New-York tribune., 1874-09-21

somewhat confusing subjects. nave run V'0
these names in catalogueing way In ordet 70 siVo
a general notion Of the character OF the coneCuon
rhara are other pictures-a few-but shall only
aIlude to them for they add nothing 10 the Vuo u
the exhibition and were probably sent only DecuSo
1t hanpened so. Two pictures BY Henri Lehman q
long frame filed with % so-called illustrations Oh
fhe Rible bv Tony Johannot picture Oh Inc
.12enenfant MagdalenD BY Boceanegra-it cannot 90
nny one any good nor give any one any pleasure W
look at these things. 80
Itis impossible in the narrow connnes Oh letter'
TO give YOU much notion of the really hne pictures
of this collection. suspect that we snail all Dc
greatly pleased with the Murilo, and 1t is certainly
a most telling specimen of this master.
THE Virgin sits with the child upon
her knees. putting on his swaddling clothes.
The mother is divine, is the child and there
fore it is well enough that the two young angels
who are soothing him with their music should be
earthly children too In the upper part of the can
vas there are some cherubs' heads that look TO me
wonderfully like the originals of those cheruD heads
by Sir Joshua Reynolds, in the National Gallery
Yondon There is no color properly speaking ID this
picture nor composition, nor technical qualiues Oh
any sort in noticeable degree but there are in abun
dance the sweetness, dome ticity, and unafiected-
ness that make Murillo so popular. In his absence
of style and his entire sympathy with real life he is
RQab Is DeSb eNDreSStu ny blc bclm 49,
seems to have painted this picture and Others
of the same type not TO please the
church. nor to please artists. but to please
women and children. 1t must have struck
Others think it has often struck me, that OF all
The so-called old masters" among whom MurlllO
born 1915 died 1892 cannot in strictness be placed,
ne is the one whose IS oftcnest on the lips OF
Americans. And of all the wonderful finds" that
are constantly being whispered or trumpeted hnds
of his pictures are the cOmmOnest they are as ten
to one. They are always turning up in Mexico or
South Amenca in very wormy and disheVeled
condition. and IN such numbers as can only be
accounted for by the existence of a MurillO-mill.
Here at least is a genuine MurillO and famous
one and in perfect condition. The master can be
fully Judged by this specimen This he could do;
Immaculate Conceptions he could not do.
Artists nave n great pleasure in store for them In
the Portrait lof himself p by Velasquez. 1t IS
mastery performance. and to make people
artists, even if it do not find them so. wish
knew something about this picture than Is now
accessible to me. / am under the strong impression
that have seen it engraved. ana yeit seems doubt
full The picture belonged TO the collection which
Mr.. F. II. Standish left by will to the King of the
French very good judge Of pictures with whom l
talked this morning is inclined to doubt if it were
painted by VolasqueZ but he does not doubt that 1t
was painted by great master
The four large pictures by francesca de Zurbaran
(born 1885, died 1862 sure to excite great inter-
est, both among artists and among laymen The
subjects are "The Aununciation." THE Alteration
of the Shepherds" The Alteration of the
MapiD and The Circumcision" "The Annunci-
ntion" is the least interesting OF the four.
Finest of all is "The Alteration Of the Magi" with
ITS nob,y serene Madonna the magnificent figure of
the old man who kneels and kisses the hand of the
child and the Magus for all the world like Span
lshhdalgo who stands IN the center of the picture
The third Magus Is a negro. Inthe Alteration of the
Shepherds there is old peasant woman, with
basket of eggs as IN Titan's famous picture OF the
Presentation of the Virgin, in the Venice Academy
Titian's old woman, however, looks like one OF
Angeles sybils-De Zurbaran's is jolly peasant,
4iokled at the sight of the pretty child In both
these pictures the child indeed very ovey-to my
mind much lovelier and more infantine than IN hu-
rillo's picture Up in the clouds an angel plays
nn wooden harp in an energetic way, accom-
panviug a TOW of small and orderly cherubs,
who sit before her on clouds like school children on
their benches. In the Circumcision the expression
of the child as the knife even in the gentest old
priests hands, hurts him, is given with great ma
4ure He is putting up his little lip" The head OF
.Tosepb who stands in the background at the right,
s very like the traditional Jesus of the late Italians
and curiously dressed parsonage near him looks
enough like one Of Allston's "magicians" in his
Beshazzars Feast to have walked ont of the picture
The costume of this figure is so Moorish it would
appear to have been copied from nature. 1t Is not
litue disappointing 70 find that fifth Zurbaran is
not rs at first announced, the celebrated Praying
Monk of the Spanish gallery the Louvre but mere
portrait of chief of an order, well painted, but
not particularly striking.
The two pictures Z" ST. Augustine and other Faith
ers Of the Church" and "St. Jerome and other
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elder. are remarkably like TintorettO in manner,
and by the treatment of the mlters recall Titan
celebrated picture of Church Council, where the
multitude Of miters that would have dashed any
Snferor artist is spur 80 the imagination the great
one In HerreIas picture the mters are ike tongues
of fire streaming the heads Of these inspired
men. Yet they plain mters, for all that. Just
below those hangs very singular and very affect
ing picture, "The Madonna holding the Dead Christ
in her arms"-the subject called A Pieta'-by Luis
de Morales called the Divine. Very few Madonnas
] have ever seen are as full of deep, oyerfowing
grief and tenderness this albeit she is re-
etrainlng her feeling rather than displaying it, She
holds her son strained close TO her BOSOM and the
hands are drawn with great force and truth in color
not less than FORM Yet in strong contrast to this
figure is that Of Christ which hard and angular
and unartistc as if it had been painted by the
liest of unknown Flemish masters.
Time fails me to speak as would Of the Sebastian
del Piombo most worthy of the master and most
characteristic of the landscapes by Salvador full OF
fire and air; Of the St. Francis in Ecstacy" by Juan
de Rbalta in which there is great intensity and yet
shall dare TO say it just dash of humor-for in
deed. the vision vouchsafed is rather fandangoish
But some else shau say this, not l. Ribera's
''CatO of Utica tearing out his bowels" is not
horrid were promised. Ii is evident he cant
do the deed It's physically impossible, therefore We
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