Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 6).djvu/116
"'You don't seem well,' I remarked.
"'I'm a' right, zur,' he answered, 'only for holding my breath so long!'
"The poor fellow thought he had to hold his breath. But that is not all.
"Haven't I seen you before?' I asked.
"'Yuz, zur, you painted me ten year ago on a horse. Why, I knew you th' minit I saw you!'
"He was the same lad I had painted for my 'Penitent,' at South-Stoke-on Thames, all those years back."
Mrs. Fildes.
From the Picture by Luke Fildes, R.A.
We just looked for a moment into Mrs. Fildes' room. It is a curiously interesting apartment. Notice the children's tiny birthday presents, all bright and highly polished, carefully displayed in the vicinity of the fireplace—the little gridirons, candlesticks, and pots and pans. Even a rabbit with one leg gone is treasured. Several of Mrs. Fildes' pictures hang here. Close by the window is a portrait of her eldest boy, done in Venice in 1881. A small but choice David Murray is confessed to being the only picture Mrs. Fildes ever bought. Linley Sambourne appears as a photographer, with portraits of Val and Paul. The photographs are many, and of course Henry Woods has a canvas or two in this delightful nook which looks down upon the Melbury Road.
We entered the studio, the work-room of a man who had painted with a truer touch of humanity than any artist of recent years. It is a grand studio, subdued in colour, yet withal relieved by numerous bright touches. On an easel rests the portrait of Mrs. Fildes, the artist's first portrait, painted in 1887. Mrs. Fildes is in black silk and jet; a fur cloak is wrapped about her. A single diamond butterfly, a bracelet, and the wedding ring are the only jewellery displayed. The two portraits of the Duke of York and the Princess May are just finished; and as we look at them, the painter tells me how much impressed he was with the desire of the Duke that his mother should be satisfied with them. There are a dozen unfinished canvases about. The walls are lined with the works of intimate friends and engravings of the artist's own labours. Some of the etchings, particularly those of Jules Breton and Van der Meer, are very fine, whilst all the component parts of a painter's workroom—the great gilt and crimson chairs, the Florentine couches and tables, elaborately inlaid, together with the model's "throne"—are all picturesquely arranged upon the rugs which cover the floor. A charming bronze by Gilbert, A.R.A., is in a niche close by the shepherd lad who figured in "The Penitent." Mr. Fildes bought it at the Academy before Mr. Gilbert was as famous as he is now. There are many works of reference and other volumes, and the framed Diploma of the Royal Academy, dated 8th December, 1887, "whereby in consideration of your great skill in the art of painting, it is our pleasure that your name be forthwith inserted in the roll of Academicians," is given a prominent place. Suspended