The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-02-24

coming Royal Academy Exhibition, derives
it's subject from the pathetic conclusion Of
the "Alcestis' Of Euripides, the story Of
which may be thus briefly recalled:
metus, the friend of Apollo, married Alcestis,
and when his time came for death the Fates
consented to prolong his life il another per-
son would die in his stead; and this Acestis
did. She, in the picture, lies supine on o
bier beneath canopy which hangs from
trees near the sea-shore Her figure is
statue-like, with ordered limbs, hair and
dress; few red flowers are scattered upon
it. Hercules struggles with Death, who has
come to take his due; and in the wrestle bends
his antagonist firmly across his knee, as if
to give back-fall. Admetus, old and hoary,
stands behind the bier, sustaining in his arms
o damsel of his house who has sought refuge
there in her terror. The attendants are
gathered at the head of the bier and form o
grand group; among them are two virgins
with rose-garland and funeral vases; the
grave is in front Beyond the figure of
Admetus the sea is seen, a vast and purple
plain, under thunderous sky. The most
striking figures of the design are those of
Hercules and Death; the latter is livid form,
hardly less muscular than his enemy, whose
brawny and golden-hued flesh and robe of
lions hide contrast strongly with the mortal
pallors of the other. The picture is of
large size, about eight feet in length by more
than hve feet IN height.
Mr. V. Prinsep has in hand, and will
probably contribute several if not all the
following pictures to the next Royal Academy
ExhibitiOn:-1. ''The Death of Cleopatra"
The queen is seated in chair in the atrium
of the temple-tomb which she built for
Antony, and before his grave, where fire
burns on q tripod. Iras, with arms extended,
lies dead at her mistress feet; her head is
towards us, and the figure is successfully
foreshortened. Chairman turns to the sol
dier who approaches with Caesars message.
Ranges of columns, with their superincum-
bent architecture, form the background.
2. Coming Home from the Garden"
young lady standing at a
rustic gate which opens to a house. 3. "a
Dish of Tea," a damsel in the costume of
Queen Annes days, entering a room, push
ing back its doors before her and bearing in
her hands rich tea-equipage. 4. "a por-
trait of Mary Wyndham," a girl walking in
field with flowers in her lap. 3. "a Lady
reading Sir Charles Grandson, ," and seated
at a small table in q chamber with a book
before her, looking as if rapt in its pages and
besitating to turn the leaf which her fingers
| hold. This artist has been commissioned to
design for the Art Department large pic
ture, to be wrought in mosaic, and represent
students receiving prizes which they have
won in competition. When finished this
work will be placed in the Examination Hall
| at South Kensington.
The legacy left to the Louvre by the late
| NJ Lacaze has been received by Count Neu-
werkerke, who is now preparing the Sale des
| Anciens Etats, lately devoted to the pottery of
the Campana Gallery, for the reception of the
collection, and has continued M. Thuillier in
the post of conservator, which he held for
many years under M. Lacaze.
| Every nook and corner of NJ. Lacaze's hotel
were crammed with pictures, and the experts
have valued the collection at about two mil
lions of francs. M. Lacaze was a good Judge,
and what he bought he never parted with; the
| consequence is that many admirable works
| which had fallen out of view will now be
brought to the light of day. The MoBtteur
des Arts gives pretty full account Of the
collection, and we extract SO much of it as is
likely to interest the general artistic world.
M. Lacaze was great lover of the French
school of the seventeenth and eighteenth GEN.
turies. Of the Louis Quatorze period the
most remarkable works are portrait of the
President Mesmes, and another large and i'm
portant work by Philippe de Champagne;
the latter represents the ''Prevots des Mar
chands ct des Echevins" of Paris, and was
purchased at the Sebastian sale for only two
hundred francs. There are fifteen portraits
by Largilliere; and alarge picture, Hercules
at the Feet of Omphale, " by Lemoine, one of
Artists and amateurs will find here num-
ber of Watteaus works, for which the
'Davidists" had 80 much contempt that the
public galleries of France possess scarcely
half dozen examples. M. Lacaze was always
on the lookout for these, and secured sixteen
works, amongst which is the famous "Gilles,
which was lost sight of for years. M. Demon,
when Director of the Imperial Museums,
found this picture at one of the old 6rtc-d-
5rdc shops which stood in the Cour du Car
rousel, with the following written upon it in
chalk:-'Pierrot voudrait vous plaire" he
recognized the "Gilles," purchased it fol
about 200 francs, and, delighted with his
prize, offered it at once to the commission
charged with the purchase Of works for the
Louvre; but it was unanimously and disdain
fully rejected. At the sale of M. Demons
private collection, after his death, the pic
ture was purchased by M. Spheres, who solo
it in the early years of Louis Philippes reigr
to M. Lacaze for 5000 francs. Amongst the
other Watteaus are a Sleeping Nymph anG
Satyr" and "a Man Drinking"
There are several works in the collection
by Boucher, Lancret, Fragonard, and Char
din, and two very remarkable historical por
traits by Greuze, those of the Conven
I | tionnels Gonsonne and Fabre dEglantine
Many artists of less renown are represented
, for M. Lacaze not only possesses taste ant
3 | judgment, but also a good share of what ou
{ | neighbors call ttatr. Amongst works of othe
. schools will be found "Portrait of Mary
: de Medicis, by Rubens; Rembrandts "Poo
of Bethesda" "a Mendicant," by Ribera
some fine portraits by Tintoret; some exam
Piles of the Ostades and Teniers.
II has been said that when M. Lacaze OBJ
| tanned possession of O picture he never let