=Questions to arouse interest.= What does this picture represent? What
is the man doing? What effect does that have upon the wolves? Tell some
of the general traits of a wolf. How many ever saw a tame wolf? Why do
you suppose they have not become domesticated like other animals? On
what is the man playing? Why do you suppose this picture is called “The
Wolf Charmer”? What kind of a picture would you call it—realistic or
imaginative?
=Artist=: John La Farge (lȧ färzh’).
=Birthplace=: New York City, New York.
=Dates=: Born, 1835; died, 1910.
=The story of the picture.= The weird charm of this picture lies in the
strange, elfish sympathy which this man seems to have with the
evil-looking wolves, and is increased by our knowledge of the nature and
disposition of those fierce creatures. We have an instinctive fear of
them. Perhaps this is due to the fact that very little good has ever
been said or written about a wolf.
History tells us that packs of wolves once howled around the city of
Paris all night and even tore people to pieces in the very streets of
the city. Stories are told of travelers pursued by hungry packs of
wolves and tales of horror are brought by the very few who have escaped
with their lives. Legends, fables, myths, and traditions which describe
the savage ferocity of the wolf are numerous. How often we hear the
expressions,—“a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” and “keep the wolf from the
door”!
Such a reputation, coming from so early a date, we may be sure has a
foundation in fact. We have not been taught to fear these animals
without reason. Wolves are among the wildest and fiercest of animals,
and farther removed from human association than any others. Men have
tried again and again to tame them, but have been successful only in
rare instances.
Some authorities argue that the fact that wolves have occasionally been
tamed goes to prove that the wild, ferocious disposition of the wolf is
the result of circumstances. Very rare instances are known in which
these creatures have been captured and tamed, following their masters
like dogs, even making good watch dogs, and learning to bark almost like
a dog. A merchant in Petrograd drove a pair in harness, having trained
them when very young. But then we have the story of the Duke of
Württemberg, who kept a tame wolf in his beautiful Castle of Louisburg.
It had been trained like a dog, and had never been known to attack any
one. But suddenly one day without any provocation whatever it flew at an
officer and bit a piece out of his cheek.
Treachery, caution, and cunning are the qualities usually attributed to
wolves. No one has ever accused them of stupidity, however. On the other
hand, trappers have been amazed and chagrined by the shrewdness
displayed by these animals. When traps have been placed to which a fuse
of gunpowder was attached, they have frequently been known to gnaw the
strings so as to prevent the explosion, and then make away with the
bait, unharmed. Only extreme hunger, however, will ever drive them near
a trap.
Wolves belong to the same family as dogs and look very much like them.
We can see in our picture that they are about the same size as a large
dog, only leaner and more gaunt, and with a wicked expression on their
faces. This expression comes partly from the eyes, which are oblique or
slanting, the pupils round; and partly from the muzzle, which is
somewhat longer than that of most dogs and displays their cruel-looking
teeth. The ears are rather small and are held erect.
Wolves are very powerful and very active, and their claws and teeth are
formidable even to look at. All their senses seem unusually well
developed, so that they can hear, smell, and see an object long before
we could.
They travel with great speed. Hunters tell us of the tireless gallop
with which they pursue their prey. A horse can outrun them, but only
when the distance is not too great.
Wolves are born in dark caverns or in gloomy holes in trees or rocks.
They are of many different kinds and colors—red, black, white, and gray.
They are still to be found in many countries, and chiefly in the
unfrequented and mountainous regions in the northern parts of Europe,
Russia, and North America; but man has almost succeeded in exterminating
them. We usually think and read of wolves in packs, but authorities tell
us that they do not live in communities, and do not go about in groups
or packs unless in search of prey.
Ernest Thompson Seton describes the three calls of the hunting wolf. The
first is “the long-drawn, deep howl, the muster that tells of game
discovered but too strong for the finder to manage alone”; the second
call is higher, “that ringing and swelling is the cry of the pack on a
hot scent”; the last is a sharp bark and short howl, which, “seeming
least of all, is yet a gong of doom, for this is the cry, ‘Close in!
This is the finish.’”
The “Charmer” in this picture does not impress us as a hunter who has
been surrounded by wolves and is now turning his music to account in
making his escape, but rather makes us feel that he has been far within
the wilderness of rocks and woods calling these animals to him with the
music of his bagpipe. He has a sort of wild, wolf-like look himself. One
critic has suggested that he seems to be gnawing the pipes rather than
playing upon them, and that his toes look like the claws of the wolves.
