The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-03-29
Flemish Tapestry-Weavers in Venice.

-A----H-- l---~-a ~--' --- 80 ----~~'
The chronicles tell us OF a colony Of
Flemish weavers down there in the
quarter Of san Salvatore, near the RialtO.
I can picture them, with their flowing
yellow hair, and blue Northern eyes,
and coarse dark dress, with tongues un-
used 10 the soft lagoon speech, passing
the long days in the low shops where
the great bright webs stretched from
floor TO ceiling, feeling the soft wind
blow from the mainland, bringing a
breath OF mountains, and a thought Of
homesickness, and a dream Of the rich
grass growth and the gabled cabins Of
the Flemish plains. \ gentle company
-stalwart men and sOft-eyed women,
like the Northern Madonnas, and fair
haired children whom the young color
lists, passing by on their way across the
RialtO TO the great bOspitable painter
houses, begged from their parents for a
days posing as angels in their Holy
Families.
The gold-locked Flemish maiden,
looking up from her bright warp, would
find 1.-THE shape at the window dark
eniug the rOOm-some mad young fell
low, with dark eyes and flowing locks,
and a saucy plume i'm his hat-an art
student on his way TO one of the great
studios across the canal. And the girl
would leave her weaving and grasp the
glowing red carnations that were flung
at her feet. The shape glided away, and
the girl laid the flowers against her
golden hair and her white throat, and
wove the burning hue into the drapery
she wrought, and piled her shuttle to
the rhythm Of an old love ballad. And
il there be knot in the smooth texture,
will not posterity know that here a
hand touched the hand Of the weaver,
or a quick caress turned her eyes from
the even mesh They will not be hard
on the poor child, those gray-beard SEN
ators for whom the tapestry is ordered,
for they too have been young, and have
flung the passionate carnations in at
fair womenis windows in the dear lagoon
fashion.
Sometimes a mightier shadow would
darken the low rooms, and at the open
door would stand some great painter
Titan, perchance. or POrdenOne, or II
RObusti himself, and the gentle North
ern people would rise from their looms
and bid him welcome, and listen to his
Judgment on their work, for which he
/ himself might have furnished the de-
sign. And they would bring forth their
red wine and their pale green salad, like
t the color they wrought into their tapes
/ try And the painter sat among them,
with the children on his knee, and
smiled on the fair young girls, and
helped the patient mothers with theiI
stumbling Venetian speech, so difficult
for their Northern mouths. And anon
some stately red-rObed senator would
issue from his gOndola shell and enter
the low dwelling to inspect the work
that was TO adorn the reverend halls Of
Justice and smile benignly upon the
group. Ay, il was beautiful, the large
heartedness Of that old-time genius that
did not fear TO brush its skirts against
the dOor-stone Of the toiling artisan.
] wonder il then, as now, there were
cafe on the piazza before the Rialto
this side the Fondaco of the German
merchants, and if the weavers took theil
wives and children there for fcStC
nights treat after so many days spen
in the dingy shops Of San Salvatore.
can faDcy how, on Sunday mornings
after they had said their prayers in tn,
old market church among the dusk,
canvases of Fra Sebastiano, some grea
numbering barge would pause at thl
nearest riya, and the pale weaver will
his wife and children would enter
with their slaves and pilgrim wallets
+ and bid the dark, ragged oarsman pusl
: OIL, and they would thread the canals T.
the lagoon behind the city, where tn
Alps tower blue in the morning air, aul
their homesick hearts would leap will
j joy, aud across the lagoon they wOnl
, find the Towering meadows Of the main
land, with cOrn-felds and lily-grOwl
bitches like those Of Flanders, and vine
T wreathing their luxuriant arms abou
( the municipalities with the added glor
Of the South, and there, lying close {
nature, they would dream themseive
far away in the hazy Northern mead
. Charlotte adams, ia Harper
E Magazine for March.