The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-11-28
The Nude in Art.
[London Letter in Chicago Heraid.l

London Letter in Chicago HeTald.1 There is a young woman nov in Lou- don who has pursued this vocation for some months with entire success. She is blonde, with an exquisitely propor- toned figure and a Madonna-like face. She was thrown on to the world entirely penniless year or so ago, and her first thought was to go on the stage. She could, probably, on the strength of her personal appearance, have secured a po- sition in the chorus of travelling opera bouffe company, or, still more enviable fate, oined the "chorus" at the gayety or the comedy theatres, but her friends pleaded earnestly with her not to take such step, and one of them-a lady who had temporarily given her shelter persuaded her to become model. Her first appearance in this character, sketched as belle of the last century, la Wat. teau, was SO successful, and the rounded and dimpled arm which emerged from the short frilled sleeve showed such promise, that she was gradually induced to pose as nude model. She was fortu- nate in having friend-this elderly lady ito accompany her to the studios, and the fatherly manner of the middle-aged artiste to whom she sat put her quite at her e'se after the first plunge was over. | After all she was scarcely more rndressed than many young girl at ball The lady who chaperoned her. and who has some experience of artists studios, de- clares that posing as a model is a ques- ton entirely of temperament. There are some young women, though it must be said that these are mainly those who have been brought up in the trade who seem to be as little embarrassed as the sister of Napoleon l., the beautiful Pauline, when she sat entirely undr .ped for her statue Her answer to the question if she did not feel very uncomfortable has passed into history. "No, the room was not at all cold"
 Artists tell me that women in "good society" who consent to pose for the head, the arms, are so numerous that pro- fessional models often find their occupa- tion gone in favor of the bellies of Bel Rravia or South Kensington. It would be impossible to say how many times cer- tain countess has favored painters with the example of her charms, and there is a girl, high up in the m matrimonial mar ket, whose curves have been unveiled with even more liberality than a ball dress would admit of; she has been in- duced to dispense with the slender shoul- der straps that emphasized the white ness, but 1terfered with the continuity of arms and bust. Women who sit as models say that it is no more embarrass- ing than to enter the general room in a Turkish bath. It is even said that the professional models include not a few genuine art enthusiasts who take pleas. ure, in which vanity plays but a minor part, in seeing themselves reproduced in marble or on canvas. "I assure you," said lady over whose elbows artists rave, and who has pose of the head truly im- perial, "it is genuine delight to feel that one has contributed even indirectly to a great art work. have stood in front of a marble statue, for which had posed, when it was exhibited in the Royal acad- emy, and enjoyed the triumph of the ar- tist all the more because it seemed to me that myself had some share in it."