"Let us argue indirectly from the picture. You
will agree that the lady was fascinating, since she had so many admirers,
but in the portrait you discern nothing to account for that fascination.
We may conclude that the painter saw the real woman underneath the
superficial charm. She could not hide herself from him as she did from
others. Now in that portrait I see rather a commonplace woman,
essentially bourgeoise and vulgar, not naturally artistic. I can imagine
her the wife of a small shopkeeper, or a girl given to cheap finery on
holidays. I think she would be capable of any meanness to obtain that
finery. Her face shows a decided lack of talent, but it also shows
tremendous greed. The critics have said that her dancing was a pose and
not in good taste."
I nodded.
"They are practically unanimous on this point. It was beyond her to
appeal to the artistic sense, so she appealed to the lower nature, and
therein lay her fascination. Just consider who the men are to whom she
appealed. A millionaire with an unsavory reputation. To two or three
peers who, even by the wildest stretch of imagination, cannot be
considered ornaments of their order.
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