登陆注册
15706500000001

第1章 CHAPTER I(1)

On a cold morning in December, towards the close of the year 1612, a young man, whose clothing betrayed his poverty, was standing before the door of a house in the Rue des Grands-Augustine, in Paris. After walking to and fro for some time with the hesitation of a lover who fears to approach his mistress, however complying she may be, he ended by crossing the threshold and asking if Maitre Francois Porbus were within. At the affirmative answer of an old woman who was sweeping out one of the lower rooms the young man slowly mounted the stairway, stopping from time to time and hesitating, like a newly fledged courier doubtful as to what sort of reception the king might grant him.

When he reached the upper landing of the spiral ascent, he paused a moment before laying hold of a grotesque knocker which ornamented the door of the atelier where the famous painter of Henry IV.--neglected by Marie de Medicis for Rubens--was probably at work. The young man felt the strong sensation which vibrates in the soul of great artists when, in the flush of youth and of their ardor for art, they approach a man of genius or a masterpiece. In all human sentiments there are, as it were, primeval flowers bred of noble enthusiasms, which droop and fade from year to year, till joy is but a memory and glory a lie.

Amid such fleeting emotions nothing so resembles love as the young passion of an artist who tastes the first delicious anguish of his destined fame and woe,--a passion daring yet timid, full of vague confidence and sure discouragement. Is there a man, slender in fortune, rich in his spring-time of genius, whose heart has not beaten loudly as he approached a master of his art? If there be, that man will forever lack some heart-string, some touch, I know not what, of his brush, some fibre in his creations, some sentiment in his poetry.

When braggarts, self-satisfied and in love with themselves, step early into the fame which belongs rightly to their future achievements, they are men of genius only in the eyes of fools. If talent is to be measured by youthful shyness, by that indefinable modesty which men born to glory lose in the practice of their art, as a pretty woman loses hers among the artifices of coquetry, then this unknown young man might claim to be possessed of genuine merit. The habit of success lessens doubt; and modesty, perhaps, is doubt.

Worn down with poverty and discouragement, and dismayed at this moment by his own presumption, the young neophyte might not have dared to enter the presence of the master to whom we owe our admirable portrait of Henry IV., if chance had not thrown an unexpected assistance in his way. An old man mounted the spiral stairway. The oddity of his dress, the magnificence of his lace ruffles, the solid assurance of his deliberate step, led the youth to assume that this remarkable personage must be the patron, or at least the intimate friend, of the painter. He drew back into a corner of the landing and made room for the new-comer; looking at him attentively and hoping to find either the frank good-nature of the artistic temperament, or the serviceable disposition of those who promote the arts. But on the contrary he fancied he saw something diabolical in the expression of the old man's face,--something, I know not what, which has the quality of alluring the artistic mind.

Imagine a bald head, the brow full and prominent and falling with deep projection over a little flattened nose turned up at the end like the noses of Rabelais and Socrates; a laughing, wrinkled mouth; a short chin boldly chiselled and garnished with a gray beard cut into a point; sea-green eyes, faded perhaps by age, but whose pupils, contrasting with the pearl-white balls on which they floated, cast at times magnetic glances of anger or enthusiasm. The face in other respects was singularly withered and worn by the weariness of old age, and still more, it would seem, by the action of thoughts which had undermined both soul and body. The eyes had lost their lashes, and the eyebrows were scarcely traced along the projecting arches where they belonged. Imagine such a head upon a lean and feeble body, surround it with lace of dazzling whiteness worked in meshes like a fish-slice, festoon the black velvet doublet of the old man with a heavy gold chain, and you will have a faint idea of the exterior of this strange individual, to whose appearance the dusky light of the landing lent fantastic coloring. You might have thought that a canvas of Rembrandt without its frame had walked silently up the stairway, bringing with it the dark atmosphere which was the sign-manual of the great master.

The old man cast a look upon the youth which was full of sagacity;then he rapped three times upon the door, and said, when it was opened by a man in feeble health, apparently about forty years of age, "Good-morning, maitre."

