Once a mirror, tall and stately,
Caught an image, held it safely,
Gleamed and glistened,
Dreamed and listened,
While the artist, glancing in it,
Glanced again, and smiled within it,
Thought and pondered,
Sought and wondered.
As she sat thus at her mirror,
Came a vision of one dearer,
Danced and shouted,
Pranced and pouted.
Quickly threw her arms about her,
Clasped her closely—’twas her daughter,
Light and airy,
Sprite and fairy.
Both into the mirror glancing,
Saw at once the sight entrancing,
Glanced and smiling,
’Tranced, beguiling.
Then the artist seized her brushes,
For her paints the daughter rushes:
Sought, and bringing,
Brought them, singing.
And the artist, painting quickly,
Paints until the light grows sickly.
Starts and lingers,
Parts tired fingers.
When at last the work was ended,
All the critics called it “splendid.”
Fame and honors
Came as donors.
=Questions to help the pupil understand the picture.= How did Madame
Lebrun paint this picture of herself? Who came running into the room?
Why do you think the mother was glad she came? What made her think of
painting her daughter, too? What is the color of her daughter’s hair?
her eyes? What is the daughter’s name? What did she like to do? What is
the color of her dress? of her mother’s? Why should she be so proud of
her mother?
=The story of the artist.= Madame Lebrun began to draw and paint when
she was not as old as the little daughter we see in the picture. Her
father was her teacher. One day when she was only seven years old she
surprised him by drawing a picture of a man with a long beard, which was
so good that he said, “You will be a great painter, my child, if ever
there has been one.” She always remembered this, and when she was sent
away to the convent to school she drew just as much and as often as she
could. Her notebooks were full of drawings which were so well done they
were kept in the convent to show to visitors.
After she returned home she began to paint in earnest. Her father had
many artist friends, and when they came to the house she loved to sit
quietly in a corner and listen to their talk about great pictures and
artists. It was not very long before she was painting pictures which
brought her great praise and honor. About this time her father died, and
later on her mother married again. The stepfather was a rich man, but he
was very stingy, and insisted upon her giving him all the money she
earned. By this time her fame had spread over the country, and people
came from far and near to have her paint their portraits.
She married a man who was a picture dealer and who, although she had not
known it, was a reckless gambler. She was obliged to give him most of
the money she earned to pay his debts. After a time she left him, taking
her lovely little daughter with her. She had a studio of her own where
she could work, and entertain her friends, and there she lived and
worked very happily with her little daughter.
One evening Madame Lebrun went to the theater and when the curtain went
up, there on a large easel on the stage was one of her paintings. When
the people saw it they all stood up and waved and cheered while they
looked toward the artist, who was seated in a box. Madame Lebrun was so
surprised she almost forgot to smile and bow to them.
The king and queen sent for her to come and paint their portraits. Day
after day the royal carriage would come to take her to the palace to
paint the queen, Marie Antoinette, and her children. Those were happy
days for her.
A very short time after this picture was painted the dreadful French
Revolution broke out. The poor people of France, who had been treated
very badly by the rich, rebelled and tried to kill or drive away all the
rich people. Madame Lebrun had always been friends with the rich people,
so it was not safe for her to stay in Paris, either.
One evening she dressed her little daughter in a ragged dress and bonnet
to make her look like a poor peasant child. She herself wore an old
dress, with a handkerchief over her head to hide her face like a veil.
They slipped quietly out of the house and into an omnibus that was
waiting for them and drove as quickly as possible through the crowded
streets, out of the city. No one recognized them, and they went to
Italy, where they traveled about the country for many years. Mother and
daughter were very popular and were entertained royally wherever they
went. But Madame Lebrun never laid aside her painting. Even when she was
eighty years old she painted a beautiful portrait of her little niece,
who must have reminded her of the little daughter in this picture.
=Questions about the artist.= What did Madame Lebrun do when she was a
little girl? Who was her teacher? Of whom did she draw a picture to
surprise her father? What did he say of it? What did this make her do?
Why were her notebooks treasured at the convent? Tell about her
stepfather. Tell what happened at the theater. What king and queen sent
for her to paint their portraits? Why did she and her daughter leave
Paris? How did they escape?
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[Illustration:
AN OLD MONARCH
]
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