The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-01-16
THAT PICTURE.

During five or six years Marcel had
worked at that famous painting which
he affirmed should represent the cross
ing of the Red sea, and for FIVE or six
years this masterpiece of color had been
o~bstinately refused by the jury at the
annual salon.
So. from force of habit in going and
coming SO often from the studio to the
musee and from the musee to the
studio, the picture knew the road so
well that, il one had set it on wheels, ii
would have been able to go all alone 10
the Louvre.
Marcel, who had ten times repainted
and r~earranged this canvas from top to
bottom, attributed to a personal hostil-
ity of the members of the jury against
himself the ostracism which rejected
it annually from the Square salon,
and in his idle moments he had COM
posed in honor Of the Cerberuses Of the
institute a little dictionary Of curses
with some illustrations of a savage fe-
rocity. This collection, which had be-
come celebrated. had obtained in tho
studios and at the School cf the Fine
Arts the popular recess which is at
tached to the immortal complaint of
Jean Belin, painter iusordinary to the
grand sultan of Turkey. All the daub-
ers of Paris had a copy of it in their
memory.
For a long time Marcel was not dis.
couraged by the determined reflections
which he received at each annual ex-
hibition. He was comfortably settled
in the opinion that his picture was, in
its least proportions, the long sough,
for pendant to the Marriage Feast at
Cana. that gigantic masterpiece whose
brilliant splendor the dust OF three CEN
turtles has not been able to tarnish. So.
every year at the epoch of the salon,
Marcel sent his picture to be examined
by the jury. OnIy-in order to throw
the examiners off the sc INT and to Try
to battle them in their preconceived de-
termination to exclude it, which preju-
dice they seemed to have against the
Crossing of the Red Sea"-without
changing anything in the general COM
position of the painting, he modified
certain details and changed the title Of
his picture. Thus, one year 1t came
before the jury under the name of THE
Crossing of the Rubicon." But Pha-
raoh, badly disguised under Caesars
mantle. was instantly recognized and re-
jected with all the honors due him.
The following year Marcel threw
upon the foreground of his canvas aflay-
er of white paint to represent snow.
planted a tree in n corner. and dress
ing up an Egyptian in the uniform OF
the imperial guard Of France he bap-
tized his picture The Crossing Of the
Beresina." The jury, which had rub
bed up its spectacles that day upon the
tails of its green palmed coats-on
official occasions the members of the
institute wear dress coats having green
palms embroidered ON the lapels and
collars-was not duped by this new
ruse. 1t recognized perfectly the obsti-
nate canvas, especially by a big devil
of a many colored horse that pranced
about on top of a wave of the Red sea.
The dressing of this hoise served Mar
Gel for all his experiments in coloring,
and in his everyday speech he called II
"a synoptical tabfeau Of fine tones, " be-
cause it reproduced all the most varied
combinations of color with their plays
Of light and shade. But once more,
unmoved by this fine detail, the jury
had not black balls enough to fully az
press their feelings in rejecting The
Crossing of the Beresina."
Very well, " said Marcel, IN waiti
Next year l shall send it again under
the title Of the Passage des Panpra-
mas
A few days later, and when Macrel
bad already forgotten terrible threats
Of vengeance he had uttered against bill
prosecutors. he received a visit from
Father Medicis. Thus the bohemianf
had nicknamed a Jew named Solomon,
who at that epoch was well known to
ALI members of artistic and literary DO.
hsmia. with whom he was in perpetual
relations. Pere Medicis did business
in all sorts of brio a-brac. He sold com
plete sets of furniture at from IL francs
up to 5000. He bought everything and
knew how to sell it again at a profit.
The exchange bank of M. Proudhor
was a very little affair compared to Thu
system applied by Medicis, who pos
sessed the genius Of traffic to a de9reS
never before attained by even the m6sl
able Of his fellow believers. His shop
which wal situated in the Place ar
Carrousel. was q fairyland where on
found everything to be desired. al
the products of nature, all the creatiopl
Of art. all that comes forth from thl
bowels of the earth and OF genius, Med
: icis made of II an object OF negotiation
His business touched everything. ab
solutely everything that exists; y
dealt even in the ideal. Medicis bongh
ideas in order to exploit them himpel
: or to sell them again. Known to III
8 the i~itteratenrs and all the artists. ri
intimate OF the palette snd q famiIia
friend of the writing desk, he was til
Asmodeus OF the art. He would sel
!, you some cigars for the plot of a novel
2 some ssrpers for . sonnet, some fresl
fish for paradoxes: he chatted ssby Ii