Part 3

She married a man who was a picture dealer and who, although she had not known it, was a reckless gambler. She was obliged to give him most of the money she earned to pay his debts. After a time she left him, taking her lovely little daughter with her. She had a studio of her own where she could work, and entertain her friends, and there she lived and worked very happily with her little daughter.

One evening Madame Lebrun went to the theater and when the curtain went up, there on a large easel on the stage was one of her paintings. When the people saw it they all stood up and waved and cheered while they looked toward the artist, who was seated in a box. Madame Lebrun was so surprised she almost forgot to smile and bow to them.

The king and queen sent for her to come and paint their portraits. Day after day the royal carriage would come to take her to the palace to paint the queen, Marie Antoinette, and her children. Those were happy days for her.

A very short time after this picture was painted the dreadful French Revolution broke out. The poor people of France, who had been treated very badly by the rich, rebelled and tried to kill or drive away all the rich people. Madame Lebrun had always been friends with the rich people, so it was not safe for her to stay in Paris, either.

One evening she dressed her little daughter in a ragged dress and bonnet to make her look like a poor peasant child. She herself wore an old dress, with a handkerchief over her head to hide her face like a veil. They slipped quietly out of the house and into an omnibus that was waiting for them and drove as quickly as possible through the crowded streets, out of the city. No one recognized them, and they went to Italy, where they traveled about the country for many years. Mother and daughter were very popular and were entertained royally wherever they went. But Madame Lebrun never laid aside her painting. Even when she was eighty years old she painted a beautiful portrait of her little niece, who must have reminded her of the little daughter in this picture.

=Questions about the artist.= What did Madame Lebrun do when she was a little girl? Who was her teacher? Of whom did she draw a picture to surprise her father? What did he say of it? What did this make her do? Why were her notebooks treasured at the convent? Tell about her stepfather. Tell what happened at the theater. What king and queen sent for her to paint their portraits? Why did she and her daughter leave Paris? How did they escape?

AN OLD MONARCH

=Questions to arouse interest.= Of what is this a picture? Where do you suppose he is? In what countries do lions live wild? How many have seen a lion at the park or circus? Why do they have such strong cages? On what are they fed? On what do lions live in their own country? How many of you have watched trained lions? Why does this lion look so gentle, do you suppose? Notice the size of his eyes and ears.

=Original Picture=: Private Collection, W. H. Vanderbilt, New York. =Artist=: Rosa Bonheur (b[o˔]´nûr´) =Birthplace=: Bordeaux, France. =Dates=: Born, 1822; died, 1899.

=The story of the picture.= After Rosa Bonheur had painted horses, cows, and other tame animals a great many times, she began to want to paint wild animals, such as tigers and bears. She could not go to the far-away countries where they live, so she bought a lion and lioness from a man who had been there. These she kept in a very strong cage of heavy iron bars. Here she came to watch them every day.

This is one of the pictures she painted of the lion. She called him “Nero,” and was so kind to him that after a while he became quite tame. The lioness was always wild, but good old Nero soon became so gentle that Rosa Bonheur could pet him and even go into his cage.

How wise he looks! He seems to know the great artist is painting his picture. No doubt he could tell us wonderful stories of the country he came from. He could tell us of the big cave in the great rock where he lived, and of that pool of water where he drank. Then he could tell us of the tall, sweet-smelling grasses and rushes in the jungles where he could hide from his enemies and surprise them, and how he walked about the marshes on dark nights; for he can see at night as well as in the daytime.

One day Rosa Bonheur had to go away on a long journey. She did not know just what to do with the lions, but finally sent them to the park, where a man took good care of them. Nero did nothing but walk back and forth in his cage all day long while his mistress was away. He refused to eat anything the man gave him, and by the time Rosa Bonheur returned home the lion was very sick. As soon as he saw her he showed how pleased he was. She spent many days taking care of him, and finally Nero was well again. He never wanted any one else to come near him.

A few months later, Rosa Bonheur had to go away again. She was very much worried about leaving Nero, but finally she found a man with whom she was not afraid to trust him. As soon as she was gone, however, gentle old Nero became very cross and ugly. He growled at the keeper, and tried to hurt him.

One day the keeper had to go into the cage to fix something. With a fierce growl Nero sprang at him and tried to kill him. In the struggle the lion was badly hurt. When Rosa Bonheur came home she found Nero very sick and going blind. No one dared to go near his cage, but as soon as he heard her voice he was the old faithful Nero again. When Rosa went into his cage he put his great head in her lap and seemed happy to have her pet him. Every one was surprised to see how much he loved her. Rosa Bonheur did everything for him she could, hoping her pet would get well again, but a few days later he died, his head in her lap.

