The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1874-03-11
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE

THE pELlNEArOR OF rnE llollltil'l'E'
one side of The central hall Of tie
art gallery ut the exposition was COW
cred by u colossal painting, stretching
from ilOor TO ceiling and lllllnB lhn
whole space between the doors, leAN-
ing only room for u few small pictures
upon TINT side of the room, Upon tbs
gigantic canvas was delineAlrd u con
fusion Of honds aud faces, with mani"
fold expressions of nate fear Ncll-
goauoe, horror, iniCrmlnpllllg WIN
muscular hnnda and arms, hcrcllleNll
legs aud bodies In u Wild nllfny, ellor-
nous dragons vomiting IRE, hendlsli
fices glarlng from out the depths ol
thunder clouds, and powerful arms
hurting down ayalanchcs Of rock upon
the struggling oomhnlNnls' n Wlld
scene Of hOmo. which no mere hehlllS
of artistic execution could render NJ
trlctivc,
Az we looked upon the enormous
cnnyna- entitled the 'ilcyult of Help
covered with writhlng forms aud
ilendlsh fnCos we recalled one bright
November day two years before, when
we saw the same picture for the first
time, ana surrounded by u multitude
Of dclinentl0ns similar In character
though differing In subjects.
II was In the bright aud beautiful MT
Tie city Of Brussels.
Among the places mentioned IN our
guide book ns worthy Of II V isit was
Wlert1 museum. We had no idea CON
corning the character of the exhibit
ton, whether II was collection OF Gu
rlusltlos, Il museum of natural science
or of Antiquities, hut the thought OF u
museum OF paintings did not occur to
us. But whatever II was we decided
10 see IT, and 40 ordered the cab
driven to take us 10 the WlcrlH nlu-
scum. Through the cheerful, busy
streets we rode past the botanical gar.
dcnR, along II quiet avenue, and paused
before u plain brick building covered
with luxurlant growth of Ivy, aud
standing alone surroundolhy well kept
grounds. Passing through an ante
room we entered II large hail. the walls
of which were covered with oilpaint-
ings, many of them Of collosal proper
tlons, and nearly all Of them portray
ing scene Of horror 1t scented to me
II dreadful place; the air was full OF
MURDERS deaths, terrific combals and
scenes OF suffering, all orthe crimes and
horrors of the whole world seemed
compressed into this small space, and
seized upon the heart like the grasp OF
an ice.cold hand,
Across two corners of the room,
rough board partitions were huilt, and
seeing some visitors ppeping through
the crevices into the spaces thus parli-
toned on, | followed their example
and started back with feeling of in
descrbable horror. ! had been the M
voluntary witness of " most horrible
crime-lhe murder Of u child by its
own mother, Mter few moments hes
itutiOn | summoned courage to look
lock again; yes, there she sat, the un-
natural mother, by the side of the stove
putting the severed limbs of the babe
Into ~ kettle Of boiling water, while
she clasps the mangled body IN hei
arms. Looking closer ut the mothers
face, saw the tears In her eyes and
hunger and suffering stared from every
feature. My feeling of horror mingled
with that of pity and sorrow as
realized that through the desperation
of suffering has she become Il ma
MAC, and thus unconscious OF the Grim
iiality Of the deed she perpetraies.
The picture il called "lIunger, folly,
crmc.n Pceping through another
crcvice, we saw u dead man forcing his
way out OF his coffin. This picture was
made during the prevalence of cholera
as m epidemic in Brussels, and was
designed to show the city authorities
the effects of too hasty buriais under
the influence Of fright thus the artist
hoped to save at least q few from the
horrors of Il living burial. And who
was the artist9 He was the son of An
Ardcnnes tailor, horn IN 1896, died in
1868, and his name was Antoine WiertX.
lie it was who erected this museum,
and he il was who painted the
pictures that hang upon itswalls. Pow
erty and misery were the attendants of
his youth, and what he acquired OF
fame he owed to no one but himself.
Like many artists, he showed the bent
Of his genius in early life IN making
drawings, modelingS IN clay, and cary
ings in wood. At fourteen he went TO
Antwerp and became passionate adj
mircr of Rubens. Here he lived and
studied, accompanied still by poverty
and its attendants of hunger and cold,
but the love for his art SO fired his soul
that he felt the privations compare
lively little. He lived in glorious
dreams of future fame. and of fame on
ly, not of the wealth and luxury
that fame might bring with it.
For six years he thus toiled,
and in the midst of his poverty
refused the most tempting OILERS to
paint for money. "keep your gold,'
he would say, "it is the murderer of
art" His idea was to leave to Bel
GUM, as an inheritance, all of his
paintings, aud therefore he would never
sell any of them. Now and then he
painted portraits to keep soul and
body together, but the idea that ema-
mated from his own mind, the crca-
tons of his own genius, were sacredly
kept for the one grand purpose which
he never abandoned, the founding of a
national museum. Isolated and seclu-
dcd was his life, and yet in what u
NOllu vi llOtluIS iiiuSl nv luNt VMGlN,
50 weird, grotesque and horrible are
the emanations of his creative ge-
Mus But often, rs in the in
stance previously mentioned, the
portrayal of II scene of terror was with
the intent of aiding some poor, suffer-
ing fellow creature. A C arity conccrt
was ut one time given for the benefit of
children made orphans 10y the ravageS
of the cholera. Between the divisions
of the programme a picture was un.
yelled before the audience; it repre-
scented a scene, alas only too common
during the prevalence of epidemics.
The rough pine coffin Of the husband
and father being carried out of the
dwelling by rude men, while the chill
dren, with cries of anguish, cling to it
and strive TO wfest away the hands of
the men, and the weeping wife and
mother turns away her hea unable to
endure the anguish of the scene. Vivid
and intense as the picture is, the eff
feet WAS electrical and no nlpa of worla