The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1911-04-25

81 HAVE IT." HE SAID ExULTNGLy.
fatuationl Except for the beautiful
dress the picture would make a good
scarecrow."
In Jules case the spell was not bro
ken, for his wife died suddenly within
few months after their union. Jules
was disconsolate. He kept her por-
trait where he could see it constantly
and continued to endow it with the
same imaginary beauty. How long
this would have continued no one
knows, for Jules was obliged to make
his living, and his only way to do that
was by his brush.
There has always been market in
Christian countries for Madonnas with
the infant Jesus, and Jules Ferrand
determined to paint such picture, TAX
ing his wife's portrait for the Madon-
ma.
His friends would have been glad
to persuade him not to make such an
attempt, but none of them would ven
ture to displease him or hurt his feel
ings by telling him that the Madonna
was not homely woman and his
Clotilde was very homely. But one
OF his chums got round the matter by
telling him that the Virgin Mary was
one of the poor; that her husband was
q carpenter, while Jules wife was a
lady and therefore very superior
person. He advised Jules to go out
in the country and look for model
for his Madonna among the rosy
checked lasses who milk cows and
churn butter.
This adroit way of handling the in
fatuated artist won. Jules gave up
his studio temporarily and removed his
furniture and pictures to his mothers
house In the environs Of Paris. Then
he sailed forth to find a model for his
picture, and in order that he might
paint her In her natural surroundings
he took with him the implements OF
his art
Jules hunted a long while before
finding the model he needed. He was
a true arts and when uninfuenced
could choose as an artist His endow-
ment Of a homely woman whom he
loved had cine from an artistic tenn
permanent. The artist needs highly
developed Imagination, and Jules i'm
agination was abnormal.
One day he went into a springhouse
for glass Of milk. A girl was kneel-
ing on little platform over the spring
arranging some pals Of butter. Hear
Ing some one enter, she looked up.
He had found his model
Jules took a studio in the farmhouse,
which belonged to the girls father, and
set up his easel. He made a sketch Of
the girl--her name happened to be that
Of the Virgin-in a manger, then went
on with his picture He found he need
ed a model for the babe as much as or
more than for the mother. He sue
ceeded in borrowing one, but merely
for posing purposes. 1t was his In
tention to hunt for model for the
babe as he had hunted for model for
the Virgin.
Day after day Jules painted. trans
ferring the maid to the canvas. In
doing so she was passing, SO to speak,
through his brain. She entered it as
simple country lass and came out the
mother of Christ. To say that Jules
fell In love with her would perhaps
not be stating the case correctly. he
came. rather, to adore her. He was
like chameleon, which takes the color
of any object on which 1t is placed
Ferrand was transformed through
his imagination. But in this case the
process was different from his paint
ing of the picture Of Clotilde. In that
he was tied down to the reality; in
this 1t was his object to idealize his
model. And this is why an artist
needs Imagination.
Jules painted for months on the pic
ture, occasionally taking his model to
the barn and placing her in the man
ger. At last the picture. except the
babe, was finished Jules was dissat-
isfied with it. There was not the
true maternal expression In the vir-
gins face. He knew that this was
because the babe Maria had held was
not her own. Another difficulty oc-
Cured b him-any babe be might