The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1878-05-24
ITIAN'S LAUGHTER.

UTIAN'S LAUGHTER.
-
Ihou dost not admire that picture,
Giulio2' said the great painter, Tiziano
Fecelh, of Venice to his faverite pupil,
Giulio Mantoni.
-, 81, sighor but whose portrait is
~ When was it painted and where
hs itbeen until now ?H
Thou dost not ask who painted IT.
Hast no curiosity, hast no wish to learn
this %
" Curiosity enough, as thou we'll
knowet, signor, to prove my descent
frum Eve, whose falling that way lost a
paradise TO Adam. But I need not ask
who painted thus, for there is only one
who can paint thus. There is only one
pencil which can blend such besutiful
colOring with such free drawing. Signor
nssstrO, if thou could have thy pictures
anrecOnized. thou must even hang them
with the painting to the wall"
sFlattery, Giulio-rank Hattery
But believe thou meanest what thou
ssysst As to this portrait -
cay, signor, whose likeness is it ?"
"As thou art anxious TO know, my
Giulie, and often playest trick upon
thy master, methinks I shall not tell
thea Thou mayest look grave if thou
wilt, but 1 shall not tell thee nor. Call
my gondolieri the day is pleasant and
they shall row me across the Lido. Ad9io,
Add6"
The painter went ON his way across
the lsgune and smiled as one smiles at
lucky thought or a successful specula>
tion. The musings were pleasant and as
he lay ''st listless length" within the
canopy Of his gondola they found such
uttersnceas this
HE Is good youth, and hath prop
er love forart he is studious, too, gen
/ tie in manner, afectionate, and with
warm heas.. Ny Beatrice Is a tender
I dove, and il will be well if she can find n
shelter IN his breast. How ne gazed
upon we picture,' If ne admire the
original only half "a mucL, the train will
soon be in flames. He il a goodly
youth" And with such thoughts did
Titan take council on his brief and pleas
ant voyage to the Lido.
Meanwhile the pupil employed him.
self in looking at the portrait more
infinitely than he heretofore had done.
The renewed and closer examination
confined his original opinion of its ex,
celleBce, not alone as work of art, but
as The representation OF a character Of
/ feminine loyeliness more attractive than
he hsd yet beheld in Venice. The por-
trait represented beautiful girl Just iu
+ thespring of youth, bearing alOft in her
I hands massive casKet, and pausing, as
/ it we're, in her onward progress, to cast
/ a smile upon the beholder-like a sudden
/ sunbuist. The face was one OF exquis-
/ ite beiuty, but the aatte and cheerful
! expression, the hearty jOyousness, the
! gUlehss end trusting eloqUence of
loneliness far greater than usually accom-
panie mere beauty of features. For
though to cay 90 would be treason against
the majesty of that sex whom we gener-
alizess "tair"-I fear it Is but too true
that the perfection OF personal and men>
tai beauty do not often meet in one. Yet
even now do I remember TO have met
thatunion
The young artist admired the portrait
for sme time and then iell into medi~
tatlFe humOr-s thing unusual for him,
for, though he was a Spaniard, he was
a youth Of quick imagination and lively
temperament, and it is not the won't OF
such to anticipate the contemplative
thoughts which they believe belong 10
the maturer season of manhood. The
youth thought and thought and thought
until, when Titan returned, he found
hi pupil seated opposite the portrait,
nIsf~ ~his pencil in his hand and his head
4esRward drooping-even rs in his
mood of poetic thought have seen that
of Wordsworth, the great master of the
Tyre. Titan came near, but Giulio did
not stir; nearer still, and Giulio was
breathing heavily; close to him and
touched his shoulder. The youth up
started He had fallen asleep before
the portIaitl
Oh, what very unlover-like accident.
But siesta is treasure to the Spaniard,
and the day was dull, and it was weari
some to be alone, and, if the truth must
he told, Giulio, who had ali painters
eve for beauty, had been up half the
preceding night, serenading beautiful
dina, whose bright eyes had fascinated
him one evening as he passed beneath
the windows of her fathers palace.
siulio Mantoni had been Titian's
uupil for some six months previous 10
the incident of the portrait and the
slumber. Without any introduction
had he come, but had paid large sum
for the privilege of instruction. After q
time his gentle manners, his love for the
art and his rapid progress in it had so
far won upon Titian-a lone and widow
ed man-as to make him solicit that
Giulio would become an inmate of his
house. Titan was a solitary, for his son
vas wild youth, who had left Venice
tor Cyprus in the suite of the admiral,
and his daughter Beatrice was in con-
vent in the Friuli, of which one OF his
relatives was lady principal. Giulio
Mantoni accepted the invitation, and for
three months preceding the day on which
this slight tale commences he had been
% Titan aiectionste, kind and obedient
as son. lie WAS 80 skillful with his
pencil, too, that Titian was reminded by