No one entertained any doubt as to the presence of an evil power in the usurer.They said that he imposed conditions which made the hair rise on one's head, and which the miserable wretch never afterward dared reveal to any other being; that his money possessed a strange power of attraction; that it grew hot of itself, and that it bore strange marks.And it is worthy of remark, that all the colony of Kolomna, all these poor old women, small officials, petty artists, and insignificant people whom we have just recapitulated, agreed that it was better to endure anything, and to suffer the extreme of misery, rather than to have recourse to the terrible usurer.Old women were even found dying of hunger, who preferred to kill their bodies rather than lose their soul.Those who met him in the street experienced an involuntary sense of fear.Pedestrians took care to turn aside from his path, and gazed long after his tall, receding figure.In his face alone there was sufficient that was uncommon to cause any one to ascribe to him a supernatural nature.The strong features, so deeply chiselled; the glowing bronze of his complexion; the incredible thickness of his brows; the intolerable, terrible eyes--everything seemed to indicate that the passions of other men were pale compared to those raging within him.My father stopped short every time he met him, and could not refrain each time from saying, 'A devil, a perfect devil!' But I must introduce you as speedily as possible to my father, the chief character of this story.
"My father was a remarkable man in many respects.He was an artist of rare ability, a self-taught artist, without teachers or schools, principles and rules, carried away only by the thirst for perfection, and treading a path indicated by his own instincts, for reasons unknown, perchance, even to himself.Through some lofty and secret instinct he perceived the presence of a soul in every object.And this secret instinct and personal conviction turned his brush to Christian subjects, grand and lofty to the last degree.His was a strong character: he was an honourable, upright, even rough man, covered with a sort of hard rind without, not entirely lacking in pride, and given to expressing himself both sharply and scornfully about people.He worked for very small results; that is to say, for just enough to support his family and obtain the materials he needed; he never, under any circumstances, refused to aid any one, or to lend a helping hand to a poor artist; and he believed with the simple, reverent faith of his ancestors.At length, by his unintermitting labour and perseverance in the path he had marked out for himself, he began to win the approbation of those who honoured his self-taught talent.They gave him constant orders for churches, and he never lacked employment.
"One of his paintings possessed a strong interest for him.I no longer recollect the exact subject: I only know that he needed to represent the Spirit of Darkness in it.He pondered long what form to give him:
he wished to concentrate in his face all that weighs down and oppresses a man.In the midst of his meditations there suddenly occurred to his mind the image of the mysterious usurer; and he thought involuntarily, 'That's how I ought to paint the Devil!'
Imagine his amazement when one day, as he was at work in his studio, he heard a knock at the door, and directly after there entered that same terrible usurer.
"'You are an artist?' he said to my father abruptly.
"'I am,' answered my father in surprise, waiting for what should come next.
"'Good! Paint my portrait.I may possibly die soon.I have no children; but I do not wish to die completely, I wish to live.Can you paint a portrait that shall appear as though it were alive?'
"My father reflected, 'What could be better! he offers himself for the Devil in my picture.' He promised.They agreed upon a time and price;and the next day my father took palette and brushes and went to the usurer's house.The lofty court-yard, dogs, iron doors and locks, arched windows, coffers, draped with strange covers, and, last of all, the remarkable owner himself, seated motionless before him, all produced a strange impression on him.The windows seemed intentionally so encumbered below that they admitted the light only from the top.
'Devil take him, how well his face is lighted!' he said to himself, and began to paint assiduously, as though afraid that the favourable light would disappear.'What power!' he repeated to himself.'If Ionly accomplish half a likeness of him, as he is now, it will surpass all my other works: he will simply start from the canvas if I am only partly true to nature.What remarkable features!' He redoubled his energy; and began himself to notice how some of his sitter's traits were making their appearance on the canvas.
"But the more closely he approached resemblance, the more conscious he became of an aggressive, uneasy feeling which he could not explain to himself.Notwithstanding this, he set himself to copy with literal accuracy every trait and expression.First of all, however, he busied himself with the eyes.There was so much force in those eyes, that it seemed impossible to reproduce them exactly as they were in nature.
