New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-07-10


age face Of a bullying stone-mason, and the pro-
truding cheek bones Of highland blacksmith,
with the perceptive faculties swelling out in q
bar above his deep eyes in short, ne presents
the rough sketch Of the noble face which we SEES
realized in his friend and cotemporary, Sebas-
tian del Piomhn, whose front and beard are like
the Phidian Jove, and who might have served
Buonarotti as model for his Moses. In all the
faces you may discern the truth Of the remark
made by that acute observer and good, pious
visionary, Lavater, that the eyebrows Of the
English and the noses of the French are the
chief features Of their respective great men.
Henry the Fourth, ,,Sully, Montaigne, are all re-
markable for the bold broad-ridged nose, with
its dilatable nostrils; and Shakespeare, Bacon,
Newton, have all the low, full, meditative eye
brows the very reverse of the fantastic, high
arched, wandering ones Of Francis the First.
" Non cuique datum est habere nasum " Gt is
not given to every one to have a nose1 says La
water plaintively, forgetting that to some the
gods grant too much nose, as he might have
seen in moment in the looking glass.
The painters form here an interesting series:
from the monastic, calm, pious contemplatiye
faces of Fra Angelica and Masaecio, with VII, M
painting was rather aspiration and reli-
gious duty than q trade,to the solemn, aris-
tocratic Venetians, who became rich and emo
bled by their art, and the great men who pur-
sued art as passion, Ike Michael Angelo,
the Barseker, and Raphael, sweet-eyed and
sanity, and so to the full blooded, vigorous
Flemings, with whom Art was both a trade and
q dignity but not religion. How we group them
together when we think Of Titan visited by
Michael Angelo, the friend of Raphael and
Gluho Romano: or of Velasquez walking at
light with Claude and Poussin on the rampant
IT ..ome, while Guido was painting his Sc Auro-
~ IN the same city, and Albano too was there
not Idle, or we see Rubens, very king among
painters, busy at his s Descent from the Cross
while robust Jordaens and Snyders, Brauwer
and young Teniers are looking on. Here is
Giotto, whom Cimabue took from tending sheep
| and the Carracci, the SONS Of poor tailor, like
Andrea del Sarto; and here is the slow, sure
witted Domenichino, whom the savage cut
| throat Spagnoletto prosecuted to death; and
| Guido, the Carracci's pupil, who escaped with
| difficulty the same fate only to die more miser-
able than CoTreggio. We see here those enthu-
| siasts TO whom Art was all in all: who sat be-
side the galley slaves as they toiled, to watch
| the straining muscles, and who exposed them
selves to the risk of shipwreck for the sake of a
4 marine effect
Among the great composers we see the usual
popularity Of the physiognomy, following the
| changes of century Palestrna is austere
and calm; Cimarosa sensual and fat; Haydn
has little Of the petit-maitre about him but
| the democratic Beethoven, whom he prophesied
would turn out d mere pianist, looks sublime,
with his deep eyes, suffering face, and hair like
a wild beasts name.
