Page:Pen And Pencil Sketches - Volume I.djvu/79

46 Verbist on one or two occasions. He lived in the actual house which had belonged, so it was said, to Rubens. I had heard that “on mange bien en Belgique,” and the dinner was plentiful and recherché. Plenty of plate on the table and side- boards, and by the side of each guest’s cover was placed a little silver rest on which to place the knife and fork between the courses, for these were not supposed to be changed during the meal.

The conversation naturally turned on art and the Belgian painters. Our host spoke with reverential awe of Baron Henri Leys — how he would like to have one of his pictures, but didn’t quite see his way — “the Baron was a difficult man to approach.” This was a difficulty which we comparatively im- pecunious painters did not share with the rich merchant. We had an introduction to, and called upon, the great man, for he had a European repu- tation, and we the greatest respect and admiration for his artistic powers. Leys received us at once in the most genial way, handed us cigars, treating us en camarade, and talking as if he were but a student. He showed us his dining-room, the walls of which were decorated with paintings illustrating a banquet, the arrival and departure of the guests, &c. Small replicas of these were exhibited in the London International Exhibition of 1862. I regret that I can recall little if any of his conversation,