Chapter 8 of 10 · 3943 words · ~20 min read

Part 8

Mr. Walters loans twenty-three of Barye's powerful water-colors of animals and a fine oil, of unusual size for this artist, of a tiger. One of the most striking of the water-colors shows a great snake swallowing an antelope, whose head is partly engulfed, and it is almost exactly the same as one of the bronzes from the Walters collection. Other gentlemen have contributed water-colors and oil-paintings by Barye, among them being several landscapes at Fontainebleau, and there are various etchings and prints after his works and some of his lithographs, pencil-sketches and autographs, with a copy of the only etching--a stag fighting a cougar--which, according to so good an authority as Mr. Avery, he ever made. These remarkable water-colors alone would suffice to show the genius of Barye, for they are full of the same qualities of truth and originality of expression which we see in his bronzes. Their color is exceedingly fine, and their topics are generally tigers, lions, elephants and serpents. It is a source of wonder how Barye, who never visited the East, could have so well depicted the tropical landscapes in which he has placed these tawny tigers and majestic lions. The drawings, like the sculptures, impress us with their air of absolute veracity, and, even in their most dramatic moments, suggest a reticence behind. Barye does not exhaust himself or his subject, yet he seems to have said the last word in this direction of art, and I cannot imagine that his profound and searching genius will ever be surpassed.

The managers of the galleries announce the exhibition of a hundred "masterpieces" by the contemporaries and friends of Barye, but I do not think that the visitor will find so large a number which can rightly be thus classed. To me it appears that something less than one-half are works of the first order, but among the remainder are many good things worthy of attention. Here again the treasures of Mr. Walters's collection are drawn upon and he sends some twenty-five pictures, prominent among which is the great "Martyrdom of St. Sebastian," by Corot; the "Evening Star," by the same master; Troyon's "Cattle Drinking"; Diaz's "Storm" and "Autumn Scene in the Forest of Fontainebleau"; Rousseau's "Le Givre"; Decamps's "Suicide"; Daubigny's large "Sunset on the Coast of France"; Delacroix's "Christ on the Cross"; and Millet's "Breaking Flax." One of the finest Millets I have ever seen is here, lent by Mr. Walters. This is the "Sheepfold at Night," which with several others of Mr. Walters's paintings here shown, was in the exhibition of "One Hundred Masterpieces" held at Paris in 1883. In its foreground a line of sheep pass by toward the gate of the fold through which some have already entered under the guidance of the shepherd and his dog, who stand near. The horizon is low, and just above it swings a swollen moon, shaped like a cup, from which floods of pale light fill the scene with color. If this were Mr. Walters's only contribution it would be sufficient to place us under a heavy obligation to him. The "St. Sebastian" is a large canvas, measuring four feet wide by eight feet high, which was first shown at the _Salon_ of 1853, and afterwards twice received important changes at the artist's hands. It shows an opening in a great wood, with the saint reclining on the ground tended by two holy women, while above appear some angels who bear the martyr's palm and crown. Rousseau's "Le Givre" is well described by Sensier, who says in his "_Souvenirs sur Th. Rousseau_," it represents "the hills of Valmondois as seen a mile away across the Oise, along the des Forgets road. The composition could not be more simple. Little hillocks heaped in the foreground are covered with half-melted snow, and the sun, red in the midst of a leaden sky, is seen dying and threatening through the clouds." The "Suicide," of Decamps, shows the body of a young artist stretched lifeless on his pallet in a gloomy room, and is painted with extraordinary force. The "Sunset," by Daubigny, describes a scene on the French coast with some cows near a pool separated from the sea only by a few yards. The foreground is rich in sombre greens and browns, the ocean a glorious blue and the sky tinged with the roses of sunset.

