St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-10-23
LIFE AND DEATH.
Two Pictures in a Collection at
Montreal.

Two Pictures in a Collection at
Montreal.
am seated before Murillo's famous
portrait of the dead Cardinal Richelieu.
To be seated before Murillo and the
stark dead features of Richelieufis
discourtesy; will stand-or kneel. The
canvas is a well-preserved sheet sixteen
inches square. The Subject is that of
the head and shoulders of the deceased
cardinal. 1t presents cold, CHASTITY,
uncanny aspect. The face is so wan
and sallowed, so distorted in pains
contrte knots, so far past youth
and blood and spirit. Murillo,
with all his sturdy calousness to
every diStracting sense not within the
pale of his art, must have felt his body
sickenIng, his mind reYerting TO the
reality of the physical uncouthn ess of a
death-Stilled subject. And as he laid on
the Chinese white and raw lumber and
the chrome yellow coors to portray this
clammy, sapIess flesh, paled to all the
world. alive to God alone, methinkS there
must have been an abdominal revolt
within Murillo'S bulk. There is weird
impressiveneSs pals about these saffron
features of dead Richeiieu, as the repose
in the crust folds of sky-gray satin
pillow. There is bleakness about this
pillow which is a raw grey in shade of
color, which strikes the mind as dread
full portent of the cardinals embrace of
deep eternity! 1t is said Murillo eX-
ecuted this portrait Immediately upon
the cardinals death before that last
lingering glow of life had vanished.
If this be true, Richelieu'S last illness
was indeed c torment of the widest
pang. 1ntenSest agony sits victor upon
his stiffened mouth. There is a CHASTITY
hollOWness about the eyes, and the lids
are over pupils diStended with the glare
OF madness. The black lashes are seWed
tightly about the bullying orbs, once so
keen to the sight of pomp and pageant.
A black, sinful shadow rests damply in
tie inner depths, and from the nose
bridge strands of strained skin are
drawn and pushed into the brain. A
color of inflated confusion suffuses the
flesh about the eyes as if tue soul had
wallowed there III its final flight. The
forehead bears a SCARED and serious
look. Beneath the nose, crimped in its
sicklied attenuation, a sparse gray
mustache slightly screens dis
tempered mouth. The heavy lips
lie limpid and apart, ugly in
an expression of dread. An unsightly
lividnesS shades from under the whit
ened beard, which grew torn and dis
heveled. There is still a yellowish
tinge about this scar and silvered blonde
beard, and even unto death it marked
Richelieu's noted LONELINESS. From
under the black silk couch cap which
fits close about the head the thin, long
white beard plays slovenly about the
temples and the Shrunken ears.
Beneath the chin the white silken
rutfle of the black bed-gown accentuates
the pallor of the lifeless face. Stone
could not be harder nor Gods indiffer-
ence colder than Murillo's cadaver OF
dead Richelieu, and the intense realism
so masterfully disclosed serves only to
bring to view what TO the eye is physi-
cally unseen of the prone and pulseleSs
cardinal.
Viewed in calm and contemplative
study, sense of smell seems slowly
stealing FROM the subject, and one in
stinctively turns the head-disguSted
that the mind should move with its
heavy. potent impress Of Richelieu's
reality, before the finer, nobler impulse
Of MuriliO'S marvellous mastery
From this cold, uncanny cOntempla-
ton of death, l turn my view upon one
of glowing life. 1.-The Shepherdess," by
j. +. Millet, canvas about 16X2O
inches. is another of the masters in
spring treasures. There is the same
soft. somber glow overhead; the same
deeply mystic silhouettes, the same
warmth and respiration of the French
peasant life, which MilIet delights to
portray.
1t is autumn. A twilight chill spreads
misty gloom across the moor. A fresh.
pink-faced, rOad-stained shepherdess
leads her flock TO distant cover. She
is attired in loose blue wool frock,
under a cape of thick brown fleece. Her
tanned face partakes bronze tinge in
the uncertain light OF the new moon
agleam in the early sickle form. A
ferce-yisaged herd dog stands boldly on
the topmost height of hillOck close by
the bleating, moving flock. Beyond,
the horizon is still ablaze with the
suns adieu, and the night suffuses
every bulk and detail in a wierd scenic
languOr. A study of this picture grad
ualIy instillsa sense of infinite repose-
the very motif of the author. Even in
this subdued light, where the line is lost
in the shadow, there is transparency
OF shade which reflects every quality
and tone OF enveloping light.
in this calm of 1.-The Shepherdess''
there is the opposite of Murillo's "Riche.
lieu" There is reSpiring life, active in a
depicted quality of atmosphere, light and
shade, which displays the figures, foil
age, land fixtures III the canvas, moi
upon or against it.
Both canvases are very valuable. They
are the gift Of Sir Douald Smith and MIR
Angus 10 the Art Association of Mont
real. They are the more valuable in
this fine collection because they happier
to hang near each other, because the
one is a realism of death, the other OF
life. HARRY w. WACK.