DOI Heft:
No. 82 (December, 1903)
DOI Artikel:Scott, W.: Reminiscences of Whistler continued: some Venice recollections
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26230#0123
273 ^773r<7
no one would buy, but everyone told him he must
Und some " rieh foreigner." The poor man
gradually iost his head over his supposed treasure.
He spent all his spare cash, and much more than
he could afford, in giving drinks to the various
guides, and trying to induce them to procure him
this rieh foreigner. He plagued the authorities at
the Accademia, as well as all the antiquaries and
art dealers in the place, and with every fresh exhibi-
tion of the object his pretensions increased. I saw
him again some years later, still with his embroidery
on the brain, and though perfectly sane on every
other point, he solemnly assured me that he would
certainly not take less than 100,000 francs, but that
the embroidery was worth at least twice that sum.
We used to have some curious experiences with
the earliest nocturnes, done from the gondola in
the mysterious waterways of Venice, but I think
that Whistler's favourite subject was the well-known
view of the by moonlight from the iron
bridge. After due study and committal to memory
in the way so well indicated by Mr. Menpes, the
great event came off, but I don't know what
became of the picture.
His generosity to his dependants was sonretimes
marked, if spasmodic, and I remember his advanc-
ing a considerable sum, which of course became
practically a free gift, to " Beppi," his gondolier, to
help him in procuring a better boat. Whistler had
no sooner left Venice, however, than the old boat
appeared again, and did Service for years.
I might well conclude with the last words of
Mr. Mortimer Menpes' sympathetic article, with
one slight exception. I appreciated, perhaps as
well as any of his more enthusiastic followers,
Whistler's very exceptional gifts, and learned
much, very much indeed, from association with
him; but my admiration never wandered out of
bounds, and—perhaps for that very reason—
our friendship, intimate and cordial, was never
interrupted by even a momentary cloud. To me,
the vanity and self-assertion of an otherwise splendid
character, were not less serious defects because
his friends could afford to ignore or laugh at
them, in view of the counter-balancing and un-
usual merits. His critics and enemies, or the
more intelligent of them, have already understood
and frankly acknowledged that he was neither the
ignoramus nor the charlatan they once pretended ;
and when in time a calmer judgment shall be
possible, even his whilorn worshippers will pro-
bably be willing to admit that he was not the little
god they fancied. His genius will not suffer,
nor be marked at less than its real value, when
it has had time to emerge clear and bright
from the clouds of an unreasoning adulation.
What was imperfect in him has gone, while the
record of his sterling and noble worth remains;
"AN INTERIOR
BY J. McNEILL WHISTLER
102
no one would buy, but everyone told him he must
Und some " rieh foreigner." The poor man
gradually iost his head over his supposed treasure.
He spent all his spare cash, and much more than
he could afford, in giving drinks to the various
guides, and trying to induce them to procure him
this rieh foreigner. He plagued the authorities at
the Accademia, as well as all the antiquaries and
art dealers in the place, and with every fresh exhibi-
tion of the object his pretensions increased. I saw
him again some years later, still with his embroidery
on the brain, and though perfectly sane on every
other point, he solemnly assured me that he would
certainly not take less than 100,000 francs, but that
the embroidery was worth at least twice that sum.
We used to have some curious experiences with
the earliest nocturnes, done from the gondola in
the mysterious waterways of Venice, but I think
that Whistler's favourite subject was the well-known
view of the by moonlight from the iron
bridge. After due study and committal to memory
in the way so well indicated by Mr. Menpes, the
great event came off, but I don't know what
became of the picture.
His generosity to his dependants was sonretimes
marked, if spasmodic, and I remember his advanc-
ing a considerable sum, which of course became
practically a free gift, to " Beppi," his gondolier, to
help him in procuring a better boat. Whistler had
no sooner left Venice, however, than the old boat
appeared again, and did Service for years.
I might well conclude with the last words of
Mr. Mortimer Menpes' sympathetic article, with
one slight exception. I appreciated, perhaps as
well as any of his more enthusiastic followers,
Whistler's very exceptional gifts, and learned
much, very much indeed, from association with
him; but my admiration never wandered out of
bounds, and—perhaps for that very reason—
our friendship, intimate and cordial, was never
interrupted by even a momentary cloud. To me,
the vanity and self-assertion of an otherwise splendid
character, were not less serious defects because
his friends could afford to ignore or laugh at
them, in view of the counter-balancing and un-
usual merits. His critics and enemies, or the
more intelligent of them, have already understood
and frankly acknowledged that he was neither the
ignoramus nor the charlatan they once pretended ;
and when in time a calmer judgment shall be
possible, even his whilorn worshippers will pro-
bably be willing to admit that he was not the little
god they fancied. His genius will not suffer,
nor be marked at less than its real value, when
it has had time to emerge clear and bright
from the clouds of an unreasoning adulation.
What was imperfect in him has gone, while the
record of his sterling and noble worth remains;
"AN INTERIOR
BY J. McNEILL WHISTLER
102