Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-03-16
THE MACKEY = MISSIONER
SQUABBLE.

Theodore CHiId'8 Paris Letter iq the Nea0 York
Sun.
Mr.. aud Mrs. Mackey have destroyed
and utterly annihilated the portrait Of
Mrs. Mackey recently painted by MeIs-
sOnier. and valued by the artist at the
sum of $4,000. How did that happen?
Why was the portrait destroyed: In such
matters. where both sides are envenOmed
aud exasperated. il is difficult to arrive at
the precise truth. We shall endeavOr to
-. as near the truth as possible.
the version of the affair given by Mrs.
uaeEey's friends is this: Last year Mr..
Haekey visited AleissOnier's studio ac-
c0mpanied by his wife, who admired
as rgthing very much. ThereupOn Meis-
sorIer proposed that he should paint her
portrait. Why nOty Mrs. Mackev. how
thought no more about it. until some
three months afterward a letter from
N -s1nIer reminded her of her promise.
Ear being tired and out of sorts she put
t matter of from week to week. Mean
while NeIsSonler became more pressing,
laJ finally Mrs. Mackey went through
fat atIEuing process Ofsitting TO the most
ue. lbs and capriciOus of modern paint
er- iu the month Of July the portrait
was about finished. and Mrs. Mackey
we1t t9 her country house AT Nilleb0n.
Aai--Gnier having promised to touch up
la hand and the ear, and having, on that
condition. obtained permission TO exhibit
I.e portrait ''Wlth his works. Here the
understanding begins. MeissOnier
I'D rret tO the National Salon: Mrs. Mac
Ri understood him to refer to the exhibit
tI.l .i his works which is to take place
E- May. However, the portrait was
no. touched up. and, to Mrs. Mackev'6
disgust and establishment. She heard that
Do Has exhibited in the Palais de l'Indus-
ir-. In speaking of this picture in these
columns last September, I found it ''hard
ANA utterly wanting i'm distinction, grace,
AMI feminine elegance" The hand was
Calsely painted, the celebration of the
face was common. and the irreparable
raFages OF years on Mrs. Mackey's fea-
tUra. were singularly exaggerated.
Is aen I saw the portrait at the Palais de
fludustrie the model was unknown to
me. since then chance has placed me in
her near neighbOrhOOd every week at the
opera, and the result of my discreet OBJ
seraton is that MeissOnier's portrait is
almost caricature, and that Mrs. Mae
ke7 had every reason to be dissatisfied
with it. 1 admit that Mrs. Mackey's face
and person are wanting in distinction.
and that her features have a plump and
cQncentrlc rOundness which realizes no
type OF beauty; nevertheless, she has a
certain Calmness and dignity OGbearing
anI. at night at least, a youthful fresh
ness VI which the painter might have
she mas not the hands of a butcher, nor is
her ear, thOughg somewhat heavy in its
coils, so common as MeissOnier painted
1T. That is my mature opinion of the
picture in question.
Well. as we have seen. the portrait was
exhibited, and in presencesOf It's acknOwl-
edged mediOcrity all kinds of reports
were spread abroad, and naturally came
90 Nrs. Mackey's ears. ''MeissOnier did
not wish to paint the portrait" it was
SAID Mrs. Mackey insisted, and so, in
order TO ayenge himself, he had marked
all her wrinkles shown the paint and
powder, spCilt the ear. exaggerated the
mpertectiOn of the fingers etc. Mrs.
Mackey then wrote to Meissonier Offering
90 return to Paris expressly to sit for the
touching up Of the portrait, and regret
ting that il had been exhibited in such a
condition. Several letters were exchanged.
AT the end Of the exhibition Mrs.
Maekey demanded the retOuching of her
portrait with some YiYacitY, and the
letter containing this demand crossed
with an invoice sent by the dealer Petit,
a. AeissOnier's name, requiring the paw
men, OF the price of the portrait. $4,000.
