The sun., 1909-05-23

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eyes. the morbidesso Of the flesh tones
and the general sense Of amplitude and
grace give US Fortuny who would have
painted broadly II he had lived. =. The
more obvious and dashing side OF him
is present In the Arabian Faptaisie' or the
Vanderbilt Gallery. 1t must be remem-
bered that he spent some time copying
at Madrid velasques and 0oya, and as
Camille Mauolair enthusiastically declares,
these oopIes are literal 'identihoations.
They are highly priEed by the Marquise
Carcano (who owned or did own the vi
oario'), Madrazo and the Baron Davillieu
tho last named the chief critical author
ity on Fortuny.
In the history of the arts there are cases
such as Fortuny's. OF Mozart. Chopin. IA
phael and some others, whose preoocity
and prodigious powers OF production
astonished their contemporaries. For
tuny, whose full name was Mariana jose
Maria Bernardo Fortuny y Carlo. was
born at Reus, a little town in the province
OF Tarragona. near Barcelona. He was
very poor, and at the age OF 10 an
orphan. His grandfather. carpenter,
went with the lad on foot through the
towns OF Catalonia exhibiting cabinet
containing wax figures painted by Mariana
and perhaps modelled by him. He began
carving and daubing at the age OF S;
q regular little fingersmith, his hands were
never idle. He secured by the promise
OF talent pension Of q francs month
and went to Barcelona TO study at the
Wtnrtpo thu Dri1o f,f RnTnn in
1857, he went there and copied old masters
until 1850, when. the war between Spain
and Morocco breaking out, he went to
Morocco on General Prim's staff, and for
Ave or six months his brain was saturated
with the wonders OF Eastern sunlight,
exotic hues beggars, gorgeous rugs,
snake charmers. Arabs afoot or circling
on horseback with the velocity Of birds,
fakirs, all the huge, glistening febrile life
he was later to interpret wit1 such charm
and exactitude.
He returned to Rome. He made a
second trip to Africa. He returned to
Spain. Barcelona gave him a pension
Of 1872 francs a month, which amount was
kept up later by the Duke de Rianzares
until 1857 He went to Paris in 1885, was
taken up by the Goupils, knew Meissonier
and worked occasionally with Gerome.
His rococo pictures, his Oriental work
set Paris ablaze. He married the daugh-
ter Of the Spanish painter FEDERICO Ma
drazo and visited at Madrid. Granada,
Seville. Rome. and in 1874 London. He
contracted pernicious fever at Rome and
died there November 2I, 1874. at the age
OF 80. His funeral was imposing. many
celebrities Of the world Of art participat-
ing. He was buried in the Campo Varano.
The year 1871. ascrbed to him as a birth
date by Bryan's Dictionary. is incorrect.
In 1885 at Rome he began etching, and
in fifteen months finished series Of mas
terpieces. His line, surprisingly agile
and sinuous, has the finesse Of Goya-
whom he resembled at certain points
He used aquatint with full knowledge Of
effects to be produced, and at times he
recalls Rembr in the depth Of his
shadows. His friend the painter Henri
Regnault despnired in the presence Of
such versatility, such speed and case Of
workmanship. He wrote: The time l
spent with Fortuny is haunting me still.
What magnificent fellow he is! He
paints the most marvellous things, and
is the master of US all. | wish | could
show you the two or three pictures he has
in his hand or his etchings and water
colors. They inspired me with a real
disgust Of my own. All, Fortuny, you
spoil my sleep!'
Standing aloof from the ideas and ten
denotes Of his times and not a sweeper OF
the chords that stir in human nature the
heroic or the pathetic. it is none the less
uncritical to rank this Spaniard as a
brainless teohnician. Everything is rela-
tive, and the scale on which Fortuny
worked was as true a medium for the ex-
hibition OF his genius as museum pan
Drama, lie! US not be misled by the wor-
ship Of the elephantine. 1t is character
istic Of his temperament that the big
battle piece he was commissioned by the
Barcelona Academy to paint was never
finished. Not every one who goes to Rome
does as the Romans do. Dow cred by
nature with extraordinary acuity Of vision n =,
with O romantic, passionate nature, and
a will of steel. Fortuny was bound to be-
come great painter. His manual TECH
nique bordered on the fabulous; he had
the painters hand, as his fellow country
man Pablo de Sarasate had the born hand
Of the violinist. That he spent the brief
years Of his life in painting the subjects
he did is not problem to be posed. for
as Henry James has said, It is always
dangerous to challenge an artists selec-
ton Of subject. Why did Goya conceive
his Cdprichosf The love of decorative
beauty in Fortuny was not bestemmed
by criticism, He had the lust OF eye
which not the treasures of Ormuz and Ind,
ivory, apes and peacocks, could satisfy
II he loved the Kaleidoscope East, he also
knew his Spain. We have seen at the
Pennsylvania Academy Of Fine Arts a
tiny picture. the courtyard OF a Spanish
inn through which passes binding shaft
OF sunlight. which would make envious
Sehor Sorolla. Fortuny has personal
charm, a quality usually missing nova
days, for painters in their desire to be
truthful are tumbling head over heels
into the prosaic. individuality is van
ishing in the wastes OF an overanxious
realism. II Fortuny is daring virtuoso on
one or two strings. his palette is ever en-
chanting. Personally he was handsome