Девять рассказов
De Daumier-Smith’s Blue Period
Herbestpicturewasdoneinwatercolors,onbrownpaper.(Brownpaper,especiallywrappingpaper,isverypleasant,verycosytopainton.Manyanexperiencedartisthasuseditwhenhewasn’tuptoanythinggrandorgrandiose.)Thepicture,despiteitsconfiningsize(itwasabouttenbytwelveinches),wasahighlydetaileddepictionofChristbeingcarriedtothesepulchreinJosephofArimathea’sgarden.Inthefarrightforeground,twomenwhoseemedtobeJoseph’sservantswereratherawkwardlydoingthecarrying.JosephofArimatheafolloweddirectlybehindthem—bearinghimself,underthecircumstances,perhapsatrifletooerectly.AtarespectablysubordinatedistancebehindJosephcamethewomenofGalilee,mixedinwithamotley,perhapsgate-crashingcrowdofmourners,spectators,children,andnolessthanthreefrisky,impiousmongrels.Forme,themajorfigureinthepicturewasawomanintheleftforeground,facingtheviewer.Withherrighthandraisedoverhead,shewasfranticallysignallingtosomeone—herchild,perhaps,orherhusband,orpossiblytheviewer—todropeverythingandhurryover.Twoofthewomen,inthefrontrankofthecrowd,worehalos.WithoutaBiblehandy,Icouldonlymakearoughguessattheiridentity.ButIimmediatelyspottedMaryMagdalene.Atanyrate,IwaspositiveIhadspottedher.Shewasinthemiddleforeground,walkingapparentlyself-detachedfromthecrowd,herarmsdownathersides.
