| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: "Well, I don't deny that you are to paint me two pictures for
nothing."
"Oh! oh!"
"I'll leave you to do it, or not; I don't ask it. But you're an honest
man."
"Come, out with it!"
"Well, I'm prepared to bring you a father, mother, and only daughter."
"All for me?"
"Yes--they want their portraits taken. These bourgeois--they are crazy
about art--have never dared to enter a studio. The girl has a 'dot' of
a hundred thousand francs. You can paint all three,--perhaps they'll
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: Manchu lady uses these in great profusion, her Chinese sister
more sparingly. No Chinese lady, unless a widow or a woman past
sixty, is supposed to appear in the presence of her family
without a full coating of powder and paint. A lady one day
complained to me of difficulty in lifting her eyelids, and
consulted me as to the reason.
"Perhaps," said I, "they are partially paralyzed by the lead in
your cosmetics. Wash off the paint and see if the nerves do not
recover their tone."
"But," said she, "I would not dare appear in the presence of my
husband or family without paint and powder; it would not be
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from On Horsemanship by Xenophon: of a ballet-dancer taught by whip and goad. The performances of horse
or man so treated would seem to be displays of clumsy gestures rather
than of grace and beauty. What we need is that the horse should of his
own accord exhibit his finest airs and paces at set signals.[6]
Supposing, when he is in the riding-field,[7] you push him to a gallop
until he is bathed in sweat, and when he begins to prance and show his
airs to fine effect, you promptly dismount and take off the bit, you
may rely upon it he will of his own accord another time break into the
same prancing action. Such are the horses on which gods and heroes
ride, as represented by the artist. The majesty of men themselves is
best discovered in the graceful handling of such animals.[8] A horse
On Horsemanship |
