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Show FAMOUS PAINTERS WHO HAVE STARVED, i Story of Nineteenth Century Masters One of Suffering. Again and again I nn asked by peo-1 pie 1io "know nothing about art, but1 know what they like," what there Is to admire In the pictures of A'an Gogh,; two of which have just been acquired, for the British nation. I only run the risk of being laughed; at if I say that Van Gogh did not paint' a mere chair, but the soul of the chair,; and that it Is Impossible to explain It to those who do not feel the passion; with which that wonderful Dutchman realized his conception of the real nature na-ture of Inanimate objects as well as of living beings. The wonder to me is not that there are people willing to pay $15,000 and more for one of Van Gogh's pictures, hut that this practical recognition of his greatness was delayed until after his death, and that he was allowed to spend his life on earth in sordid poverty pov-erty and neglect and on the verge of starvation. But such is the story of the masters of the Nineteenth century, and more particularly of the impressionists and their immediate precursors, Jean Francois Fran-cois Millet, the painter of the world-famed world-famed "Angelas," s a notable Instance. In-stance. One of Ids biographers tells us that "his days were darkened by adversity and hope deferred, the gaunt specter of Want hovered ever about, his home and was only driven from his threshold by almost superhuman efforts, while sickness and suffering were never long absent from his pillow." pil-low." Even more tragic than the story of Millet's life is that of Meryon's and Monticelli's. Meryon's whole career was a heartening struggle against adversity, ad-versity, ending In starvation and madness. mad-ness. When be had completed his wonderful won-derful Paris set of etchings he vainly tried to find purchasers for It at $5 the set. In 1010 an Impression of one of the plates, "L'Abside de Notre Dame," sold for $3,200, and $1,000 Is about the average price paid by collectors col-lectors for a single Impression of u plate from the Paris set. Monticelll "lived in such poverty that he had to go round the cafes of Marseilles to sell small masterpieces for $2.50, disposing of them only with difficulty even at that price, and died, half-mad, in destitution." London Mall. |