Page:Historical paintings of the Slavic nations by Alfons Mucha (1921).pdf/11

 not the least of their problems was how to placate père Michaud, the restaurateur at the corner, and yet continue their system of living upon credit. The young man's position in the world of art and finance was not indeed perceptibly alleviated until Colin commissioned him to illustrate Charles Seignobos’s Histoire d’Allemagne, in collaboration with Rochegrosse, the success of which placed him in the front rank of contemporary pictorial draughtsmen.

Mucha’s Paris apprenticeship was not without its picturesque features. His modest quarters at number 13, rue de la Grande Chaumière were located above the crèmerie kept by Madame Charlotte, a true patron of art and artists. Here used to foregather Strindberg, Gauguin, Vispenskj, the Pole, and the faithful Vácha before his departure for Switzerland. They formed a close and congenial circle, and were in the habit of dining together almost every evening chez Madame Charlotte. Strindberg, always a trifle austere, was at that particular period deeply absorbed in photographic and chemical researches, though often he would mount the rickety stairs and silently survey the pulsing panorama of Paris from the roof-top, or stroll abstractedly in the Cimetière du Montparnasse, meditating upon some novel or play. Gauguin was restless, talkative, and not overindustrious until he returned from his first island sojourn burning with enthusiasm for the primitive solitude and the wondrous Vénus noires he had left behind. And it is interesting in this connexion to recall that it was in Mucha’s humble studio just across the way, at number 10, rue de la Grande Chaumière, that Gauguin