No doubt he sat on one of those great rocks and played in his most
seductive way, until he was quite surrounded by the savage creatures.
Can you not imagine him seated thus, drawing the weird yet sweet notes
from his pipe, as first one pair of shiny eyes peered through the leaves
or around the rocks, then another, and another, until gradually the
creatures surrounded him? That music has charms has never been disputed.
From the earliest history we have read stories of its wonderful subduing
effect upon animals. A familiar quotation is this of Congreve’s:
“Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.”
You will remember in the poem by Robert Browning, _The Pied Piper of
Hamelin_, how the old rat explained why he followed the piper: “At the
first shrill notes.... I heard ... a moving away of pickle-tubboards,
and a leaving ajar of conserve-cupboards.” He smelled the most delicious
old cheese in the world, and saw sugar barrels ahead of him, and then,
just as a great sugar-puncheon seemed to be saying, “Come, bore me,” he
felt the Weser rolling o’er him. Perhaps it is in some such way as this
that the music holds these wolves as they follow the narrow path between
the rocks. Charmed they are no doubt, but not tamed. See how the first
two fellows seem to be keeping step with the man and the music, as they
move with that soft, cautious tread of the wild animal.
With the artist, La Farge, this picture was purely imaginative. He
delighted in all subjects dealing with fairyland or witchcraft.
In this picture we are left to guess what sort of a man this is, and
where he is going. Some critics speak of him as a sort of centaur, only
instead of being half horse and half man, he is half wolf and half man.
However that may be, he is able to control these animals through the
power of music. He seems a strange, wild creature, indeed, and as we
look at the picture it almost seems as if he were leaving the trees and
the companionship of men to go with these wolves to their caves among
the rocks.
The glimpse of the thick woods in the distance is interesting because of
the variety in the arrangement and size of the tree trunks, the spots of
light, and the suggestion of wildness. The picture is made up of curved
lines which help give us the feeling of rhythm and music.
=Questions to help the pupil understand the picture.= What is there
unusual about this picture? Describe it. Describe the wolves. Tell
something of their characteristics; their habits. Why are they feared?
To what extent should you judge this man has tamed them? Where do they
usually live? Where can we find wolves now? Why are they such a terror
to travelers there? In what ways are they stronger than a horse?
Describe the man in the picture.
=To the Teacher=: Fairy tales which may be read in connection with the
study of this picture are “The Pied Piper of Hamelin,” “The Sorceress,”
“The Fisherman and the Genii,” and “The Siren’s Song.”
=Story of the artist.= In reading the life of John La Farge, the artist,
we cannot fail to be interested also in the more adventurous one of his
father before him. For it was in the days of Napoleon the Great that
Jean La Farge, then a young officer under General Leclerc, was sent to
the West Indies to suppress an insurrection in Santo Domingo, Haiti.
Here he was offered the rank of lieutenant if he would remain with the
land forces, and this he decided to do.
Hardly had the small force of men which he commanded reached the shore,
when they were surrounded and captured by the natives. He endured the
agony of looking on while every member of his company was put to death
by slow torture. Expecting every moment that it would be his turn next,
he was quite overcome when told that his life would be spared that he
might teach the rebel leader how to speak and write French. But he was
closely guarded and allowed very little liberty while the rebellion
lasted. Then, although still under guard, he was given more freedom.
Most of the natives were of African blood, or a mixture of Spaniard,
Indian, and negro; but after the rebellion many white men settled on the
island on account of the advantages of commerce. About a year after La
Farge was taken prisoner he learned that a general massacre of all the
white people on the island had been planned. Feeling sure that he would
be included this time, with two others he made his escape. They secured
a small rowboat and rowed along the shore until they reached a part of
the island that belonged to Spain. Here they were fortunate enough to
find a ship just ready to sail to Philadelphia. All took passage at
once.
Arrived in America, Jean La Farge became much interested in this
country. He saw at once the great possibilities in this new land and
decided to make it his home. He became a trader and for twenty-five
years he went from place to place, growing very wealthy. Then he bought
plantations in Louisiana and farm lands in northern New York.
A number of French aristocrats and others formed a French colony in New
York City, and here Mr. La Farge finally came to live. He married the
daughter of a former Santo Domingan planter who had joined the colony,
and it was in New York that their boy, John La Farge, the artist, was
born, March 31, 1835. The boy was named after his father, Jean Frédéric
de La Farge, but the name was abbreviated and the English spelling used,
so that it became John La Farge.
