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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36533-8.txt b/36533-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fb75fd2 --- /dev/null +++ b/36533-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1526 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bastien Lepage, by Fr. Crastre + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Bastien Lepage + +Author: Fr. Crastre + +Translator: Frederic Taber Cooper + +Release Date: June 26, 2011 [EBook #36533] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BASTIEN LEPAGE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Hunter Monroe and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + + MASTERPIECES + IN COLOUR + + EDITED BY + M. HENRY ROUJON + + + BASTIEN-LEPAGE + (1848-1884) + + + + + IN THE SAME SERIES + + REYNOLDS CHARDIN + VELASQUEZ MILLET + GREUZE RAEBURN + TURNER SARGENT + BOTTICELLI CONSTABLE + ROMNEY MEMLING + REMBRANDT FRAGONARD + BELLINI DÜRER + FRA ANGELICO LAWRENCE + ROSSETTI HOGARTH + RAPHAEL WATTEAU + LEIGHTON MURILLO + HOLMAN HUNT WATTS + TITIAN INGRES + MILLAIS COROT + LUINI DELACROIX + FRANZ HALS FRA LIPPO LIPPI + CARLO DOLCI PUVIS DE CHAVANNES + GAINSBOROUGH MEISSONIER + TINTORETTO GÉRÔME + VAN DYCK VERONESE + DA VINCI VAN EYCK + WHISTLER FROMENTIN + RUBENS MANTEGNA + BOUCHER PERUGINO + HOLBEIN ROSA BONHEUR + BURNE-JONES BASTIEN-LEPAGE + LE BRUN GOYA + + [Illustration: PLATE I.--THE SONG OF SPRINGTIME + + (Museum at Verdun) + + This is one of the artist's earliest works. A certain embarrassment may + be noted in the manner in which the Cupids are treated; even at this + period, it is easy to see that allegory is not suited to the precise and + realistic talent of this painter; yet the young girl is designed with a + vigour which already foreshadows the masterly art of _Hay-making_.] + + + + + Bastien Lepage + + BY FR. CRASTRE + + TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH + BY FREDERIC TABER COOPER + + ILLUSTRATED WITH EIGHT + REPRODUCTIONS IN COLOUR + + [Illustration: IN SEMPITERNUM.] + + FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + NEW YORK--PUBLISHERS + + COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY + FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + + [Illustration: March, 1914] + + THE·PLIMPTON·PRESS + NORWOOD·MASS·U·S·A + + + + + CONTENTS + Page + + His Youth 16 + + His Best Years 31 + + His Premature End 65 + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + Plate + + I. The Song of Springtime Frontispiece + Museum at Verdun + + II. Portrait of M. Wallon 14 + Museum of the Louvre + + III. The Artist's Mother 24 + Collection of É. Bastien-Lepage + + IV. The Hay-making 34 + Museum of the Luxembourg + + V. Portrait of M. Hayem 40 + Museum of the Luxembourg + + VI. Portrait of M. X---- 50 + Museum at Verdun + + VII. The Little Boatman 60 + Collection of É. Bastien-Lepage + + VIII. The Artist's Uncle 70 + Museum at Verdun + + + [Illustration] + + + + +There are certain beings who bear the stamp of the divine seal and are +preordained to receive the highest favours within the gift of glory; +they are fated to pass through life like those brilliant meteors which +are seen to flash across the heavens and disappear in the same instant. +Bastien-Lepage was one of these meteors. But while the others leave +behind them only a luminous trail that swiftly vanishes, this rare +artist, snatched so prematurely from the field of art, traced his +passage in a furrow of dazzling splendour, the radiance of which has not +even yet begun to fade. + +Bastien-Lepage was a painter in the noblest acceptation of the term; it +may even be asserted that he would have exercised considerable influence +upon the art of his epoch if Destiny had not stupidly mown down the +sturdy flower of his genius in the very hour of its brightest +blossoming. Born into this world with a solid tenacity of purpose which +seems to be a special gift of the soil of Lorraine to her sons and +daughters, he had a clear-cut and unalterable conception of what +painting should be. His mind was receptive only of simple ideas, his eye +perceived only visions that were tangible, such as were unobscured by +any shadow or any artifice. He was the apostle of clearness, both in +conception and in execution. Every time that he tried experimentally to +turn aside from his chosen path, he ceased to be himself, he fell +below his own standards. What interested him most of all, in the life of +this world which he observed so eagerly, as though he had a presentiment +of his early end, was nature's most precise and most uncompromising +manifestation, both in line and in relief; namely, the peasant and the +environment which frames him. Having deliberately chosen such models, +Bastien-Lepage could not pretend to be the painter of the Beautiful, nor +did he ever become so. He did not even adorn his subjects with that +special sort of idealism with which Millet embellished even his most +uncouth rustic types, a slightly melancholy idealism obtained by a +sombre toning down of colour, which Bastien-Lepage held in horror. His +peasants stand out boldly, in the crude glare of flamboyant noontide, +under a summer sun that refuses to leave hidden any part of their +ugliness or their defects. He painted them as he saw them, with the +searching rays striking them full in the face; and his brush was a +stranger to any compromise, intolerant of even the slightest +betterment, in the course of the literal transference of his model to +his canvas. It made no difference how handsome or how homely a given +subject might be, Bastien-Lepage would always render him precisely as +nature, in a grudging or indulgent mood, had made him,--that is to say, +truly and sincerely, with a precision that would be almost photographic, +if the minuteness of his technique were not ennobled by the high quality +of his art. With such gifts, Bastien-Lepage was foreordained to be a +marvellous interpreter of rural life, and such he was in the highest +degree; in like manner, he could not fail to become a portrait painter +of the first order, and it was in this capacity also that he enrolled +himself among the most interesting and vigorous artists of our epoch. + + [Illustration: + + PLATE II.--PORTRAIT OF M. WALLON + + (Museum of the Louvre) + + Few artists have been able to endow their models with such an animated + expression of life. All the keenness, intelligence and austerity of this + prominent personage, known by the name of Father of the Constitution, + are eloquently transferred to this page, with a sobriety of means that + still further emphasizes its vigour.] + + + + + HIS YOUTH + + +Jules Bastien-Lepage was born at Damvillers, in the department of the +Meuse, on the first of November, 1848. His parents were of the +well-to-do farming class, occupied from one year's end to the other with +the work of the fields. Consequently, all the early boyhood of the +artist was passed in daily contact with the soil of Lorraine and with +the sons of that soil. He knew them, one and all, in his native village; +he grew up among them; he went to school side by side with the other +little rustics of his own age: he understood the peasant class, with all +their faults, their virtues, their habits of life; he learned to read in +their faces, which were a sealed book to the outsider, the opinions and +emotions which they had in common with him. + +These childhood impressions were destined to abide with him throughout +his life; he cherished to the end a fervent love for his native land, +and he felt that he had an infinitely noble task in painting that life +of the fields which the Second Empire affected to despise. + +But though he came of peasant stock, it was Bastien-Lepage's good +fortune that these same peasants were in prosperous circumstances and +could afford to give him an education. They were ambitious for him; and +it hurt them to see their little Jules, who was so wide-awake, so +intelligent, and at the same time so frail, leading the hard and +monotonous life of the fields, following the plough, tilling the soil. +It needed only a few household economies to enable him to continue his +studies; so, when the time came, young Bastien-Lepage wended his way +towards Verdun, where he entered upon his college course. + +There is nothing that marks in any particular way these years of study, +nothing to indicate that the boy was a youthful prodigy, nor that he +showed any special aptitude for drawing. But he was studious, diligent, +and anxious to avoid repremands and to fulfil the expectations of his +parents. In due time he obtained his bachelor's degree, which at that +period was highly prized. His father, filled with pride, already began +to form brilliant projects for his future, already foresaw him a +distinguished official, supervising some great branch of the public +service. As a matter of fact, a position was found for the young +baccalaureate in a government department which was neither the most +desirable nor the one of least importance; namely, the Post Office +Department. Bastien-Lepage was not vastly delighted with the choice, +but, dutiful son that he was, he accepted the modest clerkship offered +him. One circumstance contributed, in a large degree, towards overcoming +his reluctance: the post assigned to him from the start was in Paris, of +which he had often heard marvellous things, and in which he hoped that +he would be able to follow his secret inclination. For, in the interval +his vocation had revealed itself; he had conceived a passion for +drawing, for colouring, for painting; and, like Correggio, he was eager +to say in his turn, "I too am a painter!" + +Accordingly he set forth, leaving behind him no suspicion of his +purpose. Upon arriving at the capital, he acquitted himself scrupulously +of his official duties, but every leisure moment was consecrated to +visiting the museums and exhibitions. He saturated himself with the +wealth of beauty strewn broadcast through the Louvre, and was thrilled +with admiration at contact with the masters of every school and country. +He did not care equally for them all, in spite of their genius; his +intimate preferences leaned to the side of Flemish rather than Italian +art; but he was not insensible to the lofty inspiration, the severe +harmony, the faultless composition, which have made the great masters of +the Renaissance the most astonishing prodigies in the history of +painting. + +But while the older schools of art delighted him, he followed with no +less attention the movement of contemporary painting. At the hour when +his critical spirit awoke, certain new elements and new formulas had +come to light and had been put into practice by two audacious and gifted +artists by the names of Courbet and Manet. Although the prolonged +struggle between the classicists and romanticists had not yet come to an +end, these two rival schools were entrenched in their positions and +refused to stir forth from them. Supporters of Delacroix and of Ingres +confined themselves strictly to their respective hostile formulas, doing +nothing either to expand or to rejuvenate them. Whoever dared to venture +outside of one of these two beaten tracks was regarded as a madman, and +his attempts were greeted with derisive clamours by both parties, who +declared a momentary truce, for the purpose of annihilating him by a +joint attack. Courbet, who was scorned by Ingres, met with equally harsh +criticism from Delacroix; and as for Manet, he had managed to call down +universal wrath upon his head, and at the Salon of 1863 it became +necessary to place his _Olympia_ in the very topmost line upon the wall, +in order to protect it from the fury of the public, hounded on by the +hue and cry of the critics. + +Bastien-Lepage made mental notes of all the episodes of this struggle; +he listened to the criticisms and passed them through the crucible of +his unspoiled mind, in the presence of the very works under indictment. +His good sense showed him how large an element of injustice entered into +these hostilities. Moreover, his peasant blood inclined him to +sympathize with those artists who refused to bind themselves to seek for +beauty only within the limits of academic form, and who had the ability +to make it flash forth from the humblest and even the most vulgar type +of subject. Furthermore, this constant study of matters pertaining to +art, day by day added fuel to the hidden fire smouldering within him; he +was conscious of its mounting flame. Back of the rude sketches, drawn +and coloured in the tiny chamber befitting an humble postal clerk, he +perceived vaguely that he also possessed the temperament of a painter, +and little by little he witnessed the unfolding of his artist's soul. + + [Illustration: PLATE III.--THE ARTIST'S MOTHER + + (Collection of É. Bastien-Lepage) + + What a kindly and gentle face this is, the face of the woman to whom the + artist applied the tender endearment of "Good little mother!" In this + work, it is evident that the heart guided the hand of the painter. None + but a son could have rendered with such emotion the humid tenderness of + those eyes and the maternal caress of those lips. It is a powerful work, + which enrolls Bastien-Lepage in the foremost rank of portrait + painters.] + +At last, unable to bear it longer, he resigned from the postal service +and enrolled his name at the Beaux-Arts. At this time, when he entered +the studio of Cabanel, he was but little more than nineteen years of +age. Cabanel, to be sure, was not the painter of his choice, but +Bastien-Lepage was not for that reason any the less appreciative of a +system of instruction which was dominated by a worship of line-work. His +training under Cabanel was not without value to the young artist, who +throughout his life, even in his most realistic paintings, proved +himself to be an impeccable master of design. + +At the outset, however, he was beset with difficulties. Now that his +salary as a postal clerk had ceased and remittances from the family were +necessarily restricted, Bastien-Lepage exerted himself to gain a living +by his own efforts. He had no lack of courage, and he had in addition +that Lorraine tenacity which enabled him to confront all difficulties +with tranquil assurance. He worked with desperate energy, and in the +intervals of respite from his labours he overran all Paris in search of +orders from business houses. It was an inglorious task, but at least it +enabled him to live; thus it happened that about 1873 he produced a +widely circulated advertisement for a perfumery house. Up to this time +he had remained wholly unknown; and although he had already exhibited +one painting, at the Salon of 1870, it was passed by unheeded both by +the critics and the general public. + +This lack of success in no wise discouraged him, for he had faith. It +was in the year 1874 that he exhibited _The Song of Springtime_. It was +a veritable revelation. There was no neglect this time. The public +gathered in throngs before his canvas, and the critics, notwithstanding +a few objections to details, were lavish in their praise and hailed him +as having the qualities of a true artist. Naturally, the picture was not +perfect, but it well merited the flattering reception which it received. +In a springtime landscape a young peasant girl is seated beneath a +tree, looking before her over a sunlit plain. Around her skirts a whole +bevy of Cupids are gathering blossoms and offering them to the girl. +Here, at the first stroke, is an assertion of the young painter's +independence, his formal determination to emancipate himself from the +accepted formulas in his treatment of the eternal theme of a young +girl's soul, opening to the first appeal of love. As a matter of fact, +the allegory is somewhat clumsy; you realize that the author's talent +does not run to sentimental compositions. Yet the young girl is brushed +in with an energetic hand, and all that rather coarse robustness that +distinguishes the women of peasant stock is blended in a masterly manner +with the naïve innocence of simple souls. _The Song of Springtime_ was +Bastien-Lepage's first attempt in that vein of realistic painting in +which he was soon destined to excel. + +That same year he produced _Grandfather's Portrait_, which also +attracted much attention. The artist had placed his model in the little +garden adjoining the home of his birth. This portrait, which belongs +to-day to the painter's brother, is remarkable for its naturalness, its +touch of intimate understanding, and its vigour of execution. + +Bastien-Lepage had now acquired a name. His _Song of Springtime_ won him +a third class medal, and the State purchased the painting for the museum +at Verdun, where it at present hangs. + +In the following year he exhibited _Her First Communion_, picturing a +young and pretty country girl, stiff and self-conscious under her white +veil. This work was the product of keen observation, and is deliberately +stilted and traditional in its style of execution, recalling in some +measure the French primitive school. Bastien-Lepage evidently had in +mind the portraits by François Cluet: his little communicant is +infinitely artificial in her spotless finery, yet infinitely alive under +the thin surface wash of colour which recalls the _Elizabeth of +Austria_, wife of Charles IX, as painted by the greatest of the French +primitives. + +Simultaneously with this picture he exhibited the _Portrait of M. +Hayem_, in which the vigorous treatment of the face, with its clear, +firm colour tones and sober workmanship, proclaimed him already a +portrait painter of the first order. + +His success this time was more marked: he received a medal of the second +class. A less modest artist would have allowed himself to be borne +tranquilly along by the mounting tide of glory; but Bastien-Lepage did +not yet feel that he was sufficiently sure of himself. He wished to +continue for a while longer, working, learning, perfecting himself; he +even conceived the idea, in spite of his renown, of competing for the +_Prix de Rome_. Accordingly, the painter of _The Song of Springtime_ and +_Her First Communion_ might shortly after have been seen entering the +lists like any ordinary nobody. He obtained only the second prize. + +He presented himself again the following year, but with no better +success. The subject assigned for the competition was _Priam at the Feet +of Achilles_. It is easy to understand that such a theme was little +calculated to inspire an artist of Bastien-Lepage's temperament; he +found it impossible to attain full development unless in the presence of +nature herself. No amount of manual dexterity can take the place of +inborn faith, and the young artist had no faith in antiquity; he never +could muster any enthusiasm for the Greek or Roman gods, nor for +historic scenes in which the very attitudes are dictated by the rules +and regulations of time-honoured tradition. + +Nevertheless, the work is not without merit; it is forceful, its +colouring is good, and it falls short of perfection only in failing to +conform sufficiently with what we know of ancient life. This painting is +at present to be found in the Museum at Lille. + +This rebuff did not discourage Bastien-Lepage unreasonably; but he +decided to confine himself in the future to painting portraits and +picturing the life of the fields. + + + + + HIS BEST YEARS + + +The same year that he failed for the second time in the competition for +the _Prix de Rome_, Bastien-Lepage painted _The Portrait of M. Wallon_, +which is one of his most important works as a portrait painter. In spite +of its tendency towards naturalism, this canvas was nevertheless still +conceived in accordance with the established technique, and the keen and +serious visage of the Father of the Constitution standing out against +its sombre background is a fine study in chiaroscuro. + +But the following year he struck the naturalistic note more strongly in +his _Portrait of Lady L._, the only full-length, life-sized portrait +that he ever painted; and he declared himself plainly and definitely a +realist in his picture entitled _My Parents_. It would be impossible to +find two figures more life-like, more literal, or painted with greater +sincerity. This canvas amounted to a declaration of principles; for an +artist whom filial piety cannot turn aside from the truth will never +make sacrifices to convention: he will never consent to embellish or +idealize his models through tricks of his craft; he will paint them as +he sees them, without correcting any of the imperfections and ugliness +with which nature has afflicted them. How clearly we recognize that +these likenesses of Bastien-Lepage's parents are absolutely true to +life, and how much better we like them as they are, in the simple +intimacy of daily life, than if they had been decked out, all spick and +span, as a less scrupulous artist would inevitably have shown them to +us! + +Bastien-Lepage's brother, himself a painter of some talent, has +preserved in his studio at Neuilly a certain number of the artist's +works, which he surrounds with pious care and feelingly exhibits to +occasional visitors. The family portraits are there, pulsating with life +and radiating that generous peasant kindliness which finds +expression in a broad and tender smile. The father, seated in a chair in +his garden, an old man with shrewd yet friendly eyes, seems so real, so +actual, that we almost expect him to step down from his frame to bid us +welcome. And what a marvel the _Portrait of my Mother_ is, which forms a +companion piece on the same wall! A somewhat wistful charm pervades this +face, with its deeply graven lines, and an infinite tenderness, a true +mother's tenderness, hovers over the thin, pale lips. + + [Illustration: PLATE IV--HAY-MAKING + + (Museum of the Luxembourg) + + A masterpiece of contemporary painting, because of the truth of its + attitudes and the vigour of its execution. It would be impossible to + render more forcibly the blissfulness of rest when the body has been + racked by the exhausting labour of the soil. In this picture, + Bastien-Lepage revealed himself as an incomparable painter of rural + life.] + +Perhaps this is the moment, in the presence of these pictures, to +emphasize Bastien-Lepage's great value as a colourist. Few contemporary +painters have used colour with so much tact, such veritable mastery as +he. Others have employed more dazzling tonal schemes and have achieved +more gorgeous effects, but no one has rendered with such exact truth the +tints of the flesh, the grayish folds of wrinkles, the profound light of +the eye. And his colour is always clear, always unmistakably employed +to produce a sought-after effect. There is no artifice, no trick-work, +it is all straightforward, honest, precise; the opposition of light and +shade never result in opacity, bitumen plays no part in his canvases, +the astonishing relief of which is obtained by means of such perfect +simplicity that it recalls the inimitable technique of Correggio. + +In 1878 he exhibited _Hay-making_, that magisterial page from the life +of the fields which to-day is the pride of the Luxembourg museum, and +which the art of the engraver has scattered broadcast to the extent of +millions of copies. + +This picture represents a vast sun-bathed meadow, overstrewn with +new-mown hay and punctuated, here and there, by the rounded cones of the +stacks. Against the blue background of the sky, green hill-tops trace an +undulant line. In the foreground a robust, bony-armed country-woman is +seated on the grass, her legs stretched out before her in an attitude +expressive of the utter weariness resulting from the work performed. +Her head, solidly planted on her massive neck, is a marvel of realism; +in her vulgar peasant face we may read health, strength, and a sort of +dulled mentality born of physical fatigue. In every fibre of her +exhausted body the woman is veritably resting, and through her +half-parted lips it seems as though we could detect the passage of her +hurried breathing. The man beside her, no less worn out than she, is +stretched at full length on the thick couch of grass, and with his hat +over his face, to shelter it from the sun, he is sleeping as though dead +to the world. + +Every detail of this canvas is perfect, because every detail is true, +drawn straight from life, the fruit of minute observation. In it +Bastien-Lepage once more affirms his predilection for the open country; +and nothing could be more impressive than these two uncouth, vulgar, +homely human beings, set amid the splendour of a meadow turned golden by +the sun. It is an every-day spectacle; it would not seem at first sight +to contain material for a picture. But Bastien-Lepage has succeeded in +proving indisputably that beauty does not consist solely in the harmony +of the body, but in the impression which emanates from scenes that are +most humble in outward appearance. In these few square feet of canvas +the artist has summed up, perhaps without intending it, all the majesty +of nature and all the grandeur of the life of the fields. It is scarcely +necessary to add that this work is a transcript of the soil of Lorraine, +that good natal soil which he loved so profoundly and to which he +returned eagerly, year after year. + +Bastien-Lepage was exclusively the painter of the rural aspects of +Lorraine; he loved its horizons, its fertile and undulating plains. And +when, occasionally, he ventured into allegory, the background was still +Lorraine, and the characters were developed in the familiar setting of +his native village, Damvillers. And how he loved it! How he enjoyed the +warm atmosphere of affection which always awaited him when his +father, grandfather, and valiant and devoted "little mother" gathered at +night around the family table! He made his home in Paris, because +residence there was indispensable, both for business and artistic +reasons; but the moment that he could escape from the capital and its +constraints, he would go to rest and gather new energy in the midst of +the family circle. He had a spacious studio installed in the second +story of the ancestral home; and there he worked, absolutely happy so +long as he could see the old grandfather at his side, pipe in mouth, +examining the work with a knowing air, and the father and mother in a +sort of ecstasy, as they watched him fill in his canvas. + + [Illustration: PLATE V.