Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1889-12-07
PeculIARIrles OF PAINTERS.
Anecdotes of Men who siecaIne Famous
by the Brush.

by the Brnsh.
Turner, the great landscape painter,
was as fond Of money as he was of art,
and did not hesitate to resort to a mean
act to obtain it. Amongotherinstances
of extortion might he mentioned the
one he practiced upoa Lord de Tabley,
the English nobleman. who was an
amateur painter of more than ordinary
ability. On one occasion he invited q
large company TO dinner, Turner be-
ing among the number. The host ex-
hibitcd landscape on canvass, not
yet completed, and invited friendly
criticism upon it. Not few of those
present volunteered remarks, but
Turner took brush end made q few
slight changes, with scarcely any COM
ment. A few days afterward the
nobleman, much to his surprise, re-
ceived a bill for large sum from
Turner for instruction in Painting"
He was indignant, but preferred to
submit to the eXtortion rather than of
fend the artist, and sent his check for
the amount of the bill.
Protogenes, the Greek painter, was
an impatient man. In painting pic
ture of tired, painting dog, he met
with satisfactory success, except that
he failed in every attempt to initiate
the foam that should have been seen
on the dogs mouth. He was so much
provoked over it that lie seized the
sponge with which he clcanscd his
brushes and threw it against the pie
ture, with the intention of spelling it.
1t happened TO strike on the dogs
mouth, and produced, to the astonish-
ment and delight of the painter, the
very effect he had labored so persist
emily to initiate.
The subjoined anecdote Of Bouton,
the French artist, illustrates how alb.
sorbed he was when he worked. as
well as the good nature OF King LOUIS
Philippe. Bouton was busy one day
when man entered unannounced and
stood behind him. He had his mouth
full of paint brushes did not glance
up, but mumbled: Look about il YOU
like; don'tmind me-" The visitor did
SO, and then came back to his orig
inal position. Bouton felt annoyed,
but repressed his impotence. "Well,
how is everybody at homer" he asked.
"Oh, nicely, thank you," was the re-
ply. THE children are well, Isup-
pose2" "Oh, perfectly" The visitor
then began to criticise the picture;
and when, after a half hours CONVEX
sation, the artist turned around, he be-
held the King of France. Bouton
blushed and stammered: "Sire, you
are artist king enough to know that |
would have lost my tint had l stopped
to display the atelier to your maj
esty." Yes" replied the king, 81
like your reception of me so well that
mean to have that picture"
Paul Veronese, like many other
painters, was given to eccentric moods
and odd habits. On one occasion he
accepted the hospitality of q family at
their beautiful country villa. He as
sumed great liberties during his visit,
claiming absolute possession of his
room, allowing not even servant to
enter. He would not suffer q maid to
make his bed, and the sweepings Of
his room were eftevery morning out
side the door for her to remove. He
slipped away without bidding the
family good-by. On entering the room,
the servant found the sheets Of tie
bed missing, and at once re&6 ted that
the painter must have stoieh them.
After careful search roll was found
in corner, which proved to be a
magnificent picture of Alexander in
the tent Of Darius" 1t was painted
on the missing sheets of the bed, and
the artist had chosen this curious way
of recompensing his hosts for their
generous hospitality.
When Meissonier built his house at
Poissy, q suburb of Paris, he had it
torn down eight or ten times because,
when completed, some detail dis
pleased him. He built another house
at Les Jardies, but forgotto put i'll it a
staircase. He took the mistake good
naturally, and placed q ladder against
the outside wall. His house at Poissy
was adorned with fountains, conserva-
tories, upholstery, statues, but not a
picture by the artist hung on its walls.
A lady observing this want said to
him: 81 see beautiful things, M.
Meissonier-beautiful gardens, beauti-
full rooms, books, rich hangings, ETC.,
but see none of your own pictures.
"Ah, madame" answered he, "they
are too dear to allow me to keep
them. Epoch.