Connecticut western news., 1878-07-04
Mistellaueuns.
PARIS LETTER.
[From our regular correspondent.]

sis, in the opinion of the American visitor, not the most interesting disp ay in this city of monuments, art salons and museums. s"Have you been to the Exposition ?" is al question often asked at table, and the reply| IS often to this effect ''No, come here to| see Paris. and not to examine the advertis-
 ing displays of European, Asiatic, African| tioned the four grand divisions in the order of their importance, as they appear in the
 Champs de Mars. Many insist that they can see quite as tine displays in the win dows that line the boulevards Except for| those who are interested in the study off any particular class, or special subject, and| desire to study it exhsustively. and to com-
 pare it with similar exhibits of other coun
 tries, the exposition is not of paramount interest. Taken by itself, it is no doubt a magnificent display, the best ever made off the best achievements of human invention, skill and industry, ss well as of the mostl unique and generous specimens of Natures
 products. Could we but eliminate the rub
 bish of traff1cing clap tap, the remainder would well repay years of study and be al liberal education in itself. But when com-
 pared with this wonderful city-every street, every church, every monument of which is ell soquent with history-tl.e exposition is not the| unique attraction that it was at Philadelphia
 IA question frequently asked is, how does this
 Exposition compare with the Centennial; and lit is generally conceded that in richness, taste
 and variety of display, this is much the finer l;
 but this opinion is usually qualified by the re- mark that all things considered, the Philadel- sphia Exposition was the more wonderful of the two.
 It is in art and decorative display that the French excel all other peoples, and the profu- sion of excellent works in marble, on canvas, and in bronze, is what chiefly distinguishes { this Exposition from ours. We had & very su- sperb display, no doubt, in Memorial Hall, but
 Memorial Hall, with it's annex, would not Acontain one-fourth of the fine arts exhibit < here. The distinguished American sculptor and art critic, MT. Story said yesterday that 2 he had spent ten days in the Art department alone, but that time had not suficed him to spenetrate beyond the borders. The visiter to } the French Art department will see paintings ; by Dore, Bonnat, Cabinal, and Jerome. He Twill see as many as dozen by Messonier, whose canvas, when no larger than school z boys small slate, sells readily for $500O. The Areader will remember that A. T. Stewart gave
 $50, ,OOO tor was it s75, ,00O2) for his Cavalry
 Charge at Friedland," painted soon after the
 capture of Paris by the Prussians, and paint z led, it was said, in revengeful bitterness, to
 remind all who should see it that there was @
 time when the resistless sweep of French con < 8quest humiliated Prussia. Messonier's forte His cavalrymen. I have seen but two pictures l by him in which there were 10 horses, and one ! of those was portrait of the younger Dumas z His pictures do not at first, attract attention.
 They appear commonplace amid the many &highly colored, and theatric paintings that
 surround them. Perhaps the gazers interest
 will be first stimulated by seeing the name of
 the artist, but look more carefully at that long
 line of cavalry, drawn up as if on parade. HaThey are not in line with the regularity of HWest Point cadets-horses will not stand that
 way, but the fear of curb and spur keeps them
 in tolerable order. They are not the conven-
 tional horses we have seen in common pict-
 ure made up of curved lines, every one like the
 other, nor are they the horses of Hebrew po-
 etry with necks thunder clothed, paving the
 valley in their wrath, and smelling the battle
 from afar. They are horses that would much
 prefer twelve ears of corn to any such business
 Each horse is an individual brute, in whose
 face, and eyes, and ears, and muscles, the ad-
 mirers of the animal will read distinguishing characteristics. But there is something more shere than excellent portraits of horses. Many 8of those animals are veterans. They have Sbeen refined and spurred through battles they Sshave memory, and know that the infantry RHmoving in front of them, and the artillery Morning on the hills, and certain energy of Npreparation that they have caught from thei1 .ssriders, are sights, and sounds, and signs that
 forebode something more than 8 review. This ghalf intelligent fear and restiveness of the ibrute, in sympathy with heroic seriousness Hvaried in the physiognomy of every rider, is sthe climax of the piece. It is no parade; a Kbattle is raging, and these brave men, Gen. Hcorpsed and demi- -natured with brave beasts, 7 Mare in that moment of suspense that precedes E the charge. The battle cannot be seen, but a afew rods in front of the line an old marshal is 1asitting on his quiet horse-a common artist 1swould have painted the horse standing on his #hind feet, or in some other ridiculous atti- dtude-quietly pointing out to commanders of AHbattallions the parts and points they are tc a take in the charge, while on distant hill M Msurrounded by his staff, may be discerned ar salmost microscopic Napoleon. This may be SAusterhtz, ar Waterloo, or any other of the
 hundred fields where he held his cavalry in re-
 serve to pile confusion on defeat. No picture
 representing the shock of battle, with rearing
 horses and reeking sabre could be half so ef
 Elective as this quiet, powerful painting by
 Messonier. To be able to produce so many E horses, each distinct portrait, and yet te ( sustain in each an expression of vague appre. #hension, arising to unfaltering seriousness ir !s the face of the rider. is splendid triumph oi &genius, or patience, or something.
 N c. A. s.
 In the proceedings of the Michigan Pom Aolnoicsl Societv occur the following re-