The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1874-03-14


tnpfdots. donnh, lofrnle ednlala and
soonos NJ apnciing, all oftleWliucH niid
horrors ~ the whole world Hooincd
rumpfoisel into This small space, nhl
seized up1n tie heart like tho gfnsp "
nn iCc.c0ld hand.
NrrOA tWO corners ~ tic room,
rough bOnfd partitions we're lHllt nnd
seeing sumG visitors pecplng through
| the crcyiccs into the spaces thus fhrtl-
| toned oil, | followed their example
| aud started back with u feeling Of IN
dcscribablc horror had been the IL
| voluntary witness Of most horrible
crime-lhe murder of child by It's
own mother. After few moments hes
ltutiun ! summoned courage to look
look again; ycs, there she sat, the UNI
natural mother, by the side OF the stove
putting the severed limbs of the babe
into II kettle of boiling water, while
she clasps the nangled body III her
arms. Looking closer 1T the mothers
face, saw the tears in her eyes ana
hunger and suffering stared from every
feature. My feeling of horror mingled
with that of pity and sorrow US
realized that through the desperation
of suffering has she become ma
MAC, and thus unconscious of the crllh-
inality of the deed she pcrpetratcs.
The picture is called "Hunger, folly,
crimc.r Peeping through another
crevice we saw Il dead man forcing his
way out of his coffin. This picture was
! made during the prevalence of cholera
as an epidemic in Brussels, and was
designed to show the city authorities
the effects of too hasty burials under
the Influence of fright, thus the artist
| hoped to save ut least Il few rom the
:, horrors of Il living burial. And who
was the artist? He was the son of an
Ardennes tailor, born in 1906, died in
l 1865, and his name was Antoine Wiertz'
+ He il was who erected this museum,
and he it was who painted the
pictures that hang upon its walls. Pow
erty and misery were the attendants ol
e his youth, and what he acquired OF
< fame he owed to no one but himself
: Like many artists, he showed the he!i'
of his genius i'm early life in making
) drawings, modelings III clay, and cary
4 ings in wood. AT fourteen he went Il
f Antwerp and became Il passionate adj
mirer of Rubens. Here he lived ant
' studied, accompanied still by poverty
5 and its attendants Of hunger and cold
) but the love for his art so fired his sou
It that he felt the privations compara
= lively little. He lived in glorious
!. dreams of future fame. and of fame on
IA ~, not Of the wealth and luxury
Il That fame might bring with II
:, For six years he thus toiicd
:. and in the midst of his poveri!
refused the most tempting offers I.
- paint for money. "Keep your gold,
II he would say, sit is the murderer 0
r. art" His idea was to leave to Bel
: GUM, us an inheritance, all of III
paintings, and Therefore he would neve
L sell any of them. Now and then IL
e painted portraits to keep soul ant
e body together, but the idea that ema
mated from his own mind, the crea
" lions of his own genius, were sacredl.
: kept for the one grand purpose whlcl
IS he never abandoned, the founding OF
n national museum. Isolated and seclu
;r ded was his life, and yet in what
world of horrors must he have dwell
e SO weird, grotesque and horrible ar
o the emanatiOnS of his creative &c
MUS! But often, as in the in
" stance previously mentioned, til
portrayal of II scene of terror was wit
y the intent of aiding some poor, suffer
:, ing fellow-creat,re. A C arity conceI
n was at one time given for the benefit o
>, children made orphans by the ravaGe
y of the cholera. Between the division
e of the programme q picture was uil
t. yelled before the audience; it repre-
l. scented scene, alas! only too common
- durng the prevalence of epidemics
" The rough pine coffin of the husban
\ and father being carried out of tn
lie dwelling by rude men, while the chi!
+z dren, with cries of anguish, cling to
and strive to wrest away the hands G
IL the men, and the weeping wife an
ii mother turns away her heal unable t
II endure the anguish of the scene. Vivi
r. and intense as the picture is, the 81
:. feet was electrical and no plea of word
- could have been so effective. Ami
:, great excitement munificent coGtri
q button was made.
II His pictures are sui generis. The
were not painted to please the taste c
s. the people. They are horrible realitie;
l. and although artists themselves fin
much to admire in the naturalness {
y. the coloring, the accurateness of oul
line and the fidelity of expression
'e those who judge of picture NOR
d from the beauty of its subject, tn
" charm of the idea sought to be poi
), trayed, will lind.Wiertz's paintings nc
only unattractive but repulsive. TN
IS world is full enough of crime, sufferin
ID and sorrow in reality, and when we as
t, ccnd into the realm of art we desir
=. really to ascend, to leave the coarse an
. terrible things ofearth and refresh Oul
selves amid creations of beauty an
"a. nj