The Washington herald., 1920-04-14
IS THIS YOUR TYPE?
By MARIE LaRooUE.

There isn't such a demand for
melancholy beauties as there used
to boat least among present-day
writer's there is less of a tendency
TO apply to the beautiful women de-
scribed such adjectives as melan-
choly, plaintive, sad. pensive. than
used to be the case in the last CEN
tury. Apparently the idea was that
to look too happy was to look not
quite well bred. 1t indicated nobler
birth. and finer sensibilities to wear
a look of dropping melancholy. Be
sides. 1t aroused the curiosity. The
young man charmed by the face of
some unknown fair would be led
to distraction Of curiosity to know
the cause OF her look of brooding
sadness.
And even today a touch of sadness
in a face does not mar it's beauty.
There are faces that charm US, still
that haunt US with their melan-
choly. There must be a slight pallor
at least, for too great color will be-
lie the sadness of the expression,
the mouth must bear a sad smile,
preferably the face must be a trifie
long and the eyes must bear a look
of melancholy. A slight redness
that might indicate tears has been
looked upon as not unbeautiful. but
the fearful eyes are hardly admired
nowadays.
Balzac in Peace in the House"
describes fearful eyes that seem to
be beautiful. Two of the men char
acters are attending a reception
when one points out a beautiful
woman who appeals to him. do
you not see her? he asks. You
might fancy she was i'll, delicate
looking, and very small: there
now she is turning. her head this
way; her almond shaped blue eyes,
so delightfully."- soft, look as II they
were made expressly for tears"
The present-day actress perhaps
does not seek to produce in her
expression that look of haunting
melancholy and sadness that was
sometimes sought by women of the
stage. Sarah Bernhardt is one of
the actresses, however, who her
whole life long retained a some
thing of melancholy in her looks
that attracted rather than repelled.
She describes herself in her auto
biography: II was fair. slight and
frail, looking like a reed. with a
long, pale IA e, blue eyes-a rather
sad mouth and a general look of
distinction"
It was Hawthorne who took such
delight in the face of Beatrice Cenci,
by Guido Beni-a face that charms
by its sweet melancholy. THE pic
ture represented simply a female
head" he said; "a very youthful,
girlish. perfectly beautiful face, en-
veloped in white drapery from be-
meath which strayed a lock or two
of what seemed a rich, though hid
den luxuriance of human hair. The
eyes were large and brown, and
met those of the spectator. but evil
IDENTIFY with a strange, Intellectual ef-
fort to escape. There was a little
redness about the eyes, very slightly
indicated, so that you would ques-
tion whether or no the girl had
been weeping. The whole face was
quiet; there was no distortion or
disturbance of any single feature;
nor was II easy to see why the ex-
preston was not cheerful. or why a
single touch of the arIst's pencil
should not brighten 1t into joyous
ness. But in fact, IL was the very
saddest picture ever painted or con-
ceived."
Somewhat the same thing must
have been found in the paintings
OF Correggio by Thomas Hardy for
when he describes his Elfride Swan
court, he says that she possessed
''the characteristic expression of the
female faces Of Correggio, that of
the yearning human thoughts that
lie too deep for tears"