Evening star., 1897-01-02
A R T A N q ARTIST s

Mr.. Jules A. Dieudonne's mural decora-
| 'tions for the Columbia Theater are well
| advanced. and he haA entirely finished the
| figures of Euterpe and Terpsichore. He Is
| now at work on thelMuses of Tragedy and
Comedy. and these will also be completed
before very long. Mr.. Dieudonne will then
| commence the decoration of the proscenium.
| for which he Is nominating experimental
sketches in color. He always spends con-
siderable time in studying his color effects
| before beginning work, and his experience
as a mural painter enables him to calcu-
| late with nicely the appearance Of his dec
orations under the Unusual lighting of
| theater. In the design for one side of the
proscenium is medallion containing an
| ideal portrait of Sophocles, and in the de-
sign for the other side portrait of Sap
| pho. Around these medallions are groups
Of cherubs, and the severity of the Grecian
style of the portraits is still further re-
heved by palm branches. Mr.. c. G. Conn
has recently purchased of Mr.. Dieudonne
three pictures, "A figure representing Vul-
can. a farm house in Brabant and a wood
land scene.
X X
Mrs. j. Mindeleff has recently painted
for Miss Edwards pleasing water color
| portrait OF an old lady. She painted a por-
trait of DR.. Fry some months ago, and is
new at work upon a likeness of his wife.
Mrs. Mindeleff has number of orders on
hard. and is planning before long to make
several portraits in water color for Mr..
Addison Of Richmond.
\
Miss Deering has just received from Brus-
sells a portrait of herself by Jacques de
Lalaing. 1t possesses the first requisite of
a portrait in that 1t is a striking likeness
but its qualities Of color. composition and
of ipto
than that of the average portrait The
artist has shown Miss Deering seated In an
easy, natural position, with a bunch of
| roses lying loosely In her lap, though
they had just slipped from her hand The
head is brought into delicate relief by
background of soft pearly gray, and there
are fainter echoes of this same color
throughout the entire picture. 1t is exc
cuted in pastel, but Is handled in such a
| way as to have the appearance of oil.
~
Mr.. Keeling has received his collection of
miniatures which has been on exhibition
in Baltimore. Previous to his exhibition,
| which closed last Saturday in that CITY, the
collection was view in Philadelphia.
Mr.. Keeling is now busily preparing for his
exhibition to be held here at Fischer's in
the middle of January. 1t promises to be
very interesting, and will contain many of
the miniatures exhibited elsewhere and
large number Of new ones.
X Il
Since his return to the city in much bet
ter health, Mr.. Robert Hinckley has been
busy with work in portraiture. He has re-
Gently finished an excellent portrait Of DR..
Thomas Chatard, and has also completed
| a likeness of the grandmother of Chief
Justice Fuller
X X
At the new Corcoran Gallery the walls of
nearly all the rooms are now hung with the
fabric which is to serve as a background
for the pictures. In several of the rooms it
is olive green in color. but in most Of the
rooms the fabric is a deep rich maroon,
which will set off the gold frames of the
pictures to perfection. The latter color is
also being employed for the walls of the
galleries or corridors. surrounding the
atriums, and the effect of the lighter col
umns standing out against it is very fine.
A number of the pieces of sculpture. in
cluding the Last Days of Napoleon" have
already been brought from the old building,
and are being put In place. The Parthenon
frieze, the bas-reliefs of nymphs of the
Fountain of Innocents, by Jean Goujon,
and some smaller pieces have also been re-
Gently put in their new places.
TX
x
A new plan has been tried in the life
classes of the Corcoran School and 1t has
been found to work very well. On the last
day of the pose the model takes different
positions for fifteen minutes at a time, and
the members of the class make quick figure
sketches. This plan of work is now to be
changed to the first day of the pose, as 1t
Is thought that the students will thus be-
come familiar with the model for the week
in different aspects, and will therefore do
better work on their more carefully studied
drawings.
X X
Miss Alice Archer Sewall returned from
New York about fortnight ago. and has
commenced work upon the designs which
she is going to send to the exhibition of the
Architectural League, which Is to be held
in the metropolis in FEBRUARY. She will
show at that exhibition the studies which
she made for her decorations for the resi-
dence of Mr.. Edmund Coffin in New York
This was the work which occupied her en-
tire attention while she was there The
general tone of the room of which her
decorations are part is ivory and gold
and her designs are painted in oil upon
them the effect of pastel Her lunettes
three in number. are filled with groups of
cherubs, and represent Music, Poetry and
the Drama. Her work shows a remarkable
individuality, and was greatly admired in
New York. Miss Sewall plans to open a
studio here in very short time.
The scaffolding has now been entirely re-
moved from the corridor in the new Con-
Sressional Library containing the frescoes
Of Edward Simmons and the full beauty of
his series representing the nine MUSES. Is
revealed. AS 1t appears now, the corridor
which he has decorated is in many ways
the most complete and perfect In the build
ing. In Mr.. Simmons work there is fine
drawing color and composition, together
with strong sense of the decorative, and
there is a great deal of dignity in his con-
ceptions. Before he left the city, about
two weeks ago. he painted a number of
small attendant figures In the triangular
panels in the ceiling. Considering the fact
that he executed these without any pre-
liminary sketches. they show a great
amount of facility in invention and treat