Rosa missed her pet very much, and after that she never cared to own another lion. She gave the lioness to the city to keep in the park. She was very glad she had painted so many good pictures of Nero, for it made her feel as if she still had her pet with her.

=Questions to help the pupil understand the picture.= Whose lion was this? How did she get him? Why did she want a lion? How many did she have? How did the lioness behave? What was this lion’s name? How tame was he? Whom did he like best? What happened when Rosa Bonheur went away on a journey? Who took care of the lions? What did Nero do? How did he act when Rosa Bonheur came back? What did she do? What happened the second time she went away? upon her return? Why did Rosa Bonheur not care to have another lion? Why was she glad she had painted this picture?

=To the Teacher=: The children may draw a picture of a lion. Use manila paper and charcoal. Call attention to the large, bushy head, cat-like body, and long, waving tail.

=The story of the artist.= Rosa Bonheur’s father was an artist, and when any one asked her who taught her to draw, she always said, “My father taught me.” Her mother could play the piano very well indeed, but Rosa did not care so much for that study. When Rosa was sent to school she had to walk some distance through the woods to the schoolhouse. Sometimes she would stop and smooth the dust in the road with her hand, and then draw pictures in it. She used a stick to draw with. Even then she liked to draw pictures of animals best of all. Often she had such good times drawing that she even forgot to go to school.

Her father thought he could make a better living in Paris, so the family moved to that great city. The first place they lived was up several flights of stairs and across the street from a butcher’s shop. This shop had for a sign a wild boar rudely carved out of wood. Rosa missed her old pets so much, and this wild boar looked so much like her little pet pig in the country, that she used to stop to pat the wooden boar every time she passed that way.

A man who lived in the same house with the Bonheur family kept a small school for boys. Rosa’s two brothers went to this school, and after a while the teacher said Rosa might go too. She was the only girl in the school, but she did not mind that at all. The boys were glad to have her with them, for she knew more games than they and played just like one of them.

Her father did not do so well with his painting as he had hoped, so they moved into a cheaper house. It was here that Rosa’s mother died. The little sister, Juliette, was then sent to her grandmother, and Rosa went to live with an aunt. The aunt sent her to school, and it was at this time that she used to stop on the way to the schoolhouse to draw pictures in the dust on the road. So she did not get along very well with her aunt and the teacher and was delighted when her father told her she might come home.

All the children loved animals, and there are a great many stories told about those that were kept in their house. Rosa’s brother Isidore had a little lamb which he would carry down six nights of stairs every morning, so that it might nibble the green grass and be out in the fresh air. It became a great pet, and all the children drew its picture in ever so many different positions. Besides the lamb, they had a parrot, a monkey, two dogs, rabbits, and birds. Their father let the children keep these pets in a room fitted up especially for them.

Rosa’s father was teaching in a private school at this time, and was away from home all day; but when he came home at night Rosa would show him what she had been doing while he was gone. Once she had been painting cherries, and her father came in while she was working on them. He praised her very much, and helped her finish the painting.

In the evening Rosa and her two brothers and her father used to put their easels in different parts of the big room and draw and paint until it was quite late. They would all much rather do this than anything else in the world, and it was the only time their father had in which to help them.

The father belonged to a religious order called the “Saint Simonians.” The members wore queer gowns and bonnets with long tassels. Rosa wore such a bonnet with a big tassel, and sometimes the boys would shout and laugh at her, but she paid no attention to that.

Later the father got a position in another private school, earning enough to send his three children there as pupils and to give them everything they needed at home.

Rosa did not behave very well in school. She liked to cut queer figures out of paper, figures that looked like some of the teachers or pupils. Then she would fasten them to a string, put some moist bread on the other end, and throw it up to the ceiling of the schoolroom. The bread would stick to the ceiling and there those dreadful figures must dangle until some one came with a ladder and took them down. She was punished very often, and sometimes to make her behave she was given nothing to eat but bread and water.

Although she did such things every one liked her, for she was good-hearted and kind and full of fun. But finally she did something that could not be overlooked. This is what she did. The lady who kept the school was very fond of flowers, and above all she loved the stately hollyhock. She had a beautiful bed of hollyhocks in the front yard of the school that was very much admired by all who passed.

One day when Rosa had been reading in her school history about a war, she thought it would be fine fun to arrange a great battle in the yard between the girls. They used wooden sticks for swords. Very soon Rosa’s side drove their enemies toward the hollyhock bed, where they turned and fled. Seeing the hollyhocks standing guard like soldiers, Rosa thought it would be fun to charge upon them, which she did, cutting off all their heads. Is it any wonder she was sent home in disgrace?

Her father then sent her to a dressmaker to see if she could learn that trade, but Rosa did not like dressmaking, and finally went home without having learned very much. Then some friends gave her some photographs to color, and this she liked to do.

