Lives of Poor Boys Who Became FamousBolton, Sarah Knowles
History
Lives of Poor Boys Who Became Famous
Bolton, Sarah Knowles
Biography
In 1841, worn in health, Cole determined to visit Europe again. He wrote
from Kenilworth Castle to his wife, "Every flower and mass of ivy, every
picturesque effect, waked my regret that you were not by my side.... How
can I paint without you to praise, or to criticize, and little Theddy to
come for papa to go to dinner, and little Mary with her black eyes to
come and kiss the figures in the pictures?... My life will be burdened
with sadness until I return to my wife and family." In Rome he received
much attention, as befitted one in his position.
On his return, he painted several European scenes, the "Roman Campagna,"
"Angels Ministering to Christ in the Wilderness," "Mountain Ford" (sold
in 1876 for nine hundred dollars), "The Good Shepherd," "Hunter's
Return," "Mill at Sunset," and many others. For his "Mount Etna,"
painted in five days, he received five hundred dollars. How different
these days from that pitiful winter in Philadelphia!
He dreaded interruptions in his work. His "St. John the Baptist in the
Wilderness" was destroyed by an unexpected visit from some ladies and
gentlemen, who quenched the fire of heart in which he was working. He
sorrowfully turned the canvas to the wall, and never finished it. He had
now come to the zenith of his power, yet he modestly said, "I have only
learned how to paint." He built a new studio in the Catskills, in the
Italian villa style, and hoped to erect a gallery for several paintings
he had in contemplation, illustrating the cross and the world, and the
immortality of the soul.
But the overworked body at forty-seven years of age could no longer bear
the strain. On Saturday, Feb. 5, 1848, he laid his colors under water,
and cleansed his palette as he left his studio. The next day he was
seized with inflammation of the lungs. The following Friday, after the
communion service at his bedside, he said, "I want to be quiet." These
were his last words. The tired artist had finished his work. The voyage
of life was over. He had won enduring fame.
OLE BULL.
In the quaint old town of Bergen, Norway, so strange with its narrow
streets, peculiar costumes, and open-hearted people, that no traveller
can ever forget it, was born, Feb. 5, 1810, Ole Bull, the oldest in a
family of ten children. His father was an able chemist, and his mother a
woman of fine manners and much intelligence. All the relatives were
musical, and at the little gatherings for the purpose of cultivating
this talent, the child Ole would creep under table or sofa, and listen
enraptured for hours, often receiving a whipping when discovered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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