The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1880-01-06
THE WOMEN or VENICE.
Looking in Vain for the Famous Beauties
of the Painters.
Letter to Chicago Inter. Ocean.

Letter TO Chicago Inter Onean.l
The famous beauty of the Venetian women
Titan, Giorgione and Paul Yeronese painted
In the likeness of glowing, voluptuous orea-
lures, whose hair had stolen the glory of the
sun, and whase flesh rivaled the beauty of
the peach-huw can one describe them when
they are never seen save upon those brilliant
eanvasns. II there is golden haired woman
IN Venice besides the sunny haired American
ut the limited States consulate, we have thus
far failed to see her Ii there is any peachy
II sh In woman's form II Ia hidden from our
eyes. IT there are any other Venetian women
than tho long-faced, large-nosed, black
haired type with whole meditel castles and
gothic eathedrais OF false hair piled
ovar their brows and whole inches of
powder laid upon their faces who meetshs nc
every turn, then they are evidently too pre-
cious for mortal gaze. and are hidden away
somewhere Hike new Danaes In The paterna
tower. Nowhere In the world. save perhaps
Ia Brighton, Fog. dues such lavish use OF
powder prevail as In Italy. We thought the
Neapolitan ladies had reached the last pos
sihln limit OF Its 'lae when We saw them going
boldly about looking like ghastIy masks
through which locked burning eyes. But 1t
remained to come 10 Venice to see the Nea-
potans outdone. for where the Neapoltan
only whitens her face the Venetian covers
herself with ii from head to foot, SO that hair
eyebrows, face, dress and sometimes even
the ilouuces Of her skirt are rs white as
We're the maequeradefs In the "Mller's
Pretty Daughter" II can scarcely be sup
posed that the type Of Venetian beauty has SO
radically changed since 100 years ago. when
the most glowing rays of the Renaissance
gathered upon Venetian canvases aud made
Titian's beauties and the ample aplendor OF
Paul Veronese's women to be the marvel of
subsequent ages. II III probably true that
scarcely natural beauty ever was painted
by one of those masters, and that every bit of
that gorgeous ileah aud every lock Vt that
splendid hair was the painters copy of the
product Of hair dyes and cosmetics: and
that the Venetian women then were In reality
no more beautiful than they are now. In the
matter of tight lacing, too. the Italian idea
seems that which prevailed In our
country at the beginning OF the
present century. Que wonders how
they breathe, these lily-wssted, whose
iron corset bones show 50 plainly through
their dresses that iron itself can do no more
In the way of compression. One wonders they
do not break In two aud go walking off like
the strange creature that u maniac American
painter used to paint ut the Gigi studio In
Rome last winter. This poor fellow. who had
been a Clergyman, knew nothing whatever of
art. and the mania to paint had come upon
him only with the shattering of his intellect.
Al his manual skill was unequal to anything
more complicated than the painting Of trous-
ers and petttcuats, he always did his model
only rom the waist downwards, and then
framed and sought to sell his
paintings OF headless, strawberries and waist
less slStrts and trousers. convinced that the
patron who asked for more failed to under
stand the loftiest purposes of art.