esident Artist

aron Von Lodge was the head of a small country known as Lilliland near Switzerland. The time was the early 1900s.

Over the years, both the Baron and his fiancée Lady Angela of Alpine Castle had received letters from several royal family members recommending various artists to them. The artists needed financial backing to continue their work. Samples of the artists’ work would often arrive by special representative from the royal family member.

The Baron decided that he would establish an artist-in-residence position at Lilliland Castle. Professor Hamblin, the Baron’s chief advisor, was called in to set up the project and establish a committee to select the most worthy artist to participate in the program.

The Baron had a guest cottage on the castle grounds where the artist would be housed. The cottage was in a quiet area so the artist would not be disturbed. It had an adequate kitchen, bedroom and spacious living room with large windows suitable for painting. It was well lighted. The resident artist would be provided with food, and receive a stipend for a period of six months. At the end of the six months he would receive an opportunity to display his artwork at the Lilliland Art Gallery for all the people of Lilliland to see.

The Baron sent word of the artist-in-residence program to all the royal family members who had recommended the various artists to him. All the artists who had been recommended were invited to apply for the position.

The Baron received numerous applications and the royal family patrons thought that the program sounded just fine. The selection of the winning artist was a success and all the others were put on a waiting list.

The first artist selected liked to paint portraits of cats. Part of the castle staff was kept busy rounding up all the cats they could find, to be used as models one at a time. The artist would devote one complete day to paint the portrait of on cat. After all the cats at Lilliland Castle had their portraits painted, Lady Angela was asked to use some of the cats from Alpine Castle. She made sure that some of her favorite cats had their portraits painted.

At the end of his residency the artist donated one of his cat portraits to Lilliland Castle to be put on display in the art gallery.