Next Rosa was asked to teach drawing to a girl who was some years younger than herself. This girl lived in a beautiful home which had a large gallery full of fine pictures. The floor of this gallery was waxed, and after Rosa had looked at the pictures the two amused themselves by sliding on the waxed floor until it was time for Rosa to go home. So her father had to give up all idea of making her a teacher. He knew that the only thing to do was to let her paint, for that she loved to do and could do well.

Rosa was willing to walk miles in all kinds of weather, to sit hours in all kinds of uncomfortable positions, and to go without food, in order to draw a good picture of some animal. Now she began her study of animals in earnest. She went to all the country horse fairs, to the slaughter houses, and everywhere she could to study them.

Rosa never had very pretty clothes. She tells us herself that one day a parrot called after her, “Ha, ha! That hat!” Now that she was grown up she found she could not get about very easily in her long skirts. There were so many rough men in the packing houses and other places she must go to study that she got a permit to wear men’s clothing. Her hair was short anyway, and so with her blue working blouse and dark trousers she looked just like a man. Then no one noticed her as she went about, for they thought her only one of the workmen.

Her pictures became famous the world over. The first she exhibited was one of some little rabbits nibbling carrots. From all over the country she received gifts of fine horses and other animals for her to paint. Buffalo Bill once sent her two fine horses from Texas. She bought a farm, and had a large barn built where she could keep her animals. How proud her father was of her!

One day as she was working hard in her studio a servant came to tell her that the Empress Eugénie had come to see her. It was a great event when this royal lady came to the artist’s studio, and there was Rosa dressed in her old blue blouse covered with paint! She did not have time to slip it off, even, before the empress came in. They had a most delightful visit, however, and as the Empress Eugénie bent over and kissed Rosa Bonheur, she pinned the Cross of the Legion of Honor on the artist’s blue blouse. Rosa did not notice it until after the empress was gone. How pleased she must have been, for she was the first woman to receive that high honor.

=Questions about the artist.= Who painted this picture? In what country did she live? Who taught her to paint? What did her father do for a living? What could her mother do? Why was Rosa sometimes late to school? Where did they move? What kind of a house did they live in? Tell about the wild boar; the school for boys. Why did they move again? What happened here? Where were the children sent? Why did Rosa want to come back? Tell about Isidore and the lamb. What other pets did the children have? Where did they keep them? What did Rosa do while her father was away? What did they all like to do in the evening? Tell about the Saint Simon cap Rosa sometimes wore. How did she behave in school? What did she do that made them send her away? What trade did her father want her to learn? How did she succeed at this? What did she like to do? What kind of a teacher was Rosa? Where did she go to study animals? When she was older, why did she wear men’s clothes? What were some of the presents she received? Tell about the visit of Empress Eugénie. What did the empress give Rosa? Why was this such a great honor?

PENELOPE BOOTHBY OR THE MOB CAP

=Questions to arouse interest.= Where do you think this little girl is sitting? Does she look as if she were sitting still or moving? Do you think she is happy, sad, full of fun, or mischievous? What has she on her head? How is her hair combed? How is she dressed? What has she on her hands? In what way is she different from the little girls we know? What can you see behind her? How many like this picture? why?

=Original Picture=: Mrs. Thwaite’s Private Collection. =Artist=: Sir Joshua Reynolds (rĕn´ŭldz). =Birthplace=: Plympton, England. _Dates_: Born, 1723; died, 1792.

=The story of the picture.= This quaint little Penelope Boothby, sitting so prim with her queer cap and black silk mitts, looks as if she knows a secret that pleases her very much. Perhaps that dress she is wearing is long, and she is pretending she is some great lady who has just come to call upon the artist, Sir Joshua Reynolds. It must have been fun to walk about his great yard, with her long dress sweeping over the soft green grass. It looks as if the artist had lifted her into the window of his studio, and painted her as she sat there. The half mischievous look on her face makes us think she will jump down and run out among the trees at any moment. We wonder what makes her look so pleased.

Perhaps Sir Joshua Reynolds is telling her a story—maybe the one about his father. He lived in the country and one day decided to go to town on horseback. It had rained very hard, and the roads were muddy, so he wore high-topped boots. These boots were a little large for him, and as he rode along, swinging his feet, for he was riding bareback, one of his boots fell off. He was thinking of other things, and did not miss his boot until he rode into town and wanted to go into the store. Imagine how he must have felt when he discovered his loss.

“One boot on and one boot off, How the neighbors laugh and scoff; Such an absent-minded man Ne’er was seen since the world began.”

Or perhaps Sir Joshua was telling her about his friend, the sea captain named Admiral Keppel, with whom he took that wonderful trip across the sea.

