The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-29 00:00:00

AMERICAN ART,

One of the most beautiful specimens of art ever
before seen in landscape painting has lately been
executed by Mr. Thomas Hill, the Californian
artist. It was painted for Mr. Bowles, of Paris,
and may be seen at his bureau. The scene chosen
by the artist is the Great Yosemiste Fall in the
Yosemiste Valley of California, and, as a descrip-
tion of the spot is necessary to pourtray the beauty
of the painting, I will quote from the pen of one
who passed days in wandering over the lovely
scene—" The Yosemiste !" As well interpret God
in the XXXIX Articles as portray it to you by
word of mouth or pen. As well reproduce castle
or cathedral by an Italian freize, or broken
column—as this assemblage of natural wonder
and beauty by photography or painting. The
overpowering sense of the sublime, of awful deso-
lation, of transcending marvellousness and unex-
pectedness, that swept over us as we turned our
horses sharply out of green forests, and stood upon
high-jutting rocks that overlooked the rolling up-
heaving sea of granite mountains, holding far
down its rough lap this vale of beauty, of meadow,
of pond and river—such tide of feeling, such
stoppage of ordinary emotions, leaves out rare in-
tervals of my life. It was the confrontal of God
face to face—it was Niagara magnified. All that
was mortal shrank back—all that was immortal
swept to the front, and went down in * * * *
The one distinguishing feature is a double mount
of perpendicular granite, rising from half a mile to
a mile in height, and enclosing a valley not more
than half a mile in width and ten in length. Yose-
miste Fall springs over a rocky precipice far up the
mountain's height, and is broken about two-thirds
of the way down by projecting masses of the
mountain, giving it several hundred feet of cataract
passage ; but, counting its whole distance from top
to bottom, it is 2,600 feet in height. Now it is a
mere silvery ribbon of spray, shooting down its
long passage in delicate rockets of whipped yarn.
Earlier in the season, when ten times its volume of
water pours down, it must indeed be a feature of
fascinating and wonderful beauty. At its base lies
the lovely valley—here, is meadow with thick
grass, there are groves of pine and oak, the
former, exquisite in form and majestic in size,
rising of ten to 250 feet. There are thickets of
willow and birch, bay trees, and logwood and
various flowering shrubs, and winding in and out
among all, flows the pelucid river, rolling rapidly
over soft sands, or staying in wide deep pools that
invite the bather and the boat." Yet as beautiful
as it all is the artist has been true to nature, and,
after days of toil, he has placed on canvas a work
of art which will win for its creator a reputation
that will live for ages. Mr. Hill is an American,
who came over to Europe to study the masters of
the old world, and suddenly, by a wonderful piece
of art, has stepped from the class of students to
the position of the master. This picture is, I be-
lieve, to be shown at the coining exhibition, and,
as a masterpiece, will prove to the world that the
genius of a painter does not spring alone_ from
European soil.—Paris Correspondence of the Anglo-
American Times.