52 
FRENCH ART. 
[Nature and Art, July 1, 18ob. 
total want of pure poetic sentiment. If M. Hamon’s Clio 
and Urania were professors in the Academy, the “ Champ 
de Mars ” would not contain the students of history and 
astronomy, and the power of Venus would pale in the 
presence of their purer beauty. M. Hebert, whose Eastern 
woman at the well, and other charming compositions, are so 
well known through all the world of art, deserves severe 
reprobation for contributing to the salon, in two years, 
nothing but four charming portraits. The best of these 
cannot be accepted as a sufficient excuse, yet no one with 
an artistic eye will pass by the Pre-Raphaelite figure of the 
tall boy, or the charming sketch of the little girl in the 
present exhibition. One of the most remarkable small works 
in the salon of this year, is the “ Antichambre ” of M. 
Heilbuth, a Hamburg artist, — a waiting-room with an oaken 
bench, on which is seated a long- bony lawyer-like figure 
in black, while a fat-faced, thick-lipped, small-eyed old 
servant, in a faded green velvet livery, leans over the high 
back of the seat, and talks to the waiting visitor. The 
picture is bare, dry, hard, and the subject unromantic, un- 
picturesque, uninteresting to the majority ; but the artistic 
contrast of the two faces, the painting of these and of the 
hands, and the drawing in general, are beyond praise. 
The two studies of Eastern women “Femme fellah,” of 
Asia Minor, and an “ Armenienne ” of the Caucasus by M. 
Landelle, are very pleasing productions, especially as 
regards picturesque costume. 
One of the most popular pictures here is “Margaret 
trying the Jewels,” by M. Merle. Goethe’s sweetly sad 
heroine essays the effect of the terrible lures offered to her j 
by the old neighbour, while Mephistopheles clings to the 
back of the girl’s chair, and encourages her vanity. The 
composition is somewhat flat and conventional, but 
Margaret’s face is very lovely, and the rendering of the 
various tissues of her dress is excellent. M. Gustave 
Moreau, whose Sphinx created so much admiration and 
controversy two years since, and has received all the 
honours of engraving, photography, and enamel, and who 
won a second medal last year, contributes two works this 
year, — a young girl bearing the head of Orpheus, and his 
lyre cast into the Hebrus by the murderous nymphs he had 
slighted ; and, “ Diomed devoured by his Horses.” These 
works certainly disappoint even M. Moreau’s most ardent 
admirers : the former certainly presents some beauties 
amid glaring faults ; the second is a sad mistake. M. 
Moreau forms with MM. Gerome and Hamon, a curious 
trio of neo-classic painters, strangely differing, withal, 
amongst themselves. M. Gerome sins on the side of hard 
correctness; M. Hamon is all sentiment; and M. Moreau 
all colour, the rainbow scarcely sufficing for his palate. 
All three want action and mobility ; all are steeped in 
mannerism ; yet all are artists of great talent, if not of 
genius. 
M. Ribot, a medallist of 1864 and 1865, exhibits two 
works, Chi-ist and the Doctors, and the Flute Player. 
These works belong to a new school of realistic painters, 
and we name them simply as an indication of one phase of 
French Art of the present moment. 
As regards the sculpture, we fear we must say that there 
is no very great work amongst the contributions of this 
year, though many are well worthy of notice. Such are 
those of Barre, Isidore Bonlieur, Cain, Carpeaux, Chapu, 
De la Planche, Feugeres des Forts, Garnaud, Gantier, 
Heizler, Marcellin Loison, Marcello (the pseudonym of the 
Duchesse Castiglione Colonna, whose “Head of the Gorgon” 
has just been purchased for the South Kensington Museum) ; 
Moreau, Olivia, Prouha, and perhaps some others. 
Few tasks are more ungrateful than that of giving a short 
account of an important collection of works of art. Every 
effort towards the beautiful, every endeavour to raise the 
standard of art, and thereby to elevate the taste of the 
World, is in itself so praiseworthy, that every one but a 
snarling critic would willingly laud each attempt, wherever 
apparent, and gloze over every failure, however glaring. 