But best of all she would like to hear the story of that strange little Italian boy he met in Rome. One day a little fellow had offered to be Sir Joshua Reynolds’s guide about the great city. He was so small, ragged, and dirty that Sir Joshua gave him some money and told him to run away. But the little fellow smiled happily, showing all his white teeth; his dark eyes fairly danced, he was so eager to show the artist what a good guide he could be. All that day he followed Sir Joshua, and as he had lived in Rome all his life, he knew all about the city and could tell the great painter many interesting things.

The next morning Sir Joshua found the boy sitting on his doorstep waiting for him. He let the little fellow carry his paints and brushes, and off they started. And so it happened every day, until finally one day Sir Joshua gave the boy an easel, and some paints and brushes, and taught him how to paint. And oh, how pleased the little boy was then! He had a very strange name. It was Giuseppe Marchi. After he had been with Sir Joshua Reynolds a week you would hardly have recognized the boy, dressed in a fine new suit of clothes the artist had bought for him, and painting pictures which were very good indeed.

Then the time came for Sir Joshua to start for home; but Giuseppe Marchi was not to be left behind. At that time Sir Joshua was not a very wealthy man, and when they were still three hundred miles from Paris he counted his money and found he had only enough to pay his own fare; so he had to say good-by to poor Giuseppe Marchi. In Paris, Sir Joshua had a good friend with whom he could stay. Imagine his surprise one morning to find Giuseppe Marchi sitting on the doorstep of this friend’s house! The boy had walked all those miles, and had at last found his dear master. So then of course Sir Joshua brought him on home with him.

Perhaps, just when Sir Joshua was telling Penelope this part of the story, Giuseppe Marchi himself came into the room, for he lived with the artist all the rest of his life, and helped him paint part of his pictures, too. Sir Joshua Reynolds spoke of him as “an angel sent from God to help me do my work.”

When the artist painted this picture little girls must have worn caps like this, for we see them in some of his other pictures, too. They were called “mob caps.”

Nearly a hundred years after this picture was painted a great party was given in London for the children. All were to wear fancy dresses to represent some person of whom the rest should guess the identity. One little girl dressed as “Penelope Boothby.” She had a cap just like this one, a handkerchief worn like this, and a pair of black silk mitts. Every one knew at once whom she represented, and she was so much admired that the next day she was taken to another great artist, Millais. He painted a beautiful picture of the little girl holding some cherries in her hands, and called his picture “Cherry Ripe.”

=Questions to help the pupil understand the picture.= What is this little girl’s name? What do you suppose she has been playing? Where is she sitting? why? What stories could Sir Joshua Reynolds tell her? Tell the story of his father and the high-topped boots; of the little Italian boy. Why did Sir Joshua send the boy away at first? What did the boy do for Sir Joshua? What happened the next morning? What did they do every day after that? What did Sir Joshua teach the boy to do? What made the boy look so different after a week? When Sir Joshua started home, what did the boy do? Why could he not go all the way? How did he manage to follow the artist? What did Sir Joshua do for the boy then? Where was the boy when Sir Joshua Reynolds was telling this story? How did the artist often speak of this Italian boy? Why do you think Penelope Boothby would like to hear this story? Does she look as if she were listening, or talking? Why do you think you would like to know her?

=To the Teacher=: Ask a little girl to pose as Penelope Boothby. She may be seated upon a table and drawn side view. Other pictures may be drawn illustrating the story of a little girl dressed in a long dress and walking proudly among the trees; or of the artist and his little Italian guide. Use manila paper and charcoal. Work for action.

=The story of the artist.= When Sir Joshua Reynolds was a little boy it was decided that he should become a doctor. His father and mother set their hearts upon it, and resolved to help him in every way. Though he loved to draw, it did not seem then as if he would ever become an artist, for his five brothers and sisters could all draw better than he. The children used so much paper and so many pencils that finally the father told them they might draw upon the whitewashed walls in the hall of their house. They used burnt sticks for pencils. It must have been quite as much fun as to draw with white chalk on the blackboard.

Little Joshua’s drawings were so funny that the older children always laughed when they saw them and called him the clown. But he did not care; he just kept on drawing until one day he drew a picture which was really very good. It was of their schoolhouse and he drew it with a pencil on paper. It was so well drawn that every one praised it, and he was very proud indeed. He was only seven years old, and this praise pleased him so much that he kept thinking of it all the time. That day at school he covered his number paper with drawings of things about the room. His father taught the school, and you can imagine how he felt when his son handed in a paper which he could not read because of the drawings all over it. He began to fear Joshua would never make a good doctor or business man, so he wrote at the top of the paper, “Done by Joshua out of pure idleness.”