Cameos

# CAMEOS: SHORT STORIES BY MARIE CORELLI

This 1901 collection, published by Street & Smith, contains stories by the prolific author Marie Corelli. The opening story, "Nehemiah P. Hoskins, Artist," concerns a vain American painter in Rome whose magnificent painting of Apollo pursuing Daphne draws the narrator's admiration—despite Hoskins's insufferable ego and self-aggrandizement. When the narrator rescues an injured dog and returns it to its owner, the fair Italian artist Giuletta Marchini, a shocking revelation emerges: the exquisite "Daphne" that Hoskins displays and prices at fifteen thousand dollars was actually painted entirely by Marchini herself. The story explores artistic theft and exploitation, examining why the talented woman permits Hoskins to claim credit for her masterwork.