Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1867-03-21
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FRI and Husnbug.
Rothermels .'Court of Lincoln"
Rotherme's picture of what (witl
a kind Of grim tacetiousness) is calle'
"The Republican Court in the Day
of Lincoln" was exhibited last eve
ming to numerous party Of gentle
men associated in some way with ar
and literature. Mr.. Rothermel, w
are told, was engaged on the painting
for two long years, and his design ev
identity was to make it sort of com
panion picture TO Huntington's famou
lseRepublican Court In the Days o
Washington" The artist, it must b,
acknowledged, has done his work well
in the main, yet one cannot help re
GREETING that he should have lent hi
genius-which is unquestionably grea
Ito the provocation OF contrasts 81
directly calculated to conjure up disa
greeable reflections in the mind OF ev
cry American at all regardful of thu
honor, the glory, and the good name
of bis country. One of those disa
greeable reflections is, that there il
nothing in the Court of Lincoln-tht
picture before us-at all resembling
the Court of Washington and though
il is scarcely worth the while to spe
officially indicate just where this uttei
lack Of resemblance is most conspicu
Gus, one cannot help an expression o
surprise that the artists ambition
should have tempted him TO expenC
his talent upon so unnatural an ass0
citation Of ideas The Court of Wash
ington was the focus OF brilliant intel
lect, lofty patriotism, and high mora
worth, in man and woman. The illus
trious names which made it histori
cally famous will live forever The
latter day Court, indeed, especially
the heads Of some very good men
peering up in the background, behind
Chase, and Stanton, and Burnside, and
Curtin and Fremont, and other per.
sonages Of that description, but in the
crowd we look, alas, in vain, Tor any
considerable number of fitting com.
panions for the Hamitons, the Jays,
the Madisons, or the Marshalls OF
other days. True, that is not the ar
lists fault. lie could not create some
thing out of nothing-but he need not,
as has already been intimatcd, have
wantonly employed his genius in a
work that makes one realize, 70 a
painful degree, how sadly the stand
ard of craftsmanship, and of all indeed
that coniers true glory upon great
nation, has been lowereds since the
earlier and purer days of the Republic.
Viewed from this standpoint, we are
constrained to say, il is, in many re-
spects, sad picture-and all the sad
der, because in most OF its leading
features il is true to the life The
few relieving countenances that meet
the gaze, in that gaIish throng-for
instance those of the moribund Gen
eral Scott, the heroic Mcclellan, the
gallant Admiral Farragut, the late
Judge fancy, tho late John ]. Crit
tenden, and a few others seem TO
contemplate the scene around them,
under the influence of melancholy re-
Election. No smile lights up any of
their faces. Even the eagle eye of
the old hero of Mexico has lost its
electric fire, and he sits, or seems to
sit there, Marius-like, Eliminating over
the thick-coming misfortunes of his
country, without regard TO the low
comedy that is going on around him.
Nor is this ALL Taste and propriety
are alike offended at the showy, if not
tawdry, costumes, and the ungracelnl
attitudes of not a few of the more
conspicuous female figures. But there,
too, II is not certain that the artist is
open to reproach. Connoiseurs pro-
nounce the picture in this, as in other
particulars, marvellously true to the
Mr. Rothermel, therefore,
should have the benefit of their better
iudgment--even though ones love Of
country, and ones sense of the pro-
pricties, and above all, ones sense of
what is due 10 the glory and good
name of or beloved country, should
he inclined to quarrel with the con-
noiscurs.--N Y. Express