362 



FINE ARTS 1885. (PARIS: SALON.) 



ed by D. O. Mills to the State of California, at 

 a cost of $30,000, has been placed in the ro- 

 tunda of the Capitol at Sacramento. 



The equestrian statue of Gen. John Fulton 

 Reynolds (killed at Gettysburg), by John Rog- 

 ers^ was unveiled, Sept. 18, in front of the new 

 Public Buildings, in Philadelphia. It was pre- 

 sented to the city by Joseph E. Temple. 



An ideal statue of John Harvard, founder of 

 Harvard College, by Daniel 0. French, was un- 

 veiled, Oct. 15, at Cambridge, Mass. 



The Monmouth Battle Monument, the joint 

 work of E. T. Little and Douglass Smyth, 

 architects, and James E. Kelly, sculptor, the 

 corner-stone of which was laid in 1878, was 

 dedicated, Nov. 13, at Freehold, N. J. 



The Washington Monument, at Washington, 

 the corner-stone of which was laid in 1848, 

 was completed on Dec. 6, when the cap-stone 

 was put in place. The total cost of the shaft 

 has been $1,187,710. 



A statue of Admiral Samuel Francis Dupont, 

 by Launt Thompson, was unveiled, Dec. 20, at 

 Washington. 



Paris : Salon. The exhibition (May 1 to June 

 30, 1885) comprised 5,034 numbers, classified 

 as follows: Paintings, 2,488; cartoons, water- 

 colors, pastels, porcelain pictures, etc., 783 ; 

 sculpture, 1,067 ; engraving in medals and 

 precious stones, 51; architecture, 188; en- 

 graving, 457. The medal of honor in the sec- 

 tion of painting was awarded to Bouguereau. 

 No first-class medal in painting was given. 

 Of the 1,243 painters exhibiting, 389 were 

 foreigners, of whom 98 were Americans, 47 

 Belgians, 34 English, and 31 Germans. The 

 remainder were Spaniards, Swedes and Nor- 

 wegians, Swiss, Portuguese, Dutch, Russians, 

 Austrians, Italians, Greeks, and Turks. 



Since 1880 the exhibitions of the Salon, which 

 were formerly controlled by the Government, 

 have been held under the management of the 

 Society of French Artists. The receipts from 

 entrances during the five years under the so- 

 ciety's charge compare as follows: 1881, 314,- 

 302 francs; 1882, 343,874; 1883, 298,497; 

 1884,289,293; 1885, 350,000. 



A prominent place in the great room of the 

 Salon is given to the work of Julius L. Stew- 

 art, son of the well-known American collect- 

 or in Paris. His picture, entitled " The Hunt 

 Ball,'| is an English scene, the dancers being 

 principally portraits, including one of a cele- 

 brated American beauty. The uniforms of the 

 huntsmen, the toilets of the ladies, and the 

 brilliant light-effects, all contribute to its suc- 

 cess. A wave-study, by Alexander Harrison, 

 another American, has also, and deservedly, a 

 prominent place. 



Among the religious pictures, the diptych, 

 painted by Bouguereau for the Church of St. 

 Vincent de Paul, Paris, the " Adoration of the 

 Magi," and the " Adoration of the Shepherds," 

 exhibiting all the graces and all the defects of 

 that prolific artist, was awarded the grand med- 

 al of honor. 



"The Martyrdom of St. Denis," by Leon 

 Bonnat, an immense picture, intended for the 

 Pantheon, is a vigorous composition, with very 

 little religious feeling, and even more startling 

 in its realism than his famous "Christ on the 

 Cross," in the Palais de Justice. The saint, 

 who has just been decapitated at the foot of 

 a long flight of steps leading to an enormous 

 portico, on which lie two other headless, bleed- 

 ing corpses, is represented as rising from his 

 knees and stooping to pick up his own head, 

 to the surprise of his executioner on the right, 

 painted from a butcher of Paris, and a toga- 

 clad Roman official on the left. Above, an 

 angel is flying down with a wreath and the 

 palm of martyrdom. 



In the " Suffer Little Children to come unto 

 Me," of Frederic Uhde, a German artist, this 

 trite subject is treated in an original and very 

 impressive manner. In a poorly furnished 

 room children and peasants are grouped around 

 a long-haired, ascetic-looking figure in a blue 

 tunic, seated in a straight-backed chair. Al- 

 though the head is undecorated w T ith any of 

 the conventional signs indicative of supernatu- 

 ral origin, the supreme tenderness of his face 

 and of his gestures, and the profound attention 

 accorded by all his listeners, give this repre- 

 sentation a genuine sentiment far beyond that 

 of the ordinary legendary type. 



Another poetical and well-conceived picture 

 is Luc Olivier Merson's "Arrival at Beth- 

 lehem," illustrating a popular Christmas carol. 

 Joseph and the Virgin, arrived in Bethlehem 

 at night, are represented in a narrow moonlit 

 street before the door of the inn, the hostess 

 of which, who appears at the open window, 

 by an arrogant gesture bids them go around 

 to the other door. 



Albert Pierre Dawant's " Bark of St. Julian 

 the Hospitaller," Alfred Henry Bramtot's 

 "Departure of Tobias," and Cabanel's "Daugh- 

 ter of Jephthah," who stands on a hill-top sur- 

 rounded by weeping maidens, are also among 

 the noteworthy canvases dealing with religious 

 subjects, although the last-named resembles 

 rather a modern harem scene. 



The largest picture (twenty-three feet high 

 by thirty- three feet wide) in the Salon is 

 Georges Clairin's "After the Victory," illus- 

 trative of the contest between the Moors and 

 Christians in Spain. In the court-yard of a 

 Moorish palace, surrounded by an arcade of 

 white marble, a crowd of warriors and court- 

 iers are assembled to present trophies of con- 

 quest to their king, who, clad in rich green 

 robes, is mounted on a black charger. AH im- 

 mense heap of spoil is piled on the ground, i 

 front of which three chieftains prostrate them- 

 selves before their sovereign. The foreground 

 at the left is encumbered with corpses of Chris- 

 tian knights, each in armor as he died, and s 

 the right are captive women crouching upon 

 splendid carpets. It has been purchased by 

 the state. 



Benjamin Constant's " Justice of the Cherif. 



