ART AND ARTISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2849, 21 October 1908, Page 81

ART AND ARTISTS.

MR DUDIiEY HARDT. " ~i.[ ": $ A representative of a London' - pn^verr' Avrites : — . I called at the artiste oharHttng j-stud^ft; in Kensington, and found him busy "with" one of his wonderful impressionist pictures. "I want you to tell me some stories," I began. , '. \ '•Very well," said Mr Dudley Hardy ; "I can tell stories and paint at the same timeso make yourself comfortable and help yourself to the cigarettes." I did so, and while with rapid, enre touch ; the .artistmade the picture literally .-grow before my eyes, he plunged into- reminiscences. .. '■ '"I was very keen on, going to sea when I was a* hoy. Yes, I know that most boys fc are, but if I had been left to myself I should have gone. I suppose it was in the blood, for my father was T. B. Hardf,! the marine painter, and perhaps "I >;ha>df looked at his pictures so often that Tlen^d to sail on the briny instead of painting it. However, at the age of 14 I was packed: off to Dusseldorf, and was the only Englishman — or boy — among 700 students. At- .a vety early 6tage in my career there* nearly ' reduced the- number to 699, for I oa-mo -within an ace of tilling a boja cJTor* the first few months I had a frightfaJ i r!fe,'' s and was almost too miserable to sleep^-JMvu fellow-students covered the walls ofvllfe studio with the most horrible caricatures of poor me, and one big fellow, who was a German count, used to treat me with the most horrible cruelty. • I don't know whether he meant to be a buUy,^ l>ut,he was all the same. ' '",;-- "There was a flight of 'stone *sbess; leag-* ing tc the top of the building* aa^,«i£r day, just as I reached the < lop V-frjpijjj^ffi saw this man following otosW 'behalicfc In his^ bullying way he raised 'his^-islfne-jiw* swish me, "as he had done many ss- iaroe before, but a sort of devil-may-care^ feeling took possession of me, and I jumped under his stick, without thinkyig^of consty, quences. I bowled, him; -oter l»cfewaiw»^ and he shot down the whole 'iiigiit;ofr : et»p%,* with me on top of him, and alighted on. his back at the bottom^J.. sitting straight up on his chest. The Count was laid up for weeks, and . during that ••time I - : tada peace and quietness- He was not suen a bad sort alter all, for when he came? bajck ha walked 6t>raight np to wher^ . j vtak working and held out' bis hand, and said he was- sorry and that it was his own fault. 1 My stay at Dusseldorf after that was- very much pleasanter." ?>"> —A First-class "Sell."— "Phil Mby was a- groat chum of yours, wa&n't ie.?" I asked^ . , , , f^ ri ,. "Yes," saM,Du4;ey;H«4 X i.;"aii«l;ajtneiM, kind-hGarted, genoaJ fellow never breathed. He and I had ; -many a food ;time tggejlg^,, I remember, in our early days, we were going d*mn to Sheffield together, and as some important peoplef \%s&fc>" going tat meet us at the station he proncse-cL^at .we^houldi go first 'olasß, althou^f ■neiflrer lof Saaa • could afforci it. You weuldj; fea.r^Vjr. -be^jire it, but it is a fact, nevertheless, 1 that ft wasn't until we stepped out at Sheffield station wo discovert that we had been travelling tihird all the time with first class tickets ! "Another funny thing happened in the train once when T was travelling- with Phil. There was a rxth*n? , iraporfcapt-<l6oJtßJfe individual si+im;? in the ' same', c&niage with \n in the far- corneK,. very fdiligenSy reading liis paper.'^ilwfiich held' ; tieWß his face. We jiappened vto have five-pound note heiwee-n us. and Phil, who. > ;vsag £ xflpdy to make a joke out of aiiything'.