THE AMERICAN
Henry James
Jan 1921 · YouHui Culture Publishing Company
Ebook
667
Pages
reportRatings and reviews aren’t verified Learn More
About this ebook
The American
by Henry James
CHAPTER I
On a brilliant day in May, in the year 1868, a gentleman was reclining
at his ease on the great circular divan which at that period occupied
the centre of the Salon Carre, in the Museum of the Louvre.
This commodious ottoman has since been removed, to the extreme regret
of all weak-kneed lovers of the fine arts, but the gentleman in question
had taken serene possession of its softest spot, and, with his head
thrown back and his legs outstretched, was staring at Murillo's
beautiful moon-borne Madonna in profound enjoyment of his posture.
He had removed his hat, and flung down beside him a little red guide-book
and an opera-glass. The day was warm; he was heated with walking,
and he repeatedly passed his handkerchief over his forehead,
with a somewhat wearied gesture. And yet he was evidently not
a man to whom fatigue was familiar; long, lean, and muscular,
he suggested the sort of vigor that is commonly known as "toughness."
But his exertions on this particular day had been of an unwonted sort,
and he had performed great physical feats which left him less jaded
than his tranquil stroll through the Louvre. He had looked out all
the pictures to which an asterisk was affixed in those formidable
pages of fine print in his Badeker; his attention had been strained
and his eyes dazzled, and he had sat down with an aesthetic headache.
He had looked, moreover, not only at all the pictures, but at all
the copies that were going forward around them, in the hands of those
innumerable young women in irreproachable toilets who devote themselves,
in France, to the propagation of masterpieces, and if the truth must
be told, he had often admired the copy much more than the original.
His physiognomy would have sufficiently indicated that he was a shrewd
and capable fellow, and in truth he had often sat up all night over
a bristling bundle of accounts, and heard the cock crow without a yawn.
But Raphael and Titian and Rubens were a new kind of arithmetic,
and they inspired our friend, for the first time in his life,
with a vague self-mistrust.
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
