New-York tribune., 1918-07-28
THE HUN IN THE WORLD OF ART

paintings and other works OF art
were salvaged from the churches and
the Cardinals palace at Malines dur
ing the bombardment of the town.
Throughout Belgium, indeed, efforts
were made to save public and private
belongings Of an artistic nature in
advance of invasion, and though de-
tailed reports have not been issued
it is believed that considerable pre-
cious property was thus made secure.
In France, too, many masterpieces
were hurried into safety just in time
to avoid capture or destruction. At
Lille they saved from the Musec
Vicar that famous wax bust, long
attributed to Raphael, of which Stan
ford White once wrote: "When you
go and look at it you wish you
may die or something" The French
government has Of course been active
from the start in the rescue and pro-
lection of works of art. It has done
much, we know. Some day the full
report will be made. In the mean
time we may take courage. We say
this with reference, chiefly, to NOV
ables. Many pictures now hidden
away in Germany will doubtless be
restored when the peace terms are
settled. The pastels Of La Tour will
in the fulness Of time be returned
to ST. Quentin, along with numer-
Gus other achievements Of eighteenth
century genius reft from that town
by the Hun. But the damage to
architecture is beyond repair.
Louvain can never look the same
again. Rheims as it once was has
gone forever. German success"
was there complete. Possibly, before
this summers fighting is over
Amiens will have met the same fate
I might add to the list, citing Ypres
and divers other salient towns. The
list of dead and mutilated monu-
ments of worldwide fame is tragi-
cally long. But there is another
phase of the matter that is equally
horrible to contemplate, and, in It's
more intimately human character,
even more momentous. Irefer to the
blasting Of the whole physiognomy
of immense tracts of French and Bel
gian land. We cannot but think OF
these atrocities in terms of individ~
| ual buildings. 1t is the cathedral al
Rheims. 1t is the old Cloth Hall at
Ypres. But what of the innumerablc
nameless dwellings, in city and coun-
try, which counted, on the whole,
quite as much as any single monu-
ment in making France and Belgium
beautiful? What Of their ancient
walls, their softly glowing tiles or
their duly cleaning states, their
carvings, their mouldings, their door
ways, and all their innumerable SOU
venirs of the past? The Kaiser has
done more than destroy a given num-
ber Of monumental buildings. He
has defaced a whole world. It can
be rebuilt. Parts of it are being re-
built even now. But in the rebuild
ing it must inevitably suffer COM
plete transformation. In French
periodicals some Of the designs for
the rehabilitation of the ravaged
provinces have been published. They
have included a number of plausible
schemes. But French architects, as
we'll as French painters and sculp-
tors, have been falling in their hun
dreds on the battlefield. Their pro-
fession is not as strong as it used to
be, and, indeed, in country architect
ure the modern French school has
never been very we'll inspired.
My friend the Able Dimnet wrote
a long piece in the London Saturday
Review" about these new plans when
a batch of them was first exhibited
in Paris. He saw models there as we'll
as drawings. He was friendly in his
comments, of course, and duly pa
triotic, but being a man of critical
judgment he was not markedly en-
thusiastic. l read that article of his
with misgivings which published