The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-04-18
SHADOWSIN THE STUDIOS
SOMETHING BESIDES FUN AND
FAME IN AN ARTISTS LIFE.

Artists are generally supposed to be light
hearted, lmprovident fellows, but there are
tragedies beside the easels that are divulged
only to a few. Not long ago the newspapers
gave brief account OF the sudden death Of
g well-known genre painter of this city.
Revond a statement of his death and
brief resume of his important canvases the
obituary went into no details of his history.
Yet there have been few romances so inter.
ssring as that of Vandyke Browns life.
He was a pupil of Gerome. Originally q
clerk in a Boston banking house, he had no
aptitude for business, and, after trying for
eeveral years to master debts and credits
be drew out all the savings amassed by long
economy and went to Paris to study art
When he first went into Gerome's studio
Brown was 80 years old. But although con-
sjdersbly older than most of his associ-
ates. the Boston man was not less
sentimental than his companions in the
OuarLier Latin. Here be had a cheap
room, where he painted hard, lived mod
estly and tried to exc out his slender re-
sonrces until his education was completed.
He fell in love with a model. They all do
that in the Latin quarter. Generally it is a
transitory passion, which burns fiercely un-
iii a new grisette displaces her rival in the
students aIIeCblOnss DuU auuyh6 Drown
was too mature in mind end years to be
tickle. lie was honestly In love with Marie
Vaucard
She was his own discovery. He had
ricked her out of the throng of flower girls
around the opera. She was Is years old
blond, slender, and pretty, of pert and
coouettish rather than q sensuous style Of
beauty He bought boutonniere from the
girl. chatted with her, found that she was
aD1 e0OaUad for his modal
She knew nothing about posing, and
was not an apt pupil VRndyke Brown
soon realized the shailowness Of
her nature, but, in spite of the knowledge
that he was making fool of himself, he
fell desperately in love with the girl. She
squandered what little money he possessed
in buying triDkets and decking herself out
in ribbons. The infatuated painter neg
looted his studies in order TO crafty the
whms of his protege. She was absolutely
without gratitude One day, after coax
ing final napoleon out of his scanty heard
she said coolly.
Monsieur, 1 think you will never be
grand artist. l bid You adieu. go to N.
Richonet. He is rich. He IL teautiful. He
is young. You are old. l love you not.
Adieu!n
Brown took to absinthe. After a few
weeks Of reckless dissipation he pulled him-
self together again. His money was ex-
hausted. He enlisted as a soldier and was
sent with one of the French regiments to
Africa. Here he made some sketches for a
Partisan journal that attracted at;en-
ton. Influence secured his dis
charge from the army, and he returned to
Paris and was employed on the Monde
WuStre, In the course of his duties he was
one morning sketching a scene in the
morgue. Among the shapes stretched out
on the slabs one figure attracted him horri-
bly,. He went over and looked at 1t. 1t was
the body of Marie Vancard. Vandyke
Brown gave it decent burial and after
the funeral he came home to America and
opened q studio in this city.
Here, for the last fifteen years, he worked
hard, made a reputation and sold his pict-
ures readily. He lived the life Of a recluse.
Without being in any way a misanthropo or
woman natter, he would not allow the
entrance of charwomen into his rooms. He
cooked his own breakfasts and luncheons,
brushed, scrubbed and vanished the floors
once a week made his own bed aud washed
his table dishes. Those who we're intimately
acquainted with him knew that the object
Of his economy was Co save enough money
for the purchase Of place in the south Of
France, where he could provide q
home for his daughter and Marie
Vancerd's A few weeks ago the postman
brought him a letter bearing a French
stamp. Next morning Nandyke Brown was
not to he seen going out as usual for his
supply Of groceries Alarmed by the inter-
ruptiOn of his regular methods, the artists
in the building forced open the studio door
and found Nandyke Brown dead, with a
paint brush in one hand letter in the other,
The misslve stated that his daughter had
been drowned. The coroner gave q certif'
cate OF heart disease. The money that the
old painter had spent years in saving is now
distributed among relatives whom he hated.
There is something especially tragic in
the death of an artist in one of our big
studio buildings. Painters are sympathetic
fellows, and the loss of an associate fills
them with grief On a thousand occasions
he has criticized their pictures, and they
have as oftea pointed out the faults in bis
canvEses. They have smoked, joked,
laughed and sighed together They sit
around the coffin, many of them attired iu
their old velvet painting coats, some mechsn-
loaliy graspinR flstful Of brushes. The
coffin Is surrounded by the pictures Of
the dead artist, some Of them framed
aud ready for the exhibitions, Others
midway in progress, and never to be in>
lshed. The neighbOring studies furnish
willing watchers to sit up nights, and some
tllues the dead mans model will insist upon
taking her turn in the vigil. the dim light
OF the chandelier suggests fearful things in
dark corners. Mice run up and down the
draperles, making them flutter and rustic
mysleriou5ly. The winds sign in the chin
ney and blow the ashes of past log fires out
on the rug. The knight in armor who used
10 welcome visitors at the door now stands
tlreatenlngly on guard. The skull which
the painter had adapted into a tobacco box
grlns horribly in the dim light.
PROBABLY no companion could be more
depressing in death room than an artists
ray figure. Lay figures are made in Paris
ahd cost about 500. They are an accurate
reproduction of the form, exact in hight
ana curves, the iron framework of joints
Deng padded over with curled hair and
WIN flesh colored stockinet and fitted with
detachable PAPER mache or waxen bead.
ny an ingeuius system of joints the arms,
Ieg5, hody and head can be twisted into
every position that live person can as
sumo. In the daytime lay figure is 80
natural looking that visitors often mistake
~ Tor genuine flesh and blood model. In
tne night 1t is startlingly lifelike, and if its
nudity Is hidden under q sheet, as in the
case OF Fixatiffs studio, the effect is
glostly
a, " hen Fixatif died Of pneumonia last
november his body was kept in the studio
nor me conventional period. He was an
Lngdshman, and had no relatives III this
country. As he was not only q good
Yalnter, but good fellow, his friends We'd
win one another in paying the last respects
uue to the dead. They took turns in watch
!ug the body night and day. The last
"atCn was claimed by Mr. Mabel a ma