On one occasion, Cano’s housekeeper, with an excess of audacity, had actually brought one of these penitenciados into the house, and was buying some linen of him; a dispute about the price caused high words, and the master came, hearing a disturbance. What could he do? he could not defile himself by laying hands on the miscreant, who got away while the wrathful artist was looking for some weapon that he could use without touching him. But the housekeeper had to fly to a neighbor’s; and it was only after many entreaties, and performing a rigorous quarantine, that she was received back again.
CANO’S RULING PASSION STRONG IN DEATH.
His passion for art, and his eccentric notions respecting the Jews, were strongly manifested in his last sickness. He lived in the parish of the city which contained the prison of the Inquisition. The priest of the parish visited him upon his death-bed, and proposed to administer the sacraments to him after confession, when the artist quietly asked him whether he was in the habit of administering it to the Jews on whom penance was imposed by the Inquisition. The priest replying in the affirmative, Cano said, “Senor Licenciado, go your way, and do not trouble yourself to call again; for the priest who administers the sacraments to the Jews shall not administer them to me.” Accordingly he sent for the priest of the parish of St. Andrew. This last, however, gave offence in another form; he put into the artist’s hands a crucifix of indifferent execution, when Cano desired him to take it away. The priest was so shocked at this, that he thought him possessed, and was at the point of exorcising him. “My son,” he said, “what dost thou mean? this is the Lord who redeemed thee, and who must save thee.”—“I know that well,” replied Cano, “but do you want to provoke me with that wretched thing, so as to give me over to the devil? let me have a simple cross, for with that I can reverence Christ in faith; I can worship him as he is in himself, and as I contemplate him in my own mind.” This was accordingly done, so that the artist was no longer troubled by an indifferent specimen of sculpture.
RIBALTA’S MARRIAGE.
Francisco Ribalta, an eminent Spanish painter, studied first in Valencia, where he fell in love with the daughter of his instructor. The father refused his consent to the marriage; but the daughter promised to wait for her lover while he studied in Italy. Ribalta accordingly went thither and devoted himself to his art, studying particularly the works of Raffaelle and the Caracci, and returned, after a considerable time, to his native country. Quickened by love, he had attained a high degree of excellence. On arriving at the city of Valencia, he went to the house of his beloved, who meanwhile had proved faithful; and her father being away from home, he finished the sketch of a picture in his studio, in his mistress’ presence, and left it to produce its effect upon the hitherto inflexible parent. The latter, on returning, asked his daughter who had been there, adding, with a look at the picture, “This is the man to whom I would marry thee, and not to that dauber, Ribalta.” The marriage of course took place, immediately; and the fame of Ribalta soon procured him abundant employment.
APARICIO, CANOVA, AND THORWALDSEN.
Aparicio, a Spanish painter who died in 1838, possessed little merit, but great vanity. Among other works, he painted the Ransoming of 1700 slaves at Algiers, which occurred in 1768, by order of Charles III. When the picture was exhibited at Rome, Canova, who knew the man, told Aparicio, “This is the finest thing in the world, and you are the first of painters.” Soon after, Thorwaldsen came in and ventured a critique, whereupon the Don indignantly quoted Canova. “Sir, he has been laughing at you,” said the honest Dane, to whom Aparicio never spoke again.
BARTOLOME ESTEBAN MURILLO.
This preëminent Spanish painter was born at Pilas, near Seville, in 1613. There is a great deal of contradiction among writers as to his early history, but it has been proved that he never left his own country. He first studied under Don Juan del Castillo, an eminent historical painter at Seville, on leaving whom, he went to Cadiz. It was the custom of the young artists at that time to expose their works for sale at the annual fairs, and many of the earliest productions of Murillo were exported to South America, which gave rise to the tradition, that he had proceeded thither in person.