It has been well said, that those who are unacquainted 
with the secrets of art cannot appreciate the labour and the 
talent that are often employed in the production of even a 
bad picture or model ; but as art is a kind of lottery, in 
which the prizes are few, and as mediocrity in it is neither 
admirable nor useful, it is the duty of a critic, even when 
he cannot point out all the mistakes, to laud nothing but 
that which deserves commendation. Critical observers 
will find beauties for themselves, but the uninitiated have 
a right to expect, in a popular work, laudation of that only 
which is worthy of admiration. 
Visitors to the exhibitions at the Paris salon must not 
expect to find many great examples of art ; the highest 
elements, great poetic sentiment, patriotic feeling, moral 
teaching, and aesthetic beauty, are rare here as elsewhere ; 
but they will not fail to find a vast field for study. Com- 
paring the present with past exhibitions, it may be said, in 
general terms, that there is less conventionality than there 
was ; that nature has more share in the productions of art ; 
that there is more independence of thought, less servile 
imitation, more feeling for the phenomena of nature, an 
improvement with respect to colour, and a decided advance 
in all the material portions of the artist’s profession. 
An arrangement which deserves notice has been made 
this year with respect to the light in the picture galleries. 
It will be remembered that the Palais de l’lndustrie, in 
which the exhibition is held, has a glass roof, and many 
complaints have been made of the effect of the light upon 
the pictures. The directors have therefore suspended semi- 
opaque canopies in several of the rooms, by which the 
spectators are screened from the light, which falls only on 
the walls. The general opinion is that the arrangement is 
satisfactory, provided the canopies be not too low or too 
opaque. Considering how much the appreciation of works 
of art depends on position and light, every experiment of 
this kind is deserving of serious attention. 
The liberal measures now in force relative to these annual 
exhibitions deserve special attention. The jury entrusted 
with the reception or rejection of the works sent in for 
exhibition, and with the settlement of the awards, is elected 
under the new rules, which place the selection of three- 
fourths of the jurors in the hands of those artists who have 
1 themselves received medals or other distinctions ; painters, 
sculptors, architects, and engravers each voting for jurors 
in their own section only. The other members of the jury arc 
nominated by the administration of the department of the 
Beaux Arts. This system gave great satisfaction last year, 
and, looking at the list of jurors for 1866, it can scarcely be 
otherwise on the present occasion. The painters elected on 
the jury are MM. Gerome, Cabanel fils, Bida, Meissonnier, 
Francjais, Fromentin, Carot, Robert-Fleury, I. Breton, 
Hebert, Dauzats, Brion, Daubigny, Barrias, Dubufe, and 
Baudry ; and the sculptors are MINI. Guillaume, Barye, 
Cavelier, Dumont, Jouffroy, Perraud, Daumas, Cabet, and 
Paul Dubois. Of these, six are members of the Academy of 
Beaux Arts in the French Institute, six are professors of 
painting and sculpture in the Ecole des Beaux Arts ; M. 
Robert- Fleury was lately director of the same school, and 
is now appointed superintendent of the French school in 
Rome, and M. Paul Dubois won the grand prize in sculpture 
for his charming statue of the young “ Florentine Singer ” 
last year. It would, we think, have been very difficult for 
the body of elective artists to have made out a list that 
would have more completely justified the confidence placed 
in their judgment by the Government, which has, by its 
liberality in this matter, at once put an end to almost 
all ground of complaint against the authorities respecting 
either the admission and placing of the pictures and other 
works of art, or the award of the prizes. A still further 
change has been made with respect to the prizes, which, in 
fact, gives to the public an indirect voice in the distribution 
of the medals. It is the custom to close the doors of the 
salon for a few days when the time of the exhibition is 
about half expired, in order to make certain changes in the 
disposition of the works, to correct mistakes, and to bring 
important pictures into more favourable lights ; and it is 
not until this change is made that the awards are now 
announced, so that the juries have the benefit of public 
opinion, as well as an extension of time, for completing and 
revising the list of honours to be bestowed. This is an 
admirable arrangement : it aids art education by forcing 
the public, as it were, to think for itself for a time, and it 
