Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-06-12
CONSTANTS BIG FEE
HIS PRICE FOR EVERY PICTURE
JUST SIC, 1000.
NO MORE AND NO LESS
Declines to Receive an Extra $4,000
Which Pleased Patron Sent
Some of Most Famous of Modern
People Sit to His Brush-His First
Visit to America.

The New York World says in
reference to Benjamin Constant, the
noted French artist just dead:
Only the rich could get portraits
from him, for his price was $4,000
That was his inexOrable fee. Charles
7. Yerkes, the American multi-mil-
lionaire, recently sat in Paris for a
portrait, and when it was delivered to
him in London he was so pleased that
he sent Constant check for $50, 900
By return mail he received the fol-
lowing Acknowledgements:
While approaching your amiable
intention, I must decline the volun-
tary increase. My price cannot vary
one way or the other according to the
degree of satisfaction felt by my sit
tiers. Therefore, upon receipt of
your permission, | will turn the $10,-
900 into a fund of public charities
"W. K. Vanderbilt some time ago
commissioned Constant to paint the
head of his daughter, the duchess of
Marlborough, in Gainsborough hat.
Constant also painted portraits Of
Mrs. w. K. Vanderbilt, Jr.; Mrs J .
Pierpont Morgan and other New York
ers. His earliest portraits here were
those of Jay Gould and Bradley Mar
tin
The New York Commercial Adver-
tiser says: IN. Constants married
life was singularly happy and congen-
ial, his wife being daughter of Sen
ator Emmanuel AragO, formerly am
bassador of France to Switzerland
and son of the great astronomer, Fran
co.'s Arago. A peculiar incident of
their marriage was that two witnesses
for the bride were M. Theirs and M
Grevy, the first ex-president and the
second soon to be elected President of
the French republic. Nine Benjamin
Constant is well known in social
circles in Paris, is popular and friend
ly to Americans, who gather in great
numbers in her salon. A great loss
in the death of favorite son was sus-
tanned two years ago. The young
man was handsome and popular, as
well as talented, and before he died
his father painted a portrait of him
generally acknowledged to be the
artists masterpiece"
Paris claimed Constant as hers by
right of birth for he first saw the
he was young and was intrusted to the
care of two aunts living at Touloise
There he was brought up, and came
to look upon that fervid city of south
ern France as his native place.
It was the bright, clear atmosphere,
vibrating with light and color amid
which he passed his early years, that
he himself believed inspired him with
the art to which he owed his reputa-
ton. Surrounded by the relics of the
past in which Toulouse is rich, his
genius was caught by the spark which
kindled his enthusiastic devotion to
the brilliant picturesqueness of Nor
Deco and the oriental splendor still to
be found on the shores Of the western
Mediterranean.
Without the knowledge of his guard
ians he attended drawing classes in
Toulouse, but his secret passion was
revealed when at II he was awarded
a gold medal. An artist thenceforth, !
he was sent to Paris to study under
Cabanel, and soon won the first medal
at the Ecoie des BeauX Arts.
II the Franco-Prussian war he laid
aside the brush for the gun and
served as a volunteer with General |
in the army of the Loire. !
When the campaign was over he spent |
two years in Spain and Morocco put
ting together great mass of material
in sketches, which We're to be abun- |
fantly utilized in his future paintings. |
NJ. Constants debut in the salon |
had been made in 1869, with Hamlet |
and the King. In 1872 he exhibited |
Samson and Delilah. Then at the ex-
position of 1878 came the Entrance of !
Mchammed II Into Constantinople, |
May 20, 1415, a colossal painting now
ouse. A superb work, The Last
0use. A superb work. The Last
Rebels, representing a troupe of Arab
prisoners brought before sultan of
Morocco, painted in 1880, was pur-
chased by the French government for
he Museum of Luxembourg Palace.
Many paintings of Oriental and allie
sorica1 subjects followed from his
EASEL His annual exhibits at the
Salon invariably secured the attention
If the public and minute criticism He
vas made a member of the Legion of
Honor, professor at the Julian
academy and was put on the highest
.rt juries. Not until the early
,ineties did he turn especially to por-
nature, and then commissions began
% pour in upon him.
He paid his first visit to America in
S88, when his fame principally
'ested upon his Moroccan and Span
sh pictures. Such paintings as
Thirst, representing Moroccan prison
rs suffering from lack of water, onel
- III