Arnauds Master Piece at a Romance of the Pyrenees
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O PY R IG HT M D X VII BY C , CCC C , ’ CHARLES sc n l nn nn s so u s 1 0W CH APTER H EAD INGS ’ THE Y OU NG ARTIST IN THE TEM P LARS CHURCH ANGELA IN THE FIELD O F THE po p p s THE DAW N o r BEAUTY ANOTHER V ISION o r ANGELA GAVARNIE AN D H U NA U D THE HERMIT W EDDING MUSIC SILENCED THE DEVO'I‘ ION o r ANGELA ’ THE BEGINNING o r A RNA U D s PENANCE THE CAGOT MAIDEN ’ S A RA NDfi s HOME A TAL K W ITH THE CAGO'I‘ CAR PENTER ’ ARNAUD S FIRST P ICTURE o r S A RANDé ’ BENA Z RA S STORY o r THE CAGOTS ’ THE CAGO'r s c oo n FRIDAY ’ ARNAUD S TEM PTA 'I‘ ION THE STORM AND THE CAVE ’ ARNAUD S co n rsssxo n THE vol ess o r THE CLOISTER A LETTER FROM COUNT RAIMOND ’ H U NA U D S LAST W ORDS ANGELA AND COUNT RAIMOND ’ Ch apter AGAIN IN THE TEM P LARS C H U RC H ’ THE END o r ARNAU D S QU EST ARNAUD pnom sss A N ALTAR PIECE THE ANNUNCIATION , Tm: PICTU RE s MES S AGE TO S A RA NDfi THE YOUNG ARTIST IN THE TE M PLARS ’ CH U RCH N the church of the Tem plats at Luz sat a young man earnestly ainting f some rescos on e walls . H e was working in the fervid spirit that filled the - of painter monks his day. M onks though they were, they loved of their art . They thought it a part their religion . It was not frescos alone that had been painted by this young acolyte . H e had helped to adorn many a missal . of His love beauty was intense, and his surroundings had made him keenly alive f m to what is beauti ul in nature, in usic, and in art. The church where he had painted and sun in his youth was built by the Templars when they came back from the Holy Land, and now in the time soon after the second cru sade of the sainted King Louis it stood there, strong and l f grim , not a church alone but a so a orti cd of lace, a strong guardian the pass c th i that d over e mountains toward Spa n . It still stands on a hill crest in the midst ’ Cburcb . of of a valley, about which rise some the grandest mountains of the Pyrenean chain . Almost all through the summer there was the brilliant white of the snow on the of peaks, seen against the tender blue the so A 3 en uthern sky . lwa there was the gre of lfl ot o grass and trees . even winter to k away the color charm from the meadows and the evergreens . H e had seen the rush of th e rivers in ° the spri me and the quiet repose of their beauty w en under th e summer sun th ey reflected of lovingly the blue the sky. Sometimes great masses ofclou d covered fillin the mountains, and geven the valleys made the road that winds through th e gor e toward Gavarnie a mysterious and wgl pathway leading to realms of dark n w of ess, trembling ith the roar rushing water and th e moaning of the wind among A the Pyrenean pines . mid such scenes h i le h a s crad d been rocked . When he was older the good grandmother wou ld take h im on sunsh iny days out into th e 2 re l Tbc Youn g en meadows in the va ley by the river, g and while she sat and knitted he ran hither Artist and flower in tire yon, sometimes Plucking a , ’ sometimes looking With awe upon the Templarr Cburclx glittering mountains all about him , some . times fascinated by the swiftly flowingriver fresh from its fi erce ru sh through the vast gorge, and not yet calm with the peace that awaits it later after its stru ggle is fi nish ed. Th e youth was born an artist with a high - strung nature that could be thrilled of in its depths by the chord beaut alone, al le but he was so intensely susceptib , even r e rell iou s influ at a ve y early , to every g en 0 all of ce most , to the music the church . f m é f — f His a ily were B arnais armer olk, f but these armers are not like others. — r They are a noble lookin ace, and they are resemb l very proud, ing great y the Spaniards just across the mountains both in r character and appea ance . It was natu ral that even a peasant who came of such a lineage should love the f f beauti ul and the poetic, and eel in his Pride that he could do whatever he wished f m the expression o all th e beauty he knew. 3 l e T01mgNo objection was made when at twelve Artist years of age the boy said he wished to be in tbe a painter ; and he went to study with th e old monk who was pai ntin in the churches ‘ g ’ f St l em lars o . Sauveur and in the p church at Luz . From such teaching the love of art and religion fill?” together in his passionate tu . na re ould they kee even pace, and each holding a hand lead him ever onward in perfect serenity toward th e highest in beauty and the highest in faith or would one outstep the other and choose his path for f him, while the orgotten one lagged behind No such question suggested itselfto the mind of Arnaud de Bearn as he sat paint as ing by his m ter in the church, nor did he once think that such a question might be asked when he heard the solemn chants and joined his voice with the others in of f hymns praise be ore the altar. Th e t of of beau y his colors, the beauty f a of his orms, the be uty the church, the of heavenly beauty the music, the scarcely earthly beauty of the mountains and the - fleec sky, wind swept with flying, y clouds, filled overflo in all his very soul to w g. 4 of t TbeT01m Surely the Lord is a God beau y, sang g Artis his glad spirit . Surely all lovely things in t tu h eaven in tbc na re and in art, in earth and in , ’ Tm larr hold out their hands to each other, and p f mr l o CI c z . rejoice in the Creator all beauty, who made them one in their spirit of grateful worship to him . of on And so the days his youth passed , ever fi lled with a joyous dream and some times with a religious ecstasy . When he returned to his home after he had painted all day in the church, or wandered among fi nd f for the mountains, seeking to li e his r alette in their wond ous tints, even that i l l rifi Th e lu mb e cottage was go ed. great fi re in the room where they cooked and racefu l ate was gorgeous in color, g in vary f of Th e ing orms flame and smoke. ancient rafters were soft with th e tone th at a M comes only with the ye rs . any an artist has loved to paint such a scene . A f t be rnaud elt its beau y ; indeed, he was ginning to know that there was beauty r eve ywhere, and that thought made his f t u —s be li e eager, impe uous, p ringing, cause of the sensuous joy 1: at was about him even when he sang the chants of the church . Tlu Toang It must have been that very sensu ou s ° oy which blinded his eyes and deafened in flu is ears so that he neither saw nor heard ’ Tmplars the Cagots when they went to worsh i in the chapel whence the high altar might seen i t) through an opening the wall, but which was without other connection with the f f main body o the church . His li e was destined to have a closer relation to this m e ysterious P ople , who were separated even in their worship from others who k f a and f nelt be ore the alt r, whose li e in their mountain fastnesses was neither known nor sought to be known by those who worshipped within the Templar of church . This dissonance exclusion had not yet disturbed the harmony of ° that reli ous chord which had thrilled the trem ling nerves of a nature sensitive h in its ighest, and also in its lowest point, r f m to eve y color, sound, or , thought, that had in it a suggestion of the beautiful Nor did he wonder wh y th e women and th arat e men were se ed in their worship . H e did know t at the Templar chu rch was marred as to its beauty of architecture b m y buildi a second story, as it ight cd — a well be cal , in the nave, story sus 6 pended midway in the height of the T!w T01mg Artist columns, and having no relation in con structive thought to the rest of the in ti n church .