Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-06-29

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| in the original. But let him beware ~.
| own conquest has begun already ana VIII
| resolve itself sooner or Etter into tfre'
stages-disiike. liberation, fascination;
| AT first there seems to be a crafty iooi
| on those refined features. which Is SIN
| gularly repellent. toy IL has hint o
| trcachery Ebat wears a smile upon ,h'
| lips. But If Mona Lisa be placed whef
| we can see her day by day. she draw
| our eyes to meet her own and 10 discover
| at least that she centers In herself th'
| gentle touch of a Madonna the bewitch
| ing beauty of a Helen, the subtiety q
| Sphinx. Was 1t indeed -FOUR hundred
1 years ago that this lady trod the street,
: of Florence VINO was sheE How M,
life wrought upon her? We cannot say
| TOR TIM; inscruiablc smile eludes Us
Perhaps in some old history there Is AZ
answer to our question. NO. ldtie y
recorded except the fact that Leonard
WIS AT work during four years on tht
portrait of Mona Lisa, wife OF his friend
francesca del Giocondo. But In these
four centuries, no doubt. someone ha4
been able 20 fafhom her Again we ar
bpitisd She has been a riddle TO the Wise
Nothing that one cares TO hear has beer
siid Of her lay the art u critics. with th'
notable exception Of walter Pafsr, and
ttispite the force Of hts words, NJ has
gone on multiplying mysteries. This y
ID real woman. H. there 10 one Who can
read her out OF the ianeS-se In which sht
Il written INTO the terms Of our human
experience
The problem Ia not easy Il demands
rare insigigt. great gait Of expression
The very medium through which TO IN
fcrprti a face 50 instinct with exquisite
emo, Ions, must needs be one OF large re-
source seuSuussE and passionate. WITH
an tho subtle suggestion Of lie siseH. II
calls for "A poet. What p0ftT Shaii ono
say? It seems . presumption to propose
a theme for a great master. Yea IL IS not
50 o propose a master for a great theme.
provided II can be shown That the theme
il not foreign 10 his taste or beyond his
powers.
j; would seem difficult to mention a
subject more cpngepial TO R0beit BrowH-
ing Tor several reasons. IN the first place
~ had an intense Interest IN art and es-
lociallv me arr OF Renaissance. IL WAS
no superficial curiosity that led him gal
ffry and cloisaer. old pictures IN Flor
Tor ARTS spring BIRTH Twenty-Five of
MS poems treat Of ART or artists. -Four
81 these Andrea del Sario In a Gondola,
The Guardian Angel and Eurydice TO
Orpheas, are poems describing pictures.
Lady Lisa is a Florcbtine OF the hf-
teenth century. Now. while Browning
was thoroughly cosmopolitan. ye; no
Ctner race appealed 10 him Just a. 1id
the people of the South: no other period
attracted him as did the Renaissance
with It's peculiar conflict OF forces. The
very word Florence was eloquent TO him.
Browning loved life. and here was life in
lavish measure. Overlooking win the pas
sion which stirs the pulses, the pain That
plucks AZ the heart-stinEs. To take
people would be 20 deprive the world OF
nany Of his longest and best poems, OF
In a Balcony" 'Pippa Passes 'The
Ring and the Book. and twenty-five
others.
There is mystery in Mona Lisa. which
Is seen in less marked degree in Da
Ninci's earlier faces. Does this show that
he found In her the embodiment of that
ideal toward which he has always been
striving. or Is it instead a revelation OF
himself. an expression OF that sense of
mystery which haunted him all his life
II matters not. Browning was never in
different to the mysterious. "ParacelSus
exemplifies this fact. As an Introduction
10 Pauline" he adopts the preface 10
Cornelius Agrippa's Occult Philosophy.
In '.Trauscendtalism we learn of the life
OF Jacob Boehme. the Prussian mystic,
Vho saw hidden meanings in all nature,
while Rabbi Ben Ezra and Abt Nogier
were men who had in their makeup a
touch OF mysticism.
With Rrowning's eyes on La Joconde.
what contest, Painter and poet pitted
against each other. ON the one hand the
man whose philosophy had curious CO.
Incidence with that of Paracelsus for
Leonardo's soul was ever Nearning for
toward the secret that hes at the heart of
things; on the other hand the man who
was SO drawn toward the same Paracel-
Sus that he made his life an object of deep
study and embodied in IL the poem which
beers his name. Surely the mind of the
one master could meet and match that OF
the other
Granted that this be theme to invite
Browning. have we any proof that he is
equal to it's demands on the side of
Mona Liss's mystery, we have already
anticipated this question: we have yet
to consider that other element of difficult
ty--her compleXity. Each who has stud
led her face assigns to it a different
meaning. and none of these things seem
wholly right or altogether wrong. She
waits the master analyst.
TO that title none has so good right
as Browning. His men and women are
creatures of many emotions. They sur
prise us by their infinite variety. but it is
the surprise of recognition. Where Others
have given broken glimpses of human
nature, he makes us sweep life's horizon
at one swift glance. james Lees wife
has seen that of her fire there remains
nothing but ashes. Yet we next find her
trying to kindle into Il blaze some last
fains spark of hone. The Bishop St.
Prlxed's lies on his death bed saying
Peace. peace seems air till we feel that
the world is passing away and the lust
thereof. when straigf'way he begins to
exalt over his dead rival and breathe
forth the ssormiest passions with his fail
ing breath. In the man Andrea del Sarto.
what varied emotions are striving for
supremacy. There is his consciousness of
power. The knowledge of his own limta-
ton, a haunting memory of an early
promise that has never borne fruit.
something like remorse for his sin and
reproaches toward his temper. a pathetic
eagerness to please the woman by his
deed. this last feeling has prevailed. but
it still has all the others to contend with.
In the very moment when are the
most certain that Browning is the master
for Mona Lisa we lift our eyes TO see her
face confronting us across the centuries
What ineffable sweetness, yet how Its
mystery mocks us, for before tho portal.
lies 4 volume of that poet who alone
could. yet did not put her on his pages.
In vain we call upon him. for his hand is
set to other tasks In other spheres. And
Mona Lisa. well content, smiles down up
on us, still waiting an INTERPRETER.