Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1894-11-11

the corners or the ateIieT were S0uoutSU
by hens, ducks and pigeons, who en-
livened the scene with their clucking,
auacking and cooling. In aneighoorlng
apartment were two sheep and a goat,
doubtless surprised at having lett sweet
pastures to find themselves on sixth
floor fiat"
But this little private menagerie was
not sufficient for her studies, and Rosa
Bonheur courageously went TO the alb
attoirs and horse market OF Paris TO
make her sketches. It was In these two
places that she prepared for two Of her
greatest pictures, Labourage NtVernals
and the Horse Fair.
The home TO which Rosa Bonheur re-
tired is a small rumbiing chateau In
the village of By, on hill overlooking
the Seine. The high walls which sur
round the house and garden forbid curl
Gus spying, bat the villagers of BY tell
most curious stories about the inmates
of the chateau.
Her long drives in the forest, the anil
mails which escape now and then, the
arrivals of mustangs from America, OF
boars, elks, gazelles, even Of lions, ex-
cite the imagination and lessen the
tongues OF peasants and villagers, and
one to believe their tales would suppose
the zoos OF the earth were mere barn
yards beside the park of the Bonheur
chateau.
For every animal that she has painted
scores OF sketches have been made, and
the voluminous portfolios at By are
crammed with pencil, crayon and oil
studies in all stages Of development.
The artist cannot pose an animal
He must know him thoroughly, under
all conditions, before he can paint him,
and this study can only be carried on
by remaining near the animal and
catching him bit by bit. This is what
Rosa Bonheur has spent her life in do
ing.
The pictures Of Briton Riviere are
we'll known in America, from the fact
that he has been so extensively engrav-
ed. In all of them Mr.. Riviere aims TO
do something more than paint an AMI
NAL. He has a story to tell and uses the
animal as the chief means OF expressing
his ideas.
dogs, OF which 1 have painted per-
haps more than anything else, says Mr..
Riviere, "are the least difficult Of my
models. All animals are difficult models,
but dogs, owing TO their intelligence and
obedience, sit better than other animals,
especially If accompanied by one who
knows how TO manage them.
"As for lions, of which l have done
many, they are the most trying. Moth
| ing can be done with them, and one
must take them as he can get them. l
do my studies of living lions at the
geological gardens.
whenever 1 have any serious work
to do, 60 there early in the morning,
and leave at 9, when the people begin
TO come. But what do is not to copy
the lion: it is TO make studies OF parts,
catch movements and make notes"
"And your study OF the anatomy OF
llons?"
That" said Mr.. Riviere, 81 have
done chiefly in the dissecting room OF
the Zoo When there has been death
among the lions the curator has been
kind enough to inform me, and has al
lowed me to make studies when the ami
NAL has been skinned and dissected, and
have frequently had cas- Is made OF diff
ferent points.
"But a deaf lion will not do as a sub
iect to paint. 1t cannot be put into
lifelike positions; its muscles have sunk
and stiffened 1t is deal, and what l
want is life. I never but once painted
a dead lion. In that case II wac posi-
Bile to follow the model. Dead subjects
are useful for the skin, which, OF course,
is not changed.
In Mr.. Riviere's studio is an anatomi-
cal lion on which be has been working
for years, getting now muscle here,
now one there, correcting this point by
a fresh visit to the dissecting room,
that by notes taken In the Zoo"
az have been several years at II"
SAYS Mr.. Riviere, speaking Of this
model, and it is not done yet, but when
IL is done hope it will be useful to
painters"
And there are people who talk about
''dashing" of work.
Mr.. Riviere's relation to his model is
an Interesting psychological study. He
never follows it exactly, but he cannot
dispense with it.
In the experience OF all three Of these
artists the thing which first strikes one
and which grows more and more i'm
pressive as one talks With them and
looks through their sketch books is the
endless patience and painstaking which
they have bean obliged TO use In hand
ling animals.
When the critics and admirers say OF
the pictures OF the great animal paint
ers that they are products OF genius"