The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-16
Finally Separates Two
Masterpieces Whose
Proximity in the Lux
embourg Offended
Him
ny Nom

A PICTURE has its own life ro-
~ nance as has a living being
and in proportion to the genius
that is painted into 1t Is the
Measure Of the interest that emanates
from its painted form and gilded frame.
1t tells a story in color instead Of
printed words. but none the less an
exciting and fascinating romance, X
one can but read between the brush
marks. for Of course its story Is always
al episode in the painters own life
history.
In this case two of the best known
paintings Of modern days are involved.
They are the work of two Of the most
celebrated Of American painters. The
story is recalled now through the
recent exhibition in New York Of
works Of w. T. Dannat for the benefit
Of French artists at the front and
their families. II is also made timely
by the fact that the two pictures have
been separated on account Of the war
after having hung together in the
Luxembourg Museum for a quarter Of
q century.
Dannat was ms of the painters con-
cerned. The other was Whistler.
In London and Paris there are still
PoSsVsoihS Nv hiStiti ldii
type Of charm who still exploit their
cachet Of having posed for Whistler.
One Of these models was known as
Maud. An English girl Of the pink
complexioned, willowy type, she fitted
we'll in the Whistler pictures. But
there came a quarrel between the two
arising from the fact that she posed
for another artist without consulting
him. Then she left London and went
to Paris.
Dannat was the at the apogee Of
his first period. His brilliant pictures
of Spain had produced for him an in
ternational success Of the first magni-
tude. He dominated the art world Of
Paris, as did Whistler that Of London.
These two %exponents Of American art,
though friends in the service OF their
profession. were naturally as antago-
nistic as the two extremes of the color
gamut which they represented. Dan
mats virile method and aristocracy OF
color and Whistler's neutral manne
ism in blacks and grays may have got
a little on each others nerves. But
the two American painters chased
each his w ideal on his own pinnacle
and never bothered each other very
much.
On arriving In Paris Maud sought
employment as a model. One Of his
friends spoke Of her to Dannat.
ASK her to call and I will see IL I
can use her" was his response.
Dannat. with dark Spanish senoritas
in his artists eye. looked a little
doubtfully at the blond English pref
tiness Of the model. but he gave her
an all winter engagement at 10 francs
a day to pose when needed, a premier
salary In the ordinary model profess
sion. which would insure her i'm
munity from financial cares for some
months.
So Maud came to pose in the charm
ing suites OF picture galleries and
spacious studios that compose Mr..
Dannat's house in the fashionable
there put through the alchemic
processes in the crucible Of the artistic
brain with the aid Of a Spanish comb
and an antique velvet own Of red she
was translated into a Spanish grand
dame Of true Castilian blue blooded
b~londness; metamorphosed from a
Whistler nocturne in grays into a
Dannat symphony in reds and became
the Woman in Red" better even
known under its French title Of la
Femme en- Rouge"
La Femme en- Rouge was one Of
the painters masterpieces. The pic
lures success was instant. It got an
ovation at that years Salon and when
the French Minister des Beaux Arts
approached the American painter to
ask permission to make yet another