The times., 1899-03-12

very much like the ordinary white school
crayon, but smaller and uniform in size
from end to end. These crayons when dry
are packed in rows upon cotton in boxes
ready for the artists use. While the
hard may be handled as freely as the
school crayon without breaking, some va
Tieties of the soft are so soft that they
cannot be removed from the box without
falling TO pieces, and in consequence are
very troublesome TO handle.
in working with either oil or water
color. in an hour or little longer the color
becomes dry and refuses 10 blend and pro-
duce certain desirable effects compelling
an entirely different treatment from that
of the beginning when the work was fresh.
Herein lies the superiority OF pastel as u
medium. The picture may be days, weeks.
or even months in the course OF its making,
and yet the colors blend and act entirely as
they did at the beginning. The stroke of
a crayon looks hundred years later as II
did the moment the artist hand placed 1t
there. Guasche is next as TO holding its
original look and quality, but even in That
the color dried has a very different look
from that it had when first applied 10 The
canvas, the difference OF the color wet and
dry.
Oil sinks in. and must be vanished 10
bring il out and then, as the years loI
by, the oil turns TO amber tones, producing
golden glory in color and tone OF whi h
doubtless the artist never dreamed. Per
haps If he could see his picture in its
ripening age he might admit, though re
! iuctantly that time was the most faith
| full OF his friends.
4 Notable Pastel.
! There is now at the Fisher Gallery what
/ is without doubt the most notable pastel
/ picture ever brought to this country and
/ the surprise is that so important a picture
! should get through the dragnet of Eng
I lish and Continental museums. The dirsc-
| tors of these museums are supposed 10
/ intercept works of this character when
( ever they find their way into the ma "ket
/ This is not the first surprise, not even
the first surprise this Winter, afforded by
the distinguished local dealers and import
ers.
This pastel is of Marie Antoinette a
life size, full length seated figure. The
canvas measures nearly 5xS feet. The pic
ture was painted from life at Versailles
by Mary Nigee Lebrun, one OF the few
artists who. with Mengs, Leotard, aud
/ ANGELICA Kaufman, achieved fame by their
work in pastel. The picture is not on
public exhibition and this is TO be re-
! gretted, for it is not only picture o: one
/ remarkable woman, painted by another,
but, to the student of pastel, there is in
! il the solution of many delicate problems
of coloring, light shade, and tone.
Lsbrun was no less interesting woman
than the unfortunate Queen she has so
skiIlfully and sympathetically painted Le-
brun was the wife OF prominent picture
dealer who squandered her fortune and
I compelled her 10 work necessarily. How
continuously she must have worked, may
be inferred from the fact that in one year
she received 10000 francs for her work.
an extraordinary income for an artist of
that period. Lebrun was an intimate friend
OF Marie Antoinette. and her salons were
famous for the courtiers, htterateurs, and
bon yiyants who gathered there. Though
1t was a period of great scandals Lcbrun
( left behind her a reputation that no
breath Of scandal ever touched She was
a great artist, pure woman, and most de-
voted wife and mother.
Lebrun left some six hundred portraits
( in pastel and two hundred Landscapes The
/ latter added nothing TO her fame, neither
| did the oil portraits in which she was never
/ successful Modern pastel methods are
I widely different from those of the early
J painters, whose work won for pastel the
notable rank SO deservedly accorded II In
! the field OF art.
5. Jerome Uhl recently removed from his
studio the great ceiling canvas upon which
he has been working assiduously all win
/ ter. II was at the Society of Washington
Artists gallery last week, where on after