[ourproject-public] N a negative manner. He had not even

Fri Aug 21 18:30:33 CEST 2009

Our of paradise and an ash as white as snow. But Priam could not
appreciate it. No! He had seen on a beaten copper plate under the
archway these words: 'Parfitts' Galleries.' He was in the celebrated
galleries of his former dealers, whom by the way he had never seen. And
he was afraid. He was mortally apprehensive, and had a sickly sensation
in the stomach. After they had scrupulously inspected the picture,
through the clouds of incense, Mr. Oxford wrote out a cheque for five
hundred pounds, and, cigar in mouth, handed it to Priam, who tried to
take it with a casual air and did not succeed. It was signed
'Parfitts'.' "I dare say you have heard that I'm now the sole proprietor
of this place," said Mr. Oxford through his cigar. "Really!" said Priam,
feeling just as nervous as an inexperienced youth. Then Mr. Oxford led
Priam over thick carpets to a saloon where electric light was thrown by
means of reflectors on to a small but incomparable band of pictures. Mr.
Oxford had not exaggerated. They did give pleasure to Priam. They were
not the pictures one sees every day, nor once a year. There was the
finest Delacroix of its size that Priam had ever met with; also a
Vermeer that made it unnecessary to visit the Ryks Museum. And on the
more distant wall, to which Mr. Oxford came last, in a place of marked
honour, was an evening landscape of Volterra, a hill-town in Italy. The
bolts of Priam's very soul started when he caught sight of that picture.
On the lower edge of the rich frame were two words in black lettering:
'Priam Farll.' How well he remembered painting it! And how masterfully
beautiful it was! "Now that," said Mr. Oxford, "is in my humble opinion
one of the finest Farlls in existence. What do you think, Mr. Leek?"
Priam paused. "I agree with you," said he. "Farll," said Mr. Oxford, "is
about the only modern painter that can stand the company that that
picture has in this room, eh?" Priam blushed. "Yes," he said. There is a
considerable difference, in various matters, between Putney and
Volterra; but the picture of Volterra and the picture of Putney High
Street were obviously, strikingly, incontestably, by the same hand; one
could not but perceive the same brush-work, the same masses, the same
manner of seeing and of grasping, in a word the same dazzling and
austere translation of nature. The resemblance jumped at one and shook
one by the sho
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