Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1876-07-22
CENTENNIAL BLOOD OURDLERs.
Horrible Pictures en- Exhibition 1t
Philadelphia.

CENTENNIAL BLOOD OURDLERS.
Horrible Pictures On Exhibition At
Philadelphia.
In one of the hospital wards hangs
large and fine painting, representing a
surgical operation. A great cash has
been cut in the leg of the pallid patient
surgeon is using a bloody knife; assis-
tants hold the sufferer. and the scene is,
in all respects, exceedingly lifelike.
1Ee art department, too, has pictures
similarly horriiying ''St. Lawrence's
Burial' presents the corpse of the saint
as the chief figure. 'tDavid and Coli
ath's Head" shows the young singer
leaning on the severed, bloody head of
the giant, the face portraying agonized
death. The birds of prey are circling
hungrily by the tortured old man in
s'Premetheous Bound," as though about
to tear at his vitals. "Thor Battling the
Serpent of Misgard," is conflict with
an uncommonly repulsive serpent. The
great Ohe adjective refers to size sole
ly) painting of '.The Battle of Gettys-
burg" is crowded with dead and dying
soldiers, and there are several other un-
pleasant battle pieces.
''The Anatomist' is scrutinizing the
body OF dead girl and she is pretty,
even in death and it is not her appear
ance, but the idea of dissecting her that
causes shudder. l will not class
"Klaine'' with the pictures which I am
describing as horrors, because the death
in it is poetry, and does not dlsquiet the
nerves of the viewer. "Tortures by
Monks" represents an old man bound
on his back and monks roasting his feet.
The execution is excellent. The face Of
the tortured man expresses the acme Of
agony, mixed with defiant determination.
The bottoms OF his feet, blistering at a
fire of Goals held next to them, are made
conspicuous by the glare, so that the
awful suffering can be fully imagined.
The spectator instinctively teels like
drawing up his feet, as the writhing
martyr is vainly trying to do. "The
Destruction of Pompeii" presents crush
ed bodies, faces dlsf cured by terror, and
various terrible aspects of death. A
fierce lion in '.The Christian Martyr" is
about to be loosed upon a defenseless
man; and larger picture on the same
subject gives glimpse of man fight
ing hopelessly with wild beasts, while q
group OF doomed men and women are
weeping distractedly in the foreground.
"Woman's Devotion" is celebrated by
a picture of dying soldier, whose head
rests in the lap Of a woman, the CHASTITY
hued face upturned to hers. Adam and
Eve in'Tne Murder of Able" are plum
ged in woe by the discovery of their
dead son. The naked body is marvel
of effective drawing and coloring-even
better than the work in "Luxury and
DEATH" which represents a full-size,
nearly naked woman, dead IN the street.
She wears costly jewelry, and why she
died in the street, cannot tell. t...
"The Jewish Mother Defending the
Bodies of Her Seven Sons" is master
piece, and wonderfully sure to appal.
Seven corpses hang crucified, and she
frights off huge birds that would make
food of them. The size, number and
truthfulness of the limp bodies, and the
contrasting intense agitation Of the
woman's face and attitude, are the chic
elements in more awful scene than is
often made by painter. A picture o.
"Herodias' Daughter and the Head O
John the Baptist" is another specimen
of the skilful paintings of the bloody
ghastly human head. The erucifixior
OF Christ is the subject of nine pictures
and some of them are very high OK
pressions of art. To the devout and ir
religious spectator alike these represen
tations of supreme agony effectively ap
peal and it is truth without sacrilege t.
mention them as belonging to the kint
of exhibits that inspire horror. The be
, | ilovo -i.-.~...inLOti VI Jne otIUt tIIIiUy u
the crime that inflicted such sufferin!
upon divine being. and the sceptic cal
. not but be affected by suffering thu
skilfully depicted. Nearly every episod
9 of the momentous tragedy Of Cavalry
! the browning with thorns, the scourgins
. the falling under the burden of the eros
all are reproduced here on canvas
= and generally in a way to exalt the sub
ject in the minds of observers. Som
> of these pictures are treasures by reaso
f of their age and authorship; others ar
. the more realistic modern productions
I all are calculated to inspire reverentis
:, pity in the minds of christians. Th
charge OF grotesqueness is not deserve
;s by them, as it certainly is by the carve
q religious figures exhibited here b
- French manufacturers.
If all the things mentioned in this lie
% ter were collected in enc apartment
~ chamber OF Horrors would be a ii
II ting inscription for the door; but sea
~ tered among the thousands of pleasir
a objects, their aggregated dreadfulae
"a is weakened to the casual visitor.