New-York tribune., 1867-08-02


capable Of whatever external elegance of proportion,
or beauty Of OmamentatiOn may be desired. These
things however were always thought OF last as tney
always should be, and indeed they were often not
thought of at all but We're the natural result OF the
good planning of the inside. They grew as dlIectIy
from the natural arrangement OF the rooms anu tneI
belongings, as fine complexion, good teeth, anu
hair, and eyes, grow out of O good digestion ana
healthy lungs With Us, ON the other band the pro
cess of building is directly reversed we tmnKI nrst
of how house is to look outside, and often mate:
rally modify the plan and decrease the comfort OF
the interior in order TO make the exterior SUIT oOI
notions of elegance OF beauty That thus Is so can
hardly be disputed; have data enough In my note
books TO excuse my believing so, az any rare. lhii1
it is all wrong, everybody 1t wopld seem shouia @ a %
lieve that the art of building VIII make much mead
way long as the popular mind runs IN Its present
The Fine-Art Building, designed by Mr.; p B;
Wiqht-the architect Of our Academy OF Design
buildng-and presented TO Yale College by the late
Augustus Russell Street IS Just now the opJeet o.
considerable interest in the town. owing TO the 1ale
School for the Fine-ATts" having opened us nISI
public exhibition of pictures there All tnI?ugdh t?gd
commencement week the galleries were much visited
and the Committee have been good de3 ehc1laffUu f
with the success of their undertaking, MT; Joscyh
with Mr. Jared Flagg and Prof Gilman OF tiie % S%olG
tifc School, have believe taken the most e aco.no
mart i'm getting up this exhibition, and they deserve
great deal of credit for It, There arc Ige llIiy R
pictures here which are new TO New lOIkuS, DC
cause the collection is largely made mp OF the ieaV
ngs of the late exhibition of the Academy ana our
pnblic seems to have left pretty much all there was
tbink There Is no doubt that if the Committee had
had longer time for preparation or had taken
it, they might have made "a much more
original and valuable collection, one that
they would have been justified in asking people
from abroad to and see which, certainly, Is not
the with the present exhibition III they eXpe9I
to do ANYTHING independents, anything that VIII
make their Institution an influence they must take
higher position than that OF beggar OF the cast-OH
or second,h hand canvasSes OF York painters.
Why should they take any such pOsitlonf Here is
Mr. HuntingtOn's great " ChOouTua,' which, certainly,
is as worthless piece OF painting as has been exc
Cuted in principal Newly Ork studio for many years;
and which one was found TO speak good WORD %
for in its own country; yet il has been brought mere
at great expense, and put up IN pace Oh honoi,
as if If were something ValuaDle ltere, 100 VIC
find the latest pictures of such as Edwin White,
Rossiter Sonntag, CTanch, Bristol COlman, Lang,
Tambdin and the rest of this well-knOwn family,
who one would think hardly needed to come to
New Haven for confirmation OF the sentence long
since pronounced upon them in NewloTk. Eastman
,IohnsOn's thoroughly good picture, The tension
Claim Agent the best picture in the last exhibition
of our NewNoTk Academy, is here, and always mas
an admiTing group about 1t. wish III collld nave
gone to Paris instead of his far less interesting De
cause far less truthful. "Old Kentucky HOme"
Among the few pictures by Americans little known,
is one by Allan Gay of Boston, who so seldom sends
anything to public exhibitions that II Is chance
if one in a hundred of your readers ever heard oi
him before. But in Boston he is well known, and
many of his pictures are owned there, beng bought
by such persons have not the fear of BeaGon-st.
