Книга только для ознакомления
.
She has a keen appreciation of art, and it is a pity that the
cares of state might not have been borne by others, leaving her
free to develop her instinct for art."
The Empress Dowager kept eighteen court painters, selected from
among the best artists of the country, and appointed by herself,
whose whole duty it was to paint for her. They were divided into
three groups, and each group of six persons was required to be on
duty ten days of each month. As I was deeply interested in the
study of Chinese art I became intimately acquainted with most of
the court painters and knew the character of their work. The head
of this group was Mr. Kuan. I called on him one day, knowing that
he was not well enough to be on duty in the palace, and I found
him hard at work. Like the small boy who told his mother that he
was too sick to go to school but not sick enough to go to bed, so
he assured me that his troubles were not such as to prevent his
working, but only such as make it impossible for him to appear at
court. Incidentally I learned that the drain on his purse from
the squeezes to the eunuchs aggravated his disease.
"When Her Majesty excused me from appearing at the palace," he
explained, "she required that I paint for her a minimum of sixty
pictures a year, to be sent in about the time of the leading
feasts. These she decorates with her seals, and with appropriate
sentiments written by members of the College of Inscriptions, and
she gives them, as she gives her own, as presents during the
feasts
|
