ef 
1800. ] 
..<€ Mota loco tellus fpatit difcrimine vafto 
Abititerat, medioque foro patefacta vorago 
Abrupta in przceps, immenfa, orifque pro- | 
fundi, 
Tartareas referans fauces.” 
€© Acer erat bello et primis fpeétatus in 
armis 
Curtius, eduétum Curibus quem antiqua 
vetuttis. 
Nobilitas laude et ferie decorabat avorum. 
%. The Releafe of Ariffomentes. 
of David's {cholars. 
The {cene is the infide of aruftic manfion, 
The warrior is feen ftanding near a table, 
with his hands tied together by cords. A 
young and beautiful female, animated by 
the prefence of the hero, and favoured by 
the flumber of the guards, who had been 
made drunk on purpofe, cuts the unwor- 
thy bands, by means of a fword taken 
from one of the foldierss An old woman 
holds alamp, the melancholy reflection of 
whofe light {preads a myfterious air over 
the whole fcene. The moon, at the fame 
time, is feen to rife, and the beholder is 
actually afraid, left her indifcreet light 
fhould betray the flight of the warrior. 
This is a moft interefting compofition, 
and nothing more can be wifhed for by the 
claffical fpectator, than that the head of 
the ancient matron ;had been lefs harfh, 
and the figure of the young heroine more 
difplayed. 
3. Olympias. By Taillaflon, @ Scholar of Vien. 
~ Certain affaffins, fent by Caflander, gain 
admittance into the palace of Olympias, 
where, as if fuddenly penetrated with hor- 
ror at their intentions, they caft their eyes 
on the ground and drop their daggers 
on the appearance of the queen-dowager. 
This princefs, with wondertul majefty dif- 
played on her forehead, and indignation 
and reproach beaming from her counte- 
nance, while her arms are extending to- 
wards the ftatue of_her fon, and her breaft 
uncovered, exclaims, ‘* Would you dare 
to attempt the life of the mother of Alex- 
ander ?”? ‘This picture difplays great ta- 
lents; the faults are but trifling, and it 
would, in this cafe, be ungracious to 
point them out— 
By Debret, one 
‘© Verum ubi plura nitent in carmine, non 
ego paucis 
Offendar maculis.” 
4. The Country in Danger 5 a Sketch by Lethiers. 
A coloffal figure, feated on an immenfe 
bafe, reprefents Fame fupporting Liberty 
and Equality. Around are feen arms and 
military enfigns, intermingled with groupes 
of warriors, women, and children. A 
magiftrate receives the oath, on the part of 
Retrofpect of the Fine Arts. 
285 
the foldiers, either to conquer or perifh, 
while a fecretary by his fide in{cribes their 
names. A father prefents his five fons, 
and receives 4a'civic crown in return; thg 
women confer arms and embraces at the 
fame time on the young men, burning with 
a love for their country, and panting after 
the laurels tnat are to be earned in the 
blood-ftained field of Mars. ‘This is al- 
lowed on all hands to be an effort of ge- 
nius. 
5. Combats of the firft Inhabitants of the Earth 
with Wild Beafts, according to the Defcription 
of the Poet Lucretius. By Perrin, 
On the fore-ground of the picture are 
women and children in flight; at a dif- 
tance are feen men and moniters ftruggling 
for fuperiority ; between the parties ‘is a 
torrent. So much for the fubje&t: as to 
the compofition, the painter has erred, in 
converting the fubordinate into a principal, 
and the principal into a fubordinate; for it 
appears evident that the combat ought to 
be next the eye, while the effects of female 
terror, although itill vifible, fhould recede 
from it:—-but the artift was -refolved to 
paint women and children, in which he 
excels; and, in that cafe, he ought to have 
chofen another fubject. 
6. The Return of Marcus-Sextus. By Guerin, 
a Scholar of Regnault. 
Marcus-Sextus, efcaping from the pro- 
{criptions of Sylla, on his return to his 
own _houfe finds his wife dead, and his 
daughter mourning over her corpfe. The 
head of the inconlolable hufband is fub- 
lime, and the attitude mournful ; he ap- 
pears to be motionlefs and diftraéted, and 
refembles not the Ugolino of Reynolds, 
but of Dante. 
This charming picture will form not 
only an epoch in the French fchool, but 
even in the hiftory of the art, for the ex- 
prefion of Sextus rivals that of Brutus, 
by David ; and of Belifarius, by Gerard. 
The French painters have, on this oc- 
cafion, exhibited another inftance of dif 
intereftednefs, for they have expretied their 
admiration by means of a wreathe attached 
to the piéture, with the following in{crip- 
tion: } 
«¢ Laurier donné par les Artiftes.”” 
(Laurel prefented by the Artiftes.) 
On this occafion, in conformity with the 
French cuftoms, a banquet, at which all 
the artifts and feveral men of letters af- 
fifted, took place. 
Vien, the reftorer of the French fchool, 
was folemnly crowned, while the palms 
which had been decreed to the two pupils 
of Regnault and David (one of whom was 
the 

