How much they resemble each other! The little girl’s name was Jeanne Julie Louise Lebrun, and she must have been very lovely indeed. Her mother tells us, “She was charming in every respect. Her large blue eyes sparkling with spirit, her slightly tip-tilted nose, her pretty mouth, magnificent teeth, a dazzling fresh complexion, all went to make up one of the sweetest faces to be seen.”
She did not care to draw and paint as her mother did, but she loved to write stories.
How proud of her lovely mother she seems to be! And indeed she ought to look proud, and happy too, for perhaps there never was a little girl more petted and loved. Imagine how proud she must have felt that her mother was such a great artist, and painted beautiful pictures which every one admired and which, with her pleasant ways, made her one of the most beloved women in France.
The light in the picture seems to come from a window at the left-hand side and to fall directly upon the faces of the mother and child. So interested are we in them we do not realize that there is no landscape background, only a suggestion of a curtain or screen against which the two faces stand out clearly. The mother is dressed in white, the daughter in a blue which matches her merry blue eyes.
To us these two can never grow sad or old, and we are glad Madame Lebrun looked in her mirror and gave us this beautiful picture.
MADAME LEBRUN AND HER DAUGHTER
Once a mirror, tall and stately,
Caught an image, held it safely,
Gleamed and glistened,
Dreamed and listened,