The Portland daily press., 1877-05-02
Art and Artists. =

IN .neir quaint dresses of scarlet, black and
goid, carry torches, and the. scene ought to
make very effective picture.
Jean Baptiste Medou, whose death was an.
nouneed few days ago, was, saws the Kol.
nisehe Zeitung. one Of the finest and most orig
inal painters of the modern Belgian school. as
well as veteran among the Belgian artists
10 his country he was what Meissonier Is TO
france, only the Belgian master possessed q
rlcher fancy and wider domain than the
srenc9 master. He died, so to speak, on the
held OF honor; for four days before his death
he greeted the king and the queen Of Belgium,
az the opening of the exhibition In Brussels, IN
the position OF honorary president of the Secie-
| y OF Painters in Water Colors,''
Mr.. ID. G. Rossetti, among other new pic
lures, has painted one illustrating his blessed
DamoseL" The figure is life-sizs or a little
larger, and amid a mass of blooming roses.
she leans forward on one arm against and over
the golden wall or parapet of Heaven, which is
enriched with strange sculptures, and CLEANS
ID the mystical light of the place. ''Hsr loose
ana ample robe of pale cerulean blue covers
ber shoulders, and above this is a scarf of
bronze-tint intermixed with silyery hues The
great heavenly lilies of sainthood lie IN the hol-
low OF her other arm. Her head is bent for.
waro, and her pure pale face is marked by
| love-yearning look in the never weary vet
immovably patient expectation; her hair is Of
deep golden tint, there are purple stars about
IT, and it seems to flow from under these pom
her shoulders and her back in an abu ndant
mass richly lighted"
private letter from Rome extracts from
which are published in the Boston Advertiser,
says that Pr. ston Powers, the second son and
only pupil of the late Hiram Powers, has filed
his fathers room in the studio at Florence with
his own works. Among these" the letter
says, "are the portrait busts of the late Prof.
Agassiz-whose most genial expression has
been caught by the artist, though modelled after
of Charles Sumner and John G. Whittier; also
those OF Senator Morrill,, Lady Mackenzie, and
the late James Lawrence. Mr.. Powers style
reproduces that of his father, aud Is remarkable
Ior delcacy and finish. Mr.: Powers is now en-
gagged upon the statue of the late Hon. Jacob
Collamer the contribution OF the state Of Yer
mont to the old Hall of Representatives in
| Washington. This last was originally ordered
OF hiram Powers; but as he died without exc.
cutting it, the order was transferred to Preston
Powers, as his fathers successor and pupil.
The figure is distinguished BY quiet dignity
and ease, which is apparent to the casual OBJ
server; out only those who know something Of
| tne work can appreciate the difficulties that
have been overcome in dealing with our modern
| costume. understand that brother OF Mr.
Powers has lately begun to model
A correspondent in Paris writes me;thst q
wonderful sensation has been produced there
by the Art Exhibition just opened, represent
ing the new school of painters calling them
selves the 'Impressionists. These ,artists go
about in an apparently nomadic way, and
when anything whatever impresses them they
| paint these impressions of it, care being taken
not to, sophistcate the first impression. 1t
seems to be vague following of Emerson's
Interpretation Of ancient works:
/ "The passive master lent bis hand
| 10 the vast whole that Ger him planned"
| have myself seen some of these pictures;
and some Of them are queer enough. A.stesm
engine putting through a railway station; a
hearsal; before an empty theatre; anything
may form the subject, and the treatment is
rough, strong and hasty. All the traditions of
art are detied The majority say it is all crazy;
may grow ont Of it, / hear that the number
| of American ladies' studying art in Paris
steadily increases. A picture Of still life--ap-
PIES, blue jug and flask of Maraschino-by
Miss May Alcott, of Concord, Mass, has been
! highly praised by M. Muller, of the Luxem-
burg Concierge, and is one of the 1000 accepted
out Of the 5000 sent to the coming Salon.-M
| ID. Con,ody.
