Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-03-03

Erect q T1Cn ana stately carved cross
Wherein her statue shall with glory shine
And hencefOrth see We call it Charing Cross
For why? The chariest and choicest Queen
That ever did delight my royal eyes
There dwells IN darkness. -
After the destruction of Charing
Cross, the wits had an other gibe which
is too amusing to be left out here:
.'Undone, undone, the lawyers are.
They wander about the tOwne
Nor can find the way to Westminster
Now ChaIing Cross is dOWne.
At the end of the strand
They make a stand
Swearing they are at loss
And chatting say that's not the way
They must go by Charine Cross
From here we enter Trafalgar Square.
named after Lord Nelson's last victory,
to whom column is erected with -four
bronze lions at the base Of the pedestal,
modelled by Sir Edwin Landseer. The
whole square is paved with granite and
near the Column has two immense
fountains. Facing the square on the
north is the National Gallery The
east wing is appropriated to the Royal
Academy OF Arts and the west wing to
the National Collection of pictures.
while the ground floor is mostly official
apartments. One can spend many
delightful hours here enjoying the
pictures of the old masters. But to me
these valuable pictures are nearly
spoiled as they have recently been
restored and put under glass, that is,
cleaned and a glass put over the oil
paintings making it extremely unpleas-
ant and difficult to get a proper light on
the subject. This was necessary as the
smoke of London was running them. l
will not attempt to describe any of
them, but many would seem like old
friends to art collectors as they have
been engraved and photographed and
sold all over the world, comprising
many famous and beautiful pictures
from the Italian school by Titan,
Michael Angelo, Raphael, Correggio,
Guido, and others; Spanish school,
Valasquez and MuriIlo; Flemish school,
Rubens, Van Dyke, Cuyp, Teniers;
French school, Nicholas Poussin and
Gaspar Poussin; English school, j. NJ
w. Turner, Sir Joshua Reynolds,
Gainsborough, Hogarth, Wilson, and
many others. They are arranged in
different chambers and hung to the
best advantage.
The Royal Academy Of Arts occupies,
as said, the east wing of the National
Gallery The school for Drawing from
the antique is held in the Sculpture
room; the school for Painting in the
west room, and the school for Drawing
from the Life Model is held in the
interior of the dome Of the edifce.
The qualifications for becoming a
Student of the Royal Academy are: an
approved drawing or model by the
applicant and testimony of his moral
character. Next an approved drawing
or model Of an antique figure in the
Academy accompanied by outline draw
ings of an anatomical figure and
skeleton not less than two feet high,
with list, references, etc. \ similar
rule applies to Architectural students.
The exhibition is opened annually on
the first Monday in May and kept open
until July. The "private view" to
which cards Of admission are eagerly
solicited from the Royal Academicians,
is considered a great social, event and
our special correspondents in London
glory in it. Every year there are
special cablegrams about it in our news
papers-who were there and what
they wore-generally to the extent Of a
column and half I don't know why
it is that the eXclusiyeness Of the
English is so fascinating to the average
American tourist. We are opposed to
1t theoretically and yet it is the
'private" part of the 'private view"
that makes every American so anxious
to visit the Academy on the first day Of
May. After the "private view'' the
pictures are there every day, one may
see them for an English shilling and
take ones own time, but as itisa ching
to see" everyone tries to get an
invitation.
TO be continuedl