The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-08-07

$500 paintings and is one of the finest in
Europe. 1t includes the Sistine Madon'
ma, regarded by many critics as the first
painting in the world. The Madonna,
Of heroic size, is represented as standing
upon the clouds aud holding the child in
her arms, while she looks into the dis
lance with a far-away expression as
though she would fathom the future. On
the left is Pope St. Sixtus and on the
right St. Barbora, while below are the
two cherubs whose happy faces are
familiar the world over. There is an
indescrihable charm about the picture
which draws one again and again from
other parts of the gallery, to gaze on the
wondrous beauty of the mother and the
divine solemn loveliness of the child.
The gallery also contains Correggio's
Magdalens, Sassoferrato's Sleeping Venus
and many other masterpieces of the
worlds most famous artists.
After enjoying, as many Americans
have, visit to these wonderful art COL
lections which have been in process of
accumulation by these governments for
centuries, it is somewhat humiliating to
read, as we did, in telegraph dispatches
few days later that our wise ~ men
assembled at Washington had refused by
an overwhelming vote and in direct oppo-
sition to the wishes of American artists,
both at home and abroad, to even re-
duce the duty on works of art; thus sue
cessfully protecting" American painters
against one of the best means of improve
ment and rendering probable and just the
immediate enforcement of retaliatory
measures by the authorities in these
great centres of art study.
Vienna, or "Wien," as the German
hath it, was our next stopping point, and
this also necessitated a long wearisome
Journey of nearly four hundred miles
from Dresden, with but little to beak ther
monotony of the trip. This city, which
has a population only a trife smaller
than the Prussian capital, is not located
on the Danube river as is usually sup
posed, but upon the Danube canal, a
small branch of the main stream. The
old Notifications, which entirely sur.
rounded the ancient city, were all leveled
in 1857 and broad avenue, known as
the "Ring Strasse," constructed in their
place. This street which is one of the
finest we have yet seen in Europe, sepa-
rates the ancient and modern portions of
the city, the former with crooked streets
and medieval aspect being within and
the latter, one of the most inviting on the
continent, withoutits borders. The prin.
cipal public buildings, governmental
offices, ETC., are all located on the hing
Strasse and here too was the famous Ring
theatre, the burning of which few years
ago and the terrible loss of life in the
flames, sent such a thrill Of horror
throughout Christendom. Extensive
buildings are also being erected on the
"Ring" into which, when completed, the
art collections, ETC., will be gathered.
The Belvedere gallery is the principal
collection of paintings and is large and
valuable one. 1t is divided into two
ssections, the Italian and Netherlandish
schools, and each contains large num-
Der of the works of the most famous mas
ters. The Liechtenstein gallery, private
collection, also includes some excellent
specimens, together with many inferior
works, the total number being about 500;
Numerous statues adorn the parks and
squares of the city, the most interesting
being that of Prince Schwartzenburg,
who commanded at the three days battle
of Leipsic, which was the first step in
the final overthrow of the great
NAPOLEON. The unfavorable condition of
Austrian finances is evident, even to a
stranger, from the circulation OF a
deprecated fractional paper currency,
somewhat similar to the "shinplasters"
current in America during the slate un'
pleasantness." The German language
is almost universally spoken and the
Roman Catholic is the prevailing religion;
about twenty-eight of the thirty seven
million population belonging to that
faith, the balance being divided among
Protestants, Jews, the Greek Church, etc.
The scenery of the Danube at some
localities above Vienna is said to COM
pare favorably with that of the Rhine;
but is not of sufficient interest to justify
spending the time required foe the trip,
consequently we take train and are
whirled on to Munich, the ancient capi-
tai of the kingdom of Bavaria, avoiding
Salzburg as one of the humbugs of
Europe. In its public buildings and its
collections of art, Munich is one of the
richest cities of Europe. 1t is located
upon the "Isar, flowing rapidly" and is
yery irregular in its streets and general
plan. Like Vienna, it has broad boule-
ward occupying the place of its old forti'
fcations and separating the ancient from
the modern city. The Royal Palace,
certain portions of which are open to the
public each day, contains a large num-
ber of articles of interest, but the great
est attraction is a series of halls, on the
walls of which are some of the finest fres.
Goes of modern times; illustrating events
in the lives of Charlemagne, and Fred.
erick Barbarossa and also giving scenes
from Nibelungen.lied. The old Pima
cothek, or picture gallery, contains about
1900 paintings, including 90 by Rubens
and large representation of the other
| famous masters.
Of course in these vast collections it is
impossible to give even passing glance
at large portion of the pictures, and
in many cases more would not be desira.
BILE; as even in the best galleries there
are many which, to the uncultivated eye
at least, are of but little interest, while
those which have become world famous
are sufficient to occupy all the time which
an ordinary tourist can command. The
frequent recurrence of the Virgin and
Child as a subject for painting also
becomes somewhat monotonous, we hav-
ing counted no less than thirty-two rep
resentations of the virgin in a saloon
containing only ifty-eight pictures. The
new Pinacothek is devoted to modern art
and its 500 paintings include some of the
best works of Piloty, Hess, Rottman,
Zimmerman and others, while the Glyp-
tothek, or gallery Of ancient sculptures,
presents remarkably we'll classified
collection, together with several magnih.
cent specimens from Canova, Thorwals.
| A., onr; othoru of our oun dav