Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-06-21
AMERICANS IN ROME.
LOITERING IN THE STUDIOS.

IL DOING.
A Rome correspondent Of the Trt-
bpne writes: 1t CHANGED that the first
Roman studio with which / renewed
acquaintance this season was that of
Charles Caryl Coleman-well known 10
New Workers, among whom he still
counts himself, despite his long resi-
dence in Rome. A large picture Of Capri
was to be sent away the next day, and
| wished to see it before its departure.
The studio is in the old place, directly
over that Of Costa, in quiet Via Mar
gutta, looking out upon garden al
ready sweet with summer scents and
bright with summer bloom, thought it
Was but the first week in April.
Mr.. Coleman's "ro6d" are very
valuable. He is an enthusiastic col
lector. and he has a moderate fortune
in bric-a-brac. Tapestries, bits of
stained glass, wonderful old carvings,
curiously-wrought brasses, old china
enough for moderate-sized art-mu-
seum-adorn the studio. where the
artist himself, with his Lenoardo da
vinci face, and dressed in cap and
blouse of bronze-gold velvet, seems the
fitting genius loci.
The Capri picture was a bit Of sum-
mer-a yellow wheat-feld swept by a
soft wind, with the blue southern sky
above it, and a group of gayly-clad
peasant girls in the midst. Coleman
spent the summer Of 1884 in Capri, and
a number of Capri pictures, large and
small, are the result. Beside
these Coleman has several pic
lures of Venice. One was of Venice
by moonlight, another was of the
bronze horses over the entrance of St.
Marks. Some five or six years ago
Mr. Coleman painted a picture of this
same subject, which was much adj
mired by art-loyers and purchased by
Lady AshburtOn, who has one of the
finest private collections Of modern
pictures in London. The present paint
ing-from a somewhat different point
of VIEWS still finer than the former
one. The horses seem fairly alive and
ready to step off into space.
Mr.. Coleman has done some strong
things in black and white. One of
them The Return from the Cruel
fixion seemed so strange neighbor
to the sunny scenes from Capri and the
pictures of Venice
Where the merchants were the kings,
Where st. Marks is. and the Doges used to
wed the sea with rings
that perhaps one was even more i'm
pressed with its profound earnestneSs,
its depth of sorrow. than would have
been the case elsewhere. In the far
distance, on low dark hill against a
cold dark sky, the three crosses rose
the central one being the most promi-
nent. Between this hill Of the crosses
and the spectator are other low hills,
with outlines dim in the semi-darknesS,
and along them winds a sad procession
of sOrrowing men and women-whosc
grief has fallen on them heavily, whose
hope has not yet dawned.
Mr.. Coleman told some droll tales OF
artist life in Capri. 1t has become very
common for American and English
artists to fall captive to the charms OF
dark-eyed Capri maidens, and within a
few years some ten or twelve have mar
ried their models-till at last to marry
an artist has come to be regarded by a
pretty Capri girl as her manifest des-
tiny, and it is somewhat difficult to
procure a model otherwise than by
marrying her. Last year an artist saw
beautiful Capriote, with her mother,
carrying stones on her head for the
use of wall-makers. She was just
suited for the picture the painter had in
hand. He found by inquiry that she
and her mother received exactly franc
and half apiece for carrying their
stone burdens from morning till night.
1t seemed a wretched business, than
which anything would he better. He
offered the girl ten francs a day to
come and sit for him as a model. She
coyly refused. He thought she might
dislike to come without her mother
so he proposed to hire the mother also.
Not at all. He was delicately informed
that the only way to secure the model
would be to marry her. Tine case was
not desperate enough for that, and the
fair Capriote goes on with her stone
carrying, pending the arrival of a more
susceptible artist.
The next studio | CHANGED to visit
was that Of J. Rollin Tilton. 1t Is
within a stones throw Of the Villa Luz
dovisi. and oyerlooks the LudOyiSi
grounds. Mr.. Tilton, as well as Mr..
Coleman. is true lover Of Venice,
and has painted many Venetian pic
lures. He has some charming ones in
his studio, and one was quite unique in
its way. 1t had been sketchcd from
the top of high tower. and looked
down upon the Piazza Of st. Marks,
The picture which most interested
me. however was l"i % HSJP
tan landscape, into which the artist
said he had "put his heart There
was a wide plain, with distant hills
in the background, and in the fore
ground the Temple Of the Sun and the
cities of Karnac and Luxor. Mr.. Til
ton has always the power of producing
wonderful effects Of light and air, and
it seems to me that Egypt has also re-
vealed her secret to him. Turning
from the Egyptian picture, caught
sight of one of the Yermillion Tower OF
the Alhambra, and. presto, it was two
years ago. and ! was back in Spain.
The sunset was dying on the Sierra
Neyadas, and all Granada was at my
feet. with cathedral and churches, and
Gypsy-houses followed in the hillSides,
ali mud walls and front doOr. Besides
his own pictures, Mr.. Tilton has an
art treasure that is priceless-a Magda-
lene by Titan. He is very mysterious
as TO how it came into his possession.
When asked him he said All, such
things are sent me by Fate. This is the
third Titan | have discovered am
ready to affirm that it is the most beauti-
ful Magdalene. Most Of the well-known
Magdalenes are anything but saints
anything, even, but penitents. This