The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-10-08
ART CENTRE OF FRANCE
THE MANY BkIUTIEs IND SHORT
COHISGS OF THE LOUVRE,
David's Great Painting Brought from YER
sailles-RubbIsh I'm the Theirs CoiIec-
tion-savageot's Marvellous Finds.

tic world is stining in the dollhouse heat
or overculture. Vatican has passed
away, Boucher also, and the rocco
grace OF Pompadour years has worked
and labored into the pastoral, overwrought
simplicity Of the Trianon. Like some rare
orchid Greuze rises; pure. akin to Q
Greek cameo; like the perfect Queen OF
tropical beauty his faces shine radlantly
forth. Never since Raphael was maid
emily modesty and sweetness rendered
thus well, and yet, one is conscious Of
the intermediary gulf Of vice and folly
Of the Regency, Of the pomp. the earth
illness Of the steele OF Louis XIV.
BY what intultive genius dis~the master
attach those charming heads upon those
slender necks? Did vision OF the dark
future show to him in dream creatiyeness
that awful axe, and its still more terri
Bile work. The fascinating features glow
| from his canvas with liquid, sad eyes,
| great gray orbs, looking far away into
| space. Generally the mouth is small to
| excess. with humid. coralline lips par
| TALLY open, as II about to speak, and
always that inordinately stem-like neck.
even when 1t is not encircled by a small
band Of string. Oh. what cruel Eignifl-
| canoe this detail takes-so often respec-
ted in the masters work! The time for
painting virgins being past. Raphael's
soul shines forth again in Greuze, and
peasant peindre des femmes, Il peignit
des martyrs"
But the matter is growing old and
m ri - for ha fpo
ment, is at a discount Who cares FOR
art? What is It at best1 A plaything for
Kings and Princes; a bauble disdained
by Spartsns and scofed at by the older
Rom ms; good only for the Courts Of
Augustus and Neroi Art is nothing.
Liberte. fraternite, or la mort is written
on all the portals, defacing the most
harmonious creations, and the grass
sprouts rank and wild between the stones
Of the Cour de Marbre of Versailles
and amid the fagstones of the Sainte Cha
pelle.
In the desert a soft football is heard.
A man, beautiful as a god, majestic In
power, enjoying everything that kind
fate can give. wealthy 10 the limit Of
extreme afiiuence handsome beyond ex-
preston, a statesman, orator, and poet,
he moves about adulated, fattered, and
sought-and yet destined to be killed 10
serve as lesson to the party he Rdored.
This man crosses the deserted courts
OF the Tuileries holding between the
folds OF his mantle cup from which
he has Just drunk TO the health OF Liber-
". AS he passes through the archways,
which have witnessed the progress Of
Francis l. and Leonardo. as he steps
over the thresholds where Louis XIV.
and Lebrun have trodden, he chats ray
~ with the surrounding crowds. The
entire convention is there. and hushed
silence prevails as Herault de Sechelles
deposits in its place the cup OF agate,
the small gem which. by itself alone
for an instant. comprises the whole .u-
ture museum OF the magnificent Louvre.
1897 lust one hundred years ago the
first public museum was opened TO the
people-they little needed its creation,
we must frankly state-and as 10 the
artistic circles which destined in the flu
ture 10 turn upon that point alone, In
stead Of the numerous cogwheels Of
pr,ncely patronage. they do not seem
to have been aware of the importance OF |
the event.
Like some dark ominous cloud. David /
looms I'D against the sunny background |
OF the eighteenth century. A relative Of |
Boucher with whom he quarreled to a /
point of aggressive antagonism; poor |
ugly his mouth all distorted into |
disgusting leer; soured by neglect, and |
dreaming Of great things in a period OF |
small events, David rose alone and state
~ before the world, saying, "C'est moi
ct c'est asset THE gay world passed |
on. not deigning even to notice the mis-
cradle nephew OF lie pintre du roi, NJ.
Boucher The former was self-sufictent
enough TO mock the mannerism OF NJ.
Boucher's nymphs and cupids, and he
called unnatural those lovely hoatlng
iraperies and he stigmatized those mar
small hands and feet as out Of
drawing Take heed, gay world, and be-
ware; for this young nephew OF NJ. Bou-
cher will carve his way to fame with the
knife Of the guillotne and sever from
their bodies the very heads he once
sought TO immortalize!
est moi ct c'est assez. Like his uncle
he will also be n sovereigns painter;
)nlv he will first clear the way. An,
David when you rose that famous night
rom your seat in the convention, and
you spoke those awful words, la mort
behind the grotesque figure OF the poor
King. with his suffering speech and
|
profile rise crowned by YOU with the
imperial laurel? And when in later years
rowds bowed to the echo OF the fuller
es. repeating in golden measure. Mon
ieur David, peintre de sa Majestic
Emperor ct Roi. did not some lonely
tone repeat softly-by mere force Of
iabit- Monsieur Boucher, peintre du
OF?
who was It who engraved that noble
cad upon the coinage OF the newborn
entury? Who was II who designed those
nper1al robes and draped that figure.
s Il was destined TO so down 10 poster
v. carefully emitting every detail which
light recall the poor officer de fortune.
ne cadet OF Brienne? Folds OF heavy
attn embroidered in gold conceal the
mall figure once so light and wiry, as
flew across the bridge at Arcola, or
aced with crossed arms the Assembly
n the 18th Brumaire. Regal buskins
overed those feet which had trodden
he world as master, and those hands,
I which he was so proud and careful,
8 If the soldier OF Toulon had known
nat they were to handle the seal Of
rance. Why did you paint them the
ct of browning the former widow Of
ne Marquis de Beauharnais. instead OF
sting on the jeweled and gilded bau- I
e that replaces at the side OF the EN- ,
'ror the sword Of Marengo? h
No. unoonsciously. but god-gifted for the '
lrpose by the Most High, II was your $
'stiny. Jean Louis David. after sitting r
De by side with Robespierre and ST )
lst I'm that dread revolutionary tribunal 7
lelding the republican scythe that swept =
way the fairest flowers OF Franoe-it 7