The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1911-03-27
A Strange
Case
The Artist and the Pictures
Of Mystery
BY carroll II. PIERCE
Copyright by American Press Asse-
citation 1871

rented rooms of II widow and her
occupied the top floor of ii building on
the river Arno. ! used front room
for studio and n rear room for "A bed
room The mother was middle aged
woman. the daughter about twenty
five. Their ancestors had been well
of. hut their estate had melted away,
and Sonora Micele and her daughter
got Oh with difficulty Blanca. the
daughter. was an artist but ar indif
ferentsSne
Nevertheless there was something
remarkable about Blanca MiceIe. She
was neither pretty nor homely The
eyes of the Italians are handsome. but
Senolina Nicele's eyes were more than
handsome: they WERE so to speak.
compelling. That Is. when she looked
out Of them at me | felt strange
force compelling me to do her bidding
Not that there was apparent exercise
OF will, She was gentleness itself The
power she exercised was rather per
suasive than forceful
Not long after | arrived In Florence
| fell i'll and did not leave my bed for
weeks. Sonora Micele and her daugh
ter both nnrsed me
A portion Of the time was In either
"a stlpOr or delirium. don't know
| which AT such times | was very
weak and on coming to myself usually
felt as If ! had been doing exhaustive
work. though | had been in my bed
| ali the while, where 1t would not have
been possible for me to do any work
even If had been mentally capable
My Illness occurred during the win
| ter, and when the spring came on ami
the weather began to warm mp Sonora
| Micele used to put me in an easy chair
| and wheel me out on TO one of those
little balconies common in Florence
houses We We're on the Arno en-
bankment tthe Lung Arno, they cnll II
there,. In sight of the green hills thai
surround the city. Indeed, from my
balcony | could see some six or seyei
miles distant the heights on wbic!
Fiosoie. the original Florentine settle
ment. made. During three more
months l spent much of the day on
this balcony in fancy paintin pictures
| OF the scenes spread out before me
One of these was the undulating plain
beyond the citys edge and the heights
| Of Fiosole beyond the plain. There is
| a big clock tower at Fiosole which II
| seemed to me would make an attrac
| in fDaa fyir ny uipttrp
and | spent hours working 1t in IN
| other view dreamed of was the Arno.
| directly beneath me, winding under
its arched bridges toward the sonth,
| and other nearer and consequently
| greener hills There is something In
! the atmosphere of Italy to intensity
the color OF landscape, and on such
| days | delighted In the lima ginativt
painting ! could not do IN reality
| But | always noticed that such days
| instead of giving me strength drew
upon what had
| Fortunately | recovered before the
! hot weather set IN and after conyaiesc
| ing In the inyigorating climate Of the
| Swiss Alps went to Paris. where re
manned some time.
| Strolling one day down one of the
Partisan boulevards, | stepped into
| picture shop. The dealer, fancyins TO
| make a customer Of me, advanced and
| questioned me as to what | was look
| ing for. 1t occurred to me TO ask for
one Of my own pictures, not that ex
pected to find one, but that to ask 70!
the work of any special artist would
make It appear that / was not looking
at his wares with no intention of~hny
ing.
| Have you anything OF Adrian
| Gles?" | asked.
"Giles. the Americana"
| "Yes"
| Certainly | have very remark
able piece of his work Come this
| way"
| He led me to one Of his display
rooms and up to a picture that had
evidently been hung With conSidern
BILE care. The subject was ce tainlF
| familiar to me. for 1t was the plain
| had overlooked at Florence with Ih-
| hills and Fiosole In the distance W
as I stood looking at it recognized
not only the identical scene h''
painted in my day dreams. but my IN
dividua style Quickly bending 7" -
lower left hand corner, cap wa ia
upon my establishment by seem. IN
| own name
| caught with both hands Al the RI "
that extended around the room ~.
guard tile pictures. Here was II vie"
| | had no remembrance OF presenlin"
but which | must have painted II
was some time before recovered Snf
flcient equanimity to further examine
the painting. but when did so ! SAW
at once that for the first time IN my
life had portrayed a scene exa fly
as I saw It. What ! mean is that II
possessed all the reality and beauty
with which my Imagination had en-
dowed IT,
where did you get lt?' STAN
nered
I "a w