The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-11-07
MRS. WAIT rs ANXIOUS.
The Statue for Which a Syndi.
cate Subscribed $4,000
Cannot Be Found.
sCHMID SAYS IT WILL COME.
The Sculptor Returned Early in the
Year and Declared the Work
Was on the Way.

Every overland train for the past six
months or so has brought disappointment
to little company of San Francisco art
lovers.
The Venus of California has been ex-
pected daily, but she has not come. No
body knows where she is. 1t is feared that
she has been kidnapped, that she has been
stolen on account of her beauty, or that in
some unforeseen manner she has gone
astray. All that can be told of her is that
she is lost
Rupert Schmid, the well-known local
sculptor, is one who is interested in the
Venus, and he is the only one who ex-
presses belief that no harm has come to
her.
Mrs. Frona Eunice Wait, the originator
OF the celebrated beauty contest of the
ante Worlds Fair days, has about given
up in despair. She has searched and
searched, but in vain. And associated
with Mrs. Wait syndicate of art-loving
capitalists is drawn deep in the general
grief.
Just who these capitalists are will not be
dlvulged by Mrs. Wait or Sculptor Schmid,
but nobody denies that such a syndicate
does exist. Mayor Sutro is supposed to be
struggling hard to exercise the veto power
on his feelings, and young millionaire
who has been constant friend to the San
Francisco Art School is said to be, figura-
lively speaking, lowering about the ferry
every day to await the overland train.
Of course, Marian Nolan, the model for
the statue, is here, and that is everything
to California and to art but the statue is
not here. and that is what troubles the
syndicate. Miss Nolan is getting ready to
make her debut on the stage, but the
statue-where is she?
When Mrs. Wait found that the statue
could not be completed in time for the
Worlds Fair she prevailed upon Mr..
Schmid to continue the work of the mod
cling in plaster. He was himself eager TO
carry on the project, for he declared that
such model as Miss Nolan had never be-
fore been encountered by him. The work
from nature was finished, and then the
plaster model was placed on exhibition in
the San Francisco Institute of Art on Mob
Hill. Here it attracted instant and uni
versal attention. Throngs of the art-lov-
ing public visited the building daily. All
of the artists of the city were enthused.
They declared that Sculptor Schmid's
work was as delicate and fine cut as
flower, and the graceful contour and SYM
metrical features of the body made it an
other and California Venus de Milo.
The statue was in the nude, except
slight fold of drapery thrown across the
figure, fastened lightly about the hips and
81 Ice
hand to the pedestal. The right hand was
raised to wreath of flowers that reposed
upon the head.
But the model was made of plaster,
which is unsubstantial and fieeting. A
sudden lurch on the part of some clumsy
sightseer or the unannounced rumbling of
an earthquake might be sufficient to throw
the figure from off its equipoise and pre-
cipitate it to the floor. In the event of
that disaster it was evident that the price
less design would be injured, if not demol-
ished in more fearful way than that Of
the Venus de Milo is.
To prevent even such a possibility a
number of wealthy San Francisco art con-
noisseurs, who were admirers of the work,
formed syndicate among themselves TO
have the statue ehiseled in marble, and it
is said that $4,000 was subscribed to pay
Mr.. Schmid for the work in Italy. Mr..
Schmid went to Italy and took the plaster
model with him. He returned from Italy
early last summer, but the marble statue
did not come. Mr.. Schmid said the statue
was on the way. He says SO still, and
though he appears to be confident, the
syndicate is almost in despair.
The search for the missing statue has
been going on for several months. Every
effort has been made to locate it, but with
out success. The railroad stations along
the route where the statue was supposed
to come have been written to and the
agents notified to look out for long,
heavy, oblong box. Despite the efforts
not even a trace of the Venus can be
found. About the only thing left for the
syndicate to do is to have the Atlantic
Ocean dragged.
Whether some art-loving brigand has
her safely pedestaled in his Italian retreat;
whether she has been derailed in railroad
wreck and is now lying deserted at the
bottom of some embankment; or whether
she is quietly resting in the depths of the
ocean, where she is destined to waste her
beauty in company with unseen others, is
a matter of much anxious speculation with
the members of the syndicate.
If the statue has proven to be really
lost it will be distinct loss to California
art. Miss Nolan, of course, is still in the
State, and retains all her former grace and
beauty, and Sculptor Schmid has not lost
any OF his skill But Miss Nolan is busy
preparing for her debut on the stage, and
even if she had the time her consent to
pose again is a matter of doubt.
By Mrs. Wait the loss will be more
keenly felt than possibly by any one else.
With her it was intimately identified with
the part she took in California's repre-
sentation at the Worlds Fair. She inaug-
urated the "Venus contest" and took
personal interest in making it a success.
Being connected with the States exhibit
at Chicago it occurred to her that it would
be unique idea to have the California
art exhibit represented by the most per-
fectiy formed young lady in the State.
She proposed to have the young ladies,
who were candidates, pose before a pho
tographer, the photographs to be passed
upon by a committee of artists The emo