A Siren
Page 13
CHAPTER IV
Paolina Foscarelli
The young Marchese Ludovico di Castelmare had in the early part of theevening lounged into the Circolo, as was the habit of most of those ofhis class, seniors as well as juniors; but he had, as had been correctlyreported to his uncle, very shortly left it without saying a word to anyone as to how he intended to dispose of his evening. The MarcheseLudovico flattered himself, as people are apt to flatter themselves insimilar cases, that his absence would be little noted, and that hisreticence would suffice to leave all Ravenna in ignorance as to theerrand on which he was bound when he left the Circolo. So far was thisfrom being the case, however, that there was not one, at all eventsamong the younger men, whom he left behind him, who did not knowperfectly well where he was gone; and that his uncle, when by theunforeseen accident that has been related he was made aware of hisabsence from the club, was at no loss to guess what he had done withhimself.
But in order that the reader may have a like advantage, it will benecessary to mention very briefly, some circumstances which occurredpreviously to the period referred to in the former chapters.
Some months before the time of Signor Ercole Stadione's journey toMilan, a wandering Englishman had arrived at Ravenna, and having spentthree or four days in examining with much interest the wonderful wealthof Mosaics of the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries, still preserved inthe churches of the ancient capital of the Exarchs, had continued hisroute to Venice.
There, in the gallery of the Academia, his attention had been attractedby a female student, who was engaged in copying a canvas of Tintoretto.As it so happened that the traveller was a competent judge of suchmatters, he was struck by the goodness of the work, especially whenconsidered in connection with the appearance of the artist. She wasevidently very young,--a slim, slender girl, whose girlish figure lookedall the more willow-like from the simple plainness, and what seemed tothe Englishman the insufficiency, of her clothing. For the weather,though not so severe as when it had half frozen Signor Ercole Stadione,was already very cold,--cold enough to have depopulated the gallery ofits usual crowd of copying artists. At some distance from the younggirl's easel, sitting in a corner lighted up by a stray ray of sunshine,there was an old woman busily knitting,--probably the girl's mother, orprotectress. And besides those two, and the Englishman, and a loungingattendant wrapped in his cloak, there was no other soul in the gallery.
Yet the young student busily plied her task; nor was she surprised intolooking up by the stopping of the stranger behind her chair. He did notsee her face, therefore; and it would be consequently unfair to imaginethat any portion of the interest he could not help feeling in her was tobe attributed to the ordinary charm of a pretty face, whereas it wasreally due partly to the artistic merit of her copy, partly to herbravery in sticking to her work despite the severity of the season, andpartly to her youth and very apparent poverty.
Suddenly, as he watched the progress of her work slowly growing beneaththe rapid movements of her slender, blue-cold fingers, the idea cameinto his mind that here might be a favourable opportunity of obtainingwhat he had much wished to procure when he had been at Ravenna,--somedrawings of several of the most remarkable of the Mosaics in thechurches of San Vitale and St. Apollinare in Classe. He was quitesatisfied from what he saw that the young artist was competent toexecute the drawings he required. The conscientious determination, whichalone could have made her continue her work under such circumstances,was a guarantee to him that she would do her best. It was not probablethat the expectations of the girl before him as to remuneration would gobeyond such sum as he was willing to pay. And lastly--though truly notleast in that Englishman's mind--it might be that such a proposal wouldbe a very acceptable boon to a poor and meritorious artist. So managingto speak to the attendant, when he was at a far part of the gallery, helearned from him that the girl's name was Paolina Foscarelli; that theold woman was, the officer believed, her aunt; that her name was OrsolaSteno; and that they lived together at No. 8 in the Campo San Donato.
That same evening the stranger desired his servitore di piazza to makeinquiries about Signora Orsola Steno, and her niece, who copied in thegallery; and the next morning he was told that, if he would call uponthe Director of the Gallery, that gentleman would be happy to reply toany inquiries about the Signorina Paolina Foscarelli.
The Englishman waited on the Director forthwith, and from him learnedthat such a commission as he had thought of giving to the young copyistcould not be better bestowed in any point of view. The Director spokehighly of her artistic capabilities, and more highly still of hercharacter and worth. She had been left an orphan, wholly unprovided for,several years ago. Her father had gained his living by copying in thegallery. The old woman, Orsola Steno, with whom she lived, was norelation to her, but had been the dear friend of her mother, and hadtaken the orphan to live with her out of pure charity. They were verypoor,--very poor, indeed. But Paolina was beginning to do something. Shehad already sold one or two copies of small pictures. The larger work,on which she was engaged, she had undertaken by the advice of theDirector, in the hope of disposing of it when the following summershould bring with it the usual incoming tide of travellers.
