Page:Pen And Pencil Sketches - Volume I.djvu/74

Rh would have a “bifstek” at a restaurant, but most of us brought our bread and a sausage or so, or some fruit as the season advanced. This frugal meal was washed down by a drink of water from the atélier fontaine. I should not care to drink that water now, but we had the confidence of youth and had never heard of bacteria or bacilli.

After breakfast the model would resume the pose for another two hours. He or she had to make up the regulation four hours exclusive of rests. Occasionally we clubbed sous together and got the model to sit after the regular hours. Thus a good mornings work had been got through, yet it was still early in the day. Some would remain longer at the atdlier sketching each others’ portraits, others would go to copy at the Louvre or work at home. After a few weeks I was admitted student of the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and would draw there in the afternoon. I was struck with the difference of time allowed for probationership at the Ecole and at our own Royal Academy. There it occupied a week only. At the Academy in my time it lasted three months. Certainly the French who contested for the studentship were more advanced in their studies than my fellow-probationers at the Academy. At the Ecole only one drawing had to be made, and that from the life.

The model sat two clear hours each morning