TTTE SUNDAY OltEGOXlAX, TORTLAXD, JUNE 2. 1012.
P2RTOIT5 ST SPLENDID'NEW WSMEN
-. a - m. a-Ma St M I a I f
AND GUN MEM ARE THEIR
HUMBLE MSDERN KNIGHTS.
SJk 'if V. . .. - V !
First New Women of .Renaissance Live in
World's Memory and Admiration Their Por
traits, Greatest of Art Treasures, Must Be
Guarded Day and Night by Army of Cus
todians to Prevent Another Theft Such as That
of the 'Mona Lisa" Women Who Were Ad
mitted by Men as Equals.
JL
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V -Womcfa Wear- II ,.
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BT STERLING HF.IL.TO.
PIRIS. Mar 15. (Special Cnrrespon.
dence) Ferocious mastiff dog
lurk bjr night In the Palace of Ver
sallies. Slender police-dogs with tiger
teeth patrol the Palace of the Louvre
bealde their master.
Gun-men with automatlc-flrer In
their clothea they look Ilk tourists,
but they are quick wrestlers and
smssher hang about the old royal
apartment, audience chambrra. and
parade halls, one-time filled with dawdling-
courtlera and lovely women. By
Oar, tourlata of the world now loiter
through. The eld palacea are picture
galleries of the Republic.
la the allent halla. the tourlata aee
the aplendld women of the paat smile
down upon them. ro they reallie that
they atlll have defrndera like the
knight of old. prepared to flint for
them? They are the modeat run-men
of no birth, who mingle with the
throne, who glide with cat-like etep
Into the empty corridor. They are the
men with maatlfT dog by night, the
grim patrola of the French atate, pre
pared to fall on the next ravlahera of
Mont Lisa's alatera.
la theae daya of desperate bandit
like Bonnot and eubtle aneaka like the
Burglar of the Louvre, the lmmenie
value attached to many portralta are
continual source of danger for them.
A Velasque haa fetched $400,000, a
Rembrandt $500,000. There are Leon
ardo. Titian and Raphaela that would
aell a dearly. The rlchea of the Louvre
are calculated at a billion dollar; but
no one haa eatlmated the collective
vJu ef portralta la the varloua state
palace and in particular VereeJllee.
Formerly, they were looked on aa boau
tlful and aacred object. Now, they are
thlnga of value, like gold and Jewel.
Bo the French atate haa told 1U guar
dian to ahooL
rem Kejnal Rlskta.
Calmly, the aplendld women of the
paat amlle down upon their humble
modern knlghta. They era to know
that time have changed. They ought
to. They began to Chang them.
'Women of the present, undlaputedly
man equal, look back with admiration
and humility on the strong spirits who
won the first battle for you. centuries
agol
In an epoch of drudges and dolls,
they became men's peers by charm and
Intelligence. They created a new type
which haa remained the modern the
Ideal of woman, beautiful, learned, vlr.
tuous, artlatlc, pleaaant-apoken. and in
teresting heraelf with competence and
authority In all the things of life.
What a splendid creature was ths
famous Jeanne ofVArragon. Her por
trait by Raphael Is one of those
strange works which fascinate. Once
seen. It la never forgotten.
Jeanne, at 1 yeara of age, knew ev
erything, except arms, that a well-Instructed
youth of the time should
know. She also danced, plsysd rav
Ishlngly on lute and clavlcord, and ex
plained Cicero and Virgil. At IS, as
wife of Prince Ascanlo Colonna, she
took poselon of the old palace like a
flood of sunlight.
Iu this fortress of the Colonna, her
flrt care was to make them give her a
tower of her own, which she called her
"grotto" a w would say today, her
reception-room. There she massed an
tiques. Jewels, paintings, tapestries.
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brle-a-brac. Phe employed artists and
gave them fanciful subjects. Soma of
them are now In the Louvre, descended
from the collection of Cardinal Rich
elieu. One la "The Triumph of Mer
cury and Comui," the god of elegance,
and shows ths Ideals new to her time
working In the mind of this charm
ing New Woman.
On the banks of a rtver, among bos
quets and arbors, a gallant society or
Court of rolltenesa gracious dames
and courteous cavaliers chat in
groups,' listen to songs, or compose
verses. A breath of ambrosia per
fumes the air. It is the world of those
first old manuals of the. Art of Liv
ing oftenest written by women
which were soon to begin appearing, a
sort of Arcadia, where business is pnt
aside and where they give themselves
up In peace and fine leisure to the per
fecting of social life; a world which
has the charm of a Dialogue of Plato
Only more so because women bad
become the chiefs and leadera. Jeanne
was one of the very first and most no
table of the true emancipators of her
sex.
