Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-01-06
THE FOURTEEN
HELPERS Tn DISTRESS
BY WILHELM HEIERloH RlEHL.

.
by A A. SARGENT
"Kcnrad LEM, born in 1913, died about
1880, pupil Of Christopher Ambergur, dir-
tinguished for the warm goli tons of his
color, painted history and legends and myth
illogical subjects on small wooden tablets.
His pictures are very rare"
About thus it stands printed IN the casa-
logue of gallery that for the moment I
cannot name.
This remarkable man used to say, Paint
ing would be the most beautiful srf, If only
pictures did not need to be finished )" for
he painted with pleasure, sni well. But
he would only paint whsn be had mind
to, which often hsppened once week, and
oftener not at all. It was qaite impossible
for him to keep tAe appointed time for an
ordered picture. If he had promised to de-
liver picture by Christmas this yea, re
began by Whitsuntide of the next year TO
prepare his tablet. He did not grieve over
this peculisrity, by any means-a peculisr-
ity evidently connected with the freakish
nature of the planet under which he WAS
born. 81 have learned TO paint, he said,
''let others learn to wait"
The easy going artist counted bis twenty
fourth year, when he received an important
order. He WAS TO represent on fourteen
small tablets the Fourteen Helpers in Die
trees, with explanatory scenes from their
history in the background. The principal
condition was, however, that the whole should
infallibly be fnished within the year that
Is TO say, by st. !Leonard's Day, 1888. when
he was to receive the high recompeDse of one
hundred gold forms.
The customer, Count Hans Won Halter
bsrg, had formerly, on voyage from Geneva
to Naples, fallen into the hands of Tunisian
pirates. During his captivity he suppl
Gated the Fourteen Helpers, and vowed to
each of them handsome picture iu his castle
chapel by st. Laonsrd's Day, 1888, if he
should be released from prison within two
months. He did in fact regain his freedom
soon after. aud tarried not, Or his return
home to Germany, to order the pictures
iOetuWitI, anu ~ shatp9H tnS painter COL-
science to strictly keep the time of his deIiv-
cry, that he might keep his own word to the
saints.
Konrad Larz had rushed to the work with
fiery ardor. The three women of the benev-
olent circle-Sb. Catherine, St. Margaret and
St. Barbara he painted in storm of enthu-
siasm, tablet after tablet, within fourteen
days, and with perfect success. Then he be-
gan on St. Panteleop, st. Vitus and st.
Eustathius. Already things went somewhat
slower. He needed three weeks to the man,
and painted here and there, now On che, GOV
on another.
With St. B'@'us matters progressed onoe
more right swimmingly; bat with Pope
Gregory he could rot get on at ALL Full two
months hs dragged along with She picture
At last he clsnched bis teeth e 1t must be
done !" they heard him exclAim from time to
time in his work-room. H seized his brush
and palette with desperation, took last
start, and really in some days the saint stood
completed.
But the artist had become nearly sick by
mere self.mastery. He had still six pictures
to finish. Six is indeed the smallest half of
fourteen but it seemed to him now 81
gsutic number, of which he could not think
without danger of brain fever Therefore
he carried the finished pictures to the lumber
room, and the six empty tablets with them,
so that OF no account should ne sac them any
more, and loafed idly about for weeks, rs ii
there were no such thing as Helpers ia Di :
tress.
The knight, who somesin es rode over TO
the town from his castle in order to watch
over tbs progress of the pictures, discovered
With horror this perfect standstill of the
wcrk. When he entered the workshop Kon-
rad Eat at the spinnet and played dances ;
he easel was standing empty, and on the
marble plate whereon he ground his colors
ne dust lay so thick that one could write on
1t with the finger.
When make music paint the best, in
my mind. The colors will come in good
tine" So cried the painter, laughing, and
was astonished that the old knight was az
tonished and angry. He begged him to
listen to some more jigs and trills, as this
would certainly unwrinkle his brow.
At another time Konrad roved about the
whole day in the wood, miles away from
town. He saw Won Haltenberg, with his deg,
some distance away among The fir trees. He
could have walked off stealthiiy, but that did
net at all occur to him, With entire frank
ness he strobe up to the cid gentleman. greets
him, and said, "You hunt deer; hunt
verses. They swarm like bees in my head,
and want only to be caught. Since sunrise I
have wandered from hedge TO hedge, and
made the finest verses, No better place than
the wood for making verses -
The knight asked il the wood was also the
best place in which to psiut
To paint !" repeated Konrad, surprised.
" Painting comes afterwards, entirely Of itself,
and goes all the better for it,"
But Won Haltenberg was not satisfied with
this answer. He seized fast on the painter &
arm, aud looked him in the face with his
small, keen eyer, as if he would pierce him
through and through /; showed him his levity,
through which not only he himself was an
gered, but what was yet much worse, even
the saints. ''And believe you, then" 50 he
concluded, "that psinter needs not at times
the Fourteen Helpers in Distress? They may
leave you in the lurch, as you leave me-"
The na;nter looked at the knight at frat
with his big blue eyes as inuocently as a
child; then he became purple in the face,
dropped his eyes. and cried, Heavens yeu
are right. It is horrible what a chain of mis-
fortunes throw around US by my thought
lessness." And be promised to Immediately
take up the work, AID ran in quick pace
home, in order surely to be at the easel the
last hour before sunset.
II.
It was pleasure to see how Konrad LEM