Morning journal and courier., 1886-05-21
AleXander Cahanel.

| lFrQnl the Magazine or ArC.l
 M Cabanel was born at Montpelier, in | the department of L'Herault, in 1893. At | sixteen years of age he was victor in tue To. 1 cal art competition at his native place, 6
 success which gained him scholarship for I the pursuit of his studies in Paris. From | the moment this first step was taken his de- votion to his art never abated for day; he
 never faltered in his confidence or Tagged in | his aspirations and his labor From such
 whole-hearted devotion have resulted two | things-his own work and his teaching. The | sum of his labors is very considerable, and l the extent of his influence is to be marked ! throughout the world of French art He | has had perhaps larger number of pupils, | and pupils of higher talent and of more dis | tinguished position, than any other living I master can boast. In 1S45 he won the | grand prix de Rome by his picture of Christ in the Prsetorium From the villa Medicis, whither this studentship took him, his prin- cipal works sent home were ''The Preaching of St. John the Baptist y now at the museum of Montpelier, the artists native place;
 ''The Death of Moses" which was received with exclamation at the salon of 1852, and ''Velleda' (slso at Montpellier,l To the | same early part of his career belong also a | series of twelve compositions representing l the months of the year; these were placed in l the hall ot Caryatides in the ancient Hotel de Vile destroyed by the fires of the com
 mune, and established him as historical
 painter, at the same time that fine portrait of lady and her child fixed his position | among the foremost portrait painters of his time.
 The gravest subjects still occupied M. Cab | anels exquisitely graceful pencil. At the
 universal exhibition of 1855 he chose to be I L IJJ Louis, " which is now at the Luxembourg. | and by Christians Discovering the Body of Martyr on the Banks of the Tiber," which l latter gained for the artist a medal of the | first class and the cross of the Legion of 1 Honor. To a less solemn class of subjects belong a picture painted in illustration of that poet whom artists of all nations have delighted to honor-'tQthello Relating his Adventures to Desdemona," 'Michael Ange To Visited in his Studio by Pope Julius IT. and "Aglae and Boniface." These were M Cabanel's contribution to the salon of 1857; aud the two following years were absorbed by the production of some of those mural paintings to which the luxurious and bril- liant elegance of his work specially adapted. In all times beauty has been con sidered the first requisite for the success and
 fitness of such adornments to secular archi- lecture at least; the great Venetians, for in- stance, who are the masters for all time of
 
 beautiful, their work being a banquet of col or, of noble harmonies of tone and of lovely form. Severity would especially be out of place on the walls of a Parisian hotel, though
 science is always appropriate, and in science | this masters work never fails. Two magnif- ieent houses were thus decorated by him about this time, one of them having a large ceiling painted with beautiful allegorical | composition, "The Dream of Life" and types of the four elements over four doorways. In 1861 M Cabanel combined the religious, | the mythological and the medieval in his | choice of subjects, his three principal pie | lures being ''St Mary Magdalen, !" 'zA Lymph
 Carried Away by Fla wn' and 'sA Floren-
 tine Poet" The second of these works is | remarkable as containing one of the prettiest
 female faces in modern art, while the third
 is fascinating composition of Florentines
 sitting or lying on long garden seats listen ing to the Improvisation ot q poet; refined
 and delicate happiness is expressed by this
 charming group Two portraits of ladies'
 Mme Pereire (for whose house were executed
 some of the mural paintings of which wa
 have spoken) and Mrs. Ridgway--attracted
 at the same time great attention by their dis
 tinction of stylei but perhaps M Cabaners
 greatest success in this way was reached in
 1883, when he exhibited the portrait of l Mme. de Clermort- -Tonnerre. In the same year appeared 'The Florentine,'i female