Old legend? Painter's curse.

[vepxistqaosani]

In _Amazing True Stories_ by Don L. Wulffson (New York: Scholastic,
1991), there appears a story entitled "Portrait of Death"in which it is
alleged that there was a painter named Andre Marcellin who began work in
Paris in 1907 painting landscapes. He refused to do portraiture,
claiming to be afraid for some reason.

Finally, he paints a portrait. Two days after taking delivery of the
finished work, the subject dies.

Etc., etc.: eventually the artist's fiancee and the artist himself fall
victim to this dread curse.

My 4th grade daughter, who was reading this, was skeptical (so I must be
doing something right). We have been unable to find any mention of Andre
Marcellin on the Web (except in a review of another kids' book) or in a
real library.

So I'm guessing it's a legend. Anyone here ever come across this one?

Fred

[Nathan Tenny]

In article <3749E5D0...@sprynet.com>,

vepxistqaosani <fb...@sprynet.com> wrote:
>In _Amazing True Stories_ by Don L. Wulffson (New York: Scholastic,
>1991), there appears a story entitled "Portrait of Death"in which it is
>alleged that there was a painter named Andre Marcellin who began work in
>Paris in 1907 painting landscapes. He refused to do portraiture,
>claiming to be afraid for some reason.
>
>Finally, he paints a portrait. Two days after taking delivery of the
>finished work, the subject dies.
>
>Etc., etc.: eventually the artist's fiancee and the artist himself fall
>victim to this dread curse.

[skepticism snipped but noted]

This is in effect the plot of the Edgar Allan Poe story "The Oval Portrait",
ennit? The emphasis has changed somewhat---in the story, if I remember
aright, the idea is that the portrait draws its vividity and vitality from
the lifeforce-or-whatever of the subject (the painter's wife), and she dies
upon completion of the image. The differences are essentially those needed
to give the story legs in a modern setting; people seem to go in for ULs that
invoke supernatural effects in a not-quite-falsifiable way.

In the part I snipped there was mention of the same story appearing in a
review of a children's book on the Web; I'm guessing the book is Jim Razzi's
_Portraits of Death_, reviewed twice at
<http://www.co.henrico.va.us/schools/brooklnd/portraits.htm>
It's interesting to note that the story has mutated even as we watch; in the
version described there, it sounds like the artist does paint landscapes, but
his real strength (and the reason people want him to paint them) is portraits
of the already deceased.

NT
--
Nathan Tenny | Words I carry in my pocket, where they
Qualcomm, Inc., San Diego, CA | breed like white mice.
<nten...@qualcomm.com> | - Lawrence Durrell