The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-10-26

set 10 understand what the greatest artist mad
put before them. His first suggestion was as
70 tne color OF the walls of their housos.
Nature was sparing In her use of bright colors.
line walls should be in tertiary hues, which
would enhance rather than diminish the
beauty OF objects In the rooms. Eve should
be shocked" ne continued, "lf we sag a
gaudy background in picture, and yet we are
content to live in rooms so hideously painted
or papered that even our ladies' complexions
are robbed of their beauty by the background
against which they are sci" The ceiling, IL
it could not be decorated, should be toned in
pleasant color. Furniture should be simple
and suitable. Floors are plane surfaces, and
therefore carpets should not indulge in elabo-
rate effects OF light and shade.
In the Metropolitan Museum Of Art in New
York there is now on exhibition q loan collec-
tion from the private galleries of Mrs. William
7. Blodgett. Mr.. Smith 7. Van Burep, Mr..
G. W. Drexel and Mr.. Robert Hoe, Sr. The
most notable among these pictures are two
landscapes by Rousseau, two by ProyOn, por-
trait by Joshua Reynolds, and a portrait of
Mrs. Fitzherbert by George Romney. The
other new pictures loaned ore by Corot, LIE
Brun, John Faulkner and Rosa Bonheur.
There will shortly be on exhibition there COL
lection of embroideries and laces dating from
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, owned
BY Mr.. McCullum, which was exhibited in the
South kensington Museum last year, and ex-
cited great deal of interest. The museum Is
Obliged by the terms of its lease to abandon its
present Building on the LIST of next May. There
will be prepared for its reception new build
ing in the Central Park at Eighty-second street
and Fifth avenue which will fully meet the
requirements of the establishment, and may be
increased, accot tdng to the designs of the arch
itect, to accommodate the future accumulation
OF art treasures.
An Indication nj tha dfcpao;k;or 81 koh 4
vantage, in other countries, of some OF the
suggestions Of Japanese art appears on the
cover of Scribner's Monthly for August. This
is announced sas a "midsummer holiday num-
ber," and the external Embellishments consist
chiefly of sketchy hints Of country and sea-
side attractions, which might have been copied
from designs of Hokusai or some of his dis
ciples. They are mere touches, representing
birds, waves and flowers, but they are essen
TALLY Japanese in all artculars.-1okio Tines
The Venus of Milo-her lost arms and her
general condition when excavated-is the sub
ject of paper recently offered to the French
Academy of Inscriptions by M. Doussault,
who says that in 1S47, M. Best, consul at
Milo at the the time of the discovery of the
statue, told him that when the statue was
raised he (Best) saw the two arms lying on the
ground; that he took them up tand tried to fit
them; and that one of them held an apple
painted green, and the other some drapery;
also that before the statue was raised he had
seen that 1t stood on narrow base, and that
therefore it could not have been one Of group.
The Academy of Inscriptions will doubtless in
vestigate M. Doussault.
When Gibson modelled the "Wounded AM
azon," he said to a friend of mine who went to
his studio to see the statue in the clay, "Yes
tbof; al
doubtless heard Gibson's peculiar dry, crisp
mode of talking initiated, and can imagine
how he spoke. eyes, call it 'Wounded
Amazon, bat that statue is q proof of how
useful it is for an artist to keep his eyes open.
Now how do you think 1 found that pose?
was going along the street and l saw girl
catching flea. Yes, 1 did; she was catching
hea L stopped and said to myself, That's
pretty pose-a very pretty pose indeedp and L
took it down. So l thought it over; sat up
and worked it out and there it stands now as
my Wounded Amazon But it is the very
pose OF the girl catching the flea, nevertheless.
A very pretty pose 1t is, you see; and, as said.
it shows that an artist must not fail to keep
his eyes always open. Rome Letter.
The Partheuon frieze represents the process
sion of the Panetbenaica, in which the animals
are being led for sacrifice in honor of the gods,
WIN dAO ACphCoCubcu ao oitbiuR III group db
one end as if watching the procession from
Olympus. A great difficulty has attended the
explanation of the figure of priest holding up
with both hands very large piece of drspery,
folded seven times and turning towards boy,
| who also has hold of one end of the drapery.
The common opinion has been that this dra-
| perry was the peploS of the goddess Athena
which is said TO have been carried spread like a
| sail, in the Panathenaic professions. DR.. d.
/ A. Flasch has lately published paper on this
frieze in which he has rather dogmatically set
tied all the difficulties about the composition,
| and has satisfied himself that this drapery Is
nothing more than the upper robe of the priest
| ttimation), which he has just taken off for the
| sacrificial ceremony. It is not clear why he
/ so very large. But this last difficulty applies 10
| the peplos if it was to be put on the ancient
image OF Athena used in these professions.
| Among NJ. Thiers's art treasures was very
fnefcarving in ivory executed by Alonzo Cano,
known as the Spanish Michael Angelo.
The subject of this exquisite specimen of the
artists talent is the martyrdom of ST. Sebas-
tian. The saint appears tied to a tree and
writhing in a paraxysm Of pain. So lifeliks is
| the figure that the spectator seems to see NOT
only the tension of the agonized muscles, but
| the shudders coursing over the tortured limbs,
expressed in the delicate material which is
| indeed handled with as much vlgor and freedom
/ as if it were marble or stone The tree and
framework are of wood supplied by careful
artist, acting under the direction of M. Theirs.
In the small collection Of Assyrian cylinder
seals in the museum of the corporation of Liv.
erpool has been found duplicate to one Of
those discovered by Cesnola in the treasury Of
the temple at Kurium in Cyprus. The seal ID
inscribed with the name of "Eriv-Bagas the
servant Nergal, the waI-god." 1t is of hama
tite, and of archaic workmanship, bearing
the representation of priest in q long-fringed
robe holding the crook Of office. Before the
priest is male figure, probably the owner o.
the seal.
Speaking of Theodore Thomass violin prod
ICY, a New York correspondent says: "Mastel
Lichtenberg looks like little Rubinstsin, and
one of his traits de genie is similar to that art
istic lion-he has an evident contempt for flora
offerings and on the occasion of the first con
cert it was amusing to watch the rather dis
dainful manner with which he stopped to pick
up bouquet flung to him, carrying it verJ
much as though he imagined there was ser
pent hidden among the blossoms. Rubnsteir
used to toss his name when flowers were hande(
up to him and survey them coldly, and one
could almost fancy that he growled his con