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Page 72
Barbara grew stronger, the color returned to her cheeks, and though she
often felt unhappy, she was better able to conceal it. She began to hope
that her secret was safe; that it would never be discovered by any one;
that Mr. Sumner would never dream of it. If only that dreadful
suggestion of Malcom's might be wholly without foundation; and perhaps,
after all, it was. She thought she would surely know when Lucile Sherman
should come to Venice, as she would do soon.
At length Mr. Sumner suggested that they begin to study Venetian
painting, and that, for it, they should first visit the Accademia delle
Belle Arti. He advised them to read what they could about early Venetian
painting.
"You will find," he said, "that the one strongest characteristic of all
the painting that has emanated from Venice is beauty and strength of
color, the keynote of which seems to have been struck in the first
mosaic decorations of San Marco, more than eight centuries ago. And how
could it be otherwise in a city so flooded with radiance of color and
light!"
"I have brought you here," said he one morning, as they left their
gondolas at the steps of the Academy, "for the special study of
Carpaccio's and the Bellinis' works.
"But," he added, as they entered the building and stepped into the
first room, "I would like you to stop for a few minutes and look at
these quaint pictures by the Vivarini, Basaiti, Bissolo, and others of
the early Venetian painters. Here you will notice the first
characteristics of the school. This academy is particularly interesting
to students of Venetian art, because it contains few other than Venetian
paintings."
Passing on, they soon reached a hall whose walls were lined with large
pictures. Here Mr. Sumner paused, saying:--
"We find in this room quite a number of paintings by Vittore Carpaccio.
Here is his most noted series, illustrating scenes in the legendary life
of St. Ursula, the maiden princess of Brittany, who, with her eleven
thousand companions, visited the holy shrines of the old world; and on
their return all were martyred just outside the city of Cologne. You
have read the story, I know. Look first at the general scheme of
composition and color before going near enough to study details.
Carpaccio had felt the flood of Venetian color, and here we see the
beginnings of that wonderful richness found in works by the later
Venetian masters. He was a born story-teller, and delighted especially
in tales of a legendary, poetic character. His works possess a peculiar
fascinating quaintness. The formal composition, by means of which we see
several scenes crowded into one picture; the singular perspective
effects; the figures with earnest faces beneath such heavy blond
tresses, and with their too short bodies, enable us easily to recognize
his pictures."
"I think I shall choose St. Ursula to be my patron saint," said Margery,
thoughtfully, after they had turned from the purely artistic study of
the pictures to their sentiment. "I have read somewhere that she is the
especial patroness of young girls, as well as of those who teach young
girls,--so she can rightfully belong to me, you see."
"What do you think she will do for you?" asked Malcom, with a quizzical
smile.
"Oh! I don't know. Perhaps if I think enough about her life I shall be a
better girl," and the blue eyes grew very earnest.
"That is wholly unnecessary, Madge _mia_," tenderly replied her brother.
"I will tell you a singular thing that I read not long ago," said
Bettina, going over to Margery, who was standing close in front of that
sweet sleeping face of St. Ursula in one of the pictures. "It was in the
life of Mr. Ruskin. His biographer says that Mr. Ruskin is wonderfully
fond of the legend of St. Ursula; that he has often come from England to
Venice just to look again on these pictures by old Carpaccio; that he
has thought so much about her character that he really is influenced
greatly by it. And he goes on to say that some person who has perhaps
received a calm, kind letter from Mr. Ruskin instead of the curt,
brusque, or impatient one that he had looked for, on account of the
irascible nature of the writer, would be altogether surprised could he
know that the reason of the unexpected quietness was that Mr. Ruskin had
stopped to ask himself, 'What would St. Ursula say? What would St.
Ursula do?'"
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