Nature and Art, July 1, 1866.] 
FRENCH ART. 
51 
In this central chamber of honour are also a remarkably 
fine, though peculiar work, by a well-known artist, M. 
Courbet, entitled “ Remise aux Chevreuils,” deer gathering 
together under the shadow of a group of beeches ; a picture 
of a tribe of nomad Arabs crossing a stream, by Fromentin, 
purchased by his excellency Khalil Bey ; two exquisite small 
forest scenes, by Rousseau ; a charming work entitled 
“ Vines and Elms,” by Nazon; and two of those extraordinary 
reproductions of objects of art, embroidery, and flowers, for 
which M. Blaise Desgoffe has so well deserved a reputation. 
The caskets, cups, and table-covers in these two works are as 
near perfection as can well be imagined ; the rendering of 
agate, glass, ivory, and velvet, leaves nothing to be desired. 
If M. Desgoffe’s fruit were but as pulpy as his wine is liquid, 
we should pronounce him all but perfect in his speciality. 
Nearly the whole of one side of this great room is filled by 
an ambitious work by M. E. Dubufe, “ The Prodigal Son,” ! 
an immense composition, exhibiting considerable talent and I 
laudable daring, which may contain the germs of future 
eminence. The above are not all the good pictures in the | 
grande salle, but they are the most remarkable. 
In the first of the lettered or alphabetical rooms (which 
do not include the salle d’honneur, and two others devoted 
to very large canvasses), the following pictures, amongst 
others, merit attention : — “ Un Cauchemar,” by Antigua, 
a sleeping - , nude, female figure, with a demon, of the imagina- 
tion, resting his elbow on the victim’s chest; “Serenade 
it Echo,” a bevy of merry damsels of Haut-Aragon listen- 
ing with secret delight to the songs and guitars beneath 
their window ; a charge of cuirassiers, by Annand-Dumaresq ; 
and a view of the Villa Torlonia, by Achenbach. 
The adjoining room is glorified by a large and brilliant 
work from the pencil of Auguste Bonheur, entitled “ Le 
Dormoir a group of cattle are being collected for the night, 
on a mossy spot, overshadowed with pine-trees, while the 
slanting rays of the setting sun shine through the autumnal 
foliage, and fall in exquisite “ chequered light ” on the rough 
ground, purple with heather. This is the finest work that 
the artist has yet produced, and a smaller painting called 
“ LePlomb du Cantal,” is worthy of the same pencil. Rosa 
Bonheur has not exhibited for some time in Paris ; but three 
of her family are in the catalogue this year, namely, Auguste 
Bonheur, of whom we have just spoken ; Isidore Bonheur, 
the admirable sculptor of cattle ; and Madame Peyrol, whose 
maiden name was Juliette Bonheur, and who exhibits this 
year two excellent studies of sheep and lambs. “ Rembrandt 
going to an Anatomical Lecture,” by a young Dutch artist, 
named Bisschof is a very remarkable work, the property of 
the historical gallery of Amsterdam. Madame Henriette 
Browne is unfortunately only represented by a single 
portrait, which, however, is a work of art. M. Boulanger 
contributes a rather oddly conceived, but cleverly executed 
picture of the interview of Catherine I. with Mehemet 
Baltadji, in 1711 ; and M. Boulange, two charming forest 
scenes. 
M. Chaplin exhibits a panel painted for the hotel of Prince 
Demidoff, glowing with nymphs and cupids, and entitled 
“ A Dream.” M. Chintreuil has a very remarkable land- 
scape, entitled “ The Country under a March Wind.” M. | 
Corot has two landscapes in his usual grey style, but scarcely 
exhibiting his usual delicacy ; and M. Courbet — who has 
charmed all the world with his retreat of the deer already 
mentioned — has set all the critics and connoisseurs by the 
ears, with his “Femme au Perroquet.” The lady reclines 
in an exceedingly uncomfortable position — her head lower 
than her body, and, with one hand raised, supports the bird. 
