Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-09-08
ESTABLISHED 1850.

1
| calm and collected, she lays her down to read
! LOOK at your copies OF this work dear readers
and say If this presents your idea of her wht
mad slnned much, and 10 whom much was for
| given.
By way of contrast examine Battoni's Mag
| dalene, in the room adjoining the Sistine Ma
donna: She he's betaken herself to a rough anC
rocky cave, and there, with her beautiful hail
falling about her, in a perfect abandon ot
! grief, she has cast herself down to remember
and to mourn. In the beautiful desolation OF thai
| picture there can be no mistaking its subject
although it may lack the charm of chadro
ScttrO.
In connection with my complaint Of the
exasperating conflicts in the expressed
example bearing on the painting in this gal
| lery of Jacob Meeting Rachel" Here -
! says Mrs. Jameson, they have Giorgiones IS
nlasterpiece-the meeting OF "Rachel and
! Jacob" This painting" says Baedeker ''is
| enormously ascribed to Giorgione, and was
evidently painted under the influence OF
| Palma"
In this instance, one is of course in igno-
rance of the arguments adduced to support
either proposition, and it is never pleasant to
be asked to swallow an ipse dirit.
Giorgione is an artist who fascinates one, and
of whom few absolutely authentic productions
remain; of this one should venture the opn-
ion that it Is the work of Giorgione, and that
at the same time, it is not his masterpiece.
Would that he could rise from the grave and
confute his critics.
There is no dispute, thank heavens! about
CorreggiOs masterpiece. The Nativity or Holy
Night ia Notte) has shed the refulgence of its
glory from beyond the canvas, throughout the
world
''Correggio has converted the literal repre-
sent2tlon OF a circumstance IN sacred history
into divine piece of poetry, when he gave
streaming from the form of the celestial child,
and Illuminating the ecstatic face of the virgin
mother, who bends over her infant undazzled;
while another female draws back, yelling her
eyes with her hand, as If unable to endure the
radiance Far off, through the gloom of night,
we see the morning just breaking along the
eastern horizon-embem of the 'day-spring
In the treatment of one Biblical subject am
always interested; so many great artists have
essayed its presentment that the interest of
comparison alone is very great. That subject
is Abraham's dismissal of Hagar; and we find
it finely and enthusiastically treated here by
the Dutch painter Jan Steen.
In the figure of Hagar it were hard to find
more expressive portrayal of grief in attitude.
For she has turned away and we do not see her
downcast face. From Abraham, her lord aud
master, her beloved, the father of her son,
she has turned; the parting is over, and
henceforth her face must be set toward the
wilderness. What world Of sorrow speaks
from t1st 1rosPing detected forml By her
stands Ishmael, and he looks back with some.
thing of the wonderment of a child, but with
more Of the pride of a man, straight at Isaac
who peeps out from the folds of his fathers
gown with malicious and triumphant leer.
In that comparison. how Isaac and his mother,
Sarah, do dwindle; and here Sarah is visible
on the Threshold behind Abraham with an old
hard face and cruel, steel-grey eyes. Abra-
hams is the most prominent figure, and he
gives fervent blessing to both the wanderers
from his fireside. l am sure Sarah grudges
every word of kindness spoken to her deSpised
bondwOman, and hates with relentless energy
the rival of her own son, the handsome at
tractive, saucy Ishmael.
If this scene were painted as often as it has
hpP rod dav Nuhan hrab bor
dismissed Hagar the world could hardly con
tain the representations and each character
istic of every character is as true to-day as it
was then. l always think of this lively domes
tic episode in connection with what Thackeray
says: "a man dashes fine vase down, and
despises it for being broken. 1t may be worth
but who had the keepin of it, and |
who shattered iG?' Jan Steen has certainly |
given us the moral of this sentiment in this |
his vigorous work:
Apt for comparison is Van der Werff's paint |
ing of the same subject also in this gallery; of
which may say the figures are more soft and |
beautiful, while the treatment Is less vigorous.
Caravaggio has been spoken of as an artist
who always painted like the rufian he always
was Certainly his Gard Sharpers,'' here
illustrates how well he could paint the ruffian.
One has little sympathy with the indolent self
satisfied dupe; whom the sharpers are so de-
cheating and despoiliDg, and that
ones admiration goes rather to the handsome,
cunning, scornful gamesters is perhaps as char
acteristic of the artists own predictions as
Caravaggio must have been, without one spot
of the gentleman in his nature.
In one or two Sraeu rooms On the upper floor
are found some of the less deserving or attraU-
tive works of the old masters OF these how
ever, Oonegliano's Presentation of the Virgin
will always possess an interest beyond its own
merits, in being the subject Of Titan repeated
studies, and upon which, as a model, was
founded his famous painting of the same title
in Venice. On this floor are all the modern |
brilliant and glorious collection
You will not pass by the life size portrait of |
the great Napoleon, in all the spIendor of his |
imperial robes and crowned with the laurel |
wreath wreath without WI pa1s;lng to render the
genius of the man, then TO the magnificence /
and faithfulness of this portrayal OF him.
must content myself with brief mention of /
two of these modern paintings in conclusion: |
A grand historical work is Hubner's Con /
troversy between Luther and DIR. Eek at Leip- |
sic, to which an entire letter of description /
and comment might well be devoted There /
)f the numerous figures in this large painting |
and need not say how great assistance is |
hereby afforded the student
Hubner' s smaller painting, in another room,
entitled THE Golden Age,' reminds me, in the
EXQUISITE Smo OthnesS and beauty of forms, of |
Titan; all the more, also, because such refine
nent in tire presentation of nude figures as |
mpreSSeS one altogether with their beauty, |
Ind never with their nudity, is a perfection |
which Titan always displayed, and which so |
ew modern painters seem even to care to
lttain
Reubens never possessed this refinement of
oul, and however superb his coloring, the ele- |
nent of VoluptuouS, earth born beauty is rare
? absent, while downright coarseness and SEN
uousness is often present. His admirers and
miUators are legion.
As have made no mention of the many |
amous and characteristic works by Reubens
, the Dresden Gallery, let me give here, as
lose, an illustration that often occurs to me
7hen stand before the productions of this
enowned artist:
"PoPPIEs.