There were other. If. In those, daya.
they had our practice of the referen
dum, a popular vote of Europe would
have divided the palm of feminine per
fection among the 20 foremost of a
hundred such beautiful, witty and
learned New Women.
Venice would have elected Catherine
Corano. august widow of the last of
the Lustlgnana. who having given a
kingdom to her country, lived in ma
Jestla retirement at Cyprus. Naples
would have voted for that wonderful
Queen Jeanne, whose memory still
lived. Rome would have pronounced for
the blonde Farnese, and Urblno for
Laura da Dlantl. whose portrait by
Titian haa never been called popularly
by any other name than "La Bella"
They are symbols of a privileged
moment In the history of humanity.
They signify a new and charming
thing the enthroning of feminine roy
alty in the modern world. Because, it
woman occupies such a considerable
place in Renaissance painting. It la be
cause she came suddenly to hold It,
really, in society,
Awakenlag ef Ulan,
The Renaissance was the first great
century of women. Held for ao long
In an Inferior condition, ah took her
revenge at last and passed to the front
row. Hhe freed herself, became a per
son having her own independent exist
ence. Thla transformation had the great
consequence of making social life pos
sible. Society.- that 1. an ensemble
of distinguished people of a locality
uniting for a disinterested cause, not
by reaaons of family or business, but !
to form a common fund of their intelli
gence, a special intercourse distinct
from the affections of the heart, and
which alone gives "politeness"; that
particular convention which permits
polite people to meet on a footing of
momentary equality business man
and scientist, soldier and man of let
ters, artist and millionaire under the
witty patronage of a few elect women
the social circle of tuls kind Is the
creature of the French and Italian Re
naiaaance. The Middle Agea had at
once exalted and curaed women; even
idolising her. It put her outside of na
tureno society would have been pos
sible with the Beatrice of lante
Yet some of these first New Women
had terrible old possibilities lingering
in them. In the Louvre, sister por
traits to the stolen Mona Lisa, hang
two other works by Leonardo, deemed
almost equally priceless and both
bearing the same name. Which was
the true "Belle FcrronnlereT", Is It
she whose two eyes follow the' tourist,
no mstter where he my Ktand? Its
marvel ta the profound glance, aa Mona
ltet ; t
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ai' ; a , a a iw
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Lisa's marrel was her smile. Or Is
the traa-fc profile. Iron and marble?
Neither portrait smiles. The vc
Leonardo da Vinci painted her. she was
deep In 1C Brought to FTance by the
art-loving King, one of the great Ital
ian' first work was to portray the
ation while looking about her for the
most horrible revenge Imaginable. Phe
latest royal caprice. The King called
her his favorite the rich, cultlvsted
and strong-eouled woman whom he had
ruthlesnly separated from her family.
And she pretended to accept the sltu
did not want to kill htm at ohm but
first gave him year of agony!
It la hltory. At that time. In Europe,
every one dreaded a niteriou malady
that had auddenly appeared, and never
pardoned. It polon waa low. Im
placable, making sores like cancer: a
poison so strong and suM'e that a touch
of the hand of an afflicted one might
glva It.
One day the Belle Ferronnler slipped
out of the palace. In disguise, to seek
a thing she wsnted. She was gone two
hours. When she returned she had
what She went out for the fstal poison
was on' her. In her. and about her! Then
the beautiful woman watched, with
Joy, for Its first signs. "Let my beauty
perish." was her meditation. "If I can
but make him take the virus!" It was
all about her; and the King of France,
calling on her constantly, was bound
to take It up. who knows, by kissing
her hand, or eating a peach that she
had pared? But, note, it waa not a
poison from a bottle whlrh ahe could
be accused of purposely administering.
Also, it was slow!
Delight la Ciwel Veageemew.
She delighted cruely when the first
sore stared him. "They are nothing,"
said the Belle Ferronnlere. "They are
nothing," echoed the frightened doc
tor; and they ordered sweat baths.