--PORTRAIT OF M. HAYEM + + (Museum of the Luxembourg) + + A marvel of discernment and of rendering. The face, to be sure, has a + strong originality; but there is no slight merit in having expressed + with such striking truth the piercing intelligence of the eyes that + twinkle behind the lenses of the spectacles, and the energy, tempered + with satiric humour, of his whole odd physiognomy.] + +Nevertheless, Bastien-Lepage was no studio painter; it was not from the +height of a window that he chose to contemplate nature, but in the open +fields, in the very heart of the furrows; and it was there also, in the +midst of the wheat and the rye, that he set up his easel and painted +his peasants in action, in the daily fulfilment of their thankless +task. And by picturing them thus, without artifice, in all their +simplicity of gesture and coarseness of feature, he imbued his canvases +with a profound spirit of poetry, through which the often brutal realism +of his subjects was redeemed and ennobled. In the presence of these +peasants he experienced a joy more genuine than he had ever felt before +the rarest canvases in any museum. Not that he denied or disdained the +genius of the great ancestors of painting; he had too much reverence for +his art ever to dream of doing so. But when it came to a question of +training, he could learn more from nature than from them. Listen to his +own exposition of his ideas: + +"What a pity," he wrote, "that we are initiated, whether we will or not, +into traditions and routines, under the pretext that this is the way to +train us to be artists! It would be so simple to teach the use of brush +and palette, without ever once mentioning the name of Michelangelo or +Raphael or Murillo or Domenichino! We could then go home, back to +Brittany or Gascony, Lorraine or Normandy, and peacefully paint the +portrait of our own province; and if some morning the book we had +chanced to read aroused the wish to paint a Prodigal Son, or Priam at +the feet of Achilles, we could reconstruct the scene to suit ourselves, +without needing to resort to the museums, taking the setting from our +own surroundings and making use of the models close at hand, as though +the old drama dated only from yesterday. That is the way for an artist +to succeed in breathing the breath of life into his art and in making it +beautiful and appealing to the eyes of the whole world. And that is the +goal towards which I am striving with all my strength." + +As painter of the open air, he became in a certain sense the founder of +a school, without meaning to be; for his conception of the painter's art +won over a whole group of young artists who united in hailing him as +their master. Each year his offerings to the Salon were impatiently +awaited, and his followers gathered in full force before them, +discussing, comparing, acclaiming; each Salon became the occasion for a +new success, the critics were unanimous in praising him, the public +adopted his pictures for their own, because they could understand his +clear and rigorous manner. Whatever hostility he met with was among his +own colleagues, at least among such of them as were discouraged and +humiliated by his vigorous originality. Nevertheless, the Exposition of +1878, at which he had gathered together all his works, was an especially +triumphant occasion for him; yet when the awards were distributed, he +discovered that he had received nothing but a medal of the third class. + +At the Salon of 1879, Bastien-Lepage exhibited his _Women gathering +Potatoes_, which formed a companion piece to his _Hay-making_. Here +again we have the landscape of Lorraine and the eternal and infinitely +varied theme of rural labour. In a sun-parched field two women are +toiling to reap the harvest of potatoes. While the one in the middle +distance is stooping to turn up the ripe bulbs from the soil, the other, +placed in the foreground, is striving to empty the contents of her +basket into a sack which she holds open by a wonderfully natural +movement of her knee. Nothing could be simpler or more humble than this +subject, and yet one feels drawn towards it, conquered by the truth of +these two figures, both in their attitude and their expression. +Involuntarily memory conjures up another canvas, _The Gleaners_, and we +realize that it is impossible to resist that higher appeal which the +great artists succeed in giving to the most commonplace episode of +farming life. But, unlike Millet, Bastien-Lepage does not awaken in us +any compassion for these beings who toil, stooping above the earth; no +touch of bitterness saddens his pictures, and the types which he shows +to us have the healthy vigour of peasants who live their lives in the +open air and love the soil which nourishes them. + +This picture, when it appeared, produced a sensation. Coming directly +after the _Hay-making_, it definitely established Bastien-Lepage's +talent and placed him in the foremost rank of painters of rural life. +The critics hailed this powerful canvas with enthusiasm. Théodore de +Banville, writing of the Salon of 1879, said: "M. Bastien-Lepage is the +king of this Exposition. Young as he is, he has started in to produce +masterpieces: he is very wise! For in later years an artist continues to +copy himself, with more or less cleverness and success; but the creative +genius has taken wing, like a bird on whose tail we have failed to drop +the indispensable grain of salt. The _October Season_ pictures the +harvesting of potatoes. The earth, the encompassing air as far as we can +see, the sky, the solitude laden with silence, are all evoked for us in +this picture by the sincerity of its powerful painter; the peasant women +are done in a masterly manner, and precisely for the reason that he has +seen them apart from all convention and has not tried to idealize them +by any hackneyed device." + +Albert Wolff was no less enthusiastic: "The colouring in _Women +harvesting Potatoes_ is ingratiating and discreet; not a discordant +touch disturbs the beautiful harmony of this canvas, over which the +silence of the open country has descended, enveloping the obscure toil. +It is only artists of superior powers who can embody so much charm in a +single conception." + +Another feature of the same Salon was his magnificent portrait of +_Madame Sarah Bernhardt_, a marvel of expression and of delicate art, +embodied in a pale symphony of tenderest whites, blending harmoniously +with the warmest tones of gold. The great tragic actress is portrayed +draped, almost swathed, in a gown of white china silk, verging on the +faintest yellowish caste; she is posed in profile, that cameo-like +profile that has so often been portrayed. She is seated, with a sort of +intentional rigidity, on a white fur robe, and is examining a statuette +of Orpheus, in old ivory, which she holds in her hands. Her expressive +and intellectual features are treated with a vigour which does full +justice to the classic beauty and virile energy of the sitter. + +"The work as a whole," wrote the critic of the _Revue des Beaux-Arts_, +"possesses supreme distinction and an admirable delicacy of colouring. +The silvery tones of the whites, the warm grays of the draped gown lead +up to the freshness of the delicate, rose-like flesh tints, beneath the +crown of close curled locks that seem at once massive and weightless. +The artist's hand was sure of itself; it neither groped nor hesitated. +The execution is such that the drawing of the gown and the lines of the +face seem to have been traced by an engraver's tool. In this case, +however, definiteness has not resulted in stiffness. The sharp design +has not imprisoned unwilling forms; it leaves them free to move as they +please within the limits of their contours which are its domain. It is +worth while to examine with a lens the marvellous process which, by +the aid of imperceptible half-tones, has softened the modelling of the +face and hands." + + [Illustration: PLATE VI.--PORTRAIT OF M. X---- + + (Museum at Verdun) + + Bastien-Lepage possessed the rare quality of being able to bestow the + same superior skill upon every part of a portrait. Being sincere before + all else, he never tried to shirk any difficulty; this is seen in the + care he took in painting the hands of all his various sitters, showing + something akin to vanity in the marvellous talent he displayed in + rendering them. In this portrait--just as in all the others--the hands + are quite as truly a miracle of execution as the face itself.] + +These two pictures earned Bastien-Lepage the Cross of the Legion of +Honour and a definite recognition of his talent. The artist could not +keep his delight to himself and, good son that he was, wished to share +it with his beloved family; so he sent for them, to pay him a visit in +Paris. The grandfather and the "good little mother" arrived, full of +pride in this famous son, of whom the whole world was talking. He showed +them the sights of the city and was only too happy to have a chance to +introduce them to his friends; he took his mother to the big shops and +insisted on choosing silk cloaks and silk dresses for her. The poor +woman protested, saying that they were far too fine, that she would +never dare to wear anything like that. "Show us some more," ordered the +devoted artist, "I want mamma to have her choice of the best there is!" + +After the old people had returned home to Lorraine, Bastien-Lepage set +out for England, where he was to paint the portrait of the Prince of +Wales, who afterwards became King Edward VII. + +In this portrait of tiny dimensions the Prince is represented in fancy +costume, after the manner of Holbein. His garments recall in a measure +those worn by King Henry VIII, in the celebrated portrait done by the +great painter from Basle. The Collar of the Golden Fleece is displayed +upon his breast. In the background of the picture may be seen dimly, +through a veil of mist, the panorama of London and the gray ribbon of +the Thames. The portrait is a little gem, which Bastien-Lepage wrought +with the minuteness and affectedly hieratic mannerism of Holbein and the +French primitive school. Although at present in possession of M. Émile +Bastien-Lepage, it will eventually find its place, together with a +goodly number of other canvases, in the museum of the Louvre, to which +the brother of the great artist intends to bequeath them. + +It should be mentioned here, in connection with this work, that +Bastien-Lepage continued to make more and more of a specialty of +portraits of reduced dimensions, and that he acquired in this respect a +reputation of the first order. He loved these little canvases, scarcely +larger than miniatures, and he expended on their scanty surfaces an +inimitable skill; he embellished them with a wealth of accessory detail +which brings to mind, as we look at them to-day, the formidable labours +of the illuminators of the middle ages. But this goldsmith's work, far +from impairing the effect of the whole, adds a certain fascination to +it. And he expended upon the study of the face the same degree of +devotion that he gave to the rendering of a garment. His models relive +with an intensity of life such as could be expressed only by an artist +who has made a life-long study of nature in her minutest manifestations. + +To name over his portraits would be to mention an equal number of +masterpieces. The catalogue would be too long, for Bastien-Lepage was +an indefatigable workman. We may content ourselves with citing those +that are most widely known: that of _M. Andrieux_, one-time Prefect of +Police, whose refined features are rendered with striking truth; that of +_J. Bastien-Lepage_, the artist's uncle, which is here reproduced and +which shows him violin in hand, a clear and vigorous piece of +brush-work, transcribing life in telling strokes, with an astonishing +simplicity of means. This fine example is to be seen to-day in the +museum at Verdun. And in the same museum there is still another that +deserves mention; namely, the excellent _Portrait of M. X._ And we must +not forget the _Portrait of André Theuriet_, born, like Bastien-Lepage, +on the banks of the Meuse and attached to the painter by ties of almost +fraternal affection. One feels that, in this picture, the heart must +have guided the hand, for it would be difficult to find another work +more magisterial in execution and more delicate in finish. And lastly, +there is _Mme. Bastien-Lepage_, the "good little mother," as the great +artist and loving son used to call her. He posed her in the garden of +the home at Damvillers. She is seated on a stone bench; on her knees +rests a large garden hat; her two hands are crossed, one over the other, +and in the left she holds a little bunch of field flowers. She is clad +in a loose dress of sombre colour, cut with a pelerine; and nothing but +the one bright spot formed by the white collar reveals the severity of +the costume. The whole attitude of the body in repose is perfect in its +truth and naturalness; but our admiration changes and quickens to +emotion when we raise our eyes to the level of the face of this "good +little mother," a bony, irregular face, almost ugly, but so gentle, so +kind, so touchingly illumined by the tender caress in the eyes as they +rest upon the adored son in the course of painting her. Those emaciated +features, which not even the crown of blonde hair is able to rejuvenate, +are unmistakably those of a mother; if we had not known, we should +inevitably have divined it; no one but a son, and a great artist as +well, could have crowned the brow of a woman with such an aureole of +gentleness and love. + +Bastien-Lepage, whom those who envied him affected to regard as +dedicated wholly to the reproduction of rustic uncouthness, had no equal +in catching the radiance of feminine charms, even in their subtlest +manifestations. No one was more skilled than he in seizing and recording +the one particular trait, often elusive and intangible, which +characterizes a woman and makes her beautiful. What delicious portraits +of women we owe to him! Where could we meet with a more smiling image +than that of _Mme. Godillot_, radiant and seductive, a rosy vision in +the black velvet of her gown, relieved by the brilliant sheen of her +white satin corsage! And what studied and elaborate art was expended on +the _Portrait of Mme. Klotz_, whose magnificent brunette beauty emerges +like a gorgeous lily from the surrounding whiteness of her scarf, that +is all the more dazzlingly white by contrast with her sombre robe! And +still again, there is the _Portrait of Mme. Juliette Drouet_, another +beautiful and noble specimen of portraiture. And how marvellously +Bastien-Lepage could detect the hidden soul lurking in the inmost +recesses of his models and reveal it behind the transparent screen of +their eyes! If Bastien-Lepage had not achieved eternal glory as an +interpreter of rural life, he would still have remained celebrated as a +portrait painter. + +But to Bastien-Lepage portrait painting was only a side issue, a form of +relaxation between two landscapes; his predilection, his one object in +life, so to speak, was to return constantly to his peasants, his scenes +of toil, his fields of Lorraine. + +After his return from England he passed some months at Damvillers, when +an impulse seized him to visit Italy, to which the verdict of a +prejudiced committee had once upon a time barred his way. He proceeded +straight to Venice, and it may as well be acknowledged at once, +Venetian art left him cold, if not indifferent. He had never in the +least understood any of the big "set pieces," and in spite of all the +art of Veronese and Titian, in spite of their dazzling flare of colour, +he never succeeded in understanding their sumptuous allegories or in +accepting the fantastic interpretation of nature which the Venetians +allowed themselves. He returned to Damvillers, profoundly disillusioned +and more than ever convinced that nature alone, such as he saw it, was +deserving of the attention of the true artist. There would be no object +in discussing here how rightly or how ill founded such an opinion was; +we note it only to indicate once more the absolute independence of the +painter, his fixed determination never to imitate anyone. + +And, beyond question, there is no resemblance to any other painter in +that curious and remarkable picture known as _Jeanne d'Arc listening to +the Voices_. Lorraine in heart and soul, Bastien-Lepage desired to pay +his tribute, as so many had done before him, to the glorious +heroine who, like him, had come from the banks of the Meuse. And he +wished also to restore her to her natural setting, with the greatest +degree of historic accuracy. Consequently it is in a Lorraine garden +surrounding a Lorraine cottage that he shows us Jeanne, the shepherdess; +around her are the familiar garden utensils such as peasants use to-day +just as they did in the fifteenth century. She is standing in an +inspired and attentive attitude, which gives to her whole countenance +that forceful character which Bastien-Lepage imprints upon all his +compatriots. For he wished to make her, in a certain sense, a composite +type of the women of the Lorraine race, such as Theuriet has described: +"The forehead low but intelligent, the eyes with drooping lids that half +conceal the somewhat sullen glance; the bones prominent in cheek and +jaw, the chin square, indicative of an opinionated race; the mouth +large, with half parted lips, through which one perceives the passage of +the deep-drawn breath." This head is always the same; under all the +variations in physiognomy we always meet with the same local type: it is +the head of the woman in _Hay-making_ and of the _Women gathering +Potatoes_, and it is also that of the "good little mother," so +fundamentally and emphatically representative of Lorraine. + + [Illustration: PLATE VII.--THE LITTLE CHIMNEY-SWEEP + + (Collection of É. Bastien-Lepage) + + This attractive picture, full of charm and vigour, belongs to the + closing years of the artist's life, at the time when he was enjoying the + flood tide of his talent. How much force and truth there is in this + picture of the little chimney-sweep, and what graceful nimbleness in the + movements of the cats that he is watching at play.] + +Nevertheless _Jeanne d'Arc listening to the Voices_ was rather badly +received by the critics. Without disputing the originality and vigour of +the inspired shepherdess, they reproached the artist for the presence of +the traditional saints. Bastien-Lepage had indicated these under the +form of luminous vapour, radiating through the branches overhanging the +garden: St. Michael in the golden armour of a knight of the fifteenth +century, St. Margaret and St. Catherine as phantoms so diaphanous as to +be hardly perceptible. The idealists complained that the picture was +lacking in idealism; the realists were somewhat disconcerted to find the +apparitions there at all. It must be acknowledged that Bastien-Lepage +ceases to be himself the moment that he ventures to attempt the +supernatural or even allegory pure and simple. He feels that he is no +longer on familiar ground, he hesitates, he fumbles, and the harmony of +the work suffers in consequence. Nevertheless, in spite of this +undeniable defect, the face of Jeanne d'Arc will be remembered as a +piece of powerful painting and genuine inspiration. + +At all events, Bastien-Lepage was keenly aware of the half-way nature of +his success, and from that day renounced forever the element of the +marvellous and confined himself to that concrete and tangible poetry +which emanates from the earth. + +Some little time after his _Jeanne d'Arc_, he produced _The Mendicant_, +veteran knight of the road, whose lazy life is passed in going from door +to door, asking charity and compelling it if need be; suspicious looking +old tramp, perhaps a thief as well, who inspires fear and whose sack is +often filled through unwillingness to provoke him. The artist has +pictured him with a stout stick in his hand, stowing away the slice of +bread which a pretty slip of a girl in a blue apron has just given him. +This fine and vigorous canvas scored almost as much of a success, at the +Salon of 1881, as the admirable _Portrait of Albert Wolff_, a critic on +the _Figaro_ and close personal friend of the artist. + +In 1882 he won a further success with his superb _Father Jacques_, a +masterly study of the Lorraine peasant, and with his charming _Portrait +of Mme. W._ + +In 1883 came _Love in a Village_, one of his most popular canvases, in +which he depicted with charming naturalness the uncomplicated and naïve +courtship of rustic lovers. Here are a pair who are untroubled by +curious glances; the nearer houses of the village are quite close by. +Bending slightly towards his sweetheart, the man is murmuring his +avowals in her ear, in a voice that, we suspect, is by no means steady. +Strapping fellow that he is, he evidently lacks the habit of making +pretty speeches; we can see that from the embarrassed air with which he +twists his fingers. His words, however, are plainly not lacking in +eloquence, for the girl, type of buxom young womanhood that we have +already learned to know, has bent her head and, although her back is +turned, we are sure that she is blushing as she listens to his +declaration. A special atmosphere emanates from this picture, as well as +that profound spirit of poetry which is inseparable from the eternal +song of love. + + + + + HIS PREMATURE END + + +At this period Bastien-Lepage had already begun to incur the first +attacks of the disease which was destined so soon to end his days. He +suffered violent pains in the kidneys. He became melancholy, nervous, +irritable; he shut himself up in his studio in the Rue Legendre, and +even his best friends could not gain admittance. The doctors who were +called in recognized the gravity of his illness and ordered energetic +treatment and a change of air. The poor artist reconciled himself to go +for a time to Brittany, and his choice fell on Concarneau. The keen sea +air produced a temporary betterment, and he took advantage of it to +work, for he could not resign himself to lay aside his palette and +brushes. He spent entire days in a boat and, in spite of his sufferings, +executed several landscapes of rare beauty. But his condition, instead +of improving, took a turn for the worse. "The digestive tube," he wrote +to Theuriet, "is always kicking up a row!" The pain in the kidneys and +bowels became at this time so violent that he was forced to decide to +return to Paris, in order to consult the men of science once again. + +This time, when Dr. Potain examined him, he could no longer deceive +himself as to the artist's fate; he saw that his patient was +irremediably condemned. However, a sojourn in a milder climate might +prolong his life for a few months; so he advised Algeria. The prospect +of the journey, the desire to make the acquaintance of this land of +sunshine which Delacroix, Decamps, and Fromentin had taught him to love, +for a few days gave a false strength to the poor sufferer, which +produced a deceptive appearance of renewed health and even deceived the +artist himself. Besides, Mme. Bastien-Lepage, the "good little mother," +was to accompany him, and this unselfish and tender devotion warmed his +heart. The poor woman forced back her tears in order to smile upon the +unfortunate son whom she knew to be doomed. And so the pitiful pair set +forth for the land of sunshine, she consumed with grief, and he almost +joyous in the hope of a speedy cure. + +His first letters to his friends bore the imprint of good spirits; +Algeria aroused his enthusiasm by its clear and vibrant colours; his +disease declared a brief truce and he began to form projects. The +thought of dying had not yet even vaguely occurred to him, though, for +that matter, he had no fear of death. The previous year he had painted +_Gambetta on his Death-bed_; and his frequent visits to Ville-d'Avray +led him to discuss the inevitable end of life. "I am not afraid of +death," he said, "dying is nothing,--the important thing is to survive +oneself, and who can be sure of establishing a claim upon posterity? But +there! I am talking nonsense! So long as our work is true, nothing else +matters." + +But before long the ravages of the disease began to make headway; the +kidneys no longer performed their function, and he suffered atrocious +agonies which stretched him for days at a time on his back. Even the +burning heat of the African sun no longer had strength enough to animate +his shattered physique; the brush, which the artist from time to time +still attempted to take up, fell from between his fingers. He, +Bastien-Lepage, painter of the soil, found himself unable to +transfer to canvas the enchantment of that land of fairy tale! And +he poured forth his distress in long and poignant letters, in which +could be read in every line the loss of hope and the sure prevision of +the now inevitable end. + + [Illustration: PLATE VIII.