New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-08-15

Nv having been seen. One feels as though he
were part of the particular painting he is looking
at, almost expects to hear his painted comrades
speak, and see them move; and when, turning /
from it, the reality comes back, it is almost pain
full to know that what appears so natural is but
the creation Of the artists pencil. God created
all things and, if it is not sacregious to say it,
the artist is his imitator; he calls forth perfect
fac smile Of nature, except that his formations
have not ife still, so ife-like are the paintings
here, they seem as though about to speak, but
held back by some invisible power, or speaking,
though for some reason or other, we cannot hear
them. The floor is always occupied, every ten
feet, by the easels of persons copying these great
works of art, and from their hands, doubtless, |
come many Of the treasured pictures, having the
name, nearly 0bliterated, in one corner, OF Ra-
phael or Guido, which hang in the best positions
on our parlor walls, and are shown to visitors, and
believed by ourselves to be the emanation from
the brain and pencil of some old master. But if
not painted really by the supposed author, the
copy is the pictures second selfso true is every
line, so perfectly conveyed to the other
canvas is every expression, that were the
two placed together, it were impossible to
say which is the original. Indeed, it struck
me, that some of the seconds surpassed the frsts,
but, of course having the name of Jones or Smith
attached to them, would forever damn them in the
eyes of the discerning world. sre Fefs
One of the favorite studies seems to be Our
Saviour and surely it is subject worthy the con-
temptation of any visitor, the thought of any man,
all the artistic skill of any master. There were
several designs of Himafter the Cruciixion-one
especially reeollect. Stretched nerveess on the
ground, lay the body Of our dead Lord; all the
roseate hue of life had fed, and those pale blood
less lips, those agonized eyes, that compressed
mouth, told tale Of mental and bodily suffering,
such as mortal man never passed through before.
10 his human agony was added the capacity Of a
spirit, to feel such mental pangs as the creature
Man is ignorant Of, and coming from the lips of
the Son Of God thow much was expressed in that
burst Of suffering when amid the mockings of
Hell, the apparent desertion of Heaven, the jibes
and taunts of impiods, ungratefnl man, and the
throes of dissolving nature, the cry escaped him,
Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me; vet notmy viii, but Thine, be done" Adam,
created holy, pure, perfect placed in a Paradise
guarded by angels-yet fell from his high estate.
Sin crept IN the first temptation was fatal and he
was driven out into world of labor and pain.
David, the Amounted of God, the chosen Of Israel,
4
4 tempter's nett and how low had man fallen to re-
quire nothing less than the energy, endurance and
holiness of his Maker, to raise his nature again.
above the Of sin. In the picture he still has
on the crown of thorns, each ragged point of
which has entered to the bone, and is marked by
crimson stream. The shattered hands seem just
free from the cruel nails that had torn and mashed
| the tender nerves and lgaments. The spear seems
nn har, 1aff
| the blood following the withdrawal of the cold
steel from the quivering flesh, appears still moist,
and the nail prints in the feet are horribly natural
looking wounds. Then there is another; simply
head and breast of this same divine subject, and
more of mental and bodily agony is expressed in
those fearful, appraised eyes and those suffering
features than it has ever been my fortune to see
put on canvass.
| One of the principal portions Of the painting
department is alarge, high, square room on whose
walls are suspended some Of the finest paintings
now extanti letus enter it. Thatlarge one, just
in front Of us, represents Napoleon in the Plague
house in Egypt. His left arm is extended and the
hand touches The red spot Of leprosy, which a
soldier, with matted hair and ragged beard, has
barred his breast to show. Behind him, on the left,
is an officer, whose fearful face and grasp on his
iHoNSAoA5A o 9AuuAACA pldlulJ SdJt come away -
the contagion has its alarms for him, and every
moment spent there is an hour of fear. To the
right another officer has pushed his handkerchief
into his mouth, thatnone of the malaria may enter
Further in front an hakim is cutting away, with
relentless hand, the diseased part from under the
arm of sufferer, who seems to think it all in vain,
yet has not energy or power either to resist or
court it. Seated on the other side his head rest.
II = I,ss
man, the haggard, settled despair depicted on
whose every feature, tells he has no hope for the
future. The bodies of the dead and forms of the
living are scattered about in every position of
carelessness or pain. In the background the
French flag waves over the mosques and crescents
of Mussulman Egypt It is q very large picture,
and the figures are all life size.
Another painting that drew my notice was one
in the interior Of cave. It shows young woman
dead, wrapped in white cloth, under whose
arms the hands Of an old hermit are placed, sup
porting her, while his long beard descends and
sweeps her forehead At the other end, seated on
low stone his feet in the ready grave, "a young
man, claspng her knees around with both hands,
upon which rests his face, while his long hair al
most touches the rank weeds that grow around.
Lying on the ground close by is the spade used in
Eexeayating the earth, which is now to receive in
return for what it has lost, the human clay.
| also remarked . representation Of the food.
The scene Is the top Of a mountain, from which
grows single small tree This young man has
seized, while with the other hand he clasps the
wrist Of his insensible wife, on whose breast is
clinging an infant crying from fear Of these I'm
wonted surroundings and to her long, disheyeled
hair, boy Of ten, lower than the rest, whose feet
just escape the rising waters has laid hold with
all the energy Of despair. The old father ciings
round the neck Of the man, who sustains, besides,
this three-fold burden, and the expression Of his
face i indeed one Of woe and anguish when the
tree cracks and gives way and he sees his loved
ones about to sink beneath the waves, which
already dash their spray up into his face.
stiil another picture, was raft at sea- made of
pians and broken pieces Of the wreck, on whichlie
the tsmished, hunger-strcken bodies of the living
ana the corpses Of the dead a sail has appeared
above The horizon, and two casks are placed the
one on the other, while from the top q man waves
a torn shirt with the power 81 newly aIvslsned
hope. eh9Aa oaf '3''''''iS-
Two Of the largest pieces are Christ At the bouse
Of Lazarus, while Mary washes his feet with bsr
tears and wipes them with the HAN Of her head .
and Jesus at the marriage feast at Gamma Of Cali.
lee, where he changed the water into wine. An
these are portrayed in life size so that one seems