The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-06 00:00:00

EUGENE VERBOECKHOVEN.

An admirable painting—" Cattle Leaving the
Farm-Yard" is the name of it—is now on view at
No. 3, Hanover-square, from the hand of Sydney
Cooper's preceptor, the great animal pain! er,
Eugene Verboeckhoven.
Apart from its mere intrinsic merits, which are
very considerable, the picture here particularized
is at this moment invested with a peculiar interest.
It is probably—in the first instance—the final work
of art that this gifted man's hand will ever pro-
duce. IV-4 that his rinwara are diminishing from
the influence of extreme old age—fur the painting
referred to is proof positive that those powers of
his are now at their very highest, while, as to him-
self, he has yet scarcely reached that mysterious
epoch of 63, distinguished as the " grand climac-
teric.'lhe melancholy reason why this particular
production of Verboeckhoven, will in all human
probability be the last effort of his genius as
a painter, being simply the fact that within a very
few weeks from the date of its completion the great
artist was stricken with blindness !

And now turning to the picture, the production
of which has been thus mournfully signalised, one
can hardly resist the notion that Verbocekhoven
had, in painting it, a certain wonderful presentiment
that it would probably be his last. For in it he
has not only, so to speak, put forth his whole
strength, but in the mere composition of the pic-
ture he has contrived, with extraordinary ingenuity,
to introduce upon his canvass almost every domes-
ticated denizen of the adult's zoological gardens,
almost every homely figure in the child's Noah's
Ark. And yet the creaturea are all of them so
naturally introduced that their singular diversity is
not at the first glance recognisable.
As the title of the picture intimates, the moment
chosen is in that early hour of the morning when
the Cattle are leaving the Farmyard. All the ser-
vants and all the live stock of the establishment
are astir ; the farmer and his family in their
half-seen homestead in the background being
yet a-bad—the window blinds still down,
the chimneys smokeless. Not so the busier
portion of the establishment, whence issue
the farm servants, young and old, with their respec-
tive charges, the herd lowing from the byre, the
flock bleating from the fold, poultry straggling
from the coop, dogs bouncing from kennel. In
the centre of the composition the sheep, headed by
a grand old ram, are being driven out to pasture
by the shepherd ; one of the prettiest episodes in the
whole picture being that of the ew©, caressed by
the two little lambs, jealous of each other. To the
right of the spectator the donkey, with laden pan-
niers, is setting forth marketwards, well laden,
doubtless, with butter and eggs, the goodwife who
guides it carrying in her arms a young kid. To
the spectator's left a boy is playing with a goat,
apparently trying to lead it towards the rustic
bridge that spans a small rivulet, babbling by the
margin of the Farmyard. Thither towards this
bridge moves onwards majestically—sniffing the
sweet breath of the dawn—the lordly bull,
the glint of the early sunrise glancing upon the
rounded tips of his formidable horns : behind stray-
ing out less eagerly, with ruminant countenances,
the cows, red and brindled, driven out from their
stalls by the brawny herdsman. Alarmed, by the
sound of the cattle, for the safety:of his flannel-like,
yellow ducklings, the green-plumaged drake calls
the mother-duck down into the runnel to their assis-
tance—sbe herself taking the water in instant
answer to his summons. A young matron with
her apron full of grain is scattering plenteous hand-
fulls to the clucking fowls at her feet, the ruddy
bantam with his brood of hens and chickens. i An
old dame is dandling an infant in her arms looking
on from within the farm-house over a closed half
doorway. High up by the gable end is the
dove-cot with tho pigeons fluttering hither and
thither, and preening their sleek feathers
in the sunlight. From a garret a contem-
plative cat gazes down upon the whole scene de-
murely. Immediately below the window—being
the glory of the whole picture, by the way—stands
the noblest animal of them all, yet unparticularisecl !
A superb Flemish cart-horse—worthy of Made-
moiselle ROSa Bonheur or Sir Edwin Landseer—
a magnificent creamwhite cart-horse harnessed to a
barrel tumbrel ! The red coated driver lounging
sideways upon the barrel, while his little shock
dog, leaping delightedly about his heels, strives, as
yet vainly, to attract his attention. An umbra
geous elm in all the radiance of its summer foliage
overshadows half the red brick homestead—the
distant stretch of meadowland beyond, trailing off
1 Horizon-wards in the direction of the " fought
field" of
Waterloo. Confused heaps of kitchen
utensils littered towards the centre of the fore-
ground .Iyith their metallic outlines And radiant

surfaces contrast with the verdure of the dockleaves
growing beside them luxuriantly. The effect of
the whole picture is admirably harmonised, and
as a work of art and as a transcript from nature,
it reflects the highest honour upon the genius of
the rarely gifted, but now grievously afflicted
painter, Eugene Verheeckhoven.

COURT PICTURES.

PRIVATE VIEW-(THIS DAY).

At the French Gallery (121, Pall-mall East) we
have this afternoon attended at the Private View of
Four exquisite " Court Pictures"—two of them from
the of John Phillip, R.A., two of them from
the hand of the Court Painter par excelleme, viz.,
Winterhalter.

Now that these remarkable productions are
opened to public view, we cannot doubt but that
the lieges of her Majesty will avail themselves of
the opportunity which is thus afforded them of gra-
tifying their loyal curiosity, by hundreds, or rather
by thousand
As the central picture of the group there is that
famous painting, already familiar to the frequenters
of the Royal Academy exhibition of last season,
Mr. Phillip's really wonderful representation of the
marriage of H.R.H. the Princess Royal to H.R.H.
the Prince Frederick William, now Crown Prince of
Prussia. Re-examining it as it now hangs in the
French Gallery, we are only confirmed in our
opinion upon first seeing it, that it is incomparably
the finest Court Picture, the finest picture of a
Court Pageant, artist ever put upon canvass.
Upon either hand is a noble life-size, full-length
portrait—there, to the right, of H.R.H. the Prince
Consort—there, to the left, of Her Most Gracious
Majesty the Queen. These being from the
courtly brush of Winterhalter. As likenesses they
are, as nearly as possible, for the time at which
they were taken, just perfect. Upon another wall
of the same apartment hang Mr. Phillip's charm-
ing portraiture of H.R.H. the little Princess
Beatrice, tricked out in white satin frock and
shoes, her flaxen hair sweeping back from her
forehead, she herself (with the prettiest little beam-
ing face) holding out towards us, as we stand
gazing at her, what seems, for her, an emblematic
bouquet of blooming primroses.