Show STUDENTS 7 A DEALER IW COLORS IN THE LATIN QUARTER OF PARIS many artists evno save arrived owe much to 31 roi nets love of art and benevolence tho popular suppers given in hia little shop if an art student of tho latin quarter knows not M boinet that student is but a humble creature pitifully new to tho republic of painters and who is boinet he has a little shop in an ancient winding street of tho old quarter the ruo dame de champs and r there keeps colors for the accommodation of impecunious painters it is a little shop truly with a bandbox of a salle a manger just behind the minute salon and living rooms above but many a celebrity laid the foundation for bis fame in the pigments cheerily furnished by boinet now 08 good nature and the wholesome reflection of his benevolence from tho fancies of a thousand friends have kept thia marchand de connours ours to tho appearance of 40 his remarked ah ho says with a twinkle of his kindly blue eyes it keeps one in good color to deal in good colors As he deals only in the best of colors those fit for the making of masterpieces it is quite in keeping that he should have the rosy freshness that reddish hair and mustache complement and which seem to belong only to the glow of vigor still in flower having had twos coro years of experience peri ence in the trade that is so closely akin to art boinet has more the character of an artist than of a tradesman and a glance around tho walls of his costly establishment betrays who are his friends among those who have arrived here are pieces by bataille Da taille by bonnat by jean paul laurens by oa rolus duran by geri by chretien by paul by whose little pieces have sold for as much as and francs each since his death the original of frago bards nards la Balanco ire evidences enough of Foin intimate relations with artists who famous afterward have been indebted to tho man of colors for many a sustaining kindness A veritable patron maecenas of points it is necessary that boinet bo well to do and well to do he is and with tho means to gratify his benevolence he has also the taste to minister comfort to the refined appetite Foi nets little suppers in the shop are as celebrated as boinet himself and to be bidden to one of them is a mark of distinction an honor ijo ambitious youth covets a courtesy the most successful esteems the suppers are served in the shop and wines of choice vintage served in bottles crusted with cellar mold are eo liberally dispensed that sobriety at the end of the evening is accounted an insult to the host bacchus is tho presiding deity ever and when his votaries vot aries revolve into tho salon where coffee is poured it is not permitted that ono of thena he able perfectly to declare how many candles are burning yet woo to tho culprit who has BO weak a head that he riots in his cups boinet values him and his prospects not a jot men who have it in them to arrive will not elander good wine by playing the fool under it is Foi nets opinion c if a carefully watched young painter suddenly gets well hunag or captured cap turea somewhere a medal the color merchant radiant over the achievement gives ono of those notable sappers in honor of his pro tego and the result ia much tho same as when beau brummel mado a man by taking his arm for a walk in tho mall the supper is the confession of faith Fo ineta intimation that he believes tho painter has to all intents and purposes arrived though he bays one requires 15 years in which really to arrive what a phrase that is 1 how and what a vast force it has in the french world of art and letters 1 hell arrive no higher compliment may bo spoken by master of pupil he has arrived the crown is on his head and BO boinet who has seen so many men arrive and knows by a sort of masterly intuition who is likely to arrive has that superb patience and that unwavering confidence which are necessary to make cither a great genius or a noble creditor lot any student with talent only as a grain of mustard seed and with it honest perseverance go to boinet and the ruby faced patron ill trust him till the light goes out of the moon or floods into the painters atelier indeed boinet is as little in love with a sensitive debtor as he is with a too temperate banqueter bo it understood that more than one art student in the quartier latin would find it impossible to pursue his or her studies wore it not for the philanthropic boinet who gevea them credit month after month for their paints and has the grace of soul not to impose upon them the martyrdom of debt paints are expensive and some students who have barely enough for bread would fare ill for working materials hut for this simple hearted and genuine in the old fashioned street near the luxembourg em bourg that this frank generosity is not ignobly betrayed may be inferred from the fact of the dealers comparative opulence nevertheless he will shake his head in compassionate as he says there are too many students of art who ought to be students of agriculture they could mow landscapes better than they can paint them it is sad to see one quite without talent struggling to succeed in an art that has no pity whatever for mediocrity but and that shrug of the shoulders which is more eloquent and more impressive than a monologue chicago times herald |