--THE ARTIST'S UNCLE + + (Museum at Verdun) + + Here is still another kindly and vigorous face from Lorraine, forcefully + modelled, with salient jaw bones, betraying the obstinacy of the race. + An air of good nature softens the energy of this face, and the eyes + sparkle with intelligence. This portrait is treated in a free-handed + manner, with unfaltering strokes, and its colouring is especially + excellent.] + +As no amelioration took place, Bastien-Lepage made the return journey to +Paris towards the end of May, 1884. He went back to his studio in the +Rue Legendre, where he had formerly passed such happy hours in the full +enjoyment of a talent at its zenith and a constitution apparently able +to defy all tests. Now, however, he dragged around a dying body, with +disease gnawing at his vitals. He could no longer sleep without the aid +of powerful doses of morphine. The winter-time increased his suffering; +his strength rapidly failed him; and, on the tenth of December, at six +o'clock in the evening, he drew his last breath, at the age of +thirty-six years. + +As long as he could hold a brush, Bastien-Lepage continued to work, in +spite of the sufferings which racked him. During the year preceding his +death, while he was already experiencing frightful tortures, he painted +_The Woman making Lye_ and _The Little Chimney-sweep_, the latter of +which is here reproduced. This admirable canvas is to be seen now at the +studio of the painter's brother at Neuilly, and forms part of the legacy +which M. Émile Bastien-Lepage intends to bequeath to the Louvre. It has +never been shown at any Salon, and for that matter there are a good many +other paintings and portraits which have never been exhibited in public +and which are not for that reason any the less remarkable. We may cite +at random: _The Portrait of M. É. Bastien-Lepage_, _The Prince of +Wales_, _Mme. Juliette Drouet_, _A Little Girl going to School_, _The +Little Pedler asleep_, _The Vintage_, _No Help! The Thames at London, +etc._ + +The very year of his death, shortly before his departure for Algeria, +Bastien-Lepage executed a delicious little canvas entitled _The Forge_, +in which the artist expended a surprising amount of talent and skill, +and which enables us to realize what extraordinary heights his ever +progressive genius might have attained, but for the blind and brutal +cruelty of Destiny. + +His death was a time of mourning for the arts; the regrets which he left +behind him were unanimous. Even those who had been opposed to his +aesthetic creed paid homage to his great conscientiousness as an artist +and his noble character as a man. + +During March and April, 1885, only a few months after his death, all +literary and artistic Paris flocked to the Hotel de Chimay, an adjunct +to the École des Beaux-Arts, where a posthumous exhibition of his works +had been organized. + +At this exhibition the entire body of his works had been brought +together. The museums had loaned the canvases which they possessed and +the private collectors had done their share towards the glorification of +the artist by entrusting to the organizers a goodly number of paintings +and portraits which had never figured in any of the Salons. + +Thus it was made possible to comprehend at a single glance the life-work +of this remarkable artist and to appreciate the distance he had +traversed, the progress he had made during his brief existence, and the +brilliant prospects that were destroyed by his untimely death. + +From all these numerous works, exhibited side by side, what stood out +most clearly was the unity of thought which had conceived them and the +dogged fidelity to principles which had controlled their execution. At +the same time they revealed the amazing adaptability of his talent, +which essayed the most diverse and conflicting subjects with the same +realistic vigour, bestowing even upon his vaporous and delicate +portraits of women a touch which, while light, is unmistakably his own, +and in which we recognize that noble, conscientious workmanship, free +from all artifice, which was the distinctive hall-mark both of his +painting and of his character. + +But the quality which dominates all the rest in the work of +Bastien-Lepage, and which emanates from it like the fragrance which is +exhaled by certain precious essences, is his ardent and deep-rooted love +for his native soil. This form of local patriotism, determined by the +boundaries of Lorraine, underwent a noble expansion to the point of +encircling the entire earth; for while the painter chose his models out +of the familiar landscape of his childhood's home, his observation and +his art broke out of the bounds of this special setting and embraced +rustic humanity throughout France and even beyond. His peasants are +unmistakably from the banks of the Meuse in type and in customs, but +they are from the world at large in gesture and in philosophy of life. +Whether he comes from the North or from the South, the tiller of the +soil wages the same conflict with ungrateful furrows, the spade and the +plough imprint the same calluses on his bony hands, the sun browns his +energetic and stubborn features to the same deep tan. It is in this +respect that the art of Bastien-Lepage assumes a higher significance; +like Millet, it is not a peasant whom he paints, but the peasant, +forever unchanging in spite of latitude. But if his work has attained +this higher eminence of generalization, it is precisely for the reason +that the artist's watchful eye has succeeded in discovering, in the life +of the peasantry, that state of mind which is common to them all, that +immutable gesture which they have always made and always will make. He +has understood and translated with inspired eloquence their rugged +strength, their naïve awkwardness, their simple intelligence. + +Another glorious distinction of Bastien-Lepage was that he loved the +fields as well as he loved the peasants. Not fields drowned beneath +melancholy shadow and pallid shifting light, but fields bathed in +sunshine, until the golden tassels of the grain crackle like sparks +under the fire of the midday sun. Always and everywhere he sought for +light, and in the midst of it his modest protagonists of rustic life +stand out in all their vigour. + +It would be easy to cite, among our best contemporary painters, a +considerable number of artists who are brilliantly continuing the +tradition left by Bastien-Lepage and emulating his predilection for the +luminous brilliance of the open air. How often, in the presence of a +canvas by Lhermitte, our thoughts go back to the painter of Lorraine, +whose vigorous execution and joyous colouring seem to have been +reincarnated! Art is indebted to Bastien-Lepage for having reinstated +nature in all her literal truth by proving that, in order to be +beautiful, she has no need of artificial and superfluous adornment. + +Lorraine, out of gratitude, wished to perpetuate the memory of this +glorious son of the Meuse, who had so eloquently celebrated the vitality +and poetry of his natal earth. It was at Damvillers itself that it was +decided to raise a monument to the great painter; and around its +pedestal there were gathered the "good little mother," all in tears, the +assembled population of the village and the whole region round about, +and even the Government took part in the pious ceremony by sending as +its representative M. Gustave Larroumet, director of the Beaux-Arts. +This eloquent art critic brought as a tribute to the departed painter +the official seal of immortality, and he pronounced it in terms vibrant +with emotion. + +"At the moment," he said, "when ordinarily the best of artists have done +no more than to give indications of their originality and when ripening +years alone begin to keep the promises of youth, Jules Bastien-Lepage +died, leaving masterpieces behind him, besides having liberated an +artistic formula from the tendencies and exaggerations which hampered +it, and indicated to the art of painting a new pathway along which his +young heirs are advancing with an assured step. He loved nature and +truth; he loved his own people, and no one ever lived who was surrounded +with a greater degree of affection; he inspired faithful friendships +which he himself enjoyed to the full; and those whom he left behind +soothe their heart-ache with the balm of tender memories; he practised +his art without ever making sacrifice to passing fashion or sordid +profit; there was no place in his mind or in his heart for any other +than noble and generous thoughts. Let us comfort ourselves, therefore, +for what his death has taken from us by the thought of what his life has +left to us, and let us assign him his place in the ranks of the younger +master painters who have been mown down in full flower, close beside +that of Géricault and of Henri Regnault." + +In his admirable biographic and critical study of Bastien-Lepage, whose +personal friend he had been, M. L. de Fourcaud, by way of conclusion, +bids him this touching farewell: + +"Poor Bastien-Lepage, snatched away one winter's night, at thirty-six +years of age, in the fairest flowering of his bright promise, in the +richest expansion of his personality; may each returning month of May +bring at least an abundance of blossoms to the apple tree beside his +grave! For the blossoms of the apple were always, in his eyes, so fair a +sight!" + +To-day he sleeps forever in a corner of that Lorraine land which he +loved so dearly, and perhaps in the cemetery of his native village his +shade can still hear the familiar accents of his native dialect. The +great painter of Lorraine could never have slept his eternal sleep in +any other soil than that. + +Painter of flowers, painter of nature, painter of the earth which is +forever deathless and forever renewed, Bastien-Lepage has chosen that +better part; his work will live as long as these, his models, and will +go down through the centuries in all the splendour of increasing beauty +and eternal youth. + + +Transcriber's Note: Typographical errors have been corrected as +follows: + +Page 22: "Bastine" replaced with "Bastien" + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bastien Lepage, by Fr. Crastre + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BASTIEN LEPAGE *** + +***** This file should be named 36533-8.txt or 36533-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/5/3/36533/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Hunter Monroe and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Crastre. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + .header {font-size:x-large; + text-align: center; + font-weight: bold;} + + .box {text-align: center; + border: 1px solid; + width: 8em;} + + hr.r65 {width: 65%; margin-top: 3em; margin-bottom: 3em;} + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + .tdl {text-align: left;} + .tdr {text-align: right;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + + .center {text-align: center;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .p2 {margin-top: 2em;} + .p4 {margin-top: 4em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bastien Lepage, by Fr. Crastre + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Bastien Lepage + +Author: Fr. Crastre + +Translator: Frederic Taber Cooper + +Release Date: June 26, 2011 [EBook #36533] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BASTIEN LEPAGE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Hunter Monroe and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p>MASTERPIECES<br /> +IN COLOUR<br /> +EDITED BY <br /> +M. HENRY ROUJON</p> + +<h1 class="p2">BASTIEN-LEPAGE</h1> +<h2>(1848-1884)</h2> +<hr class="r65" /> + +<h2>IN THE SAME SERIES</h2> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" summary="series"> +<tr><td class="tdl">REYNOLDS</td><td class="tdl">CHARDIN</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">VELASQUEZ</td><td class="tdl">MILLET</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">GREUZE</td><td class="tdl">RAEBURN</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">TURNER</td><td class="tdl">SARGENT</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">BOTTICELLI</td><td class="tdl">CONSTABLE</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">ROMNEY</td><td class="tdl">MEMLING</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">REMBRANDT</td><td class="tdl">FRAGONARD</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">BELLINI</td><td class="tdl">DÜRER</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">FRA ANGELICO</td><td class="tdl">LAWRENCE</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">ROSSETTI</td><td class="tdl">HOGARTH</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">RAPHAEL</td><td class="tdl">WATTEAU</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">LEIGHTON</td><td class="tdl">MURILLO</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">HOLMAN HUNT</td><td class="tdl">WATTS</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">TITIAN</td><td class="tdl">INGRES</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">MILLAIS</td><td class="tdl">COROT</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">LUINI</td><td class="tdl">DELACROIX</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">FRANZ HALS</td><td class="tdl">FRA LIPPO LIPPI</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">CARLO DOLCI</td><td class="tdl">PUVIS DE CHAVANNES</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">GAINSBOROUGH</td><td class="tdl">MEISSONIER</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">TINTORETTO</td><td class="tdl">GÉRÔME</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">VAN DYCK</td><td class="tdl">VERONESE</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">DA VINCI</td><td class="tdl">VAN EYCK</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">WHISTLER</td><td class="tdl">FROMENTIN</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">RUBENS</td><td class="tdl">MANTEGNA</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">BOUCHER</td><td class="tdl">PERUGINO</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">HOLBEIN</td><td class="tdl">ROSA BONHEUR</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">BURNE-JONES</td><td class="tdl">BASTIEN-LEPAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">LE BRUN</td><td class="tdl">GOYA</td></tr> +</table> + +<div class="figcenter p2" style="width: 320px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="320" height="412" alt="Cover" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter p4" style="width: 320px;"><a name="I" id="I"></a> +<a href="images/illus04.jpg"><img src="images/illus04_thumb.jpg" width="320" height="460" alt="PLATE I." title="" /></a> +<span class="caption"><a href="images/illus04.jpg">PLATE I.—THE SONG OF SPRINGTIME</a></span></div> + +<p class="center"><small>(Museum at Verdun)</small></p> + +<p class="center">This is one of the artist's earliest works. A certain embarrassment +may be noted in the manner in which the Cupids are treated; even +at this period, it is easy to see that allegory is not suited to the precise +and realistic talent of this painter; yet the young girl is +designed with a vigour which already foreshadows the masterly art +of Hay-making.</p> + +<hr class="r65" /> + +<h2 class="p4">Bastien Lepage</h2> + +<p class="center"><b>BY FR. CRASTRE</b></p> + +<p class="p2 center"><small><b>TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH</b></small><br /> +<small><b>BY FREDERIC TABER COOPER</b></small></p> + +<p class="p2 center"><b>ILLUSTRATED WITH EIGHT</b><br /> +<b>REPRODUCTIONS IN COLOUR</b></p> + +<div class="p2 figcenter"><img src="images/illus05.jpg" width="320" height="297" alt="IN SEMPITERNUM" title="" /></div> + +<p class="center p2"><big><b>FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY</b></big> +<big><b>NEW YORK—PUBLISHERS</b></big></p> + +<p class="p4 center">COPYRIGHT, <small>1914</small>, BY<br /> +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY</p> + +<p class="p4 box">March, 1914</p> + +<p class="p4 center">THE·PLIMPTON·PRESS<br /> +NORWOOD·MASS·U·S·A<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="r65" /> +<table class="p2" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="2" summary="contents"> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><p class="header"><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</p></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td class="tdr">Page</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#HIS_YOUTH">His Youth</a></td><td class="tdr">16</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#HIS_BEST_YEARS">His Best Years</a></td><td class="tdr">31</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#HIS_PREMATURE_END">His Premature End</a></td><td class="tdr">65</td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="4"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></td></tr> +</table> +<hr class="r65" /> +<table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="2" summary="contents" class="p4"> +<tr><td colspan="4" ><p class="header">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</p> +</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">Plate</td><td> </td><td> </td><td class="tdr">Page</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">I.</td><td class="tdl"><a href="#I">The Song of Springtime</a></td> +<td class="tdl">Museum at Verdun</td><td class="tdr">Frontispiece</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">II. </td><td class="tdl"><a href="#II">Portrait of M. Wallon</a></td> +<td class="tdl">Museum of the Louvre</td><td class="tdr">14</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">III. </td><td class="tdl"><a href="#III">The Artist's Mother</a></td> +<td class="tdl">Collection of É. Bastien-Lepage</td><td class="tdr">24</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">IV. </td><td class="tdl"><a href="#IV">The Hay-making</a></td> +<td class="tdl">Museum of the Luxembourg</td><td class="tdr">34</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">V. </td><td class="tdl"><a href="#V">Portrait of M. Hayem</a></td> +<td class="tdl">Museum of the Luxembourg</td><td class="tdr">40</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">VI. </td><td class="tdl"><a href="#VI">Portrait of M. X——</a></td> +<td class="tdl">Museum at Verdun</td><td class="tdr">50</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">VII. </td><td class="tdl"><a href="#VII">The Little Boatman</a></td> +<td class="tdl">Collection of É. Bastien-Lepage</td><td class="tdr">60</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">VIII. </td><td class="tdl"><a href="#VIII">The Artist's Uncle</a></td> +<td class="tdl">Museum at Verdun</td><td class="tdr">70</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl"></td></tr> +</table> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 160px;"> +<img src="images/illus11.png" width="160" height="200" alt="Page 11" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr class="r65" /> +<p>There are certain beings who bear the stamp +of the divine seal and are preordained to +receive the highest favours within the gift of glory; +they are fated to pass through life like those brilliant +meteors which are seen to flash across the +heavens and disappear in the same instant. Bastien-Lepage +was one of these meteors. But while the +others leave behind them only a luminous trail<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +that swiftly vanishes, this rare artist, snatched so +prematurely from the field of art, traced his +passage in a furrow of dazzling splendour, the +radiance of which has not even yet begun to fade.</p> + +<p>Bastien-Lepage was a painter in the noblest +acceptation of the term; it may even be asserted +that he would have exercised considerable influence +upon the art of his epoch if Destiny had not +stupidly mown down the sturdy flower of his +genius in the very hour of its brightest blossoming. +Born into this world with a solid tenacity +of purpose which seems to be a special gift of +the soil of Lorraine to her sons and daughters, +he had a clear-cut and unalterable conception of +what painting should be. His mind was receptive +only of simple ideas, his eye perceived only +visions that were tangible, such as were unobscured +by any shadow or any artifice. He was +the apostle of clearness, both in conception and +in execution. Every time that he tried experimentally +to turn aside from his chosen path, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +ceased to be himself, he fell below his own standards. +What interested him most of all, in the life +of this world which he observed so eagerly, as +though he had a presentiment of his early end, was +nature's most precise and most uncompromising +manifestation, both in line and in relief; namely, the +peasant and the environment which frames him. +Having deliberately chosen such models, Bastien-Lepage +could not pretend to be the painter of +the Beautiful, nor did he ever become so. He +did not even adorn his subjects with that special +sort of idealism with which Millet embellished +even his most uncouth rustic types, a slightly +melancholy idealism obtained by a sombre toning +down of colour, which Bastien-Lepage held in horror. +His peasants stand out boldly, in the crude glare +of flamboyant noontide, under a summer sun that +refuses to leave hidden any part of their ugliness +or their defects. He painted them as he saw +them, with the searching rays striking them full +in the face; and his brush was a stranger to any +compromise, intolerant of even the slightest betterment, +in the course of the literal transference of +his model to his canvas. It made no difference +how handsome or how homely a given subject +might be, Bastien-Lepage would always render +him precisely as nature, in a grudging or indulgent +mood, had made him,—that is to say, truly +and sincerely, with a precision that would be +almost photographic, if the minuteness of his +technique were not ennobled by the high quality +of his art. With such gifts, Bastien-Lepage was +foreordained to be a marvellous interpreter of +rural life, and such he was in the highest degree; in +like manner, he could not fail to become a portrait +painter of the first order, and it was in this +capacity also that he enrolled himself among the +most interesting and vigorous artists of our epoch.