St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1865-05-18

failed me. I waited until We we're
clear Of the town to produce my cigar
case, and presently had the morti6ca-
tion Of turning very pale before the
coachman. a =, E2st - sss
aaoh ftsH5 ii s:ssa s<,s d s.ss,ges.gs .4
A month or so after that eventful
day, /, WIS establshedt,s an art student
inH Berners-street, London. i had =
b hundred = year. which, my father as
sured me, vas an ample. allowance, to
live upon, and the entree to Mr.. Mas
tics academy, hard BY. The expenses
of my tuition at that establishment were
betrayed out Of that parental purse
and when I state that fifteen shillings
month was the sum charged for ad.
mission, it will be observed that the
outset of my career was not attended
by much investment Of capital. Mr..
Mastic had Termed ! .iine. collection of
:easts from the antique, which we're
ranged around his gallerysfor tho beae-
fit Of his pupils. I There vas'the Fight
ing Gladiator stretching his btawny
limbs half across the room !; and the
Discobolus, With somethingike the epd
of an oyster. barrels balanced i: ia one
hand :; and'the Apollo, . very elegant
young man in = cloak, whow supps-
ed, just TO havenshot It some one with
an invisible bow aud arrow, aud seemed
very much 81, ,prised At the result s. and
.the Mediei Venus, whom one. of our
fellows always would! call the medical.
Venus on account Of its frequent :ap-
pearauce on small scale in the chem
lists shops, bedecked with galvanic
chains and elastic bandages for feeble
joints and varicoseS veins. And there
vas the Venus Of Milo, whose clothes
seemed falling off for want of arms to
hold them up; and chaste Diana, strid-
ing along by the side Of her fawn; aud
Eve, contemplating herself in, IN i'm
aginary fountain, or: examining the ap-
pie in a graceful attitude. With all
these ladies and gentlemen in due time
made acquaintance, learned to admire
their exquisite proportions, and derive
from them and the study of Mr.. Mas
tics diagrams that knowledge of artis-
tic anatomy which L have since found
50 eminently useful to me in my pro
fessional career. =. ,>Es-. -; :.:..
Rumor asserts that Mastic had him.
self dissected for years at Guys Hos
pital, and had thus acquired great pro-
6cieucy in this branch of his art; which
indeed, he seems to value beyond all
others. He knew the names IF all the
muscles bv heart, their attachments,
origin, insertion-what not Ere
quently I have known the honest fe]-
low remove bis cravat to show US the
action Of the sterno-cleidomastoid and
he was never SO happy as when he was
demonstrating, as he called it, in some
fashion, the wondrous beauties of the
human form. Mastic never exhibited
his pictures. The rejection OF some Of
his early works by the Royal Academy
had inflicted, q deep, wound upon the
painters sensibllities, which time could
never; heal; He talked with bitter
scorn Of ths establishment in Trafalgar
Square; hung the, walls Of his ,antelier
with: acres Of canvass, and was often
heard to remark that if the public want
ed to see what he coald do, they might
come there and judge Of his merits. I
regret t., add that few .vailcd them
selves Of this golden opportunity. 1t
might BE that bis art was Of too lofty I
character to suit the ago; Or perhaps
as neglected genius is won't Is do
he slightly oyerrated his own abilities.
Certain it IS, that as year after year he
devoted his talents to. the illustration of
history,.or the realization Of the poets
dreams, these efforts Of his brush,
whether in the field Of fact or fiction,
remained unheeded in his studio, lost
to oil eyes except our own and-even
We, his faithful pupils, did not perhaps
/ appreciate them to the extent which
they. deserved. As We pro6ted. by his
experience, We improved our judgment
and by-and-by began to end faults
where We had once seen nothing but
perfection. I became student Of the
Royal Academy, was admitted to paint
in the "Life School" and soon grew
ambitious enough to treat subjects Of
my own. The Pre-Raphaelite school
had just arisen. Men were beginning
TO feel that modern art had too long
been looked upon as an end rather than
: means, and preferred returning to an
earlier and less sophisticated style oi
! painting. They said, let rs have truth
hrst,. aud beauty afterwardsi il We oar