Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-01-19
ART NOTES.

The ScOttJSit Art ReUielc mas passed into
the hands of Walter Scott, the publisher.
Hubert Herkomer has been painting
miniature to which great praise has been
awarded.
Sir Frederick Leighton is gazetted Com
mander Of the Legion of Honor, though
there are thirty painters in France who
surpass him as an artist.
A bust of Paul Baudry, crowned with
wreath of gold laurel leaves by figure of
Fame in bronze, has been placed above his
tomb in Pere-Lachaise.
The German Museum at Nurnberg has
bought Prince Sulkowski's famous collec-
ton of armor and weapons for SOL 900.
lection at 100000.
Severe criticism of the system of art in
struction and art encouragement pursued
at the South Kensington Museum was
heard at the recent Art Congress held in
Edinburgh. 1t was denounced by Messrs.
HorsIey, Hodgson and Ford.
Fremiet, the sculptor, has not been able
to convince the Parisians that his new and
larger edition of the "Joan of Arc" that
looks so fine on the Place des Pyramides is
better than the old one. His request that
the larger should take the place of the old
favorite has been denied. Meantime the
Paramount Park Association of Philadel-
phia was in the field to obtain the original.
That being impossible, NJ. Fremiets i'm
proved and enlarged Joan" is to grace
Paramount Park, the bridge over the
Schuylkill, or some other good spot for a
statue. 1t is very handsome and beauti-
full piece of work, not quite SO simple as
the smaller "Joan," but with more action.
To Judge from the illustrations, NJ. FIRE.
MET has made the heroine this time an
older and more serious woman than the
! little girl who sits so high in her saddle on
the Place near the Louvre. Philadelphia
will certainly have in this statue fine
work of art.
A Frenchmans surprise at the way in
which the arts of peace in France are now
honored beyond the arts of war is shown
by the following remarks printed in
London journal as those of the art critic,
NJ. Ernest Chesneau: 1.-TWO artists-a
painter and sculptor-have been raised
to the two highest ranks of the Order of
the Legion of Honor. The painter-M.
Meissonier-has been created Grand Cor
don,' officially called 'Grande Croix, of
the Order, and the sculptor-M. Paul Du-
bois-'Grand Officer Such a thing has
never before been seen. Even in the
army the Grande Croix is extremely rare,
being only bestowed on commanding gen.
eral officers before the enemy, and, out
side the army, to a few diplonatists, or to
men who have rendered altogether excep-
tional services to the public, such as NJ.
de Lesseps or III. Pasteur. Although the
grade of Grand Officer is of just lower
grade than that of Grande Croix, it is,
nevertheless, not awarded to the first
conner Not only do these nominations
place NM. Meissonier and Dubois Off
cially above all other French artists, but
they formally raise art to a position she
had never before held, even in France"
L'Art is undertaking veritable crusade
against NJ. Antonin Proust, the gentleman
who made a gallant fight to retain in
France the ''Angelus" of Millet without
knowing where to look for the funds.
The polemic wakes so fierce that the
picture itself has not been spared, as if it
were Millefs or the pictures fault that
the price was driven up to the point it
finally reached. But the facts that notwith-
standing all the attacks upon it there were
certainly three and probably six individ-
uals ready to pay down 100000 for the
canvas, and that the next highest bidder
to NJ. Proust took it gladly at the enor-
nous sum he had bid, are sufficient to
show how far from the realities these bel
ligerent gentlemen have got. NJ. Paul
Leroi forgets the religious element in the
"Angelus.n Though connoisseurs who care
nothing for this side of the picture may
prefer other works by Millet, owing to
purely artistic reasons, the public will
always enjoy more painting that touches
them on the supernatural side. To Amer
leans especially the exquisite religious
feeling in the homely scene will be de-
lightful, let scofers say what they will
about ugly peasants, wheelbarrows and
freshly-dug potatoes. The "Angelus' is
poem of labor and prayer. Nobody, and
the accomplished NJ Paul Leroi least of
all. expects f1om Millet the technical per-
lection and finish of Meissouier and Bou-
goureau.