church's "Madonna of the Sea," and from beginning to end the wor*k upon the picture, was tinged with humour. Mr Church first corceived the idea one day when down at Goncy Island, the last place one would think of in conjunction with Madonna?, whore he obtained the oentral idea of the cross formed of white seagulls flyittgi toward the land, just above the ' Madonna's head. The next day he sent for Miss Williams. The day was rainy and muddy. Miss Williams, who is evidently a prudent young woman, wore a pair of rubber boots and a short skirt, a costume, to be sure, not very conducive to the forming of a Madonna. Mr Church gave her an old _ grey gown lying about the studio. Twisting an old skirt into a bundle, he tied it with a cord, and from, this model, while Miss Williams gazed afc the rag doll, he made his beautiful Madonna.

Miss Marion French is known as "the angel of the studios." She has pesed more times as an angel than any other model in New York. Her features are delicate, her eyes are serene and placid, her hair golden, and she is, in fact, an ideal type. Whenever an artist is in need of an angel, Miss French may be seen about the studio.

Gertrude Henderson plays varied roles in religious posing. Madonnas are rarely attempted by Miss Henderson. She is posed for the odd picture, a St. Cecilia, a Ruth, or a Rebecca, such subjects being regarded as her particular domain. Slhe has received some dramatic training, has a peculiarly emotional face, and readily adapts her expression to suit the requirements of the artist.

That the painting of a religions picture depends a great deal -upon the imagination and creative power of the artist or sculptor there can b& no doubt, for as a matter of fact there is nothing save tradition to build on. There is no special model which has been handed down to us from Biblical times. There is a general type that has been established. As this is the case, it takes much study and work to select a model whose features suit the religious groups, which explains why there are so few models of all those who frequent the ISlew York studio districts who aro able to pose for religious pieces. — New York Times.

RUSKIN AND TURNER

In one sense the whole body of Ruskin'g arc work was written around Turner. The genius ot the painter was the pole star to which the genius of the critic 'all through his passionate and changeful career unfailingly pointed. There is no parallel in ait or literature to this splendid devotion, no memorial in letters like that which Ruskin raised to him whom he called "my earthlymaster." The glamour of Turner had possessed him while he was still little more than a boy. The seed from which '"Modern Painters" sprang was contained in the essay which he wrote in defence of Turnei against the critics in his seventeenth year.

His collection of Turners began with the Richmond Bridge, Surrey, in 1838, and th© joy of the son in possession was shared by his father. But even the devotion and resources of the father could not keep pace with the enthusiasm of the- son, and the purchase of the Harleeh for 70gs was the subject of the first of several conflicts between the two in the matter of the purchase of Turners, >the most serious being that concerning the "Rivers of France." series.

" One day." said Ruskin, "Turner came to me with a bundle in a dirty piece of brown paper under his arm. It contained the whole of his drawings for the 'Rivers of France.' ' You shall Have the whole series. John,' said he, 'unbroken, for 25gs apiece.' Ay.d my father actually thought I was mad to want them !" The enthusiasm of th© young man had more wisdom in it than the caution of the old wine merchant, who would have been sorely vexed had he lived to realise how his shrewdness was at fault, and what a fine investment he had missed.

Some years later Ruskin paid £1000 for 17 of the fi2 drawings, which he might once have had tor £25 apiece, and these he presented to Oxford.

By 1847 the parental purse-strings were unloosed, and henceforth the purchase of Turners became more liberal, and after the artist's death in 1851 Ruakin's letters to his father from Venice were full of instructions as to the sketches and drawees he was to purchase. Above- all, he was "to get mountains," and he was to avoid popular draw- 1 ings, which were ''neai'ly always bad," purchasing those which had ''a bad name among picture dealers." Bui Ruskin was disappointed, for when the will was proved it was found that the solitary genius had been hoarding his pictures as well as his wealth from the public, and that Ruskin himself was appointed as executor, with the gift of a mourning rins as his c ole reward. Ruskin threw himself into the new duties impo-ed with characteristic unselfishness ; but the labour of love was aVo a labour of sorrow. The lawyers who drink the health of the man who makes hi? own will had an admirable client in Tutiv-. whose economy produced a document which, joined to the lamentable nealect of the authorities, resulted in practically all the artist's intentions being defeated. No Turner Gallery was provided, and the money devised for a Charity for Artists went to relatives whom Turner intended to get nothing. His countrymen. said Rnskin, buried "with three-fold honoui Turner's body at St Pfiul's his pictures at Charing GrofS, and his purposes in Chancery." — Daily News.

— V!l return railway tickets in Prussia ard cood for at least 45 dars.