The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1900-04-11
PAINTED OUT.

Let me make it plain at once that |
am portrait painter. lay no claim
to distinction, though have sufficient
patronage to make life easy. This is on
account of the strangest and easiest
commission l ever had. My chief hob
by is old fashioned frames. don't
care what is inside of them, my hobby
being to get a frame and later to paint
q picture inside which shall seem to me
suitable for such setting.
One day in December, about week
before Christmas, l picked up fine,
but di.apidated specimen Of wood-carv-
ing in a store on Sixth avenue. The
gliding had been worn nearly away,
and three of the corners were broken
off; yet as there was one Of the corners
still left, 1 hoped TO be able TO repair
the others from Il. As for the canvas
inside this frame, it was so spothered
with DIRT and time-stains that l could
hardly distinguish that it bad been
very badly painted likeness of some
sort, of a commonplace person, and
was daubed by poor pot-boiling paint
er to fill the secondhand frame which
his patron may have picked up cheap
ly, as had done after him; but as the
frame was all right, took the spoiled
canvas along with it, thinking it might
come in handy.
When l arrived at my studio found
a gentleman awaiting me. I put the
old frame against the wall and inquired
his wishes.
II want my portrait painted" he
said simply.
"Your own? ?" 1 asked.
"No," he answered hesitatingIy,
that of person who died several years
ago"
Such commissions are not altogether
uncommon, and though they are sell
dom satisfactory. either to the artist or
to the client, they are profitable. So |
asked my visitor what he had in the
way of photographs that l could give
my work by.
al have q miniature on ivory," he
said "It is good likeness, and the
coloring is exact. If you could en-
large"
/ told him to show me the minia-
ture. He said he did not have it with
him, bot said he would bring it the
next day, and departed. OF course the
matter dropped out of my mind in a
short time. was very busy until well
in the evening, when chahced to look
at my recent purchase. The light fell
on it in such a way that my attention
was attracted by slight marking that
seemed to indicate that the canvas had
been used more than once. The orig
inal picture had been painted out to
make room for this coarse daub.
With some curiosity / set to work
with water and soap to clean the thing.
This process brought out the vile draw
ing of the upper portrait in ugly clear
ness. 1t was the bloated, piggish Wis
age of politician, clearly, with plen-
tiful supply of jewelry displayed, as is
usual with such masterpieces, where
the features are not considered of so
much importance as strict fidelity in
the depicting of such articles as watch
guard and seals, finger rings and breast
pins; these were all there, as natural
and hard as reality.
Having got the dirt off, 1 had re-
course to spirits of wine and turpen-
tine, with which, and plentiful sup
ply of rags, 1 began to demolIsh the
politician ruthlessly in the vain hope
that l might find something worth
looking At underneath.
A slow process that was, as well as a
delicate one, so that it was close upon
midnight when the gold gatherings
and vermilion vissge disappeared, and
another picture loOmed up before me;
then, giving it the final washover, 1
wiped it dry aud set it in a good light
on my easel, while 1 filled and lit my
pipe, and then sat down to look at it.
What had liberated from. that vile
prison Of crude paint? / did not re-
quire to set it up to know that this bun
gier of the brush had covered aud de-
fled a work as far beyond his compre-
hension as the clouds are from the cat
erpillar.
The bust and head of young wom-
an Of uncertain age, merged with a
gloom of rich accessories, painted as
only master hand can paint who is
above asserting his knowledge, and
who has learned to cover his tech
nique. 1t was as perfect and natural
in its somber and yet quiet dignity as
if it had come from the brush of Mo-
roni.
A face and neck perfectly colorless in
their pallid whiteness, with the shad-
ows so artfully managed that they
could not be seen, and for this quality
would have delighted the strong-mind-
| ed Queen Bess.
At first l looked and saw in the CEN
ter of a vague darkness dim patch of
gray gloom that drifted up to the shad-
ow. Then the grayness appeared to
grow lighter asI sat from 1t and leaned
back in my chair until the features
stole out softly and became clear and
definite, while the figure stood out from
the background as if tangible, although
having washed it, knew that it had
been very smoothly painted.
An intent face, with delicate nose,
we'll shaped, although bloodIess lips,
and eyes like dark caverns without a
spark of light in them. The hair loose
ly textured, jet-black and lusterless,
which hid the upper portion Of the
brow, with the ears, and fell in straight
indefinite waves over the left breast,
leaving the right portion Of the trans
| r,arant neck expOsed