There are several casts here of the Caesar
Like head Of Napoleon. the very type of domin-
ion and serene, cold, imperturbable wisdom !;
but Canovas and Thorwaldsen's busts, though
both grand and calm, fail in point Of actual
portraitufe when compared with the miniatures
Of Isabel, or the leonine faces that Delaroche
and David have painted. In Isabel you trace
| he great Corsican, from the pale, cynical, mel
ancholy young officer Of artillery, and the
grave, conscious dignity Of the Consul, to the
unhealthy and habby features of the latter
, Emperor, when, as Lamartne seys, his face ap-
peared as if gilded by the bile that tinged his
blood, and when his head habitually hung
! down, like Wordsworth's, heavy with trance
, | like meditation and le petit capordF' of the
Fantassins had become, in the soldiers language,
'' ie pere Pensif'' of the Old Guard. Round
this eagle cluster the eaglets Here are all the
Marshals, whom his keen eye detected, like Al
exander, in every rank of life Murat, the
. landlords son; Junot and Ney, the poor pri~
! | Yates; Bernadotte, the brave sergeant; Mas
sena the winners boy; and kieber, the young
architect. Here, too, is Hache, the stable-boy,
who once dared to land in Ireland; Moreau, the
: > renegade, and Desaix, whom Bonaparte wept for
: at Mareng0; and Lannes, whose mind, he said
: was continually growing, and who resembled an
old Roman rather than French Marshal. OF
this invincible band few we're native French
' men. Junot was Swiss, Macdonald Scotch
man, and Kellerman, and Kleber were Germans
4 Here is klebler who Napoleon said sometimes
: slept, but when he awoke it was the awakening
| of the lion, looking eager as if to trying to
| pierce the battle smoke, appraised like VULGAR
y starting from his forge; Hoche, handsome as
4 Murat, and less theatrical than that So King
~ Franconi;" and Mareau, proud, beautiful, and
il cruel as Catiline
= The poets muster strong, and elbow the very
" kings who lei them starye Here is that Cor
n nellie, whom Racine petitioned for so warmly
,i r1,p WI a1a Aia1 ~, Nv orC
e neglect, while France was still reading thu
If : Cid u with wonder and delight. Here is Tas
4 so, sad-eyed, but calm; Ariosto, vivaeious ant
is wild; Dante, thin checked and suffering; Me
e tastasio, the boy who was found poor impro
10 pisatore in the streets, now full-wigged ant
r heavy -ioled; Petrarch, dignifed and majestic
d and Goldoni, intelligent and acute.
ID One may read q nations history here in tht
IS faces Of its kings In crowned murderer ant
/: crowned adulterer you may trace every grada
,s ton of human eriminality and human folly
T. from the lust and vanity of Francis the First t.
a the blood sucking fanaticsm of Charles tn
J, Ninth-the Inflated greed of Louis the Four
IS teenth, and the refined degradation of Loui
D. | Qlinze. Here is Louis the Eleventh, his Wrin
IN kls1 iAce drawn down with superstitious terror
70 an! wrnng Ivy fear rather than by repentance
r tIeHry the Fourth, bold and sagacious, but un
sc rrircret, vain and lewd; Charles the Ninth
h. seIt Of royal pickpocket with hang-dol
u, JdCh E9IeUPsTu iuCe, uloie Ab 1uI tuo Shlic
ld bench than the seat of state; Francis the Firs
= headstroug and weak; Louis the Twelfth, ugl
n and heartless, in spite of Brantome's opinion
is that he had Sun usage dour ct bon - an
At Louis the Fifteenth, with his retreating for
he head, feshy jole and sensual under lip.
OF Behind these come a crowd of illustrio,
liz Frenchmen. Voltare, the incarnation of
an sneer. with his hollow piercing eye, projeetil
in under lip and pointed chin; Descartes, viii
I'd furrowed and haggard, the most imaginati
th looking of severe thinkers who explains
OF creation by the most absurd and poetical hyp
he theses, and convinced himself that there was
ed God by the most daring speculations. Here
OF Suli7. the very model of a statesman; gray
:" wise and thoughtful, strangely contrasting wi
rd the fixed, stony faces and compressed lips
he such modern diplonatists as Manteufel al
h- Won Stein.
life On the antique casts we have no room
he sneak 1t is singular to observe that when I
ed Greek atroye to convey low type OF humanlt
en as in the Faun OF Silenus, its face has Europe
nd anologies. The Roman heads resemble ours
es, many respects: aud the depraved women Of =
Ike Imner:al times, US Faustina, Agrlpplna, ct
ose have the hard round forehead and small We
IL chin which became the marked feature OF
ore Louis Quinze age, or may be traced IN :
inc sleanveya1 Ianouid beauties of Ley ana