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • tfboys星之半夏

    tfboys星之半夏

    十年后你我都变了许多希望仍旧保留梦想的狂热只是你会有更多人陪着我仍是千万人中普通某个...这是我第一次写小说,写的不太好请多多包涵
  • 万象异世

    万象异世

    世间皆万象,万象皆万物,这样的万象世界,有你见过的,有你没见过的,有你知道的,有你不知道,让我们去探索者未知的万象。
  • 豺狼人要生存

    豺狼人要生存

    啊啊啊,新鲜的肉..又有骨头可以啃啦!这就是你们对豺狼人的印象吗?不不不,那是在霍格的带领下,现在霍大爷的路已经到头了。这是主角带领豺狼人努力摆脱炮灰命运,努力成为艾泽拉斯世界主战种族的史诗般的故事。
  • 无边境域

    无边境域

    一颗混沌之源给凯德大陆上生存着的人类带来了灭顶的灾难,幸存者埃尔科斯手握混沌之源,穿越到境域之中,以顽强的意志迈入了众神的殿堂。然而,此时他才发现,这只不过是一切的开端。。。。。。
  • 上古世纪之水晶头盖骨

    上古世纪之水晶头盖骨

    上古世纪,世界异力尚存,科技与魔法齐头并进,繁荣璀璨。上古公元前2000年,神与英雄掀起战乱,源大陆被毁灭,在那场灾难之中,幻术师一脉只有伊索卡一人存活下来。孤身一人的他,在诺伊亚大陆漂泊无依,一次偶然的机会,他在一场遗迹中寻找到一卷秘书卷轴,卷轴上记载了一种秘法,可以将一个人的意识传送到过去,代价就是施术者本身会肉体崩溃,等到法术消失之后,就连自己的意识也可能灰飞烟灭。伊索卡最终不惜牺牲自己,施展出卷轴记载的秘法,为改变历史,拯救源大陆埋下了伏笔。
  • 海贼王之帝阁

    海贼王之帝阁

    以海贼王迷意外穿越到异世,发现自己带着海贼王系统这个金手指,然后开始了他异界的传奇生活!
  • 无时

    无时

    人是个体,所以是孤独的,在岁月长河中,踏万千位面。
  • 冤家路窄:盟主请自重

    冤家路窄:盟主请自重

    她,异世一缕孤魂穿越而来,从落魄乞丐到世人皆知的青楼东家,此生最大目标便是:美人,Money,当她成了炙手可热的香馍馍,又将掀起怎样一场皆笑啼非的戏幕。某王爷自信满满连夜安排绑架,隔夜却一丝不挂被绑自家门前;某太子坚持不懈三顾茅庐,却次次遭遇大暴雨,终是感染风寒卧病不起;某盟主狡诈一笑,半夜翻窗而入直接扑倒;她大惊:盟主请自重,在下只喜欢女子某盟主妖孽一笑:没事,我也只喜欢女子的
  • 穿越之美人心

    穿越之美人心

    继母为争夺自己儿子对强大沈氏家族的继承权,对外宣告沈家大小姐沈曼珂逝世的消息。考虑到沈氏家族老总,继母并没有对我下毒手只是同意了父亲送我去国外的建议。还没去到机场便被自己的男朋友和他的情人也就是我的好友一起将我抹杀扔到了井里。于是的于是,我穿越了~在陌生的世界里,沈曼珂从一个平民百姓到将军府丫头到商人到差点成为将军夫人到....她拥有所有女人都羡慕的两个男人的爱,她拥有所有女人都羡慕的聪慧,她拥有女人们都羡慕的美貌,而她却羡慕那些平凡的女人。完美的运用心计争夺到皇帝宠妃的女人,开始对她所嫉妒的她实施报复让她吃尽苦头受尽折磨,但这又怎能足够摧毁掉这个腹黑女人。《穿越之美人心》期待各位亲们的阅读支持与推荐,前几日因事繁忙未能更新,请各位亲们见谅,某哀并未有弃坑想法,所以一定要随时关注某哀作品哦~~~
  • 乱世猎人第六卷

    乱世猎人第六卷

    一位自幼与兽为伍的少年,凭其武功与智慧突起江湖,却被乱世的激流,一次次推向生死的边缘,而使他深明乱世的真谛——狩猎与被猎。凭其机缘运数,突破武学与智慧的极限,终成乱世之中真正的猎人,而使整个武林以至天下的局势运于掌中……