The Press., 1897-09-16
STUDENTS FRIEND.
A DEALER IN co1oRs IN THE LATIN
 QUARTER OF PARIS

S9$<NlG OF
 Many Ar<isss Who Have "Arrived- Owe
 Much to M. PoineSs Love os Art and
 Renepolence-The Popular SuppersGAven
 Tn His IAttle Shop
 If an art student of the Latin Quarter knows not M. FoiDet. that student Is but humble creature. pitifully new to the republic of painters And who Is Foinets He has a little shop in an an cient winding street of the old quarter, the Rue Notre Dame de Champs, and there keeps colors for the acoommoda- tion of impecunious painters It Is a lit- tie shop truly, with bandbox of sale a manager just behind, the minute salon and living rooms above. but many @ celebrity laid the foundation for his fame in the pigments cbeerily furnished by Foinek Now eS, good nature and the wholesome reflection of his benevo- leDoe from the fancles of @ thousand friends have kept this marchand de couleurs to the appearance of 40 His youthfulness remarked, "Ah." be says, with a twinkle of his kindly blue eyes, eft keeps one in good color to deal in good colorsf' As be deals only fin the best of colors, "those fit for the making of masterpieces, 1t is quite in keeping that he should have the rosy freshness that reddish hair and m1stache oomple- ment, and which seem to belong only to the glow of vigor still in flower.
 t0ox1{vn had kxuocO0ro n4 ow. perieDce in the trade that is so closely akin to art, Foines has more the oharao- ter of an artist than of tradesman, and glance around the wells of his costly establishment betrays who are his friends among those who have ''ar- rived" Here are pieces by Dataille, by Bonnat, by Jean Paul Laurens, by Ga rolus- Duran, by Oazin, by Geri Melohers, by Chretien, by Paul Stock. by Yongind twhose little pieces have sold for as much as 5000 and 5000 francs each since his deathL the original of Frago- nard's "La Balancoire.@ evidences enough of Foinet's intimate relations with artists who, famous afterward, have been indebted to the man of oolors for many a sustaining kindness
 A veritable patron, Meoenas ot points, 1t is necessary that Foinet be we'll to do, and we'll to do he Is, and with the means to gratify his benevolenoe he has also the taste to minister comfort to the re- fined appetite Foinet's little suppers in the shop are as celebrated as Foinet him. self, and to be hidden to one of them Is mark of distinotion-an honor the | ambitious youth covets, a courtesy the most successful esteems. The suppers are served in the shop. and wines of choice vintage. served in bottles orusted with cellar mold, are so liberally dis pensed that sobriety at the end of the evening Is accounted an insult to the host. Baoohus is the presiding deity ever, and when his votaries revolve into I the salon where coffee Is poured it is no. permitted that one of them be able per. feotly to declare how many candles are | burning. Yet woe to the culprit who has 90 veak bead that he riots in his cups Foinet values him and his pros peots not a tot. Men who have 1t in them | to "arrive" will not islander good wine by playing the fool under 1t. is Foinet't opinion
 l If carefully watched young painter suddenly gets we'll bung or captures somewhere a medal, the color merchant radiant over the achievement, gives one of these notable suppers in honor of hit protege, and the result Is much the same as when Beau Brummel made a mar by taking his arm for walk in tht Mall The supper is the confession o. faith-Foinet's intimation that be be lieves the painter has, to all intents ant purposes, "arrived, though he says ont requires l5 years in which really "t arrive" What 0 phrase that isl How signifcanti And what a vast force | has in the French world of art and let tersi He'll arrive" No higher oompE ment may be spoken by master of pupil "He has arrived. The crown is on hi head And so Foinet, who has seen & many men ''arrive" and knows by sor of masterly intuition who Is likely t4 "arrive," has that superb patience an< that unwavering confidence which ar' necessary to make either 0 great geniu or a noble creditor.
 | Let any student with talent only as [ grain of mustard seed and with 1t hon est perseverance go to Foinet, and th' ruby faced patron will trust him till th' light goes out of the moon or floods int, the painters atelier. Indeed, Foinet as little in love with sensitive debto as he is with too temperate banQueter
 Be it understood that more than on. art student in the Quartier Latin wouk find 1t impossible to pursue his or be studies were 1t not for the philanthropi Foinet. who gives them credit montl after month for their paints and bas th' grace of soul not to impose upon then the martyrdom of debt Paints are OK pensive, and some students who hav' barely enough for bread would fare il for working materials but for this stm pie hearted and genuine bienfaiteur h the old fashioned street near the Lux embourg. That this frank generosity not ignobly betrayed may be inferre' from the fact of the dealers oompara tive opulence Nevertheless he vii shake his head in compassionate sadnes as he sayss "There are too many stu dents of art who ought to be students o agriculture. They could mow landscape
 better than they can paint them. It sad to see one quite without talen
 struggling to suooeed In an art that ha
 no pity whatever for mediocrity. Butt
 And that shrug of the shoulders wh3cl
 Is more eloquent and more impresst~
 than a monoiogue Chicago Times
 Herald.