</p> + +<div class="figcenter p2" style="width: 320px;"><a name="II" id="II"></a> +<a href="images/illus15.jpg"><img class="p2" src="images/illus15_thumb.jpg" width="320" height="416" alt="PLATE II" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption"><a href="images/illus15.jpg">PLATE II.—PORTRAIT OF M. WALLON</a></span></div> + +<p class="center"><small>(Museum at Verdun)</small></p> + +<p class="center">Few artists have been able to endow their models with such +an animated expression of life. All the keenness, intelligence and +austerity of this prominent personage, known by the name of +Father of the Constitution, are eloquently transferred to this page, +with a sobriety of means that still further emphasizes its vigour.</p> + +<hr class="r65" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> +<h2 class="p2"><a name="HIS_YOUTH" id="HIS_YOUTH"></a>HIS YOUTH</h2> + +<p>Jules Bastien-Lepage was born at Damvillers, +in the department of the Meuse, on the first of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +November, 1848. His parents were of the well-to-do +farming class, occupied from one year's end +to the other with the work of the fields. Consequently, +all the early boyhood of the artist was +passed in daily contact with the soil of Lorraine +and with the sons of that soil. He knew them, +one and all, in his native village; he grew up among +them; he went to school side by side with the +other little rustics of his own age: he understood +the peasant class, with all their faults, their virtues, +their habits of life; he learned to read in +their faces, which were a sealed book to the outsider, +the opinions and emotions which they had +in common with him.</p> + +<p>These childhood impressions were destined to +abide with him throughout his life; he cherished +to the end a fervent love for his native land, +and he felt that he had an infinitely noble task in +painting that life of the fields which the Second +Empire affected to despise.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p> + +<p>But though he came of peasant stock, it was +Bastien-Lepage's good fortune that these same +peasants were in prosperous circumstances and +could afford to give him an education. They were +ambitious for him; and it hurt them to see their +little Jules, who was so wide-awake, so intelligent, +and at the same time so frail, leading the hard +and monotonous life of the fields, following the +plough, tilling the soil. It needed only a few +household economies to enable him to continue his +studies; so, when the time came, young Bastien-Lepage +wended his way towards Verdun, where he +entered upon his college course.</p> + +<p>There is nothing that marks in any particular +way these years of study, nothing to indicate that +the boy was a youthful prodigy, nor that he showed +any special aptitude for drawing. But he was +studious, diligent, and anxious to avoid repremands +and to fulfil the expectations of his parents. +In due time he obtained his bachelor's degree, +which at that period was highly prized. His father,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +filled with pride, already began to form brilliant +projects for his future, already foresaw him a +distinguished official, supervising some great branch +of the public service. As a matter of fact, a +position was found for the young baccalaureate +in a government department which was neither +the most desirable nor the one of least importance; +namely, the Post Office Department. Bastien-Lepage +was not vastly delighted with the +choice, but, dutiful son that he was, he accepted the +modest clerkship offered him. One circumstance +contributed, in a large degree, towards overcoming +his reluctance: the post assigned to him from +the start was in Paris, of which he had often heard +marvellous things, and in which he hoped that he +would be able to follow his secret inclination. For, +in the interval his vocation had revealed itself; he +had conceived a passion for drawing, for colouring, +for painting; and, like Correggio, he was +eager to say in his turn, "I too am a painter!"</p> + +<p>Accordingly he set forth, leaving behind him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +no suspicion of his purpose. Upon arriving at +the capital, he acquitted himself scrupulously of +his official duties, but every leisure moment was +consecrated to visiting the museums and exhibitions. +He saturated himself with the wealth of +beauty strewn broadcast through the Louvre, and +was thrilled with admiration at contact with the +masters of every school and country. He did not +care equally for them all, in spite of their genius; +his intimate preferences leaned to the side of +Flemish rather than Italian art; but he was not +insensible to the lofty inspiration, the severe harmony, +the faultless composition, which have made +the great masters of the Renaissance the most +astonishing prodigies in the history of painting.</p> + +<p>But while the older schools of art delighted +him, he followed with no less attention the movement +of contemporary painting. At the hour when +his critical spirit awoke, certain new elements and +new formulas had come to light and had been put +into practice by two audacious and gifted artists<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +by the names of Courbet and Manet. Although +the prolonged struggle between the classicists and +romanticists had not yet come to an end, these +two rival schools were entrenched in their positions +and refused to stir forth from them. Supporters +of Delacroix and of Ingres confined themselves +strictly to their respective hostile formulas, doing +nothing either to expand or to rejuvenate them. +Whoever dared to venture outside of one of these +two beaten tracks was regarded as a madman, and +his attempts were greeted with derisive clamours +by both parties, who declared a momentary +truce, for the purpose of annihilating him by a +joint attack. Courbet, who was scorned by Ingres, +met with equally harsh criticism from Delacroix; +and as for Manet, he had managed to call down +universal wrath upon his head, and at the Salon +of 1863 it became necessary to place his <i>Olympia</i> +in the very topmost line upon the wall, in order to +protect it from the fury of the public, hounded on +by the hue and cry of the critics.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +Bastien-Lepage made mental notes of all the +episodes of this struggle; he listened to the criticisms +and passed them through the crucible of his +unspoiled mind, in the presence of the very works +under indictment. His good sense showed him how +large an element of injustice entered into these +hostilities. Moreover, his peasant blood inclined +him to sympathize with those artists who refused +to bind themselves to seek for beauty only within +the limits of academic form, and who had the +ability to make it flash forth from the humblest +and even the most vulgar type of subject. Furthermore, +this constant study of matters pertaining to +art, day by day added fuel to the hidden fire +smouldering within him; he was conscious of its +mounting flame. Back of the rude sketches, drawn +and coloured in the tiny chamber befitting an +humble postal clerk, he perceived vaguely that he +also possessed the temperament of a painter, and +little by little he witnessed the unfolding of his +artist's soul.</p> + +<div class="figcenter p2" style="width: 320px;"><a name="III" id="III"></a> +<a href="images/illus27.jpg"><img class="p2" src="images/illus27_thumb.jpg" width="320" height="430" alt="Plate III" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption"><a href="images/illus27.jpg">PLATE III.—THE ARTIST'S MOTHER</a></span></div> + +<p class="center"><small>(Collection of É. Bastien-Lepage)</small></p> + +<p class="center">What a kindly and gentle face this is, the face of the woman to +whom the artist applied the tender endearment of "Good little +mother"! In this work, it is evident that the heart guided the +hand of the painter. None but a son could have rendered with +such emotion the humid tenderness of those eyes and the maternal +caress of those lips. It is a powerful work, which enrolls Bastien-Lepage +in the foremost rank of portrait painters.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> + +<p class="p4">At last, unable to bear it longer, he resigned +from the postal service and enrolled his name at +the Beaux-Arts. At this time, when he entered +the studio of Cabanel, he was but little more than +nineteen years of age. Cabanel, to be sure, was +not the painter of his choice, but Bastien-Lepage +was not for that reason any the less appreciative +of a system of instruction which was dominated +by a worship of line-work. His training under +Cabanel was not without value to the young artist, +who throughout his life, even in his most realistic +paintings, proved himself to be an impeccable +master of design.</p> + +<p>At the outset, however, he was beset with +difficulties. Now that his salary as a postal clerk +had ceased and remittances from the family were +necessarily restricted, Bastien-Lepage exerted himself +to gain a living by his own efforts. He had +no lack of courage, and he had in addition that +Lorraine tenacity which enabled him to confront +all difficulties with tranquil assurance. He worked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +with desperate energy, and in the intervals of +respite from his labours he overran all Paris in +search of orders from business houses. It was an +inglorious task, but at least it enabled him to live; +thus it happened that about 1873 he produced a +widely circulated advertisement for a perfumery +house. Up to this time he had remained wholly +unknown; and although he had already exhibited +one painting, at the Salon of 1870, it was passed by +unheeded both by the critics and the general public.</p> + +<p>This lack of success in no wise discouraged him, +for he had faith. It was in the year 1874 that +he exhibited <i>The Song of Springtime</i>. It was a +veritable revelation. There was no neglect this +time. The public gathered in throngs before his +canvas, and the critics, notwithstanding a few +objections to details, were lavish in their praise +and hailed him as having the qualities of a true +artist. Naturally, the picture was not perfect, +but it well merited the flattering reception which +it received. In a springtime landscape a young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +peasant girl is seated beneath a tree, looking before +her over a sunlit plain. Around her skirts a +whole bevy of Cupids are gathering blossoms and +offering them to the girl. Here, at the first stroke, +is an assertion of the young painter's independence, +his formal determination to emancipate himself +from the accepted formulas in his treatment of +the eternal theme of a young girl's soul, opening +to the first appeal of love. As a matter of fact, +the allegory is somewhat clumsy; you realize that +the author's talent does not run to sentimental +compositions. Yet the young girl is brushed in +with an energetic hand, and all that rather coarse +robustness that distinguishes the women of peasant +stock is blended in a masterly manner with the +naïve innocence of simple souls. <i>The Song of +Springtime</i> was Bastien-Lepage's first attempt in +that vein of realistic painting in which he was +soon destined to excel.</p> + +<p>That same year he produced <i>Grandfather's +Portrait</i>, which also attracted much attention.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +The artist had placed his model in the little garden +adjoining the home of his birth. This portrait, +which belongs to-day to the painter's brother, is +remarkable for its naturalness, its touch of intimate +understanding, and its vigour of execution.</p> + +<p>Bastien-Lepage had now acquired a name. His +<i>Song of Springtime</i> won him a third class medal, +and the State purchased the painting for the +museum at Verdun, where it at present hangs.</p> + +<p>In the following year he exhibited <i>Her First +Communion</i>, picturing a young and pretty country +girl, stiff and self-conscious under her white +veil. This work was the product of keen observation, +and is deliberately stilted and traditional +in its style of execution, recalling in some measure +the French primitive school. Bastien-Lepage +evidently had in mind the portraits by François +Cluet: his little communicant is infinitely artificial +in her spotless finery, yet infinitely alive +under the thin surface wash of colour which +recalls the <i>Elizabeth of Austria</i>, wife of Charles<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +IX, as painted by the greatest of the French +primitives.</p> + +<p>Simultaneously with this picture he exhibited +the <i>Portrait of M. Hayem</i>, in which the vigorous +treatment of the face, with its clear, firm colour +tones and sober workmanship, proclaimed him +already a portrait painter of the first order.</p> + +<p>His success this time was more marked: he +received a medal of the second class. A less +modest artist would have allowed himself to be +borne tranquilly along by the mounting tide of +glory; but Bastien-Lepage did not yet feel that +he was sufficiently sure of himself. He wished +to continue for a while longer, working, learning, +perfecting himself; he even conceived the idea, +in spite of his renown, of competing for the +<i>Prix de Rome</i>. Accordingly, the painter of <i>The +Song of Springtime</i> and <i>Her First Communion</i> +might shortly after have been seen entering the +lists like any ordinary nobody. He obtained only +the second prize.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> + +<p>He presented himself again the following year, +but with no better success. The subject assigned +for the competition was <i>Priam at the Feet of +Achilles</i>. It is easy to understand that such a +theme was little calculated to inspire an artist of +Bastien-Lepage's temperament; he found it impossible +to attain full development unless in the +presence of nature herself. No amount of manual +dexterity can take the place of inborn faith, and +the young artist had no faith in antiquity; he +never could muster any enthusiasm for the Greek +or Roman gods, nor for historic scenes in which the +very attitudes are dictated by the rules and regulations +of time-honoured tradition.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the work is not without merit; +it is forceful, its colouring is good, and it falls short +of perfection only in failing to conform sufficiently +with what we know of ancient life. This painting +is at present to be found in the Museum at Lille.</p> + +<p>This rebuff did not discourage Bastien-Lepage +unreasonably; but he decided to confine himself +in the future to painting portraits and picturing the +life of the fields.</p> + +<hr class="r65" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> +<h2 class="p2"><a name="HIS_BEST_YEARS" id="HIS_BEST_YEARS"></a>HIS BEST YEARS</h2> + +<p>The same year that he failed for the second +time in the competition for the <i>Prix de Rome</i>, +Bastien-Lepage painted <i>The Portrait of M. Wallon</i>, +which is one of his most important works as a +portrait painter. In spite of its tendency towards +naturalism, this canvas was nevertheless still conceived +in accordance with the established technique, +and the keen and serious visage of the Father +of the Constitution standing out against its sombre +background is a fine study in chiaroscuro.</p> + +<p>But the following year he struck the naturalistic +note more strongly in his <i>Portrait of Lady L.</i>, +the only full-length, life-sized portrait that he +ever painted; and he declared himself plainly +and definitely a realist in his picture entitled <i>My +Parents</i>. It would be impossible to find two +figures more life-like, more literal, or painted with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +greater sincerity. This canvas amounted to a +declaration of principles; for an artist whom filial +piety cannot turn aside from the truth will never +make sacrifices to convention: he will never consent +to embellish or idealize his models through +tricks of his craft; he will paint them as he sees +them, without correcting any of the imperfections +and ugliness with which nature has afflicted them. +How clearly we recognize that these likenesses of +Bastien-Lepage's parents are absolutely true to +life, and how much better we like them as they +are, in the simple intimacy of daily life, than if +they had been decked out, all spick and span, as +a less scrupulous artist would inevitably have shown +them to us!</p> + +<p>Bastien-Lepage's brother, himself a painter of +some talent, has preserved in his studio at Neuilly +a certain number of the artist's works, which he +surrounds with pious care and feelingly exhibits +to occasional visitors. The family portraits are +there, pulsating with life and radiating that gener<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>ous +peasant kindliness which finds expression in +a broad and tender smile. The father, seated in a +chair in his garden, an old man with shrewd yet +friendly eyes, seems so real, so actual, that we +almost expect him to step down from his frame +to bid us welcome. And what a marvel the <i>Portrait +of my Mother</i> is, which forms a companion +piece on the same wall! A somewhat wistful +charm pervades this face, with its deeply graven +lines, and an infinite tenderness, a true mother's +tenderness, hovers over the thin, pale lips.</p> + +<div class="figcenter p2" style="width: 320px;"><a name="IV" id="IV"></a> +<a href="images/illus31.jpg"><img class="p2" src="images/illus31_thumb.jpg" width="320" height="293" alt="PLATE IV" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption"><a href="images/illus31.jpg">PLATE IV—HAY-MAKING</a></span></div> + +<p class="center"><small>(Museum of the Luxembourg)</small></p> + +<p class="center"> +A masterpiece of contemporary painting, because of the truth of +its attitudes and the vigour of its execution. It would be impossible +to render more forcibly the blissfulness of rest when the body has +been racked by the exhausting labour of the soil. In this picture, +Bastien-Lepage revealed himself as an incomparable painter of +rural life.</p> + +<p class="p4">Perhaps this is the moment, in the presence +of these pictures, to emphasize Bastien-Lepage's +great value as a colourist. Few contemporary +painters have used colour with so much tact, +such veritable mastery as he. Others have employed +more dazzling tonal schemes and have +achieved more gorgeous effects, but no one has +rendered with such exact truth the tints of the +flesh, the grayish folds of wrinkles, the profound +light of the eye. And his colour is always clear,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +always unmistakably employed to produce a sought-after +effect. There is no artifice, no trick-work, +it is all straightforward, honest, precise; the opposition +of light and shade never result in opacity, +bitumen plays no part in his canvases, the astonishing +relief of which is obtained by means of +such perfect simplicity that it recalls the inimitable +technique of Correggio.</p> + +<p>In 1878 he exhibited <i>Hay-making</i>, that magisterial +page from the life of the fields which to-day +is the pride of the Luxembourg museum, and +which the art of the engraver has scattered broadcast +to the extent of millions of copies.</p> + +<p>This picture represents a vast sun-bathed +meadow, overstrewn with new-mown hay and +punctuated, here and there, by the rounded cones +of the stacks. Against the blue background of the +sky, green hill-tops trace an undulant line. In the +foreground a robust, bony-armed country-woman +is seated on the grass, her legs stretched out before +her in an attitude expressive of the utter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +weariness resulting from the work performed. Her +head, solidly planted on her massive neck, is a +marvel of realism; in her vulgar peasant face +we may read health, strength, and a sort of dulled +mentality born of physical fatigue. In every fibre +of her exhausted body the woman is veritably +resting, and through her half-parted lips it seems +as though we could detect the passage of her +hurried breathing. The man beside her, no less +worn out than she, is stretched at full length on +the thick couch of grass, and with his hat over +his face, to shelter it from the sun, he is sleeping +as though dead to the world.</p> + +<p>Every detail of this canvas is perfect, because +every detail is true, drawn straight from life, the +fruit of minute observation. In it Bastien-Lepage +once more affirms his predilection for the open +country; and nothing could be more impressive +than these two uncouth, vulgar, homely human +beings, set amid the splendour of a meadow turned +golden by the sun. It is an every-day spectacle; it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +would not seem at first sight to contain material +for a picture. But Bastien-Lepage has succeeded +in proving indisputably that beauty does not consist +solely in the harmony of the body, but in +the impression which emanates from scenes that +are most humble in outward appearance. In these +few square feet of canvas the artist has summed up, +perhaps without intending it, all the majesty of +nature and all the grandeur of the life of the fields. +It is scarcely necessary to add that this work is +a transcript of the soil of Lorraine, that good +natal soil which he loved so profoundly and to +which he returned eagerly, year after year.</p> + +<p>Bastien-Lepage was exclusively the painter of +the rural aspects of Lorraine; he loved its horizons, +its fertile and undulating plains. And when, +occasionally, he ventured into allegory, the background +was still Lorraine, and the characters were +developed in the familiar setting of his native +village, Damvillers. And how he loved it! How +he enjoyed the warm atmosphere of affection +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +which always awaited him when his father, grandfather, +and valiant and devoted "little mother" +gathered at night around the family table! He +made his home in Paris, because residence there +was indispensable, both for business and artistic +reasons; but the moment that he could escape +from the capital and its constraints, he would go +to rest and gather new energy in the midst of +the family circle. He had a spacious studio installed +in the second story of the ancestral home; +and there he worked, absolutely happy so long +as he could see the old grandfather at his side, +pipe in mouth, examining the work with a knowing +air, and the father and mother in a sort of ecstasy, +as they watched him fill in his canvas.</p> + +<div class="figcenter p2" style="width: 320px;"><a name="V" id="V"></a> +<a href="images/illus47.jpg"><img class="p2" src="images/illus47_thumb.jpg" width="320" height="353" alt="PLATE V" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption"><a href="images/illus47.jpg">PLATE V.—PORTRAIT OF M. HAYEM</a></span></div> + +<p class="center"><small>(Museum of the Luxembourg)</small></p> + +<p class="center">A marvel of discernment and of rendering. The face, to be sure, +has a strong originality; but there is no slight merit in having expressed +with such striking truth the piercing intelligence of the +eyes that twinkle behind the lenses of the spectacles, and the energy, +tempered with satiric humour, of his whole odd physiognomy.</p> + +<p class="p4">Nevertheless, Bastien-Lepage was no studio +painter; it was not from the height of a window +that he chose to contemplate nature, but in the +open fields, in the very heart of the furrows; and +it was there also, in the midst of the wheat and +the rye, that he set up his easel and painted his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +peasants in action, in the daily fulfilment of their +thankless task. And by picturing them thus, without +artifice, in all their simplicity of gesture and +coarseness of feature, he imbued his canvases with +a profound spirit of poetry, through which the +often brutal realism of his subjects was redeemed +and ennobled. In the presence of these peasants +he experienced a joy more genuine than he had +ever felt before the rarest canvases in any museum. +Not that he denied or disdained the genius of the +great ancestors of painting; he had too much +reverence for his art ever to dream of doing so. +But when it came to a question of training, he +could learn more from nature than from them. +Listen to his own exposition of his ideas:</p> + +<p>"What a pity," he wrote, "that we are initiated, +whether we will or not, into traditions and +routines, under the pretext that this is the way +to train us to be artists! It would be so simple +to teach the use of brush and palette, without +ever once mentioning the name of Michelangelo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +or Raphael or Murillo or Domenichino! We could +then go home, back to Brittany or Gascony, +Lorraine or Normandy, and peacefully paint the +portrait of our own province; and if some morning +the book we had chanced to read aroused the +wish to paint a Prodigal Son, or Priam at the feet +of Achilles, we could reconstruct the scene to suit +ourselves, without needing to resort to the museums, +taking the setting from our own surroundings and +making use of the models close at hand, as though +the old drama dated only from yesterday. That +is the way for an artist to succeed in breathing +the breath of life into his art and in making it +beautiful and appealing to the eyes of the whole +world. And that is the goal towards which I am +striving with all my strength."