Studio: international art (69.1916)

Studio- Talk

ROME.—It would be difficult to imagine the pensionnaires who have been called up or

anything more sublime, more remote military service are deserted. The painter Albert

from the fury of war than the Villa Besnard dwells there now with his family in mourn-

Medici. All artists know the old ing (his eldest son was killed in action early in the

palace with its garb of rose and yellow and its war), and surrounded by a circle of friends and

two towers dominating the Eternal City, its sweet visitors, among whom the daily communiques are

fountain beneath the green oaks at the entrance, eagerly discussed, he works without ceasing. In

and its sumptu- the studio may

ous salons hung be seen three

But" the ' incom- ••Jfc; nunzio, and one
parable glory of * " '-'^^1^9^ "' ,j of Cardinal
the Villa is to be . 1 Mercier. All are
found in its gar- worthy of re-
dens, wonderful A wjtBk i m mark, but it is
among all the fjl^HKf 1 ^^^^H -*Wlh ^ the last that
wonders of lj» W JiH claims attention
Rome, with their P^iiifcl^ here.

and its \ enera .)le ^ a ^ ^w a s

the ^^^H^H^^^^H^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^M deeply

hour, when the portrait of cardinal mercier by albert besnard and his brush

declining sun enabled him to

illuminates with unrivalled splendour the Roman express his emotion with more eloquence than any.

panorama. Not a sound is heard save the bell of a He desired to paint a portrait of Mgr. Mercier which

neighbouring church ; nowhere is the serenity of should be at once an act of admiration and of faith,

peace evoked as here. Entirely unfettered in his inspiration, he composed

- the picture we see here. In the centre stands the

And yet the war is not far off, for it is the Cardinal ; on the right through an open window

constant preoccupation of all. The ateliers of may be seen the flames encircling a Gothic edifice,
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