“Are artists’ models usually bald?” I inquired, as I noted this latter phenomenon.
“Now you are being foolish,” she replied; “wilfully and deliberately foolish. You know very well that all these heads have got to be fitted with wigs; and you couldn’t fit a wig to a head that already had a fine covering of plaster curls. But I must admit that it rather detracts from the beauty of a girl’s head if you represent it without hair. The models used to hate it when they were shown with heads like old gentlemen’s, and so did poor Daddy; in fact, he usually rendered the hair in the clay, just sketchily, for the sake of the model’s feelings and his own, and took it off afterwards with a wire tool. But there is the kettle boiling over. I must make the tea.”
While this ceremony was being performed I strolled round the studio and inspected the casts, more particularly the heads and faces. Of these latter the majority were obviously modelled, but I noticed a number with closed eyes, having very much the appearance of death masks. When we had taken our places at the little table near the great gas-ring I inquired what they were.
“They do look rather cadaverous, don’t they?” she said, as she poured out the tea; “but they are not death masks. They are casts from living faces, mostly from the faces of models, but my father always used to take a cast from any one who would let him, They are quite useful to work from, though, of course, the eyes have to be put in from another cast or from life.”
“It must be rather an unpleasant operation,” I said, “having the plaster poured over the face. How does the victim manage to breathe?”
“The usual plan is to put little tubes or quills into the nostrils. But my father could keep the nostrils free without any tubes. He was a very skilful moulder; and then he always used the best plaster, which set very quickly, so that it only took a few minutes.”
“And how are you getting on, and what were you doing when I came in?”
“I am getting on quite well,” she replied. “My work has been passed as satisfactory, and I have three new commissions. When you came in I was just getting ready to make a mould for a head and shoulders. After tea I shall go on with it, and you shall help me. But tell me about yourself. You have finished with Dr. Cornish, haven’t you?”
“Yes, I am a gentleman at large for the time being, but that won’t do. I shall have to look out for another job.”
“I hope it will be a London job,” she said. “Arabella and I would feel quite lonely if you went away even for a week or two. We both look forward so much to our little family gathering on Sunday afternoon.”