Morning journal and courier., 1884-02-15
Dr. Payers 'sStErvstEon Cove"
 TPar1z ntsnatch to the Toodon Tjn,ee

\
 | saw to-day-bsfore it starts for VienEa,
 where it will bs exhibi.ed-Dr. Julius von
 Payers great picture, which is of such glo.
 rious, though painful interest for England. This picture is the last of the four works in
 which Dr. Won Payer illustrates Sir John Franklin's expedition. They will represent l the death of Franklin, the abandonment of | the sbips, Sunday prayers on ths anow, and, ! lastly, Starvation Cove" The picture I
 have just seen depicts the death of eight ! survivors of the expedition facing Esqui l maux Bay, five leagues from where they ! would have bean saved. The point to dwell | upon here is that the artist is a man who has | himself made expedition similar to shat of Franklin and his companions. has also lived in the polar regions, has undergone the 1 most terrible privstions in those icebound lands, and who, after all this experience,
 after observing and studying their scenery, l returns to the civilized world and devotes
 himself to depicting, in picture of stertling l and touching realism, how the last members l of the Franklin expedition met their death. l Nor need I sketch Payer's career. The l English public still remembers how, on the | return of the two Austro Hungarian expedi-
 tions of 1870 and 1874, Payer went to | England at the invitation of the Royal l Geographical society, and how the narrativ1 he gave of the expedition WAS one of the l l work collecting materials and details for his | pictures. He saw the venerable Lady Frank l lin, Captain Crozier'E betrothed, most of the I leaders of the subsequent expeditions, the l Admiralty anthorities, and, in short, every | body who could give him particulars of the | expedition. It Is even said that having gone to Admiral Watson, at Chatham, to examine some old vessels of the Erebaa and terror | kind, he WAS invited t9 breakfast on one of the old ships which he visited and on | iDqgiring at dinner how Frank:ins cabin in I the Erebus was earpeted, Lady Watson rose l and cut out bit of the dining room car pet, which she gave to Payer as being cs ex- actly the same pattern. Every facility, in- | deed, was offered him He was shown mod | els of the scientific instruments. of the uni. forms of the crews and portraits of the ! chief members of the expedition. He had l previsusly studied for two years under Pro- I lessor Alexander Wagner at Munich. Thus prepared he set to work, and in twelve months produced Starvation Cove"
 Tue picture measures about twelve feet by
 fourteen feet, and gives in life size seven of | the last survivors of the expedition lying
 dead in their boat. An eighth, Captain Gro zier, is still alive It is moonlight, which tude of the scene. The field of hard, rough snow is dotted uith patches of ice which have greepish tinge. On the left, toward WilIiam'a bay, sparkles a large expanse of ice. On the right is the head of polar
 bear watching the heap of corpses, while in
 the distance are two other bears The boat
 is tilted up at one end and is seen in its
 whole length. Captain Crozier, kareheaded,
 his hood falling over his shoulders, his face
 anxious, but resolpta, musket in hand, Is
 leaning forward in the boat and Gxedly
 watching the bear, against which he will en-
 deaVor to defend himself. But, alas you
 feel that that benpmhed hand will falter, and you understand the tranduillity of the boar as 1t contemplates the dead bodies, stretched beneath it's eyes.
 Almost at Crozier's feet the body Of man on his back, his hands clenehad, with band over his eyes, shows by it's position that he has died ia horrible agony. Near him, on his face, Hes pr. Stanley, holding in his fro zen hands the prayer book from which he has read some passages when his companions in suffering were in agony around hiA. To the left, few yards from the hcak h# legs hidden in the snow, slsepinR his last a1e--,
 lies man who tried to save the ba~ oo,.oip' ing the pgesiops doeameBs~ now lost for science eHfd Rpma8lss> The body has melted sne sr9@: ssa =. around the green ice re- Aes< 4m shadow of the motionless body.
 .e of the bodies, that at the right extremi- ty, is swollen and kideous, but the oth CTS,
 full of painful melancholy, inspire no gloomy
 thoughts You feel you are before solitary
 and fearful battlefield, but one with duty and
 science for it's object and God for it's witness.
 In the prov of the boat the English flag,
 rolled up, stands out against the snow. The
 general tone of the drapery is dull and dis
 colorsd, as would be the case after exposure
 in such 8 climate. Accessories, drawn with
 uniform fidelity to nature, are scattered over
 the spot, and in the foreground. on the left,
 you see emerging from the snow the remains
 of the box which contained the documents
 already mentioned.