^OT^Bsed that we should protend to be plamig for very lug-h stake-:. Tho way that fi^poiinj^ nofce- rustied backward* and forwarro asSSI rhangod hands during the game w^h ajna& ing. When we appeared to haye J lo^f^^, won a hundred pounds, th-o man^n^SS^ corner droppricl his paper and. leaning- toward? us with a grin, said-- • c HffHqarPhtl I' J That's a da^hftl °ro<xl game you've had !' For fiic* Phil blushed, for the. man turned'! out Jo b«* an ole friend of his, who 1 'had been lancrhing at us behind hia paper »11 the Umc." ' . — Putting a Dun to_ Flight. — ''V\ T ell. you're fond of a joke yourself,*- 1 I said, "and I should think you h»ve"been J i:x for as many of the practical kind 'as- any m.iii in. Ixhkloh." j "Yes," ?akl Dudley Hardy, "and occasionally they pay very well. One time when I" wa-3 hard up and a dun was after me, J had just removed into a new studio, qnd several of my artwt friends had come in to help me hang mv pictures and get my furniture straight. There was a good 1 deal of larking going on ail the time, as you ] may guess, and just as* a knock came at the door one of- the fellows happened to b© ! standing- on the top of a ladder flourishing a couple of silver-mounted pistols I pos- ; se~«.ed at rhat time, and pretending" to bo ; a sort of ravir.g lunatic. Now, as I was ' not expecting any visitors I >haS a sort ' of prosentiment who it was knocking at ! the tloor. 1 took a peep, and, sure enough, j them was my friend the dun ! I rushed . to the door and opened it. *■ Oh, I'm «=o ■ gifld you've rome,' I said; ' there's a fellow ! iiiside suddenly g-one mad. and he's threatening to shoot us all. You're a. big fellow, you'll be able to master him,' and seizing him by the coat I dragged him into the room. There stocd my friend on the top of the ladder, and, twigging how the ! la.rti.l lay. with a yell he !«tpt into tho j middle cf the ro-.ni, bianuishuijr the pistole, j I rn.\er •=«« a man more scared in. my life than that dun was; he -imply turned and flfxl, lauqing th«^ <!oor behind him, and I didn't -cc him again for snonths." — Funny Models — "You are always on the lookout for charactcr> I supi)csc?" ■•Ye.-,," ,-a.d Dudiny Hardy. _ "I think charworafii aro abcut the funniest I como iicrc;--s. I havp «tudir<l dozens. Two of them came to •nquire for work one day, and after some conversation I said to one ■of them : ' And how much will you want for a day's work?' 'Three an' six for me, if you please, sir,' she ?aid; 'an' three an' six for the other lidy.' "When I was painting the picture which now hangs in the Sheffield Gallery T went towards the docks to get a certain model. I saw the fellow I wanted, and arranged with him to come to me at 3 o'clock the next day. He turned up promptly withhis hair cut, his face washed, a-nd h ; s best clothes on. I told him. to go slway, as he was no use- to me. 'I wanted you in your

rough clothes, you idiot,' I eaid. ' Orl right, gTiv'jior,' he said, quite amiably, although I had spoken so angrily ; 'don't ! 'git yet Harf a mo I' It was raining heafrily at the time, and this ridiculous" S&Uow actually went round the cornea:, foui|tt +ho thickest patch of mud, and rolled in it. Then he returned, but, ;as he wag, -worse th*n ever, I N gave Mm jisoniethinf*.