Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1882-02-16
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49, NAA~@NAsAts
The Corcoran Art Gallery, stu
ated near the Presidents House,
was the next and last public build
ing we visited. For those who ad-
mire and appreciate works of art,
there is no greater attraction in
Washington city than this place.
In the main gallery Of paintings,
ore may spend hours in viewing
and adTniring its great number OF
elegant ard varied paintings -
They are all works Of merit. and
are from the hands Of the most Il /.
nous artists Of this country and
abroad. By means of a catalogue,
which can be purchased of the su-
perintendent of the building, one
can make a more satisfactory in
spectiOn Of the building and its
specimens of art, as from il may
be obtained a description of each
work and its subject, etc., and the
name Of the artist by whom it was
executed. The most attractive
painting in the main gallery room
is 'Charlotte COrday in prison" ("
1t is, indeed, a masterpiece. At
first glance, the life-like features
OF this beautiful and unfortunate
girl might lead one to believe that
there was a real animate creature
of flesh and blood listlessly gazing
from her prison cell. In corri-
dor leading from the main gale
ry may be seen, gathered to them
selves, the portraits Of our presi-
dents and other eminent states
men. As We stood and gaZed upon
their faces looking down upon us
from the canvas, we fancied our
self in the presence of departed
spirits and that no spiritual medi-
nm was necessary to enable us to
Commune with them. But, alas
they were as silent as the tomb in
which their bodies lie. Passing
out of this corridor into another
at right angles with it, our eyes
suddenly met the most exquisitely
beautiful image they ever beheld.
This admirable work of art, which,
indeed. seemed to us the culmina-
tion of all art. is a statue en-
titled "The Greek Slave" and rep
resents a female slave of ancient
Greece. 1t fascinates the atten-
tiOn and excites the admiration of
all beholders. Wecannot imagine
anything so perfectly beautiful as
this. Words are inadequate to con-
vey an idea Of its dazzling beauty
In beauty of features and symme-
try of form, it is unsurpassed-un-
approached. As we gazed upon
it, we wondered how such a
conception could be possible-how
an image of such transcendent
beauty could be fashioned out of a
rough and sightless block of mar
BILE! And yet it was but a chisel
obeying the direction Of a master
hand that wrought this marvel OF
artistic ingenuity. With a feeling
of regret we turned away, and
descending the stairs and passing
through another corridor, we found
ourselves in the hall of Antique
Sculpture. Here may be seen the
statues of the most important del
ties of Greek and Roman MythOl-
ogy; but we saw nothing compar-
BILE to "The Greek Slave"-not
even a Venus or a Diana in the
least approaching it, After going
through this hall and through that
of Modern Sculpture, we took our
leave, having been highly edited
by our visit to the COrcoran Art
Gallery.
We are now running TO the end
Of our stay in the city and have
no other incidents of any import
ance to mention. The inclement
weather which prevailed during
our visit prevented our seeing as
much as We might have seen had
the weather been fine, but alto
gether we spent a very nice time,
and our only regret at leaving was
that the short reprieve from our
duties compelled us to limit our
visit TO but one week. The thought
of leaving was not, therefore, Who'll
ly unalloyed with regret. Besides,
there were connections to sever,
which we wished to remain longer
unbroken. There were agreeable
friends TO leave, and there were
bright eyes and radiant smiles to
turn away from and forget. Pos
sibly there were other emotions
which We experienced and which
We do not care to describe If we
coui5. But still We had to leave,
and the hour for parting came
About 6 O'Clock, A NJ, Saturday
morning, New Yeer's eve, we said
goodbye and proceeded to the
wharf, where we boarded the
steamer Arrowsmith to return
home. Shortly after arriving on
board, the noise and jarring of the
machinery aud the swaying of our
boat reminded US that we had
started and were on our way down
the river. We were not long on
the river before we were impres-
sed with the belief that our trip
would not be a pleasant one, for
the day was cold and the wind was
blowing very heavily from the
Northwest. All this rendered even
a look outside disagreeable. We
had, therefore, TO resign 0nrself to