</p> + +<p>As painter of the open air, he became in a +certain sense the founder of a school, without +meaning to be; for his conception of the painter's +art won over a whole group of young artists who +united in hailing him as their master. Each year<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +his offerings to the Salon were impatiently awaited, +and his followers gathered in full force before them, +discussing, comparing, acclaiming; each Salon became +the occasion for a new success, the critics +were unanimous in praising him, the public adopted +his pictures for their own, because they could +understand his clear and rigorous manner. Whatever +hostility he met with was among his own +colleagues, at least among such of them as were discouraged +and humiliated by his vigorous originality. +Nevertheless, the Exposition of 1878, at which he +had gathered together all his works, was an especially +triumphant occasion for him; yet when the +awards were distributed, he discovered that he had +received nothing but a medal of the third class.</p> + +<p>At the Salon of 1879, Bastien-Lepage exhibited +his <i>Women gathering Potatoes</i>, which formed a +companion piece to his <i>Hay-making</i>. Here again +we have the landscape of Lorraine and the eternal +and infinitely varied theme of rural labour. In a +sun-parched field two women are toiling to reap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +the harvest of potatoes. While the one in the +middle distance is stooping to turn up the ripe +bulbs from the soil, the other, placed in the foreground, +is striving to empty the contents of her +basket into a sack which she holds open by a +wonderfully natural movement of her knee. Nothing +could be simpler or more humble than this +subject, and yet one feels drawn towards it, conquered +by the truth of these two figures, both in +their attitude and their expression. Involuntarily +memory conjures up another canvas, <i>The Gleaners</i>, +and we realize that it is impossible to resist that +higher appeal which the great artists succeed in +giving to the most commonplace episode of farming +life. But, unlike Millet, Bastien-Lepage does +not awaken in us any compassion for these beings +who toil, stooping above the earth; no touch of +bitterness saddens his pictures, and the types +which he shows to us have the healthy vigour of +peasants who live their lives in the open air and +love the soil which nourishes them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> + +<p>This picture, when it appeared, produced a +sensation. Coming directly after the <i>Hay-making</i>, +it definitely established Bastien-Lepage's talent and +placed him in the foremost rank of painters of +rural life. The critics hailed this powerful canvas +with enthusiasm. Théodore de Banville, writing +of the Salon of 1879, said: "M. Bastien-Lepage is +the king of this Exposition. Young as he is, he has +started in to produce masterpieces: he is very +wise! For in later years an artist continues to +copy himself, with more or less cleverness and +success; but the creative genius has taken wing, +like a bird on whose tail we have failed to drop +the indispensable grain of salt. The <i>October +Season</i> pictures the harvesting of potatoes. The +earth, the encompassing air as far as we can see, +the sky, the solitude laden with silence, are all +evoked for us in this picture by the sincerity of its +powerful painter; the peasant women are done +in a masterly manner, and precisely for the reason +that he has seen them apart from all convention<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +and has not tried to idealize them by any hackneyed +device."</p> + +<p>Albert Wolff was no less enthusiastic: "The +colouring in <i>Women harvesting Potatoes</i> is ingratiating +and discreet; not a discordant touch +disturbs the beautiful harmony of this canvas, +over which the silence of the open country has +descended, enveloping the obscure toil. It is only +artists of superior powers who can embody so much +charm in a single conception."</p> + +<p>Another feature of the same Salon was his +magnificent portrait of <i>Madame Sarah Bernhardt</i>, +a marvel of expression and of delicate art, embodied +in a pale symphony of tenderest whites, +blending harmoniously with the warmest tones of +gold. The great tragic actress is portrayed draped, +almost swathed, in a gown of white china silk, +verging on the faintest yellowish caste; she is +posed in profile, that cameo-like profile that has +so often been portrayed. She is seated, with a sort +of intentional rigidity, on a white fur robe, and is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +examining a statuette of Orpheus, in old ivory, +which she holds in her hands. Her expressive and +intellectual features are treated with a vigour +which does full justice to the classic beauty and +virile energy of the sitter.</p> + +<p>"The work as a whole," wrote the critic of +the <i>Revue des Beaux-Arts</i>, "possesses supreme +distinction and an admirable delicacy of colouring. +The silvery tones of the whites, the warm grays +of the draped gown lead up to the freshness of the +delicate, rose-like flesh tints, beneath the crown of +close curled locks that seem at once massive and +weightless. The artist's hand was sure of itself; +it neither groped nor hesitated. The execution is +such that the drawing of the gown and the lines +of the face seem to have been traced by an engraver's +tool. In this case, however, definiteness +has not resulted in stiffness. The sharp design has +not imprisoned unwilling forms; it leaves them +free to move as they please within the limits of +their contours which are its domain. It is worth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +while to examine with a lens the marvellous process +which, by the aid of imperceptible half-tones, has +softened the modelling of the face and hands."</p> + +<div class="figcenter p2" style="width: 320px;"><a name="VI" id="VI"></a> +<a href="images/illus59.jpg"><img class="p2" src="images/illus59_thumb.jpg" width="320" height="410" alt="PLATE VI" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption"><a href="images/illus59.jpg">PLATE VI.—PORTRAIT OF M. X——</a></span></div> + +<p class="center"><small>(Museum at Verdun)</small></p> + +<p class="center">Bastien-Lepage possessed the rare quality of being able to +bestow the same superior skill upon every part of a portrait. Being +sincere before all else, he never tried to shirk any difficulty; this is +seen in the care he took in painting the hands of all his various +sitters, showing something akin to vanity in the marvellous talent +he displayed in rendering them. In this portrait—just as in all +the others—the hands are quite as truly a miracle of execution +as the face itself.</p> + +<p class="p4">These two pictures earned Bastien-Lepage the +Cross of the Legion of Honour and a definite +recognition of his talent. The artist could not +keep his delight to himself and, good son that he +was, wished to share it with his beloved family; +so he sent for them, to pay him a visit in Paris. +The grandfather and the "good little mother" +arrived, full of pride in this famous son, of whom +the whole world was talking. He showed them +the sights of the city and was only too happy to +have a chance to introduce them to his friends; +he took his mother to the big shops and insisted +on choosing silk cloaks and silk dresses for her. +The poor woman protested, saying that they were +far too fine, that she would never dare to wear +anything like that. "Show us some more," ordered +the devoted artist, "I want mamma to have her +choice of the best there is!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> + +<p>After the old people had returned home to +Lorraine, Bastien-Lepage set out for England, +where he was to paint the portrait of the Prince +of Wales, who afterwards became King Edward VII.</p> + +<p>In this portrait of tiny dimensions the Prince +is represented in fancy costume, after the manner +of Holbein. His garments recall in a measure those +worn by King Henry VIII, in the celebrated portrait +done by the great painter from Basle. The +Collar of the Golden Fleece is displayed upon his +breast. In the background of the picture may be +seen dimly, through a veil of mist, the panorama +of London and the gray ribbon of the Thames. +The portrait is a little gem, which Bastien-Lepage +wrought with the minuteness and affectedly hieratic +mannerism of Holbein and the French primitive +school. Although at present in possession of M. +Émile Bastien-Lepage, it will eventually find its +place, together with a goodly number of other canvases, +in the museum of the Louvre, to which the +brother of the great artist intends to bequeath them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> + +<p>It should be mentioned here, in connection +with this work, that Bastien-Lepage continued to +make more and more of a specialty of portraits +of reduced dimensions, and that he acquired in +this respect a reputation of the first order. He +loved these little canvases, scarcely larger than +miniatures, and he expended on their scanty surfaces +an inimitable skill; he embellished them with +a wealth of accessory detail which brings to mind, +as we look at them to-day, the formidable labours +of the illuminators of the middle ages. But this +goldsmith's work, far from impairing the effect of +the whole, adds a certain fascination to it. And +he expended upon the study of the face the same +degree of devotion that he gave to the rendering +of a garment. His models relive with an intensity +of life such as could be expressed only by an artist +who has made a life-long study of nature in her +minutest manifestations.</p> + +<p>To name over his portraits would be to mention +an equal number of masterpieces. The catalogue<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +would be too long, for Bastien-Lepage was an +indefatigable workman. We may content ourselves +with citing those that are most widely known: +that of <i>M. Andrieux</i>, one-time Prefect of Police, +whose refined features are rendered with striking +truth; that of <i>J. Bastien-Lepage</i>, the artist's +uncle, which is here reproduced and which shows +him violin in hand, a clear and vigorous piece of +brush-work, transcribing life in telling strokes, +with an astonishing simplicity of means. This fine +example is to be seen to-day in the museum at +Verdun. And in the same museum there is still +another that deserves mention; namely, the excellent +<i>Portrait of M. X.</i> And we must not forget +the <i>Portrait of André Theuriet</i>, born, like Bastien-Lepage, +on the banks of the Meuse and attached +to the painter by ties of almost fraternal affection. +One feels that, in this picture, the heart must +have guided the hand, for it would be difficult to +find another work more magisterial in execution +and more delicate in finish. And lastly, there is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +<i>Mme. Bastien-Lepage</i>, the "good little mother," +as the great artist and loving son used to call her. +He posed her in the garden of the home at Damvillers. +She is seated on a stone bench; on her +knees rests a large garden hat; her two hands are +crossed, one over the other, and in the left she +holds a little bunch of field flowers. She is clad +in a loose dress of sombre colour, cut with a pelerine; +and nothing but the one bright spot formed +by the white collar reveals the severity of the +costume. The whole attitude of the body in repose +is perfect in its truth and naturalness; but our +admiration changes and quickens to emotion when +we raise our eyes to the level of the face of this +"good little mother," a bony, irregular face, almost +ugly, but so gentle, so kind, so touchingly illumined +by the tender caress in the eyes as they rest upon +the adored son in the course of painting her. +Those emaciated features, which not even the +crown of blonde hair is able to rejuvenate, are +unmistakably those of a mother; if we had not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +known, we should inevitably have divined it; no +one but a son, and a great artist as well, could +have crowned the brow of a woman with such an +aureole of gentleness and love.</p> + +<p>Bastien-Lepage, whom those who envied him +affected to regard as dedicated wholly to the +reproduction of rustic uncouthness, had no equal +in catching the radiance of feminine charms, even +in their subtlest manifestations. No one was more +skilled than he in seizing and recording the one +particular trait, often elusive and intangible, which +characterizes a woman and makes her beautiful. +What delicious portraits of women we owe to +him! Where could we meet with a more smiling +image than that of <i>Mme. Godillot</i>, radiant and +seductive, a rosy vision in the black velvet of her +gown, relieved by the brilliant sheen of her white +satin corsage! And what studied and elaborate +art was expended on the <i>Portrait of Mme. Klotz</i>, +whose magnificent brunette beauty emerges like +a gorgeous lily from the surrounding whiteness of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +her scarf, that is all the more dazzlingly white by +contrast with her sombre robe! And still again, +there is the <i>Portrait of Mme. Juliette Drouet</i>, +another beautiful and noble specimen of portraiture. +And how marvellously Bastien-Lepage could detect +the hidden soul lurking in the inmost recesses of +his models and reveal it behind the transparent +screen of their eyes! If Bastien-Lepage had not +achieved eternal glory as an interpreter of rural +life, he would still have remained celebrated as a +portrait painter.</p> + +<p>But to Bastien-Lepage portrait painting was +only a side issue, a form of relaxation between +two landscapes; his predilection, his one object in +life, so to speak, was to return constantly to his +peasants, his scenes of toil, his fields of Lorraine.</p> + +<p>After his return from England he passed some +months at Damvillers, when an impulse seized +him to visit Italy, to which the verdict of a prejudiced +committee had once upon a time barred +his way. He proceeded straight to Venice, and it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +may as well be acknowledged at once, Venetian +art left him cold, if not indifferent. He had never +in the least understood any of the big "set pieces," +and in spite of all the art of Veronese and Titian, +in spite of their dazzling flare of colour, he never +succeeded in understanding their sumptuous allegories +or in accepting the fantastic interpretation +of nature which the Venetians allowed themselves. +He returned to Damvillers, profoundly disillusioned +and more than ever convinced that nature alone, +such as he saw it, was deserving of the attention +of the true artist. There would be no object in +discussing here how rightly or how ill founded +such an opinion was; we note it only to indicate +once more the absolute independence of the painter, +his fixed determination never to imitate anyone.</p> + +<p>And, beyond question, there is no resemblance +to any other painter in that curious and remarkable +picture known as <i>Jeanne d'Arc listening to the +Voices</i>. Lorraine in heart and soul, Bastien-Lepage +desired to pay his tribute, as so many had done +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +before him, to the glorious heroine who, like him, +had come from the banks of the Meuse. And he +wished also to restore her to her natural setting, +with the greatest degree of historic accuracy. +Consequently it is in a Lorraine garden surrounding +a Lorraine cottage that he shows us Jeanne, +the shepherdess; around her are the familiar garden +utensils such as peasants use to-day just as they +did in the fifteenth century. She is standing in +an inspired and attentive attitude, which gives to +her whole countenance that forceful character which +Bastien-Lepage imprints upon all his compatriots. +For he wished to make her, in a certain sense, a +composite type of the women of the Lorraine +race, such as Theuriet has described: "The forehead +low but intelligent, the eyes with drooping +lids that half conceal the somewhat sullen glance; +the bones prominent in cheek and jaw, the chin +square, indicative of an opinionated race; the +mouth large, with half parted lips, through which +one perceives the passage of the deep-drawn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +breath." This head is always the same; under +all the variations in physiognomy we always +meet with the same local type: it is the head of +the woman in <i>Hay-making</i> and of the <i>Women +gathering Potatoes</i>, and it is also that of the +"good little mother," so fundamentally and emphatically +representative of Lorraine.</p> + +<div class="figcenter p2" style="width: 320px;"><a name="VII" id="VII"></a> +<a href="images/illus71.jpg"><img class="p2" src="images/illus71_thumb.jpg" width="320" height="286" alt="PLATE VII" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption"><a href="images/illus71.jpg">PLATE VII.—THE LITTLE CHIMNEY-SWEEP</a></span></div> + +<p class="center"><small>(Collection of É. Bastien-Lepage)</small></p> + +<p class="center">This attractive picture, full of charm and vigour, belongs to the +closing years of the artist's life, at the time when he was enjoying +the flood tide of his talent. How much force and truth there is in +this picture of the little chimney-sweep, and what graceful nimbleness +in the movements of the cats that he is watching at play.</p> + +<p class="p4">Nevertheless <i>Jeanne d'Arc listening to the +Voices</i> was rather badly received by the critics. +Without disputing the originality and vigour of +the inspired shepherdess, they reproached the artist +for the presence of the traditional saints. Bastien-Lepage +had indicated these under the form of +luminous vapour, radiating through the branches +overhanging the garden: St. Michael in the golden +armour of a knight of the fifteenth century, St. +Margaret and St. Catherine as phantoms so diaphanous +as to be hardly perceptible. The idealists +complained that the picture was lacking in idealism; +the realists were somewhat disconcerted to +find the apparitions there at all. It must be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +acknowledged that Bastien-Lepage ceases to be +himself the moment that he ventures to attempt +the supernatural or even allegory pure and simple. +He feels that he is no longer on familiar ground, +he hesitates, he fumbles, and the harmony of the +work suffers in consequence. Nevertheless, in spite +of this undeniable defect, the face of Jeanne d'Arc +will be remembered as a piece of powerful painting +and genuine inspiration.</p> + +<p>At all events, Bastien-Lepage was keenly aware +of the half-way nature of his success, and from +that day renounced forever the element of the +marvellous and confined himself to that concrete +and tangible poetry which emanates from the earth.</p> + +<p>Some little time after his <i>Jeanne d'Arc</i>, he +produced <i>The Mendicant</i>, veteran knight of the +road, whose lazy life is passed in going from door +to door, asking charity and compelling it if need +be; suspicious looking old tramp, perhaps a thief +as well, who inspires fear and whose sack is often +filled through unwillingness to provoke him. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +artist has pictured him with a stout stick in his +hand, stowing away the slice of bread which a +pretty slip of a girl in a blue apron has just +given him. This fine and vigorous canvas scored +almost as much of a success, at the Salon of 1881, +as the admirable <i>Portrait of Albert Wolff</i>, a critic +on the <i>Figaro</i> and close personal friend of the +artist.</p> + +<p>In 1882 he won a further success with his +superb <i>Father Jacques</i>, a masterly study of the +Lorraine peasant, and with his charming <i>Portrait +of Mme. W.</i></p> + +<p>In 1883 came <i>Love in a Village</i>, one of his +most popular canvases, in which he depicted with +charming naturalness the uncomplicated and naïve +courtship of rustic lovers. Here are a pair who +are untroubled by curious glances; the nearer +houses of the village are quite close by. Bending +slightly towards his sweetheart, the man is murmuring +his avowals in her ear, in a voice that, we +suspect, is by no means steady. Strapping fellow +that he is, he evidently lacks the habit of +making pretty speeches; we can see that from +the embarrassed air with which he twists his +fingers. His words, however, are plainly not lacking +in eloquence, for the girl, type of buxom +young womanhood that we have already learned +to know, has bent her head and, although her +back is turned, we are sure that she is blushing +as she listens to his declaration. A special atmosphere +emanates from this picture, as well as that +profound spirit of poetry which is inseparable +from the eternal song of love.</p> + + +<hr class="r65" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> +<h2 class="p2"><a name="HIS_PREMATURE_END" id="HIS_PREMATURE_END"></a>HIS PREMATURE END</h2> + +<p>At this period Bastien-Lepage had already +begun to incur the first attacks of the disease +which was destined so soon to end his days. He +suffered violent pains in the kidneys. He became +melancholy, nervous, irritable; he shut himself up +in his studio in the Rue Legendre, and even his +best friends could not gain admittance. The doc<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>tors +who were called in recognized the gravity of +his illness and ordered energetic treatment and +a change of air. The poor artist reconciled himself +to go for a time to Brittany, and his choice +fell on Concarneau. The keen sea air produced +a temporary betterment, and he took advantage +of it to work, for he could not resign himself to +lay aside his palette and brushes. He spent entire +days in a boat and, in spite of his sufferings, +executed several landscapes of rare beauty. But +his condition, instead of improving, took a turn +for the worse. "The digestive tube," he wrote +to Theuriet, "is always kicking up a row!" The +pain in the kidneys and bowels became at this +time so violent that he was forced to decide to +return to Paris, in order to consult the men of +science once again.</p> + +<p>This time, when Dr. Potain examined him, he +could no longer deceive himself as to the artist's +fate; he saw that his patient was irremediably +condemned. However, a sojourn in a milder<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +climate might prolong his life for a few months; +so he advised Algeria. The prospect of the journey, +the desire to make the acquaintance of this land +of sunshine which Delacroix, Decamps, and Fromentin +had taught him to love, for a few days +gave a false strength to the poor sufferer, which +produced a deceptive appearance of renewed health +and even deceived the artist himself. Besides, Mme. +Bastien-Lepage, the "good little mother," was to +accompany him, and this unselfish and tender devotion +warmed his heart. The poor woman forced +back her tears in order to smile upon the unfortunate +son whom she knew to be doomed. And so +the pitiful pair set forth for the land of sunshine, +she consumed with grief, and he almost joyous in +the hope of a speedy cure.