The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1891-06-09
ARTIST MULVANEY'S GLOVE
The Model q Married Woman
Prominent in Kansas City
Society.

From the Star.
There has been placed on exhibi'
ton in the reading room of the Mid.
land hotel a celebrated picture, q
painting with a fascinating and 70.
mantle history that is of particular in
,erest in this city.
1t is John Mulvaney's celebrated
cloves Mirror" about which much
was written and said in this city seven
or eight years ago. John Mulvaney
is Of Irish birth and Of the class
known in his parent country As the
'lrish gentleman" which msy mean
much or little, but always denotes 9
class far above the ordinary. He re-
ceived but little academic education
because of the poverty of his parents.
He was brought to this country when
young, and Of his early life, up to the
time he turned his fancy to the palette
and brush, but little is known.
The first steady employment he re
ceived was as valet for John Ham
ilton, the Turner Of America" &C
titled because OF his wonderful excel
lence in marine sketches. n Ham
iiton's studio young Mulvaney re
ceived his inspiration. He was quick
to learn, keen to perceive and ready
to apply. Hamilton watched him and
he watched Hamilton, and his pro.
gress grew apace.
The event that made Mulvaney IA
nous and gave him the title Of artist
was his completion of Clusters Last
Rally" This work is 14x24 feet in
dimensions and is one of the greatest
war pictures ever printed by any
American artist. 1t was done ii
Kansas City in Mulvaney's studio in
the Hall building on the northeast
corner of Ninth ana Main streets i'm
over the fambeau clubs
old headquarters. This painting con-
tains twenty seven figures and is
scene of the battle Of the
Little Horn in June. 1876. Null
vaney w,rked over a year on this pic
ture and then he unveiled it to the
public. 1t took like wild fire and
was copied in magazines and cart
all over the world. Null.
vaney asked $4,000 for it, but he
never was offered more than S25, 900.
He wanted to take it around the
and exhibit it ut fifty cents a
view, but his artist friends discouraged
him by telling him that it would
cheaper the character of his work to
do such thing.
The next painting which Mulvaney
and which tended to fan the
fame Of his fame was cloves Mir
ror." 1t represents the goddess OF
love and beauty, Venus, standing be-
side q brook, while at her feet is the
little winged god Of love, Cupid.
Both are seen bending over, while
their faces are reflected by the mirror
of the pools surface. The bow and
dart are laid, for the time being, on a
ledge of rock. The figure OF Venus
is almost life size, the picture, framed,
being five and one half feet wide by
ten feet high. The eubject was paint
ed from lite, the model being none
other than a married lady now promi.
nent in Kansas City society circles, as
she was when she served as the model.
Mulvaney's studio, at the time he
painted this picture, was on North
Main street near Sixth, and there
the lady would 60 every day. A
handsome English brougham, drawn
by a pair of bay cobs, would draw up
in front of the stairway leading to the
studio. The lady would slight, and
order the achman to return at
certain hour, aud then che would dis.
appear up the stairway. She Was al
ways accompanied by her child, a
fairy like little girl Of four summers,
but the child would always climb il
the front seat with the coachran and
never accompany her mother. The
latter. at the time che was posing as a
model for the woman for whom "all
Rome paid homage" was having her
portrait painted. Whether Artist
MulvaBey prevailed upon her to be
his model before or after the work Of
doing the portrait was conceived is
not Known, but certain it is that she
robed her excuses for the frequent
visits to Mulvaney' studio with the
canvas of the portrait
Mulvaney valued the painting at
$4,000, but as in the case of Clusters
Last Rally" he never found a pur-
chaser. He lived at the St. James
hotel in this city. He made money
rapidly but where he earned 500 he
spent 200 and he was constantly in
debt. His only assets were his pic.
lures. Among his creditors was the
ca T.,~o, Mrlx,ouar oxvaI the hotel