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234
SÖNYA KOVALÉVSKY
the spirit of the scenery, and its light and shadow.
But as she was very near-sighted, and objected, out of
feminine vauity, to wearing spectacles, the traditional
mark of the student, she never could see auy details of
the landscape, and certainly would not have been able
to tell what sort of trees were growing, or of what
material the houses she passed were built, etc.
Notwithstanding this, in some of her works already
mentioned she succeeds not only iu giving the spirit of
the scenery,—its soul, so to say,—but also exact and
delicate descriptions of purely material details. This
arose, not from her own observation, but from purely
theoretical knowledge. She had a veiy sound
knowledge of natural history. She had helped her
husband to translate Brehm’s " Birds," and, as already
mentioned, had studied paleontology and geology
with him, and had been personally acquainted with
the most eminent natural scientists of our time.
But she was not a very minute observer when it
concerned the small, commonplace phenomena of nature.
She had 110 love of detail, and did not possess a finely
cultivated sense of beauty. The most unattractive
landscape might be beautiful in her eyes if it suited
her mood, and she could be indifferent to the most
exquisite outlines and colors if she were personally out
of sympathy with the scene.
It was the same with the personal appearance of
people. She was utterly devoid of all appreciation of
purity of outline, harmony, proportion, complexion,
and other outward expressions of beauty. People with
whom she was in sympathy, and who possessed some
of the external qualities she admired—these she
considered beautiful, and all others plain. A fair person,
man or woman, she could easily admire, but not a
dark person.
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