The record-union., 1897-03-14

general one and comprises things that
were once considered as meritorious and
things that satisfy the taste of to-day.
Had the pictures been arranged chro-
nologically they would have formed an
illustrated history of the development of
American art from it's primitive state
to it's present high standing. Among
the artists represented are such veter-
ans as Albert Bierstadt with a Nebraska
scene, R. A. Blakelock with a silvery
landscape, James M. Hart, E. L. Henry
with one of his amusing human cpl
sodes, Winslow Homer, David Johnson,
Eastman Johnson, E. Wood Perry,
Worthington Whittridge and Thomas
o. W. Wood.
New York Times: The formal
opening of the art EXPOSE
ton at Florence has just been an
nounced. There is to be another EXPOSE
ton, and remarkable one, to be held
in Venice, which, beginning on the 22d
of April next, will close at the end of
October.
No American questions how great is
his art Indebtedness to Venice. 1t is the
city which is the objective point of every
art student in the world. How it comes
about may hardly be explained, but both
in our books and in our pictures there
are the reflected lights of the Adriatic.
1t may not have been an American who
knew how to walk through Venice of a
rainy day and not get wet, because of
his knowledge of how to get along under
it's arcades, but certainly Dean Howells
F011lH ho
brella.
We know its canals, its bridges, its
public places, its churches, palaces, it's
pictures and its pigeons. Architecture
ally we repeat its structures. A great
art exhibition then IN Venice is likely to
draw there this year many of our peo-
pie. They will see there not only the
best productions of European painters,
but many works of native art Among
the contributors to this Venice exhibit
ton may be mentioned, from the United
States, Sargent and Whistler: from
Austria, Munkacsy, Passini, Van Haa-
men; from Belgium, Courtens, Van der
Stappen; from Denmark, Kroyer: from
England, Alma Tadema, Burne- Jones.
Kerkomer, Millais. Orchardson; from
France, Carolus Duran, Dagnan-Bou-
Veret Dubois, Fremiet. Henner G. Mo-
reau, Puvis de Chavannes; from Ger
many, Begas, Klinger, Lenbach Lieber-
mann, Schonleber, Uhde, Werner; from
Holland, de Has, Israels, H. W. Mesdag;
from Italy, Carcano, Galori, Maccari,
Monteverde, Pasini; from Norway,
Peterson; from Russia, Antocolsky, Re
pin; from Spain, Benlliure, Jimenez
Amanda, Fradilla, Sorolla Villegas; from
Sweden, Zorn, and from Switzerland.
Bocklen. The prizes amount to 10000
lire. The Mayor of Venice, Signor, Girl
mani, is the President of the exposition
Gibbon has declared that 'few works
Of merit and Importance have been
created either in garnet or a palace"
The remark has occasioned surprise,
since history abounds in illustrations to
the contrary-for example, on the one
hand, DR.. Johnson and Goldsmith, on
the other Caesar and Marcus Aurelius.
Gibbon himself had neither poverty
nor riches; but he had an incumbrance
which TO most men, and above all to
most authors, would have been a
greater hindrance to study than either
an embarrassed, poorly productive
estate. out of which his stepmother
was to be supported and his own posi-
ton in the world to be maintained
New York Times: The unpublished
works of Gibbon, which John Murray
has just issued in London and the
Scribners have imported for American
readers, constitute what may properly
be called the most important literary
event of the winter and perhaps the
whole year will not YIELD a rival But
they are not the books to be most
widely talked about or most widely
read. Indeed no American publisher
has reprinted them, nor is one likely
TO do SO. Murrays edition is the only
enc we may look for. But where shall
we point to another work of such vital
interest to literature or one that
abounds in so much new matter relat-
ing to one of the greatest literary per-
fcrmances a human mind has accom-
plished?
Alongside that History of the De-
cline and Fail of the Roman Empire"
a crowd of famous works produced in
Gibbons time. before his time. and
since, fade into the second rank. Sure
" 1t IS not Samuel Johnson. or Carlyle
who has written a book that is com
parable with it either in vital worth.
splendor Of achieVement. or permanent
value to mankind. When Byron called
il a bridge from the ancient world TO
the modern he characterized it in terms
sngularly fit and final Gibbon reared
an enduring edifice and he crossed
vast. unknown chasm. A world dead
to mems knowledge was made to live
again and was made movable More
than q century has passed since Glib
bon wrote, and not all the learning that
men have since acquired, not all the at
lacks tina churchmen have directed
upon certain of his chapters. have dis
lodged his book from its place as
hook for all time.
The greatest personal lesson taught
by Gibbon has always seemed to me to
be the supreme Importance of doing
with all ones power some one thing
that was well worth doing 1t is the
lesson of conservation to a good object
and the lesson of fixity of purpose
Gibbon practically did nothing except
write one book. He sat in two Parlia-
ments. but made no mark there, find
ing his talents not we'll employed. He
was a member of the Board OF Trade:
but he was attracted to the place, not
by its work, but by its salary. For
the rest, there is nothing to record
but work, the care of an embarrassed
estate, and a lifelong friendship.
New York Tribune: Art circles not
only in England, but all over the CIV