University of Virginia Library

THE LAY-FIGURE.

IN the ancient city of Cordova, in one of its narrowest
streets (the Calle de San Pedro), there formerly lived
an aged artist, by name Don Diego Gonzales. The two
things he most prized in the world were his daughter and
a lay-figure, the latter being at that time the only one in
the city. And sooth to say, his passion for his lay-figure
was such that it was produced in all his pictures, which
made them to be sought after as those of an original and
unique school, different from any thing in nature; in fact,
so much enamored was he of this thing of wood, canvas,
and sawdust, that he scarcely thought of his daughter,
whose eyes were like brown garnets, her waist like the
stalk of a lily, and her lips like the cleft in a rose with the
early dew on it. Truly the fable of Pygmalion was revived

in Calle de San Pedro, in the ancient city of Cordova.

Not far from his studio there lived a young painter,
who had often seen the beautiful Isadora (for such was the
name of Don Diego's daughter), as she went to mass and
confession, and oftentimes he had sought in vain to pierce
through the gloom of her lattice with his eyes, or meet her,
in his visits to the old man. But all his efforts ended in
disappointment, until, by dint of laying siege in regular
form, that is by sonnets and sighs, accompanied by catgut
and wire, he succeeded in ensnaring the bird; I mean, he
gained her heart completely. The old man took no notice
of these tender affairs, so much occupied was he with his
lay-figure. But for all that, Don Juan de Siempreviva
knew very well there was no hope of obtaining Don Diego's
consent; the old man's experience with artists being such
that I verily believe he would almost have burnt his beloved
lay-figure before he would have given his daughter
to the best of that profession in Cordova. Knowing, however,
that kindness of heart was a prominent trait in Don
Diego's character, Don Juan laid a plan to gain his ends.

It was, to get the loan of the lay-figure; and by dint
of perseverance, not unmixed with flattery, he succeeded.
Now, as it was the custom of Don Diego, after breakfast and

prayers to sit in his studio absorbed in his work until siesta,
and as most of the time the head of the lay-figure was
covered by a cloth to keep it from the flies, it was agreed
that Isadora should adopt the dress of the figure, cover
her head with the cloth, take its place some morning,
and thus be carried off by four stout porters to the lodgings
of Don Juan, where the priest and all things being ready,
the knot could be tied, and a trip to Madrid, followed by
penitence and forgiveness, would make a very pretty little
romantic affair, without doing harm to any body.

The expected morning came at last, and you may be
sure Don Juan waited with some impatience for his prize.
At last the porters entered, bearing it upon a narrow platform,
and as soon as their backs were turned, he drew with
impatience the cloth from the face, and beheld not the
beautiful Isadora, but the waxen features of the lay-figure!
Isadora not being able to effect the change in time, the
lay-figure was borne away, and I assure you the old man
could not have vented more lamentable groans had it been
in reality the body of his own daughter.

Now surprising as it may seem, soon after, Don Juan
became as much enamored of the lay-figure as Don Diego
had been. It was the subject of all his studies, and the
ideal that found a place in all his productions, so that the

connoisseurs of Cordova were puzzled with every new picture,
some pronouncing it to be a genuine Gonzales, while
others as stoutly maintained it to be a Siempreviva. In
the meanwhile the beautiful Isadora, utterly neglected,
pined alone within her chamber, without so much as a
word or look from the faithless Don Juan. And the end
of it was, there arose a deadly hatred between the old and
the young artist concerning the lay-figure; and there was a
hostile meeting in the Paseo, outside the walls, in which
Don Diego was killed; and soon after Don Juan being apprehended
and executed, the beautiful Isadora died of grief.
Her tomb is in the burial-place behind the great cathedral,
with this inscription;

But the lay-figure still remains; and to this day you
can find copies of it in many pictures in and out of Cordova.