the broad wooden shutters. The floor is covered in simple sisal matting; the comfortable settee in a chintz fabric
the same hue as the walls. Above the settee hang seven
small paintings in ornate frames, clustered together like
icons. Most are Vartan���s own paintings, in oil, of landscapes and buildings in the South of France: St. Remy,
the Luberon, and Tarascon. Throughout the apartment,
small paintings in richly gilded frames beckon the visitor
as if to a shrine. The other furniture in the living room
is old and eclectic. Near the window sits a chair whose
members seem to be made of gnarled branches, a Rococo hermit���s seat. Close to the settee is a low late 19th
HYLAND