| A London correspondent of the Nation, an
der date of April II, writes: ever since the
Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge
complimented Miss Elizabeth Thompson at the
Royal Academy dinner of 1S74-the year Of
her clever picture of the Roll-Call in the Cri-
mea-this young lady has enjoyed the highest
popularity The picture in question has Just
been placed on exhibition in Bond street. &C.
companed by its two successors, Quartre-Bras
and Baiaclava, and having seen neither of the
three works before, was curious to example
the foundations Of so great q fame. Without
| confessing to the ubiquitous prejudice against
| Miss Thompson to which Mr. Ruskin pleads
| guilty, must admit that half expected the
endorsement of two Royal eHighnesses to
| have won a large part of the battle, But the
three pictures are more interesting than was
prepared to find them, and may serve as an
other proof that there is no smoke without
hre They are indeed particularly interest
| ing illustration of the English taste in art and
| if Nj. Taine, who has had much to say on this
point, has not seen them, he ought to come
over and do so without delay, for they would
| furnish him an invaluable arrow for his quiyer.
| They are English to the grain of the CANVAS
equally English in their merits and their de-
fects. 1t is probable that il painted in France
| they would not have had the smallest success
IN that country; that the vulSarity of the exc
cutlon would have seemed to French spects-
tors to be in excess of the 'anecdoticap vi
| vacity. But Miss Thompson work is on the
| whole good enough, 1 think, to. warrant one in
| saying that if it could not succeed in France
so much the worse for the French. This, how.
ever, is rather idle talk, for neither the Roll
Cali nor Quatre-Bras just as they are, could
possibly have proceeded from q Paris ateler
They would have had inevitably much more
chic OF execution and much less real sincerity
| of spirit. This latter is their great quality,
and they possess it to remarkable-an almost
| touching-degree. The Roll-Call represents q
I.company of the Grenadier Guards, drawn up
in the early morning on the Crimean SHOWS,
while sergeant registers the vacancies in his
notebook, and the colonel rides slowly by and
looks at the thinned ranks with dropping
| head. The entertainment of the picture Is In the
| attitudes of the men, each of which is made to
tell one of those stories which the English art.
patron is supposed to insist upon. The story is
in each case very well told-very dramatically
and yet very simply; the men are all excelleRt
studies of the stalwart British soldier. Miss
Thompson evidently knows her model, and
there is nothing of feminine weakness or vague
ness In her treatment of him, at the same time
that there is much feminine subtlety. The
men are all in their gray overcoats and (save
where their bandaged heads prevent it) their
bearskins; the sky is gray and low, and there
is little color in the picture except the two or
three patches Of visible red in the sergeant's
and the colonePs uniforms. Yet, in spite of
this, the painter has skllfully avoided monot.
ony, and arranged her gradatons of tone with
| something nearer an approach to strictly pic
torial felicity than we find in the other pictures
The Roll-Call is, think, the best of the three.
| Quatre Bras is even more 'anecdotap-it Is full
of spirit and keenness of intention, but the
want of intrinsic charm in the painting, its
| thinness, garishness, and mere surface look cut
down the claims of the picture rather seriously.
It is true that Mr.. Ruskin praised it in his
Notes on the Royal Academy for the reverse Of
these things; but Mr.. Ruskin's praise is some-
times as cratic as his blame. The canvas rep
resents one of the hundred episodes of the field
OF Waterloo-a portion of an E2glish regiment
of the line formed into square in
trsmpled wheat field, in the strong hot
| light of June day, and being played upon
by the French artillery akd charged by cuiras-
siers and lancers. The best thing is the figure
| of great French dragon on the right, who
has been brought down with his horse, and
whose crash and confusion we seem to hear and
feel. Amazon's work Mr.. Ruskin, calls this,
and the phrase happily describes the boldness
and intelligence with which Miss Thompson
has rendered a movement she never can have
seen. The red-coats, as they face US, are kneel-
ing on the ground, taking the FIRE as best they
can, and waiting to give back what they can
with their fixed bayonets. NJ. 1Taine would
probably tind in the faces of the men an i'm
mense deal OF the psychological truth for
/ which, the abSenra n Dastic nualikias h.