312 



FINE ARTS. 



leans visiting Paris will be spared the mortifi- 

 cation of seeing the art-genius of their country 

 represented by men whose love of notoriety 

 far outstrips their talent. The whole number 

 of works of art chosen is about ninety, by 

 about fifty different artists the most distin- 

 guished having more than one work. The 

 paintings, on the average, are of large size, and 

 their insured value is about one hundred and 

 fifty thousand dollars. One of the most in- 

 teresting art-exhibitions of the year in New 

 York was that of the photographic collection of 

 war views and portraits of representative men 

 made by M. B. Brady. The war views, taken 

 on the spot by Mr. Brady and his assistants 

 during the progress of hostilities, illustrated al- 

 most every phase of the great struggle, from the 

 first battle to the final surrender of Lee and 

 Johnston, and were not only of great value as 

 correct delineations of scenes and incidents, but 

 illustrated the surprising progress which photog- 

 raphy has made during the last two years. 

 The importance of such representations to the 

 future painter of history can scarcely be over- 

 estimated, and in view of the fact that many of 

 the prominent personages who figure in them 

 are dead, that the materiel from which they are 

 made has, for the most part, ceased to exist, and 

 that the scenes themselves have put on quite 

 another appearance, it has been suggested that 

 they should be preserved as a national historic 

 collection, and placed in the keeping of the New 

 York Historical Society. The latter project was 

 recommended by the Council of the National 

 Academy of Design at a meeting held in January. 

 Although America has never claimed any special 

 preeminence in line engraving, a branch of art 

 believed by many to be in its decline, at least 

 two works in this department have been pro- 

 duced within the past year, by American artists, 

 which are not unworthy to be compared with 

 average European engravings. They are both, 

 likenesses of President Lincoln, the one exe- 

 cuted by "W. E. Marshall, after a portrait painted 

 by himself, and the other by Halpin, after Car- ' 

 penter's well-known likeness, and both have 

 been commended for fidelity to truth and excel- 

 lent execution. Though equally good as like- 

 nesses they present distinct phases ofrexpression, 

 easily recognizable by those familiar with Mr. 

 Lincoln's physiognomy. A steel plate repre- 

 senting the " Death of President Lincoln," in 

 progress of execution by Richie, was accident- 

 ally destroyed by fire in April. In the same 

 conflagration perished reduced copies of Car- 

 penter's " First Reading of the Emancipation 

 Proclamation before the Cabinet," and Hunt- 

 ington's " Republican Court," but the partially 

 finished plates from these, also by Richie, were 

 saved, and the latter was at the close of the 

 year nearly ready for printing. Some attention 

 has recently been given to chromo-lithography, 

 principally in the production of game, fruit, and 

 flower pieces, which have the merit of tolerably 

 exact external resemblance, but fail, as do most 

 works produced by this process, to show the in- 



dividual mind of the artist. A copy in colors 

 of Eastman Johnson's " Old Kentucky Home," 

 may be considered an average specimen of what 

 American art has produced in this department. 

 The activity of New York in matters pertain- 

 ing to art cannot be said to have been manifest- 

 ed on any thing like a corresponding scale in 

 other American cities. Boston, although the 

 residence of a considerable number of artists, 

 and the seat of much Aesthetic culture, has no 

 permanent academy like New York or Philadel- 

 phia, and until quite recently has been disposed 

 to subordinate the art element to the literary 

 element in her social life. Of late years several 

 private collections have been commenced, which 

 promise in time to become large and valuable ; 

 but their chief works are of foreign production, 

 and the efforts of local artists are represented 

 to be under European influences. Of valuable 

 indigenous work few examples have yet been 

 afforded, and the resident artists most esteemed 

 and encouraged, as Hunt, La Farge, Vedder, or 

 Furness, are not natives of the city or its neigh- 

 borhood. The reputation of those of New Eng- 

 land origin or education is for the most part 

 local. The only approach to a permanent col- 

 lection of works of art is to be found in the gal- 

 leries of pictures and statuary annually opened 

 for exhibition by the Boston Athenaeum. This 

 institution possesses works of more or less value, 

 by "West, Stuart, Trumbull, Allston, Rembrandt, 

 Peale, Inman, Cole, Harding, Sully, Doughty, 

 and others of the older American painters, and 

 by the aid of loans of pictures from private 

 collections is enabled to ofi'er a miscellaneous 

 but interesting exhibition every spring and sum- 

 mer. A characteristic feature of these annual 

 exhibitions is the large number of finished and 

 unfinished pictures, sketches, and studies, by All- 

 ston, on view. The sculptures belonging to the 

 Athenaaum comprise original works by Powers, 

 Crawford, Clevenger, Greenough, Hughes, and 

 others, and a number of casts from the antique. 

 Exhibitions of a more transient character than 

 this, but more interesting, perhaps, from con- 

 taining a larger infusion of works by contem- 

 porary painters, were held from time to time 

 during the year by the "Boston Art Club," and 

 the " Allston Club," the latter of which was 

 organized in March under the presidency of 

 W. M. Hunt, and in April opened to public 

 view a collection of about one hundred choice 

 pictures. Among these were Courbet's "La 

 Curee," laodscapes by Troyon, Rousseau, Dau- 

 bigny, and Lambinet, " The Sower," by Millet, 

 and works by Rosa Bonheur, Corot, Plassan, 

 Fichel, Couture, Ger6me, Delacroix, and other 

 European masters, mostly borrowed from pri- 

 vate galleries. American art was represented 

 chiefly by Hunt, Gay, Bicknell, Furness, Robin- 

 son, Yedder, La Farge, and Ames, residents of 

 Boston or its vicinity. A local journal, refer- 

 ring to the generally-received opinion that the 

 literary atmosphere of Boston is unfavorable to 

 art culture, expressed the hope that the open- 

 ing of this Exhibition would mark the com- 



