4026 The Zoologist— June, 1874. 



tamed but not intimidated, for there is no exhibition of fear, no 

 thought of retreat. The principal figures are a lion, two lionesses, 

 three leopards, and a lynx, all huddled together, their soft jacliets 

 intermingled and amalgamated like those of kittens when cuddling 

 to their mother; and nearer the front are the goats in A'arious 

 attitudes. There is an air of dignity about the lion that well 

 becomes the king of beasts, but the lioness seems to be what the 

 late Duke of Wellington called the Irish, "an imperfectly con- 

 quered people;" they are grumbling and glowering in spite of the 

 the musical banquet provided for them : the painting of their eyes 

 is absolutely marvellous; not being a painter, I cannot guess by 

 what cunning device this magical effect of emitting light has been 

 produced. It seems as though precious stones had been employed 

 as the pigment instead of ordinary paint. There are two eyes 

 possessing this remarkable property ; the one to the left is the most 

 brilliant and sparkling, that to the right, emitting blue-green light, 

 the more miraculous. 



" Genius loci," No. 547, a sleeping lioness, is a single figure, 

 very massive and powerful, in jicrfect harmony with its sur- 

 roundings, and well called genius loci: such studies scarcely 

 bring out a painter's highest capabilities ; perhaps it is a false 

 yearning, but we seem to require something more poetical, more 

 imaginative, more difficult of execution, than a sleeping lioness 

 such as we see every day at the Zoo ; but still as the representation, 

 and a powerful one, of a sleeping lioness, the picture is very 

 effective. 



Reverling to the exhibition of 1872, I may say that Mr. Riviere 

 has nothing now so attractive as the " Circe ;" the humour in that 

 picture was delightful, and, as I think, thoroughly French. I fear 

 that Mr. Riviere may in his picture this year have toned down his 

 keen sense of humour, his marvellous appreciation of life, to meet 

 the English taste for respectability : if so he has made a mistake. 

 An Englishman rarely ventures to attempt at droller}'; it does 

 not become him ; it reminds one of the uncouih gambols of an 

 elephant; and the sooner English painter or elephant returns to 

 the respectable, though somewhat weighty walk of ordinary life the 

 better we like him. How often do we not hear the French paintings 

 called "theatrical;" they have too much action, too much life, loo 

 much fun, too much colour. Mr. H. S. Marks seems to me almost the 

 only Eughshmau who successfully attempts humour in his pictures, 