A superb specimen of the lately dead veteran, Jules Dupré, "The Old Oak," is lent by Mr. John G. Johnson, who contributes several other pictures, among them a fine "Going to the Fair," by Troyon, in which is seen a drove of cattle and sheep, with a woman on horseback behind talking to a man. Another still finer Troyon, the "Drove of Cattle and Sheep," which brought $26,000 at the Spencer sale, is lent by Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt. It will be recalled as showing a flock of sheep coming along a road toward the spectator, while behind are two cows, one with head uplifted to avoid the threatening stick of the drover--a dumb but eloquent protest against man's cruelty. Corot's lovely "Lake Nemi," the property of Mr. Thomas Newcombe, is here, while Mr. Jay Gould sends his "Evening"; Mr. William F. Slater, of Norwich, Conn., the "Fauns and Nymphs," and Mr. Charles A. Dana his beautiful "Dance of Loves." To the same gentleman the public is indebted for an opportunity to admire Millet's admirable "Turkey-keeper." Mr. D. C. Lyall has Delacroix's splendid page of romance, "The Abduction of Rebecca," and among the numerous paintings which come from Mr. George I. Seney's gallery, is the same artist's well-known "Convulsionaries," a crowd of self-tortured fanatics wildly rushing through the white-walled streets of Tangiers. There are several other works by Delacroix, including examples of his vivid renditions of lions and tigers, and Mr. Slater has here his "Christopher Columbus," Mr. Potter Palmer, of Chicago, lending the "Giaour and Pacha." Gericault is represented by but one picture, a noble couchant lion, but in addition to the "Suicide," there are several other Decamps, notably the magnificently colored "Turkish Butcher's Shop," which, with a splendid Rousseau, the "Forest of Fontainebleau," comes from the collection of Mr. Henry Graves. The gorgeous blues and crimsons of Diaz's "Coronation of Love," which Mr. Brayton Ives is fortunate enough to own, glow in a corner of one of the galleries--a bouquet of living color. It was pleasant to meet again a familiar picture in Millet's "Waiting," which the writer recalls often seeing at the Boston Art Museum when it belonged to Mr. Henry Sayles. It is now the property of Mr. Seney, and will be at once remembered by any who have ever seen its homely but touching figures of the old mother looking down the road for the coming of her absent son, and the blind father stumbling hastily over the steps to the door. I renewed my acquaintance with the inimitable cat which arches its back, elevates its tail and miaows on the bench outside, its ginger-colored coat relieved against the cool blue-grays of the stone wall. It is the apocryphal story of Tobit and Anna, with the waiting parents made into peasants of Millet's own country, and when it was exhibited at the _Salon_ of 1861, the public, of course, passed it by to gaze at the "Phryne" of Gérôme. Millet has doubtless painted better pictures, but for direct simple pathos it would be hard to surpass this.

Boston, through Mr. Quincy Shaw and other gentlemen, sends to the exhibition some of the best paintings shown. Mr. Shaw exhibits his "Potato-planters," to me the most beautiful in its rosy tones of any example of the artist here; of the same size, a fine "End of the Village of Greville," walled with graystone, its little street monopolized by geese and ducks, and the sea-gulls flying above; and the "Buckwheat Threshers," with two smaller canvases. Mr. F. L. Ames, lends two Millets, a beautiful Rousseau, "The Valley of Tiffauge," Decamps's splendid picture of an African about to sling a stone at a vulture sitting on some ruins, and the superbly painted dogs of Troyon's "Gardechasse." Dr. H. C. Angell's fine Jules Dupré, "Symphony," is also here.

The Millets number about a third of the paintings and among them is an interesting variation of the "Sower," narrower in shape than the others and with a steeper hillside. It would have been a delight to have seen Mr. Shaw's "Sower" temporarily lifted from its place in the modest house which conceals so many treasures, and brought here, especially as it was not possible to borrow the replica belonging to the estate of the late W. H. Vanderbilt, but such good fortune was not in store for us. A beautiful little nude by Millet, "After the Bath," has been sent by Mr. A. C. Clark. I think it must be the same one which was at the Bartholdi Pedestal Fund Exhibition some years ago, when it belonged to Mr. Erwin Davis. Messrs. Boussod, Valadon & Co., have lent an important and beautiful "November" by Millet, showing a sloping field with a harrow lying on the foreground and a man shooting at a flock of birds from behind a tree at the top of the hill.

The "Angelus," draped with crimson, is given the entire end of the long upper gallery and, I think, proves a disappointment to most, if not all. One chief reason for this is its small size,--it is but about 21 x 25 inches--and then it is certainly not to be compared for painting with half a dozen other Millets which are here. Its sentiment is lasting, however, but it is not new to us, on the contrary it is a household word now, and the painting gives but little more than does Waltner's etching. Mr. Walters loans the crayon sketch for it and one of "The Sower" and the "Sheepfold by Moonlight," with others, and there are some very interesting pastels and water-colors by Millet, Rousseau and Delacroix.

Altogether the exhibition is an extraordinarily good one, unapproached as to the Baryes and not easily surpassable as to the paintings of the Fontainebleau school, and any lover of art would find himself amply repaid by it for a journey to New York.

[Illustration: THE ILLUSTRATIONS]

[_Contributors are requested to send with their drawings full and adequate descriptions of the buildings, including a statement of cost._]

"THE LION AND THE SERPENT." M. A. L. BARYE, SCULPTOR.

[Photogravure issued only with the International Edition.]

See article elsewhere in this issue.

AUDITORIUM OF THE PALACE OF THE TROCADERO, PARIS, FRANCE. MM. DAVIOUD & BORDAIS, ARCHITECTS.

[Gelatine Plate issued only with the International Edition.]

AN INTERIOR IN THE CHATEAU DE JOSSELIN, MORBIHAN, FRANCE.

[Gelatine Plate issued only with the International Edition.]

TORRE DEL VINO, ALHAMBRA, GRANADA, SPAIN.

[Grano-chrome issued only with the International Edition.]

RUINS OF THE CHAPEL OF CHARLES V, YUSTE, SPAIN.

[Grano-chrome issued only with the International Edition.]

COOMBE WARREN, KINGSTON, ENGLAND.--GARDEN FRONT. THE LATE MR. GEORGE DEVEY, ARCHITECT.