| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Hidden Masterpiece by Honore de Balzac: impossible when placed on canvas."
"The mission of art is not to copy nature, but to represent it. You
are not an abject copyist, but a poet," cried the old man, hastily
interrupting Porbus with a despotic gesture. "If it were not so, a
sculptor could reach the height of his art by merely moulding a woman.
Try to mould the hand of your mistress, and see what you will get,--
ghastly articulations, without the slightest resemblance to her living
hand; you must have recourse to the chisel of a man who, without
servilely copying that hand, can give it movement and life. It is our
mission to seize the mind, soul, countenance of things and beings.
Effects! effects! what are they? the mere accidents of the life, and
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac: banker from philanthropic motives, for he has four millions; he is
like a hero in a novel, a perfect Werther, charming and kind-hearted.
He has sown his wild oats, and he is distractedly in love with Cecile;
it is a case of love at first sight; and so much the more certain,
since Cecile had all Pons' paintings of Madonnas for rivals," and so
forth and so forth.
Two or three of the set came to call on the Presidente, ostensibly to
congratulate, but really to find out whether or not the marvelous tale
were true. For their benefit Mme. de Marville executed the following
admirable variations on the theme of son-in-law which mothers may
consult, as people used to refer to the /Complete Letter Writer/.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: of my pocket and got lost! Surely, Herbert, you must have something--a
tinder-box--anything that can possibly make fire!"
"No, I haven't, Pencroft."
The sailor rushed out, followed by the boy. On the sand, among the rocks,
near the river's bank, they both searched carefully, but in vain. The box
was of copper, and therefore would have been easily seen.
"Pencroft," asked Herbert, "didn't you throw it out of the car?"
"I knew better than that," replied the sailor; "but such a small article
could easily disappear in the tumbling about we have gone through. I would
rather even have lost my pipe! Confound the box! Where can it be?"
"Look here, the tide is going down," said Herbert; "let's run to the
The Mysterious Island |
