. Jules Bastien-Lepage and his art. A memoir. n her lips, the smileleft by her last song; in her eyes, tears ! Supportedonly by a branch, she is slipping unawares; the streamis quite close to her. In a moment she will be in is dressed in a little greenish blue bodice, anda white skirt with large folds ; her pockets are fullof flowers, and behind her is a river-side bank under trees, with tall flowering grasses,and thousands of hemlock flowers, like stars in thesky; and in the higher part of the picture, a woodedslope ; and the evening sun shining through birchesand hazel b


. Jules Bastien-Lepage and his art. A memoir. n her lips, the smileleft by her last song; in her eyes, tears ! Supportedonly by a branch, she is slipping unawares; the streamis quite close to her. In a moment she will be in is dressed in a little greenish blue bodice, anda white skirt with large folds ; her pockets are fullof flowers, and behind her is a river-side bank under trees, with tall flowering grasses,and thousands of hemlock flowers, like stars in thesky; and in the higher part of the picture, a woodedslope ; and the evening sun shining through birchesand hazel bushes; that is the scene . . This picture was never finished. The landscapeand flowers were rendered as the artist wished, butthe face and the costume of Ophelia recalled hisJeanne dArc too much. Bastien-Lepage no doubt saw this, and for thisreason put the picture on one side to return to his )H;ls;ll)tS. The more he become master of his brush, themore the rustic work haunted him. He was still athorough countryman. Although he had now at. The 13Et;<;.u:.By Jules JBastien-Lepage. AS MAX AND ARTIST. 63 intervals the refinements of elegance and little burstsof worldliness; although he had exchanged themodest atelier in the Impasse du Maine for a housein the Quartier Monceau, the world soon wearied liim,and be was glad to go back to his village. This six weeks absence, of which he speaks in hisletter to his friend Baude, was spent in an excursionto Venice, and in Switzerland. He came back onlyhalf delighted, and brought back only a few unim-portant sketches. Italy and the splendours of Venetian art had leftliim cold. In this world of history and mythology hewas not at borne He sickened for his meadows andbis Meusian forests. During his rapid visits to Paris in 1881 and 1882,the painting of various portraits, notably that ofMadame Juliette Drouet, and the compulsory tax ofvisits and soirees occupied him almost entirely. Wesaw but little of him. But these successes, and theadulati


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Keywords: ., bookauthortheuriet, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookyear1892