</p> + +<p>His first letters to his friends bore the imprint +of good spirits; Algeria aroused his enthusiasm +by its clear and vibrant colours; his disease declared +a brief truce and he began to form projects. +The thought of dying had not yet even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +vaguely occurred to him, though, for that matter, +he had no fear of death. The previous year he +had painted <i>Gambetta on his Death-bed</i>; and +his frequent visits to Ville-d'Avray led him to +discuss the inevitable end of life. "I am not +afraid of death," he said, "dying is nothing,—the +important thing is to survive oneself, +and who can be sure of establishing a claim +upon posterity? But there! I am talking nonsense! +So long as our work is true, nothing else +matters."</p> + +<p>But before long the ravages of the disease began +to make headway; the kidneys no longer +performed their function, and he suffered atrocious +agonies which stretched him for days at a time +on his back. Even the burning heat of the African +sun no longer had strength enough to animate his +shattered physique; the brush, which the artist +from time to time still attempted to take up, +fell from between his fingers. He, Bastien-Lepage, +painter of the soil, found himself unable to transfer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +to canvas the enchantment of that land of fairy +tale! And he poured forth his distress in long +and poignant letters, in which could be read in +every line the loss of hope and the sure prevision +of the now inevitable end.</p> + +<div class="figcenter p2" style="width: 320px;"><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a> +<a href="images/illus83.jpg"><img class="p2" src="images/illus83_thumb.jpg" width="320" height="388" alt="PLATE VIII" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption"><a href="images/illus83.jpg">PLATE VIII.—THE ARTIST'S UNCLE</a></span></div> + +<p class="center"><small>(Museum at Verdun)</small></p> + +<p class="center"> +Here is still another kindly and vigorous face from Lorraine, +forcefully modelled, with salient jaw bones, betraying the obstinacy +of the race. An air of good nature softens the energy of this face, +and the eyes sparkle with intelligence. This portrait is treated in a +free-handed manner, with unfaltering strokes, and its colouring is +especially excellent.</p> + +<p class="p4">As no amelioration took place, Bastien-Lepage +made the return journey to Paris towards the end +of May, 1884. He went back to his studio in +the Rue Legendre, where he had formerly passed +such happy hours in the full enjoyment of a +talent at its zenith and a constitution apparently +able to defy all tests. Now, however, he dragged +around a dying body, with disease gnawing at his +vitals. He could no longer sleep without the aid +of powerful doses of morphine. The winter-time +increased his suffering; his strength rapidly failed +him; and, on the tenth of December, at six o'clock +in the evening, he drew his last breath, at the +age of thirty-six years.</p> + +<p>As long as he could hold a brush, Bastien-Lepage +continued to work, in spite of the sufferings<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +which racked him. During the year preceding his +death, while he was already experiencing frightful +tortures, he painted <i>The Woman making Lye</i> +and <i>The Little Chimney-sweep</i>, the latter of +which is here reproduced. This admirable canvas +is to be seen now at the studio of the painter's +brother at Neuilly, and forms part of the legacy +which M. Émile Bastien-Lepage intends to bequeath +to the Louvre. It has never been shown at +any Salon, and for that matter there are a good +many other paintings and portraits which have +never been exhibited in public and which are not +for that reason any the less remarkable. We may +cite at random: <i>The Portrait of M. É. Bastien-Lepage</i>, +<i>The Prince of Wales</i>, <i>Mme. Juliette +Drouet</i>, <i>A Little Girl going to School</i>, <i>The Little +Pedler asleep</i>, <i>The Vintage</i>, <i>No Help! The Thames +at London, etc.</i></p> + +<p>The very year of his death, shortly before his +departure for Algeria, Bastien-Lepage executed a +delicious little canvas entitled <i>The Forge</i>, in which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +the artist expended a surprising amount of talent +and skill, and which enables us to realize what +extraordinary heights his ever progressive genius +might have attained, but for the blind and brutal +cruelty of Destiny.</p> + +<p>His death was a time of mourning for the +arts; the regrets which he left behind him were +unanimous. Even those who had been opposed +to his aesthetic creed paid homage to his great +conscientiousness as an artist and his noble character +as a man.</p> + +<p>During March and April, 1885, only a few +months after his death, all literary and artistic +Paris flocked to the Hotel de Chimay, an adjunct +to the École des Beaux-Arts, where a posthumous +exhibition of his works had been organized.</p> + +<p>At this exhibition the entire body of his works +had been brought together. The museums had +loaned the canvases which they possessed and +the private collectors had done their share towards +the glorification of the artist by entrusting to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +organizers a goodly number of paintings and portraits +which had never figured in any of the +Salons.</p> + +<p>Thus it was made possible to comprehend at +a single glance the life-work of this remarkable +artist and to appreciate the distance he had traversed, +the progress he had made during his brief +existence, and the brilliant prospects that were +destroyed by his untimely death.</p> + +<p>From all these numerous works, exhibited side +by side, what stood out most clearly was the unity +of thought which had conceived them and the +dogged fidelity to principles which had controlled +their execution. At the same time they revealed +the amazing adaptability of his talent, which +essayed the most diverse and conflicting subjects +with the same realistic vigour, bestowing even +upon his vaporous and delicate portraits of women +a touch which, while light, is unmistakably his +own, and in which we recognize that noble, conscientious +workmanship, free from all artifice, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +was the distinctive hall-mark both of his painting +and of his character.</p> + +<p>But the quality which dominates all the rest +in the work of Bastien-Lepage, and which emanates +from it like the fragrance which is exhaled by +certain precious essences, is his ardent and deep-rooted +love for his native soil. This form of local +patriotism, determined by the boundaries of Lorraine, +underwent a noble expansion to the point +of encircling the entire earth; for while the painter +chose his models out of the familiar landscape of +his childhood's home, his observation and his art +broke out of the bounds of this special setting +and embraced rustic humanity throughout France +and even beyond. His peasants are unmistakably +from the banks of the Meuse in type and in customs, +but they are from the world at large in +gesture and in philosophy of life. Whether he +comes from the North or from the South, the +tiller of the soil wages the same conflict with +ungrateful furrows, the spade and the plough<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> +imprint the same calluses on his bony hands, +the sun browns his energetic and stubborn features +to the same deep tan. It is in this respect that +the art of Bastien-Lepage assumes a higher significance; +like Millet, it is not a peasant whom he +paints, but the peasant, forever unchanging in +spite of latitude. But if his work has attained +this higher eminence of generalization, it is precisely +for the reason that the artist's watchful +eye has succeeded in discovering, in the life of +the peasantry, that state of mind which is common +to them all, that immutable gesture which +they have always made and always will make. +He has understood and translated with inspired +eloquence their rugged strength, their naïve awkwardness, +their simple intelligence.</p> + +<p>Another glorious distinction of Bastien-Lepage +was that he loved the fields as well as he loved the +peasants. Not fields drowned beneath melancholy +shadow and pallid shifting light, but fields bathed +in sunshine, until the golden tassels of the grain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +crackle like sparks under the fire of the midday +sun. Always and everywhere he sought for light, +and in the midst of it his modest protagonists of +rustic life stand out in all their vigour.</p> + +<p>It would be easy to cite, among our best contemporary +painters, a considerable number of artists +who are brilliantly continuing the tradition left +by Bastien-Lepage and emulating his predilection +for the luminous brilliance of the open air. How +often, in the presence of a canvas by Lhermitte, +our thoughts go back to the painter of Lorraine, +whose vigorous execution and joyous colouring +seem to have been reincarnated! Art is indebted +to Bastien-Lepage for having reinstated nature +in all her literal truth by proving that, in order +to be beautiful, she has no need of artificial and +superfluous adornment.</p> + +<p>Lorraine, out of gratitude, wished to perpetuate +the memory of this glorious son of the Meuse, +who had so eloquently celebrated the vitality and +poetry of his natal earth. It was at Damvillers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +itself that it was decided to raise a monument to +the great painter; and around its pedestal there +were gathered the "good little mother," all in +tears, the assembled population of the village +and the whole region round about, and even the +Government took part in the pious ceremony +by sending as its representative M. Gustave +Larroumet, director of the Beaux-Arts. This +eloquent art critic brought as a tribute to the +departed painter the official seal of immortality, +and he pronounced it in terms vibrant with +emotion.</p> + +<p>"At the moment," he said, "when ordinarily +the best of artists have done no more than to +give indications of their originality and when +ripening years alone begin to keep the promises +of youth, Jules Bastien-Lepage died, leaving masterpieces +behind him, besides having liberated an +artistic formula from the tendencies and exaggerations +which hampered it, and indicated to the art +of painting a new pathway along which his young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +heirs are advancing with an assured step. He +loved nature and truth; he loved his own people, +and no one ever lived who was surrounded with +a greater degree of affection; he inspired faithful +friendships which he himself enjoyed to the full; +and those whom he left behind soothe their heart-ache +with the balm of tender memories; he practised +his art without ever making sacrifice to +passing fashion or sordid profit; there was no +place in his mind or in his heart for any other +than noble and generous thoughts. Let us comfort +ourselves, therefore, for what his death has +taken from us by the thought of what his life has +left to us, and let us assign him his place in the +ranks of the younger master painters who have +been mown down in full flower, close beside that +of Géricault and of Henri Regnault."</p> + +<p>In his admirable biographic and critical study +of Bastien-Lepage, whose personal friend he had +been, M. L. de Fourcaud, by way of conclusion, +bids him this touching farewell:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Poor Bastien-Lepage, snatched away one winter's +night, at thirty-six years of age, in the fairest +flowering of his bright promise, in the richest +expansion of his personality; may each returning +month of May bring at least an abundance of +blossoms to the apple tree beside his grave! For +the blossoms of the apple were always, in his eyes, +so fair a sight!"</p> + +<p>To-day he sleeps forever in a corner of that +Lorraine land which he loved so dearly, and perhaps +in the cemetery of his native village his +shade can still hear the familiar accents of his +native dialect. The great painter of Lorraine +could never have slept his eternal sleep in any +other soil than that.</p> + +<p>Painter of flowers, painter of nature, painter +of the earth which is forever deathless and forever +renewed, Bastien-Lepage has chosen that better part; +his work will live as long as these, his models, and +will go down through the centuries in all the +splendour of increasing beauty and eternal youth.</p> + +<hr class="r65" /> + +<p class="p2 header">Transcriber's Note:</p> +<p>Typographical errors have been corrected as +follows:</p> + +<p>Page 22: "Bastine" replaced with "Bastien"</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bastien Lepage, by Fr. 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Crastre + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Bastien Lepage + +Author: Fr. Crastre + +Translator: Frederic Taber Cooper + +Release Date: June 26, 2011 [EBook #36533] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BASTIEN LEPAGE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Hunter Monroe and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + + MASTERPIECES + IN COLOUR + + EDITED BY + M. HENRY ROUJON + + + BASTIEN-LEPAGE + (1848-1884) + + + + + IN THE SAME SERIES + + REYNOLDS CHARDIN + VELASQUEZ MILLET + GREUZE RAEBURN + TURNER SARGENT + BOTTICELLI CONSTABLE + ROMNEY MEMLING + REMBRANDT FRAGONARD + BELLINI DUeRER + FRA ANGELICO LAWRENCE + ROSSETTI HOGARTH + RAPHAEL WATTEAU + LEIGHTON MURILLO + HOLMAN HUNT WATTS + TITIAN INGRES + MILLAIS COROT + LUINI DELACROIX + FRANZ HALS FRA LIPPO LIPPI + CARLO DOLCI PUVIS DE CHAVANNES + GAINSBOROUGH MEISSONIER + TINTORETTO GEROME + VAN DYCK VERONESE + DA VINCI VAN EYCK + WHISTLER FROMENTIN + RUBENS MANTEGNA + BOUCHER PERUGINO + HOLBEIN ROSA BONHEUR + BURNE-JONES BASTIEN-LEPAGE + LE BRUN GOYA + + [Illustration: PLATE I.--THE SONG OF SPRINGTIME + + (Museum at Verdun) + + This is one of the artist's earliest works. A certain embarrassment may + be noted in the manner in which the Cupids are treated; even at this + period, it is easy to see that allegory is not suited to the precise and + realistic talent of this painter; yet the young girl is designed with a + vigour which already foreshadows the masterly art of _Hay-making_.] + + + + + Bastien Lepage + + BY FR. CRASTRE + + TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH + BY FREDERIC TABER COOPER + + ILLUSTRATED WITH EIGHT + REPRODUCTIONS IN COLOUR + + [Illustration: IN SEMPITERNUM.] + + FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + NEW YORK--PUBLISHERS + + COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY + FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + + [Illustration: March, 1914] + + THE.PLIMPTON.PRESS + NORWOOD.MASS.U.S.A + + + + + CONTENTS + Page + + His Youth 16 + + His Best Years 31 + + His Premature End 65 + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + Plate + + I. The Song of Springtime Frontispiece + Museum at Verdun + + II. Portrait of M. Wallon 14 + Museum of the Louvre + + III. The Artist's Mother 24 + Collection of E. Bastien-Lepage + + IV. The Hay-making 34 + Museum of the Luxembourg + + V. Portrait of M. Hayem 40 + Museum of the Luxembourg + + VI. Portrait of M. X---- 50 + Museum at Verdun + + VII. The Little Boatman 60 + Collection of E. Bastien-Lepage + + VIII. The Artist's Uncle 70 + Museum at Verdun + + + [Illustration] + + + + +There are certain beings who bear the stamp of the divine seal and are +preordained to receive the highest favours within the gift of glory; +they are fated to pass through life like those brilliant meteors which +are seen to flash across the heavens and disappear in the same instant. +Bastien-Lepage was one of these meteors. But while the others leave +behind them only a luminous trail that swiftly vanishes, this rare +artist, snatched so prematurely from the field of art, traced his +passage in a furrow of dazzling splendour, the radiance of which has not +even yet begun to fade. + +Bastien-Lepage was a painter in the noblest acceptation of the term; it +may even be asserted that he would have exercised considerable influence +upon the art of his epoch if Destiny had not stupidly mown down the +sturdy flower of his genius in the very hour of its brightest +blossoming. Born into this world with a solid tenacity of purpose which +seems to be a special gift of the soil of Lorraine to her sons and +daughters, he had a clear-cut and unalterable conception of what +painting should be. His mind was receptive only of simple ideas, his eye +perceived only visions that were tangible, such as were unobscured by +any shadow or any artifice. He was the apostle of clearness, both in +conception and in execution. Every time that he tried experimentally to +turn aside from his chosen path, he ceased to be himself, he fell +below his own standards. What interested him most of all, in the life of +this world which he observed so eagerly, as though he had a presentiment +of his early end, was nature's most precise and most uncompromising +manifestation, both in line and in relief; namely, the peasant and the +environment which frames him. Having deliberately chosen such models, +Bastien-Lepage could not pretend to be the painter of the Beautiful, nor +did he ever become so. He did not even adorn his subjects with that +special sort of idealism with which Millet embellished even his most +uncouth rustic types, a slightly melancholy idealism obtained by a +sombre toning down of colour, which Bastien-Lepage held in horror. His +peasants stand out boldly, in the crude glare of flamboyant noontide, +under a summer sun that refuses to leave hidden any part of their +ugliness or their defects. He painted them as he saw them, with the +searching rays striking them full in the face; and his brush was a +stranger to any compromise, intolerant of even the slightest +betterment, in the course of the literal transference of his model to +his canvas. It made no difference how handsome or how homely a given +subject might be, Bastien-Lepage would always render him precisely as +nature, in a grudging or indulgent mood, had made him,--that is to say, +truly and sincerely, with a precision that would be almost photographic, +if the minuteness of his technique were not ennobled by the high quality +of his art. With such gifts, Bastien-Lepage was foreordained to be a +marvellous interpreter of rural life, and such he was in the highest +degree; in like manner, he could not fail to become a portrait painter +of the first order, and it was in this capacity also that he enrolled +himself among the most interesting and vigorous artists of our epoch. + + [Illustration: + + PLATE II.--PORTRAIT OF M. WALLON + + (Museum of the Louvre) + + Few artists have been able to endow their models with such an animated + expression of life. All the keenness, intelligence and austerity of this + prominent personage, known by the name of Father of the Constitution, + are eloquently transferred to this page, with a sobriety of means that + still further emphasizes its vigour.] + + + + + HIS YOUTH + + +Jules Bastien-Lepage was born at Damvillers, in the department of the +Meuse, on the first of November, 1848. His parents were of the +well-to-do farming class, occupied from one year's end to the other with +the work of the fields. Consequently, all the early boyhood of the +artist was passed in daily contact with the soil of Lorraine and with +the sons of that soil. He knew them, one and all, in his native village; +he grew up among them; he went to school side by side with the other +little rustics of his own age: he understood the peasant class, with all +their faults, their virtues, their habits of life; he learned to read in +their faces, which were a sealed book to the outsider, the opinions and +emotions which they had in common with him. + +These childhood impressions were destined to abide with him throughout +his life; he cherished to the end a fervent love for his native land, +and he felt that he had an infinitely noble task in painting that life +of the fields which the Second Empire affected to despise. + +But though he came of peasant stock, it was Bastien-Lepage's good +fortune that these same peasants were in prosperous circumstances and +could afford to give him an education. They were ambitious for him; and +it hurt them to see their little Jules, who was so wide-awake, so +intelligent, and at the same time so frail, leading the hard and +monotonous life of the fields, following the plough, tilling the soil. +It needed only a few household economies to enable him to continue his +studies; so, when the time came, young Bastien-Lepage wended his way +towards Verdun, where he entered upon his college course. + +There is nothing that marks in any particular way these years of study, +nothing to indicate that the boy was a youthful prodigy, nor that he +showed any special aptitude for drawing. But he was studious, diligent, +and anxious to avoid repremands and to fulfil the expectations of his +parents. In due time he obtained his bachelor's degree, which at that +period was highly prized. His father, filled with pride, already began +to form brilliant projects for his future, already foresaw him a +distinguished official, supervising some great branch of the public +service. As a matter of fact, a position was found for the young +baccalaureate in a government department which was neither the most +desirable nor the one of least importance; namely, the Post Office +Department. Bastien-Lepage was not vastly delighted with the choice, +but, dutiful son that he was, he accepted the modest clerkship offered +him. One circumstance contributed, in a large degree, towards overcoming +his reluctance: the post assigned to him from the start was in Paris, of +which he had often heard marvellous things, and in which he hoped that +he would be able to follow his secret inclination. For, in the interval +his vocation had revealed itself; he had conceived a passion for +drawing, for colouring, for painting; and, like Correggio, he was eager +to say in his turn, "I too am a painter!" + +Accordingly he set forth, leaving behind him no suspicion of his +purpose. Upon arriving at the capital, he acquitted himself scrupulously +of his official duties, but every leisure moment was consecrated to +visiting the museums and exhibitions. He saturated himself with the +wealth of beauty strewn broadcast through the Louvre, and was thrilled +with admiration at contact with the masters of every school and country. +He did not care equally for them all, in spite of their genius; his +intimate preferences leaned to the side of Flemish rather than Italian +art; but he was not insensible to the lofty inspiration, the severe +harmony, the faultless composition, which have made the great masters of +the Renaissance the most astonishing prodigies in the history of +painting. + +But while the older schools of art delighted him, he followed with no +less attention the movement of contemporary painting. At the hour when +his critical spirit awoke, certain new elements and new formulas had +come to light and had been put into practice by two audacious and gifted +artists by the names of Courbet and Manet. Although the prolonged +struggle between the classicists and romanticists had not yet come to an +end, these two rival schools were entrenched in their positions and +refused to stir forth from them. Supporters of Delacroix and of Ingres +confined themselves strictly to their respective hostile formulas, doing +nothing either to expand or to rejuvenate them. Whoever dared to venture +outside of one of these two beaten tracks was regarded as a madman, and +his attempts were greeted with derisive clamours by both parties, who +declared a momentary truce, for the purpose of annihilating him by a +joint attack. Courbet, who was scorned by Ingres, met with equally harsh +criticism from Delacroix; and as for Manet, he had managed to call down +universal wrath upon his head, and at the Salon of 1863 it became +necessary to place his _Olympia_ in the very topmost line upon the wall, +in order to protect it from the fury of the public, hounded on by the +hue and cry of the critics. + +Bastien-Lepage made mental notes of all the episodes of this struggle; +he listened to the criticisms and passed them through the crucible of +his unspoiled mind, in the presence of the very works under indictment. +His good sense showed him how large an element of injustice entered into +these hostilities. Moreover, his peasant blood inclined him to +sympathize with those artists who refused to bind themselves to seek for +beauty only within the limits of academic form, and who had the ability +to make it flash forth from the humblest and even the most vulgar type +of subject. Furthermore, this constant study of matters pertaining to +art, day by day added fuel to the hidden fire smouldering within him; he +was conscious of its mounting flame. Back of the rude sketches, drawn +and coloured in the tiny chamber befitting an humble postal clerk, he +perceived vaguely that he also possessed the temperament of a painter, +and little by little he witnessed the unfolding of his artist's soul. + + [Illustration: PLATE III.