New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-12-20

!
place in the history Of art
Mr.. Strachey has made a very readable vol
uihe out of his skilfuI and vivacious transla-
Clon OF the Memoirs of Madame Vigee lie
bruh This clever and lovely woman began
NE with serious disadvantages including a most
unpleasant stepfather, and, later, a husband
with an incurable taste for gambling. But even
as a child she showed artistic aptitude, and was
| happy in her gift This book does not explain
Just how she established herself as a popular
painter, but it is plain that she did not have
long to wait for success To-day her art seems
pretty, rather than beautiful and, though a few
things OF hers of serious value the bulk Of
her work is insipid Nevertheless, her style
pleased the fashionable society of her time she
had great vogue at court, ard, as she was liked
not simply as an artist but as a personality,
she steadily accumulated a rich fund of experi-
ence, storing her mind with impressions and
anecdotes that could not but serve TO lend inter-
est to her memoirs when she came to write
them. Every one was eager" she says, to
come to my evening parties, which some-
| times so crowded that MarshaIs of France sat
on the floor for want of chairs I remember that
| the Marshal de NoaiIes who was very stout and
very old. one evening had the greatest difficulty
| in getting up Elsewhere she naIvely alludes to
the fact that she not lacking in beauty, but
I
came to the house for her sake Music drew
| them there. Such famous composers as Gretry,
| Sacchini and Martini" she says, often played
pieces from their operas at my house before the
| first performance" The book is dotted with IA
nous names. and attached to most Of them are
piquant "reminiscences. Early in life she en-
countered the Queen, walking with some OF the
ladies of her court in the park at Marly-Ie-Rua.
'@They were all in white dresses, and so young
and hat for 7 11cyHr 7
in a dream" Later she painted more than one
portrait of Marie Antoinette. and among the
most valuable passages in her memoirs those
in which she tells what manner of woman
her royal patroness was. Here is one Of her
admirable vignettes
! 1t In the year 1910 that I painted the
| Queen for the first time she was then in the
! heyday of her youth and beauty. Marie An
| toinette was tall and admirably built, being
| somewhat stout, but not excessively Her
| arms were superb her hands small and per
| fectly formed. and her feet charming. She had
| the best walk of any woman in France, car
rying her head erect with dignity that
! stamped her queen in the midst or her whole
| court, her majestic mien, however, not in the
| least diminishing the sweetness and amiability
| of her face. To any who has not seen the
Queen it is difficult to get idea of all the
graces and all the nobility combined in her per
son. Her features were not regular; she had
! inherited that long and narrow oval peculiar 10
| the Austrian nation. Her eyes were not large;
| in color they were almost blue, and they Wele
|
was slender and pretty. and her mouth not too
! large, though her lips were rather thick But
! the most remarkable thing about her face
the splendor of her complexion l have never
seen so brilliant, and brilliant is the word,
/ for her skin was so transparent that 1t bore no
lumber in the painting Neither could I render
the real effect of it as l wished. had no ColOTs
| to paint such freshness, such delicate tints
which were hers alone, and which had never
| seen in any other woman.
| The memoirs are packed with material of this
sort. Nine. LIE Brun is complacent in the
IRENE, and sometimes her self-satisfaction grows
a little tedious; but Mr.. Strachey has shown tact
in the abridgment of the work. he gives US, in
the main, only interesting pages. This is a
book to appeal to many who are concerned with
artistic matters. and to many who care merely
for gossip relating to historical era An ap-
pendix gives a list of the artists works, and
number of the latter are reproduced as illustra-
lions, in good half tones.
Lord Balcarres suffers somewhat from
bringing out his "DonateIlo' as the second
volume in the new Library of Art, for the
first volume. Mr.. Holroyd's Michael An
gelo" enbodying COndivis famous Life" WAS
of absorbing and quite exceptional interelt.
We expect perhaps unreasonabIy, Lord Bal
cares to be as readable-and he is not his
book gives all that is TO be known about
Donateuo as a man. 1t affords trustworthy
introduction to his works. The latter duly
described they appraised with intelligence.