Petersburg were of the
husband's marvelously colored works; and when at last the fact became
known to Brullof that the monarch who had honored him through an
intelligent appreciation of art had dishonored him through a guilty
passion for his wife, he left St. Petersburg, swore never again to
set foot on Russian soil or be recognized as a Russian subject, and,
plunging headlong into a wild career of dissipation, was thenceforth a
wanderer up and down the continent of Europe.
It was when this career had borne its inevitable fruit, and he was but
a mere wreck of the polished gentleman of a few years previous, that
Brullof came to the Via San Basilio, where, as soon as the fact
became known, visitors began to call. Among the first were the Russian
ambassador and suite, who were driven up in a splendid carriage, with
liveried attendants; but after the burly Italian had announced to his
master who was in waiting, the door was closed, and with no message in
return the representatives of the mightiest empire on the globe
were left to withdraw with the best grace they could muster for the
occasion. Similar scenes were repeated often during the entire Roman
season. He saw but few of his callers--Russians, never.
The Russian and the American artists became quite intimate during the
few months they were thrown together, and Mr. Brown has acknowledged
that he owes much of the success of his later efforts to hints
received from the self-exiled, dying Russian.
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