The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-10-20

over it was suddenly ended by the stranger
walking away as abruptly as be had Joined Us.
Who is that gentlemau?n | asked.
rs 1T pr ssibie you do not know himy fod
must both pardon me- ! thought you We're
acquainted with each Others" and without re-
plying to my question, my companion lett me
suddenly and went in pursuit OF the stranger.
In a few moments they came back together.
and Mr.. Leu,ze was presented TO me.
LeutZe took chair beside me and began
cOnver. alton in ton slightly modified: u little
more Difference not much could have been ob-
served IN It, though or The slightest provocatlon
his sel'-assettion was very prominent.
OF course directed the talk to his own works
as soon as could, although at first we spoke of
places in Europe we had visited, certain famous
buildings or landscapes, or places not so famous
but which had pleased our tas.e and fancy He
talked OF Rome with me, where had never
been, but towards which place my path was
| leading, and said be !elt at nome in every nart
! OF the great cny-he knew every Granny and
! nook.n
/ asked him if he remembered taking lessons
OF old Bubens Smlh years and years ago in
| philadelphia. His face frightened and grew
! almost boysh; IL wa, charming TO see the hard
lines placed on IL by manhood's work and hard
| earned experience soten down at the mention
Of a long long past lie smiled almost tenderly
and replied,
eyes, yes; took perspective lessons of Smith
and an excellent teacher he was. Excellent /"
l mentioned to him part of what l have
already related, and he listened with delighted
interest. lie remem bered perfectly the class he
used 10 meet on the : aIrway and was gratifed
! at my repeating to hlm his masters praise,
and especially the delight and triumph the
old man had displayed over the youthful sue
! Cess-the picture OF the Indian gazing at a sun
set Leutze was piea'ed also when l recalled
! some other popular pictures of his youth.
! This was happy opening to a talk on his
! later works, and mentioned his mural paint
! ing on the Capitol staircase, Westward Ho!n
! which | had been locking at carefully few
! days before. LeutZe entered upon the subject
OF this picture which redoubed interest, and
! grew almost eloquent as he described his visit
to the Rocky Mountains and his preparatory
| studies for this great picture
81 know the scenery is correct, - he reiterated.
An nterrogatory remark which made added
TO his eradication We had talked about the
various groups 10 this picture, and had spoken
particularly of the one on the mountain height
to the lett of the lo?6er-on-.he sick mother
kind father and edper children; then the
wagon with the young New England matron,
"Both OF these are representative women Mr..
Leutze," said; SOU allow me to ask youa
question. Thele Is i group almost Ill the centre
OF your piCture-i our g Irish woman seated
on an ass holding child-the ass is led by a
tSaa6 hgF0 Did you not mean this to
new truth which this part of the world
| is to accept-that the cnigrant and the freed
man are the two great clements which are to be
reConclled and worked With Tue ouug, beau.
tiiul Irish woman, T. o, is she not your new
Madolna?n
The artists face aloTed, and grim smile
geaIhea out from un er the rough moustache;
~,
brow and cheeks grew >oft, and his eyes fairly
laughed with JOY at my com preheEson of his
thoughts In the flush of his pleasure he told
ne | was the first Am 3rIcan that had under
| stood his picture, TIls was pretty Complt-
ment, and his lips wee quite unused to utter
suCh therefore we must be indulgent when
1T is disclosed that, like most hattery, it
had little truth in II. / learned afterwards
that although my Interpretation was original SO
far as | was concerned, it had been made by
Others and approved OF by the artist. But no
| Wn In &. tl,.,
had pleasant talk, which not only gratiied us
both, but l trust will please the readers OF
| Lippnc0H
! We spoke of a pic IRE Of his which I hal
! lately seen az the house OF Mr.. Riggs, the
| Washington banker, aud which had interested
me deeply. He gave me an account of the
circumstances that led to the painting ard an
explanation of the meaning of the picture
Wnen Getome's "Ouel atIer the Masquerade"
appeared, 1t Was csllei complete homy on
| the masquerade" Leutze disapproved of this
expression. A masquerade in itself is not
! wicked amusement. and duel certainly is not
hOmIly, even supposlng the wild gayety needed
! one. A duel too might take place after supper
| or even any business occupation; so there was
! no homily conveyed by the picture, which was,
however, none the les: clever and attractive as
! a work Of art
! Leutze resolved to paint a homily on the
masquerade, and on certain kind OF masque-
radlLg that might cal for lesson of reproof.
! Tue ARTIST SAID he chose the early morning of
Ash Wednesday, HIS panJng represents
several masquers Ereturning irom the closing
gayeties of Venetian carnival. They are III
gOudola: lovely women are garlanded with
flowers; the men arc IN various costumes; and
/ the whole party Is just giving utterauce to the
brilliant, overOrmmng spirit OF the moment.
The gondola is approaching the Bridge of Signs,
! from under which Is seen coming slowly out
boat, with figures sanding shrouded in black,
and lying In 1t, wtn face tull front to the early
! dawn. is a dead body
The clown who stands in the centre of the
masking group has just taken his cIthern or
mandolin to accompany the bacchanallan chant
! which is TO be the closIng song OF the reVelry!
probably he is TO slug the solo verse OF chorus.
just as the fingers are ready to strike
the spirited, rhytbmcal beat to b is song, the
clowns eyes catch a sight of the ppturned face
! of the corpse, whicn lie sees dimly, lying still
! and calm, hands folded on the breast, all
worldly work over, all earthly trial and pain at
an end. The music Is arrested. The man per-
| sonatiug the clown looks appalled,, out his
companions who do not see the boat, are iglo-
rant both OF his feelings and of the grim, horri-
BILE sight at which he Is looking.
We morallzed little on the picture, and our
! conversation assumed a sad tone, somewhat at
variance with our co II pany, which was pleasant
merry-making. There was music and talk on
pictures and politics. on great singers and
statesmen, flowing beside us, and our serious
words, like the clowns cause OF terror, passed
on unnoticed.
We were interrupted by the host, who came
to take me INTO SUPPER, and Lentze and l sepa
rated. at supper l not seated near the
artist so had no chance to resume our talk.
When we left the supper-room, bade LeutZe
goodbye, and told him it had pleased me very
much 10 meet him and have SO pleasant n
conversation with him. He courteously hoped
we might see each her again, but we never
did.
few days after left Washington, and during
the summer this distinguished and successful
artist oied very suddenly in that city. When
heard shocked tprrihlV