Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1865-02-16

lOb DGSu IUdulltSbtu lOI years. MGEb-
ings are being held in various school
districts in town, and many have ex-
pressed hope in the saving influences
Of the capitalization Messenger.
Mr.. HoPR's PAINTING.-W copied not
long since criticism of the great his
torical painting of " the Army of the
Potomac" now on exhibition in New
York by Capt. James Hope, Of Castle
ton. That criticism, taken from the
New York World, was the only enc we
had then seen. We now copy below a
notice of the painting from the New
York Independent, which is more ia &C
cordance with our own impressions of
it's merits:
Mr.. James Hopes historical picture
of The Army Of the Potomac" is now
on exhibition at the Derby Gallery, in
Broadway. The canvas is of heroic
size and groups eighty thousand men.
The scene is the Encampment at Cum
berland Landing on the Pamunky Riv-
er, in the days Of Gen. Mcclellan and of
unfulflled expectations This was
the only occasion, says the artist, ION
which any one of our large armies was
ever enCamped on single field. On
this field, two, by three miles, were en-
camped for single night only the
whole army of the Potomac" Mr.
Hope, at the time Of taking his original
sketch, was captain of volunteers
and it is fortunate that so faithful an
artist was on the spot to seize and cele-
brate the memorable scene. Nor another
military view of equal splendor has
been witnessed during the war.
In this work Mr.. Hope has tried his
hand in a new department of art, and
tried it triumphantly. Heretofore
known and valued by the best artists
rather than by the great public, he now
offers work to the verdict Of the pop
ular eye and heart. We have always
ranked Mr.. Hopes studies from nature
as the best we have ever seen. Many
small canvases, on each of which he has
spent the loving labor of many days,
testify to the pure-minded, meditative,
devout genius Of man whose merit is
far beyond that OF many Of his better
known competitors. With what poetic
delicacy and simplicity, and yet with
what realistic complexity Of details, he
renders tangled thicket, q flowing
brook, a jagged rock, moist moss
As q painter of natures mtltitudinous
niceties, as a rare discerner of the spirit
OF her retired places, as a sober poet of
her holy melancholy, no artist has
proved himself more skillful, penetrat-
nd of ~ 10 oh nj
for subjects, he would doubtless often
choose such as these in preference to
any other. But as no man wishes to
work in routine, or to bind himself to
1xiOns wheel, Mr.. Hope has here made
q bold attempt upon new theme, pro-
ducing work for which he has already
refused an eager offer of ten thousand
dollars. The remarkable fidelity of the
picture to the reality has already been
evidenced by many Witnesses
among them Major General Hancock
and other military officers. To our
personal knowledge, one OF the best
landscape painters in this country
thinks that Mr. Hopes present work,
for one of its kind, has never been ex-
celled in American art. (
The artist, moreover, Is a genuine
patriot. whose blood took fire at the
challenge of treason, and who, throwing
away his brush for sword, served an
honorable period in the war, and re-
turned to his profession to show, as Gen.
Mcclellan was SO fond of showing, how
great thing is an army on paradel
We congratulate Mr.. Hope on producing
one of the most valuable and popular
pictures of the war. And God grant
that the war may soon remain only in
such pictures .#