Evening star., 1937-10-31
By Lucy Salamanca.

M Academy in Paris, young
Vl art student painted a picture
4 i which he named MARY at
the Tomb" To the astonishment OF
the youth it received the Gold Medal
at the Concours. But more signifl-
can't even than as an indication OF
exceptional talent, this marked the
beginning of curiously insistent and
tenacious determination on the part
of the young student. Some day, y
he told himself, II must paint the
Christ"
That was about 40 years ago. In
the years between, this young man
from st. Louis, Mo-, grew in fame
and honors. Painter of many of the
titled heads of Europe while still in
his twenties; Red Cross commissioner
for France and Belgium after the
armistice; a colonel in the United
States Army; painter of three Presi-
dents of the United States and more
than five hundred distinguished can
vases, a chevalier of the Legion OF
Honor, the accumulative triumph OF
his great career came on that day
when, in obedience to creatiye urge
he realized his lifelong aspiration, and
in eight hours of inspired labor put
upon canvas the head of Christ that
has been acclaimed in every large city
of the United States, at the World
Fair at Chicago and in every capital
of the Old World THE Nazarene''
the artist called this remarkable paint
ing, but the world rechristened It,
"The Christ Triumphant and still
others. because of the unusual gold
hair and blue eyes of the Saviour
represented called it "The Nordic
Christ"
THE artist of that canvas, who
l. called Washington his home dur
ing the war days, has returned to the
Capital, and Will developing themes
for great historical paintings, is lay
ing blans to make this city his per-
manent home. H. Stanley Todd, SOL
dier. artist and gentleman of the "old
school," has returned to Washington
to arrange for second showing of his
masterpiece, which, despite offers
from crowned heads and Oriental
potentates, to say nothing of church
organiza tions and private citizens OF
wealth, he has never offered for sale.
THE Nazarene," shortly to go on
exhibition to the public in Tudor
Chapel at Cedar Hill, Md. has, ac-
cording to Edwin C. Hill, been seen
by more people than any painting in
the world, with the possible exception
of Mona Lisa, and aroused such COM
ment and admiration abroad that it
took the combined efforts of two gov
ernments to get it out of one Euro
pean country that wished to retain
1t as a national Christ.
H. Stanley Todd is today as hand
some and soldierly as he was when he
went abroad to take charge of Red
Cross relief work shortly after the
war. Six feet or more in height and
straight as a ramrod, he would make
an excellent subject for one of his own
canvases. A great personal friend
of former President Herbert Hoover
he recalls the busy and happy period
they spent together when Mr. Hoover
called upon him to help raise S33 ,000,-
600 to save 100000 children. as men,
Der of the European Relief Council in
New York, Of which Hoover was chair
man.
mot only did we raise the relief
funds" Col. Todd recalls, "but John
D. Rockefeller, jr., handed me his per-
eonal check for S1,000,000 for the
cause.
"Mr. Rockefeller and I had been
friends for many years. We had both
taught, as young men, down in the
Hartman Boys Club, in the 'Hell's
Kitchen section of lower New York
Mr.. Rockefeller used to go down to
teach economics to about the toughest
group of youngsters ever gathered un-
der one roof and I used to teach them
art. The club was down at Avenue
A and Tenth street, and, despite the
squalor and poverty and evil of the
surroundings, some of those boys
really made good. met them later II
life, and it gave me a thrill to SCI
what could be done when one rost
above circumstances"
A CKNOWLEDGED to be one of the
greatest of living painters, H
Stanley Todd is modest and unas-
Stunning to an astonishing degree
Yet his career has been so outstand.
ing that it glows in the telling as {
tale told by candlelight of Paris IL
the 90s, and the great Benjamin Con.
slant and Jean Paul Laurens walking
through the aisles of easels to criticiz,
while a student stood breathless befort
his own canvas. 1t is a tale brigh
with the glamour Of historic events
for Todd saw them strip the buttons
from the uniform of Dreyfuss in tn,
courtyard behind his living quarter
In the Rue Cherche Midi. as they fun
him from the army wagon to thu
prison yard beneath the windows o
the lodgings of the young st. Louis ar
student. And in 1894 he was presen
at the Gran Prix when Carnot, Presi
dent of France, was shot and hllet
not 200 feet from where he stood.
1t Is q tale that moves through Eng
lish countryside life, at the home o
Lady Henry Somerset, where tn
young Todd spent his summers q
guest Of Lady Henry's son. and Will
still IN his twenties executed II por