The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1884-05-29
THE INVISIBLE PAINTER.

One fine spring morning, a great
many years ago, i've or six young men
were assembled in a large painting
room in one of the great Spanish cities,
while a grave, rk-haired, rather sad
looking man, in a rich dress OF purple
velvet, was going from picture to pict-
ure, and saying few words upon each,
to which his pupils listened very re-
spectfully.-Andw well they might; for
this man was himself one of the great
est painters living, and his name was
Esteban (Stephen) Murillo.
But it was plain, that the pupils had
not been working as well as usual that
dav; for Murillo had a great deal of
fault finding to do. One student had
painted an arm wrong; another had
spoiled the effect of his sunset; third
had made bad fault in the shading of
his sky; and so on, and so on, till at last
the master lost patience altogether, and
cried augrily:
REALLY, gentlemen, this is too bad!
You don't seem to remember anything
that | tell you. If YOU can't do better
than this, that poor little monkey of
Sebastian, yonder, has as good chance
of becoming a painter as any of yOu!'
The poor little monkey was a
Moorish lad of fourteen, one of MurillO's
servants, who had to sweep out the
painting room, grind the students col
ors for them, and do other jobs about
the house His face flushed as he heard
his master speak so cOntemptuously of
him; but he said nothing, and the lect-
ure went on.
When the pupils came in the next
morning one or two of them noticed
that their pictures were not where they
had left them, and Manuel Suarez, a
little black-eyed fellow with pretty
hot temper of his own, found his brushes
all smeared with paint, and flew into a
passion at once.
The Zombi' Ca mischievous fairy of
the robin Goodfellow'' sort, supposed
to play tricks at night must have been
at work here"' shouted he, shaking his
fist 81 cleaned these brushes myself
last night, and look at them now!'
And he seems to have been at me,
too" cried another, "for here's a
child's head on my canvas, which is
none of nay dOingn'
WELL" yawned Jose Villavicemio,
the LATEST of the whole school, ''if it is
the Zombi l wish he'd just put in the
face of my st. Catherine while he is
about it, for I'm sure l can't. HOllO"
Well might he cry ''hollO!" There,
OH HIS AduN as lIISICc1Nl VI lLIC DIJI COls
unfinished head that he had left there
the night before, was face so beauti-
full, so admirably painted, and yet so
| light and delicate, that the whole six
| stared at it in silent establishment.
At that moment the door opened and
| in came Murillo.
"Ha, Villavicemior' cried be, look
| ing from the picture to his lazy pupil,
this is better than l expected of goa -
| But it WASH | who did it, master
more's the pity?'
mot you? Who was it, then?"
That's just what none Of US can tell,
| Senior Don Esteban; we found it here
| when we came. "
Hum" said Murillo. "Well, we can
| talk of that again; let us go to work
! now
But, from that day forth, it really
seemed as if some miSchievous fairy
| had taken MuriIlO's studio for his play
ground. Half-cOmpleted pictures were
finished no one knew how-loose strips
of canvas were covered with admira-
BILE portraits of the various pupils-and
one morning there appeared on the wall
| a capital likeness of MurilIO, at which
the great master himself smiled approx
iuglY But all these paintings were so
much better than anything which the
students themselves could do, that they
were completely puzzled.
However, MurillO was not the man to
let such pranks be played upon him for
nothing; and one evening he said to his
class:
Its time to put stop to these
tricks, gentlemen. Whoever this invis-
ible painter may be, he's a man like
| ourselves; and our best way is to come
| to, Il
we can't catch him at work"
And so they did, sure enough; fol
when they came next morning, there,
seated before one of the pictures, anC
so intent upon his work that he did not
even hear the door open, was the poor
little monkey, Sebastian"
1t would be hard to say which wa:
the more tounded-Sebastian to find
himself caught, or Murillo and his pu
pills to see who their ''fairy" really was
who taught you to paint, boy?''
asked Murillo at length.
''You, MASTER" replied Sebastian
timidly.
my life"
mo, master; but l listened to what
you told these gentlemen, and remem
bered it
And you've fairly beaten us aIlr
burst out Suarez, in his headlong way
Bravo, Sebastiann'
Bravo, Sebastian echoed all tn
rest.
God bless thee, my boy, said Mu
rillo, laying his hand tenderly on tn,
BOYS head. Il have made somethin.
far better than picture this time
have made a painter! Henceforth tho1
shalt be called 10 more Sebastian Go
mez, but Ell Mucacho de Murillo'
(MurillO's Boy.
And although Sebastian Gomez after
wards became a famous painter "a
you may see by the pictures which h
has left behind him) he was known {.
''Murillo's Boy to the end of his lfe.-