The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-09
A PICTURE or MODERN WAR.
The First Painting Of the Kind, by Frederic
villiers, on Exhibition in London.

LONDON, July l.-AC the galleries OF
Messrs. Henry Graves Il Co.. in Pail Mall,
there has been placed on exhibition war
picture of a very remarkable kind Prob
ably no other has yet been painted which
conveys 80 good an idea Of certain impor-
tant aspects OF modern warfare.
or course, many excellent photographs
and sketches relating to the Russo-Japanese
conflict have appeared in various period
icals; but the scale OF these is necessarily
small. They can convey notion Of the
appearance OF leading individual and
typical people, but hardly Of their conjoint
activity.
The picture In question is a canvas meas
uring about 20 feet by g. The painter is
Frederic Villiers, one OF the most expe-
rienced of all war artists. The subject Ia
some of the doings at the siege Of Port
Arthur
The day on which the sketches for this
picture were made was Nov. 20, 1904, when
the Osaka ll-inch mortars were used in the
bombardment for the first time. That days
action. Mr.. Villers has informed the present
writer, gave a better idea Of modern war
fare, with it's sapping and its shell fire, than
any other phase OF the campaign.
Hitherto, war pictures have been figure
pictures, usually depicting notable COM
batants performing deeds OF daring In
conspicuous places. An exception was the
work Of Verestchagin. who once got into
trouble through representing a royal COM
mander in the very safe place he actually
occupied instead of at the head Of his cav
airy. But these were nevertheless figure
pictures, whereas the modern war picture.
comparatively speaking, is landscape.
When Mr.. villiers made his original.
sketches he was lying in trench, about
700 yards in a direct line from the Russian
position. This trench is in the foreground
Of the picture, and from it you look over to
the panorama Of the fortified hills surround
ing the inlet Of Port Arthur.
They are conical hills. of the volcanic
type, clothed to mid height with greenery.
and above that bare. Between two OF the
most distant you get a glimpse Of the sea and
OF Togos waiting battleships They are
far away-a convenient firing range Of a few
miles.
Here and there the nearer hills permit
the waters of the harbor to be seen---a mar.
row place, literally beset with the lofty,
conical hills. One could not well imagine
u" VdSiot pdSO " loithJ, Hol Oic
difficult to take when fortified.
To the right OF the picture is series Of
forts knows az the Cockscomb and another
series leads across to the left. The latter
form on this side the first line of defense.
The nearest hill. at the extreme left. is
East Kikwan, crowned by one Of the south
ern sea forts The muzzles of two long
guns are seen up against the sky. 1t is
about this and the next two hills, each with
its fort, in the left and right middle Of the
picture. that the chief interest centers.
The fort in the left middle was known as
the fort.
From the base Of these hills to the specta-
tor extends stretch Of uneven ground.
The vegetation is scanty and stunted,
scorched by the sun. The cherries vege-
tation. the reds and yellows of sandy
soil, the distant waters and a sulen sky
these arc the leading colors OF the land
scape setting.
The nearest human interest is at the left
of the foreground. Under the shelter
of bit of an old Chinese wall converted
into defensive wall by the Russians. a
First Aid corps is assisting wounded men.
They are not consp icuous. They are
incidental, Sap and Shell" is the name
of this picture, and it is rightly named.
Athwart the foreground, IL the direction
of the hills. runs deep Irregular fissure.
it might have been caused by
an earthquake. Now. at any rate, it is
to the Uses of men.
1t ia full of men. though not one of them
is to he seen. The only thing you catch
sight of resembles the topmost peak of
tent.
Like human moles the unseen men
extended the fssure. casting up the red
soil as they went on TO the base OF the
hills and up their bare face, throwing out
ramifications on each side. These unseen
tolels we're Japanese.
But on the face of the hills in similar
red scored holes and burrows. were unseen
Russians with machine guns. 1t was
to pound these deadly machine guns to
pieces, and thus prepare the way for the
Japanese infantry, that the great Osaka
mortars were brought into action, con-
their fire on the Russian
trenches.
Now, you, Of course. the spectator
looking over the trench in the immediate
do not see the Osaka mortars
They are two or three miles away and
behind your back. What you see is the
bursting of their enormous projectiles,
the 500 pound shells that hurtle necessarily
over your head.
Where one of these shells has burst there
is a pit in the Landscape. Where they are
actually bursting you behold varied and
extra va CANT effects of color
Vast masses of vapor are disengaged
by these exploding shells. The nearest
one, 80 near that You can see the sheet of
flame. filings up black earth in fumes of
swnrthy purple. The flame is like the
vivid center OF monstrous feur du NAL
From sand the vapors rise in clouds OF
amber. Elsewhere they are leaden gray,
red gray and purple gray; and high over
head ia the white smoke OF bursting shrap-
mel. Between the hills a thin blue haze |
drifts lazily.
Midway up East Kikwan several shells
In We burst, and on the slope below the |
zone Of billowing many colored vapors is
swarm of yellowsh white dots. They
ire japanese infantry, sprung from their
OWN trenches and clambering to those of |
he Russians.