New-York daily tribune., 1843-11-15
vOE. HEH. no. Hss.


wall and moat. Every part of 1t is marked by
the most scrupulous cleanliness, and by that neat
simplicity which characterizes most nunnenes.-
At vespers the whole six hundred sisters assem-
bic in the chapel. Their black robes and white
wells are dmy illuminated by the scattered
lamps, and their united voices chant IN chorus
the evening hymn to the Virgin. AL sects may
look with liberation on this institution, for Its
members devote their lives to nursing the sick in
the Hospitals and to chartably relieving the dis
tresses of the poor. They are bound by no vow,
and may return into the world whenever they
please but they boast that sister, after enter
| ing their order, has ever desired to quit it.
From Client to ANTWERP the land is still a
farm garden, up to thevery walls, which so strong
ly ortify the city. First you cross broad moat,
then rampant, then draw-bridge, next wall,
and so on through defence on defence, apparently
perfectly impregnable, until at length you get re-
ally into the city; every one of course remem-
bers the siege which its Citadel, under General
Chase. endured in 1882. The French had
| twelve men to his one, and their overwhelming
weight of metal enabled them to batter every
thing to the ground. Every foot Of wall or
ground was shattered or pierced, and the solid
ramparts were left rent and tottering, as if from
an earthquake. All the injuries have now how
ever been repaired, and the works strengthened
by new demi-lune, SO that they are now ready
for another siege.
Antwerp, is, however, most often remembered
for its Cathedral, one of the largest and finest in
the Netherlands The effect of it's vast interior,
five hundred feet long, and two hundred and fifty
wide, and its triple asles each side is enhanced
by the simplicity of its plan and the pure white
of its walls Its steeple is one Of the loftiest in
the world, -four hundred and three feet) and is
of such delicate and beautiful Gothic workman
ship in it's sculptures, that Napoleon compared it
to Mechlin lace and Charles v said it ought to
be kept in case and shown only on Sundays and
holydays
But the great attraction in the church is the
masterpiece of RuBENs-" The Descent from the
Cross" Innumerable engravings of this great
picture have made its general outlines fami-
liar in The most distant parts Of the world
Imperfect sketches Of it illustrate most of the
family Bibles in America, but no combination of
mere black lines can give the faintes idea of the
transcendent merit Of the painting. We have
the authority of Sir Joshua Reynolds for pro-
nouncing the chief figure one of the finest ever
invented. The head droops over one shoulder,
and the body falls to side with startling simil
itude to read death. 1t is placed upon white
sheet "a bold experiment in coloring which no
one else would have ventured upon. A gloomy
sky saddens the atmosphere; the disciples gaze
tearfully the scene, and the venerable beard of
Joseph of Arimathea sets off the bright beauty
Of the three Marys. Other famous pictures of
Rubens gem the same cathedral, and other
churches in Antwerp; and the Musse contains
twelve, each of them worth princely fortune.
In this great collection is the greatest painting
IN the ,oorld-Ruben's famous crucifxion of
Christ between the two thieves. The action,
the life, the reality-the agony, the horror, and
the: resignation-are here not copies of nature,
but the things themselves. An executioner on
rearing horse is thrustlng spear into the side OF
Christ, whose meek endurance seems to reprove
the horrid contortiors of the impenitent thief,
whose limbs soldier is breaking with bar of
iron, and who has torn in hrs convulslve agony
one of his feet from the tree to which 1t was
nailed The beautiful Mary Magdalen clasps
the cross, and seems to implore the mercy of the
executioner. The good Centurion" at one side
is earnestly watching the sufferers, but the calm
ness which his countenance displays must have
demanded all his Roman fortitude, since / saw
more than Of the spectators OF even this SEM
blance of the terrible scene forced to brush the
tears from their eyes
Though always a warm amateur Of painting,
never before had the least idea Of the miracu-
lous powers of the art when thus employed to
express the daring conceptions of such transcend
ent genius In America we have many very good
paintings, but no great ones. We know nothing
of what the brush can effect. We do not dream
of the new sense which is developed by the sight
Of such masterpiece. 1t Is as If we had al
ways lived In world where our eyes, though
open, saw but blank, and were then brought
into another, where they were saluted by all OBJ
iects and sights of grace and beauty. Such a
new universe is revealed to US by our first visit to
great gallery of paintings. We learn that the
art which we had perhaps merely liked and ad-
nired, as presenting the likeness of friend or of
favorite landscape, or as supplying pleasant or
naments to our rooms, is to be rererenced as the
most perfect organ for the expression of the
highest thoughts of the soul, and the most potent
instrument for exciting the inmost depths OF our
syrpathies.
But little as III our country we know OF paint