FINE ARTS IN 1898. 



never completely finished, the return of the artist to 

 Paris havinu' put " abrupt end to the undertaking. 



London: Royal Acaqeinjr. The H.-yal Acad- 

 emy elections wore held in January and February, 

 \v it'h the following results : Academicians B. \V. 

 ;.-r. K. J. Gregory, George Aitchison, Seymour 

 Lucas. Kdwin A. Abbey; Associates II. H. La 

 Thangue, Lionel Smythe, C. Napier Henry. 



Tin- twenty-ninth annual winter exhibition was 

 devoted to the life work of the late president. Sir 

 John Everett Millais. The collection, although by 

 no means complete, filled seven galleries and formed 

 a magnificent and representative whole. All classes 

 of his pictures, from his preraphaelite efforts down 

 to his latest works, all more or less marked by his 

 earlier predilections, were shown. 



The one-hundred-and-thirtieth summer exhibi- 

 tion was fully up to the general standard. 



( >ne of the most noteworthy of the exhibits is 

 "The Skirt Dance," contributed by the president, 

 Sir Edward John Poynter, representing a young 

 girl dancing for the delectation of groups of Roman 

 maidens who are lolling and chatting while they 

 gaze with admiration on her movements. Marble- 

 paneled walls and a richly tiled pavement, bounded 

 oy a circular marble seating for the spectators, sug- 

 gest the garden house of a Roman villa. The dan- 

 cer is clad in diaphanous pink gauze, revealing the 

 outlines of her perfect form as she poses in the fig- 

 ures of the dance. The blue sky, the green of ivy, 

 and the pink of oleanders seen through the marble 

 pillars furnish a poetic background. 



" The Road to Camelot," by George II. Boughton, 

 inspired by Tennyson's " Lady of Shalott," repre- 

 sents the wondrous vision of picturesque life and 

 movement passing down to Camelot, on which the 

 lady was forbidden to look save as reflected in the 

 clear mirror before her. In the foreground a fair- 

 hain-d page, in crimson, holds in leash a hound, 

 with which court damsels on the right, accompanied 

 by minstrels, are toying, while on the left red- 

 hooded market girls follow. In the background a 

 long line of knights, riding two and two, press on 

 toward Camelot, whose gray towers are seen in the 

 background. 



Mr. Watts's "Ix>ve Triumphant'' is one of the 

 allegorical mysticisms which characterize so many 

 of his efforts. A nude winged figure with arms 

 stretched upward and with face gazing into the 

 infinite is supposed to typify universal charity. At 

 his feet, recumbent, are a male figure with a scythe 

 and a female figure, apparently dead, said to typify 

 earthly love. A richly-colored robe which floats 

 around the middle of the principal figure seems to 

 divide the picture into the two parts demanded by 

 the allegory. 



Kdwin Abbey followed his ".Richard III" and 

 " Hamlet and Ophelia" of preceding exhibitions by 

 a scene from " Lear," in which Cordelia is the domi- 

 nant figure. She is clad in a yellow-green vest- 

 ment with a deep-blue border which. opposed to the 

 reds and blacks < f Goncril and of Regan, presents 

 a triumph of originality and of decorative art. A 

 MioM of motion is given to the picture by the 

 drooping figure of Lear, who, sustained by pages 

 and followed by men-at-arms, moves across the can- 

 va- from left to right. 



Mr. Sargent exhibited eight portraits, among 

 them one of Miss Leiter,of Washington, the sister of 

 Lady Curzon. 



-t Croft's "Charles II at Whiteladies" rep- 

 resents the monarch and his body guard arrived, 

 after hard ridiiit; from the battle of Worcester, at 

 the entrance to the mansion and clamoring for 

 refuse. 



Alma-Tadema's "Conversion of Paula by St. 