|^r his zeal and sent him off. '\A. favourite mcdel. of mine was an oldf '^cabman wfio" was past work. He used to oall on me very often to see if he could be ■j;~qt*giy Uso* zl was going to Paris one morning when he called, and as I had nothing 1 for him to do I got him to pack my beg. During the packing operations the follow- ' ing conversation took place : ' Well,' 6ai<£ the old man, 'you're goin' to Paris. ' You're a 'lucky one, you are, always agoin' away. Me — I ain't bad no 'oliday since . two years come Michaelmas, but we - did -'aye a beano t<hen, an' no mistake. We Sweht dahn to 'Enley- woT 'ad a poultry : /<iiirner. There was waiters a-waitin' -with fw-hitel gloves on', an' the- ■ vittles — well, X "»ev«T did sse nothink like .itU, There was only one thing that 6poiled ft, an' I'vealways bin as it come after dinner 4,nd" not' afore. We went on the river m boats, nii^d_-jou, an' pore 'Arris an' Da vie g^&t drowned, an' there wasn't even a tin whistle played all the way 'ome — no! # ( TJhose washdays !' " * I . . . f TI£IAN AND MILLAIS. j ' — Two" of Their Famous Pictures.— j Titian's "Bacchus and Ariadne" and of St. Agn«s" aie>- euocesaful, both" because they express exactly the I ! : iiame state if mind as the poetry which , inspire^ and because the subjectmatter of ) ,,that poetry was capable of being represented in a picture. r The "Bacchus and Ariadne" is probably; --«»% finest' illustration to poetry that exists. 'had imagined a world of -pagan *- fO#tjgjoeg|jWKl he "iiepired -Titian to repre- ., Sfgt^s>V^Eho picture is most scrupulously £Wtaps&&yl all the details which the poet rg&.delecj{#>ed; and they ore all pictorial' i?"-ii the=uame way Keats imagined a world ; ofr nas«K#val romance, and inspired Millais toy lejOTSfiit it. The details were also 4 pTctorjjiJp&nd were soruplously followed by [■Jtlle. painter. fi -"But for aR this scrupulous cure, the pic- . tures would- not have bees good illustraI tions if the painter had not in each case h found romance just where the poets fouiuW , it. There was no need for Titian to force " tt himself, kito eKe ronuuddo mood of GatullusfE^ or for, Millais to force himself into th«Ti|rcnaantic\jnood of Ke«ts. r * Titian s lived in a time which* naturally : found^ rpmaace in paganism ; Milliais in ; a time 'wfrioh nattiraliy fotutd it in th»- * Middle .Ages. And thus, though the" painters -.feo far beyond what the- poeta nave described in their repnesentatioa oCg d&tail, yet they seem only to amplify thai ,l poets! descriptions, and never to departs "^from-Hhlm. '"' -"■ "* ■ ■ >» il-""'T^ey"Wingi 1 -""'T^ey"Wing Axi«ctae*aad Batid^me, li-*ingr* ,\ ;^nd ..ijr^athing, before, our eyes, and con- ■ vince us that they are the very women, \ living in the very same worlds, about whMSh ■ ' the poets wrote.; and they are able to do , this, to go thus beyond theix texts, withj out fear of transgression, because their minds are familiar with, the world* ' imagined by the poets.— Times. £ j FIRST COST OF PICTURES. j f i Prioes which run to five figures are f^ |- , quently given fox paintings by what i*»a^<|d old mastery." But what of "the- Jor^inal cost? A collector who has bc&n nrjaking inquiries quotes the follov- . iitg- /(itajCing figures: — * _,' " Mfoh^l Angeio, he found, was paid ojjjr about £10 a month while he was at work - gnu him cartoons of the battle of Pi£|. i^H°«nE ) ' w^° acte<^ a& his assistant, re« « J^T^F' o received less than £3 for kip Hn the Oarden," while Oarraot» j ".m^ujrection" brought its painter sSi Dure'i 'was seldbm' paid "in cash for his pen-and-ink portraits. A bag of flour, a pair of Boots, or come such equivalent)"" .satisfied him. ReiiAnuidt, "the mightiest genius," ceiyod . t as his highest £100 for "fli»* ' "NigM; "Watch." Velasquez worked chiejtfy, • for file 1 ■[Spanish Government. He was paid!" 1 ' on an average, £7 10s a picture. — "Strait' >l ) Stories."' l "yfi

I „ -i i < . ' j — Leather travelling "trunks were used ta ' Rome in the timo of Caesar. , „ i ' ■' - _ l.fU