New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-06-13
ART AT THE WORLDS FAIR.
III.
THE PICTURES SENT BY GREAT BRITAIN
THE LITERARY TENDENCY OF EN"Lish rNlNl'
ISG-NorEs on SOME OF THE BEST WORKS
pIo TIRES EY sIf FREDEHICK LEIGH-

PICTURES rY SIR FREDERICK LEIGH
TON. OECHARDsoN ANo WATTS.
,rnoN 4 STAFF CORRESPONDENT THE TRIBUNE,
Chicago. June 9.-Thc insularity Of the Eng
lishman is. in one sersP, curousy fOrcgonc in
his art. However Indifferent he may he, in most
of the relations Of life, to the opirion of any
outside his own circle. he yet makes strenuous
cndcavor in his pictures to awaken the intc-
gene. Of his auditors. lie is content. rule To
awaken it at only few points. As far as his
efforts 90 they leave nothing undonc. That
which helps to give the British pictures at the
Fair place apart from all others in the Art
Building save those of Germany and Austria, il
that they arrest attention almost exclusively
through an appeal TO the intellectual sympa-
thies or the affections From Sir Frederick
Leighton down there very few artists rep
resented on the wills who are not prcOccupcI
with this appeal II the President of the Royal
Academy is placed AZ the beginning OF the line
Of graduation il is not because he reposes upon
the lofticst height 10 which English art, as Il
is illustrated here. has attained. That honor,
TO which both Mr.. Watts and himself could lay
claim they qualified To equal in expression
the beauty of their conceptions. has been re-
served for an artist Of far less im1ginativ"
prctcnsions. In W. Q. Orchardsons portrait of
mother and child lies the browning glory Of
the British section. In that animated group may
he found an original and mastery method Of
execution. taste in the selection Of attitude, the
insight which belongs 10 the highest stage Of
portraiturc, and, finally tho incoInmuncabe, in
dcfnabe note Of style. But tho elimination Of
English ar; is expressed in Sir Frederick Leigh
tons pictures and this is although his sub
iccts liz without the range of English experience.
That which is natioral in q school Of art is, Of
course. discovered partially in the subjects Of it,
pictures but chiefly in the point of view which
they reflect
SIR FREDERICK LEIGHTON
Superimposed upon this point Of view, Sir
Frederick Leighton has academic sympathies and
a poctic elevation of mind which fcw of the
artists about him here share Where he is in
harmony with the great body of his neigh
bors. and sums mp their artistic creed, is in
sacrificing broad effects. often the material
istc equivalents NJ imagination. 20 "A Jealous care
Dor accuracy In parts. 4 resemblance in III" heart
OF the work can he apprehended between the
NEUROLOGICAL compositions Of Sir Frederick and
the landscapes Of the present English school. The
dlIerrriiatng qualities in the former have been
referred 10 in passing The individual charac-
tcrisics Of Sir Frederick Leighton are scholarship
ard poetic intention not poetic feeling, for that
would imply emotion. and his work, are cold.
There are four Of them az the Fair. the Garden
Of the lIesperlrs." the Hercules Wrestling with
Death for the Body OF Alces'is' the Persons
and Andromcda" and the Portrait of Captain
Burton IL is group which does him justice.
In the portrait Of the famous traveller hc NAY
b" studied ~ ~ his rare moments of mascu-
Unity and freedom. From the remaining de-
signs may be derived n perfect impression of
the way in which the most motel OF English
PAINTERS takes n scene from classical literature.
peoples il with models that ar" nothing il not
ronndlmbed and graceful. clothes them IN rip
ping draperies Of sacrharine hucs. carefully adj
Justns every fold aud then fines them in "A
composition ~ which the symmetry il next 10
impcccabe. The tragic splcndor Of a combat
like that between Hercules and Death. for en-
ample. or that between Pcrseus and the
dragon. will somehow escape him. But not
the rhythmic flow of ,t,tmcsluc line, the dig
nitv Of antique form and the inherent nobility
Of fine idea. These things his pictures pre-
serve. and through n careful cultivation 81 them
he has gained something Of the coveted quality
Of STYLE