Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1877-05-15
NO. ll6.
Alefan0rla 0ax&tte
TUESDAY. MAY 10, 1871
& Prohibited Picture.

NJ. Ernest Pichio, the French artist, who
has already painted pictures Of "Charles TX
Giving the Sig1al for the Massacre Of ST. Bar
tholonew's Dag" and 'Bauiin Preparing to
Die for the Rights Of the People, December 9
1851" has employed his pencil upon that ter
ribe scene which might be called ''Thc Massa
Gre of the Communists" when these wretched
offenders were butchercd in the trench of tbs
great burial place of Paris, Pere la.Chase. by
| the fire of the mitraicuscs and Voeys from
| the troops 10 May, 1871. 1t could scarcely be
| expected that the French government and the
| Director Of the Beaux Arts would permit such
| a picture to be exhibited in the Paris Salon,
however able it might lie Us 4 work OF art. But
the picture has found Il place in the rooms Of
the London Stcreoscorlc Company Gallery Of
Fiuc Arts. 1t is large canvas, measuring more
than nine feet long and six feet high, and this
ample field becomes a most awful Akeldama.
with the crowded group oil men, women and chill
dren iu every attitude of agony, fierce rage and
despair in death; Others calm as martyrs, con.
fronting tho cruel guns blazing before them. The
scene is one too dreadful TO lock upon, for NJ.
Pichio, with powerful aad most truth-telllug
brush and the most extraordinary nerve, has
not shrupk from painting every harror that his
lmmaglnaIl0n could picture, partly from what
he actually saw with his own eyes, and partly
from description which appeared lu the Daily
News at the time We look from heaps of dead
to the principal group OF some thirty or forty
figures under the wall Of tho cemetery; proml.
nent stands dignified and rciioed looking per.
son, his gray head uncovered, his breast barred
and on his arm tho red cross Of the ambulance.
He grasps the hand of . friend who suks, but
he himself is only wounded slightly. 4 mother
tails with boy n her arms together, apd
another woman behind, like 4 rc,roeuse
spared for an Instant, raises her arm to her
head as if against the storm Of bullets, while,
above this group, rcd.haircd man, wllh
mad, furious face, shakes the rcd scarf iu
wild defiance. Farther on along the wall the
same groups Of figures, falling under the fire
of the soldiers arc seen, till the eye rests upon
the gloomy breadth OF the great city all dark
and sombrc in the gray of morning. Turning
from the bloody work which tie artist, with
perhaps pardonablo satire, calls ''Thc Tr-
umph Of Order" there arc certain touches OF
meaning to be found in the picture besides the
general record Of events almost too lnhuman
to be believed Among the fresh and flourish
iug green trees around the graves appears cross,
and beneath these trees two officers 10 command
stand, one of whom fires his revolver at poor
WOUNDED, Struggling man trylOS " cSCapc. Ou
the wall, which has taken the name OF lie
Mur des CommuDistes" instead Of lie Muir dc
Charoupe," amid the marks Of the bullets and
the blood of the victims, still to be read tho
mocking words which were one Of the cries OF
the Communists "Fiye lhumanite u just
above the figure Of venerable, cid, hermit
like man, With long white beard, who seems
to contemplate the ebb Of his life blood quite
placidly. If art is to help the remembrance oil
such cruel scenes then NJ. Picbio has Indeed
done his task we'll Tie has thrown himself
into what might be called the cruelty OF the
palette and the studio with unii!nchlng cour'
age. and painted all the horrors with an lotcn-
sity and reality perfectly amazing aud terrible
to behold The difficulties n a work OF tins
nature are so immense that few painters ever
dare to encounter them, and even battle pieces,
which must be painted for glory's SAX ke, cannot
be painted as they arc-thcy must be made
agreeable US pictures, and the horrors must be
left out as much as possible. loo often these
pictures are made absurd and uutru1 by this
artistic effort TO make things leasaat and siIo"
off heroes ir bccOmiag and graceful attitudes.
But there is no falling OF this sort 10 VI. Piealoa
work; he never loses the tragic intensity OF HIS
purpose, and he holds the spectator with such
q spell OF horror 81 the gl!astiy sight that tho
real scene Genes un in the imagination IN al!
its awluncss-U,Uy Nc.rs.