The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1876-01-16
European Correspondence of the Bulletin.

old ooGtYat!on Of wandering llstlessly abou
with heads thrown back and eyes strained uE
ward, iuten ly studying world OF artist
productions that spread before ua. Now, a
YESTERDAY, VIC were 50 walled in with the celt
brated works of celebrated men that we foun
our untutored Judgments almost at loss fo
measures of comparison by which properly t
estimate the extraordinary merits OF what "
saw.
At every 8tep.we encountered some produc
ton Of Raphael, Of Correggio, of Titan.
Tintoretto, Of Paul Veronese, or their famou
compeors, and where all is so uniformly OK
cellent, criticism utterly fails VI course w
were batter pleased with some pictures thar
with others, and if it had not been for lear
being overheard, we might even havo ven
tured to criticise points that particularly
pleased Us, or which fell short OF our helf-con
ceived ide. but CT all the crowd who thronged
the place. nobody dared open their mouths
in criticism. and taking tbs hint that to be
silent was to appear wise, as we'll as immensely
experienced, we held our peace about the pic
lures, or spoke in subdued tones when Other
visitors were within hearing distance.
This palace, like the UGizi, which we yes
terday visited, is divided into great number
of small rooms; these, for purposes OF dlstinc
ton, bear the sounding titles of the hea.hen
gods. Thus, there is the Saloon of Satan,
the Saloon Of Jupiter, the Silicon of Mars,
of Venus, of Apollo, and So on, through q
series Of twelve all teemins with great pic
lures, and, for the most part, as We saw them,
crowded with visitors, and with artists en-
gagged in making copies OF the most noted
works. They have very satisfactory plan in
operation here to insure the enjoyment OF
strangers and render them independent Of
the vendors of catalogues, who haunt like
restless ghosts all the galleries Of Earope.
The plan in question is to supply as cata-
logues in each saloon a number of fans made
of heavy pasteboard, and having proper
quadrangn.ar shape; and on one side Of this
convenient institution is list in French, of
the pictures in the saloon with their respec-
tive numbers attached, and on the other side
LILO baulc AL ltaAbus Ahio 6AvOS bAo"o csSAo
faction, for every one knows how provoking
it is to see handsome picture without being
able to determine the exact scene of history
or romance it is designed to represent, and to
a visitor even tolerably we'll read. it is suffi
cient merely to be informed of the principal
characters involved, upon knowing which one
can instantly locate the scene. SO that these
names being in French or Italian makes little
or no difference to on who does not read
these languages.
Still, if had not known the story of Judith
and Holophernes, | might have failed to re-
cognize, by her Italian name, the dark eyed
woman with the scimetar, about to descend
upon sleeping warrior. Such pictures as
these from the life of Christ and from Bible
history generally, are hardly to be mistaken,
and about the Madonnas, the Magdalens and
St. Sebastians, there could never be an in
stant's doubt, for they are all Of peculiar
type that once remarked renders uncertainty
for the future impossible.
! hate to be thought an imitator Of another
mans writings. or blind follower after an
other mans ideas. but l must remark after
Mark Twain that whenever l came suddenly
upon picture that struck me as unusually
impressive and beautiful before l knew the
name Of the artist who did 1t, 1 was almost
sure to find upon inquiry that it was not done
by one Of the old masters, or any of their
% schools but by some person l had never
even as much as heard of.
This is discouraging, because l should be
pleased to think that l had discovered the
merits of celebrated thing "all by myself,
rs could never claim to do after having my
opinion prejudiced in its favor by knowing
the name of the prodigy who produced it. In
this Pitt Palace there was one thing, however,
that did afford me considerable secret salts
faction, and it WAS the fact that was enabled
to guess the subjects of at least two-thirds OF
the purely historical pictures at sight. There
fore never failed to give the authors Of the
works which thus recognized full credit for
having treated their scenes SO ably.
From time to time we encountered in these
saloons of the gods tables of rare mosaic
work, besides vases and fragments of sculp-
ture interspersed among the teeming wonders
Of pictorial art that filled the place. One
round center table Of some four or FIVE feet
in diameter in particular claimed our atten.
ton, as having been prepared expressly for
exhibition at the Worlds Fair in London, Of
the year 1851, and then not sent there. What
made it specially worthy of attention was the
knowledge that it represented consolidated
cash value of $4,000, enough to buy q re-
spectacle steamship, or half dozen planta-
tons, as such things have gone IN tho South
since the war.
From the picture gallery We walked through
an almost interminable corridor, hung with
ancient tapestry, and on into another filed
with crayon sketches and smaller works from
the hands of the old masters, and on and on.
until by chance looking out of window We
found ourselves across the river, and wander.