Later. King Francis never appeared
without gloves. The amount of drugs
they mad him take waa awful. In
time his face came to be made up with
fiesh-colorsd patches. For eight years
the proud King drsgged his wretched
body, in psln and disgust, through a
pretense of royal routine. Courtiers
kept a respectful distance. Palace
servants buried bis discarded clothes
and linen. Surrounded by sham devo
tion, he was a pariah In hla own court
. Only one person dared to take hla hand
;zetncr f "fii'ili f rrrnniucro" nr. , the beautiful woman whom he had ao
Franrl I serins already to Klrw 1 wronged, who had thus revenged her-
ia each. foubUes at th mua,eut i self, wiio risked notbinff, fox b bad,
the poiaon In her. When Ita ravage
howed on her, the King burst Into
tears 'What. you. too?" he cried. "Had
I not done you enough harm?" Now
she dissppears from view; but one
stormy afternoon, at ttamhoulllet, when
the King was at hi last extremity, a
lady came to see him. What pained,
no one knows: but. finally, the King
was heard to give a great cry. Has
tening, bis doctors found him desd. "lie
had a shock." the ladv aid; and It wa
obvious. White-faced and robed In
black, they let her pass. It was the
Belle Ferronnlere. V hst had she told
old King Francis? None csred. All
rejoiced round young King Henri.
And she remains mysterious to thla
day. Whlrh la her portrait Both are
priceless works of Leonsrdo. No his
toric character I more authentic. Ye
ask any Frenchman, and he will tell
you that the Belle Ferronnlere, whose
real name waa Ferron. 1 that alster
portralt of Mona Lisa which i labeled
Lucrexla Crlvelll an Italian woman
who wa never In Frnce. The true por
trait of the Belle Ferronnlere that of
the ancient catalogue and still labeled
"formerly known aa the Belle Ferron
nlere" is the tragic profile by Leon
ardo, white and black, that hangs
across the hall, a somber enigma.
All Leonardo's work are mysterious
and subject to astonishing adventurea.
A kort of fate seems to hang over
them. There are 2000 authentic Ru
bens. There are (00 authentic Rem
brandt. There are 200 authentic Tl
tlens. But of Leonardo da Vinci there
exists only a dosen paintings.
The Louvre possesses half of them,
and this helps to give their fsbulous
value. Leonardo da Vinci was not
only a painter, he waa a sculptor, en
gineer, architect, naturalist, musician,
chemist and aviator. In his paintings,
which were for him a pastime, he ac
cumulated a prodigious number of ex
periments and researches, and it was
hla extraordinary activity which
worked against them. Pope Julius II.
ordered a portrait from him, and Le
onardo began by studying a new var
nish. "Good," said the pope, "he Is
commencing at the wrong end. I will
never have my picture."
Leonardo dropped most of his paint
ing before they mere finished. Others
fell into ruin while he Interrupted
work on them, like the celebrated fres
co of h battle ot AosiUarl, which.
half completed, scaled and broke dur
ing Leonsrdo' lifetime, and I known
only by the sketch of Huhena.
Th Belle Ferronnlere remained 151
years in the Chateau of Knntalnehleaii,
from the reign of Francis I to the
reign of Louis XIV, 'There, while It
hung In th" golden room bnslde the
Mona Lisa, It was part Imtarly noticed
by Buckingham, the f.unous F.ngllsh
amhat:alor In IMimas' "Three Ouards
men." Visiting the chstonu with Uu
bens, he expressed s di-sire to pur
chase the palntltiK. Perhaps he hoped
It would be offered him ns a gift; hut
the French king found the suggestion
Indiscreet, and hud loth portraits tak
en down and hidden. Louis XIII. knew
better how to defend hi pictures than
did the present republic.
Momrl of Renaissance.
Yet If he eaved the Bella Ferron
nlere and Mona Lisa, he allowed
Leonardo' "Leda" to b sacrificed. The
delightful painting rhook the moral
scruple of Surlntondrnt Sublet de
Noyera, who started to destroy IU He
was stopped by a courngeous young
maid of honor of the court, who
dragged the mutilated and scorched
canvas from the open grate lire, where
Sublet had thrown It.
The new Women of the Renaissance
often stirred up such admiration and
devotion to their sisters of a later day.
But see how. In two different genera
tion, the simple needs of the heart
cry out above culture, fnshion, art and
elegant society, even when the Brest
souls of the heroines had thought to
still them.
The marriage of Anne de Bourbon
and tht Hue de I.ongunville ahe
young, gracloua and Illustrious, he the
handsomest man of his age set the
royal town of Fontalnebleau en fete.
The importance of the parties made
their union of public Import. The am
bassadors of four powers were pres
ent. The King protected th msrrlase
of his kinswoman. A hundred girls
in white escorted the bride and 50
chevaliers In armor supported the
groom. The poets replaced modern re
porters, and Instead of photographers,
there were the court painters, whose
portraits remain.
Yet Anne, It wss known, hsd pre
viously loved and parted with an
earlier fiance, nohle youth, but young
, i jlConcluded on l'ag S.