FINE ARTS IX 1888. (PAEIS.) 



333 



sents a plain just after dawn, with gently rising 

 land occupied by a host of French infantry biv- 

 ouacking on the heather, among white bowlders 

 and wild flowers, with sentinels guarding piled 

 arms and watch - fires with drifting smoke. 

 Above, in a cloudy sky tinged with rosy light, 

 is a vision of innumerable soldiers of the First 

 Empire, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, with 

 eagles and shot-torn banners, moving eastward 

 in noiseless array. 



Benjamin-Constant, who stood nest to De- 

 taille in the contest for the medal of honor, 

 was represented by a huge decorative triptych, 

 entitled "L* Academic de Paris, les Lettres. les 

 Sciences," destined for the Salle du Conseil, in 

 the Sorbonne. In the middle division, seat- 

 ed in a semi-circle of columns, are the rector 

 and elders of the Academy, (all portraits/, in 

 modern costumes under amber, red. black, and 

 violet gowns. In "Les Lettres" a muse in 

 green and black is addressing the muses of 

 lyric poetry, history, and tragedy, grouped on 

 a marble bench in a splendid portico. In " Lcs 

 Sciences'' are figures typifying astronomy, en- 

 gineering, etc., one of whom is instructing a 

 workman. The work is distinguished, like all 

 tbe artist's pictures, for vivid coloring and rich 

 imagination. 



Paul Louis Delance. first-class medalist illus- 

 trated on another huge canvas ''La Legende de 

 Saint-Denis." In a landscape of ancient Paris 

 and its environs, with a summer atmosphere 

 and sky, the saint, who has been decapitated, 

 walks to the resting-place which bears his own 

 name, carrying his own head, his shoulders 

 and bleeding neck being decorated with a gild- 

 ed nimbus. The peasants, who oVe startled at 

 meeting the apparition, are full of spirit, and 

 a kneeling woman is very pathetic. Notwith- 

 standing the incongruous subject, the artist has 

 made a noble picture, striking in massing and 

 coloring. 



An enormous composition of nude figures. 

 more than life size, is Albert Maignan's "Les 

 Voix du Tocsin.'' A great bell, hung in a lofty 

 tower, is rung by the hands of spirits who, 

 swinging in the air, tug at the ropes with might 

 and main. Other demons hover around the 

 clanging bell, while a third set scream, shout, 

 and weep as they fly out from beneath it. Be- 

 low is a conflagration with ruddy glare and 

 drifting smoke. The conception is poetical, and 

 the draughtmanship and coloring excellent. 



Opposite it hung "L'Enlevement de Proser- 

 pine," by Ulpiano Checa, a pupil of the Acad- 

 emy of Madrid. Though somewhat theatrical 

 in parts, the four black horses of Pluto, with 

 breath of smoke and eyes of fire, are notable 

 for excellent painting and good foreshortening. 



Bouguereau's " Premier Deuil '' represents 

 Adam and Eve mourning over the corpse of 

 Abel. Adam, seated, holding across his knees 

 the body of his son, stoops to kiss the, head 

 of Eve who. kneeling by his side, weeps with 

 hands clasped to her face. The figures, life- 

 size, are magnificent studies of the nude, so 



colorless as to look like sculptures, but full of 

 dignity, grace, and feeling. Another contri- 

 bution by this master, entitled "Baigneu- 

 a life-size, full-length, nude figure of a beautiful 

 young girl, drying one foot on a rock while 

 steadying herself by holding a hanging bough. 



" Esclaves a Yendre," by Gustave Boulanger, 

 represents slaves exposed fur sale in Rome. A 

 Gallic maiden, nude, with a wooden label fast- 

 ened about her neck, leans wearily against the 

 wall, while a huge Xmnidian, with impassive 

 features, his arms embracing his knees, squats 

 on the ground beside her. 



Jules Lefebvre's " L'Orpheline " shows a 

 nobly-painted church interior, with an old 

 woman in cloak and hood kneeling in prayer 

 in one of the pews, and a pale child clad in 

 mourning seated beside her, looking outward 

 with sorrowful eyes, as if in a dream. It is a 

 pathetic work, of masterly execution. 



' La Xaissance de Benjamin," by Emile Levy, 

 is an interior with small, full-length figures. A 

 pallid mother lies on a couch covered with white 

 bed-linen, while an attendant, holding the child 

 poised on one hand, turns toward her, and oth- 

 er women stand around. It is a broad, massive 

 composition, of delicate and harmonious tone. 



Jules Breton's " Jeunes Filles se rendant a la 

 Procession " is a village scene with a procession 

 of peasant girls, such as he loves to paint. 



Lhermitte's "Le Repos,'' shows a group of 

 reapers, more robust and real than Breton's 

 peasants, and firmly and broadly treated. 



Philippe Roll's " Manda Lametrie, Fermiere," 

 a milkmaid with filled pail, standing beside a 

 cow, in an atmosphere of light and sunshine, 

 is a remarkable work, with reminiscences of 

 Bastien-Lepage. 



"The Communion," of Henry Lerolle, is a 

 large canvas, with life-size figures of women 

 in brown, gray, and black dresses, listening to 

 a priest addressing the communicants kneeling 

 at the altar-rail of a vast church. It is in the 

 simple, flat tones characteristic of the painter, 

 so noticeable in his earlier work, " Jeune Fille 

 chantant dans une Eglise,'' now in the Metro- 

 politan Museum. Xew York. 



Heuner is represented by a Saint Sebastien, a 

 nearly life-size corpse lying among rocks, with 

 three women, one of whom is drawing an ar- 

 row from the body ; and by a portrait, a girl 

 with heavy masses of red hair flowing over 

 her bosom, which is partly draped with a light- 

 blue robe falling from the shoulders. 



Hebert's "Aux Heros sansGloire," a mournful 

 woman with impassive features and dark eyes 

 set in an olive face, her unbound black tresses 

 crowned with laurel, sits in a mysterious half- 

 gloom the genius of heroic Death. She wears 

 a purple robe bound with a black girdle, and 

 leans with one arm on a marble urn. while a 

 wreath of convolvulus drops from her hand. 



Pictures exhibited by American artists : J. C. 

 Arter, " Interieur-Picardie"; Edmond Aubrey- 

 Hunt, " Honflenr " ; Henry Bacon, " Construc- 

 tion d'un Bateau"; William Baird, "La Seine"; 



