New-York tribune., 1902-05-05
LONDON NOTES.
AN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY REVEL AT
THE GUHDHALL-WATER COLORS

eighteenth century art. The director Of the
gallery, Mr.. A G. Temple, who deserves knight
hood for his services in Tninistering to the edu-
cation and pleasure Of art lovers here and in
America has been at work for a year in col
lecting representative works of French and
English painters Of the eighteenth century; and
he has not only hung and grouped the pictures
10 the best possible advantage. but he has also
compiled a catalogue OF them which is a sound
vet popular treatise upon the subject He fully
appreciates the weakness Of the National Cal
.erv in Spanish and French art Last year he
provided a unique collection of Spanish works,
with Velasquez room. This year he fills three
rooms with a brilliant collection of French pict-
ures and reserves a fourth for characteristic
works Of English contemporary painters Since
the opening of the Wallace Gallery much has
been done to create intelligent sympathy for the
decorative beauty. harmony of color and
position and exquisite grace of French painters
such as Natter, Boucher, Vatican, Fragonard
Greuze. Lancret and Pater. The Guldhall show
will serve to broaden as well as to deepen this
impression for. in addition to the lovely idyls
of terraces and gardens. with carpet knights in
fine clothes and maidens smiling and dancing,
there examples of the school of French por-
traiture which Immediately preceded the de-
velopment Of the art in England There
English portraits rival the French: but Nor
lands, panels. Wilson's landscapes and Ope's
genre work cannot be said TO match the opulent
color and the spirit OF gallantry and joy in
life, which found in the decorative art of
Natter, Fragonard. Boucher. Watteau. Pater
and Lancret.
Among the French portraits are Matters
Nine. Henriette de France in red robe the
Duchesse de Flavacourt posturing Silence.
the Duchesse de Chateauroux symbozing Dawn
and the Comtesse de Neubourg seated at a
toilet table and arranging feathers and flowers
for her daughter who stands by her side with
a casket of jewels. These great ladies lack the
artless grace of the Romneys in the next room,
but with what distinction and elegance are the
figures and draperies drawn and with what
wealth of color must the canvases have deco
rated the panels of giIded salons. What
strength and fneness of line there is in Largil-
Heres N. de Noermont III brown, embroidered
coat and crimson robe and in his triumph over
middle age in Nine Lambert de Thorigny and
Mime. de Ncermont! How characteristic Of the
artificial but elegant age Of Louis XVI is
Drouaiss family group, with the husband spen-
didly attired in picturesque costume. the wife in
brown skirt and loose dressing jacket, and the
little daughter in blue dress and powdered hair!
More conventional but not without stately
grace. Tocqut's Nine. Danger and earle
Van Loo's Marquise de Marigny. with pearls
in her hair. around her neck and down her
shoulders. Nine. lie Bruins portrait OF Nine.
Rolund in white satin and blue. with touch
OF blue in her blonde curls to set off the golden
harp on which she is playing, is even more
artificial; but what robust power and drectness
in interpreting character there in Greuzes
Robespierre from Lord Rosebery's collection!
From these French portraits English visitors
may turn with confidence to their own room.
where the British masters Of the art are we'll
Observation-Disclosures by the Countess Temple
and her son. Mrs. Hardinge. the Hon. Edward
Bligh. the Countess OF Tyrconnell and the Hon.
Mrs. Charles James Fox: Gainsborough by Lady
Bate Dudley and General Honywood; Romney
by Lady Hamilton as Bacchante. the Stafford
children. Mrs. French and Mrs. Yates; Law
renee by John Kemble: Hoppner by girlish Mrs
Pearson and the fifth Earl of Darney and
Raeburn by portrait of two boys These are
familiar works often exhibited IN loan coec-
tions, but they seem derive fresh interest
and strength from comparison with the French
portraits These English women were at home
in the open air well in stately drawing
rooms, and with all the strong modelling and
mastery Of composition. there was grace. move
ment and charm, as in the second exquisite por-
trait Of pensive Lady Hamilton in white sash
blue sash and straw hat. sitting a bank by
the sea- in Gainsborough's barefoot cottage
girl with earthen jug and puppy. There is
little. however, in the English challenge
comparison with the beautiful pastorals idyls
French art Penny's Charms Of Virtue" and
''Profigacy Punished" lack the charm Of beauty;
Hogarth's Card Party" Peters's card Sharp
ers" and Ope's School Mistress' are prosaic
stories in paint, with homely morals but with
out idyllic grace. and Morland's panels and VIII
sons and Gainsborough's Landscapes are of a
different class from the French works in the
adjoining rooms. The transition from serious
England 10 pleasure loving France. with its
glow Of color. its groups Of gayly dressed ders
and dancers and its glamour Of artificial yet
dainty sentiment. is like a passage from a
humdrum world TO the planet Venus.
The famous series of Fragonards painted for
the decoration of Mime. du Barrys pavilion I
described in detail when the panels were ex-
hibited at the Agnew Galleries before Mr.. Pier
pont Morgan purchased them They are hung
IN proper sequence in room by themselves,
and the bright color scheme Of this comedy of
love is intensified by the gray drap peries There
are other FragCnards in the adjoining rooms. the
best Of them being The Fair at st. Cloud" with
a throng of jewellers in cream and white. and
with a magical atmosphere shimmering with
sunlight. There four large Bouchers from
The state dining of Marquis de Ganay in
PaTis-decorative panels opuIent in color and
free in movement, depicting the dispatch of a
message by a dove from group Of maidens
ana youth in scarlet, the twilight offering of
flowers at Cupids shrine by pale figures in blue
and white, a shepherdess's dream under the
trees, with a youth approaching stealthily TO
touch her cheek with straw, and a fortune
teller in long red robe whispering in the Of
q young girl in blue, yellow and white n
prophecy interpreted by circling figures in the
air. There ten Watteaus-there is not one
in the National Gallery-uneven in merit. but all
simple in motive and fascinating in daLNy
charm ard poetic quality; and there are Lam