The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-01


InEenuosity OF Crinoline and OF Natural
Instincts. Whitewashtng shak espeare
How many OF those who look upon the
marble Wilderness Of the statue OF Her
snione in Miss Viola Aliens production OF
~ Winters Tale observe that IL is out OF
keoping with the lines that are. spoken
Both Leontes and PGulird refer to the statue
as Of stone, yet the text leaves no possible
doubt that as Shakespeare exhibited 1t 10
his audiences II was colored 70 the life
The statue is but newly fiI'd. the colors
not dry" explains Pdulind. Leortes ex-
claims.
would you not deem Ii breathod7 And thai thoso
veins
Did verily bear blood
PoiiTenes answers.
Mastery cone:
The very life seems warm upon her lip.
Finally Leontes In his rapture Is moved to
kis the statue.
I'oufna. Good my lord. foroesr
Ths ruddlness upon her lip Is wrs
YoIt mar It II you hss H. attain your own
With oily painting.
We arc even told that the pigments were
put on the same statue by "ehst rnre italian
ma ster. Julio Romano
Miss Allsn L. not alone In withdrawing
Shakespeare. Only one Of the great Her
niohes. the exquisitely intelligent Helen
Eaucit U.ady MARTINI. interpreted the lines
Of he play with any approach TO fidelity,
and though she colored her lips and put
order of crimson threaded with gold
On er costume the general effect she aimed
NJ tas Of uncolored marble. her hair being
COY r-ri and hidden by a white veil. In
Mr. siddons's statue OF Herniore the
dra cry was ample in its folds and seem
inciI stony in its texture Miss Mary
An, ,rsons most poetical Hermiore statue
II can trust a memory Of go many years
was also white. Warburton frownsd on
Shai .sspt are for representing the statue
as coiored and Sir Henry Wotton calls
the practice IAN English barbarism-
Shakespeare's own Stanford monu-
men, was painted to the life--in accord
snoo with the general custom of the time
but Edmund Malone caused its -jovial faco
10 Is whitened We now know that the
natu raj taste OF the Elizabethans In this
matt sr, as In others, was more in accord
ance with the beat Greek taste than all the
afec ted classicism OF subsequent centuries.
II : ems TO have been the universal prao-
tee in antiquity 10 color sculptures. the
remnants of pigment being evident even
IN the crevices of the figures OF the Phtdian
Par henon pediment in the British Museum.
Where Shakespeare is most vivid. most life
ike We are most prone, in our instructive
puri anical horror of natural beauty. TO
int pref him il the cold and formal spirit
u ps5udo Helenism But is the true
Sha espeare "a sepulchre. that he should
he vhited'
question is raised rot 70 much with
rega ID to HerH lone as to Perditd. and the
ooo,s in dispute are not of any outward
seeming. but Of her maidenly speech and
inst Icts. That the warmest and most
vita hues are gone in the production. of
the : Lay now at thu KnickerbocKeris scarcely
n matter OF comment; the text is every
where so nlAngled that the bare bones Of
Shai espeare rattle horribly upon the scene
II : srditd appeared In her frank habit Of
mai emily tincture, as Shakespeare imagined
her, the result might be 10 make the whole
even more sepulcilral by contrast, 1t
Is ths general attitude Of our century that
IL in question. or let us hope. OF the nine
teenth century. in which most Of us still
i've Have the commentators interpreted
10 T., the true PerditG with, all the colors
frankly exposed? Not theyl
One Of the hilarious joys Of mid Victorian
crit ism IS New England spinster who re-
mar ed that Judging by the character
and the speech OF his heroines Shakespeare
must have been particularly unfortunate
N his female acIuaintanCes. The lyrically
ecstitic eulogists have duly abhorred
this good lady; but do they not differ from
her in degree rather than in kind7 What
one OF them has ever pleaded for full pre-
sen alton on the stage Of the true color
If 7hat Beatrice says or Rosdhndp In
a Winters Tale the passage in which
Her r,ione's ladies speak of her pregnancy
Is essential both to the story and the dra-
mai 10 force OF the ensuing situations: but
il - purtanically omitted on the stage.
What scholar or poet has protested against
the omission of the lines in which Titanid
lies )ribes the bearing OF her changeling;
Bt, mother was a votrcs' 81 ing order.
And In the spiced Indian air by nigh,
Fu' often has she gosslped a. my side.
And sat with me on Nep'u~es yellow sands
iia king IN embarked trsa rs Oh the food
Wien we have laughed 20 tie sails conceive.
Anu grow big -becd Win the wsnion wind
Na.oh she, with pretty and wish swimming gait
Pol owing tner womb then rich With my young
squire.
y aid Initiate and sail upon the land
o 'cich me tribes aud return again,
As from a voyage. rlch with merchandise.
Bl, she, being morsl.oi that boy DID die
Except for an exquisite touch Of Renhis
,ance phantasy, that passage Is as Grecian
N its embodiment Of simple vital fact
n lively color as the statue OF Rermione,
It. essential spirit Is precisely that in which
ths maiden Antigono laments in the some
What Bowdlsnzed translaton Of Plumptre.
u at she goes 70 her death
+, on from marriage bed and rrerriaEe song.
tasting wife. irue ioy o. mothers bliss.
}r in which the wife Aleestis bids good by
% tho emblem Of her marriage
O bed.
rp which my Wcdd lord FOR whom de
"a nc a v!rg.n bride. farewell 10 thee
70 blame do lrrutc. for me- alone
q 81 tnou destroyed pisdAlnlng 70 bctrav
n 20 and 10Y lord dle. To ,hee shall come
'one orher Tomsd. NOT u'ore chasie-psrcfa
iore happy
The speech Of PcrduG is as frank and az