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Essays and Lectures-Part21_OSCAR WILDE (1854-1900)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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However, though they cannot appreciate the artist as artist, they

are quite ready to appreciate the artist as a man. They are very



sensitive to kindness, respect and generosity. A beautiful model

who had sat for two years to one of our most distinguished English



painters, got engaged to a street vendor of penny ices.

On her marriage the painter sent her a pretty wedding present, and



received in return a nice letter of thanks with the following

remarkablepostscript: 'Never eat the green ices!'



When they are tired a wise artist gives them a rest. Then they sit

in a chair and read penny dreadfuls, till they are roused from the



tragedy of literature to take their place again in the tragedy of

art. A few of them smoke cigarettes. This, however, is regarded



by the other models as showing a want of seriousness, and is not

generally approved of. They are engaged by the day and by the



half-day. The tariff is a shilling an hour, to which great artists

usually add an omnibus fare. The two best things about them are



their extraordinary prettiness, and their extreme respectability.

As a class they are very well behaved, particularly those who sit



for the figure, a fact which is curious or natural according to the

view one takes of human nature. They usually marry well, and



sometimes they marry the artist. For an artist to marry his model

is as fatal as for a GOURMET to marry his cook: the one gets no



sittings, and the other gets no dinners.

On the whole the English female models are very naive, very



natural, and very good-humoured. The virtues which the artist

values most in them are prettiness and punctuality. Every sensible



model consequently keeps a diary of her engagements, and dresses

neatly. The bad season is, of course, the summer, when the artists



are out of town. However, of late years some artists have engaged

their models to follow them, and the wife of one of our most



charmingpainters has often had three or four models under her

charge in the country, so that the work of her husband and his



friends should not be interrupted. In France the models migrate EN

MASSE to the little seaport villages or forest hamlets where the



painters congregate. The English models, however, wait patiently

in London, as a rule, till the artists come back. Nearly all of



them live with their parents, and help to support the house. They

have every qualification for being immortalised in art except that



of beautiful hands. The hands of the English model are nearly

always coarse and red.



As for the male models, there is the veteran whom we have mentioned

above. He has all the traditions of the grand style, and is



rapidly disappearing with the school he represents. An old man who

talks about Fuseli is, of course, unendurable, and, besides,



patriarchs have ceased to be fashionable subjects. Then there is

the true Academy model. He is usually a man of thirty, rarely



good-looking, but a perfect miracle of muscles. In fact he is the

apotheosis of anatomy, and is so conscious of his own splendour



that he tells you of his tibia and his thorax, as if no one else

had anything of the kind. Then come the Oriental models. The



supply of these is limited, but there are always about a dozen in

London. They are very much sought after as they can remain



immobile for hours, and generally possess lovely costumes.

However, they have a very poor opinion of English art, which they



regard as something between a vulgarpersonality and a commonplace

photograph. Next we have the Italian youth who has come over



specially to be a model, or takes to it when his organ is out of

repair. He is often quite charming with his large melancholy eyes,



his crisp hair, and his slim brown figure. It is true he eats

garlic, but then he can stand like a faun and couch like a leopard,



so he is forgiven. He is always full of pretty compliments, and

has been known to have kind words of encouragement for even our






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