The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1876-12-08
THE WHITE LADY OF wATFORD.

OF all the thousands who, passing
through toe English collection in the
Centennial Exhibition of pictures, have
stopped with something like amaze
ment in their admiration before Petties
wonderful work that hangs setween the
three Tademas and the portrait Of Sir
Joshua Reynolds, how many know the
story Of the picture, or even its history?
Every body must stop and gaze Al It,
and, although what we technically call
a " nude, u is unlike any other repre-
sentation Of the female form and char
aetsr that Is 10 be found in these crowd
ed galleries. The canvas Is only 80 by
40 inches. and represents q beautiful
girl standing upon the edge of brook
In a dense and tangled grove. IL is
night, and a soft ray Of moonlight fall
inc through the trees touches her white
face and body, and glOTifies then with
luster which, though purely material,
instantly suggests 80 the senses that
preternatural " shining white spoken
Of in Scripture, and always associated in
our minds with the spiritual body.
You do not ask yourself why the girl
is there In the shadows Of the wood IN
attired, for II appears eminently proper
that she should be there. She Is indeed
part OF the scene. With one hand
resting upon the bole Of al old oak, she
leans slightly forward a. if To look I'M
der the interlacing branches into the
darkness and distance where there
glimmers PARKWAY light. The night
airs lift the ends Of her long tresses
gently and ripple the surface of the
black pool She is listening.
ANY thing more beautiful than the at
titude and expression of the woman l
have not seen conveyed in color. Every
line in her body is a curve Of beauty,
indicating health, elasticity, vigor and
grace; bat the combination is sOftened
and enriched with an ideslity that is
rare. The unobtrusive innocence and
chastity, the luminous poetic atmos
phere, the mystery and romance, aside
from the technical excellence of the
work, give the picture character AND
a charm at once distinctive and novel
Il is portrait of a woman who LIVED
in the latter part Of the eighteenth cen
tury, and the artist made an attempt I,
commemorate an actual incident in he
life. The facts of that life have beer
gathered by that arduous antiquary
William Beckworth Forse, and il Is up
on the basis of his strange but intensel,
interesting narrative that Mr.. Petit
made his picture.
From this narrative we learn that 81
William Richardson lived in Hereford
shire on an ancestral estate Of severa
hundred acres, which ran TO the has
of the Malvern hills, and was partl
Overlooked by the remains of an oil
Roman fortress, still 10 be seen, an
which is known az the HerefOrdshir
Beacon" Sir William lost his VIII
while visiting the Marqnesas islands i
1894, where he had been sent as gov
eminent commissioner. The lady ha
but Just arrived and was being brough
ashore, when the boats containing he
party were attacked by large body q
naked savages who were in the water
and who had successfully disarmed sus
picion by pretending TO exhibit thel
skill as swimmers. Lady Richardson
who was pregnant at the time, wa
saved from violence, and the savage
were repulsed, but the fright prove
too great, and, after giving birth TO
female child, she died.
Heartbroken, Sir William returne,
TO England, few months later, wit
his child, and, retiring from publ