I couldn’t dispute him, nor didn’t try to. But I did love to prowl round in those old meetin’-housen and see the wealth of interestin’ things in ’em.
In the Church of Santa Maria d’Frari, the beautiful monument to Titian took my admirin’ interest. It has angels, lions, all sorts of sculptered figgers in elegant carvin’, and beautiful bas-reliefs of his greatest works—“The Assumption,” “Martyrdom of St. Lawrence,” and “Peter Martyr.”
Then the monument to Canova is a sight to see in its beauty. Wall, he ort to had it; he did enough work to make the world more beautiful.
In the Academy of Fine Arts we see sech sights of beautiful picters that my brain almost reels now, a-tryin’ to recall ’em. But Titian’s “Assumption of the Virgin” is one that you can’t forgit, no matter how clost other idees press around it and squooze aginst it.
Great picters by Paul Veronese, Tintoretto, and other great masters—the walls are jest seens of beauty.
I wouldn’t want it told on—it ort to be kep’, but Josiah told me right there in that sacred spot, that he wuz sick of Madonnas—sick as a snipe.
But I told him that I wouldn’t own up to it, if I wuz.
And he said he didn’t care who hearn him.
I wuz kinder sick on ’em myself, but didn’t want to own up to it right there in a meetin’-house. But, truly, anybody will see enough Holy Families, Virgins, Madonnas, etc., to last ’em a long life, unless they’re extravagantly fond of ’em. And every artist seems to have painted his own idees of the Holy Mother—mebby from his own sweetheart; anyway, no two of ’em are alike. Most of ’em are real fat and healthy lookin’. I never spozed she enjoyed sech good health as they depicter; I thought she wuz more kinder spindlin’ lookin’. And then I imagined there wuz a ineffible look to the face of the Mother of our Lord, sech, as it seems to me, they hain’t none of ’em ketched. The Mother of our Lord! What a face she ort to have to fit my idees of her! It’s resky work, paintin’ divine things. I wouldn’t want to undertake it, or have Josiah. Now I see the picter of the Deity once painted with a hat on.
I didn’t love to see it.