Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-03-26

IA SURPRISED ARTIST
The Picture That Brought a For
tune to a Poor Painter.
AN AUCTION ROOM ROMANCE.
Dramatic incident Of the Sale That
Brought Dealer and Collector Into
Competition For the Starving Artists
MASTERPIECES. = 8
Samuel Duhobret was a poor painter
whom Albrecht Durer, the famous en-
grayer and artist had admitted into
his school out OF charity. He was EN-
ployed in painting signs and the
coarser tapestry then used in Germany.
He was about forty years Of age, little,
ugly and humpbacked. He was the
butt of every i'll joke among his fellow
disciples, but he bore all with patience
and ate without complaint the scanty.
crusts given him every day for dinner.
while his companions often Jared,
sumptuously.
T Poor Samuel had not spice of envy
or malice ia his heart. He would at
any time have toiled half the night to
assist or serve those who were wont
oftenest to laugh at him or. abuse him
loudest for his stupidity. True, he had
not the qualities of social humor or
wit, but he was an example of indie
fatigable industry. He came to his,
studies every morning at day break and
| remained at work until sunset. Then
he retired into his lonely chamber and
wrought for his own amusement.
Duhobret labored three years in this
way, giving himself no time for exer-
else or recreation. He said nothing to
a single human being of the paintings
he had produced In the solitude Of his
cell by the light of his lamp. But his;
bodily energies wasted and declined
under incessant toll. 81
One morning Duhobret was missing
at the scene Of his daily labors. His
absence created much remark and
many were the jokes passed upon the
occasion. No one thought Of going to
his lodgings to look after him Or his
remains Meanwhile the object OF
| their mirth was tossing on bed OF
sickness. Disease, which had been
| slowly sapping the found tions Of his
| strength, burned in every vein; his eyes
rolled and flashed In deIirium; his lips,
| usually SO silent, muttered wild and
incoherent words. In his days Of
health poor Duhobret had his dreams,
as all artists, rich or poor, will some
times have. He had thought that the
fruit of many years labor disposed of
to advantage might procure him enough
to live, in an economical way, for the
/ rest sof hts life. He never anticipated
4 fame or fortune. The height OF his am
bition or hope was to possess tene-
Sment large enough to shelter him from
the inclemencies of the weather, with
means enough to purchase one COM
Portable meal per day.
Now, alas, however, even that one
hope had deserted him. He thought
himself dying and thought It hard to
4 die without one to look kindly upon
him, without the words Of comfort that
might soothe his passage to another
world. He fancied his bed surrounded
by fendish faces, grinning at his suf-
ferings and haunting his inability to
summon power to dispense them. At
length the apparitions faded away, and
the patient sank into an exhausted
slumber.
He awoke unrefreshed. It was the
fifth day he had lain there neglected.
4 His mouth was parched. He turned
over and feebly stretched out his hand
toward the earthen pitcher from which
since the first day of his illness he had
r.