It was a very comfortable home, in some ways luxurious, and his boyhood
was passed under most favorable circumstances. His grandfather was a
miniature painter of some note and he gave La Farge his first drawing
lessons. The boy, however, showed no especial interest or talent for
drawing. After he had finished a classical course at school, he decided
to become a lawyer. When he had completed the law course he was sent
abroad to Paris, to visit his father’s relatives, who were very
prominent people. Here he met many writers and artists of note, and
finally began to study painting under Couture. He spent most of his time
copying the famous paintings in the Louvre, and the etchings of
Rembrandt. His idea at this time was not to become a painter by
profession but only to use art as a pastime—he was to earn his living as
a lawyer. He says, “No one ever struggled more against his destiny than
I. Nor did I for many years fully acquiesce in being a painter, though I
learned the methods and studied the problems of my art.”
It was about this time that he met the enthusiastic American painter,
William Hunt, who so inspired La Farge that he left everything and
followed him back to Newport, Rhode Island, where he began studying in
earnest under his new master. The two men became close friends.
It was at Newport that La Farge married Miss Margaret Perry, who was the
great-granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin and the granddaughter of
Commodore Perry, so well known as commander of the American fleet in the
Battle of Lake Erie. They lived in Newport during the summer, but spent
their winters in New York City.
At the time of the Civil War, La Farge wished to enlist, but failed to
pass the physical examination because he was nearsighted. Then, giving
himself entirely to his art, he succeeded in working out his own
methods.
His first paintings were for church decorations—the most important being
“Saint Paul,” “The Madonna,” and “Saint John.” The last two were painted
for the Church of St. Peter in New York City.
Then came a severe illness from which La Farge recovered very slowly,
and it was nearly three years before he could become an active painter
again. In the meantime he began drawing on wood, illustrating Browning’s
and Longfellow’s poems, and Tennyson’s _Enoch Arden_. Later another trip
abroad resulted in the exhibition of his paintings in the galleries
there. He made a careful study of stained-glass windows and by much
experimenting he discovered a way to produce an opalescent effect in
stained glass and to make the glass look like that in the very old
cathedrals.
La Farge was always interested in mural or wall decorations for public
buildings, and he felt that our buildings in America lacked very much in
that respect. He made a special study of this work, and ten years later
he began his mural decorations for Trinity Church in Boston. It was one
of the first buildings so decorated in this country, and the work was
accomplished under great difficulties. The workmen did not understand
just what they were to do, the right kind of materials could not always
be obtained and so had to be prepared, and the people, having no idea of
the task, required that the work be finished in an unreasonably short
time. The result was that La Farge and his assistants were compelled to
work night and day, in very cold weather, and under many disadvantages.
However, when the scaffolding was finally removed the decoration was
considered a great success. La Farge was then asked to decorate St.
Thomas’ Church in New York.
The artist now began to decorate windows too, that they might be a part
of the mural decorations. One of his first window designs was placed in
the Congregational Church at Newport, then one in Memorial Hall, Harvard
University. They are wonderful in color and design, containing almost
every known kind of glass and every precious stone. Then came demands
from all over the country for both public buildings and private homes.
He was honored both in this country and abroad.
In 1886 La Farge went to Japan. While there he sent a series of very
interesting letters to the _Century Magazine_ describing his travels.
These letters have since been published in book form. La Farge also
wrote _Considerations on Painting_, a series of books on the _Great
Masters_, and the Japanese _Hokusai_.
Some of his best-known windows and mural decorations are the Watson
Memorial Window in Trinity Church, Buffalo; “The Ascension,” a fresco in
the Church of Ascension, New York City; “Athens,” in the Art Gallery at
Bowdoin College, Maine; “Law,” in the Supreme Court Room, St. Paul; and
“Lawgivers,” in the Court House, Baltimore.
=Questions about the artist.= Who painted this picture? Tell about his
father’s experiences in the West Indies. How did the elder La Farge
happen to come to America? What did he do in this country? Where and
when was the artist born? What education did he receive? Where did he go
after he finished college? How did he seem to regard painting at this
time? What American artist encouraged him to study art? Tell about his
progress; his marriage; his travels. Tell about his first mural
decoration. Why was it so difficult to accomplish? To what did this
lead? Tell about his window designs. Where can we see some of La Farge’s
work? What books did he write?
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