“This collection is more or less mediocre, although one or two examples are worthy of attention. This Cupid and Psyche, for instance, may at first strike you as insipid, but it presents interesting features. You observe how there is a far greater similarity between the sexes than we find in nature. It is almost as though, by combining the two, the artist sought to arrive at the ideal human form.”
“Dare say he did,” admitted the father, rather uncomfortably, while the mother looked with eyes that saw nothing. Blotchy Vincent, on the other hand, pricked up his ears at the word “sex.”
“One might sum up this school by saying they were inspired by an hermaphroditic tendency.”
“M’yes. Well, I don’t think we need inquire into that. It’s—hardly—er—”
“The same spirit is prevalent in modern French sculpture.”
“I think we will have a look at something else.”
“That’s a nice picture,” said Mrs. Johns—for Johns was the name of the family. “Very nice, I call that—quiet!”
She directed their attention toward a large canvas depicting a lady sitting upon a couch with her legs resting straightly on its flat surface.
“Ah, that is a nice picture,” agreed Mr. Johns.
Vincent, however, lingered before Cupid and Psyche. It did not compare with sundry picture postcards he had seen, but it held greater attractions than the portrait of Madame Récamier.