The Washington critic., 1886-06-07
OUR MARY AS "sALAMMnn "

A cable dispatch informs US that Mr.,
Alma Tadema, the eminent artist, has
arranged to paint n picture OF Mary
Anderson "a "Salammbo, at the feast,
descending the graud stairway with n
Tyre in her hand. 1t will be a remark.
able work If the artist succeeds in
making anything like faithful repre-.
duction of the Carthaginian princess,
as the novelist describes her, and of
Miss Anderson as she is.
"Salammbo" is the master piece Of
the famous French romancist, Octave
Flaubert, the scenes of which are
mainly laid in ancient Carthage, and
which takes its name from the name
of the heroine of this wonderfully
dramatic creation. Saammbo was the
daughter of Hamlcar-the great Ham.
ilcar, father of the greater Hannibal
and the story is that of strange 10 We
with cruelty tragic ending, between
herself and young Numidian and q
certain Libyan chief, who was also q
suitor and about as lovable as Van.
cour in Downing's play. So much for
the identification of the party.
AS the cablegram announcing Mr..
Tadema' s intention is somewhat meagre
in its details, it will be of interest to
the art-loving readers of THE CRITIC
TO know just how the young lady from
Carthage looked as she was coming
down the stairs. They will thus have
more intelligent idea of how our
young lady from Louisville will look
in the proposed picture. We quote
from Flauberts lurid pages:
Her hair was powdered with violet dust,
and according to the fashion of Canaanite
maidens, 1t was gathered up in the form OF
tower on the crown Of her head, max
ing her appear taller; strands Of pearls at
tached to her temples fell down to the cor
ners Of her mouth-as rosy as q half-opened
pomegranate; on her neck she wore col
lection Of luminous gems, which initiated in
their medley the scales of sea-eel; her
sleeveless tunic, made OF black tissue,
starred with red flowers, exposed her bare
arms, bedecked with diamonds. Between
her ankles she wore gold chainet to regu-
late the length of her steps, and her yolu =
minous dark purple mantle of au unknown
fabric, trailed, making at each step wide
billow behind her During the intervals of
the music could be detected faint noise
produced by her gold chainlet accompany
ing the patter of her papyrus sandals. At
Ia
very pale, and something Of the gods seemed
TO envelope her like a subtle mist. Her
eyes appeared to penetrate far away in the
distance beyond terrestrial spaces. She adj
vanced with her head inclined downward
holding in her right hand small ebony
Tyre.
In this impressive pose aud costume
no less striking than unique, Miss
Anderson will no doubt look very
pretty, and it is certainly notable
compliment to be selected by so great
an artist as Tadema to represent 50
great a character as Salammbo created
by so great u delineator as Flaubert.
We see but one difficulty in the way.
1t will be a matter of comparative
ease to fit Miss Anderson into Sa
lammbo's clothes--the purple mantle
the sleeveless tunic, the sandals ol
papyrus and even the chainlet between
her ankles, but how will the artist bC
able to infuse the cold and classic
beauty of the one with the tropica
warmth and sensueusness of the other
Our Mary would never have infatuated
rude barbarian with her unmagnetiC
charms, and Salammbo would cut but
an awkward figure before the footlight
Of the modern stage. How TO combine
the two without spelling both will bt
the crucial test Of Tadema's genius.