New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-06-04
TOPICS IN PARIS.
VICTOR HUGO AS AN ARTIST GOSSIP ABOUT
ROYAL PEOPLE.

| tIctOT hugo mas nau tnc the drawings ne eXecut-
ed in Guernsey. of sea-views for Les Travaillcurs
de Ia Mcr,' engraved and published In folio album.
The great poet use with mastery skill his pen
as pencil. He was never regularly taught draw
ing, the technique of which lac picked up playing
| with his children in their juvenile days On their
| Thursday and Sunday holidays they had drawing
tasks to get through at home Their father
used both to help them and learn from
them. Whatever perspective he theoret
| ically knows he learned in assisting hi,
sons and daughter Leopodinc His progress was
very rapid. He had a fertile invention and devised
modes Of tntiug paper which enhanced the effects
of his designs. When ne had surnounted the tech
meal difficulties he gave pictorial expression to his
ideas with great force aud raDdIy But IT never oe-
CURED to him to make his pencil the serious auxl.
| larry of his pen until ne went 10 Guernsey There
he worked with both to overcome the tedium Of ey-
| lie, which he felt would emasculate his genins if
he did not make strong AMI frequent efforts to shake
| it off.
| In the long series Of sketches and highly elabo-
rated drawings in the Guernsey Album Victor Hugo
shows himself the prince of ilnprcssionists He has
| a wonderful eye to discern what is will horrible.
| cruel, and grandosc in the ocean, Some superb
effects produced with the fusain charcoal pen
ell over which the stump is passed. few touches
Of white chalk or paint applied with pen, a. ink
| might nc, HnlSn OH tue drawings. Inc ROCK OF
| Ortach Is a seascape Of inexprcs5ibe grandeur.
| 1t stands up from a calm waste of waters.
which reflect the setting sun, and
above which storm is gathering. sinister
spirit, one feels broOds over the STILL quiet deep.
| lie Main de la Mutt. or the Night Dwarf, isa
| groteSque being, outside the pale of nature. But
each part is in harmony with each other, and it has
that consistency or concordance which Dderot
| thought necessary TO beauty. This creature has
snails horns, finished off with eyes parrots beak
and a speaking trumpet wherewlth he summons all
the beings that dwell in shadow and utter darkness.
One of these is the Demon Of the Sea, which has
taccd body, feet armed with long claws. retreat
ing forehead. eyes the surface of the face fat
tened nose, and wide-open mouth that expresses
stupid wonder. He is a very ugle bogie But L
think worse demons could be found in nature. Dirk
Hatterck a redoubtable parsonage. In
the way of mOnsrOus ferOcity and the capacity to
express it, the shark is infinitely more horrible 1t
il pity Victor Hugo trusted so much to introspec-
ton, and did not seek to renew his
mental strength in close observation of the
world in which he has spent mora
than eighty years. He is true to nature in his
sczpes which riyet the attention and suggest
dramas in which wind. water. sunshine, darkness
and the monsters of the air and deep take part The
Departure of Gliatt is scene that prepares the
mild LOT q coming Tragedy. lie starts from 81.
Samson's Bay of which the poet enjoyed fine view
from Hauteville House at dusk. The sea is calm,
but appears to be nursing wrath Ono
perceves that despite its unrulled surface
there is rising wind. for the sail Of
the little bark is well filed, and the PROV cuts
through the water brskly. In the daylight the old
tower on the northwestern coast of Guernsey is by
no means an imposing ruin. Victor Hugo views it
by moonlight. The shadows projected by the walls
seem part of them, and give them a majestic air.
His drawing of ST. Peters Port at dawn has for its
epigraph: " lei. dams Penceinte de ST. Pierre Port.
homme est endermi la vile somele mais Paubo
etincelante prend tous les tolls tous les murs
la horizon qui fanboie ct ellie joue CONNIE Neron
la vile quI brule."
Where the peculiar genius of Victor Hugo is most
strongly manifested is in the weird-house or mais0n
visionn6e. This uninhabted habitation has
walled-up door and unglazed and sashless Windows
But it appears TO see, and magnes that it
thinks also, and has prophetic vision or the
ing events that cast their shadows before them.
Hawthorne would have been enraptured with this
sketch. A sweeter and softer subject is The
Day-Dream of Deruchette." Deruchctte is the
girl whom Glatt vainly loves. She is the very in
carnaton of feminine grace. Her eyes are dreamy
and seem to interrogate the horizon. There is
something in them which tells of light, charming
anu supcIiCldl ndlute IL II Ntll luhb SHOW has
fallen on the road from St. Samsons to her fathers
house. to which she is fastening for she is capable
of being startled by the sOuld of her footsteps
The sixty-fourth and last picture is entitled My
Destiny" The subject is a steamer making its way
proudly in the face OF wind and waves The former
dashes about the thin body of yapor which rises
from the chimney. Underneath is written:
have given, pictorial form to my own life in
this drawing. | am not yet "a hulk, but going
steamer. which has been tossed and beaten DV the
tempest in the midst of a formidable and monstrous
ocean The worst hurricanes have knocked me
about. The brny foam has often hidden me. All
had on my side was that Vap0l winch Is
called glory. II was the steam which enabled nc
to weather out the worst torn2does
The Grand Duke of Hessc-Darmstalt and tho
Princess Victoria, his eldest daughter, are now IN
Paris on their way back 10 Germany. / have had
the honor of being invited TO meet them at the
house of German scientist who is native Of
Mayence The Grand Duke is the widower of tho
late Princess Alice of England He is young look
ing for his age and a man of finely developed intel
lect. The last time he was III France was in tho
winter of 1901. tlc is astonshcd at the vitality
OF the French Nation. No other people, he believes,
could have undergone all that has happened 10 them
in the last twelve years without being thrown back
half century at least. Their trials and losses and
political dsquetude and turmoil seem to have done
them world of good. Where they have, in m'
opinion refrigerated is in literature ZOlas novels
are too vile even for guard-rooms Renan has I'M
proved His later works are more serious and show
deeper penetration and moro critical acumen than
that idyc romance of his. the Life of Jesus Du.
mas ills is clover, but he has been going on from oaa
TO worse.
The Grand Duke and his daughter, who Is
peusiye ladylikc and highly accomplished glti, nv
been several times to visit the salon ana tDl.h ~e
OF it, But they are of opinion that German arr oo.i
icalist and ideallSt, is higher than french Dupie
the andscape painter. isone OF INC % III