Wedding Gift

When Mrs. Charles Augustus Lindbergh pores over her multitudinous wedding gifts in the next few weeks she will inevitably look long and often at one of the largest presents, an oil painting. She will see a quartet of dark, florescent women dressed in bouffant gowns, standing amid blossomy garlands. Handsomely, romantically they represent types of Mexican womanhood-- Spanish, Indian, Mestiza (Spanish-Indian), modern Mexican.

The painting is Flores Mexicanas (Flowers of Mexico) by Ramos Martinez of Mexico City, who took 15 years to perfect his work. It was bought last week by Mexico's President Emilio Fortes Gil, to be sent to Miss Morrow and Col. Lindbergh on behalf of the President and his wife, Dona Carmen Garcia Deportes.

Mexican women are a favorite subject with Artist Martinez. He mingles much with them, in and out of his studio. Swarthy, melancholic, now in his 40's, he was longtime director of Mexico's Academy of Fine Arts. Mexico's artistic progressives, led by Diego Rivera (TIME, May 6) do not count Artist Martinez in their number.

Orthodox in his painting, Martinez has personal idiosyncrasies. He often wears spats and riding breeches simultaneously, though rarely does he mount a horse.