The head and hair are certainly far from perfect, but the 
work exhibits great study and power of pencil. The truth 
is, M. Courbet’s work is made the occasion for a removal of 
a feud which has existed for some time in Paris, and which 
may be expressed in a few words. “ Is it well to admit in 
public exhibitions studies of the nude, which are not pictures, 
properly so called, but only artistic exercises ?” M. Courbet 
is not the most glaring offender; for, while there are far too 
many figures which represent nothing but mere form, and 
some few to which exceptions might be taken on other 
grounds, the “ Femme au Perroquet ” has both subject and 
action, although both are certainly of a slight kind and 
sentiment is entirely wanting. But M. Courbet is worthy 
game from his position and real talent, and a little also from 
a certain amount of eccentricity ; and it must be admitted 
that the objectors might have fixed upon more glaring 
instances of the practice to which they object. M. Courbet 
is hors concours, having received all the ordinary medals ; 
but, should he obtain the medal of honour, or the cross of 
the legion, the “ Nudists ” will be triumphant, and the next 
exhibition may be expected to be tres-ddcolletde. 
The Daubignys, father and son, contribute four pleasing 
landscapes — M. Delamarre, a daring use of positive colours 
in his Chinese merchant, counting his money — M. Gustave 
Dore, a soiree in the campagna of Grenada, a group of 
ladies in their black mantillas, listening to the music of a 
knot of peasants ; and a landscape in Savoy. M. P. E. 
Frere — whose works are well known in London— exhibits 
an admirable group of young girls at work, under the title 
of “L’Ouvroir a Ecouen.” Well studied and well painted, 
this humble, industrial interior is one of the smaller gems 
of the exhibition. 
M. Gerome’s Cleopatra and Csesar is the cheval de hataille 
of the present year’s exhibition. The artist holds an 
eminent position, not only in public estimation, but officially. 
He has won a great name by his Caesars, his Phryne, and 
other works. Of the three professors of painting in the 
Ecole des Beaux Arts, he is the only one who has not yet 
received the medal of honour. His name was placed at the 
head of the jury list this year ; and, lastly, his principal 
picture is remarkable not only for its subject, but for the 
accidental circumstances connected with it. It was painted 
to order for the embellishment of a new mansion in the 
Champs Elysees, which is already celebrated before it is 
habitable ; it was refused on account of the sum demanded 
for it by the artist, namely 40,000 francs, and was im- 
mediately purchased at that price by Mr. Turner. M. 
Gerome has taken for his text the piassage in Plutarch’s life 
of Cassar, which states that the famous queen, the “ Serpent 
of Old Nile,” caused herself to be carried nearly naked, in a 
carpet, into the presence of the great conqueror, in the 
Palace, at Alexandria. M. Gerome has treated the subject 
in what is called the neo-elassic style, and his Cleopatra is 
not the fascinating, voluptuous queen of ancient literature 
and modern art, but the swarthy Egyptian of the painted 
walls of her own country. It may be that the painter is 
archaeologically correct ; but, undoubtedly, the picture loses 
greatly in artistic interest by such treatment. The question 
almost invariably put on approaching the picture for the 
first time, “Is that the Cleopatra?” is the popular con- 
demnation of the mode of treatment adopted. The figure 
of Csesar is insignificant, while the slave, one of the least 
important figures in the composition, is universally re- 
cognized as the most successful. But M. Gerome is a 
remarkable artist, and this, as well as a small but repulsive 
picture, deserves careful study, on account of its admirable 
manipulation and general tone. Their greatest fault — and 
it attaches to all M. Gerome’s works — is the absence of 
movement and life-like energy. In the expressive language 
of the French studio, all M. Gerome’s characters posent. 
M. Hamon is another of the accomplished masters of the 
French school of the present day ; he, too, is neo-classic, but 
with this remarkable difference, that while his compositions 
are formal and sculpturesque, his figures are exquisitely soft 
and lovely. His representations of Greek domestic life, are 
too well known by their engravings to require description. 
Upon the present occasion he has sent us, from his retreat 
in Garibaldi’s isle of Goats, a picture of more than usual 
importance, a subject of the highest poetical character, 
“ The Muses mourning the destruction of Pompeii.” The 
“ Sisters Nine,” view from the house-tops, the work of the 
burning mountain, Clio and Urania are seated in melancholy 
contemplation, while Terpsichore prostrate, with her face to 
earth, weeps the desolation that has fallen on the once 
laughing city, in which she must have been one of the most 
cherished of the Muses. The composition is grey, dreamy, 
vapoury, and in certain portions somewhat weak, but the 
figures of Clio and Urania, especially the latter, are 
exquisitely beautiful, and would alone be sufficient to save 
the existing school of French painters from the charge of a 
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