The Picture Of The Year.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XXXIII, Issue 6079, 15 July 1897, Page 4

The Picture Of The Year.

' The pictnre of the year, so far as : , , "affording talk is concerned, will, with- :: out doobt,; be Mr Philip BurneJones's • The Vampire,' in the New Gallery. It is a grim subject, conceived, carried out, and coloured after the aooepted BurneJonesey methods. Yon will, no doubt, Bee lots of reproductions from photos, ;< but they give no/sort of idea of the paint- ■ taffr, which isbhiegrey and gruesome in tone, it represents an anxinio-looking i"" ' man with the shadow of death on his faoo and olosed eyes, lying on a couch. ~ , 'r\Wa chest is bare, and a, bite, evidently 1 made by a Bharp fang, stands out redly on the breast. Over the victim, in a crouohing attitude, hangs a beautiful : woman with a cadaverous countenance • , ; and cruel eyes The canvas somehow , ' suggests Wiertz's (the mad Belgian genius) work, and would hold even the \ ', unlmagiEtivo spellbound for a minute. .. Imaginettien the delight of the private "... jvlewers. the other day when they recognised in the lineaments of the varaipire an unmistakeable Ukenesß to a lovely actress said to be expert at suck- '.; Ing dry golden youth. Presently the charmer herself put in an appearance and stood opposite the painting. Pre- , ; eisely what occurred deponent knoweth not. The lady's objurgative capacities ,'. are alleged to be peculiar and extensive, " and everybody is aware a plaster cast in ;i the neighborhood got accidentally "knocked over. On dit the picture did not distress madam bo much as the third verse of the poem with which 1 Budyard Kipling illustrates his cousin's . Work in the oatalogue. This runs: A fool there was, and he mado his prayer (Even as you and I!) To a rag and a bone and a hank of bair. ) (We called her the woman who did v not care) i j But the fool he called her his lady fair (Even as you and I!) ,Attributing deliberate personality to the ■ third line she ejaculated: "Wot does the littloibounder mean a oallin' me a tag i}n'wbone art,'a'ank of'&irl Its ' downright vulgar and insultin', and I'll have the law of him I will." And from ': all aooounts there is to be a libel case.