Taste in Art. 119 



triumphs in the c< Hansom" and "Trust me/' two noble pic- 

 tures, unsurpassed in power, and violating no sound canons of 

 taste. 



Among the foreign pictures which the International Exhi- 

 bition has brought before British eyes, probably the grandest 

 is that in which M. Gallait depicts the terrible scene of the last 

 honours paid to Counts Bgmont and Horn. After recognizing 

 the merits of the less painful and equally fine picture of Eg- 

 mont's C( Last Hours/ 7 Mr. Tom Taylor* — in a work which 

 will prove a valuable aid to visitors whose opportunities are 

 brief — thus succinctly describes the more terrible delineation 

 (page 183.) 



" Stronger still is the ghastly attractiveness of the next picture, 

 where the bodies of Egmont and Horn, covered by a black velvet 

 pall, and surmounted by their severed heads with the death sweat 

 still damp on the brow and rigid hair, lie in the chapel of the Reeol- 

 lets, for the chiefs of the guilds and civic militia of Brussels to 

 take a last look at those that should have been their leaders. The 

 fact is historical, strange as it may seem. Either Philip hoped the 

 sight would strike terror into the turbulent Low Country burghers, 

 or, confident in his Brabanters and Spaniards, wished to show his 

 contempt of the popular disaffection. In the figures of the guild- 

 masters, M. Gallait has typified the past, in the elderly man, an 

 associate of the headless chiefs in plans and pleasures, who, turns 

 away, terror-stricken and trembling, from the horrid sight ; the 

 present, in the stalwart burgher down whose cheeks the tears are 

 falling as he looks at the dead, the hopes of his order, the protec- 

 tors of the Protestant, the free-handed and gracious Count of 

 Lamoral, the stout captain of Graveling and St. Quentin ; the future, 

 in the young archer who exchanges a quick, fierce look of defiance 

 with the Spaniards who stand near the bodies : the one a rough, 

 haughty soldier — the hand of Spain ; the other a civilian with 

 polished, cruel face and thin white hand that caresses his dagger- 

 hilt — the head that guides the hand." 



This picture is very important in assisting us to arrive at 

 a decision of the principles which should guide an artist in 

 dealing with the repulsive and the ugly. If M. Gallait had 

 invented the scene he would have stood condemned for a 

 gross offence against good taste, in forcing the ghastly spec- 

 tacle of two guillotined heads upon our view. To be suffi- 

 ciently true to the nature of the incidents he could not soften 

 down the horrible character of the objects, and thus follow 

 Lessing's direction in " Laokoon," " that the truth of the re- 

 pulsive in nature should be changed into the beauty of art." 

 Having determined to paint such a subject at all, M. Gallait 

 could only introduce the " beauty of art" as a relief to the 



^Handbook of Pictures in the International Exhibition. By Tom Taylor. 

 Bradbury and Evans. 



