The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1878-11-07

out an equal, and it is lucky that the
Californians have stipulated for its re-
turn, for otherwise the curators of half
a dozen European museums would be
fighting over it. Our agricultural de-
pertinent is most thoroughly arranged;
the French peasants stand in OBSTACLES
over the colossal productions of the
soil of the New World, and study care
fully the fertilizers and labor-saving
machines. Certain, French judges pro-
fess to have discovered that many Of our
native wines are worth importing to
France, although thus. far have failed
to discover which wines were refer
red to. 1Gt9V s1fia = @&2i
% i RETROSPECTIVE ARTS.
The exhibition Of retrospective art in
the lateral galleries of the Trocadero
Palace continues to be the chief sensa-
ton. No one had anticipated such an
overwhelming display of riches. A few
mornings in these delightful museums
are worth weeks or even months of Ia
borious travel for enriching the mind.
There is but one disagreeable feature.
The guardians refuse to allow any one
to take notes, and even assume men,
acing air if one persists. They will be-
lieve, despite the evidence of their own
eyes, that the unhappy note-taker is
ske.ching what the owner would not
like to have sketched. Hall number
two, is perhaps the most charming and
most richly stored of ell the rooms. It
is filled with Grecian antiques, and
need hardly tell you how the exauisitely
tinted marbles, the perfect bronzes,
make ope's heart best. Why is it that
the modern hand has not this cunning !?
1t is rare to see In any modern exhibit
ton half dozen statuettes among per-
haps two or three hundred which at all
approach the delicacy. and naturalness
Of execution which characterize these
minute antiques. No French or any
Italian hand could create this woman
gracefully draped and moving swiftly
SO that her robes float backward. Into
the marble the nimble ancient had put
suppleness of limb and flow of drapery.
The statues of gods and goddesses
are very many. Also there are illustra-
tons of life among the aristocrats and the
plebs'' in the far-away, misty days
when Greece led the world in the arts.
One could almost construct for himself
an image of vanished grace from these
memorials, if he hal no better means at
hand. Hall number three contains terra
cottas and bronzes Of the elder days !;
space would fail me to enumerate even
half the wonders shown here. In hall
number four we are brought face to face
with the beginnings of Christian art !;
paganism has vanished; the old gods
are dethroned, and in their stead we
find the newer faith struggling to ex-
press itself. Possibly the most striking
articles in this section are the illuminat-
ed missals, the Bibles over which monks
have worn out their worthy lives; a
translation of Aristotle, on which sBene-
dictine monasteries spent the flower of
their scholarship and their artistic feel
ing; the marvellous Evangel OF the an
Gent Abbey Of Luxeuli; reliquaries
garnished with precious stones, some of
them dating from the eighth ana ninth
centuries. In the fifth hallis the aston
ishing lot of treasures owned by the
Basilewskis. A faculty like this one
ought to found a museum with its own
possessions. Here is almost complete
history of art, from the Catacombs to
the close of the sixteenth century; cask-
cts, ivory carved in hundred forms /;
armor Of the Middle Ages; sculptur-
ed furniture in nearly imperisha-
BILE woods; bronzes and brass work.
Happy Basilewskis! In the sixth
hall the visitor finds that he has
entered upon the period of the Renais-
sance, which is continued in the seventh
hall. In these two apartments the stu
dent may we'll linger for days. Such
varied enamels, such glasses, such
Florentine bronzes and terra cottas such
marbles, such caskets, will never be
seen together again. The eighth room
affords glimpses of italian faiences,
Spanish goldsmiths' and silversmiths'
work, potteries from Palissy's hand, the
Twelve Apostles of Leonard Limosin,
and manuscripts from the Rouen libra.
~. The Italian faience is by no means
so rich nor is the collection one-fourth
as complete as Signor Alessandro Cas-
tillapi's, which was recently dispersed at
public sale. In the ninth room the Mid.
die Ages and the Renaissance glare at
each other. The tenth is miscellane-
ous museum, and the eleventh is gem.
1t contains the treasures owned by
Prince Czartoryski-Polish antiquities
priceless, and Of great historical inter-
est. Among them are saddles, weapons,
coats ct mail, cups, vases, cuirasses.
In the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth
rooms the movement of art in the sew
enteenth century is very fairly illustrat-
ed; the fourteenth is particularly rich in
ceramics, medallions, specimens Of
printed work, rich bindings, and minia-
lures OF seemingly matchless grace.