New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-10-16
GREAT EXHIBITION. No. XIX.
Examination OF Objects or Art-The East, Rus
STA. sweden. Denmark. the Zoiiverein-
England and France.

England and France.
Correspondence Of The NowYork Tribune.
LONDON Wednesday, Sept. II, 1851
Having now passed in review the various
products Of Industry contained In the Cystai
Palace, we complete our survey of It's treasures
by an examination Of the sIatuary ant other o.
lects appertaining more exclusively 10 the DO
main OF Art.
And, in the first piace, we remark that tho
East has nothing which answers to the Euro.
pean ideal Of statuary and of painting. Tho
enormous masses of roughly .hewn stone, which
personify the cIie conceptions Of Oriental
theology, reposing IN the shadow OF their sacred
groves and temples, and the smaller deities OF
bronze and clay, which we encounter among the
collections OF the Great Emporium can hardly
be admitted into the category of Art, their grin.
ming vlsages, misshapen bodies, and mnumera-
Bile arms, recalling the manifold uglinesses Of
the monkey, the toad, and the crab, and seeming
to be the result Of q tendency downward toward
the Brute rather than of ali aspiration upward
toward the Angel. For the human race always
makes to itself god after its own likeness and
lis ideal Of the Infinite. thus embodied IN con-
crete form, not only corresponds to the actual-
II is derived, but also, through an inevitable
reaction, reflects back It's shining or It's shadow
upon this lower sphere and II Is not surprising,
therefore, that the hideous degradation Of the
great mass oil the people, aid especially OF the
women, III Oriental societies, should have failed
to inspire that reverence for the human form.
that poetic presentment of it's possibilities,
which, growing out OF the nObier conditions OF
GrecIan development, peopled the ambrosIaf
SUBMITS Of Olympus with those glorious Ideals
OF classic Art which arc ut once the aposhe0slss
and the still.uniulhued prophecy OF Human
Beauty.
Moreover, IN Mohammedan countries the Imi-
tatlOn OF the human io.m, and OF all living crea-
lures, IS strictly forbidden by the Koran, and the
hussumans never fail 20 ask OF Western artists
whom they see sketching the people and ami
mails around them, " What vii; thou answer to
these figures Of thy creating, when, at the day OF
judgment, they demand Of thee soul ?" To
escape being met by % embarrassing question,
a Turkish or Arabian artist IN painting n city.
takes good care 10 leave out its inhabitants II
he portray battle, the cannons are seen going
OF, apparently Of their own accord, boat upon
the water is foatct onward by selfacting oars.
and only bales OF merchandise, strings VI pearls
ard baskets Of fruits and flowers are 10 be- seen
~ the baZaaTs
The verltabe>eXpresolon of Oriental Art must
ne sought IN the lnimilable blendlngs of colors
and lights, which give to ell its products rich
ness and dehcacy, bTilliance and soiiness, that
distinguish them rom those Of all other regions,
and IN the endless lnyolutlons OF its arabesques,
where the elements OF every possible line and
curve, decomposed TO nfnty, are reconbIned
with fertility OF Imagination, Of graceful and
harmonious lnteIMlnglDg, that seems mex
haustlble. These fanciful creations, wherein
everything Is arbitrary, abstract, drawn from
nothing, whose types have 10 existence in IA.
tuTe, whose cadence Is surely mathematical
rythm, made up Of fragments Of circles ovas,
squares and angles, flowers, and few Arabic
letters, are oiten beautiful and interesting 10 .
nigh degree, ana pany an Eastern artist, en-
cumscrted within these seemingly narrow lin.
It's by the supersIitions Of his creed, has layshed
on the coordination OF these complicated slnu-
ositles Valthiul reiiexcs of the vague dreams Oh
oriental philosophy treasures OF Inventive
genius that would have rendered HIN, under
other auspices, the successful rival OF Raphael
or Michael Angee
mibarbaTDus Russia, as we have already
Observed, sends neither statuary nor pictures,
although the exquisite painting OF her pofceiains
would have led us to expect something more
from the pencils OF her artists
sweden exhibits "Shepehrd Boy by NO
I'm; small, but we'll executed, and OF very PlesS
ing effect.
Denmark has few casts from Thorwadsen;
q bust oi Hans Christian Andersen, the reBo"he3