The result was that the stranger, taking with him a little note from theDirector, went again to the gallery the next day, and finding SignorinaPaolina at her post as usual, then and there made his proposition toher.
He was glad, when in doing so he spoke face to face with the girl, thatthe matter had been settled in his mind before he had seen her. For hewas pleased to be sure that his judgment had not been warped in thematter by the irresistible prejudice in favour of a beautiful girl. Andhad he seen Paolina first, he could have had no such assurance. Intruth, the poor Venetian painter's orphan child was very beautiful. Itis little to the purpose to attempt a detailed description of herbeauty; for such descriptions rarely, if ever, succeed in conveying tothe imagination of a reader any accurate presentation of the picture,which the writer has in his mind's eye. She was dark. Hair, brows, eyes,and complexion, were all dark; and the contour of the face was of thelong or oval type of conformation--very delicate--transparentlydelicate--more so, the Englishman thought, not without a pull at hisheart-strings, than was quite compatible with a due daily supply ofnourishment. Still she did not look unhealthy. At seventeen a good dealof pinching may be undergone without destroying the elastic vigour ofyouth.
But the chief and most striking charm of the beautiful face wasunquestionably imparted to it from the moral and intellectual naturewithin. There was a calm and quiet dignity in the expression of the pureand noble brow, which may often have been seen in women of similarcharacter, and of some twenty-five years of age. But it is rare to findsuch at seventeen. Doubtless the having been left alone in the world atso tender an age, had done much towards producing the expression inquestion. It was added to, moreover, by the singular grace of the girl'sfigure and mode of standing there before the stranger, as she had risenfrom her easel on his presenting her with the Director's note.
She was rather above the middle height, and very slender;--more so, theEnglishman thought again, than she ought to have been. She was verypoorly and even insufficiently clad. But the little bit of quite plainlinen around her slim throat was spotlessly clean; and her poor andtotally unornamented chocolate-coloured stuff dress was in decently tidycondition, and was worn with that nameless and inexplicable grace whichcauses it to be said of similarly gifted women that they may wearanything.
And the stranger was delighted, too, with her manner in accepting hisproposition. Though she made no attempt to conceal, and, indeed, eagerlyexpressed her sense of the value to her of the proposal that was made toher, there was a modest, and at the same time self-respecting, dignityabout her acceptance of it, which was to his mind an earnest of thehighly conscientious manner in which the task would be carried out.
It was therefore settled at once that Paolina, together with her friendand protectress, the Signora Orsola Steno,
should proceed to Ravenna assoon as she could conveniently do so. A list of the works of which shewas required to make copies was given to her. It included, besides thewhole of the very interesting Mosaics in San Vitale, and several of thecurious Mosaic portraits of the early bishops of the city in the churchof St. Apollinare in Classe, two remarkable full-length figures from theancient baptistery, the representation of the Saviour as the "GoodShepherd" in the celebrated mausoleum of the Empress Galla Placidia, andthe portraits of the Apostles in the private chapel of the Cardinal. Ofall these works, exact copies were to be executed on a scale of onesixth the size of the originals; and it was calculated that the workwould require at least fifteen months to do it in. A sufficient sum ofmoney was paid in advance to enable Signora Orsola Steno and her ward tomove to Ravenna, and to begin their residence there; and satisfactoryarrangements were made for subsequent quarterly payments of two-thirdsof the price to be paid for the completed copies.
Besides all this, the English patron provided the young artist with aletter of introduction, which he doubted not would make smooth alldifficulties which might lie in the way of her obtaining the permissionsand facilities necessary for the execution of her task. This letter wasaddressed to the "Illustrissimo Signor il Signor Marchese Lamberto diCastelmare." The English traveller had brought from Rome a letter ofintroduction to the Marchese, and had received from him, during hisshort stay at Ravenna, all that courteous attention and friendlyinterest in his artistic researches which Englishmen are always sure tomeet with in the smaller cities of Italy, even in yet larger measurethan in the larger capitals, where strangers of all sorts are moreabundant.
Thus equipped and provided, Paolina Foscarelli, accompanied by SignoraOrsola Steno, had arrived in Ravenna in the March of the same year, inthe November of which Signor Ercole Stadione had made his journey toMilan.