before their eyes for IT Is dboo IN all good boston
circles to buy, any picture painted ont OF France
unless it should so well simulate the French manner
as TO be able to deceive the very elect OF course the
best French manner, ike the best English. or the
best anybOdy's manner, is not easy TO simulate ana
accordingly those in Boston who paint IN the trench
style initiate only the second and thiTd-rate artists
such as Couture COurbet CoTot and the rest OF that
clique whose motto is Il they have one. me less
there is of its being taken for Art, and little like
Nature the pictures of the masters look, those OF
their American scholars have still less resemblance
Mr Gay is himself, believe, pupil of one of these
French artists-Of Couture, If am not misak ken-
l. oeah IaeN
dent of her and must not III any case be coniounded
with those Boston gentlemen who honestly make no
pretense OF following nature N thelr Work AT AT lie
is very far from being one of Theses on the contrary
i do not know any American painter whose work
gives stronger impression of individual study of
landscape than his Although have spoken of him
as belonging TO Boston. he lives at bingham, and
has or had, his studio there His pictures, # they
could be collected would give sort of encyclopedia
impression of that part of the Massachusetts, coast
there is most interesting series OF studies along the
COhasset shOTe and by their truth to lis beauty and
grandeur and lohellness, WouG eApialh lle stIong
feeling that il has awakened IN the minds Of her best
poets and writers. Whoever should study these pic
| lures WELL would be better able to enter into the
spirit of Hawthorne and Thoreau, OF Emerson and
Dana, for they are no less faithful reporters than
these mon themselves of the scenery which they
loved and which they have made famous. All this
small text; for his picture in the present exhibit
tion Is a small as indeed, are all of hls that
have seen and Of course cannot fairly be taken to
In conspicuous place, directly over Mr. Aexan- |
der Wusts " Mount Washington, there is hanging "A |
very good specimen of the school OF Boston deYOtees
to French art in the shape OF picture OF the Prodga
Son by Mr. William Hunt. This is very renarkable
production and would doubtless receive great deal |
more attention than it does if il were not directly
over Mr.. Wusts picture, and III the same room with
AllstOn's jeremiah" Wish three such evidences OF
human weakness in room, it is impossible to give
an undivided mind TO the con- mpatOn OF either; |
How wretched could I've with either,
Were tOthcr great monster away"
Mr.. Hunts notion of the PrOdgal Son appears TO |
be that the miserable young man slept ont in damp
places so long that his whole body became covered
with fine crop of fungi. Selling upon this sin |
gular incident, the artist represents him III an adj
Yanced state of mold looking, for al the world, like
q large piece OF fine old StlltOn Mr.. Hunt paints |
these pictures deliberately, and certain setin Bos
ton just deliberately pretend TO admire them, and
do, actually buythem; There Is no frenchman but
Mr. Hunt, and great is his profit But II IS tie mere
whim of halfcultured rich people who follow their
leader as sheep do, and spend their money for any
thing they are told to- people who show just what
their TcutuTe and love of art really worth by buy
ing Mr. Hunts pictures, and lettnL Mr.. JaIyes pre-
eOus collection be scattered to the winds iOr lack OF
purchaser in a city that is never done bOasting OF
its intellectual superiority to the rest OF America
Such things are the true test Of character and the
city that lets Gilman design all her public buildings,
and satisfies her love of Art with Mr. Hunt pictures
and lets Mr. Jarves collection 90, without so much as
single effort to it, had better say aS little as
| possible about Athens.
Jeremiah" finds few admirers as il deserves. 1t
was presented TO the college, you will remember by
Mr. Prof Morse, and the admiration that led him TO
give $1,000 for this picture has been hnmorousy
pressed by the COmmittee, who have hung two por-
traits of 6im-one by Baker and the other by Hunt
ingtOn7-On each side OF his generous u mistaken gt
which seem 10 saw ." If nobody else will leok at my
jeremiah, will' 1t is great pity to have 1t here
it cruelty misrepresents AlstOn being very worst
picture of any important SIZE that he ever painted
In has all his defects without single one OF ls ex
cellences However, the "School Of Fine-ATts' can
not help it. II will, no doubt, Ruya great many bad
pictures and ignorant, enthusiasts people VIII give
Il a great many more Such things are the measles
and mumps of young art institutions in young
country 1t will have the Beirstadt and the Wnst
and the Hunt very badly and may lie in miserable
state of low fever with these symptoms for several
years But if it nave good constitution, and good