 Jerome " is one of his very best pictures, if not his 



masterpiece. Across the picture, illumed by glow- 

 ing sunlight, is a terrace of white marble, a pergola 

 with its vine foliage and hanging grapes, a marble 

 staircase leading to a temple, and in the background 

 the blue sky and the sea. On the terrace is an altar 

 of Bacchus, with vessels of silver upon it, and be- 

 side it reclines Paula, clad in purple and amber tis- 

 sues shot with gold. Her features indicate her 

 voluptuous temperament, and a jeweled diadem 

 and a wealth of auburn tresses are in keeping with 

 her costume and magnificent surroundings. Lean- 

 ing backward upon one hand, she is listening in- 

 tently to the words of the saint, a handsome young 

 man in dark blue, purple, and white robes, and 

 with a somewhat austere and self-restrained air, 

 who sits at the right holding a scroll in his lap with 

 one hand and raising the other to give emphasis to 

 his words. The artist has never before succeeded 

 so well in portraying human emotion, while no part 

 of the gorgeous canvas is unworthy of him at his 

 best. 



London : Miscellaneous. The National Gal- 

 lery has acquired by purchase the two wings of the 

 altarpiece of which the " Madonna of the Rocks, ' 

 attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, now in the col- 

 lection, formed the central portion. They represent 

 angels playing on musical instruments. The first is 

 said to be by Leonardo, in conjunction with his 

 pupil Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis, and the second 

 entirely by the latter. The genuineness of the 

 Madonna, bought from the Earl of Suffolk's collec- 

 tion, in 1880, for 9,000, has been often attacked by 

 Dr. Richter, who asserts that the genuine picture is 

 the one in the Louvre. 



The Ruston sale of the Monk's Manor collection, 

 May 21 and 23, comprised pictures by both modern 

 and old masters. The highest price paid was for 

 Burne-Jones's " Mirror of Venus," which brought 

 5,450 guineas. At the Leyland sale (1892) this pic- 

 ture fetched 3,400 guineas. The " Chant d' Amour." 

 which many consider his best work, brought 3,200 

 guineas, a slight advance on its price at the Graham 

 sale (1886) of 3,150 guineas. " Dawn " and " Night." 

 two drawings, realized 1,050 guineas. Rossetti's 

 "Dante at the Bier of Beatrice," a smaller replica 

 of the work in the Liverpool Gallery, brought 3.000 

 guineas. It was sold in the Graham sale for 1,000. 

 " La Ghirlandata" (Graham sale. 1,000), also fetched 

 3,000 guineas, and "Veronica Veronese" (Leyland 

 sale, 1,000) 1,550 guineas. G. F. Watts's " Eve of 

 Peace " (Rickard's sale, 1887. 950) fetched 1.350 guin- 

 eas; "Portrait of theArtist," 650. Gainsborough's 

 "Lady Charges" (J. Price sale, 1895, 2.000), l.s'i) 

 guineas. Turner's " Falls of the Clyde " (1884. 330) 

 sold for 880guineas. Rembrandt's portrait of " Nich- 

 olas Ruts" (Adrian Hope sale, 1894, 4,700) brought 

 5.000 guineas. Del Sarto's "Pieta" (Novar sala, 

 1888, 1,700; Dudley sale. 1892, 1,040) fell to 6(0 

 guineas. Van Dyck's "Virgin and Child" (Blen- 

 heim sale, 1886, 500) advanced to 1,000 guineas. 



The death of Burnc-Jonos. a few weeks after the 

 Huston sale, was followed by the disposal of the 

 works left in his studio, consisting of some fin- 

 ished pictures, pastels, and water-color draw- 

 ings, and many studies and sketches. Eightctii 

 water-color drawings fetched 7,000. and 28 pastel 

 drawings, 5,000. "Love and the Pilgrim " (1897), 

 dedicated to Algernon Charles Swinburne, brought 

 5.500 guineas. Among the minor picl ures s< >l< i 

 the following, the prices in each case being in guin- 

 eas: " Departure of Knights in Quest of the 11 y 

 Grail," 610; "Dream of Lancelot at the Huiind 

 Chapel," 650; "Stoning of Stephen," 150. Water- 

 color drawings: " Head of Nimne." 500; "Sir (i:.!- 

 nhad at Shrine of the Holy Grail," 400; "SI 

 Hlia," 720; "The Tree of Life," 770 ; "Paradise." 

 520 ; ' Last Judgment," 600. Studies in oil : " PIT- 