Mrs Nackey refused to pay, and wrote
one more letter to MeissOnier, who replied
ln moment Of i'll hUmOr: MADAME, if
You desire to be embellished, look i'm your
mirror; If you wish to be made ten years
Younger, look IN your mirror" etc. This
violent letter was followed by a beginning
OF legal proceedings, and the storm broke
out I'D full violence and the tiOOdgates Of Z
pel-dnd-in6 commentary were opened.
AT this point Mr.. Mackey arrived in
Paris, and a fourth party enters upon the /
sceDe-M. Arthur Never. the editor of the /
a. IS newspaper. The parties on both I
sizes were irrltated. The MaCkeys con- I
soered 81 4.000a swindle. because hitherto /
ltsfa chs 4hsar.
$1,000 for a portrait. Furthermore. Mr.. 1
Mackey thought that MeissOnier had been /
wanting in respect to his wife. Nelson /
ler ON his side, considered that Mrs. Mac /
Ael had been wanting in respect TO his 4
talent. However, NJ. Meyer dissuaded /
tine Mackeys from a law suit, and began /
io arrange the matter peaceably, as he 4
llo -ht. He had two interviews with /
Ae.ss0nier, who received him discOurte- 4
olslE; then he handed NeissOnier check /
signed Mackay for $4,000, and took the
portrait home to the Mackeys, who imedi- .
ale DESTROYED it.
ID may imagine what a gOdsend this
9llt- was for the g0ssips who abound IN .
III Paris. and YOU may imagine the funny
stories that were current IN the cafes and
on -le boulevard. In his anger MeissOnier
himself, generally so invisible, consented +
g. g interviewed. In the course of con-
t7atiOn with a reporter, he expressed (
fl-ret that he had consented to an AMIGA
Die arrangement instead ofhaying a frank
ane pen debate. lie protested that he
mad not been wanting IN pOllteneSS to-
ward Mrs. MaCkey, and declared, on the
contrary, that he had bundle of letters
from Mrs. Mackey that if trial had
taken place would have enlightened the
ri nal on her style of courtesy and pO-
likeness. He averred that Mr.. Macsey's
version of the history of the portrait was
& HaauH
picture was not finished, MISSIONER
said. My only reply is tat signed it,
and when put MeissOnier in the corner
g picture it means that / have put INTO
the picture all of which am capable, and /
tla- / can add nothing more Referring !
to VI. Meyer. MeissOnier was represented T
by his interviewer as having said certain .
0lsa-reeable things which induced NJ. T
Never to demand satisfactiOn-an apology .
or separation by arms in single combat. /
4le.ss0nier himself being % years of age,
81. Meyer called up his son, NJ. Charles F
Me-ss0nier, to take up his fathers cause. :
Yesterday this silly affair was brought TO /
an end by declaration of MeissOnIer stat T
ng tnat in the interview in question he had +
actually said that whatever NJ. Meyer /
said or wrote about him was indifferent (
to aim, but that he had not made the per- /
soual remarks attributed to him by the in /
teryiewer.
The Paris press is divided into TIVE +
camps as regards the lady whom they
call tine amiable Yankee Some papers F.
are very severe; others, a small minority, /
are Inclined to he lenient, and call their F.
colleagues to order in the name of that
French hospitality (which has become /
pr0yerbial." Mrs. Mackey is very chart /
table. say others: Partisan commerce is /
indebted to her for considerable benefit;
Parislan artists are almost wOrshiped by
her. Witness BOnnat and Cabanel, who,
after having been her portraitists, have
become her friends, as also has Nine.
Madeleine Lemalre, who is now painting
Mrs. Mackey's portrait for the third time.
Then, after all, plead others, the painters
nowadays are too tyrannical. IfOne pays
$4,000 for q portrait no bigger than a
sheet OF writing paper-16 by IL inches
was the size OF the Mackey pOrtrait-One
surely has the right to demand a certain
resemblance, and even Il little more than
resemblance.
As for the last masterpiece. it certainly
added nothing TO the glory of the master,
and its destruction seems really only to
concern Mrs. Nackey. At any rate, the
burden OF the situation rests for the pre-
sent upon the capriciOus American who
hiss posed as a ridiculous rival Of Cleo