--THE ARTIST'S MOTHER + + (Collection of E. Bastien-Lepage) + + What a kindly and gentle face this is, the face of the woman to whom the + artist applied the tender endearment of "Good little mother!" In this + work, it is evident that the heart guided the hand of the painter. None + but a son could have rendered with such emotion the humid tenderness of + those eyes and the maternal caress of those lips. It is a powerful work, + which enrolls Bastien-Lepage in the foremost rank of portrait + painters.] + +At last, unable to bear it longer, he resigned from the postal service +and enrolled his name at the Beaux-Arts. At this time, when he entered +the studio of Cabanel, he was but little more than nineteen years of +age. Cabanel, to be sure, was not the painter of his choice, but +Bastien-Lepage was not for that reason any the less appreciative of a +system of instruction which was dominated by a worship of line-work. His +training under Cabanel was not without value to the young artist, who +throughout his life, even in his most realistic paintings, proved +himself to be an impeccable master of design. + +At the outset, however, he was beset with difficulties. Now that his +salary as a postal clerk had ceased and remittances from the family were +necessarily restricted, Bastien-Lepage exerted himself to gain a living +by his own efforts. He had no lack of courage, and he had in addition +that Lorraine tenacity which enabled him to confront all difficulties +with tranquil assurance. He worked with desperate energy, and in the +intervals of respite from his labours he overran all Paris in search of +orders from business houses. It was an inglorious task, but at least it +enabled him to live; thus it happened that about 1873 he produced a +widely circulated advertisement for a perfumery house. Up to this time +he had remained wholly unknown; and although he had already exhibited +one painting, at the Salon of 1870, it was passed by unheeded both by +the critics and the general public. + +This lack of success in no wise discouraged him, for he had faith. It +was in the year 1874 that he exhibited _The Song of Springtime_. It was +a veritable revelation. There was no neglect this time. The public +gathered in throngs before his canvas, and the critics, notwithstanding +a few objections to details, were lavish in their praise and hailed him +as having the qualities of a true artist. Naturally, the picture was not +perfect, but it well merited the flattering reception which it received. +In a springtime landscape a young peasant girl is seated beneath a +tree, looking before her over a sunlit plain. Around her skirts a whole +bevy of Cupids are gathering blossoms and offering them to the girl. +Here, at the first stroke, is an assertion of the young painter's +independence, his formal determination to emancipate himself from the +accepted formulas in his treatment of the eternal theme of a young +girl's soul, opening to the first appeal of love. As a matter of fact, +the allegory is somewhat clumsy; you realize that the author's talent +does not run to sentimental compositions. Yet the young girl is brushed +in with an energetic hand, and all that rather coarse robustness that +distinguishes the women of peasant stock is blended in a masterly manner +with the naive innocence of simple souls. _The Song of Springtime_ was +Bastien-Lepage's first attempt in that vein of realistic painting in +which he was soon destined to excel. + +That same year he produced _Grandfather's Portrait_, which also +attracted much attention. The artist had placed his model in the little +garden adjoining the home of his birth. This portrait, which belongs +to-day to the painter's brother, is remarkable for its naturalness, its +touch of intimate understanding, and its vigour of execution. + +Bastien-Lepage had now acquired a name. His _Song of Springtime_ won him +a third class medal, and the State purchased the painting for the museum +at Verdun, where it at present hangs. + +In the following year he exhibited _Her First Communion_, picturing a +young and pretty country girl, stiff and self-conscious under her white +veil. This work was the product of keen observation, and is deliberately +stilted and traditional in its style of execution, recalling in some +measure the French primitive school. Bastien-Lepage evidently had in +mind the portraits by Francois Cluet: his little communicant is +infinitely artificial in her spotless finery, yet infinitely alive under +the thin surface wash of colour which recalls the _Elizabeth of +Austria_, wife of Charles IX, as painted by the greatest of the French +primitives. + +Simultaneously with this picture he exhibited the _Portrait of M. +Hayem_, in which the vigorous treatment of the face, with its clear, +firm colour tones and sober workmanship, proclaimed him already a +portrait painter of the first order. + +His success this time was more marked: he received a medal of the second +class. A less modest artist would have allowed himself to be borne +tranquilly along by the mounting tide of glory; but Bastien-Lepage did +not yet feel that he was sufficiently sure of himself. He wished to +continue for a while longer, working, learning, perfecting himself; he +even conceived the idea, in spite of his renown, of competing for the +_Prix de Rome_. Accordingly, the painter of _The Song of Springtime_ and +_Her First Communion_ might shortly after have been seen entering the +lists like any ordinary nobody. He obtained only the second prize. + +He presented himself again the following year, but with no better +success. The subject assigned for the competition was _Priam at the Feet +of Achilles_. It is easy to understand that such a theme was little +calculated to inspire an artist of Bastien-Lepage's temperament; he +found it impossible to attain full development unless in the presence of +nature herself. No amount of manual dexterity can take the place of +inborn faith, and the young artist had no faith in antiquity; he never +could muster any enthusiasm for the Greek or Roman gods, nor for +historic scenes in which the very attitudes are dictated by the rules +and regulations of time-honoured tradition. + +Nevertheless, the work is not without merit; it is forceful, its +colouring is good, and it falls short of perfection only in failing to +conform sufficiently with what we know of ancient life. This painting is +at present to be found in the Museum at Lille. + +This rebuff did not discourage Bastien-Lepage unreasonably; but he +decided to confine himself in the future to painting portraits and +picturing the life of the fields. + + + + + HIS BEST YEARS + + +The same year that he failed for the second time in the competition for +the _Prix de Rome_, Bastien-Lepage painted _The Portrait of M. Wallon_, +which is one of his most important works as a portrait painter. In spite +of its tendency towards naturalism, this canvas was nevertheless still +conceived in accordance with the established technique, and the keen and +serious visage of the Father of the Constitution standing out against +its sombre background is a fine study in chiaroscuro. + +But the following year he struck the naturalistic note more strongly in +his _Portrait of Lady L._, the only full-length, life-sized portrait +that he ever painted; and he declared himself plainly and definitely a +realist in his picture entitled _My Parents_. It would be impossible to +find two figures more life-like, more literal, or painted with greater +sincerity. This canvas amounted to a declaration of principles; for an +artist whom filial piety cannot turn aside from the truth will never +make sacrifices to convention: he will never consent to embellish or +idealize his models through tricks of his craft; he will paint them as +he sees them, without correcting any of the imperfections and ugliness +with which nature has afflicted them. How clearly we recognize that +these likenesses of Bastien-Lepage's parents are absolutely true to +life, and how much better we like them as they are, in the simple +intimacy of daily life, than if they had been decked out, all spick and +span, as a less scrupulous artist would inevitably have shown them to +us! + +Bastien-Lepage's brother, himself a painter of some talent, has +preserved in his studio at Neuilly a certain number of the artist's +works, which he surrounds with pious care and feelingly exhibits to +occasional visitors. The family portraits are there, pulsating with life +and radiating that generous peasant kindliness which finds +expression in a broad and tender smile. The father, seated in a chair in +his garden, an old man with shrewd yet friendly eyes, seems so real, so +actual, that we almost expect him to step down from his frame to bid us +welcome. And what a marvel the _Portrait of my Mother_ is, which forms a +companion piece on the same wall! A somewhat wistful charm pervades this +face, with its deeply graven lines, and an infinite tenderness, a true +mother's tenderness, hovers over the thin, pale lips. + + [Illustration: PLATE IV--HAY-MAKING + + (Museum of the Luxembourg) + + A masterpiece of contemporary painting, because of the truth of its + attitudes and the vigour of its execution. It would be impossible to + render more forcibly the blissfulness of rest when the body has been + racked by the exhausting labour of the soil. In this picture, + Bastien-Lepage revealed himself as an incomparable painter of rural + life.] + +Perhaps this is the moment, in the presence of these pictures, to +emphasize Bastien-Lepage's great value as a colourist. Few contemporary +painters have used colour with so much tact, such veritable mastery as +he. Others have employed more dazzling tonal schemes and have achieved +more gorgeous effects, but no one has rendered with such exact truth the +tints of the flesh, the grayish folds of wrinkles, the profound light of +the eye. And his colour is always clear, always unmistakably employed +to produce a sought-after effect. There is no artifice, no trick-work, +it is all straightforward, honest, precise; the opposition of light and +shade never result in opacity, bitumen plays no part in his canvases, +the astonishing relief of which is obtained by means of such perfect +simplicity that it recalls the inimitable technique of Correggio. + +In 1878 he exhibited _Hay-making_, that magisterial page from the life +of the fields which to-day is the pride of the Luxembourg museum, and +which the art of the engraver has scattered broadcast to the extent of +millions of copies. + +This picture represents a vast sun-bathed meadow, overstrewn with +new-mown hay and punctuated, here and there, by the rounded cones of the +stacks. Against the blue background of the sky, green hill-tops trace an +undulant line. In the foreground a robust, bony-armed country-woman is +seated on the grass, her legs stretched out before her in an attitude +expressive of the utter weariness resulting from the work performed. +Her head, solidly planted on her massive neck, is a marvel of realism; +in her vulgar peasant face we may read health, strength, and a sort of +dulled mentality born of physical fatigue. In every fibre of her +exhausted body the woman is veritably resting, and through her +half-parted lips it seems as though we could detect the passage of her +hurried breathing. The man beside her, no less worn out than she, is +stretched at full length on the thick couch of grass, and with his hat +over his face, to shelter it from the sun, he is sleeping as though dead +to the world. + +Every detail of this canvas is perfect, because every detail is true, +drawn straight from life, the fruit of minute observation. In it +Bastien-Lepage once more affirms his predilection for the open country; +and nothing could be more impressive than these two uncouth, vulgar, +homely human beings, set amid the splendour of a meadow turned golden by +the sun. It is an every-day spectacle; it would not seem at first sight +to contain material for a picture. But Bastien-Lepage has succeeded in +proving indisputably that beauty does not consist solely in the harmony +of the body, but in the impression which emanates from scenes that are +most humble in outward appearance. In these few square feet of canvas +the artist has summed up, perhaps without intending it, all the majesty +of nature and all the grandeur of the life of the fields. It is scarcely +necessary to add that this work is a transcript of the soil of Lorraine, +that good natal soil which he loved so profoundly and to which he +returned eagerly, year after year. + +Bastien-Lepage was exclusively the painter of the rural aspects of +Lorraine; he loved its horizons, its fertile and undulating plains. And +when, occasionally, he ventured into allegory, the background was still +Lorraine, and the characters were developed in the familiar setting of +his native village, Damvillers. And how he loved it! How he enjoyed the +warm atmosphere of affection which always awaited him when his +father, grandfather, and valiant and devoted "little mother" gathered at +night around the family table! He made his home in Paris, because +residence there was indispensable, both for business and artistic +reasons; but the moment that he could escape from the capital and its +constraints, he would go to rest and gather new energy in the midst of +the family circle. He had a spacious studio installed in the second +story of the ancestral home; and there he worked, absolutely happy so +long as he could see the old grandfather at his side, pipe in mouth, +examining the work with a knowing air, and the father and mother in a +sort of ecstasy, as they watched him fill in his canvas. + + [Illustration: PLATE V.--PORTRAIT OF M. HAYEM + + (Museum of the Luxembourg) + + A marvel of discernment and of rendering. The face, to be sure, has a + strong originality; but there is no slight merit in having expressed + with such striking truth the piercing intelligence of the eyes that + twinkle behind the lenses of the spectacles, and the energy, tempered + with satiric humour, of his whole odd physiognomy.] + +Nevertheless, Bastien-Lepage was no studio painter; it was not from the +height of a window that he chose to contemplate nature, but in the open +fields, in the very heart of the furrows; and it was there also, in the +midst of the wheat and the rye, that he set up his easel and painted +his peasants in action, in the daily fulfilment of their thankless +task. And by picturing them thus, without artifice, in all their +simplicity of gesture and coarseness of feature, he imbued his canvases +with a profound spirit of poetry, through which the often brutal realism +of his subjects was redeemed and ennobled. In the presence of these +peasants he experienced a joy more genuine than he had ever felt before +the rarest canvases in any museum. Not that he denied or disdained the +genius of the great ancestors of painting; he had too much reverence for +his art ever to dream of doing so. But when it came to a question of +training, he could learn more from nature than from them. Listen to his +own exposition of his ideas: + +"What a pity," he wrote, "that we are initiated, whether we will or not, +into traditions and routines, under the pretext that this is the way to +train us to be artists! It would be so simple to teach the use of brush +and palette, without ever once mentioning the name of Michelangelo or +Raphael or Murillo or Domenichino! We could then go home, back to +Brittany or Gascony, Lorraine or Normandy, and peacefully paint the +portrait of our own province; and if some morning the book we had +chanced to read aroused the wish to paint a Prodigal Son, or Priam at +the feet of Achilles, we could reconstruct the scene to suit ourselves, +without needing to resort to the museums, taking the setting from our +own surroundings and making use of the models close at hand, as though +the old drama dated only from yesterday. That is the way for an artist +to succeed in breathing the breath of life into his art and in making it +beautiful and appealing to the eyes of the whole world. And that is the +goal towards which I am striving with all my strength." + +As painter of the open air, he became in a certain sense the founder of +a school, without meaning to be; for his conception of the painter's art +won over a whole group of young artists who united in hailing him as +their master. Each year his offerings to the Salon were impatiently +awaited, and his followers gathered in full force before them, +discussing, comparing, acclaiming; each Salon became the occasion for a +new success, the critics were unanimous in praising him, the public +adopted his pictures for their own, because they could understand his +clear and rigorous manner. Whatever hostility he met with was among his +own colleagues, at least among such of them as were discouraged and +humiliated by his vigorous originality. Nevertheless, the Exposition of +1878, at which he had gathered together all his works, was an especially +triumphant occasion for him; yet when the awards were distributed, he +discovered that he had received nothing but a medal of the third class. + +At the Salon of 1879, Bastien-Lepage exhibited his _Women gathering +Potatoes_, which formed a companion piece to his _Hay-making_. Here +again we have the landscape of Lorraine and the eternal and infinitely +varied theme of rural labour. In a sun-parched field two women are +toiling to reap the harvest of potatoes. While the one in the middle +distance is stooping to turn up the ripe bulbs from the soil, the other, +placed in the foreground, is striving to empty the contents of her +basket into a sack which she holds open by a wonderfully natural +movement of her knee. Nothing could be simpler or more humble than this +subject, and yet one feels drawn towards it, conquered by the truth of +these two figures, both in their attitude and their expression. +Involuntarily memory conjures up another canvas, _The Gleaners_, and we +realize that it is impossible to resist that higher appeal which the +great artists succeed in giving to the most commonplace episode of +farming life. But, unlike Millet, Bastien-Lepage does not awaken in us +any compassion for these beings who toil, stooping above the earth; no +touch of bitterness saddens his pictures, and the types which he shows +to us have the healthy vigour of peasants who live their lives in the +open air and love the soil which nourishes them. + +This picture, when it appeared, produced a sensation. Coming directly +after the _Hay-making_, it definitely established Bastien-Lepage's +talent and placed him in the foremost rank of painters of rural life. +The critics hailed this powerful canvas with enthusiasm. Theodore de +Banville, writing of the Salon of 1879, said: "M. Bastien-Lepage is the +king of this Exposition. Young as he is, he has started in to produce +masterpieces: he is very wise! For in later years an artist continues to +copy himself, with more or less cleverness and success; but the creative +genius has taken wing, like a bird on whose tail we have failed to drop +the indispensable grain of salt. The _October Season_ pictures the +harvesting of potatoes. The earth, the encompassing air as far as we can +see, the sky, the solitude laden with silence, are all evoked for us in +this picture by the sincerity of its powerful painter; the peasant women +are done in a masterly manner, and precisely for the reason that he has +seen them apart from all convention and has not tried to idealize them +by any hackneyed device." + +Albert Wolff was no less enthusiastic: "The colouring in _Women +harvesting Potatoes_ is ingratiating and discreet; not a discordant +touch disturbs the beautiful harmony of this canvas, over which the +silence of the open country has descended, enveloping the obscure toil. +It is only artists of superior powers who can embody so much charm in a +single conception." + +Another feature of the same Salon was his magnificent portrait of +_Madame Sarah Bernhardt_, a marvel of expression and of delicate art, +embodied in a pale symphony of tenderest whites, blending harmoniously +with the warmest tones of gold. The great tragic actress is portrayed +draped, almost swathed, in a gown of white china silk, verging on the +faintest yellowish caste; she is posed in profile, that cameo-like +profile that has so often been portrayed. She is seated, with a sort of +intentional rigidity, on a white fur robe, and is examining a statuette +of Orpheus, in old ivory, which she holds in her hands. Her expressive +and intellectual features are treated with a vigour which does full +justice to the classic beauty and virile energy of the sitter. + +"The work as a whole," wrote the critic of the _Revue des Beaux-Arts_, +"possesses supreme distinction and an admirable delicacy of colouring. +The silvery tones of the whites, the warm grays of the draped gown lead +up to the freshness of the delicate, rose-like flesh tints, beneath the +crown of close curled locks that seem at once massive and weightless. +The artist's hand was sure of itself; it neither groped nor hesitated. +The execution is such that the drawing of the gown and the lines of the +face seem to have been traced by an engraver's tool. In this case, +however, definiteness has not resulted in stiffness. The sharp design +has not imprisoned unwilling forms; it leaves them free to move as they +please within the limits of their contours which are its domain. It is +worth while to examine with a lens the marvellous process which, by +the aid of imperceptible half-tones, has softened the modelling of the +face and hands." + + [Illustration: PLATE VI.--PORTRAIT OF M. X---- + + (Museum at Verdun) + + Bastien-Lepage possessed the rare quality of being able to bestow the + same superior skill upon every part of a portrait. Being sincere before + all else, he never tried to shirk any difficulty; this is seen in the + care he took in painting the hands of all his various sitters, showing + something akin to vanity in the marvellous talent he displayed in + rendering them. In this portrait--just as in all the others--the hands + are quite as truly a miracle of execution as the face itself.] + +These two pictures earned Bastien-Lepage the Cross of the Legion of +Honour and a definite recognition of his talent. The artist could not +keep his delight to himself and, good son that he was, wished to share +it with his beloved family; so he sent for them, to pay him a visit in +Paris. The grandfather and the "good little mother" arrived, full of +pride in this famous son, of whom the whole world was talking. He showed +them the sights of the city and was only too happy to have a chance to +introduce them to his friends; he took his mother to the big shops and +insisted on choosing silk cloaks and silk dresses for her. The poor +woman protested, saying that they were far too fine, that she would +never dare to wear anything like that. "Show us some more," ordered the +devoted artist, "I want mamma to have her choice of the best there is!" + +After the old people had returned home to Lorraine, Bastien-Lepage set +out for England, where he was to paint the portrait of the Prince of +Wales, who afterwards became King Edward VII. + +In this portrait of tiny dimensions the Prince is represented in fancy +costume, after the manner of Holbein. His garments recall in a measure +those worn by King Henry VIII, in the celebrated portrait done by the +great painter from Basle. The Collar of the Golden Fleece is displayed +upon his breast. In the background of the picture may be seen dimly, +through a veil of mist, the panorama of London and the gray ribbon of +the Thames. The portrait is a little gem, which Bastien-Lepage wrought +with the minuteness and affectedly hieratic mannerism of Holbein and the +French primitive school. Although at present in possession of M. Emile +Bastien-Lepage, it will eventually find its place, together with a +goodly number of other canvases, in the museum of the Louvre, to which +the brother of the great artist intends to bequeath them. + +It should be mentioned here, in connection with this work, that +Bastien-Lepage continued to make more and more of a specialty of +portraits of reduced dimensions, and that he acquired in this respect a +reputation of the first order. He loved these little canvases, scarcely +larger than miniatures, and he expended on their scanty surfaces an +inimitable skill; he embellished them with a wealth of accessory detail +which brings to mind, as we look at them to-day, the formidable labours +of the illuminators of the middle ages. But this goldsmith's work, far +from impairing the effect of the whole, adds a certain fascination to +it. And he expended upon the study of the face the same degree of +devotion that he gave to the rendering of a garment. His models relive +with an intensity of life such as could be expressed only by an artist +who has made a life-long study of nature in her minutest manifestations. + +To name over his portraits would be to mention an equal number of +masterpieces. The catalogue would be too long, for Bastien-Lepage was +an indefatigable workman. We may content ourselves with citing those +that are most widely known: that of _M. Andrieux_, one-time Prefect of +Police, whose refined features are rendered with striking truth; that of +_J. Bastien-Lepage_, the artist's uncle, which is here reproduced and +which shows him violin in hand, a clear and vigorous piece of +brush-work, transcribing life in telling strokes, with an astonishing +simplicity of means. This fine example is to be seen to-day in the +museum at Verdun. And in the same museum there is still another that +deserves mention; namely, the excellent _Portrait of M. X._ And we must +not forget the _Portrait of Andre Theuriet_, born, like Bastien-Lepage, +on the banks of the Meuse and attached to the painter by ties of almost +fraternal affection. One feels that, in this picture, the heart must +have guided the hand, for it would be difficult to find another work +more magisterial in execution and more delicate in finish. And lastly, +there is _Mme. Bastien-Lepage_, the "good little mother," as the great +artist and loving son used to call her. He posed her in the garden of +the home at Damvillers. She is seated on a stone bench; on her knees +rests a large garden hat; her two hands are crossed, one over the other, +and in the left she holds a little bunch of field flowers. She is clad +in a loose dress of sombre colour, cut with a pelerine; and nothing but +the one bright spot formed by the white collar reveals the severity of +the costume. The whole attitude of the body in repose is perfect in its +truth and naturalness; but our admiration changes and quickens to +emotion when we raise our eyes to the level of the face of this "good +little mother," a bony, irregular face, almost ugly, but so gentle, so +kind, so touchingly illumined by the tender caress in the eyes as they +rest upon the adored son in the course of painting her. Those emaciated +features, which not even the crown of blonde hair is able to rejuvenate, +are unmistakably those of a mother; if we had not known, we should +inevitably have divined it; no one but a son, and a great artist as +well, could have crowned the brow of a woman with such an aureole of +gentleness and love. + +Bastien-Lepage, whom those who envied him affected to regard as +dedicated wholly to the reproduction of rustic uncouthness, had no equal +in catching the radiance of feminine charms, even in their subtlest +manifestations. No one was more skilled than he in seizing and recording +the one particular trait, often elusive and intangible, which +characterizes a woman and makes her beautiful. What delicious portraits +of women we owe to him! Where could we meet with a more smiling image +than that of _Mme. Godillot_, radiant and seductive, a rosy vision in +the black velvet of her gown, relieved by the brilliant sheen of her +white satin corsage! And what studied and elaborate art was expended on +the _Portrait of Mme. Klotz_, whose magnificent brunette beauty emerges +like a gorgeous lily from the surrounding whiteness of her scarf, that +is all the more dazzlingly white by contrast with her sombre robe! And +still again, there is the _Portrait of Mme. Juliette Drouet_, another +beautiful and noble specimen of portraiture. And how marvellously +Bastien-Lepage could detect the hidden soul lurking in the inmost +recesses of his models and reveal it behind the transparent screen of +their eyes! If Bastien-Lepage had not achieved eternal glory as an +interpreter of rural life, he would still have remained celebrated as a +portrait painter. + +But to Bastien-Lepage portrait painting was only a side issue, a form of +relaxation between two landscapes; his predilection, his one object in +life, so to speak, was to return constantly to his peasants, his scenes +of toil, his fields of Lorraine. + +After his return from England he passed some months at Damvillers, when +an impulse seized him to visit Italy, to which the verdict of a +prejudiced committee had once upon a time barred his way. He proceeded +straight to Venice, and it may as well be acknowledged at once, +Venetian art left him cold, if not indifferent. He had never in the +least understood any of the big "set pieces," and in spite of all the +art of Veronese and Titian, in spite of their dazzling flare of colour, +he never succeeded in understanding their sumptuous allegories or in +accepting the fantastic interpretation of nature which the Venetians +allowed themselves. He returned to Damvillers, profoundly disillusioned +and more than ever convinced that nature alone, such as he saw it, was +deserving of the attention of the true artist. There would be no object +in discussing here how rightly or how ill founded such an opinion was; +we note it only to indicate once more the absolute independence of the +painter, his fixed determination never to imitate anyone. + +And, beyond question, there is no resemblance to any other painter in +that curious and remarkable picture known as _Jeanne d'Arc listening to +the Voices_. Lorraine in heart and soul, Bastien-Lepage desired to pay +his tribute, as so many had done before him, to the glorious +heroine who, like him, had come from the banks of the Meuse. And he +wished also to restore her to her natural setting, with the greatest +degree of historic accuracy. Consequently it is in a Lorraine garden +surrounding a Lorraine cottage that he shows us Jeanne, the shepherdess; +around her are the familiar garden utensils such as peasants use to-day +just as they did in the fifteenth century. She is standing in an +inspired and attentive attitude, which gives to her whole countenance +that forceful character which Bastien-Lepage imprints upon all his +compatriots. For he wished to make her, in a certain sense, a composite +type of the women of the Lorraine race, such as Theuriet has described: +"The forehead low but intelligent, the eyes with drooping lids that half +conceal the somewhat sullen glance; the bones prominent in cheek and +jaw, the chin square, indicative of an opinionated race; the mouth +large, with half parted lips, through which one perceives the passage of +the deep-drawn breath." This head is always the same; under all the +variations in physiognomy we always meet with the same local type: it is +the head of the woman in _Hay-making_ and of the _Women gathering +Potatoes_, and it is also that of the "good little mother," so +fundamentally and emphatically representative of Lorraine. + + [Illustration: PLATE VII.--THE LITTLE CHIMNEY-SWEEP + + (Collection of E. Bastien-Lepage) + + This attractive picture, full of charm and vigour, belongs to the + closing years of the artist's life, at the time when he was enjoying the + flood tide of his talent. How much force and truth there is in this + picture of the little chimney-sweep, and what graceful nimbleness in the + movements of the cats that he is watching at play.] + +Nevertheless _Jeanne d'Arc listening to the Voices_ was rather badly +received by the critics. Without disputing the originality and vigour of +the inspired shepherdess, they reproached the artist for the presence of +the traditional saints. Bastien-Lepage had indicated these under the +form of luminous vapour, radiating through the branches overhanging the +garden: St. Michael in the golden armour of a knight of the fifteenth +century, St. Margaret and St. Catherine as phantoms so diaphanous as to +be hardly perceptible. The idealists complained that the picture was +lacking in idealism; the realists were somewhat disconcerted to find the +apparitions there at all. It must be acknowledged that Bastien-Lepage +ceases to be himself the moment that he ventures to attempt the +supernatural or even allegory pure and simple. He feels that he is no +longer on familiar ground, he hesitates, he fumbles, and the harmony of +the work suffers in consequence. Nevertheless, in spite of this +undeniable defect, the face of Jeanne d'Arc will be remembered as a +piece of powerful painting and genuine inspiration. + +At all events, Bastien-Lepage was keenly aware of the half-way nature of +his success, and from that day renounced forever the element of the +marvellous and confined himself to that concrete and tangible poetry +which emanates from the earth. + +Some little time after his _Jeanne d'Arc_, he produced _The Mendicant_, +veteran knight of the road, whose lazy life is passed in going from door +to door, asking charity and compelling it if need be; suspicious looking +old tramp, perhaps a thief as well, who inspires fear and whose sack is +often filled through unwillingness to provoke him. The artist has +pictured him with a stout stick in his hand, stowing away the slice of +bread which a pretty slip of a girl in a blue apron has just given him. +This fine and vigorous canvas scored almost as much of a success, at the +Salon of 1881, as the admirable _Portrait of Albert Wolff_, a critic on +the _Figaro_ and close personal friend of the artist. + +In 1882 he won a further success with his superb _Father Jacques_, a +masterly study of the Lorraine peasant, and with his charming _Portrait +of Mme. W._ + +In 1883 came _Love in a Village_, one of his most popular canvases, in +which he depicted with charming naturalness the uncomplicated and naive +courtship of rustic lovers. Here are a pair who are untroubled by +curious glances; the nearer houses of the village are quite close by. +Bending slightly towards his sweetheart, the man is murmuring his +avowals in her ear, in a voice that, we suspect, is by no means steady. +Strapping fellow that he is, he evidently lacks the habit of making +pretty speeches; we can see that from the embarrassed air with which he +twists his fingers. His words, however, are plainly not lacking in +eloquence, for the girl, type of buxom young womanhood that we have +already learned to know, has bent her head and, although her back is +turned, we are sure that she is blushing as she listens to his +declaration. A special atmosphere emanates from this picture, as well as +that profound spirit of poetry which is inseparable from the eternal +song of love. + + + + + HIS PREMATURE END + + +At this period Bastien-Lepage had already begun to incur the first +attacks of the disease which was destined so soon to end his days. He +suffered violent pains in the kidneys. He became melancholy, nervous, +irritable; he shut himself up in his studio in the Rue Legendre, and +even his best friends could not gain admittance. The doctors who were +called in recognized the gravity of his illness and ordered energetic +treatment and a change of air. The poor artist reconciled himself to go +for a time to Brittany, and his choice fell on Concarneau. The keen sea +air produced a temporary betterment, and he took advantage of it to +work, for he could not resign himself to lay aside his palette and +brushes. He spent entire days in a boat and, in spite of his sufferings, +executed several landscapes of rare beauty. But his condition, instead +of improving, took a turn for the worse. "The digestive tube," he wrote +to Theuriet, "is always kicking up a row!" The pain in the kidneys and +bowels became at this time so violent that he was forced to decide to +return to Paris, in order to consult the men of science once again. + +This time, when Dr. Potain examined him, he could no longer deceive +himself as to the artist's fate; he saw that his patient was +irremediably condemned. However, a sojourn in a milder climate might +prolong his life for a few months; so he advised Algeria. The prospect +of the journey, the desire to make the acquaintance of this land of +sunshine which Delacroix, Decamps, and Fromentin had taught him to love, +for a few days gave a false strength to the poor sufferer, which +produced a deceptive appearance of renewed health and even deceived the +artist himself. Besides, Mme. Bastien-Lepage, the "good little mother," +was to accompany him, and this unselfish and tender devotion warmed his +heart. The poor woman forced back her tears in order to smile upon the +unfortunate son whom she knew to be doomed. And so the pitiful pair set +forth for the land of sunshine, she consumed with grief, and he almost +joyous in the hope of a speedy cure. + +His first letters to his friends bore the imprint of good spirits; +Algeria aroused his enthusiasm by its clear and vibrant colours; his +disease declared a brief truce and he began to form projects. The +thought of dying had not yet even vaguely occurred to him, though, for +that matter, he had no fear of death. The previous year he had painted +_Gambetta on his Death-bed_; and his frequent visits to Ville-d'Avray +led him to discuss the inevitable end of life. "I am not afraid of +death," he said, "dying is nothing,--the important thing is to survive +oneself, and who can be sure of establishing a claim upon posterity? But +there! I am talking nonsense! So long as our work is true, nothing else +matters." + +But before long the ravages of the disease began to make headway; the +kidneys no longer performed their function, and he suffered atrocious +agonies which stretched him for days at a time on his back. Even the +burning heat of the African sun no longer had strength enough to animate +his shattered physique; the brush, which the artist from time to time +still attempted to take up, fell from between his fingers. He, +Bastien-Lepage, painter of the soil, found himself unable to +transfer to canvas the enchantment of that land of fairy tale! And +he poured forth his distress in long and poignant letters, in which +could be read in every line the loss of hope and the sure prevision of +the now inevitable end. + + [Illustration: PLATE VIII.--THE ARTIST'S UNCLE + + (Museum at Verdun) + + Here is still another kindly and vigorous face from Lorraine, forcefully + modelled, with salient jaw bones, betraying the obstinacy of the race. + An air of good nature softens the energy of this face, and the eyes + sparkle with intelligence. This portrait is treated in a free-handed + manner, with unfaltering strokes, and its colouring is especially + excellent.] + +As no amelioration took place, Bastien-Lepage made the return journey to +Paris towards the end of May, 1884. He went back to his studio in the +Rue Legendre, where he had formerly passed such happy hours in the full +enjoyment of a talent at its zenith and a constitution apparently able +to defy all tests. Now, however, he dragged around a dying body, with +disease gnawing at his vitals. He could no longer sleep without the aid +of powerful doses of morphine. The winter-time increased his suffering; +his strength rapidly failed him; and, on the tenth of December, at six +o'clock in the evening, he drew his last breath, at the age of +thirty-six years. + +As long as he could hold a brush, Bastien-Lepage continued to work, in +spite of the sufferings which racked him. During the year preceding his +death, while he was already experiencing frightful tortures, he painted +_The Woman making Lye_ and _The Little Chimney-sweep_, the latter of +which is here reproduced. This admirable canvas is to be seen now at the +studio of the painter's brother at Neuilly, and forms part of the legacy +which M. Emile Bastien-Lepage intends to bequeath to the Louvre. It has +never been shown at any Salon, and for that matter there are a good many +other paintings and portraits which have never been exhibited in public +and which are not for that reason any the less remarkable. We may cite +at random: _The Portrait of M. E. Bastien-Lepage_, _The Prince of +Wales_, _Mme. Juliette Drouet_, _A Little Girl going to School_, _The +Little Pedler asleep_, _The Vintage_, _No Help! The Thames at London, +etc._ + +The very year of his death, shortly before his departure for Algeria, +Bastien-Lepage executed a delicious little canvas entitled _The Forge_, +in which the artist expended a surprising amount of talent and skill, +and which enables us to realize what extraordinary heights his ever +progressive genius might have attained, but for the blind and brutal +cruelty of Destiny. + +His death was a time of mourning for the arts; the regrets which he left +behind him were unanimous. Even those who had been opposed to his +aesthetic creed paid homage to his great conscientiousness as an artist +and his noble character as a man. + +During March and April, 1885, only a few months after his death, all +literary and artistic Paris flocked to the Hotel de Chimay, an adjunct +to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, where a posthumous exhibition of his works +had been organized. + +At this exhibition the entire body of his works had been brought +together. The museums had loaned the canvases which they possessed and +the private collectors had done their share towards the glorification of +the artist by entrusting to the organizers a goodly number of paintings +and portraits which had never figured in any of the Salons. + +Thus it was made possible to comprehend at a single glance the life-work +of this remarkable artist and to appreciate the distance he had +traversed, the progress he had made during his brief existence, and the +brilliant prospects that were destroyed by his untimely death. + +From all these numerous works, exhibited side by side, what stood out +most clearly was the unity of thought which had conceived them and the +dogged fidelity to principles which had controlled their execution. At +the same time they revealed the amazing adaptability of his talent, +which essayed the most diverse and conflicting subjects with the same +realistic vigour, bestowing even upon his vaporous and delicate +portraits of women a touch which, while light, is unmistakably his own, +and in which we recognize that noble, conscientious workmanship, free +from all artifice, which was the distinctive hall-mark both of his +painting and of his character. + +But the quality which dominates all the rest in the work of +Bastien-Lepage, and which emanates from it like the fragrance which is +exhaled by certain precious essences, is his ardent and deep-rooted love +for his native soil. This form of local patriotism, determined by the +boundaries of Lorraine, underwent a noble expansion to the point of +encircling the entire earth; for while the painter chose his models out +of the familiar landscape of his childhood's home, his observation and +his art broke out of the bounds of this special setting and embraced +rustic humanity throughout France and even beyond. His peasants are +unmistakably from the banks of the Meuse in type and in customs, but +they are from the world at large in gesture and in philosophy of life. +Whether he comes from the North or from the South, the tiller of the +soil wages the same conflict with ungrateful furrows, the spade and the +plough imprint the same calluses on his bony hands, the sun browns his +energetic and stubborn features to the same deep tan. It is in this +respect that the art of Bastien-Lepage assumes a higher significance; +like Millet, it is not a peasant whom he paints, but the peasant, +forever unchanging in spite of latitude. But if his work has attained +this higher eminence of generalization, it is precisely for the reason +that the artist's watchful eye has succeeded in discovering, in the life +of the peasantry, that state of mind which is common to them all, that +immutable gesture which they have always made and always will make. He +has understood and translated with inspired eloquence their rugged +strength, their naive awkwardness, their simple intelligence. + +Another glorious distinction of Bastien-Lepage was that he loved the +fields as well as he loved the peasants. Not fields drowned beneath +melancholy shadow and pallid shifting light, but fields bathed in +sunshine, until the golden tassels of the grain crackle like sparks +under the fire of the midday sun. Always and everywhere he sought for +light, and in the midst of it his modest protagonists of rustic life +stand out in all their vigour. + +It would be easy to cite, among our best contemporary painters, a +considerable number of artists who are brilliantly continuing the +tradition left by Bastien-Lepage and emulating his predilection for the +luminous brilliance of the open air. How often, in the presence of a +canvas by Lhermitte, our thoughts go back to the painter of Lorraine, +whose vigorous execution and joyous colouring seem to have been +reincarnated! Art is indebted to Bastien-Lepage for having reinstated +nature in all her literal truth by proving that, in order to be +beautiful, she has no need of artificial and superfluous adornment. + +Lorraine, out of gratitude, wished to perpetuate the memory of this +glorious son of the Meuse, who had so eloquently celebrated the vitality +and poetry of his natal earth. It was at Damvillers itself that it was +decided to raise a monument to the great painter; and around its +pedestal there were gathered the "good little mother," all in tears, the +assembled population of the village and the whole region round about, +and even the Government took part in the pious ceremony by sending as +its representative M. Gustave Larroumet, director of the Beaux-Arts. +This eloquent art critic brought as a tribute to the departed painter +the official seal of immortality, and he pronounced it in terms vibrant +with emotion. + +"At the moment," he said, "when ordinarily the best of artists have done +no more than to give indications of their originality and when ripening +years alone begin to keep the promises of youth, Jules Bastien-Lepage +died, leaving masterpieces behind him, besides having liberated an +artistic formula from the tendencies and exaggerations which hampered +it, and indicated to the art of painting a new pathway along which his +young heirs are advancing with an assured step. He loved nature and +truth; he loved his own people, and no one ever lived who was surrounded +with a greater degree of affection; he inspired faithful friendships +which he himself enjoyed to the full; and those whom he left behind +soothe their heart-ache with the balm of tender memories; he practised +his art without ever making sacrifice to passing fashion or sordid +profit; there was no place in his mind or in his heart for any other +than noble and generous thoughts. Let us comfort ourselves, therefore, +for what his death has taken from us by the thought of what his life has +left to us, and let us assign him his place in the ranks of the younger +master painters who have been mown down in full flower, close beside +that of Gericault and of Henri Regnault." + +In his admirable biographic and critical study of Bastien-Lepage, whose +personal friend he had been, M. L. de Fourcaud, by way of conclusion, +bids him this touching farewell: + +"Poor Bastien-Lepage, snatched away one winter's night, at thirty-six +years of age, in the fairest flowering of his bright promise, in the +richest expansion of his personality; may each returning month of May +bring at least an abundance of blossoms to the apple tree beside his +grave! For the blossoms of the apple were always, in his eyes, so fair a +sight!" + +To-day he sleeps forever in a corner of that Lorraine land which he +loved so dearly, and perhaps in the cemetery of his native village his +shade can still hear the familiar accents of his native dialect. The +great painter of Lorraine could never have slept his eternal sleep in +any other soil than that. + +Painter of flowers, painter of nature, painter of the earth which is +forever deathless and forever renewed, Bastien-Lepage has chosen that +better part; his work will live as long as these, his models, and will +go down through the centuries in all the splendour of increasing beauty +and eternal youth. + + +Transcriber's Note: Typographical errors have been corrected as +follows: + +Page 22: "Bastine" replaced with "Bastien" + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bastien Lepage, by Fr. 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